Richard Swift is is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and short film maker. His first two albums, The Novelist and Walking Without Effort both received great acclaim and his third album, Dressed Up for the Letdown is out 5th March on Polydor/Secretly Canadian records.

I spoke to him at the K West hotel in London in a conference room equipped with its very own shower and a flip-chart.

Roy: How long have you been making music for?

Richard: I picked up an instrument when I was about fourteen and then I got into it professionally doing session work and whatnot for other people when I was about twenty. I kind of quit my job and started touring and whatnot so yeah, since I was a kid for most part, but mainly the last four or five years.

Roy: I've read quite a bit about your childhood and... do you feel your childhood influences your music?

Richard: I think in a lot of ways it does. I kind of grew up in rural Minnesota for most part and a lot of different rural places such as Utah and Oregon and whatnot. I guess I've always been comfortable being by myself in the middle of nowhere.

Roy: Is that something you miss? That way of life?

Richard: I've kinda got back to it over the last ten months. I moved back to Oregon and I now live in a town of 9000 people. I plan on building my own home within a year or so.

Roy: Do you own any pets?

Richard: No. I love animals but I don't like pets so much, I have three children so that sort of keeps me very busy. I've always disagreed with having animals and pets in small quarters and over the last couple of years, I lived in really small places in L.A. and it was pretty crowded with the full family in there already.
So yeah, once I get out to the country I'll probably get a dog or something.

Roy: Do you find it easier to make music / to be inspired in the countryside?

Richard: It doesn't really matter to me necessarily. I wrote a lot of this record in a city, even the one coming up as well. I guess Walking Without Effort was the only one I wrote while living in the country. I think it is kind of an internal thing and that I am able to find some sort of meditative quality in the work that I do. Maybe I kind of brought the country with me... As far as I know, I've never really been influenced by my immediate physical surroundings. I know a lot of people who write a record, release the record and tour the record and all while they tour they never write a thing because they are on the road but I'm always on the clock, always writing, these things don't turn themselves off.

Roy: As an online arts magazine, we are interested in the relationships between the arts. Do you get influenced by poetry or visual arts?

Richard: I've always been into blue-collar poets. I love Kerouac and Ginsberg and all those cats.
Visually I've always been a huge admirer or Ray Johnson who flew under the radar for most part back in the day. He did collages and mail art and was kind of lost in the shadow of Andy Warhol who I don't really find too much appreciation for. Ray Johnson was just a phenomenal artist and a pretty interesting person who had a really amazing life story. I don't know if I find inspiration from the work itself but sometimes just by the people, the spirit behind the person, people who could call their own shots....

Roy: What struck me about Kerouac and Ginsberg was their Romantic belief in humanity and in the transforming power of their works. Do you believe that art can change the world?

Richard: I do but it's funny because we live in an age where it's pretty easy to get your music out to a lot of people, whether you have a MySpace page or whatever it may be. That being said, I think messages could be spread thin and not have as much of an impact.
I think Kerouac and Ginsberg were living in an age where there was some sort of excitement about being involved in counter-culture and now everything is just so mass marketed and it's hard to really decipher a true revolution.
I don't know if I have a romantic changing-the-world view of music but I think... It's more about trying to be an example of somebody who isn't worried about breaking the rules- I don't necessarily believe that there are rules to be broken. I think that's kind of what Kerouac, Ginsberg and all those cats were trying... I think it was their mentality and I think they were trying to inspire people to loosen up a bit and be a little bit more free thinking. Just reading biographies about Kerouac, he did change that generation but I don't think that's sort of what he wanted to do and he did regret it. Just like Albert Einstein...

Roy: With inventing the atom bomb?

Richard: Exactly. You think you're doing a good thing and all of a sudden it's taken away. I can certainly look at that and learn something. At the end of the day, it's just music. It's chords and words on top of chords and melodies. If people can find some sort of connection or some sort of emotional connection and find peace for a couple of minutes then that's great. If it inspires people to kind of think out of the box, I'm certainly turned on by that. But for me world change is all about being a good father and being a good husband and trying to be the best kind of friend I can be to my friends and not be an asshole and be a good citizen. So... yeah, that kind of ties in... eventually I'd like to be off the grid and build my own home and have solar power and water power, It's not that hard to do. It's actually incredibly easy to do.

Roy: What's Dressed Up for the Letdown, your new album like?

Richard: I'm pretty happy with it. It took me about two weeks to record but it was kind of spread out over a year because I was so busy. I recorded most of it at home, like I do most of my records and then for some stuff I did go... I've got friends that have some really great studios and they were kind of to just let me come in and use studio time and whatnot. All these records I've done with no budget and no help and... I am happy playing this record live and I'm not sick of the songs necessarily. Even though I did The Novelist on a four track, this one is kind of hi-fi 1972 kind of thing, which is what we were going for. I'm really pleased with it. It's a little bit more minimal and to the point. I'm really turned on by minimalism now, like Lennon's first record and even McCartney's first record, records like that, that are just drums,bass, guitar and to the point, no bullshit. I don't know...

Roy: What are your nicknames?

Richard: Most of my friends call me Dick. Dick or Dickie. Most of my family calls me Swift. I do have a lot of nicknames I suppose, my biological father's the same way. In every situation you are in people call you different names, that's always been the case with me for the most part, Rich/Richard/Dick/Dickie.

Roy: Do you see yourself playing music forever?

Richard: I do see myself being involved in the creative process somehow, I'm certainly into visual arts and films and whatnot so I think... over the next year, I want to direct some actual short films. I've done some short experimental avant-guarde films already and I am trying to find a way to see how they fit into the big picture and we might have some showings at Sundance next year and other film festivals.

Roy: What are your films like?

Richard: Along the lines of Stan Brakhage and Maya Deren and early experimental sort of stuff. I look at some of it an think it's utter bullshit and some of it I think it's actually really interesting and emotionally engaging which is certainly kind of the point. Experimental avant-guarde drug movies. Different shapes and colours.

Roy: What music have you been listening to recently? What are you excited about?

Richard: I haven't been excited by a modern band for a while, right now I'm really into rediscovering some blues stuff. Really into Robert Pete Williams, John Lee Hooker, Mississippi John Hurt and Sister Gertrude Morgan. I'm really into dub and King Tubby and Lee Scratch Perry and all that stuff so... recently I've just been hitting the record shops just trying to get things on vinyl... the most recent thing that I really liked... somebody gave me a Deerhoof record, called The Runners Four. Some of their earlier stuff is sort of metal, which I can't really connect with personally but I really like their newer stuff. I like a band called Broadcast, I think they're pretty good. I'm actually a huge fan of Yoko Ono, I think she gets a lot of shit from the world and I do think she's a phenomenal person I think she is an amazing singer, her records are phenomenal, her visual arts are really great and I think she gets a lot for shit for loving somebody who was famous.

Roy: Who's your favourite Beatle?

Richard: Personally, George Harrisson. Musically, I don't know... Paul Lennon? I love Lennon's first few solo records but one of my favourite records of all time was McCartney's first solo record, it kind of changed my life when I was 17/18 years old. It changed my musical perspective. I don't know. I really adore Harrisson, he seems like a very genuine rare guy. I like McCartney kind of moving out to the country and making a record on four-track, there's lots of things that I like.
There are lots of Harisson influences in Dressed Up For The Letdown, I think the record thematically has a theme much like All Things Must Pass, rising above the material world and seeing it for all it is, which is mainly a load of bullshit, especially in the record industry.

Roy: Did you get annoyed with seeing the realities of the behind-the-scenes of music?

Richard: Yeah, absolutely, but it was good because I've sort of learned my lessons through other people. I turned thirty in March and I've been doing this professionally since I was twenty, like all spectrums, working with anyone from hip hop artists to gospel artists to you name it and I've seen a lot of the behind-the-scenes - doing a lot of hard work and not getting any credit or money for it, it's kind of... my story is not unique I'm sure but at least I have a platform where I can sort of, say something about myself.

Roy: We're now going to play a short game. I'm going to throw words at you and you can respond in any way. Right, the first word is: vulgar.

Richard: For some reason, I just thought of Vampire [laughs]

Roy: Because it starts with a V?

Richard: Yeah, maybe, I don't know... it's funny. Vulgar is not a word that I use or even hear so much.

Roy: Second word: Britney Spears.

Richard: I really don't know that much about Britney Spears at all. I genuinely don't pay attention to modern pop culture, she seems as good or as shitty as the rest of them so I don't know why she gets so much guff. I guess because she's been walking around with no panties on or something, I don't know. That's the last thing I saw in the newspapers.

Roy: Third and last word: America?

Richard: Wow! America! I think of Simon and Garfunkel for some reason... America? The land where the people don't match the government, at least not my people. America, give them a break, give Americans a break. It's kind of a strange state of affairs right now.

Roy: If you could choose a super power, what would you like to be able to do?

Richard: I don't like flying... I won't want X-Ray vision... What are some that are out there right now?

Roy: The Human Torch seems to be quite trendy...

Richard: Human Torch is kinda cool, I like the stretchy guy, how about that? Shape shifting, there you go.

Roy: If you weren't doing music, what would you be doing?

Richard: I really like carpentry, I like getting my hands dirty.

Roy: Do you do any DIY?

Richard: Not so much anymore because we've been renting for a while. I want to get out into the country and build my own home and get all that stuff running. Have you ever driven by a chandelier or a light store? I always thought It'll be interesting to work in one of those places, which is like full of chandeliers, I think it's kind of amazing.

Roy: Can you please draw us a self portrait?

Richard: Ok. [doodles away]. Ummm.... self portrait never like this before...

Roy: [catching a glimpse] You can have it as your next album cover.

Richard: Yeah

There you are!

Roy: Wow!

Richard: You got the hair going on there too, not as long though...

Roy: Five months ago it was.

Richard: Was it? Why did you cut it, man?

Roy: I like changing the way I look.

Richard: Yeah. I know.

Roy: This morning I had a beard.

Richard: Oh man, I wish I could grow a full beard. I can only grow like a Let-It-Be McCartney beard. Maybe ten years from now, I might have one. We should see...

FOR MORE OF RICHARD SWIFT, VISIT HIS WEBSITE