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Interview in Paris just before Jude's second show at the Trabendo on April 25th

by Amenina and Joseffeen

Muzzart : Your latest album is called Redemption and you explained in various interviews the fact that it was a new start for you, did you work differently on this album?

Jude: mm... I did, I worked with the producer Sheldon Gomberg, there was no real outside influence so we worked longer than we thought we were gonna work. It actually took me a few years to write the songs . I had this idea of a project for a record that went, you know, from sad to happy and by the time we were done instead of being a concept album, it was just really a best of album of all the songs that I had over three or four years so it was more disorganized than I wanted it to be.

Muzzart : Did you work more with a band or did you work alone?

Jude : I worked more with a band on this album. I tried to use my guys as much as I could but I write everything myself. There's only one song on this album I co-wrote with Andy Prieboy.

Muzzart : In this album, some songs are happy like 'Love love love' or 'All I want to do' and some are sad like 'End of my rainbow' which is your new single, how do they all fit in this idea of redemption?

Jude : I don't know if they do, it was more about the fact that I was redeeming myself as a songwriter to the music business and to myself. Each of them stand on their own. It's more like 'Noone is really beautiful' (1998). That's always the way I work best.

Muzzart : We like 'I do' a lot in France, in Redemption there's also a song about a girl getting married, is it a sequel to 'I do'?

Jude :  Sadly it was a sequel but it wasn't the same girl. If it happens a third time, I can't take it. (laughing)

Muzzart : In your five albums, which song are you particularly proud of?

Jude : Oh gosh... I love 'I do' and 'I know' ... and 'Indian lover' is a great song and I think 'Cuba' is a really strong song ... and I like 'Married' on this album a lot. 'Your eyes' is one of my favourite right now and .... oh gosh! I like 'Perfect Plank' a lot because it was a different period for me, it was one of my earlier songs and I found I could put my lyrical voice into different kinds of songs. It was a fun moment.

Muzzart : At the moment you're on tour in France, what do you think of the French audience?

Jude : I've always loved the French audience, they put up with me not speaking French and they like to sing along. Sometimes they clap too much on the one beat, I wish they clapped on the two, they did a little bit last night for a moment. In America I tell more stories but here it puts more focus on the music.... and women are prettier here (laughing).
Seriously, once I'm on stage it feels the same. Sometimes I say the French audience is less shy, they sing more, but the American crowds do it too, people like to get silly at my shows.

Muzzart : This tour is going to be more acoustic than the previous one since you're alone on stage, how different is it from performing with your band?

Jude : It's a little more free so I like it. Partly it's more direct with the audience, you know, partly it's more loose. I haven't played shows in a long time now so it's also kind of scary, like last night.

Muzzart : You have a side project in the US with a band called the Low Stars. Could you tell us a bit more about it?

Jude : It was supposed to be like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young but by the time we were done, it ended up sounding more like the Eagles. That's where we are right now and we've got a record that came out in Starbucks only a couple months ago, Starbucks exclusively, and we are looking to put it out through a bigger distributor in the States. There's one song that's on the radio right now, it's a song called 'Calling all friends' that I wrote and that's kind of cool so we'll see what happens.

Muzzart : People seem to like it very much.

Jude : I hope they do.

Muzzart : What are you going to do after the French tour?

Jude : I'm gonna go back to America and play a couple shows on the West coast and then a few shows on the West coast with the Low Stars and do some radio stuff and then I've got to decide what to do with 'Redemption' in the States, hopefully this fall. (editor's note : it's only available in France right now.)

And then I'm gonna try to score a film as well at the end of the summer. Chris D'Arienzo, a friend of mine is directing a movie.(editor's note : it's called 'Barry Munday' and it's in production.)

Muzzart quizz :

Muzzart : What's the definition of a good song to you?

Jude : That it seems truthful. The lyrics and the melody have to work together in a way that makes you believe what the person is singing, that's the thing.

Muzzart : What are you listening to at the moment?

Jude : Nothing. Just talks. All I listen to at the moment is French politics. It's amazing how many people voted last week. I wonder how many people are going to vote on the next round.

Muzzart :  When you were a teenager, what kind of music did you like?

Jude :  I listened to music my parents had like Elvis, The Beatles. My uncle did give me an Aerosmith record so I had that and I was just like into Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkel and stuff like that.

Muzzart : As a songwriter you must pay attention to what other people write, is there a sentence in a book or in a song that you wish you had written?

Jude : Yeah the bridge in 'Graceland' by Paul Simon. It's one of my favourites.

'She comes back to tell me she's gone
As if I didn't know that
As if I didn't know my own bed
As if I'd never noticed
The way she brushed her hair from her forehead
And she said losing love
Is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees you're blown apart
Everybody sees the wind blow '

Muzzart : Did you know that the French singer Tété also had a song called 'Love love love'?

Jude : Oh yeah, I like Tété! Really? I've been playing that song for five or six years, you know! Tété does? It doesn't sound the same, right?

Muzzart : No, not at all, it's just the title.

Jude : I'm gonna give him a hard time (laughing).

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