Raucous, joyous, improvisational, and always strange
Steve Poltz has fun on stage. Steve Poltz has fun off stage. Every show has its own vibe. Raucous, joyous, improvisational and always strange. Stellar guitar work and songs that will have you smiling one minute and crying the next. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and raised in Southern California, and now living in Nashville, Tennessee. Steve Poltz tours non-stop and is the surprise sleeper hit of any festival. He also thinks he’s an attorney for dogs (but that’s a whole different story).
Seven spoke to Steve yesterday, our time, while he was in San Diego, California.
You’ve here before. What is it that you love about Bluesfest? What keeps bringing you back?
Well, number one is the vibe, the whole vibe of just being there, it’s beautiful.
Number two, the synergy and being with all these other musicians and making new friends, and then you kind of run into each other, and there’s these happy accidents, and somebody might have a guitar, and maybe you even write a song with that person.
And then the third thing I love is the accommodation. They [Bluesfest] treat you like a king. They treat the musicians wonderfully, and the food’s really good.
And then just walking around the festival, if you’re not playing, is really fun, because everybody’s just – I always feel like people bring their best selves to festivals, and I wish people could bring their best selves out every day, and every day was like a festival, because, you know, there’s something happens when people go in, and they check everything at the door, all their baggage of crap, just suspend the cynicism, and everybody is having fun. So those are – that’s four things. Yeah, four of those things.
How accurate is your Wikipedia page?
You know, I don’t know. I don’t look at things. I just, I’m not interested.
Well, one of the things I found fascinating is that you have a degree in political science?
Yes, so, I knew I wouldn’t have a job, but at least I’d know why.
Would you like to make a comment on the current political climate in the US?
I don’t mind. I love discussing stuff like this. I think that everybody really needs to turn the heat down on the stove and take a deep breath and rethink: ‘is this the direction we really want to go in?’ Because it’s really acrimonious at the moment. In the days of the Mafia, they would call it having ‘a sit down’, where they would make two warring factions sit down. If you ever watch The Sopranos or The Godfather, they go, ‘we’re gonna have a sit down’.
We need to have a sit down, because the current course we’re on isn’t really healthy, and our little phones that we have, they give us this breaking news 24/7, and we’re inundated with bad news, because ‘if it bleeds, it leads’, and so it’s being hammered into us and it affects our whole nervous system, and the phone is constantly vibrating, vibrating or dinging or ringing, and it’s not always bringing in good news.
You’re not getting a respite from that, so go out and take a walk in some hills, or on an ocean, or anywhere around some city, and just breathing in, and maybe having a conversation with a stranger. It’s a lot to ask, and it sounds simple, but that’s kind of where my head’s at. With everything. Our current trajectory is not viable. We can’t keep this up.
It’s a tragedy, isn’t it…?
Yeah, but I’m a ‘glass-half-full’ guy, yeah. And I have faith in humankind, and I always will. Yep.
I want to know the story about you being an attorney for dogs?
I have this theory that you can be whatever you want to be, that everything’s just made up. So when I see a priest or a cop or anybody, I just think, we’re just playing make believe. You can say you’re anything, and so I say I’m an attorney for dogs. And when I see dogs, I talk to them and I try to get them to sign a contract – right? And we can sue the their owners for not giving them enough treats. So they get more walks!
Are you bringing new music to Bluesfest?
Yeah, I have a new record that will be released in a couple days, [last Friday, 30 January] and it’s called Joy Ride, and I will be bringing that out. And so there’ll be lots of new music, and I’m super excited about it.
So are you bringing a band, or are you on your own?
On my own – I’m always on my own. I’m a solo troubadour.
What is your current earworm?
Oh, man, it’s a song by The Grateful Dead. Is called Wharf Rat, and I’m listening to the version from 1976 recorded live in Boston, Massachusetts, and I’m obsessed with that song right now.
Are you finding enough things to inspire you?
Yes, every day I’m inspired. I’m inspired by the beauty in people’s eyes, by a smile from a stranger, by a weed growing through a crack in the sidewalk, by a little chihuahua shaking as its owner holds them, when they’re on an airplane. Yes, by the bus boy at a waffle house, clearing a table, by the waitress with a gold tooth, by a poem I just stumble upon, or by a new song or a new melody I come up with. So yes, all the time, right?
What are you most looking forward to when you get to Australia?
Let me tell you I’m looking forward to going to some cafes, because I feel like Australia has the best coffee culture in the world, the way they do their poached eggs. And I love the way they give you a little side of rocket with a beautiful tomato and a nice, nice, nice flat white.
Are you going to do a bit of holidaying while you’re here?
You know, I’m gonna be there for 50 days. So I’m playing, I’m starting in West Australia. I’m doing the Nannup Festival. I’m doing the National Folk Fest in Canberra. I’m doing Port Fairy Folk Fest in Victoria, and I’m doing the Blue Mountains Musical Festival in Katoomba. And I’m doing Byron Bay Bluesfest – and heaps of club shows all over the place. So it’ll be a, it’ll be what I call a ‘busman’s holiday’.
Are you having enough fun?
I am having enough fun. Most definitely. I’m the luckiest guy in the world that I get to do this for a living. I’m still surprised when an offer comes in for a show, and I’m still surprised when people show up to the place I’m playing that they actually took time out of their busy schedule with all the other things you can do. So yeah, I’m finding more than enough joy I have a huge surplus of joy right now.
Catch him while you can. He’s elusive like Bigfoot – Friday and Saturday at Bluesfest, for more info go to www.bluesfest.com.au.
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