8/27/2023 0 Comments Passenger band anywhere![]() ![]() Obviously, I make music post-Beatles, so they influence me, but this is the first record that it comes through quite strongly, and I, of course, embrace it. It’s funny to say, but I’ve never felt overly influenced by The Beatles. ‘London in the Spring’ – the chord progression there moments of ‘Suzanne’ also. I actually think there are a few Beatles moments on this record. My guitar player Benny is a phenomenal player and a big George Harrison fan, so he definitely seeps into his playing. Definitely some vibes from Abbey Road or Rubber Soul maybe. One of the other tracks, ‘Remember to Forget’, some of the guitar work on this one reminded me of George Harrison. I think there’s something about that’s really powerful. It’s almost like having an awkward conversation with your ex, and it’s all very polite and all very considered, but then in the chorus, there’s just this burst of, “actually, do you know what – I am not handling this very well, I’m a bit of a mess, and yeah, help!”. It was just a real outpouring of honesty, and I think something that makes the song really work is that the verses are quite conversational, kind of small-talky. I was on lockdown on my own with my cats and feeling fairly weird & sad about things. I had come out of a break-up six or so months previous to writing it. Mike: Yeah, I wrote this song during lockdown actually, so it was added to the album fairly late on. Can you tell me a little bit about this track and where it came from? The opening track from the album is called ‘Sword from the Stone’. I think this time has been crucial for me to get perspective on that again. As wonderful as it is, if you do it every night, it becomes less wonderful. ![]() I’ve toured so much over the past decade it gets so easy to take it for granted. I really enjoyed it, and I think if this year has done anything, it’s made me realise how unbelievably lucky I am to be able to do what I do. Also, if you’re touring night after night, it gets quite slick, but as I haven’t played for so long, it was a bit rusty, and it was funny, fresh and vulnerable. I think it was one of their first gigs, so everyone felt quite lucky to be there. What was the interaction and reaction like from the crowd? The first song was a little bit rusty, and then I thought “Oh yeah, I remember this” (laughing). I bit their hand off for it, firstly to get out of December in England, and to get back out on stage and play again was an absolute joy, such a wonderful feeling and wasn’t as weird a feeling as I thought it might feel. ![]() We were offered these two shows in Dubai, where they have been one of the first places to run socially distanced gigs of any size. Mike: It was great, it came out of the blue. You have an intimate evening at London’s Royal Albert Hall that will be broadcast on January 10th to tie in with the album release, and you played a socially distanced show in Dubai earlier this month – how was that? I’ve always been the other extreme of the spectrum where it’s like, you know what, I’ve got a group of songs, let’s record them, let’s get it out, let’s tour, let’s keep the water running. I’ve got lots of friends who are very meticulous about making a record and agonise over it for two or three years. My dream one day is to have that sort of level of album output to my name. You look at their discography and back catalogue. My heroes are people like Bob Dylan and Neil Young. It’s a really nice thing to do because it documents that process. You are changing as a person all the time, and releasing an album every year. ![]() You are constantly experiencing new things, listening to new music, reading new books. I think there is an inspiration to be found every day. Mike: I find the world and life, pretty constantly inspiring. It’s your twelfth album in 11 years since ‘Wide Eyes Blind Love’ in 2009. ‘Songs for the Drunk and Broken Hearted’ will be released on January 8th. Lee Campbell sat down with Mike to talk about the new album, musical influences, busking and more. Although still known for his busking, he long ago made the journey from street corners to stadiums, thanks in part to supporting his good mate Ed Sheeran, and most notably with “Let Her Go,” which reached number 1 in 19 countries and is approaching three billion plays on YouTube. Hailing from Brighton, England, Passenger is a multi-award winning, platinum-selling singer-songwriter. Mike Rosenberg, better known as Passenger, releases his new studio album Songs for the Drunk and Broken Hearted on January 8, 2021. ![]()
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