Intervista a Nerina Pallot – 15.01.2006
di Giulia Nuti
D: Let’s start form one thing that impressed me reading your bio…You studied many intruments like cello, violin Do you still play them, do you still have them?
R: My violin playing was so bad I haven’t played violin for a very long time. I’ve been playing cello back to two or three years ago. Every now and then I played a little cello on my first record, But I haven’t played it for about two or three years. I mostly play piano, guitar, bass guitar
D: “Fires” is your second album. How do you think your way of writing has evolved since the first one?
R: I don’t know I just grew older. The subjects are different.My life has changed. I went back to the University to study poetry and English litterature, so I started to think more about words and poetry I think just life made myself change.
D: Which are your most important influences? Any artist?
R:People like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell. I also like the classics like Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Beatles. ’60s-‘70s rock n’ roll. And great songwriters: Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen people who really love words, and really love melodies as well. I really love Martha Wainwright and her brother Rufus, he is amazing.
…and I love Madonna! I think she’s brilliant
D: Are there other artists in the contemporary scene that you find particularly interesting? You mentioned Rufus and Matha Wainwright…
R: Pj Harvey, because she doesn’t make the same records time after time. I have always found her interesting musically. And live she’s is incredible. And I like Beck a lot.
D: I read you played with one of the musicians of his band
R: Yes, Roger Manning Jr. He’s a friend of mine. And Roger was in a band called Jellyfish, I really really love them
D: There are many guests on your album. How was the collaboration with different artists?
R: It ‘s so much fun, a lot of them are friends of mine. they are nice people and I just got very luky. My boyfriend is one of the producers of the record. I just called my friends, and my friends happened to be some of the best musicians in the world. I was very very lucky. It took a long time to make the record because I couldn’t book them in the way record companies do, I had to wait for them. They had no evenings free… It was funny. They are great musicians, very experienced, in the studios as well… and I am lucky because I didn’t have the experience they have, so going into the studio has been like a masterclass
D: I read you played with Jon Brion as well… I think he is an interesting character and musician…
R: Yeah, he is amazing. He does his amazing show in Los Angeles if you ever go to Los Angeles He is on stage every Friday night at Largo’s, which is run by this wonderful man called Flanagan , from Belfast. He is great. Recently I played a show there, there are lovely pelole. And Jon gets on and plays every friday evening, and he plays every instrument! He plays I don’t know, pedals and recording things. Then suddenly he stops and play drums. Then he stops and play bass guitar. And another thing he does is to yell words, random things, random phrases like “spaceship”. And he is very musical
D: How is the musical scene in Los Angeles? You recorded the album working partly there
R: I love London, I like being in London, working in London. I’m shure if you ask actors they say they love working in other places, but the big industry is in Los Angeles. I’m not a particular fan of the city itself, the way it looks like Los Angeles is a very ugly place. But the studios, musicians, the whole energy It is the place to work, I don’t really like to work anywhere but Los Angeles.
D: Is this the first time you do an European tour supporting someone? Are you supporting James Blunt for all the dates?
R: Yes, I’ve never played in any other place except for United Kingdom, America, Australia. I’ve never playd anywhere in Europe. it’s great, it’s so much fun
D: Which is your impression of the musical scene here, also in other countries not only in Italy
R: In Italy I think there is a very big homegrown scene. A lot of italian artists, a very healthy scene. We know Zucchero, or Pavarotti, but there are all this little bands I had never heard of before. It seems healthy... is it?
D: It’s pretty strange There is a big gap between major labels and indipendent labels. For artists it’s not that easy. It’s the same all over the world I think...
R: It’s the same
D: And there are no money for culture, also from institutions, from the Governament
R: Exaxtly the same story in the UK, exactly the same. Even if the gap between major labels and indipendent labels is not that wide, you can have a big hit, you can sell a lot of records and not being on a major label.
We have the same problem with the Governament’s funds. It’s hard
D: What about your future projects?
R: I will finish this tour and then go to work with a video director. The album is going to be re-released across Europe, because I first put it out on Idaho record label. Now they are giving me money to make a video, to do a release across the world. So I have to make a video, new photosand then touring... So, hopefully, I’ll be coming back here for my own show.
D: How is supporting James Blunt?
R: It’s so much fun! And he plays in big places. I find little places scaring, people are very close So for me the biggest is the best, more relaxing The crowds are really friendly, great audience, they really listen, they like music . And you have people of different ages, young people, middle-aged people
It’s great.
Firenze, 15/01/2006
Il concerto
James Blunt + Nerina Pallot live @ Sashall, Firenze – 15/01/06
La musica passa per le suonerie dei telefonini. Si pensa questo quando le prime cinquanta liceali in fila dietro alle porte del Sashall si lanciano di corsa, all’apertura, alla conquista di un posto sotto palco per vedere James Blunt.
Lui ha un solo album alle spalle, ma con un singolo associato nei mesi scorsi allo spot di una celebre compagnia di telefonia mobile già riempie il teatro per abbondanti tre quarti. James si esprime con parole semplici, canzoni d’amore su pochi accordi che parlano all’adulto, al bambino e all’ascoltatore distratto del supermercato. Approdato alla musica dopo una carriera scolastica fallimentare, Blunt ha passato anni in prima linea tra le milizie di pace in Kossovo, sfidando la guerra con il fucile in una mano e la chitarra nell’altra, e ciò gli fa decisamente onore. Alla luce di determinati imperativi ( dare al pubblico ciò che vuole), Blunt porta a casa un buon concerto. Naturalmente estremamente commerciale, ma il mercato non lascia a questa categoria di artisti molte alternative.
Possono invece beneficiare delle alternative artisti come Nerina Pallot, che accompagna Blunt in questo tour europeo e che si esibisce nei suoi stessi grandi teatri ma che appartiene a quella fascia intermedia di artisti che ancora possono godere di una certa libertà.
Nerina è nata a Londra ma ha registrato il suo secondo album, Fires, a Los Angeles. Pubblicato per l’etichetta indipendente Idaho, l’album verrà ristampato e distribuito in Europa per settembre di quest’anno.
La Pallot sale sul palco da sola, e con chitarra e pianoforte regala al pubblico un assaggio dei brani del suo disco in una versione essenziale che quasi li valorizza rispetto a quella arrangiata. In questa veste acustica, benché Fires non sia propriamente un disco cantautorale, Nerina acquista l’aria di una cantautrice a tutti gli effetti. Il pubblico per la netta maggioranza non la conosce, ma lei con determinazione, convinzione, aria affabile e sorriso sempre sulle labbra lo conquista strappando applausi spontanei e manifestazioni di approvazione. Speriamo di vederla presto in Italia per promozionare il suo disco , come lei stessa ha preannunciato, perché in questo suo set di apertura ha dimostrato di essere un’artista che merita molta attenzione.
Giulia Nuti
