During the 1980s, The Waterboys emerged out of London to become internationally renowned for playing what they termed The Big Music – an appropriate name, given the anthemic nature of their hits such as “Fisherman’s Blues,” “This Is the Sea,” and “The Whole of the Moon.” The band has been going strong ever since, consistently releasing albums – and on April 4, they’ll add to that list with their sixteenth studio album, Life, Death and Dennis Hopper (via Sun Records). This time out, The Waterboys are on a psychedelic rock bender, which seems fitting given that the album serves as a biographical tribute to the late Dennis Hopper, the legendary (and legendarily volatile) actor who was a countercultural figure both onscreen and off. Adding even more facets to these songs, a number of impressive guest artists join in on several tracks, including Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, and Steve Earle. During a recent video call, frontman Mike Scott tells The Big Takeover why Hopper was such an inspiration, what drew him to playing music from an early age, and what he thinks of his legacy with The Waterboys.
How does it feel to have this new album coming out?
MIKE SCOTT: This one’s is exciting for me. It’s five years since I started working on it, so it’s like a dream coming slowly true, to actually creep toward a release date. And it’s a special record for me. I like all the records I put out – I wouldn’t put them out if I didn’t – but this one particularly, I love a lot. I feel like I achieved a lot of my musical dreams on this record.
Such as?
MIKE SCOTT: Being able to move between kinds of music so easily, and I think some of my very best songs are on this record, like “Ten Years Gone” and “Golf, They Say” and “Hopper’s On Top” – I’m really happy with those songs. And also, most of these songs were the product of co-writes, and I very much enjoy writing with other musicians. They bring to the process forms of music and melody that I wouldn’t have thought of myself, and I very much appreciate that.
You have a lot of guest artists on here. How do you decide who actually gets to work with you?
I don’t really think of it like that! [laughs] It’s really what the track requires. We needed a dramatic voice on the song “Ten Years Gone,” a spoken word voice, and I remembered how much I loved Bruce Springsteen’s monologues on his live concerts. I treasure my old bootlegs of Bruce from the ’70s when he would sing a song like “The E Street Shuffle” with his marvelous story preceding it while the band did a vamp in the background. And that wonderful, dramatic voice, that storytelling voice. So we asked him to do that particular one. And then the Fiona Apple track, “Letter from an Unknown Girlfriend,” came about because she had done a cover version of [The Waterboys song] “The Whole of the Moon,” which had a wonderful emotional edge to it, and I thought she’d be the right person for this particular song about Dennis Hopper. So they happened because of the musical requirement.
Why did you decide to make this album about Dennis Hopper?
MIKE SCOTT: I got interested in Dennis through his photography. I knew a lot of his films, and I knew him as an actor and a countercultural figure because of [the 1969 film] Easy Rider. But I was in London about ten years ago, and I passed an art gallery and there was a poster for something called “Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album.” And it was a weird thing to read because “album” carried the suggestion of a musical album. And also, it was an art gallery. I thought, “But he’s an actor. What’s all this about?” And I walked in, and it was an exhibition of his photography. And I fell in love with his photography. That was what brought me to a deep interest in Dennis the man. His photography was all black and white. It was all shot between 1961 and 1967. A lot of it was documenting the cultural changes of that decade and the personalities that were involved: Andy Warhol, James Brown, Martin Luther King, film stars, pop artist, rock superstars. And I loved his eye. There’s lots and lots of it online, and it’s really worth a look. If you check it out, you’ll see famous photographs that you’ve always known, but you didn’t know Dennis Hopper took them. And I learned something that day, and that’s what brought me to Dennis in a deep sense. After that, I was fascinated by the man and read everything I could about him. And one thing led to another, and then I wrote a song called “Dennis Hopper.” It was on an album about five years ago [2020’s Good Luck, Seeker]. And then I found myself writing more songs about Dennis, writing about episodes in his life. At first I thought it might be an EP about Dennis Hopper, but then there were too many [songs] and I realized, “Hang on, it’s an album.” And once I surrendered to that idea, the songs started coming even faster.
On this album, as with your previous work, your lyrics are very evocative. How did you learn to write like that?
MIKE SCOTT: I was a student of Bob Dylan when I was a teenager, and The Beatles would be the other big inspiration to me as a kid growing up. I always loved songs that had a lyric that said something, even if it was something surreal like “I Am the Walrus.” That’s a great favorite of mine. But the way that Dylan framed things and said things and delivered his humor, and also the way Dylan didn’t obey convention – he would play tricks with the structure all the way through his career. Even now, he’s still playing tricks on us. So I learned from the master.
You’re also known for being adventurous with your songwriting, shifting styles through the years…
MIKE SCOTT: I always felt it was natural for music to change. Again, growing up, every time I heard a new Beatles record, the music had changed. It had gone to a new place. And it was the same with Bob. Every time he made an album, the music had changed dramatically. What’s he going to do next? And Neil Young was a bit like that. And David Bowie, of course. So all these influences on me kept changing. And to me, as a kid, I took that as normality. So I’ve always expected that music should change and evolve and move into different forms, and I’ve been willing for that to happen in Waterboys music, and it has. It’s something that keeps me fresh. And I like all different kinds of music, and I don’t see why I shouldn’t play them all. I don’t want to get stuck in one form or one kind of expression.
What do you think it is about your work that’s made people so loyal to it even as you go through all these changes?
MIKE SCOTT: If I knew for sure, I’d probably bottle it. I try and figure it out sometimes, and I don’t know. It’s probably just as well. I just keep doing what I do, and I figure if I do it authentically and do it true to me and true to the music, then the people will keep responding.
You have certain songs that people have particularly loved for decades – when you play live, how do you keep them fresh for yourself, even though you have to play them all the time?
MIKE SCOTT: Fortunately, the songs that the audience love most are also ones that I like a lot. I always enjoy playing “Fisherman’s Blues” or “The Whole of the Moon” or “This Is the Sea.” Those songs have got long legs, man. I can always get a buzz out of playing them. And I change them a little bit. It keeps it fresh for me, but people love it, too, so everybody wins.
When you wrote those songs, did you realize then that they were special?
MIKE SCOTT: Not really, no. At the point when I’m writing them, I’m not thinking about longevity or even success. I’m just trying to get the song right. Maybe when I’m mixing a record I will start to think, “Everybody’s going to love this.” Maybe at that point, but not when I’m writing the song or recording it.
What made you want to me a musician in the first place?
MIKE SCOTT: I fell in love with records when I was nine years old. Later, when I was twelve or thirteen, I would fall in love with girls at school. But first, I fell in love with the records. I remember when I would fall in love with girls, I would try and hold their face in my mind, and I couldn’t remember their face. Then I would see her again, and that was magic. It was the same with records. I would hear a record, and then I would try and remember it. I wouldn’t be able to remember it – then the blessed moment when I would hear it again and I could breathe again. So I didn’t think, “This means music means a lot to me and I’m going to have a career in it.” I didn’t think about it like that. I just wanted to live in music. I just wanted to be with music all the time And then my dad gave me a guitar, and eventually I learned how to play it. I was a bit slow. And then I started to write songs. There was really never anything else I wanted to do.
Now that you’ve had such a long and successful career, what do you think about the legacy you’ve created so far?
MIKE SCOTT: I don’t know how I’d put it in a cultural context. Other people would have to do that. For me, I like all the music I’ve made, and I like going back and revisiting it and putting together box sets and archive releases. And I can see where it could have been better, and I can see where lightning struck and it couldn’t have been any better. But it all feels good to me.
