For Glen Phillips, there is a clear distinction between fronting a rock band and being a singer-songwriter. While standing in front of an audience with a guitar in his hand has always come naturally, the most significant difference between the two undertakings comes via the emotional connection he forges with the listener. These days, the front-man for Toad The Wet Sprocket is finding that less is definitely more.
“I have always felt somewhat at odds with being in a rock band,” Phillips recently mused. “In rock music, it’s really easy to work it if you want to use the accepted gestures that get everyone excited. When I put on an acoustic solo show, I can move things emotionally in a more subtle way.”
Since Toad The Wet Sprocket decided to transform itself into an occasional entity, Phillips has crafted a solo career of equal consequence. With three studio albums as well as a live recording to his name, he’s evolved as both a songwriter and a performer. But finding the focus solely on him, the pressure has often weighed heavily upon his shoulders.
“I’ve been wanting to record and get something out of my own and not take it so seriously,” offered Phillips. “So I spent a few days in the studio with my friend John Askew, and when John left, I just kept going on my own. I chose this space-travel theme to see where it led me. And it’s been great to have a theme to write on instead of my typical navel gazing, ‘here is why I’m depressed’ kind of songs.”
The themed recording marks a milestone in Phillips’ songwriting career. While his work has always offered a poetic look at the world, more often than not that world has been a very personal one. With Secrets of the New Explorers, Phillips is presented with the opportunity to step outside his personal sphere to lose himself in a cosmic lyric fantasy. And it is an experience that the songwriter has found to be as liberating personally as it has been sonically. “Since I’ve been a solo artist, I haven’t often been in a state of mind where I was feeling light about what I was doing musically,” he said.
It seems only fitting that Phillips’ latest solo undertaking should exhibit a futuristic gleam, as never has the future shone so brightly for the local troubadour. The new year heralds the arrival of several new recorded undertakings. Along with a second collaboration with Askew, Phillips has also recorded an album with Garrison Starr and Neilson Hubbard under the guise of Plover and joined the intriguingly titled collective, the Works Progress Administration.
Stemming from his involvement with Santa Barbara’s infamous monthly music series “Sings Like Hell,” Phillips set the wheels in motion for what has become something of a country-rock supergroup. Joining Phillips are Sean and Sara Watkins (Nickle Creek), Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Attractions), Luke Bella (Jerry Douglas) and Greg Leisz.
For Phillips, the real reward of these recent ventures lies within the varying dynamics. Not only have they encouraged the songwriter to traverse new musical territory, they have also offered him the opportunity to indulge different sides of his orchestral personality.
“It really comes from just wanting to try something different,” explained Phillips. “I felt a little tapped-out so it has been incredibly fun and really challenging to do these other projects. I can be a studio geek and tech head and indulge that obsessive studio approach, but I can also go in [and] make an album in five days with a whole bunch of people playing live. It makes for a nice balance.”
Given the collaborative nature of his forthcoming recorded undertakings, it seems only fitting that his current round of touring should take a similar approach. But this time it is by fate rather than design. With a recent accident resulting in serious muscle and nerve damage to the guitarist’s left arm, Phillips has enlisted the services of Jonathon Kingham, who will be taking on guitar duties. Even in happenstance, the musician can still seek the positive side of the experience.
“I have spent the last 10 years working on this very rhythmic style of playing where I am providing as much of a band as I can for myself,” offers Phillips. “I’m not used to being sparse, so it has been strange to show up and have someone else covering the basic rhythm and me just adding a little color here and there. But anything that drags me out of my old habits is a good thing!”
E-mail Brett Leigh Dicks at brett_leigh_dicks@yahoo.com
