Causecast

Singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo has been playing and recording music for over three decades. He was the member of several punk bands (Rank and File, True Believers) before embarking on a solo career in the early 1990s. His ninth solo album, Real Animal, was released in 2008.

Causecast’s Brandon Deroche recently sat down with Escovedo to discuss social change, the 1960s, his bout with Hepatitis C, and how he succeeds in the new music industry.

Causecast: Many people compare today’s world to that of the 1960s in that both are times of significant change and transition. Do you feel that’s a worthy comparison?

Alejandro Escovedo: I was born in 1951, so in the 60s was my period in time where I witnessed some profound and intense social change, those being civil rights and sexual rights and freedom. I did a lot of work when I was younger with the Farm Workers Union because my father was a union man so labor was always really important to us. As kids we would march on picket lines and stuff. [Today] does seem transitional, but I don’t feel as much a part of it as I did at one point in my life. Although, I must say that when we played the Democratic National Convention in Denver, in that instance I felt very much like I was part of something again. It brought back the feelings I had in the 60s where I had the feeling that I was part of something that was going to change the world. It was really exciting and a great feeling to have again.

CC: What were the biggest aspects of social change in the 60s that still stick out in your mind today?

AE: Civil rights were so important to us growing up as a Mexican-American family. My father was an immigrant from Mexico. The awakening of pride within our culture was really important for us. It was something that I’d never witnessed until that point in my life. My name is Alejandro but my teachers in school always called me Alex because my teachers never wanted to bother with my name. Even as I became a musician there were always instances where I would be asked to go to the back door or serve someone a drink or something along those lines. So, the civil rights movement was really important to me.

CC: How does music play a role in social change?

AE: Once again reverting back to the 60s, music played such a large part in the message and in changing people’s lives. There are so many kids growing up during that time who will tell you it’s because of songs, concerts, and different artists who were involved in different issues bringing up certain concerns in lyrics that we learned a lot. It really changed our lives.

CC: All things considered, do you think we’re a closer world now or in the 60s?

AE: Obviously, we’re a closer world because of the networking and the Internet having the availability of so much information. But, I don’t know that we’re a closer world. I could only tell you this from a musician’s standpoint but when we were young, we’d hear that Keith Richards liked Son House let’s say. So, we’d go out and find every Son House record and that would lead to Charlie Patton and Blind Willie Johnson and on and on. Now, you Google something and you’ve got the complete discography and history. Before it was a matter of searching out these little isolated groups of people who knew about this stuff. If you were fortunate enough to grow up in an area in which that information was available because of the people who were into it, you were very lucky. I grew up in Huntington Beach and in that town we’d listen to The Velvet Underground all the time. Every time you went to a party their music was playing. I was really fortunate in that respect.

CC: How has the collapse in the music industry affected you as an artist?

AE: It doesn’t really affect us because we’re working musicians. I’ve been doing this for 34 years now and we travel all the time. We grew up in punk rock and in punk rock you got a van and you played wherever there was electricity and where there wasn’t you played acoustic. It was all about getting the music out to the people. We did it on our own. We booked our own gigs. For us the survival thing is not dependent on record companies at all. We have enough an audience now to where we can survive without tour support. When it comes to putting out records, the distribution is important but it’s available now because of the internet. If you sell 10,000 records on your own, you’ve probably made more money than if you were to sell 100,000 records on a record label. That’s why so many kids are doing it that way. It’s good to take it out of the hands of the industry.

CC: What does the word ‘peace’ mean to you?

AE: Peace has always been kind of elusive for me. You hope to find inner peace, some sort of tranquility or spiritual base. It comes and goes, it’s always been elusive to me. I’d like to think that it meant love and harmony amongst everyone. We know it’s not readily going to happen.

CC: Who has inspired you, large or small, to be active in your life?

AE: The major figure I turn to whenever I need inspiration is the Dalai Lama. I think he’s a beautiful human being who’s been through great adversity and still has a beautiful mind, soul and heart. He’s a great example for people of all beliefs, religions and races. Cesar Chavez, Che Guevara and Martin Luther King were very important for me. My father was very influential in my life. He carried himself quietly but he was a very powerful man. He loved people and was a very good man. I think of those types of guys.

CC: Are there any other causes in particular that you are passionate about?

AE: About five or six years ago, I was stricken with Hepatitis C. I had to take two or three years off from playing music. I had no insurance. If it wasn’t for the support and love of the fans and other musicians who came to my side to help me, I wouldn’t have survived those three years. Universal health is very important to me. I support different groups back home in Austin. I support The Austin Child Guidance Center which supports the children of these musicians who have no health care, children of divorces and kids who are going through rough times. The life we lead as musicians is rough on our families. Universal health is my main concern and Hepatitis C patients. I feel like in America, we treat art as subversive and not positive and inspiring like it should be. Other countries like Canada support their artists and European countries treat you like you are special. It’s great. Musicians have been treated like second-class citizens here. Ever since I’ve been playing music it’s been that way.

Photo by thomascrenshaw, flickr