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Greg Clifford
179 Plays5 years ago
A wonderful conversation with the talented Irish musical artist GREG CLIFFORD
Clifford’s style is an authentic synthesis of Indie-pop rock fused with electronic aspects and ‘classical’ guitar fingerpicking.
In 2017 he released an LP entitled ‘Quodlibet’, as well as playing 17 gigs across Ireland as part of a 3-act showcase called the ‘Back to Basics Tour.' Since then he has gone on to release his second album 20/20 Vision.
As well as touring throughout Ireland and internationally with his own music, Clifford is also an established arranger and producer. He has scored for and performed with the RTE Concert Orchestra in a sold-out National Concert Hall and holds a Masters in contemporary composition.
Enjoy the hit song 'Long Lost Friend' included in this episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExO4w-mqC28
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guests
00:00:00
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host Ken Vellante. Editor and producer Peter Bauer.
00:00:17
Speaker
You're listening to the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast and really excited here to have a friend of the show, a friend of the podcast, Greg Clifford. I always refer back to a kind of happenstance contact with Six of One, half a dozen of the other podcasts, The Troop of Artists and Gublin.
00:00:40
Speaker
Many of them who you've met on the show, Rachel Lally, Jeff Finan, Emmett O'Brien is on the way eventually. We got Greg Clifford here on the heels of some new music and a little bit of press going on. Greg, welcome
Greg Clifford's Musical Journey and Pandemic Reflections
00:00:56
Speaker
to the show. It's been a long time waiting for you to get here and we're here. Welcome to the show. It's been a while, but we've landed. It's great to talk. Thanks so much for having me.
00:01:06
Speaker
Um, absolutely my pleasure. Um, I know right now, uh, you know, you got, you got some, you got some, uh, you got some music, uh, gorgeous song, by the way, we're going to play a long lost friend, uh, for the listeners and a little bit. So no, I know you're in that kind of, you know, making art, uh, getting the word out there, um, putting things together, beautiful video, you're doing those things. So what's it like right now for you? Um, you know, putting out that music, uh, doing that type of thing. How's it feel for you? Well,
00:01:36
Speaker
As of this moment right now, I feel excellent. I'm a little bit fatigued. I'm a little bit, uh, almost overstimulated, you know what I mean? With all the positive energy and positive feedback I'm getting, but you know, like things are good. The response has been excellent. I'm genuinely bowled over and floored. And just really, I really appreciate how people have taken to it. Cause you know, the thing is you put a lot of work in and there's a lot of times
00:02:03
Speaker
And, you know, where doubt creeps in and self-deprecation and moments like these days, like these, as fleeting as they might be, and they kind of indicate you. So, uh, you know, as the pandemic has taught me anything, it's be in the present moment, try to reside in the present moment and appreciate whatever good things come your way. So that's, uh, that's what I'm doing right now. Yeah. And, and, and, and, uh,
00:02:31
Speaker
I gotta say, you know, it's a way to connect, right? I'm over here in the States all the way on the West Coast and, you know, been connecting to the art that you make over there. I think part of the podcast, what's been interesting is maybe to drop in over time into, I don't know, like a local scene or what local artists are doing and what sounds that are out there.
00:02:51
Speaker
And I know from artists around the world, and I know in Ireland there's been particular issues to work through about access, opening, creating things, and a lot of political controversy around that, same over here.
00:03:08
Speaker
What I'm seeing here is that now with some levels of vaccine access, the thought that things will open up or there'll be some sort of structured kind of music out there. In Ireland right now, is there kind of welled up energy around music or how are people feeling about where things are in this stage in the pandemic and performance?
The Power of Art and Music as Self-Expression
00:03:30
Speaker
You know, things were kind of tough for people because we went into a level five lockdown, like a serious lockdown.
00:03:38
Speaker
just after Christmas, we're still currently in it and we have a five kilometer radius so we're very very restricted and then of course couple that with the fact that the days have been shorter, less sunlight, bad weather but there has been a communal load you know so that that has been a challenge on people and I even found myself at the start of the year just a little bit out of sorts you know like usually I'm good at exerting some kind of control over
00:04:08
Speaker
equilibrium but I think my resilience was just low at the time so it's been rather peculiar but at the moment I'm trying to maintain a positive disposition because I'm trying to not look too far into the future and just go well what do I have now but what I have is encouraging friends, supportive friends, challenging friends, my family are good, I'm healthy, I'm productive, I have
00:04:34
Speaker
a lust for art, a drive, I don't know exactly where it comes from, but I appreciate that I have it. So yeah, I'm just trying to be in the present moment, you know what I mean? And I'm using this time. I mean, it's an incredible time for an artist as Charles Bukowski once says, isolation is the gift. Now, a little bit extreme, but I have had time to devoid of distraction to see to my creative to-do list. Yeah.
00:05:03
Speaker
Hey, Greg, we got a Bukowski quote from you already. So we're already at 100. So everything's gravy right now. We got the Bukowski quote. Hey.
00:05:14
Speaker
I want to get back, I want to get into some of the philosophy. One more thing about the music to tell listeners, we've got the variety, first variety, something rather than nothing podcast episode, and a lot of great music and some from you, Greg. We'll have some local artists in Portland, a couple of Canadian artists, Ireland, so it'll be a kind of an international music variety show. So listeners, you'll have another crack at getting some of
00:05:41
Speaker
Greg's music, but Greg, let's go back in the way back in the back to the future time machine back to when you were younger. I mean, we were walking around singing in the streets. Were you writing poetry? Were you an artist? What were you like creatively back then? You know, I'd say it began for me back in 1987 in my mother's womb. You know, my dad, my parents are pretty music crazy.
00:06:09
Speaker
So no doubt I was picking up some kind of vibrations, like literally from day one. I've never known anything other than, you know, interesting sounds and vibrancy in the household. But before I could even walk or talk or function, I was able to actually take a record, a vinyl out of a sleeve and put it on the turntable. And the two albums I always went to was Harvest Moon by Neil Young.
00:06:37
Speaker
and Sgt. Pepper's by the Beatles. They were my two go-tos. So, like, yeah, just, I was always fascinated with music. I, again, before I could talk or function or do anything, I was picking up squash and tennis rackets and pretending to be playing guitar. Yeah, I just, it was a very vibrant household to grow up in, where the, any kind of creative or musical leanings or interest that was expressed was very much fostered.
00:07:07
Speaker
right from the get go. So it was kind of, I was beaten by the book and there was no way out, you know, it was kind of always almost determined, shall we say, but never forced on me, just awfully organic. Yeah, it was kind of the, the, the environment. And thanks for sharing that. I'm always, I'm always pretty darn fascinated as far as, you know, the, the, the, the climate that you come out of, you know, and, you know, you know, parents and
00:07:34
Speaker
relatives or the uncle that's the rock star or like what you attach to as far as art goes. I wanted to ask a big question getting into art because I know you're a heavy hitter when it comes to philosophy.
Emotional Connections and the Role of Art in Society
00:07:54
Speaker
I know you're a heavy hitter when it comes to music. I was wondering what is art? What do you think art is for you?
00:08:04
Speaker
But I suppose the definition of it has evolved and changed for me over the years. But as I sit here right now, I realize that it is very much life. It is very much expression, connection with others. On a personal level, it's therapy. It's cathartic to write.
00:08:26
Speaker
And then say for the listener, it offers comfort at times. It offers reinforcements. And it's just an incredible, incredibly powerful thing. I mean, it even helps you to reconnect to the past. I mean, if you think about people who have dementia or Alzheimer's, wake and spark memories back and put them in a place. And, you know, even the other day, I was listening to Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. They have a new album out.
00:08:55
Speaker
a track. I didn't know they had a new album. Yeah, okay. Because he's a freak, isn't he? He's just incredibly prolific. But then that track carnage, it just stopped me my tracks. I was doing some admin. And it just had my headphones on. I just got lost in a very simple song. But the strings and the cinematic choir like it just it actually moved me to tears, which is incredible. There's just such power in music. And
00:09:22
Speaker
Aside from the kind of the hour of pleasure that it gives you, it is also my gateway, or has been anyway, pre-pandemic, into interesting conversations, into new projects, new times, new people, new countries. So it's just, it is life. Sometimes I feel I almost live vicariously through the entity that is, or the force that is music. Yeah. Yeah. And thanks for mentioning the, I have an
00:09:50
Speaker
kind of a Nick Cave freak. I mean, if you like Nick Cave, you end up being a Nick Cave freak. Absolutely. Yeah. Fully committing, fully pledged in the deep end. Yeah. Yeah. There's, you know, the birthday party and it's good to hear that some new music. I find, you know, one of the things about that too is one of the things I've been thinking about and actually your new track made me think about it and you mentioned Nick Cave. I deeply attached
00:10:16
Speaker
deeper emotional content of music. It just grabs me, the emotion, like how do you connect emotionally with music and it's transformative. There's no other art form for me, though I practice other art forms and consume a lot, that drives into the soul like a song or music does and emotional. Do you, this is a question I'm really kind of learning from you,
00:10:43
Speaker
that comes out in your music and the emotional content. Is that something you have to as a songwriter, as a musician, you have to go in there and be like, try to create that? Or is that just a natural flow coming from we're connecting human to human with the emotion that comes through your words? Yeah, I suppose it does vary from artist to artist. For me, actually, another thing that art is, it's a means of punctuating
00:11:11
Speaker
my day, my weeks, my months, my years. It's a way of documenting my life and on a kind of a darker or heavier level, it is a means of just kind of filling in time, giving me some kind of purpose. Like I would have, you know, we all have existential angst and questions and that kind of the heaviness of the staring into the abyss and this looking back at you. So a lot of that
00:11:39
Speaker
And uncertainty that I have or anguish I truly pour into the music into the songs Into the lyrics, you know, like there's a I can't sing lyrics that don't mean something to me now. That's not to say every single song is Full-blown autobiographical, but it is something that that I care about that I want to express or that maybe on a subconscious level I just want to make sense of at that time of writing you know, so
00:12:08
Speaker
I really do give myself over completely to the recording process as well. I don't like to cut corners. I am a crafter at heart. I'm certainly not an innate talent as such or an incredibly gifted child. I have musicality and good rhythm, but I have to work hard and I still endeavour to work hard and improve with each song and each part of the project.
00:12:35
Speaker
Yeah, that theme does come up. We haven't developed it a ton in the show, but it always comes up about the talent and the hard work that goes into it. And it very rarely is an either or, right? I mean, you have a ton of talent, but you still have to work your ass off. I mean, where your position in society, what your access is to recording, what the city you live in, or if you're somewhere far away from access. So all those issues come up.
00:13:03
Speaker
Greg, what's the role of art right now? Is art more important now? Is art less important? Or is art just art and it doesn't matter whether it's a pandemic or not?
Philosophical Reflections on Art and Life
00:13:18
Speaker
Yes, I think it changes the importance of art shifts a lot, you know what I mean? It depends what art form it is as well.
00:13:27
Speaker
And maybe on some level like if to remove the kind of the higher realm of acts it also provides entertainment for people. It provides a soundtrack to some people's date. Okay, it could be sometimes a little bit and disposable because of that. But it provides people with an escape route. It provides people with
00:13:51
Speaker
a gateway into interesting conversations with other people and you know i suppose on some level that's what the art provides now and maybe it's doing that more so than it was before maybe even people might have a heightened appreciation of it when things open back up hopefully so yeah what maybe kind of
00:14:14
Speaker
what helps you get through. Right. I mean, people that expression, you know, that people are closely connected to music. You know, I saw there's a book or a blog or some of the songs that saved your life. Right. The songs that like you cling on to. And and a lot of artists talk about that. And I think the pandemic has been just as much about that for some folks. What is the art that you cling to? Who is the person that you cling to? What is the concept or belief or faith?
00:14:42
Speaker
that you cling to. And I've seen artists having a particular role of saying, you know, screaming out into the microphone, this is a fucked up time. And other people being like, yeah, the dude who's screaming into the microphone saying it's a fucked up time that's hitting me or a lament. And I found that helps. Yeah. Carry folks through. Right.
00:15:01
Speaker
I've kind of found it a very, as I say, existential time, a very humbling time in which I really realize the transient nature of the world and the impermanence too, you know? And that's not a cause for, you know, great despair and nihilism. More so, I kind of use that as quite an empowering thing because that makes me really realize I've got a limited amount of time on this planet.
00:15:30
Speaker
And I wish to illuminate myself to art. And now in my 30s, in my early 30s, it's like, well, I've kind of settled into the person that I am. I'm not trying to defy certain aspects of myself. Before in the past, I fixated on what I didn't have and what I wasn't. But I'm trying to change that, that mindset now. And because of that, I found myself more content
00:15:59
Speaker
And even more productive now really is a little bit of a freeing in that. And yeah, I know. I mean, as far as the develop over time, I mean, I think one of the interesting things for myself is that like formally identifying or creating things is really something I look at myself only done for the last three years or so, you know, I started at 45 and 48 now. So like,
00:16:25
Speaker
You know, what you need at the time, what you need to do at the time to help process. I found it for me, it ended up being so powerful of what I needed to say or express that it had to come out through through through art. But I didn't anticipate that. I didn't anticipate there'd be like that well back behind me. And I know a lot of people have that in kind of in them right now in the pandemic, like what's inside of me and how the hell can I get it out? Right. Yeah.
00:16:54
Speaker
Do you know, I really appreciate that I have the outlet also. Because for some people, it can be frustrating when you feel very much in a prison or you feel like you can't express or even articulate. That can be a challenge. But I know a lot of people who've been just getting into painting and journaling. I think writing is important. And it's not even about having to get it published
00:17:22
Speaker
or performed or anything like that just to get it on paper and just be so important because you're so very important to the soul and the mind. Yeah. Thank you.
00:17:33
Speaker
Hey everybody, I'm in the position right now with Greg Clifford that I have music that I want to play and anytime I'm a musician and I can't wait too, too long because I'm like, I got this thing behind me and I want to hear it. So, hey Greg, we're going to play your new track, Long Lost Friend.
00:17:54
Speaker
share that with the listeners. Beautiful song. We're going to get back and chat about a little bit more about music and philosophy. Right now we've got Long Lost Friend by Greg Clippen.
00:18:24
Speaker
You see, sometimes in life you need to survive You need to hold your head high Reach through the sky You see, sometimes in life You need to get, you need to get away
00:18:37
Speaker
this place I left tonight I had to break free I didn't deal with your mind But I hope you don't understand, I hope you don't understand That I left you all behind as I meet you and then Now you're a long lost way And I will be back, I will be back again in the room A long lost way And I will be back, I will be back again in the room
00:19:12
Speaker
And I know that I will see you again Someday I'll try to reunite with all the pieces down I lost all the pieces that I may find I see the world for me and how it turns And now it hurts and now it hurts I'm sure you heard it all before
00:19:48
Speaker
This is a mess cause words could be I hope you understand I hope you understand That I left you all behind as a piece of an end You're a long, long straight and I will be back
00:20:14
Speaker
Oh a long, long straight and I believe like I'll be there again
00:21:13
Speaker
Hell of a track, brother. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Beautiful song. Thank you for that. That's the new single, right? Yeah, that's the fresh single. Yeah, it's the lead single off the album. The album is called Lines of Desire. And yeah, so that's Long Last Round.
00:21:42
Speaker
Absolutely wonderful. Hey, um, one of the things I wanted to, uh, wanted to tell you, um, that is, uh, an interesting little, little story that I'm sharing with, uh, my Irish friends. I was looking at my family history and, uh, you know, you do those DNA testing and they tell you, there's a DNA testing family tree and all this stuff. And I come from, uh, how shall I put it?
00:22:08
Speaker
an American New England working class ethnic mix. And my last name's Volante, but I got to tell you, predominantly through my family research and DNA, I am more Irish than anything. Wow.
00:22:29
Speaker
So there you have it. Maybe the closer connection, my Irish brother here, Greg Clifford. That's it. Maybe I'm bringing something out here and there's just this gravitational pull that we're powerless to defy.
Influences and Motivations Behind Greg Clifford's Art
00:22:42
Speaker
It's like Aristotle said that, you know, the stone wants to go back to the earth, you know, didn't know about gravity, wants to go back to like where it was before. And I'm doing my podcast with my Irish family. That's amazing. You know, for a small country, the Irish really spread themselves. I worked in Boston in the electrical workers union.
00:23:11
Speaker
And I had a lot of Irish brother friends in South Boston. It was great. Is that your way of saying a lot of drinking buddies? South Boston Irish? Yeah, absolutely. All right, Greg. Hey, another question, kind of a formation question and answer it how you will. What, you know, whether it's art or a thing or who,
00:23:40
Speaker
has made you who you are. Well, you know, I truly believe I am the synthesis of every single thing I've ever lived, like every single conversation as important or as inane, every, you know, good, bad or indifferent piece of music or film. Now, of course, there's other, you know, there's stronger influences and they would be most certainly my dad.
00:24:08
Speaker
He is an innate artist. He was a former performance artist, used to put on different shows. He had a music magazine called the Vox magazine from 1980 to 83, played in a band, used to put on gigs, did some graphic design. So I was bitten by the bug, like even at a young age, I used to watch him.
00:24:33
Speaker
draw and do graphic design and artwork for t-shirts. He was a printer also and so I always looked up to him and he was obviously a self-employed man so again it's no surprise that myself and my brother kind of followed that path. Musically the main influence is like the major one is the beagles and I've always loved their pop sensibilities but also the rich
00:25:02
Speaker
textures, the rich orchestration, but they, they blended that together so majestically. And then, like, you know, things changed. I got into Rory Gallagher, you get into, you know, the doors, the Kings, Bertard and Zeppelin for a big Pink Floyd. That blew my mind when I first heard Dark Side of the Moon.
00:25:22
Speaker
But as I, you know, developed more as a person and actually developed my mind and my ability to write lyrics, that came away from the music and that would have been more different, the toes into literature. So sometime around the age of 18 or 19, I started to attempt the works of Camus and the likes of William Burroughs. Now, I remember reading Junkie by William Burroughs and I didn't really get it.
00:25:51
Speaker
I wasn't a very good reader. I found it quite arduous, actually, to be honest. But I was like, this is an investment. This will stand to me eventually. Eventually, the doors of perception will open. And actually, the doors of perception by Alice Huxley was a fantastic read and was a further gateway into just unlocking just different potential, I guess, broadening my horizon of possibility. That's what it was. Potential. You know, exactly, yeah. And then I suppose away from literature,
00:26:21
Speaker
and film like movies they seriously influence me and move me now possibly more than the music and I guess one of my heroes has to be Werner Herzog
00:26:34
Speaker
the German little maker and documentarian. I just love his aesthetic, his unapologetic way. Even in his documentaries, I know he gets criticized, but he blurs, sometimes he blurs the lines of what's fact and fiction and he creates a spectacle. I think it was Bells, Bells of Desire. Bells of Desire. But we've said it on maybe a mix of titles here, but it was set in Syria or Siberia. And it's just kind of like, you don't know,
00:27:03
Speaker
Fabrication was a fact, but it's quite a stunning visual project and just production.
00:27:13
Speaker
It's interesting you mentioned Herzog and it's a little uncanny our conversation because I'm actually not even sure which of these artists that I deeply love and enjoy and can go down the rabbit hole to pick on or to pick. I was just talking to somebody about I love Herzog's maniacal mind. I love the blurring
00:27:37
Speaker
I love the you don't know where you are and where the boundary is. You just don't know. I'm not saying morally that that's correct. I know that's not the question that's addressed. It's disruptive. And I found I find his works to be of such intensity. And, you know, I remember the one I don't know if you've ever seen a documentary about his relationship with Klaus Kinski, my best, my best.
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah. Where Hertzog is across the ridge looking at the hut that Kinski in all his madness and habits and is planning out firebombing and destroying his lead actor. Yeah. Yeah. And you listen to him and you think it's real.
00:28:33
Speaker
Yeah, like, I mean, there's a real, there's a real sickness that the man is, he's one of a kind, he's madcap, he's a maverick. Like, yeah, I just find his work stunning, you know, as you say, it's very, it's just a real rawness and intensity. And there's imperfections, you know, and it's very human. Like, when you're watching it, like, you know, when you watch Fitz Corralo,
00:28:59
Speaker
You kind of forget that you're watching a film. You kind of go, wait a second, there's no special effects here. They made this happen. So almost the art form elevates from just what's being displayed on the screen. But it's the almost the art form of his ability to weave his way in with situations and an environment. Like he had to befriend the indigenous people of the Amazon to actually help them pull a ship over a mountain with a series of pulley lever systems.
00:29:30
Speaker
Like that is just unheard of, like, how could you not be moved by that? Again, it's a little bit like the Nick Cave thing. If you watch it or you listen and you go, this isn't for me, you kind of just leave it. But if it does call out to you, you end up completely immersed in it. My favorite final bit on Herzog, and we'll probably do another podcast. I mean, we'll dedicate it to him.
00:29:53
Speaker
I love the title of his diary of the making of Fitzcorraldo. I actually have it. It's called The Conquest of the Useless. Yeah, it's incredible, isn't it? Actually, that was a book, one of the tracks on my forthcoming album called Redemption. I really liked the instrumental that I had, but it was getting to like three weeks before I had to go into the studio for the first day of recording.
00:30:19
Speaker
And I didn't have the song finished, but I knew it had great potential. So I grabbed three books from my collection to try and just trigger some ideas. One was exile from the kingdom or exile and the kingdom. One was from a philosopher called Michael Foley called the age of the absurd. And, and the other one was a conquest of the useless. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. It just, it just triggered me and it just went, well, you got to do it now. This is it. Just get stuck in.
00:30:50
Speaker
Yeah. And so it came actually songs that are very proud of lyrically emerged. Wonderful. Wonderful. And I love that background. I'm going to connect with that. It's good. Yeah. The intensity. I hear a lot of the similarity of as far as the intensity of some of the some of some of the artists that we follow. There are a couple couple more big questions for you, Greg. And lay them on me. Lay them on me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One one is in it's it's it's this this this large question for artists. And it's a big philosophical question is like
00:31:20
Speaker
Why do you create? You know, you're looking for immortality. Are you looking for psychological exegesis? What is it? Why do you go in there and do it all? Yeah, you know, you tipped on something there. There could well be, and I don't think this is my motive, but kind of trying to defy our impermanence.
00:31:49
Speaker
possibly trying to kind of give the fingers up to death. It's like, well, I've left something. I've left my mark. My name could still, hopefully, be remembered or still influenced by those down the line. But, you know, it really comes to what is the meaning of life anyway. And the thing is, there is no fundamental meaning of life. Well, on an animalistic level, it's to procreate. But we have, you know, we've risen above, say, that base level animal now.
00:32:19
Speaker
you know, we're a brilliant ape. But so I think I have to look at it as a meaning thing. And I realize now that there's no divine meaning as such meaning is more a manly creation and meaning comes from the self. So for me, it's just to chase and respond to whatever calls out to me, you know, like respond to impulse, trusting, intuition, whatever illuminates me illuminates me.
00:32:48
Speaker
I try not to overthink it too much and just do it, just be engaged in the act of doing. Because that's all I ever really want is just to be engaged in a discipline. And a lot of times it actually keeps the negativity or any kind of lingering depression or worry about the afterlife or the nothingness of afterlife. It keeps that at bay. It keeps me engaged in the present. Yeah, yeah. Thank you.
00:33:16
Speaker
I got the big philosophical question coming after this one. And for the set up, I want to ask you kind of a half-witted American question that I asked Brother Jeff Finan. OK, so I'm going to half-witted American question outsider. Are banshees real? Banshees? Well, they can be after a lot of coaching. You can start to hear voices.
00:33:45
Speaker
Yeah, I've experienced a few banshees in my time when I've succumbed to the delirium tremors. So, so banshees might as well be real in this scenario. Sometimes we, you know, there's horrors that linger in the, in the, in the backgrounds of our mind. And a certain psychologist, or when one over indulges indulges.
00:34:11
Speaker
I shouldn't even have to ask the question. In the past, I met a few banshees. All right, big question. Greg Clifford, Dublin, Ireland. Why is there something rather than nothing? Well, you know what? I suppose it depends on the frame of reference, because even to say if there was nothing, that's still a state of somethingness, isn't it? Yeah. How does one imagine nothing?
00:34:40
Speaker
something that's transparent, is it something that's white, is it something that's empty and large and vast. It's very difficult to get outside of our frame of reference, our very myopic frame of reference actually. And that could be scary to think about that. Like I remember getting hit with that
00:35:03
Speaker
That kind of idea of like what comes next and wait my parents are going to be gone like I mean like we all do But it hit me sometime around the age of six I just remember crying for days. I was like this is terrifying It's like everything is so large not so small in the world but em
00:35:21
Speaker
Look, I take some comfort in the fact that I didn't know what it was like to not exist or to not be tangibly in the world. So I believe that I'll be okay when I'm not in this tangible realm as well, because I probably just don't know a bit, you know? So why is there something that doesn't matter? Well, I guess, you know, the easy thing is I suppose there has to be something, like it's even like why do you, why do you want to act in the first place?
00:35:51
Speaker
So I think it goes beyond my puny mind, but I do find it interesting because I'm sure, you know, the notions of the afterlife that we have, and I would never knock religion for the comfort that it gives people. I would certainly knock religion for how it's been enforced on people and the suppression of the individual over the years. But, you know, it does offer comfort to people, but it's still, again, within our manmade
00:36:21
Speaker
frame of reference. Like, I'm sure there is things that are vast and that go way, way, way beyond our comprehension. But I mean, within that, you've got to think like, there is no great truth that we're necessarily privy to, or I don't believe there is. So again, it sounds a little bit kind of wild and a little bit nihilistic, but I kind of take strength and empowerment from that, but it's like, well,
00:36:50
Speaker
one's way is just a way among me. The things made patterns form, patterns have to form, you know, and so, you know, they're imagined orders, money, monogamy, capitalism, religion, it's all man made, man
Exploring Philosophical Themes and Cultural Influences
00:37:04
Speaker
altered. Now we're getting there. But I think, you know, you're hitting me, you're coaxing me into a stream of consciousness here, KB.
00:37:17
Speaker
I think you know as things are now again just not being able to look too far into the future like eventually things will blow over and there'll be vaccines and there'll be gigs and there'll be traveling and the communion of a gig in an audience have lost them again but as I say I have to just be fixated in the present moment
00:37:38
Speaker
So there's something very grounded about us all and me now. I don't have that Descartes Cartesian mindset of, you know, a body and the mind in the world. Not at the moment anyway. Well, unless you get a little bit of encouragement from it, whatever. Yeah. Narcotics along the way. Well, there's the, um, like, uh,
00:38:02
Speaker
the, you know, subject object duality. And one of the things we've talked about, like in something rather than nothing is like, you know, there's this like kind of Western duality, I've tried to infuse and just think about like Eastern Eastern religions in, you know, some of our Western constructs, and I find it to be fertile area, in particular for artists and
00:38:20
Speaker
you know philosophers and thinkers like yourself and you know musicians i mean your your thinkers you're creating things you're putting things out there you're making a guess on the big question otherwise you wouldn't bother i mean you wouldn't bother with any of that stuff um
00:38:33
Speaker
We're gonna, listeners, we're gonna be hearing, again, Greg Clifford in the Music Variety Show coming up. Very, very, very excited about that. Greg, but before we let you go, I really want all the listeners to be able to connect with your music, the video, how you produce things. Where do they go to find you? I know you're pretty accessible. Can you lead the listeners to where they need to look?
00:39:01
Speaker
Yeah, I suppose the best landing point would be Instagram. So it's very simply just Instagram.com forward slash GregCliffordMusic. G-R-E-G-T-L-I-F-F-O-R-D. Music spelled the correct way. So that's easy enough. And Facebook, I'm the same. I'm GregCliffordMusic. There is a GregCliffordMusic.com. I have a number of videos throughout the years up on
00:39:30
Speaker
up on my YouTube. I'm obviously on Spotify as well. But there is another Greg Clifford in the world who is almost like the evil Greg Clifford. He's the antithesis of this one. But it's very easy to see. When you see a picture of me on my Spotify artist ID, you'll know it's me. It's just funny. There's another Greg Clifford out there. He doesn't produce music anymore, it would seem. And as I said, I say it kind of
00:40:00
Speaker
in a facetious way the um the antithesis but he he's like it's it's dance music and there's a but he has an album called demonic souls that wouldn't really be my bag you know it's very funny i was doing a landscaping landscaping gardening job one time let's say about five or six years ago and uh the young guy there was a you know an eight-year-old nine-year-old in in the house
00:40:28
Speaker
And he was telling me that he was really into music. I was like, oh, that's fantastic that you're, you know, you're into that and you play or what you listen to. So he was telling me he's into, you know, Harry Potter soundtracks. And I was like, check me out on Spotify, great clippers and come back to me tomorrow and tell me what song you like. Then he comes out to me and goes, I found you and he shows me his tablet. And he's like, I love this song, Demonic Souls.
00:40:53
Speaker
As I watched him on Excels, I was like, yeah, you must. That doesn't sound like me. I looked at it and he had found the different, the other Greg Clifford. So his favorite Greg Clifford song wasn't even from this one.
00:41:04
Speaker
He liked the other Grey Clif... He liked the other Grey Clif... It's like in Twin Peaks. It's not knowing the other Grey Clifford, you know, respect to whatever's going on there, but it's like Twin Peaks.
Future Projects and Artistic Philosophies
00:41:15
Speaker
It's like, you know, the Dale Cooper in the one lodge and you get the other Dale Cooper running around between the, you know, the universes and the doppelgangers and Topas. I know, man. Maybe it's just a glitch in the system. Look, I'll tell you another quick one. And this one is even crazier.
00:41:30
Speaker
I released Brown Tide and a music video for Brown Tide in around November and I posted it privately, you know, not publicly on YouTube, just to test it out and see was it okay. So I did an incognito search to make sure it wasn't for public consumption. And then I saw Greg Clifford Brown Tide pop up and I was like, what's Beatcore?
00:41:54
Speaker
clicked on it. It turns out this other Greg Clifford, back in February of whatever 2013, had already released a song called Brontide. Now that blew my mind. Now that blew my mind because the word Brontide is, you know, that's not commonplace. It's the same. You've got to Google it. Yeah, exactly. It's one of those kind of words. So I was thinking, I've got a good thing going here. So I'm not even the first Greg Clifford to release Brontide. Now that blew my mind.
00:42:25
Speaker
What's Brontide Meat again? It's the sound of distant thunder. It's actually seismic activity, but it's like a low rumble. So for me, that represents kind of impending doom and gloom or some kind of tragedy, which is the case with that song then, because the song is about fading memories, not being able to get access to your memories. It alludes to dementia. So yeah.
00:42:50
Speaker
Incredible. So there's two great Clifford Brown Tides. One is yours in the low rumbling, the low rumbling of thunder, right? Yeah. And you know, it's almost heartbreaking seeing that. I mean, I have to laugh at it. But it's almost like he wasted such a beautiful word because the song or the piece just goes. It's devoid of melody. It's devoid of, you know, a display of musicality. It's just a waste of a word. But it's a decent anecdote for me.
00:43:19
Speaker
It's a decent anecdote for me, and that's what the artist needs. Greg, it's been a great pleasure to chat with you. I gotta tell you, personally, I'm excited to hear the song and see the video. And also, just me trying to...
00:43:39
Speaker
with the music variety episode, something new, something to kind of create a little community, a little bit of a mix of musical styles from around the world. And I'm very happy and...
00:43:54
Speaker
and just pleased to have your contributions to that, but also to have spent the time with you here today. I know we share a lot of maybe ways of looking at the world or artists that we see the world through, and I really appreciate and really enjoy spending the time with you, and just really thanks for coming on, brother. Yeah, it's been an absolute pleasure. Honestly, I didn't see the time go by there. We could chat all day.
00:44:22
Speaker
We can. This is this is this is part one, because I know we've got like Bukowski, Burroughs, Nick Cave, Werner Herzog and others that we still got to cut. We did some pretty good on Herzog. It's a good kind of overview. And I'm even I'm working on a novel at the moment. I didn't even get to address that. Well, address it. Address it now. We need to know what you'd like to hear about it. The book is it's about my time.
00:44:51
Speaker
performing and touring in Switzerland with a parody Trad Rock Irish band and it's about the trials and tribulations and the roguish behavior or whatever. It's a fusion of fact fiction and fabrication and it's in quite a
00:45:10
Speaker
Well, I'm trying to kind of base it on a, you know, Wachowski, Hunter S. Thompson, kind of Jim Carroll basketball diaries way in that I wouldn't be, it doesn't appear to me to write something like a Mark Twain, you know? But for me, I like that gritty, the gritty literature, I like colloquialisms, I like short, sharp sentences. And yeah, it's just, it's a great, it's a hell of an undertaking, but it's entitled The Diary Entries of a Somewhat Degenerate.
00:45:42
Speaker
I love it. I love it. And a huge Hunter S. Thompson fan, I love his political analysis, love his style. Oh, and of course, with the style, Ken, I like that there's that blurring of the lines of, is this actually a life that they lived, Paul Tudor, their alter ego? You know, the way Bukowski has Henry Chynasky, and Thompson has Ralph Duke, isn't it?
00:46:10
Speaker
Well, my alter ego is Pardin or Rafferty, which is a very, you know, cliched Irish kind of name. I've heard about that guy. So it's just, it's quite interesting. Again, it kind of alludes to that duality and then indulge in your fantasies and indulge in your wild side. Like I used to really pretend that I was Pardin, that I was, um,
00:46:36
Speaker
that Greg Clifford had rented the body out to this folk spirit demon. You know, it was just a drunken haze and a kind of a joke that just grew legs. But there was some kind of energy or some kind of force and it was a hell of a time, hell of a ride. And I just felt, I've always wanted to write a book, write a novel. And I was like, well, I have, I have a subject here. I have something that's relatively authentic in a world where it's hard to really grab hold of original ideas.
00:47:05
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. Well, thanks for sharing that. And obviously, when it comes to the art sharing community with the podcast, certainly check back in and wrap around with you. And probably the next time we chat when we cover all those other artists, we can get more into the novel and lyricism. Thanks, Greg. It's great to see you. It's great to hear your voice. And many thanks.
00:47:41
Speaker
This is something rather than nothing.