Mark Knopfler
a.k.a.
Mark Freuder Knopfler
BUCKING THE CURRENT
With Sailing to Philadelphia, Mark Knopfler Proves He's Still the Sultan of Smart Rock
A former English teacher, a father of three, a film composer, a history buff -- these are hardly the usual attributes of a rock star. But as the singer/guitarist of Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler embodied these qualities even as he established himself as a top-caliber rock star. With Straits, Knopfler was responsible for both cult classics ("Skateaway," "Romeo & Juliet") and multi-platinum smashes ("Sultans of Swing," "Money for Nothing"). Never driven by the need for commercial success, however, Knopfler laid Dire Straits to rest in 1995 -- "I was ready to move on to something new," he says dismissively of the monumental decision. The first taste of his new direction came with 1996's Golden Heart, which received positive reviews but failed to match Dire Straits' chart muscle. After being "diverted" over the last four years scoring films such as Wag the Dog and Metroland, Knopfler has refocused his attention to his own music with the often exquisite Sailing to Philadelphia, an album marked by its maturity and an array of musical styles that range from country to Dire Straits-esque rock. Barnes & Noble.com's Steve Baltin spoke with Knopfler about his inspirations outside of music, his old band, and how being a good "history student" can make you a better musician.
Barnes & Noble.com: You used to be an English teacher, and I understand you're still an avid reader. Who are some of your favorite authors?
Mark Knopfler: People like Martin Amis and Charles Bukowski. Probably my favorite novelist of all is Don Delilo. [Also,] Rushdie, Julian Barnes -- there's a pile of writers that can always be pretty much counted on. Have you ever read John Fante? He's a very good writer. And Thomas Pynchon. Actually, on this album, the "Sailing to Philadelphia" song came about because I was reading [Pynchon's] Mason & Dixon. It's a difficult book, but I actually enjoyed it. I'm from the northeast of England, which one of the main characters is, so I understood a lot of the references.
B&N.com: You recorded that song with James Taylor. How did that come about?
MK: I thought that James could play the character of Charles Mason really well. It was a bit like casting for a play. And James was on my mind because he'd asked if I'd produce some stuff for him. Because I was thinking of him it occurred to me that he could play this West Country Englishman, because the West Country English accent is very, very close to an American accent. I think he did beautifully because that dreamy quality there is in his voice is perfect for an astronomer. It worked for me.
B&N.com: It seems as if a lot of your inspiration comes from outside of music. Would you say that's true?
MK: Yeah. Sometimes a book that I'm reading can coincide with a situation that I find myself in. I remember that happening once or twice. So, yeah, I will occasionally find myself influenced by something I'm reading.
B&N.com: Besides reading, isn't history also something that you're very interested in?
MK: Well, yeah. I suppose it's just a regret that I didn't study more of it. I came back to history through the historical novel, and I think that as you get older, you recognize the attraction of it. So with a song like "What It Is," the history seems to me very much to link with the present. I have an English degree, but if I were to choose another one to do, it would probably be history.
B&N.com: That historical curiosity obviously extends to music as well, as evidenced by side projects like your country project the Notting Hillbillies and your album with legendary Nashville guitarist Chet Atkins. As a musician, do you think it's important to have an appreciation for the artists who came before you?
MK: If you really want depth in what you're doing, you've got to be interested in your roots. It comes from there, and then you take it with you. I've spent a fair amount of my time listening to [bluegrass legends] the Stanley Brothers one minute and then [gospel act] the Fairfield Four the next minute, and I'm happy in there. But it's not that I'm always sort of lurking around in antiquity. Antiquity, as such, doesn't terribly interest me. I'm not terribly interested in playing you a bluegrass tune that's perfectly reconstructed or presented. If you want that, then there are plenty of people you can go to. Maybe I would try to get into the spirit of the thing, but I would make something else. I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist in that sense at all. The purist orthodoxy never really interested me anyway.
B&N.com: You mentioned earlier that you still play with some of the guys from Dire Straits on occasion. When you take the Dire Straits name away from it, does it become a little freer?
MK: Exactly. It doesn't come with the great expectations, the weight, a lighting rig from Star Wars, and all the rest of it.
B&N.com: Were you involved in the recent remastering of the Dire Straits albums at all?
MK: If it's the Bob Ludwig ones, then yes. They were sent for approval back then, a while back.
B&N.com: Did it make you go back and reexamine those songs?
MK: No. I remember once we had to make a live album. We'd been playing ten nights at Hammersmith Odeon [in London], or a week, whatever it was, and I started listening to a performance from Monday night and I thought, Shit, I can't go through this. I said, "What was a good night?" Somebody said, "Saturday was a good night." I said, "Okay, that's the album." I just couldn't wade through it all.
B&N.com: Have you ever given in and listened to it at any point?
MK: If I'm unlucky enough to be somewhere when it comes on, I guess I have to hear a few bars of it.
B&N.com: You don't like to look back, do you?
MK: I'm the last man in the world to look back on that stuff. I always want to be going forward. I think it would be sad to sit around at home and listen to your own records. There's something deeply tragic about that [laughs].
September 26, 2000
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