JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on or have recently completed. Why exactly do they matter to you and why should they matter to
CHRIS BIRKETT: The album ‘Medicine Songs’ by Buffy Sainte-Marie that I co-produced recently has a song on it called ‘The War Racket’. This song is a powerful Wake Up message about the financial aspect of War and those who gain from it.
I’m currently recording a project with First Nation artist David Moses, who is a DJ on Toronto’s ELMNT 106.5 FM first nation radio station called The Spirit of Toronto. There’s a very important song that we just finished called ‘Mind Bender’. It’s about alcohol addiction in the First Nation culture. I believe this song has a message that everyone should hear.
JS: How did doing these projects change you as a person and as a creator?
CB: Working with Buffy Sainte Marie since 1992 has had a profound influence on my songwriting. Buffy taught me the difference between creativity and editing. The creative process is a gift from another place and will flow through if you let it. I always had a tendency to critic my lyric writing before I had finished what I wanted to say. This is the editor in me kicking in. Now I ignore the editor, that is, I don’t approve or disapprove what I’m doing until it’s done.
JS: What might others not understand or appreciate about the work you produce or do?
CB: Every project I choose to work on as a producer has to have a motive of expressing truth for the benefit of others. This also applies to all the songs I write. The Universal language of music can cut through boundaries of Race, Culture and Politics. This makes music a powerful force for change.
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?
CB: My Heart, soul, talent and experience. I am blessed with being able to play a lot of different instruments. With todays reduced budgets I can help an artist realize their dreams without having to find fortunes to record. My 40 years + experience making records helps me to understand exactly what the artist wants.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
CB: Time is the biggest challenge for me. I have 3 albums written as an artist but they are waiting on the shelf as my main income is from record production. I love producing other artists, and I learn from them all the time, but my own music is very important to me. When I arrived here in Toronto in 2012, I promised myself that I would dedicate 50% of my time to recording and playing my own creations. Creativity is always flowing in me like a river, but there are dams and waterfalls in the way.
JS: Imagine that you are meeting two or three people, living or dead, whom you admire because of their work in your form of artistic expression. What would you say to them and what would they say to you?
CB: I look forward to meeting John Lennon when I leave this planet. He saw me on stage playing guitar for Ann Peebles back in the 70’s. I would ask him if he liked my playing, hopefully he would say yes
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that helped to make you who you are as a creative artist.
CB: I was a homeless musician living on the streets in London UK in the 70’s. Playing in Irish pubs was not bringing enough money to survive. I got a job as a night shift worker in a gas station in Peckham, South East London. One night at around 2am a guy came in and said “Are you Chris Birkett the guitar player?” I affirmed and he asked me to join his band that were leaving for an 18-month tour of Germany the next day. I accepted and everything changed from that point.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
CB: Being an artist is being a risk taker. There is no guarantee that you will not be starving at some time. The lack of financial security that artists endure is hard for outsiders to understand. Some of the biggest artists I’ve worked with have never been in it for the money. Creativity is addictive and, when you have it, nothing else matters. When I co-produced Nothing Compares 2 U with Sinead O’Connor, we had no idea how big a hit we had made. I was at a Sinead concert in London to celebrate the success of the record and she said “If I had known this would be a hit, I never would have f..kin done it”.
JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts? Why the delay so far?
CB: I have never written a musical before now. Top of my bucket list is a musical called The Age of Awakening. It’s about the current shift in thinking that is happening right now. The Corona Virus situation is a part of this shift. I have all the music written for this, but I haven’t managed to find the right script and finance to get it up and running.
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?
CB: I came from a very poor family and grew up in one of the worst parts of the greater London suburbs. If I had my time again, I would love to grow up in a family and situation that supported music. I had no training and no encouragement. I had to build my first guitar from scraps of wood found in the garbage when I was 8 years old.
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s society, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
CB: The collapse of the music industry due to streaming technology has resulted in a huge drop in financial support for artists. Record labels don’t finance records any more. But every stick has two ends. The good thing about this is that no one is steering artistic expression, so artists are free to express their vision without an agenda imposed by music business executives, accountants and lawyers. I see this as healthy for the future of original music. It’s a brave new world and we have to find our way. I’m looking forward to playing and interacting with my musician friends when all this isolation is over. However, the extra time we all have can lead to some wonderful new creations.
JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create and/or do?
CB: As for songwriting, I don’t feel that I do anything. I am just a vehicle for creative energy looking for a way to materialize. So many times I have listened to what has come out and wonder where it came from. I’m full of gratitude for having this gift.
JS: In your creative life thus far, what have been the most helpful comments you have heard about your work?
CB: I enjoy constructive criticism as it helps me grow. Some criticism is destructive, but I ignore this if I feel the motive for it is a negative one.
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising things about you?
CB: I am surprised and grateful that the spark in me called music has saved my life many times. During my travels around the world in countries like India and Africa, I have had some major psychological break throughs resulting in my realizing why I’m here. I believe that once someone finds out why they are here, and pursues this with all their passion, everything falls into place.