Somewhere in the midst of 1996, a cold day in London, and I was to photograph and interview Beck. I was bearly out of my teens and armed with what I believed were an array of hilarious subjects from cocktails inventions, music and fashion predictions, Movies, TV Shows and pirate radio.
It was my lunch break, but I hadn’t done the maths. Music industry job + (unofficial lunch break) + travel to and from and perform Beck shoot and interview = one hour. Nope.
The interview and shoot appeared for one time only in the debut glossy edition of BLAG magazine, featuring Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA on the front. The limited edition title was distributed worldwide and met with much fanfare.
Beck was in the city to promote his iconic album, Odelay which featured the classics ‘Where It’s At’ and ‘Devil’s Haircut.’ Rolling out his surreal sense-of-humour and creativity during the interview.
Fresh from a photo shoot before, it’s no wonder Beck was at first, slightly cautious, “Well, earlier I was doing these photos and they were pushing my face around and saying try to act natural.”
Not only does the hilarious interview contain bizarre answers, but also a bit of somewhat crystal ball gazing.
When confronted with the question, “Say, you’re going to star in a film, what’s it called and who would be the co-star?”
“Who would be the co-star? Probably Willie Nelson. It would be sort of a travel log film. Me and Willie, going down the Amazon, we’d be captains on a small boat and we would be smuggling perfumes down the Amazon, and at some point we’d come into different ports during the carnival seasons and our boat would get stolen. We’d end up settling down in a small town, the local witch would take a liking to Willie and he’d have to flee town and she’d cast a spell on him and his pony tails would fall off. There’d be no sequel.”
A year later Willie Nelson played a cameo in Beck’s Jackass video. (https://youtu.be/W8SKL4fniRM)
I returned to the office to receive an absolute ass-whooping, but managed to keep my job.
To read the full interview, you can pre-order the book, MUSIC from BLAG, featuring over 300 pages of hilarious and inspiring interviews with some of the best contemporary musicians of the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.
You may also be delighted to know Beck and another BLAG favourite band Phoenix are touring this summer, dates and tickets here
- SUMMER ODYSSEY 2023 TOUR DATES:
- Tue Aug 01 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena ^#
- Thu Aug 03 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater ^#
- Sat Aug 05 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion ^#
- Mon Aug 07 – Los Angeles, CA – Kia Forum ^#
- Tue Aug 08 – San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena +#
- Wed Aug 09 – Orange County, CA – OC Fair*
- Fri Aug 11 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center +#
- Sat Aug 12 – Las Vegas, NV – Michelob ULTRA Arena +#
- Tue Aug 15 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre +#
- Fri Aug 18 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP ~#
- Sun Aug 20 – Houston, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion ~#
- Mon Aug 21 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion ~#
- Tue Aug 22 – Austin, TX – Moody Center ~#
- Thu Aug 31 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion #
- Sat Sep 02 – Detroit, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre ~#
- Sun Sep 03 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage ~#
- Tue Sep 05 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway ~#
- Fri Sep 08 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at the Mann ~#
- Sat Sep 09 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden ~
- Sun Sep 10 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion ~#
- Support Key
- ^ Jenny Lewis
- + Japanese Breakfast
- ~ Weyes Blood
- # Sir Chloe
- * Fair Dat
