Curt Smith from the super pop band, Tears for Fears, speaks to Minds Behind the Music.
Q. My first question is, what would you most like to be remembered for? Is it the music or the meaning?
A. I’d like to be remembered as a devoted husband, father and friend. If my work happens to outlive me in a meaningful way, that would be very nice too of course.
Q. We know most politicians were born in the fiery pit of hell as the spawn of Satan, but what’s your opinion of the politics of the world today?
A: Politicians aren’t inherently evil. Too many of them do seem to succumb to the financial pressures of large donors and to the media pressures of small groups with loud voices. On the other hand, the “social media” revolutions we’ve been seeing worldwide this past year show that the citizenry can and will make its voice heard.
Q: Tell us a little about your kind of music please!
A: My solo music is pop music, albeit more quiet and introspective than the music I make with Roland as Tears For Fears. Most of my songs are semi-autobiographical (hence the often cryptic lyrics) and I use the writing process as a way to exorcise feelings of anger, regret and sadness. When I’m happy I don’t feel the need to write.
Q: If you were an alien visiting planet earth, what would you do? Would you turn around and go back? Or stay and try and help? Or maybe conquer?
A: That would entirely depend on the planet I’d left behind.
Q: What has been your greatest achievement so far?
A: My daughters Diva and Wilder
Q: If you had the chance to speak to every human being on earth, what would your message be?
A: Play nicely.
Q: If your life depended on it, which Soap Opera would you do a cameo in?
A: I’m afraid I’m not familiar enough with soap operas to answer that question. My daughters want me to be a contestant on Dancing With The Stars (the US version of Strictly Come Dancing). That might be amusing.
Q: If a tree falls in a forest, and nobody is around to see or hear it, does it make a sound?
A: Yes.
Q: Have you ever felt pressured by the fact that what you sing about affects society? Have you ever wondered whether you were doing the right thing?
A: I don’t know that I agree that what I sing about “affects society.” If people respond to my music, that’s fantastic. If they don’t, no problem.
Q: What advice would you give to musicians today? And what’s your opinion of the highly engineered and marketed music we see in the charts today?
A: My advice to musicians today is hone your craft, authentically engage your fan base, and make music because you love to do so, not because you’re hoping to get rich and/or famous. Should that happen, great, but recognize that the odds are slim (and even so, fame is highly overrated). There has always been highly-engineered and marketed music. The good stuff stands the test of time and will continue to do so.
Q: Why do you think music and words seems to work so much better than just words as a means to get a message across?
A: A few thoughts: first, music is a universal language that can cut across cultures, age groups, ethnicities, etc. Second, music in general has a much broader audience than a given speech, op-ed, or polemic.
Q: What kind of movies do you watch and why?
A: It depends on who I’m with. My daughters have slightly different taste in films than I do .
Q: What are your opinions about the power of the internet?
A: I’m a big fan, obviously. With specific respect to the music industry, it’s certainly eliminated the barrier to entry. Anyone now can make a song, make a video, get it out there. It used to be that without a label you couldn’t afford studio time, couldn’t tour, couldn’t get airplay. No more. The challenge now, though, is getting your music heard when everyone on earth can put something up on YouTube or iTunes.
Q: Do you think man is created in the image of God (or Goddess) or the other way around?
A: The other way around.
Q: A recent scientific report stated that religion will eventually die out completely. What’s your opinion on that? A good thing or a bad thing?
A: If people find comfort and support in their religious beliefs, that’s fine with me. It’s when they try to impose those beliefs on others that I have a problem.
Q: Is “free will” the whole of the law? Can man ever be truly free?
A: Things happen to us and to those we love over which we have little or no control. But we can always choose how we respond to those things. In that we have free will.
Q: Do you back Nuclear Power? If not, why not.
A: That’s a question above my pay grade. Although of course, recent happenings in Japan do make me question it.
Q: Do you believe in aliens visiting planet earth?
A: I’m not arrogant enough to believe that we’re the only beings in the universe. Not that I can define who or what else might be out there!
Q: Have you ever experienced altered states of consciousness? How, why and was it beneficial? And would you recommend it to all politicians, business and religious leaders?
A: I live in a constant state of altered consciousness. I absolutely recommend it.
Q: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
A: I tried to climb a rope hanging from a helicopter – from a boat. I didn’t make it; I landed in the water. It was for an extreme sports game show in Holland.
Q: What would you still like to achieve?
A: Immortality.
Q: Would you ever record a duet with Justin Bieber?
A: If offered, the chance, I would indeed. My daughters would never forgive me otherwise .
Q: Do you believe in manmade global warming? Or is it natural?
A: I believe that what we do and create on our planet affects the environment, yes.
Q: And lastly please feel free to say anything at all you want to the world of readers and tell us all about what you’re up to these days, plug an album, website or car boot sale.
A: If anyone wants to know what I’m getting up to, my website curtsmithoffcial.com pulls in all my various feeds (I’m usually quite active on Twitter, for example).
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