Pop Quiz: Catching up with Richard Ashcroft.
As the frontman of the Verve, Richard Ashcroft sold millions of albums — the band’s 1997 release, “Urban Hymns,” ranks among the 20 best-selling albums ever in the United Kingdom — and dominated the charts with the hit “Bittersweet Symphony.” Since striking out solo in 2000 with “Alone With Everybody,” Ashcroft has taken his career at a more relaxed pace, leaving him open to experimenting with everything from classic country to contemporary hip-hop (see his last album, 2010’s “United Nations of Sound”). On his most recent release, “These People,” Ashcroft attempts to bring his diverse influences together while recapturing the determined spirit of his former band. He spoke to us from his home in England.
Q: A lot of your recent solo output has netted mixed reviews. Does it bother you that people aren’t on board in the same way they once were? A: I just think that I would never weigh that in a commercial way. There’s no artist where every painting is classic . ... “These People” is my attempt to fuse to all these things I like together. If I can write a song like “Black Lines,” I don’t want to put it on the shelf. Even “Urban Hymns” was that way. The songs were all very individual in their own way, yet they were fused together by the strings, the band and this voice going through. I was the guy who wrote “Bittersweet Symphony.” If I play “Out of My Body” and I get a similar feeling of excitement, I’m going to be a better judge of that feeling than anyone else in the world. Q: A lot of sensitive British singer-songwriters emerged in your wake. Is the rise of Ed Sheeran your fault? A: No, it’s not my fault. Good on him, man. When you talk about all the elements that need to take place for things to take off like the Ed Sheeran thing, it’s out of your arms. Not for the thousands of interviews I did. Not for the hundreds of shows I did. It’s because someone put a Richard Ashcroft song in a movie. You get to see the switch from the standard reality for an artist to mega. Q: Have you adjusted to playing more intimate shows? A: When I come back to England, I’m going to be doing some arena shows. I still think there’s room for me. That potential, that magic, that little moment, that little spark might happen again. To know there’s an audience all around the globe, of varying numbers, that’s brilliant. There’s going to be no difference whatsoever in the presentation of what I’m doing at the moment. On this tour I’m going from playing places I’ve never played before, from 3,000 people in Argentina to 50,000 people in Mexico. People show up with “Music Is Power” tattoos. It tells me one of two things: I’ve not done enough to spoil their impression of me, or they have a definite connection to my music.
Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop music critic. E-mail: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MusicSF