Baxter Dury will take to the stage at Den Atelier this coming weekend as part of the tour in support of his new LP, ‘I Thought I Was Better Than You'. Chatting to the erudite wordsmith just a few weeks after the record was released, we find Baxter in a reflective and contemplative mood, but not really keen on espousing on English clichés or alluding to the historical connections that seem to cling to him like lint to Velcro.
Instead, he’s a little more protective of his privacy and shows he’s all too aware of how the awkwardness that makes his music so appealing also cuts off his route to apparent wider success.
“I find that I’ve gotten unnecessarily sensitive as I have gotten, but I ^like, it means, I’ve remained human...”
We discuss ‘cancel culture’, the importance of performance, and how he leans on the hip-hop method of deliberately emphasising events which have happened in and around his life.
We also get to the crux of what his process is all about and how he considers it be a hyper-vain blend of fact and fiction, sometimes both at once.
‘Cancel Culture (puhh) it looms healthily and most of the time, it means a lot of very rotten men getting what they deserve…I don’t mind that’
And we discuss how he came to working with the wonderful singer JJGrey, how social commentary is more his thing than political commentary, and we investigate what his formative musical memories were.
Baxter Dury lands at den Atelier on 26 September and you can get your tickets here.
Or you can enter our Today Radio giveaway and win some tickets for what will undoubtedly be an entertaining night, simply tell us which exciting new artist would not take no for an answer in working with Baxter on his new LP. Send your answers to the Today Radio Studio WhatsApp on +352 621 52 5000.
The album “I Thought I Was Better Than You” is available now on Heavenly Records.
To listen to the whole conversation, click here to find part 1 and part 2 on RTL Play, or listen via the players below.
We are aware that the vocal mix is a little low on Baxter…we’ve been taking notes from Christopher Nolan in how to draw in the listener. That’s our excuse and were sticking to it for artistic reasons.
