Foto: SHOOTMEAGAIN Peter Ortvik, Nikon D2X

Om du är någorlunda regelbunden radiolyssnare, kan du knappast ha undgått
att höra någon av Anthony Davids låtar de senaste två månaderna:
Han spelas friskt och det är inte att undra på.
Hela albumet är inte bara välfyllt (det innehåller
hela 16 låtar) med genomtänkta spår,
inte utfyllnad uppbyggt runt en hit,
som ofta är fallet nu för tiden.

Anthony var här och gjorde en unplugged-
spelning uppe på Mosebacke nu i november
och vi fick chansen till en pratstund med
denne sympatiske gentleman som till och med
har gjort en galen svensk rap i Hagsätra,
söder om Stockholm.

För att inget skall gå förlorat av själva intervjuatmosfären, låter vi för ovanlighets skull original-
språket kvarstå.
- My name is Anthony David, I´m from Savannah, Georgia and moved to Atlanta, a real soul City.
My music is basicly “Southern Soul”. My first album was called “Three quarters of a truth” and was released 2 years ago in the States. It was never officially released in Europe. Now I´m out with this second album, “The Red Clay Chronicles” which is a reflection of the soul scene in Atlanta. We have a special vibe in Atlanta, and I think I captured it in this album. Actually, this album is a combination of two albums, as I also have incorporated a couple of the strongest tracks from the first one.

I don´t like to just fill up an album with uninspired tracks, just for the sake of it, I´d rather like each track to have a genuine reason and a different meaning.
When I was really young, my main influences were guys like Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder and as I grew up with hip-hop, there were guys like Slick Rick and also people from R&B like Anita Baker, Alexander O´Neill. Then I found
hip-hop records with samples from James Brown, Johnny “Guitar” Watson and others, and so I got into that music. So I guess I reflect a little bit of everthing from those.
It´s kind of interesting when you hear a sample of a genuine artist that is sampled into a hip-hop song”.

How do you compare the comfort zone of a studio to a live audience. As today, you´re performing unplugged, a promo-showcase for a new album.
“Well, that depends on the audience, naturally. The big difference is that with an audience, you show them what you got, with studio work, you create something new. And with a new audience, you can play old stuff and see haow this new crowd reacts to that, gives you a new experience”.

Do you remember how it felt the first time you held your first own CD with full sleeve and everything?
“Oh yeah, it was like getting a diploma, a confirmation of all energy, time and effort put into that project. There is nothing like it, it´s like a photo album, remembering “this is how I was thinking at exactly that point”…I love it”.

Any time left for other hobbies?
“I like to read and to ride my bicycle when there is a chance to do so”.
Where do you go from here?
“We go to London, Amsterdam, Paris and the rest of Europe. Then I´m ready to go home. But I love to travel, I probably have a higher tolerance for travelling than most people”.

There is a rumour about you doing a crazy rap in Swedish. True?
“Yeah…hehehe, it´s a blast. It goes something like this:
Pojkarna hoppar, flygplanet flyger, Flickorna springer,
hoppa hoppa, klappa klappa…hehehehe…jast messing around.
Think I´m going to include it tonight in my unplugged showcase.

We have two questions we ask all artists we meet, here we go:

1. If you could perform a duet with any artist of your choice, dead or alive, who would that be?
“Diana Ross, that would be nice. Of course we have to write a new song for that ocation…”.

2. If we could put you in a time-machine and send you back to a date before your absolute all time favourite song was written, and you would get the credit for writing that song, what song would it be?
“That changes now and then, but right now it would be “Golden time of day” with Frankie Beverly. I´d love to have written that one, yeah”.
Well Mr David, fells like we´ve got most of it now, so anything you´d like to add before we take a few photos?
“ I´d like to invite all Frontface readers to my website, www.anthonydavidmusic.com and listen to my songs”.