This week marks the return of Dive's 5 Questions series, and we're starting the summer off with a conversation with England's Bobby Long. In the midst of a busy touring schedule and recording his first full-length album, Bobby chatted with Diversions Editor Linnie Greene about crossing the pond, childhood influences and how the Twilight soundtrack influenced his career. Catch his show at Local 506 this SaturdayDiversions: How long have you been performing in the states?
Bobby Long: I started performing in April, and I came out for like two weeks to New York, LA and Nashville. I came back out in July and I’ve been constantly on tour since then in Canada and the U.S. I’m on tour right now with Matt Pond PA.
Dive: What kind of artists did you grow up listening to?
BL: I grew up with quite a lot. Quite a lot of British stuff and a lot of jazz stuff — some Coltrane and people like that. My mom was kind of into '60s rock 'n’ roll stuff, like Captain Beefheart and The Who, and my dad listened to Bob Dylan and the country-folk kind of stuff. My uncle’s a musician, and he got me into Elliott Smith and stuff like that. I’ve been surrounded by it, so I had a good upbriging from that point of view.
Dive: You've been on the road for awhile. What are some of your favorite things about touring?
BL: I really like playing. I mean, I still love playing shows and when you kind of get to where you sound good — I’ve just done a sound check and I know it’s going to be a really cool show. Living out of a suitcase is cool. It’s fun. Just when things aren’t going your way, it can be frustrating when you’re stuck in a car for eight hours.
Dive: What are your aspirations?
BL: I think just to have a future. You can’t really, unless you beg you can’t get them to buy a record, people have to buy it. It’s out of your hands, I just want to make music the way I want to do it. ATO Records, they’re a really great record label, and they’re letting me do my thing. And I just want to keep doing that and be able to put across what I want to put across. Just have a career in it; it’d be nice to play in from ot 35,000 people, but I like doing what I’m doing. I just enjoy the basics, just playing to people and writing. I want to form a fan base and keep this going — longevity, just the freedom to get to do what I want to do. I’ll take what comes along with that.
Dive: You wrote a song that Robert Pattinson ended up singing on the Twilight soundtrack. What was that experience like? How did that opportunity come about?
BL: It was just — it was totally normal and bizarre at the same time. My friend who I co-wrote it with, we were both at school and we were working and things were going OK. I was starting to play bigger places around London. It was miniscule but it was happening, and this crept up. The next minute I was talking to Warner Brothers. It was just a bit bizarre. I was so busy doing other things I was like, “If this happens it’s great.” I had no idea the craziness it would bring. I never thought that it would take me across America on tour for eight months. I owe a lot to it because it put me on the map.
