Apr 6, 2007

Little more to life than 'Sex, Food, Death and Tarantulas'

Album asserts we are no greater than animals

By Paul Freeman / Entertainment Writer

Robyn Hitchcock creates music that stands among the era's best. The brilliant British singer-songwriter began with the Soft Boys in the '70s. In the '80s and '90s, with his band the Egyptians, he continued to generate cult adoration, as well as critical acclaim.

"I'm trying to avoid what's been done before, in terms of words. But with music, I'm a real traditionalist," Hitchcock said. "I come unashamedly out of the late '60s. It (was) my psychedelic bar mitzvah. I've been trying to make Beatles records for the last 30 years. The Beatles don't do it anymore, so someone's got to do it."

Hitchcock feels fortunate that songs keep pouring out of his fertile brain. He doesn't stress about that phenomenon fading away.

"You can't take it for granted, but you can base your predictions on what has happened," he said. "I don't think worrying about writing ever helps. Anxiety is really not a good stimulus for anything ... except more anxiety."

His latest CD, "Ole! Tarantula," shows that Hitchcock's songwriting has only gotten better with age. His memorable melodies and enthralling blend of lyrics display whimsicality and profundity.

"I've been doing it so long, it's a compulsion, really," he said.

"Sometimes I don't write songs for a while. You can always just write bad songs and wait for the good ones to come along. There was a good crop on this record, I think. I'm pleased with the songs on my last couple of records ... and the musicians playing on them."

He should be well pleased with his current band's lineup. Comprising the Venus 3 are Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5) and Bill Rieflin (Ministry).

These musicians can be heard on Hitchcock's new EP, "Sex, Food, Death and Tarantulas," and seen on the new Sundance Channel documentary "Sex, Food, Death and Insects."

"If it wasn't for sex, we wouldn't be here. If it wasn't for food, we couldn't stay here. If it wasn't for death, we'd never be able to leave. You've got three absolute essentials there," Hitchcock said. "For some reason, I'm associated with them, as a songwriter."

Insects hold visual appeal for Hitchcock. "I like the segmented creatures - the head, thorax and abdomen. I like crustaceans and mollusks, too. I like a lot of warmblooded and coldblooded creatures. I don't believe in the human monopoly much," he said.

"All we do is complicate things. It doesn't make us a more advanced life form. The animals never produced Beethoven or Shakespeare. But they do just fine without it. They didn't produce Hitler or George Bush, either."

Though some artists can't help but wallow in angst, Hitchcock doesn't want his songs to add to human misery. "Music is the antidote to a world of pain and sorrow," Hitchcock sings in "Museum of Sex" from the new CD.

The astute and witty Hitchcock describes his music as "sadness cloaked in fun."

"Humor is what makes the unacceptable acceptable," he said. "It's a way we have of short-circuiting our frustration and the way our sense of logic feels insulted by the way life goes."

Hitchcock feels one of his roles as an artist is to let people know they're not alone.
"I like music that you can put on and feel that the performer, in some way, is with you, personally." But he says, "Obviously that's an illusion. If you rang them up or found their address - assuming they're alive - or went around to their gravestone, they wouldn't be pleased to see you at all. But they can at least give you that feeling. It's knowing that there are other like-minded people out there."

Another of the artist's goals is to rouse audiences emotionally and intellectually. "When people do think or feel, you don't come up with that sort of dogmatic fundamentalism which is so poisonous to our world and all the species in it."

Intellectually, Hitchcock feels tormented by the world's madness, but says he still relishes life. "In terms of being an organism, an animal, I'm happy. As a thinker, I'm not. But as a sensualist I'm happy," he said. "I like the physical act of being alive."

Though he admits, "I don't obviously enjoy what my mind shows me."

Hitchcock says, "You've got to celebrate the good stuff. There is so much poison and garbage around, but you can't let it pollute the undeniable joys of being - sunlight on rocks, friendships, erotic experiences, ripe bananas - not too ripe, a little bit of green on them still - a well-proportioned sandwich, fresh guitar strings, a brilliant group, a beautiful lover - those are all things that you're very lucky to have, if you have them."