Lenny Kravitz: peace, love and rock’n roll
- the.point.is. interview with Lenny Kravitz (photo David Hindley)
- On February 5 2008, the New York songwriter released It’s Time for a Love Revolution, his eighth studio album.
- On this record, the retro-rock superstar who celebrated the last New Year’s Eve on Times Square in New York talks about war, his father and his love for the rain.
New York. Nineteen years after Let Love Rule, Lenny Kravitz (photo David Hindley) is singing about love again. On February 5 2008, the New York singer released It’s Time for a Love Revolution, his eighth album. the.point.is. news agency met with the retro-rock superstar in the historic Electric Lady Studios, in the West Village in Manhattan.
-Lenny Kravitz, once again you produced your album. Weren’t you tempted to have somebody else do it?
No, I have been producing my stuff and been playing the instruments from day one. When I do my music I think about a painter. I wouldn’t want somebody tell me “put the yellow over there, put the green here and do this”. I just do it. I am not trying to be a part of any trend.
But when you are a painter, you need an outside look to tell you if your painting is good.
The look is fine. But then again, who is the guy telling you that your painting is good? It is just a guy telling you that. The next person comes and says it’s bad. Everyone has his opinion. You’ve got to really just trust yourself. I remember walking through the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. I am in the impressionist room and I am looking at all these guys: Monnet, Van Gogh, Manet and Toulouse-Lautrec. I am thinking that most of these people suffered, lived a crazy life. They had no money, because nobody believed in them. And now they are in this huge building worth millions and millions of dollars. The whole thing is just weird. I am not saying they are great or not great. The point is they are in this building because somebody said they are great. Who is that person?
You claim that this record takes you in a new direction but it sounds like a classic Lenny Kravitz record. So what did you change?
Baptism, my previous record, was done at a time I was questioning a lot but I also knew I was about to make a change. This record now is both feet on the floor, on my path, moving forward in a strong fashion.
You are known for your guitar riffs and for your minimal approach to sound. Love Revolution goes down that route again. Why?
I have learnt and tried different things. All the records have a different sound but for the most part, they are very direct and not over-produced. It’s just the way I like sound to be. I like to hear the instruments. Piano is a bold, strong and beautiful instrument. The organ, the drums and the bass: everything has its on character. And I love having my own sound on the instruments. When I listen to records today, I don’t get moved the way I used to. Listen to The Beatles, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye or Al Greene. You knew who those people were. They had their own sound and personality. Now you put on these new rock records, everything sounds the same. The personality is not there.
Your album was partly recorded in Brazil, but it sounds like the previous ones and there are no Brazilian influences.
For me, it’s not necessarily like that. For me being in a location, inspires me and enables me to relax. I definitely learnt a lot about Brazilian music when I was there. I was with Caetano Veloso. I listened to him and learnt. I am definitely interested in working with Brazilian musicians in the future because I am spending a lot of time there.
In Back in Vietnam, one of the songs of your record, you criticize the Iraq war. But what can an artist like you do to fight against a war? At the end of the day, it is still happening.
Of course, but I am just saying how I feel about it. And I have said how I felt twice before and I got banned both times. The first thing was against George Bush senior during the first Gulf War. I rerecorded Give Peace a Chance with Sean Lennon and other musicians who were big at that time. That got banned in the US. When, the second Gulf War started, I did this song called We Want Peace with the biggest Iraqi singer, as well as with Palestinian and Pakistani musicians. They banned that. What can I do? I just say what I want to say.
But did it change anything?
People who agreed with it, came up to me and said it was great. But what does that change? I don’t know. Maybe somebody’s consciousness or it maybe reinforces what somebody already believed in.
What do you feel when you read about suicide attacks in the papers?
It’s hardcore these people are willing to blow themselves and others up. But what is that going to do? They blow it up, now what? When are human beings going to realize that they do have the capacity to settle a dispute without violence and to sit down and have a dialogue? We are so far in the hole that this concept seems very foreign. We have the capacity to have peace but we clearly don’t want it. At least those who are running the world.
Did you hesitate to include on the record A Long and Sad Goodbye, the song about your father?
I did. When I wrote it, my father was still alive. My dad died in November 2005 (n.d.l.r: Sy Kravitz died on October 29 2005). I can’t remember the date. I did not want to put it on a record while he was alive. I did not know when I wrote it that he and I would make peace. We made peace about 30 days before he died. There is nothing bad in the song, I am just saying how I feel.
But by putting the song on the record, you knew you would have to talk about your father all over again.
That’s ok. We had a very challenging relationship but the beautiful part of it, is that we fixed it. And so the last 30 days outweigh the last 30 years, because I now have this in me for eternity.
New York / Jean-Cosme Delaloye
A French version was published on January 27 2008 in Le Matin Dimanche in Switzerland. The interview will also be broadcast from Feb 11 until Feb 15 every night between 7.00 pm and 8.00 pm (1.00 pm and 2.00 pm EST) on Couleur 3 in Switzerland.
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