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 06 July 2008 21:46 BST

Men destroying their livers made an impression on Passenger

Tuesday, 11 Mar 2008 09:58
Mike Rosenberg of Passenger: hoping for happiness
Mike Rosenberg of promising acoustic duo Passenger tells inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley about their new single Table For One.

Why the name change from the Mike Rosenberg band to Passenger?

Well, we found the band name quite a difficult one. It's not something that you can rush as it could be with you for a while. Mike Rosenberg band was really just a temporary thing whilst we thought of something better. About a year and a half ago we wrote a song called Passenger and it went from there. I think it helps to get across our observational style of songwriting.

As an early-20s songwriter, where do you go to create older characters for your songs?

I think they are all over the place, our songs are about very normal people that feel normal emotions. I think that's why people find it easy to relate to. I try to be as honest as possible.

There's clearly a market for acoustic singer-songwriters at the moment as the success of people like James Blunt, James Morrison and Jack Johnson shows - where do you fit in with them?

I think in some ways that genre of music has hindered us a little bit. People tend to pigeon hole us with the names listed because there are definite similarities and although we write thoughtful songs based round acoustic guitars I think the content and production are quite different. So in answer to the question, in the same aisle but not the same shelf.

Tell me about the Royal Court gig in 2002 when you and Andrew met…

It was a really great night for me ,I was 17 and somehow I had wormed my way on to the bill of an amazing gig for a charity called Free Burma. I'd only played a handful of open mics at that time so to play that size of gig was mind blowing! I met Andrew (who was playing with another band ) backstage .He'd just moved to Brighton so we arranged to meet up and it went from there...

And how quickly did you and Andrew set the band up after that?

We wrote some songs and started recording together and took quite a while finding our sound and really focusing on what we were trying to do. We set the first incarnation of the band up about a year after meeting.

How do you and Andrew collaborate, ie who's responsible for what part of the song?

As a general rule ,I write the lyrics, we work together on the music and he'll produce the track. There are lots of exceptions though. Sometimes I'll go to him with a fully formed song or he'll come up with a riff .There aren't any strict rules really.

Is it a case of mining each other's strengths?

Absolutely ! I think neither of us would be in this position if it hadn't of been for this partnership. I think when two people come together to create something you're far more likely to make something really unique ... but then I would say that.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

It ranges really from a lot of the greats like Neil Young, Van Morrison, the Band, etc to people like Calexico, Beirut and Bonnie Prince Billie.

And who are you listening most often while you tour or in between shows?

Last tour we pretty much destroyed a Midlake CD for listening to it so much. It's the kind of music that makes you want to chuck everything in and go and live in a cabin in the mountains with nothing but the love of an honest woman etc.

So where did the inspiration for the song Table for One come from?

Me and Andrew went for a drink before a gig in London and the pub was full of middle-aged men sitting on their own silently destroying their livers and staring off in to the middle distance. It's a common sight in this country but for some reason it really made an impression that night. The next day we were supposed to be mixing a track in the studio but none of the equipment worked. We sat down and wrote it in about half an hour. It was an amazing feeling!

To watch the video for Table For One on inthenews.co.uk, click here

What're your touring plans for the rest of the year and the summer? Are there any festival slots lined up?

Yes, we're definitely playing V again which was amazing last year! Also quite a few smaller festivals like the Secret Garden and Latitude. We're booking in about ten UK dates for April and we've just signed a deal in the States and plan to tour there in the autumn.

And what are your hopes for the future?

Happiness - sorry, I know that’s really cheesy but it is the truth.

Lewis BazleyEnd of story


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