Exclusive Interview: Gary Lucas

After all these years of music, art and creation, Gary Lucas invites us to take stock of his life and his personality as an artist in this exclusive interview. Portrait and profile of this musician, who’s American but also has his heart in the rest of the world.

Human, citizen of the culture and the world, Gary Lucas isn’t a common artist (if you listen to some of his albums you’ll notice that). He can be considered the son of a great generation. He was nominated for a Grammy and was described as one of the best and most original guitarists in the United States (and he only took lessons for a month!). He leads a super-band called ‘Gods & Monsters’ (called a ‘21st century Cream’ by Rolling Stone magazine), that used to have the marvelous Jeff Buckley in the early 90’s. Nowadays it features Gary (vocals and guitar), Ernie Brooks (bass), Billy Ficca (drums), Jason Candler (alto sax) and Joe Hendel (trombone and keyboards). Ocasionally Jerry Harrison (keyboards) joins them live or in the studio. The name of the groups comes from the movie ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’, where Dr Praetorious says ‘To a New World of Gods & Monsters’.
He has played with a lot of artists: Nick Cave, Captain Beefheart, Iggy Pop, Elli Medeiros, Bruce Springsteen, David Johansen, Lou Reed, Najmha Akhtar, Patti Smith, John Cale, Sally Kwok, among others. He also has played with the talented Leonard Bernstein, who was an excellent pianist and a remarkable American conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.


He’s a globetrotter who takes a tape recorder wherever he goes to record every idea he has (he learnt this from his friend Captain Beefheart).His musical influences have ardently marked him and his shows are 50% improvisation.
He talks about his musical influences in this interview:
-Pocho: Would you agree with me if I say that you're a multi-skilled artist?
Gary: Absolutely. I try and do it all.
-Pocho: Your first contact with the music was through Duane Eddy's song 'Dance with the Guitar Man'. What artists do you feel have influenced you and your work?
Gary: So many: Syd Barrett, Bela Bartok, Richard Berry, Jeff Beck, Rolling Stones, The Smiths, The Doors, Incredible String Band, among others.
Gary’s taste for classic cinema is reflected even in the name of his band. This is a characteristic that identifies him: he has played in a lot of film festivals all around the world, playing compositions to accompany the film projection. He has done this with the 1920 film ‘The Golem’ and with the 1931 movie titled Spanish ‘Dracula’. Last year, he played in the Havana Film Festival, where he’ll be playing again the 10th of December presenting a Brazilian film called ‘Esta Noite Encarnarei no Teu Cadáver’.
-Pocho: You're very related to the classic cinema. How did you discover it?
Gary: I just got a taste for it at screenings at Syracuse University and also occasionally on television and fell in love with this enchanted world of dancing shadows.
Lucas has played in a lot of places around the world, including Russia, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, United Kingdom, Cuba, China, among others (unfortunately for us, he hasn’t played in Argentina yet). He has a very strong commitment with the global culture.
-Pocho: You've played in so many places around the world, Are you optimist about the future of the humanity?
Gary: Not sure, I try and ignore all the pessimistic and gloomy developments (today I just read a report that the polar ice caps were indeed melting (bad news for Patagonia, and the rest of the world)) and just continue on my way trying to entertain and astonish people. I think that's the best thing one can do as an artist to help cheer up the populace as we race towards extinction.

On his album ‘the Edge of Heaven’ he plays mid-century Chinese pop songs. As an artist, he picks up the native culture of every country he visits and that’s another characteristic that we have to take into account to understand and identify him.
-Pocho: The Chinese culture seemed to have caused you a great impression (because of your album called 'The Edge of Heaven'). What things do we have to learn about that culture?
Gary: I am no sociological expert, I just love that music. I hesitate to make any sorts of pronouncements about Chinese culture except that I find it profoundly elegant and moving, but I feel the same way about Latin culture!
-Pocho: Considering that the American culture has dominated the world since the mass media and the globalization period, and also considering that you're a musician that picks up the native culture of every country you visit...Do you see this influence as a negative influence or as a positive influence?
Gary: I think the contributions that America has made in music historically (particularly in the fields of jazz, blues and rock) remain significant, world-shaking, and worthy of veneration, but the prevailing trends in the current American culture vis-a-vis films and television I cast a rather more jaundiced eye upon...I think these trends have contributed to the dumbing down of the world by their very prevalence and mass influence by and large, and I weep for that , I am ashamed about a lot of it quite frankly.
Behind every artist is hidden a normal person, and Gary put us on the surface to understand more about his life, and finishes the interview with a personal wish that he always keeps with him: he wants to play in Argentina.
-Pocho: After all these years that you've been sharing a lot of experiences in every part of the world (and also visiting Cuba)...Do you feel a privileged man?
Gary: Yes, but saying that, I can assure you it's not easy being me...and what may seem on the surface a very free-wheeling and easy and privileged lifestyle is actually filled with all the concomitant problems and challenges on a macro level of a survival nature just like any other non-mainstream artist . I am only happy when I am working, and I don’t feel I work enough to tell you the truth despite my efforts to fill up the calendar with gigs. I am not complaining mind you...but for instance, I still haven’t performed in Argentina despite repeated efforts!