ROCK&ROLL
M. Ward
The Song That Makes
Me Think Of Home
Firehose“Chemical Wire”, 1986
“The first real concert I went
towasbyabandcalledFire-
hose, and they were my fa-
vouritelivebandinhigh
school.Iwasprobably18
yearsold,or17,andI’msurprisedIgotin.
WhenIhearthisittakesmebacktohigh
school and going to see live music. I’ll never
forget the feeling of seeing these guys – the
way they played their instruments was just
completely eye-opening and probably life
changing.Itmademewanttogooutand
buyanelectricguitar.Ihadbeenplaying
acoustic guitar, and seeing Sonic Youth and
Firehose in L.A. in the late Eighties and
early Nineties probably changed my life.”
The Song That Reminds Me Of
Touring
Chuck Berry“RollOverBeethoven”,
1956
“ThefirsttimeIheardit
wouldhavebeenonoldies
radiowhenIwasinhigh
school. Actually, my first ex-
posuretothatsongmight
have been the Beatles’ version, because I
have this cassette tape that had them cov-
eringtheseoldsongs.Incrediblesound.
‘Roll Over Beethoven’ is a song I’ve loved
sincehighschoolandI’vebeencovering
it with my band; I recorded it a few years
ago. Chuck Berry completely invented the
guitarsolo,hedoesn’tgetasmuchcredit
as he deserves for that.”
The Song You Wouldn’t Expect
To Find On My iPod
Sade“Lovers Rock”, 2000
“That kind of style of music
is not something my friends
orIlistentoverymuch,but
that’s the first name that
comestomind.Ilovethe
production, I love her voice, I think it’s a
reallyuniquemixofreggaeandsouland
R&B, and I recommend it to everyone.
ThefirsttimeIheardher?Iwenttogo
see some movie and one of her songs was
playing before the movie even started, it
was intermission music. And the beauty of
the production and the sound just hit me
in this movie theatre and I went out and
bought all her most recent records.”The First Song I Learned To Play
The Beatles“Blackbird”,1968
“Mybrotherhadanacous-
ticguitarinhisclosetthat
he never played, and I had
acoupleoffriendsinhigh
school who were just learn-
inghowtoplay.Ihadsomesparetimeon
my hands when I was 15 or right around
that age, and I started to see what would
happen if I just started playing it. It def-
initely changed my life. I received a book
of the Beatles’ songs when I was prob-
ably15andithadalltheirchords,and
that’s how I learned to play guitar, going
through the Beatles’ catalogue. One could
do worse. I bought a four-track and start-
ed covering their songs on four-track
and that led me to start writing my own
songs.”
The Song That Makes Me CryThe Beach Boys“Surfer Girl”,1963“Seeing Brian Wilson at the
Sydney Opera House was a
tearjerker. I’m gonna guess
itwassixorsevenyearsago.
Hearing him sing these old
songsthatIgrewupwithwasreallyan
emotional thing, because he is able to take
you to Southern California where I grew
up with just the sound of his voice. Then
acoupleofyearslaterIendedupplaying
on his new record [No Pier Pressure], and
I’ve done a few performances with him.
ThefirsttimeImethimwasbackstageat
a show that the reunited Beach Boys were
abouttoperformattheBeaconTheater,
this is maybe five years ago. I just shook his
hand and that was all it was. The next time
ImethimwasinthestudioinLosAngeles,
Zooey Deschanel and I were going into re-
cord on a new song of his and I played gui-
tar and Zooey sang harmonies and lead
vocals. Brian was right there directing us
and saying, ‘Try this again and don’t trythat again’, and really standing by like a
great teacher would. What an experience.”The Song I’m Most Proud Of
Mavis Staples“MLK Song”,2016
“I just produced her new re-
cord,andIborrowedsome
words and phrases and lines
fromaMartinLutherKing
speech and turned it into a
song. So I’m able to share writing cred-
it with Martin Luther King Jnr, on a song
that Mavis Staples sings lead vocals on
andIplayguitaron.Soit’sareallyheavy
production for me. And I’m really proud
of how it turned out and I hope everyone
goes out and buys the new Mavis Staples
record. I don’t think she was that familiar
with my music [before we worked togeth-
er], but we ended up getting along great.
The music she listens to now is Beyoncé
and a very kind of diferent style of music
thanIplay.”The Song I Sing At Karaoke
John Lennon“(Just Like) Starting
Over”,1980
“My go-to song for some rea-
son is ‘(Just Like) Starting
Over’. It’s almost impossible
formetosingthatsong,it’s
averyhardsongtosing,but
it’s a great song for karaoke ’cause people
willsingalong.ThelasttimeIdidit?I’m
gonna say four or five years ago, probably
inSanFrancisco.CanIrememberthecir-
cumstances of the evening? Not so much.”The Song That Reminds
Me Of Growing UpJohnny Cash“IStillMissSomeone”,
1958
“My dad used to play John-
nyCashwhenIwasgrow-
ingup,soIheardhisvoice
beforeIknewwhatmusic
even was. My mum listened
toclassicalmusicandmydadlistened
to country and gospel. I think it’s safe to
say[ifIhearearlyJohnnyCash]ittakes
me back to where I grew up in Southern
California.”From singing karaoke to ‘collaborating’ with Martin Luther King,
it’s all in a day’s work for this former punk rockerBy Rod Yates40 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com May, 2016MY SOUNDTRACK
AUTUMN DE WILDE