EAGLE EYE CHERRY

Eagle Eye Cherry is a Platinum selling pop star. His father was the legendary jazz trumpeter, Don Cherry. Eagle Eye?s half sister is Neneh Cherry, of Buffalo Stance fame. Eagle Eye Cherry had some success as an actor (featured roles on the Cosby Show and South Beach) before devoting his attention to music. He grew up in Sweden and the United States and now makes his home in Stockholm.

This is the full transcript of a telephone interview done on March 4th 1999 while Mr. Cherry was in Toronto, Canada. This interview is the basis for a story that appeared in Focus Magazine. It was a good interview and I thought it might be fun to make the uncut text available on through the MOE Web Site. Click here to go to the Focus story.

The first thing I wanted to get out of the way, I was a huge fan of your father.

Great! So was I. Fantastic music.

One of the things that I noticed looking for information on the Internet is that you definitely have a lot of fans over in Europe. I found quite a few fan sites that were in Swedish. I know you're already a major success over there. Can you tell me a little about what things are like for you over there?

It's happening. We did a European tour just before Christmas and it was very, very nice. They were nice sized venues and very good crowds. At this point, because the album's been out for awhile, it starting to get mixed up crowd wise. When "Save Tonight" first came out it was a fairly young crowd coming out. Now it's getting more mixed up.

Europe is fun because you drive a few hours and you're in a completely different country. It's kind of changing. Different vibes. From country to country the crowds change as well. It's been cool. But the States have been, I was in LA the other day and they gave me my platinum album. So I think the States are catching up fast.

Already a platinum in America!

Yeah! It's already sold over a million albums.

Wow.

Unbelievable. Off the first single! My Dad's up there cracking' up right now. I'm telling' you.

I'm sure. Have you already started touring in the US yet?

We're in Toronto; we're starting Saturday. I'm here doing some promotion and rehearsing before we hit the road. Then we're going to drive 12,000 miles covering some ground.

And you're going to be opening for Sheryl Crow at least on the first leg of the tour?

We're going to headline the East Coast. Then we're going to meet up with her in Miami and be with her through the South and out to LA.

Then you'll be doing some more solo shows after that?

Then we'll do a few more, San Francisco up to Vancouver. I'm psyched. Sheryl Crow, I couldn't have asked for a better bill to be on. I saw her show in Europe and I think it's going to be a really good combination.

I wanted to follow up a little more on the European connection. Listening to Desireless, it has a very New York feel to it. Some of the characters could be the same people popping up in Lou Reeds songs. Then looking at the record, I'm assuming from the names of the players that they're Swedish. What kind of influence did that have on making the record?

I left New York because I needed to change up space. What ended up happening was, I ended up in a place that really let me focus. Stockholm is pretty laid back hometown. It was in the middle of winter and it was just a place where everything started coming together. A big part that as well was in contact together with the musicians playing on the record. That was one of the things that made me realize that I did want to make a record. Stockholm has some really great musicians. Even my Dad recorded and toured with some Swedish musicians. It's a good vibe.

Lyrically, the album is very much New York. There are a lot of New York stories, but I think there is a certain calm on the album that reflects being in a place like Stockholm. I definitelythink that if I'd made the record in New York it would have had more of a traffic jam vibe.

I understand that you already have material ready for a new album.

Yeah. I did some recording a few weeks ago just to get things rolling. I'm going to be on the road so much that I'll kind of make the album in between. Yeah, I've lived with these songs a lot longer than everyone else has. I'm very much ready for the next phase. I think we'll start playing the new songs, mixing it up a bit on the tour. It will be fun.

Are the new songs along the same line as the Desireless material?

Yeah. I'll probably turn the volume up a little bit. It's basically keep focusing on the lyric and the melody and keep telling the stories.

Who's on tour with you? Is it the same people who were on your record?

Same drummer, same guitar player, bass player who only played on three or four tracks, but it's that guy. Then I have a guy from New York who does percussion and backing vocals. That makes it about 75% Swedish, and I'm half-and-half.

You grew up in Sweden.

Until I was 13, then we moved to New York. When I was a kid, we were moving around. Don took us everywhere with him. We spent periods in New York and periods in LA. We were based in Sweden when I was a kid.

But you lived everywhere...

That's why it's kind of funny getting on the road. It's kind of like a homecoming for me. Especially when we're going through Europe, because that's where my Dad did all of his touring. I've had moments when I get off the bus and it starts coming back to me. I've been here; I've been here. I think if I go down this street here there will be a little piazza. It's so weird because I was only five years old. It's a trip.

Your songs are very story oriented, and I know you have an acting background. Have you ever done any other kind of writing like short stories or screen plays?

No. I want to. I love to read books. To me, that seems to be the nicest way of life; writing novels up in the Connecticut woods. Sending your manuscripts down to your publisher. You can be with your family and you don't have to be out touring very much. It's something I would love to be able to do, but it seems like a very hard thing. I have a lot of respect for people who write good novels. It blows my mind. I have a hard enough time writing three verses and a chorus.

I can appreciate that. In your press kit, it said you were planning on recording one of your Father's songs anyway. I was wondering why you chose "Desireless?"

I was sitting there, and there is a big body of work to choose from, but that song is something definitely connected to my childhood. It's something that he taught me pretty early on, on the piano. It just captures a vibe. It seemed like an obvious choice. It's a beautiful song and we've had a lot of fun with it. We've been playing it live as well.

It's amazing. I'm lucky in that sense. My Dad, if I put on one of his records or play his tune at a gig, it kind of feels like he comes down for a minute and visits us. Music is pretty magical stuff.

Definitely. One of the things that I find very interesting is that the children of the Ornette Coleman Quartet are all doing quite well. There's you and Neneh, Don's kids...

...And Charlie Haden's kids and Denardo, Ornette's son is his manager and plays drums...

...And Joshua Redman, Dewy's son, is huge on the jazz scene.

My Dad had a dream that I will try to fulfill one day. He wanted to do a music festival. He wanted to call it Jazz Brats. It would be the kids of the jazz players. He'd have us all playing and he thought the main thing that would be interesting is that we were all doing so many different kinds of things. So, one day...

I was trying to find Josh Haden when I was in LA. I didn't get a hold of him. He's got a new album; do you know his band Spain?

Yes

He worked on his new album; he actually recorded in Stockholm. He went there to record it and I wasn't there! Weird. Fuck, he's hanging out in Stockholm and I'm not even there. I think Stockholm is a place where more and more music is going to be coming out.

It's been a really good year. One of the fears that one has is that you end up in a situation that doesn't really represent who you are. Being that I made this record and I really made sure that it was at least something that I could really be happy with. Everything has really flowed the way I dreamt that it would. I haven't had to compromise very much. I don't feel misunderstood. Now that people are starting to discover the album, there was a moment where I felt like I hope it's not just going to be about "Save Tonight." There are other elements on the albums that don't come across on that song.

Worried Eyes is very pretty and very sad.

Quite sad. I love to be sad. It seems to be that way with most of my love songs, bittersweet love songs. People hear all these different things on the album apparently. For me, it's the most focused thing I've managed to do. The guitar is the main instrument, the keeping the focus on the vocal and keeping everything dry and up in your face. To me, it doesn't seem that scattered.

I tried to think of it as a whole. Save Tonight was actually one of the last songs I wrote. I had the bulk of the album there and I felt, man, I want something with a little more tempo. I was trying to think of the whole thing rather than just a collection of songs.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.

My pleasure. Where are you calling from?

Tampa, Florida.

Ahhh, if you only knew the kind of weather I'm looking at! It's snow and wind, it's nasty here in Toronto.

Hopefully it will be nice when you get down here. It will at least be a change. Our cold days are in the mid sixties.

I was in Miami for four months about this time of year. I was shooting a TV series down there. It was great weather. Amazing weather. Certain storms came through that were pretty intense.

Which TV series was that?

It was called South Beach. I think it only lasted seven or eight episodes. It was that period when they were doing all these shows down there thinking that Miami was the next spot. `93 or something. It was cool though. I was like totally broke and then the next day I got this gig and I was down in Florida living in this great pad with a nice car. I tell you, only in America stuff like that happens.

Well, thanks. Have a good tour and we'll see you in Tampa.