LOOKING FORWARD
Songwriter laments ‘myth’ that our pasts were idyllic
Sitting in front of a bar in Boston, Chris Staples patiently waits.
His performance is one of many across the country with Rocky Votolato.
“The shows have had some amazing audiences,” he says during a recent phone interview. “The shows we’ve played so far have bene sold-out.”
The Oregon-based singer has been on tour supporting his most recent effort, “Golden Age.”
The album took more than a year to put together, and Staples had a series of detours on the way.
First, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and his pancreas failed.
He then had a bike accident and broke his hip. Not to mention a longterm relationship fell apart and he was left to pick up the pieces.
“I felt for several years like I was mourning,” he says. “Mourning a happier time in my life, or a time when I was more youthful. Everything was different for me after that period in my life.”
Staples began writing in Florida and finished the album in Oregon.
Staples, who also works as a carpenter, spent the winter in Seattle working on music. He would use his iPhone to record. “There were plenty of conversations I had with the phone,” he says. “Then I would get through the ideas and pick them out. Every time I make a record, there are pieces of songs I want to develop. One of the things on this record that I’m most proud of is the consistency to the entire record. I wanted to do more on this album, so I invited friends of mine to play on the album.”
Like his previous effort, he wrote the music from personal moments.
“It’s really easy to idealize an earlier time in your life, but it’s not useful. It can be a trap that keeps you from finding new good things to live for. ‘Golden Age’ is about that myth we carry around. The myth of our past being idyllic. I don’t want to waste any more time dwelling on it.”