You might know Jehnny Beth as the bandleader for English rock band Savages, but well before a global pandemic strongly suggested that we all take a deeper interest in solitary activities, the singer was planning to strike out on her own, to reveal a more personal aspect of her art. A few days after the release of her debut solo album, TO LOVE IS TO LIVE, Jehnny Beth caught up with us to talk about taking risks, changing the world and training for the return of live concerts. Watch:
Setlist.fm: So your new album has been out for a few days now, what has been your favorite feedback about it so far?
Jehnny Beth: I think I've never had such a positive response to a record which is amazing because it was a record that for me felt totally like a risk and I totally started from scratch again and I didn't really have an agenda, I didn't know what I was going to do until I did it. It felt really good to feel like I was taking a risk.
Setlist.fm: Speaking of taking risks, some artists chose not to push their albums because of the uncertainty around touring, was there any talk about holding your album at all?
JB: We only pushed it back a bit, a month I think so that record shops could have a chance to be reopened so the physical release could happen at the same time as the streaming and digital release. So that was important for me to support local record shops because they're places that I really love going into myself as a music lover. But also the fact that touring now will happen next year, it's just interesting to start thinking about this record long-term. Suddenly we have this perspective of the live happening next year so there is all this time that we can be creative in imagining how we can make this album live in different ways.
Setlist.fm: What's it like to put out an album during both a pandemic and a historic movement?
JB: It's very challenging but at the same time, it feels like an important moment to have music and some of the lyrics and even the title of the record, TO LOVE IS TO LIVE resonates differently, sometimes as if premonitory, which is just strange. But I was talking a lot about the difficulty to connect with things that are happening all around the world when you were just in one place at one time.
I'm talking on the record about this responsibility we have to admit that evil exists inside of us even if we think that we're pure, we're not racist, we're not misogynists but actually these are things that are implanted in our core by generations and generations and education and conditioning those things need to be addressed even when you think you have only pure thoughts and pure thinking. Cause I think that's the only way you can change the world is by changing yourself and admitting when you've been wrong.
Setlist.fm: What were your plans for 2020 originally and what are they now?
JB: I was mainly going on tour for the whole year. We're rescheduling everything. When confinement happened, the week before I had done my first show I stepped onstage and I said, "I'm ready.” A week later, I was stuck at home and everything collapsed so you can imagine the cold shower but at the same time I watched the series The Last Dance which is about the Chicago Bulls, and that gave me the resilience I needed. Like the mental strength of athletes, that's what we need right now. If they lose a season the next day in the morning they're at the gym working out for the next season, for the next year. So everything I'm doing now is to get ready for next year.
Setlist.fm: What do you think the first show back is gonna feel like?
JB: I had a little bit of that experience in March when I played my first show — we did a warmup show in a club. There's a little documentary about that show that Crack Magazine did actually which is interesting to watch because I realized how happy I was. There's an image of me, my arms up in the air I'm being like, "God, that feels good!” Like I'm three years old. That's how it's gonna feel basically I think.
Setlist.fm: Any words of encouragement for people out there?
JB: I just don't wanna us to feel like this is the new normal that we're gonna to be distant now and that's it. You have to be patient, but the world around you can change to what you want it to be but just start by formulating what you want. And then be patient — it takes time but it happens.
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