When we get the opportunity to sit down with our favourite artists, of course, it’s not something we take for granted. And then there are the opportunities we get when we get to speak with someone as legendary as Lee Fields, backstage at what he describes as one of the best, if not the best, musical event on the planet – Coachella.
Lee Fields, welcome to Coachella.
Good to be here, good to be here.
It’s a beautiful, hot day out here. Weekend Two of this iconic event. What was your first weekend like? Looking forward to the show today what do you think about this whole crazy event?
I think this event is, if not the greatest event musically on the planet, it’s close to it.
You’ve played a lot of events, that’s a big call.
Oh yeah. This event, this is the big dog here. Coachella is the big dog. And it’s good being here.
You get to play alongside some pretty incredible talent, both new and old. Are you someone that still likes to discover new music and see what’s happening on the other stages around the festival?
Oh yeah. I often like to hear new artists to see what they doin’. Because we learn from each other and so this is a good opportunity, it’s created a good opportunity for me to do that. I’m gonna check out a few artists tonight if we have the time. I think we’re flying out later this evening. I got to check with my manager.
See if you get any extracurricular time at the festival. It’s amazing though, isn’t it, how you probably see less music going to a festival as a performer than you would just on a normal night in New Jersey. (Laughs)
Yeah, but it’s amazing. It’s amazing being a festival of this size, you know. They have ’em all here. Coachella, everybody plays. Just being a part of this wonderful event really indeed is a great treat for me.
You’re here, this is part of your world tour, I suppose for your your latest record, Special Night. Now how has it been performing the new tracks live with the band?
Well, the people are lovin’ the new tracks from Special Night. As a matter of fact, I enjoy singing the tracks, because, the people show so much love for ’em. When I’m singing the songs I’ve got to be very careful because they’re singing word for word –
So you don’t want to mess up.
Don’t want to mess up. Big time.
It’s a very positive record and it came out in a time, in almost a week where things anything but positive. What does it mean for you to be portraying a positivity in what is currently a negative climate, both politically and otherwise?
Well I think, not necessarily myself in particular, but I think we’re livin’ in times now where a lot of people are recognising, that it’s very important for all of us, that believe that love is the answer. It’s to display love every chance we get. I think, for too long that, the negative characters and a lot of the shows today are bad cats, you know? The bad guy’s the hero. So, what kind of person just be ordinary, how come regular folks can’t be the hero?
You know, ’cause regular folks, that’s what make the world go round and that’s what it should be about. Everybody’s not our here riding some fancy car with all kinds of beautiful ladies hanging off the car, and decked down with gold and everybody ain’t got it like that. Some of us just regular folks. So let regular folks, let us have our day. As regular people to just love each other. Regular folks, you know what I mean? So that’s what my whole concept is about. The regular man, the regular woman.
And there’s also I think, in society, and we keep proving it over and over again, that negativity begets negativity and it creates a cycle of that. So, shouldn’t we be trying to create a cycle of positivity?
That’s what I’m hoping that, the signal that we’re sending out, is bringing to the forefront. Is regular folk doing regular things and doing it so well that the world survives. Love. I mean care about each other, care about the neighbourhoods. Care less about the me, and care more about the us. You know? So my music, all my songs, I’m hoping that you’ll be able to catch, regardless which song you listening to, that kind of sincereness.
I’ve got a song on the new album called “Make the World Better”. That song came to me in a dream, actually in a nightmare, and a beautiful dream. The first part of that excursion I was taken in the future and I saw all kinds of discord, anarchy; I saw people just having so much discord with each other. I saw the foliage of the trees, the waters were polluted. I mean, when I woke up, I woke up in a nightmare. I was glad to get up out of that dream. And it so happened that I went back to sleep, and I went down the same road. This time the foliage of the trees was green, people were in harmony with each other, there was not anarchy going on. People were helping each other, it was such a beautiful, beautiful place. It was just like, it depicted the possibilities of what we can do as mankind if we focus on the world a little bit more, and a little less on ourselves. Let’s be less selfish. Let’s be more about each other.
That’s absolutely beautiful and I’m never gonna listen to that song in the same way again knowing the back story of it. I’m sure so much of your catalogue, you have similar stories for and I just want to quickly before we go … Australia, last time I saw you was at the Spiegeltent during the Sydney Festival, 2014. I think that was the last time you were in Australia.
Right. Last time I was in Australia, yeah. I had a real beautiful time. The people of Australia showed so much love and I’m hoping definitely that my travels lead me back to Australia. I had such a wonderful time and I’m looking forward to going back there again.
The author travelled to Coachella from Australia via Honolulu with Hawaiian Airlines. For bookings and more details head to http://hawaiianair.com/
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