The last BASTIEN?

PROVIDING FURTHER PROOF, if needed, that there’s more to Switzerland than ski resorts, wristwatches and cheese, Lausanne-born singer-songwriter Bastian Baker has become a global sensation with moving tunes like “Tomorrow May Not be Better”.
That was the title track from his 2011 debut album, which also offered the melodious “I’d Sing for You” and “Lucky”. And it was Bangkok that got lucky last week when Baker – real name Bastien Kaltenbacher – stopped by Bangkok last week to meet his fans and sing a few tunes at The Continent Hotel. We were there for an interesting interview.

YOUR SECOND ALBUM, “TOO OLD TO DIE YOUNG”, FEELS MUCH MORE GROWN-UP AND CONFIDENT THAN THE FIRST.
The approach we took was like an audience watching the world. All the songs are stories people told me, things I’ve seen and felt – it’s like my soul being a metre above my body.
The album was made simply, with drums, bass, piano and guitars. We didn’t even have a demo as a blueprint. We were at Angelic Studios, which is owned by Jamiroquai’s former keyboardist, Toby Smith. The whole thing was recorded live. We played a song over and over until we got the right take. It’s a miracle that we managed to finish at all!
Also, all the songs are great for playing live,

YOUR BACKGROUND IS IN SPORTS. WHY THE SHIFT TO MUSIC?
I was a hockey player for 13 years. I did all the national tournaments and it was a big deal for me. Music and ice hockey might seem different, but they’re similar in many ways. Hockey players are actually music lovers – there’s always music playing in the stadium and the locker rooms.
I started playing guitar at the same time I started playing hockey, when I was seven. I was also in the school choir and we even did a project with David Richards, a former sound engineer for Queen. Then I started a band when I was 13, playing at parties and in bars, all kinds of stuff and some of my own songs too. And this is the band that’s still with me today. We’re really close friends.

 WHAT KINDS OF MUSIC DID YOU GROW UP LISTENING TO?
I’m the biggest Queen fan ever. I listened to basically what my father and mother listened to, bands like Led Zeppelin, REM, the Eagles, Simon and Garfunkel. Then I found my own stuff, like Jason Mraz, Angus and Julia Stone, Justin Nozuka, John Mayer. My favourite artist is Robert Francis. I’m not really a big fan of big female voices. The only female artist I listen to is Lana Del Ray, but if I hear Adele on the radio I won’t change the station. I’m not sure the music I do is linked to the music I listened to. I just compose my music with acoustic guitar, which makes my sound more folkie than anything else.

DESCRIBE YOUR SONGWRITING PROCESS?
I lead the whole thing and do the arrangements, but I still need input from the band. I’m not the kind of guy who always has to have the final decision. I just want the song to sound as good as possible. Some of the songs we wrote and arranged together. These guys are really talented musicians!

YOU ALL SEEM TO HAVE LONG AND CLOSE RELATIONSHIP, SO WHY DOES THE BAND LOOK LIKE A SOLO ACT?
It’s like Franz Ferdinand – it’s a band, but it’s named after one person. When we do a show I always refer to all of us as “Bastian Baker”. Anyway, like I said, I lead the whole process and I do the promo and, most importantly, they wouldn’t want to do that as a band. It just happened this way, not because I wanted all the attention. This is what works best for us.

DO YOU WRITE SONGS IN ENGLISH?
Yes. I grew up speaking French and I think French is the most beautiful language in the world, but I don’t want to sing only in French. In the French-speaking music scene, they also take this folk and rock vibe from American songs and try to sing in French, but it just doesn’t work.
Plus, most of my influences are artists who sing in English, so it makes more sense to me to sing in English. Maybe one day I’ll sing in French.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR OWN SONGS?
I’m kind of happy that I still haven’t found my direction because, if I find one, I’ll have to avoid it. I don’t like listening to an album and not being able to tell any difference between the songs because they all sound the same. I can’t describe my own sound because it’s a little bit of rock, blues, country, pop and pretty much everything. I also arrange and produce my own songs, and I always try to make sure that I don’t do anything that’s too similar.

WHAT’S THE MUSIC SCENE IN SWITZERLAND LIKE?
From June to August there are 300 music festivals – in a country of seven million people. There’s not a day in the summer when there’s no music festival going on. We played 23 festivals this summer. Young bands now try to go abroad and put their music on YouTube and everything. Switzerland isn’t known for exporting music, but we’re on our way, opening doors to the international market. The young bands like us are working together, not against each other, and I think that’s very special.

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN THE EDM [ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC] PHENOMENON OR WORKING WITH A DJ?
It’s not my kind of music. I like Berlin and I’m more into electro, underground sounds. Big clubs and EDM are really not “me”. A Swiss DJ asked me to collaborate and I agreed, but I don’t want my name on it. I sang on that track because I liked the sound. But, credibility-wise, for a rock/folk artist, it’s not necessarily a good thing.

ANOTHER ALBUM COMING UP?
There’s actually no third album planned. I don’t even know if I’ll make another album – I might just release singles, like the Beatles and other bands did before the concept of albums even existed. I just want to go into the studio, make a song with friends and other people I like and release it. I’m not sure if it’s the best idea, but that’s what I feel like at the moment.