Damien Rice: Singing Green

bottlebohemia · 05-31-2007, 05:54 PM

Good read:

Folk-rocker Damien Rice might sing sad tunes about lost love, but his wistful heart is in the right place when it comes to climate change. The environment is an issue that's been near his heart since his childhood in Ireland and has informed his work in many ways.

Rice puts his eco-sympathies into action every way he can. He and his band tour on a biodiesel-powered bus, and they offset the emissions of all their travel as well as the emissions created by audiences. They're also slated to play the United Kingdom leg of the Live Earth concert on July 7, 2007, and they recently joined the Virtual March at Laurie David's Web site, stopglobalwarming.org.

Though his music has become almost ubiquitous in American coffee shops since his debut album, “O,” was released in 2003, the singer is not one to make a public spectacle of his good deeds. Notoriously mum on his personal life, it's a rare opportunity to get the modest Rice to sit down for an interview. I caught up with him before an Earth Day concert put on by Seattle radio station, 103.7 The Mountain, to talk about the environment, his music and the growing movement to stop global warming.

Kate Sheppard: How did you become interested in the environment?

Damien Rice: I've always been interested in the environment since I was a kid, because I lived by a river and I used to go down there fishing. From the age of 5 or 6 I noticed a big change in the number of fish in the river, because I used to take notes when I was a kid. I'd go down there with my little book and go fishing and take a note of the time, date, water level, weather, what kind of bait I was using. I remember noticing that the water seemed dirtier and murkier as time went on. I always felt like I had a connection to nature.

KS: How does your environmental consciousness play into how you tour?

DR: I'm in terrible conflict about it, to be honest. I am responsible for more carbon emissions than any of my friends — than anybody I know, actually. And that's really weird to sit with, because I've always considered myself to be environmentally conscious. I have a real conflict even sitting here talking about the environment, saying, "Oh yeah, I'm an environmentally conscious person." I fly 20 people around the world, and we travel on two buses and two trucks, and we're driving all over the States. But we make an effort — we use biofuel whenever possible, and we offset the fuel we use for flights and buses as well as an estimation of what the audience used to come to the concerts.

KS: Can you tell us a bit about talking to Laurie David and becoming part of the Virtual March?

DR: When I was invited first to join the Virtual March, my natural reaction was, "Yeah, absolutely." And then they were like, "Can you write a piece explaining your reasons for joining?" It took me ages just to write something that I was happy with. Because I wrote this thing that was like, "Oh, global warming. We should all make an effort." And then I sat and thought about it, and I said, "Oh, my god, I'm a hypocrite. I'm flying all around the world traveling."

When I went to meet Laurie in her house in Los Angeles, I had this head full of questions, and I put them to her. I said, "What is your take on this, because I'm confused. I get information here and there. I want to believe, but I really don't know what to think." And she had a simple way of putting it that made me very comfortable with joining the march. She said that everyone she knows enjoys life, enjoys clean air. They like clean beaches, clean water, good food and a healthy lifestyle. And she said if we continue in the way that we're doing, we're going to destroy those beautiful things. But if we take the right steps and make an effort on a global level to change things, then we can preserve some of the beautiful things in life.

KS: What are some things that you do personally to fight global warming?

DR: The electricity that we use in our house now is entirely from wind power, and we want to get our own little windmill as well as solar panels. And we recycle. Myself and a group of friends have been writing songs together, and we're making a record for nature. We're making the record and we're going to release it, and all the royalties and all the money generated from the sales just go to nature, to giving back in some way. It's very weird being a musician, because people think you've got a great job, it's so magical. Whereas I sit down and I think of myself as somebody who manufactures plastic. So we're going to do that album, and I'm very excited about it. I think eventually I'm just going to get a piece of land and farm and live very simply. Who knows?

KS: You're participating in Al Gore's Live Earth concert this summer. How did you get involved with that? What do you hope will be the result of the concerts?

DR: When I heard it was going on, I expressed an interest in it. Again, it's one of these things that I have a little conflict about since people are flying in to play at the concert and flying back out after it. But I hope that it creates a massive amount of awareness among people around the world, so that when there's a push for governments to change the way we do things, the support is there among people. If people know what's going on and they're aware of the consequences of what we're doing, if that becomes spread throughout the world and throughout people's consciousness, that would be a great thing. It's in moments of change that these things are important, because if people just have a little bit more knowledge, if it's a decision for them to push for this or that, I think all the awareness helps.

Source: http://stopglobalwarming.msn.com/art...9366&GT1=10025

coreyb · 05-31-2007, 06:07 PM

nice find... good to hear that damo and crew are attempting to do their part... also very good to hear that they're running the buses on biodeisel...

melodie · 05-31-2007, 06:22 PM

thanks for that.

Wheels · 05-31-2007, 07:32 PM

The ARE recording the album for nature... not 'will in the future'...

only 5 years to go then

borneoman · 05-31-2007, 08:01 PM

He he, so no hope for this album to be released coinciding with the 7/7 concert

Five Leaves Left · 05-31-2007, 08:55 PM

manbearpig's real i'm super serial.

SisterMidnight · 06-01-2007, 04:15 AM

^ what?

okay i'm new to this offsetting emissions thing, but is it normal to offset emissions for your entire audience as well as your band? that sounds like it's going a bit above and beyond..

and he's back to talking about being a farmer again.. tomatoes in tuscany perhaps?

lastly, i also want a windmill

Adelaide · 06-01-2007, 12:59 PM

when i met him in Montreal, he said the "Never been in this place before/What the night is for" will be making an appearance on this nature album.

and that he's working with Glen Hansard on a song and Joel is playing on some tracks.

bottlebohemia · 06-01-2007, 01:14 PM

Here's another snippet of something he said related to this. I know I read this someplace too before, not sure if it was already posted on this board:

"I don't believe many scientists or politicians. I don't know who to believe about global warming. If I breathe in the fumes that come out of my car, I will die. Yet I still drive my car. I still fly. I still tour. I still make plastic cds. So here I stand, a hypocrite, an addict, like so many others, looking for help. Ironically we look to the scientists and politicians for solutions. Yet politicians paid the scientists to design the machines that dug for the oil that fuelled the machines that fuel the problem. Still, I am hoping our minds will open like parachutes and save us before we crash."

Source: http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw...er.asp?1038203

administrator · 06-01-2007, 06:54 PM

thanks bottlebohemia!

05-31-2007, 05:54 PM	#1
bottlebohemia Eskimo Friend Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: New York Posts: 54	Damien Rice: Singing Green Good read: Folk-rocker Damien Rice might sing sad tunes about lost love, but his wistful heart is in the right place when it comes to climate change. The environment is an issue that's been near his heart since his childhood in Ireland and has informed his work in many ways. Rice puts his eco-sympathies into action every way he can. He and his band tour on a biodiesel-powered bus, and they offset the emissions of all their travel as well as the emissions created by audiences. They're also slated to play the United Kingdom leg of the Live Earth concert on July 7, 2007, and they recently joined the Virtual March at Laurie David's Web site, stopglobalwarming.org. Though his music has become almost ubiquitous in American coffee shops since his debut album, “O,” was released in 2003, the singer is not one to make a public spectacle of his good deeds. Notoriously mum on his personal life, it's a rare opportunity to get the modest Rice to sit down for an interview. I caught up with him before an Earth Day concert put on by Seattle radio station, 103.7 The Mountain, to talk about the environment, his music and the growing movement to stop global warming. Kate Sheppard: How did you become interested in the environment? Damien Rice: I've always been interested in the environment since I was a kid, because I lived by a river and I used to go down there fishing. From the age of 5 or 6 I noticed a big change in the number of fish in the river, because I used to take notes when I was a kid. I'd go down there with my little book and go fishing and take a note of the time, date, water level, weather, what kind of bait I was using. I remember noticing that the water seemed dirtier and murkier as time went on. I always felt like I had a connection to nature. KS: How does your environmental consciousness play into how you tour? DR: I'm in terrible conflict about it, to be honest. I am responsible for more carbon emissions than any of my friends — than anybody I know, actually. And that's really weird to sit with, because I've always considered myself to be environmentally conscious. I have a real conflict even sitting here talking about the environment, saying, "Oh yeah, I'm an environmentally conscious person." I fly 20 people around the world, and we travel on two buses and two trucks, and we're driving all over the States. But we make an effort — we use biofuel whenever possible, and we offset the fuel we use for flights and buses as well as an estimation of what the audience used to come to the concerts. KS: Can you tell us a bit about talking to Laurie David and becoming part of the Virtual March? DR: When I was invited first to join the Virtual March, my natural reaction was, "Yeah, absolutely." And then they were like, "Can you write a piece explaining your reasons for joining?" It took me ages just to write something that I was happy with. Because I wrote this thing that was like, "Oh, global warming. We should all make an effort." And then I sat and thought about it, and I said, "Oh, my god, I'm a hypocrite. I'm flying all around the world traveling." When I went to meet Laurie in her house in Los Angeles, I had this head full of questions, and I put them to her. I said, "What is your take on this, because I'm confused. I get information here and there. I want to believe, but I really don't know what to think." And she had a simple way of putting it that made me very comfortable with joining the march. She said that everyone she knows enjoys life, enjoys clean air. They like clean beaches, clean water, good food and a healthy lifestyle. And she said if we continue in the way that we're doing, we're going to destroy those beautiful things. But if we take the right steps and make an effort on a global level to change things, then we can preserve some of the beautiful things in life. KS: What are some things that you do personally to fight global warming? DR: The electricity that we use in our house now is entirely from wind power, and we want to get our own little windmill as well as solar panels. And we recycle. Myself and a group of friends have been writing songs together, and we're making a record for nature. We're making the record and we're going to release it, and all the royalties and all the money generated from the sales just go to nature, to giving back in some way. It's very weird being a musician, because people think you've got a great job, it's so magical. Whereas I sit down and I think of myself as somebody who manufactures plastic. So we're going to do that album, and I'm very excited about it. I think eventually I'm just going to get a piece of land and farm and live very simply. Who knows? KS: You're participating in Al Gore's Live Earth concert this summer. How did you get involved with that? What do you hope will be the result of the concerts? DR: When I heard it was going on, I expressed an interest in it. Again, it's one of these things that I have a little conflict about since people are flying in to play at the concert and flying back out after it. But I hope that it creates a massive amount of awareness among people around the world, so that when there's a push for governments to change the way we do things, the support is there among people. If people know what's going on and they're aware of the consequences of what we're doing, if that becomes spread throughout the world and throughout people's consciousness, that would be a great thing. It's in moments of change that these things are important, because if people just have a little bit more knowledge, if it's a decision for them to push for this or that, I think all the awareness helps. Source: http://stopglobalwarming.msn.com/art...9366&GT1=10025

05-31-2007, 07:32 PM	#4
Wheels Eskimo Enigma Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Peoples Republic of Cork Posts: 7,900	The ARE recording the album for nature... not 'will in the future'... only 5 years to go then __________________

06-01-2007, 06:54 PM	#10
administrator forum administrator Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 2,480	thanks bottlebohemia! __________________ Keep checking the news page for all the latest Damien Rice news.

05-31-2007, 06:07 PM	#2
coreyb eskiphotographer Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Newburyport, MA Posts: 137	nice find... good to hear that damo and crew are attempting to do their part... also very good to hear that they're running the buses on biodeisel...

05-31-2007, 06:22 PM	#3
melodie mmm bop. Join Date: May 2007 Location: montreal Posts: 189	thanks for that.

05-31-2007, 08:01 PM	#5
borneoman Insane Eskimo Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 6,151	He he, so no hope for this album to be released coinciding with the 7/7 concert

05-31-2007, 08:55 PM	#6
Five Leaves Left Eskimo Regular Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 548	manbearpig's real i'm super serial.

06-01-2007, 04:15 AM	#7
SisterMidnight Jellyfishsting Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Is this heaven? Posts: 5,500	^ what? okay i'm new to this offsetting emissions thing, but is it normal to offset emissions for your entire audience as well as your band? that sounds like it's going a bit above and beyond.. and he's back to talking about being a farmer again.. tomatoes in tuscany perhaps? lastly, i also want a windmill

06-01-2007, 12:59 PM	#8
Adelaide Eskimo Princess Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 216	when i met him in Montreal, he said the "Never been in this place before/What the night is for" will be making an appearance on this nature album. and that he's working with Glen Hansard on a song and Joel is playing on some tracks.

06-01-2007, 01:14 PM	#9
bottlebohemia Eskimo Friend Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: New York Posts: 54	Here's another snippet of something he said related to this. I know I read this someplace too before, not sure if it was already posted on this board: "I don't believe many scientists or politicians. I don't know who to believe about global warming. If I breathe in the fumes that come out of my car, I will die. Yet I still drive my car. I still fly. I still tour. I still make plastic cds. So here I stand, a hypocrite, an addict, like so many others, looking for help. Ironically we look to the scientists and politicians for solutions. Yet politicians paid the scientists to design the machines that dug for the oil that fuelled the machines that fuel the problem. Still, I am hoping our minds will open like parachutes and save us before we crash." Source: http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw...er.asp?1038203