JACKIE LEVEN - Interview @ 'KANALIENA.GR'

A good five-minute edit of a conversation which, according to the on-screen caption, the Greek presenter Dimitris Antonopoulos conducted on 5 November 2003 for Kanaliena.gr or his programme “Rockzone”; the questions have been cut out, leaving only Leven's answers. The caption lists as topics Peter Hammill, Van Morrison, “The Sexual Loneliness of Jesus Christ” and concerts. Leven says that anyone who wants to become a singer takes on responsibility: one's own voice speaks for others, for love, hatred and anger – Hammill understands this particularly well. He admires Van Morrison for his early work but finds the last ten years monotonous; he himself wants to carry on the tradition that Van embodied at his peak, and thinks that Michael Cosgrave does the same. He wrote “The Sexual Loneliness of Jesus Christ” on the Greek island of Astypalaia, alone on a hot day, thinking of a Jesus with human fears. He will stop when there are no good songs left in him; the tour through Germany, Spain, Britain and now Greece is tiring but lovely. Advice to young musicians: do not look to fame, but be artistically satisfied with yourself. Overall tone: a short, reflective promotional conversation during the trip to Greece with Cosgrave and Michael Weston King.