January 04, 2011 Music » Music Features

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Sean Lennon teams with girlfriend for folk-infused new band 

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click to enlarge SHE & HIM: Ghost of a Sabre Tooth Tiger

  • SHE & HIM: Ghost of a Sabre Tooth Tiger

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Was it also a process of getting a sense of performance?

CKM: I still haven't. I'm still working on that. It's weird in today's age of technology and YouTube and everything like that. All of the first times that I've ever sung in front of someone or played an instrument in front of someone are all on YouTube. It's kind of humiliating to have to develop in the public eye like that.

SL: I know. I'm always telling her that it's so hard. When I used to tour when I was your age if we had a bad show, it was 'oh well.' The people that were there didn't know you messed something up. Now, if you mess anything up, it's all over YouTube that night and people will be forever analyzing and critiquing it.

Sean, I know that just having your name attached to anything brings immediate recognition and expectations ...

SL: That's true. And respect. Profound respect. (laughs) And awe. And nausea. And indigestion is the main thing.

CKM: (Laughs)

I get the impression from interviews that I've read, and I'm making an assumption, that you don't let it bother you. At some point, you had to just say, 'I'm writing my own music.' You don't necessarily want to be compared to either parent. You just want to be acknowledged for what you do and your own abilities.

SL: Yeah, but wanting to be acknowledged for my own abilities and not wanting to be compared to my parents would be like banging my head against the wall for an hour. There's just no point. I'll never get that, so I don't hope for it at all.

Well, is it ever a conscious thing when you're writing. Do you sit there and think, 'I would do something like this for my mom' or 'This sounds like something my dad would have done' or do you just blow both of those away ...

SL: I think one of the things that has been really liberating about working with Charlotte is that she doesn't have the same association with chords and stuff that I do. I feel like I'm able to rediscover different types of sound textures and chord changes that I might not have had the balls to use on my own. I don't know. I'm able to re-ascertain or re-assess certain sounds and re-contextualize them because she doesn't have the same associations that I do.

CKM: What he means to say is that I'm kind of clueless when it comes to a lot of the obvious musical references of The Beatles or Jimi Hendrix or whatever.

So, you're offering a new perspective.

SL: Yeah. I'll be playing something and she'll be like, 'Do that.' I'm like, 'Are you sure? I don't know if I can do that.' She'll be like, 'No, do it.' And I'm like, 'Alright.' I definitely find myself being a lot more free to escape my own sort of insecurity and sort of censoring and second guessing of what people think I'm trying to do.

CKM: I think that the way that being related to the Beatles has influenced him is by trying to avoid it at all costs. If a chord change that I suggest sounds too much like 'Strawberry Fields,' he'll be like, 'No, we can't do that. We can't do that.' I'll say, 'Why? It sounds like what?'

SL: Seriously. The other day, our keyboardist played the line from 'Strawberry Fields.' He didn't mean to, but I was like, 'Dude, you can't play that. That's the line...' I showed him how it was exactly that line. I know — that music, I know every note. We were in soundcheck and Charlotte still didn't know what I meant. I think I was stifled, not just by The Beatles, but I was sort of stifled by my music history in my head. Charlotte is liberated from that except from classical. She's not inundated with the rock chord changes of the past. I'm bogged down by my own music knowledge in a way. I was such a nerd. I know the bass player from a Miles Davis record. I'm such a dork that way. I think it kind of kept me in a box. Charlotte came with a totally new ear. She grew up in a different generation and has helped me escape my own sort of cliches.

I get the impression that this musical union has worked so well for both of you and brought these sides out of you. It's working so well, I wonder why it isn't more prolific as far as getting music out?

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$15. 8 p.m. Jan. 13. The Evening Muse. www.theeveningmuse.com

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