Ask the angel

>> Protean punk poetess Patti Smith offers
answers on late-’70s New York and
domesticity in Detroit, covering Kurt Cobain
and the looming post-Bush clean-up job

COME HERE, MY PRETTIES: Patti Smith and her band

By CHRIS BARRY

One might suspect she needs no introduction, she’s fuckin’ Patti Smith after all—the iconic, hairy-pitted hippie/punk/chanteuse/rocker/poet whose 1975 album Horses arguably laid the foundation for an attitude that came to be defined as American punk rock, or at least for some of the more wistful, arty aspects of the genre.

The Mirror rang up Smith, currently making the rounds on the heels of her new album Twelve, at home last week to get the dirt on the new record, her life with the late, great Fred “Sonic” Smith, the current state of rock ’n’ roll, Ralph Nader and, of course, everyone’s hero, President George Walker Bush.

Mirror: Does it surprise you to see how the late-’70s CBGBs era has come to be so mythologized?

Patti Smith: Well, I don’t know if it’s that mythologized. I just think of CBGBs as being symbolic of something that was happening globally. When I think of CBGBs, I don’t just think of CBGBs, but of when I was touring during that period and all the new young bands and kids I met all over Europe and America that wanted to do something different. It’s more of a consciousness to me than a place. Any period which seems to breathe new life and freedom into the arts is often cherished by people. And it was one of those periods. At the time, we never thought about anything like that, we were still just figuring out new places to play, new ideas, and how to pay our rent and have enough money to eat. Even once we were recording, we weren’t making so much money that we didn’t have to think about those things. In some ways, that period had an innocence, and even after people were doing well, it didn’t lose its innocence.

Motor City menage

M: Was it difficult, leaving rock ’n’ roll after Wave came out in ’79, to live a relatively domesticated life in Detroit with your husband [late MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith]?

PS: I didn’t think of it as a domesticated life. I went to Detroit to be with the person I loved. For me, to be with him was a beautiful thing. And to be apart from him, touring, was painful. And neither of us were traditional people. I didn’t have a whole lot of money. We just saved what we could and lived very simply. It was more a bohemian life than domesticated. We lived simply, we did all our own work, scrubbed our own floors, took care of our children. But we were always committing art. We were always studying, or writing, or playing music together, so it was an intensely creative period, and though I had all of the traditional, and sometimes difficult, domestic duties, it was never devoid of creative expression.

Really, the main thing that I missed was New York City. I missed the mobility. I don’t drive, and you know, in the Detroit area, people depend on cars. I missed the cafés, I missed my friends, I missed the camaraderie of my people, you know, my band. For me, it was a new adventure, a new way of being. I didn’t feel like all of a sudden I was plunged into a domestic vortex. You know, I come from a working class family, I’m no stranger to hard work, and it was just, you know, living our life. There’s always sacrifice in choice. Whenever one makes a choice, there’s a certain amount of sacrifice. But I know I made the right decision. I loved my husband.

M: Hey, I loved your husband too—at least his musical legacy. Is there any Fred Smith stuff hiding in your basement that the public might someday hear?

PS: The things that were there have been well documented. Fred and I left public life in 1979, and back then, we didn’t have the tools or technology, or even the foresight, to document things the way people do now. He didn’t have the income to heavily document the band [Sonic’s Rendezvous]. Still, you know, people find things and release them. But I have our children as a legacy of Fred, as well as the work we did together on [1988’s] Dream of Life. Fred produced that album, wrote all the music, played all the guitar, so, you know, he can be found on that record.

Altars and egos

M: What inspired you to cover “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on Twelve?

PS: Well, it’s obviously a strong song, I relate very strongly with the lyrics, I think I understand what drove Kurt Cobain to… you know, the song really articulates the schism of being an artist and a performer. On one hand, you feel this special power, but on the other, you don’t want to be isolated from other people. I think the schism of both being dogged as an artist and wanting to just be a human being was very difficult for him. But I wanted to do the song in a genre he embraced. He loved bluegrass music.

M: Do you think rock ’n’ roll is still a powerful medium to communicate ideas, revolutionary or otherwise?

PS: Certainly, I think it’s a powerful cultural voice. It has its periods of exploration, some more political than others. Right now, people are regrouping and a lot of new things are in store for us, and I look forward to what new generations are doing. I’ve always believed rock ’n’ roll is the people’s art. It’s a way all people at any age can voice their opinions, their sexuality, their spirit, their political ideals. It’s there as a format, as a uniting principle, it’s really up to the people how they use it.

M: What’s going down with this gig in Montreal? Will it be with a full band?

PS: Yeah, it’ll be full band. We’re playing in this really beautiful church, so we’ll be conforming to the sound system and the best way to play in a church. Because you can do any of these songs… I mean, I’ve done “Gloria” with just one acoustic guitar, so it doesn’t matter how we approach them, but when you’re in an extremely special venue like this, it’s important to get a sense of the sound of that venue—it’s not the kind of place where you’re going to play the loudest drums. But I’m really excited to play there.

Nader and the nadir

M: Would you publicly support Ralph Nader again? What do you say to people who believe Nader is indirectly responsible for electing George W?

PS: It’s idiotic some people think that. If Al Gore had run a better campaign, he would’ve won. Certainly Ralph thought he’d win. Ralph is a great man. He’s the most honest, sacrificial person I’ve ever met. He truly devotes every second of his life to the good of the people. Forty per cent of the population didn’t even vote. I think we might say that the several million people who believed in Al Gore, or in the Democratic party, but who didn’t vote, these people should claim responsibility for not getting their candidate in office.

M: Do you see a new day dawning for the U.S. in 2008, when a new administration comes to power, or simply more of the same old horseshit with a new face on it?

PS: I see a lot of struggle. Things are so difficult economically, we’ve made such a terrible, immoral mess of Iraq. The environment has been greatly compromised. I don’t see it as a golden time but I do hope there’s change, and we can start repairing the damage. I think we’ve got a very difficult set of years to come. And I think the people really won’t understand how bad it is until they reassess things and see exactly what this present administration has done. The rude awakening we’re about to experience will be difficult for the American people, but the American people are resilient. We’ll just need to reassess ourselves and rebuild. Still, there’s no escaping the terrible decisions of the Bush administration, that’s for certain.

At l’Église St-Jean-Baptiste (309 Rachel e.)
on Friday, Oct. 5, 8 p.m., $35. SMith also speaks
at the pop & policy conference at mcgill’s schulich
school of music (555 sherbrooke w.) on friday,
oct. 5, 4 p.m. for info, go to popmontreal.com.