WEBVTT - Ep 55: John Grant 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:02.679 Loud and Quiet Presents Midnight Chats. 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:25.560 Yeah, I had such a common by midnight chat. 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.800 Thank you for the introduction, John Grant. And here we 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:33.400 go again Thursday night. It's late and we're back with 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:36.600 another one of those midnight chats. Greg from Loud and 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:40.440 Quiet here and if your interests fall into the very 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:45.880 niche Venn diagram that displays the overlapping interests of Tracy Thorn, 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.920 high speed roller coasters and the grammatical intricacies of the 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:55.040 Icelandic language, then welcome to what's most definitely your dream podcast. 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:57.840 For everyone else, well, there's a bit in what you're 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.720 about to hear where I basically fall of my chair 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.360 when John Grant showed me a very funny photo of 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.880 himself on an amusement park ride on his fiftieth birthday. 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:10.800 I've already banged on in recent episodes about how the 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:15.039 best way to support this podcast is to subscribe, rate, 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.680 and comment wherever you're listening to us. But even better 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:22.200 still is that you just tell your friends and family. 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.280 Maybe next time there's an awkward silence in the conversation, 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:27.920 just blurt it out and just tell people that you 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:31.039 like midnight Chats. But I'm not going to labor that 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.440 point tonight, and I'm just going to get straight onto 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:38.560 tonight's guest. And fact is, when we're researching these podcasts, 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:42.800 which we do research, we tend to try and rummage 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.360 around in the small footnotes of an artist's story to 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.520 try and find some gold nuggets to ask them about. 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.280 And John Grant is a gift in that respect because 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.240 he's done so many and I don't really like using 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:00.640 this word, but quirky things. During his career. He's had 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:05.840 an extraordinary journey from his very strict religious upbringing in 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:08.919 the US through to his time in the old rock 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:12.799 band The Czars, and then following that battling personal addictions 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.679 and later launching a very successful solo career and even 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:20.359 gone on to write songs for the likes of Robbie Williams. 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.320 Basically too much to fit into a relatively short podcast, 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:27.080 but I do ask him about being nominated for a 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.920 brit and writing the Icelandic entry for Eurovision. 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:31.639 So don't worry. 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:34.760 He has a new album coming out in October and 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:38.119 it's called Love Is Magic, and it's about the beauty 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.960 and absurdity of life. John was off to an award 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.760 ceremony that night that we caught up to present one 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:48.120 of his great influences with a prize. That's where we 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.760 pick up and things end with him telling me about 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:54.280 a song on this new album which features a swear 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.520 word that we've never heard on the podcast before. So 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:00.320 that's just a warning in case you have any small 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:05.600 children listening nearby. Anyway, until next Thursday when we'll be back. 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.280 This is Midnight Chats episode fifty five, with John Grant 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.960 lying on a painful looking sofa but staying committed to 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:38.760 his decision for a full forty minutes. Perfect sounding good John, 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.920 I'm gonna lay down, John, Welcome to Midnight Chats. 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.320 Thank you, good to be here, Thanks for having me. 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:48.400 You look nice and relaxed. 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:50.600 Now, thank you. 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:53.240 We're doing this. We're recording this for people listening. We 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:58.000 are in a little studio in East London and we've 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:01.640 got like a small sofa which looks like actually it 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:03.200 looks very similar to the one that was in my 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:05.000 grandmother's house for many years. 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:06.160 But hers was comfortable. 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.320 It's uncomfortable. Can you feel the frame through those those 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.200 very old looking cushions? 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.040 Yes, and it's not comfortable at all. 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.240 Actually, yeah, when you stand up, you're going to be 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:17.599 feeling it. 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:19.240 I think it would be too painful for me to 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:20.840 try and change positions. At this point. 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.760 I've committed. I mean, how are you doing? 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:28.800 I'm fine. Like I told you before, it's a stressful day. 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:32.279 But you know who's not having a stressful day. 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:34.360 You're after an awards ceremony tonight. 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.280 I am. I'm presenting Tracy Thorn with an award tonight, 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:40.440 some sort of icon type. 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:44.000 Thing, the Aim Awards, which, if people haven't come across, 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:48.440 that is an awards that celebrates independent music. Yes, well, 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.279 you've worked with Tracy before, but that's exciting to be 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:54.280 able to reward her genius basically. 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:59.920 Yeah, yes, I've decided that tonight I shall compare her 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:06.040 to the Mississippi River in my speech, or whatever body 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:12.200 of water made the Grand Canyon steady consistent, creating landscapes 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:13.599 of incredible sonic beauty. 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.279 That's perfect. I think we've got that written down right. 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:18.880 I do. Okay, good, don't you think that's good? 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.920 That's brilliant. She's got a book coming out next year. 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:24.400 He landed on my desk the other day. 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:25.960 Really another one? 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:28.800 Yeah? Yeah, yeah, so not too like February. 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.400 She's so smart and clever and her command of the 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:36.719 English language fills me with shame. She's quite amazing. 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:42.640 Yeah, what are award ceremonies like? Are they things like that? 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:47.520 Are they like terrifying? Are they exciting? Are they There's nothing. 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:49.760 Good about it? No, except that moment when you get 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:52.520 to present them with that award on that stage, But 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.800 everything else around it is an absolute nightmare. The dinner. 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.040 I mean, I'll be sitting there with Ben and Tracy, 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.760 so it'll be great. There'll be so waiter that looks 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:03.719 like a young fucking treat Williams or something, you know, 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:10.960 serving and I'll be mistaking his professionalism and hospitality for 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:13.920 you know, interest and a lot a life lived together, 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:18.960 and you know it'll all wind and crocodile tears. 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.080 Other ones you've been to before? Did you do when 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:25.240 you were nominated for a brit Award here a few 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:27.000 years ago? Did you go to the Brads? 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:28.200 I did? 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:32.400 What was that like? Because that's a whole never that 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.400 was tortuous, Okay. 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:37.680 Yeah, because it just goes on and on and on 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:43.040 and on and on. And I lost Bruno Mars, which 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:45.880 is fine because he's he's very good. I think he's 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:50.000 very good at what he does. Great voice, great personality. 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:52.960 But yeah, and I also met boy George that night, 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:57.359 which was lovely, and he was really sweet and kind 0:06:57.480 --> 0:06:59.360 and so it was really good for me to meet him. 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:03.480 And and yeah, but I had this suit on and 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:09.360 I don't know, I just I don't feel terribly comfortable 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.320 with those things. That's not my bag. Baby. 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:17.600 You mentioned language and command of language before. Now you 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:19.600 speak five languages? 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:21.760 Yeah, probably four or five. 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:25.200 Okay, we've got listeners all over the world for Midnight Chats, 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:29.480 but we've never been able to or I'm too I'm 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:36.120 linguistically incompetent. So for people like living in Germany or Spain, 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:38.000 we know that we've got listeners there, we've never had 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:40.240 somebody on the podcast like before that's been able to 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:42.680 speak so many languages. So if we were to say, like, 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:45.960 welcome to Midnight Chats to people listening in Germany, what 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:46.800 would I have to say? 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.760 Yeah, I had such a common by midnight Chat. That 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:57.240 sounds better, doesn't it, Yatala. 0:07:57.520 --> 0:07:58.760 What was the additional show? 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:00.440 Yeah? 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:04.000 You always see like a fan of language in general, 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:06.920 and when did you know that you had an aptitude 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:08.640 for learning new languages. 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:12.960 I guess that was my senior year in high school 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.720 in the States, which is your last year before you 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.520 go into college. That was the first year that German 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:20.720 was offered at my high school, and I was a 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:23.080 big Nina Hagen fan, and for that reason, I signed 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.960 up for German, because I wanted to translate those Nina 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.320 Hagen lyrics and be able to understand what she was 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:30.480 talking about. And then I happened to have a great 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:32.920 teacher as well, who sort of took me under wing. 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.120 She saw that I was struggling that year, and that 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.080 was the one thing that I latched onto that year 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:38.920 that I really I really excelled at it. And I 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.560 got an easy A in the class, or maybe I 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.400 had a B, because I even though I was really 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.400 good at it, I just didn't like to still I 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.480 was still always a bad student, but still sort of 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.320 effortlessly got a B or whatever it was that I got. 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.760 And she, you know, she was somebody who sort of 0:08:57.000 --> 0:08:58.640 like she would go to a cafe with me on 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.320 the weekend and speak German to me or talk to 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.240 me about German, and she was wonderful. Her name was 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:08.520 p Snider, and I've lost touch with her, unfortunately, but 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.600 she was lovely. She moved back to Pennsylvania or something 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:15.120 and back in the eighties and unfortunately lost touch. 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:17.400 Do you subscribe the idea that some people have a 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:19.559 natural talent for learning ot the languages? Who do you 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:22.160 think that everybody can be able that has the ability 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:22.520 to do that. 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:27.319 There's so many different aspects about learning the language. I mean, pronunciation, 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.440 like the ability to hear and phonetics is one thing. 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:32.800 Everybody wants to be able to speak like a native 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.800 and not have an accent. That's something that I've always 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.679 been particularly good at, but it gets harder as your 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.760 age and your mouth gets lazy. And then there's also 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:46.880 you know, grammar, There's also you know, listening comprehension, there's 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.439 I think I really feel like it's important to understand 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:52.280 the grammar inside and out if you truly want to 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.280 master a language, because then you can have total control 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:57.600 over the language, if you know all the rules, and 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.640 then you can really express your personality and your sense 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:02.880 of humor and all these important things in that language. 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.640 If you have that type of knowledge of it, just 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.679 talking to people and immersing yourself in the language is 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.880 a great way to go, but I think you need both. 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:14.280 So I think you should be out there talking with people, 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:18.959 just interacting, immersed in the society living there. If you 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:21.080 can't do that, these days, there's all sorts of things 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:23.599 you can do. You can read out loud in the language, 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:26.360 you can look up things on YouTube, you can watch 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.640 the news in that language, you can watch television shows 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.920 in that language. Everything's on YouTube. So you can immerse 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.880 yourself in that language to a great extent if you create. 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.360 You can create that for yourself at home these days 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:41.440 quite easily. I think it's better to speak correctly and 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:45.320 idiomatically and colloquially than to speak, you know, perfect with 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.000 a perfect accent. I think anybody would agree with that. 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:50.920 But of course, you know, we want to. One wants to, 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:53.000 I mean, one falls in love with the language because 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:55.080 one likes the way that sounds, and one would also 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.840 like to sound that way right when speaking it. But 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.520 if you can't overcome your accent, don't worry about that. 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:06.600 Just do the work, do the drills, do the leg work, 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.800 and it will happen for you eventually. Just put in 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.640 the work and you will make progress in the language, 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:15.280 and you'll make fast progress. In the language. There's and 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.680 then there's there's times there's these key moments when you 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:22.360 feel like you feel like you're actually going backwards and 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:24.160 that you know less when you did that than you 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.840 did when you started. And that's I find, at least 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:32.080 I wonder to myself and think that it's probably the 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:36.240 brain absorbing a huge amount of information and putting it 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.200 in order and making sense of it, so that those 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.800 times when you feel like you're actually going backwards, you're 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:44.040 actually your brain's just doing a lot of work and 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:46.559 you need to just relax and maybe take a break, 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:48.960 and you'll find that when you come back to it, 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.280 you will have made progress, and lots of progress, a 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:54.320 lot more than you think. You're always further along than 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.160 you think you are. But don't ever allow yourself to 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:59.319 get frustrated and think I'm never going to be able 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.640 to do this, because you can. You definitely can do it. 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:03.800 There's a lot of people say they have no talent 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:07.480 for learning the language. I'm not sure I believe that. 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:12.160 I mean, certainly we have app we all have, you know, 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:16.040 aptitudes or talents for different things. But I feel like 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.800 if you put the work in, you can get to 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:20.920 a very comfortable level in any language. 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:25.200 Is Icelandic the most recent language that you've learnt, Yeah. 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:26.600 That's the most recent one for me. And that's the 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:27.800 hardest thing I've ever done. 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.199 Really. Why is that? Why has that been so much 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:33.600 more difficult? It is because it doesn't follow it as 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:37.000 similar formula to some of other languages that you've learned. 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.600 Structurally, well, it's very similar to German actually, but it's 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:43.080 still much more complicated. For example, in German, you know, 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:45.640 you don't you don't have very many forms for each word. 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.920 Let's see you would have you know, for German, you're 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.240 going to have like five forms for a word maybe 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:55.679 you know in the different cases like de mann dan 0:12:56.000 --> 0:13:01.480 mann desmanus that has to do with the article, So 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:03.360 you have and then you have a plural form d 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.600 mena dane menoun, which is the plural, the dative plural 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.280 where you just add an end to the plural or 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:12.559 an e end to the plural, depending on what the 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:16.960 word is. And in Icelandic you have sixteen forms for 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:22.960 every word, so that's eleven more forms at least. And 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.760 then for example, you also have masculine, feminine, and neutral 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:30.520 nouns in Icelandic, you have a very complex verb system 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:35.400 like French and German and Spanish and Italian and Portuguese, 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:39.360 all the Romance languages with the subjunctive and compound tenses 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:46.520 and conditional and Russian, for example, the verb forms the 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:48.920 verb system is also quite difficult because they deal with 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:53.040 something called aspect in the verb. It's quite complicated. But 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:58.000 the verb forms themselves aren't as varied, and they just 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:02.360 have one little particle Bui wait for the conditional tense, 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:04.560 which you just add to the past tense of the verb. 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.880 You had that particle and that becomes the conditional or 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.920 the subjunctive. Yeah, so Icelandic it's just. And then the 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:13.640 pronunciation is the hardest I've ever dealt with, much harder 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:18.280 than German Russian. And that has to do with well 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:23.160 they say that that for English speakers the pronunciation is 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:27.280 particularly difficult for people for native speakers of English. I 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:30.440 don't know why that is. I certainly do believe it, 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.280 because I've never struggled with pronunciation like I do in Icelandic. 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:36.640 I have to say things. I mean, I always had 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:38.520 to read things out loud over and over and over 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:40.840 to get them, and at the beginning, you sort of 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:44.520 exaggerate sounds because you're getting your mouth to move, start 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:46.320 to move in that way, because you need to retrain 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.200 your mouth for each language. It's important to remember that 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.040 your mouth doesn't move the same in those languages. And 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:54.120 we don't move our mouths when we speak our language 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.080 because we've learned to speak our language as easily as possible, 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:00.200 you know, and so we're very lazy with it. That's 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.680 what other people do too, and they're very lazy with things, 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:08.240 and that's what turns into dialects and different accents because 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.200 we're just trying to figure out a way to say 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:11.440 things as quickly as possible. 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:13.520 Do you spend the majority of your time? You know, 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:15.640 it's still in Iceland now because obviously you move around 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:17.120 plenty when you're on tour and things like that. But 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:18.800 is that the main base? 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:20.800 That's where I'm based, But I'm not there very much 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:21.080 at all. 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:26.160 What is it about the character of Icelandic people that 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.760 you like. I've been a couple of times, and as 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:33.800 well as it being obviously a beautiful country and spectacular 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.200 once you once you get out a record can travel 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:39.240 around the island, it is stunning, But I found the 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:45.120 Icelandic people fascinating because of their resilience and their sense 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.800 of humor and their or just various characteristics. I just 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.720 thought they were they were fascinating people. What what characteristics 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.320 of Icelanders do you do you like? 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:59.120 I like their humor, and they're they're they're quite cheery 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.480 and friendly. I mean, you really got to learn the 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:04.240 language if you want to crack that nut, you know, 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.240 if you want to get into that society. Same thing 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.080 with I mean any language, I suppose, or any If 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:12.840 you really want to get to the know the people, 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:15.320 you must know their language. But I love, you know, 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:19.080 I love colloquial Icelandic. I love the way they they 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:23.800 express themselves very in a very clever, funny way. But 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:26.480 I don't know's it's that way with every single language. 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:30.080 They're all very different, you know. And and Icelanders are 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:32.840 pretty relaxed. They're sort of laid back. But that would, 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:37.120 if anything, that would fill me with resentment because I 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.880 should probably relax a little bit more. But they've got 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:45.960 sort of a like a Spanish or Italian relaxedness to them, 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:52.400 a relaxed attitude combined with the Scandinavian style and Scandinavian 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.800 other Scandinavian traits, like it's a strange combination of reservedness 0:16:57.960 --> 0:16:58.800 and and. 0:16:59.120 --> 0:16:59.840 But also. 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:05.240 Like they have a phrase that the rat dust, which 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:06.720 is one of the first things that you learn when 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.480 you go there, that the rat dust, which means that 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:12.680 you know, it'll it'll work out, it'll work itself out, 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:15.320 it'll it'll get taken care of, don't worry about it, 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:20.120 you know. When applied to business, that's not too exciting 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:26.679 for the for the consumer. But in as far as 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:30.240 everyday lifestyle, I mean, they they have figured out a 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.280 way to thrive in this sort of difficult to thrive 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:34.000 in environment. 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:36.520 Absolutely. If you've done and I sounded in winter. 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:38.600 Yeah, I've done several of them now and they're hard, 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:39.400 they're difficult. 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.719 Yeah. So I mean again if anybody doesn't visited Iceland, 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:46.320 but it gets dark approximately what time in the afternoon 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:48.320 in deep winter? 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.280 Yeah, in deep winter, I mean it's it's it's you're 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.240 only going to have like an hour of light, you know, 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:58.240 in December and then and that's just twilighty you know. 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:02.359 So it's yeah, it gets very it's you really got 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:04.680 to watch your vitamin d intake and make sure that 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.960 you're getting vitamin D, get one of those lamps, take 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:12.720 a supplement, go to the gym, make sure you're moving, exercise, 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.160 you know, eat right. I mean a lot of people 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.080 up there just go whole hog into the sugar. Seems 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:25.600 like Scandinavians really struggle with sugar consumption. Well they don't 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:27.080 seem to be struggling actually with it. 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:33.560 But yeah, in those deep winters, we need to get 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:34.600 some energy levels going. 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:38.680 M h. Yeah, and sugar's Sugar's a killer when it 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:43.160 comes to that. It's not doing anybody any favors. It's hard. 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:45.840 A few years back, did you enjoy the experience of 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:49.440 collaborating on the Icelandic entry for Eurovision? 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:52.720 Oh? Yeah, that was weird. I was at first I 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:54.639 wanted to hear what they were doing because I didn't 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:57.000 really want to be involved in your vision because I 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:01.840 don't I'm not I'm not really into that style and 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:03.760 I don't really get crazy. I don't like to watch 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:04.120 it either. 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.040 I was gonna says you fullowed it up to that point. 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:08.199 Was it something you were like a way? 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:09.720 I mean when I was in Sweden, I watched it 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.119 with everybody else, and you know, just sort of like 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:18.240 a little bit horrified, but you know, Abba came from there, 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:22.120 so you know it can't be it can't be that bad. 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.200 But these guys that asked me to do this, to 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.359 translate this song for them, I just really loved the 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:30.399 song they were doing. I was surprised by what they 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:30.760 were doing. 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:31.280 It was like this. 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:37.840 Punk pop, you know hit, and it was talking about children, 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:42.920 like it was encouraging children to do away with prejudice 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:47.280 and not judge other people. And and I really liked 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:48.960 the message they were giving. And I really liked the 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.040 people that wrote the song, and I liked the style 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:53.960 of the song because it was quite different than other 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:57.240 things that I'd heard. So I said, yes, so yes, 0:19:57.280 --> 0:19:58.040 I did enjoy. 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.480 It on the night of the war. Did you go 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.159 to it or did you watch it in Iceland with 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:05.520 other people watching it kind of cheering them along sort 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:05.760 of thing. 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:07.320 I don't know if I saw it. I think I 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.080 might have been busy, like out and about touring or 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:12.399 something at the time. I don't remember seeing them perform it. 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:14.399 I just remember that I kept asking how did they do? 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:15.960 How did they do? How did they do? And I 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:17.960 think they came in like thirteenth or something. 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:21.320 That's respectable, that's liked mid tables as such. 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:23.439 But Iceland really wants to win it. They haven't won 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:31.400 it before, right, right, And so I I wasn't sure. 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:34.080 I really thought they I mean, I thought they should 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.000 win with that song, but I think I was skeptical 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:38.000 because it was just too good. 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:40.440 Yeah. Yeah, that's the thing with your original it gets 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:43.359 things that. Yeah, it doesn't matter if you've written a 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:45.680 good songs, it's often about the other things that surround it, 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:48.520 just the quirkiness of it, or the stage show or 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.040 what eccentricity you put on your performance. 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:54.000 Yeah, it's so many different factors that you can't plan 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:57.600 for it. And uh, yeah, you just never you don't 0:20:57.600 --> 0:20:58.280 know what's going to happen. 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:01.600 Away from came about Iceland. Now has twenty eighteen been 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:03.600 for you so far? Was the start of the year 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:06.560 finishing Love's Magic, which is the new album. What's been 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:08.000 happening in twenty eighteen so far? 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.760 Yeah, I just was working on the record until finished 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:14.840 it in March or April. Yeah, then I had some 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:16.560 time off. I had a little bit of time off 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:20.680 in Iceland, and then I have just started out on 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:23.800 the promo thing. Now you know, the machine is getting 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:26.920 going again, and soon we'll be, you know, rehearsing for 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:29.000 the shows, and then at the end of October the 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:31.880 first show will happen. And it's just all very quick, 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:35.280