STRAIT TALK WITH MARK KNOPFLER

“I’m more like a jack of all trades and a master of none.

STRAIT TALK WITH MARK KNOPFLER

Liz Derringer

At presstime, Dire Straits’ Brother In Arms has reached the coveted number one spot on nationwide charts and doesn’t seem to want to leave. With the help of Sting’s now-famous “I want my MTV” line, “Money For Nothing" is breaking all-time record sales for the group. Dire Straits’ guitarist/ singer/songwriter Mark Knopfler remembers a time, however, when things weren’t going so well.

Mark began singing songs like “Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer’’ when he was just 18 months oldin his birthplace of Glasgow, Scotland. When his family moved to Newcastle, England, and were dead set against their son becoming a rock ’n’ roll musician, Mark went on to pursue a career as an English teacher; he also did a short stint as a journalist. Although he cherishes these experiences, today he stresses that music was first and foremost on his mind.

After “sleeping on floorboards, and winding up destitute and starving, ’’ Mark’s band found their break in the London club scene. Five years later, Dire Straits has recorded six successful albums and Mark has gone on to produce artists like Bob Dylan, write “Private Dancer’’ for Tina Turner, and compose many very successful movie soundtracks. And—need it be added?—he’s also has played guitar on endless hit records.

The bottom line: Mark Knopfler’s dedication to rock ’n’ roll has certainly proved that he has not earned his “money for nothing. ”

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I remember seeing you at the Bottom Line and being amazed by your guitar style, the finger-lead stuff. You're probably one of the only guitar players that does that. How did you develop your style?

The thing was, I had always played with a pick before then, on an electric guitar, but I’d always been able to do the finger picking style as well. Eventually it all sort of grooved together.

Your new album is very mood-oriented. Most of it is lower key than a lot of the things you've done before, do you agree?

Yeah, I suppose so.

What kind of mood were you in when you were writing?

Every mood. Sometimes you’re up, and sometimes you’re not. It depends on the song. The songs really go through a fair range of styles. It’s not one particular thing. “Walk Of Life” is a throwback to stuff I’ve been doing for years— essentially there’s no difference between that and “Twisting By The Pool.”

"Twisting By The Pool" is more of a rock 'n' roll song.

“Walk of Life” is, too—it’s like rockabilly music, which is music I’ve always been playing. But “Brother In Arms” is more orchestrated; there’s a difference, it’s like a folk melody.

“So Far Away" sounds like you used a steel guitar.

In “So Far Away” I used a synth guitar. I used a steel on “The Man’s Too Strong.” That steel guitar gets on every record I’ve ever done. It was on “Romeo & Juliet,” “Making Movies,” “Wild West End” on the first record. It was on the intro to “Telegraph Road” on Love Over Gold. It gets on every record I do.

You grew up in Newcastle? Does that make you a Geordie?

Yeah, it does.

Did you know Sting from Newcastle?

I didn’t know Sting from Newcastle, actually, but I got to know Sting just because both of our bands started about the same time. We started doing a lot of gigs together in Europe. We played a lot in Germany, places like that.

You grew up listening to music, and your parents didn 't want you to be a professional musician, true?

I don’t think they wanted me to do that at all. I remember watching rock ’n’ roll shows as a kid, and my dad looking at me with horror, and that was long before I got my guitar. You know, the fact that I could be into it. But of course now he’s quite different about it.

You worked in other occupations?

Yeah, a bunch of them.

You were a journalist for a while.

Yeah, when I was 18 or 19 years old, I didn’t know about anything. It was a good thing for a kid to do, work with the newspapers.

What did you write?

All sorts of stuff, news, courts. I did rock ’n’ roll writing, but I couldn’t write. (laughs) I remember what it is now, but I thought where do you start, what do you do with it and how do you go about reviewing things. Because you have so little confidence when you’re that age. You don’t feel as if you know anything. In fact, I think that was one of the reasons that made me want to go to University, which I did eventually. I felt I didn’t know anything about anything. I still feel that way about a lot of things.

You were an English teacher for secretaries?

I taught secretaries, I taught other people as well. I taught Arabs, engineers, bankers, school kids, adults, teenagers. I also taught guitar at a little school nearby.

This was in the north London area? So you moved from Newcastle?

as destitute and starving to death. Yeah. It must have been horrible. It was really horrible. It’s a tunny ing, hitchhiking home on Christmas after a gig—with snow aii around

with no one on the roads,

home and you’re at the other end country...it was very hard. What kinds of songs were you writing \ was writing some of the were on the first album. “Southbound,” “Order of Love.” "Sultans Of Swing," was that

that time?

“Sultans Ot Swing” was the end time. \t was where \ was getting with my brother Dave and John place we had in Deptford, south We were starting to get together

and more. I was teaching at So you supported yourself by playing music on the side? Yeah, teaching was great, life. I had more money than before, and for the first year it. I took to it like a duck to like gigging, in a way. It was at all. But, by the third year,

tough. I felt l had done it getting really boring.

\ l think of it now, hitchhiking around \ guitars, getting on buses with two \ to to an audition tor a band.

go an a feel\ like how did I do all that, how day \ manage sleeping on floorboards? you, \ it because you’re so totaiiy into at \ reaiiy in iove with it, and that’s it. of the \ else will do. Everything else is \ ing alive until you can do what then? \ want to do. songs that \ Were you playing clubs to get like \ Kind ot. Our band made a I and it got played on local radio. about l the record company started I and we started playing

end of that l clubs in London. We got a together l gigs at the Rock Garden John in this l Club. It’s interesting that London. I Garden, which we played together more l Covent Garden in London, the time. I place—the agent for that teaching and \ our last gigs in London I weeks in Wembley. it saved my l He became successful l ever had l you. l really liked l Yeah, he used to rip us water—it was j Garden and now we can no problem j Wembley. (laughs) it was real l Didn't you do Live Aid

all, and it was \ Yes, we did Live Aid in I we crossed the park in

Yeah, he used to rip us off at the Rock Garden and now we can rip him off at Wembley. (laugh)

Didn't you do Live Aid in England?

Yes, we did Live Aid in England, then we crossed the park in London and did with \ A \ot of that now just comes from guitars \ ing out. Now it’s \ "Working out”? did i \ in the dressing rooms,

rowing You do \ machines and weights, you You’re \ (Laughs) You have to stay strong

Nothing \ you...if you

just stay\ apart. You’d end up failing to bits. you really \ have to do it. I You're involved in many parts of discovered? I dustry. Tell me, how did you get demo tape, l with the soundtracks that you’ve After that, \ on? calling up l l wanted to do a film soundtrack,

in the l l asked our manager it he would lot of steady \ a tew people, or write to a few people, and Marqee \ see if there was anything the Rock \ David Putnam came back with

regularly, and l Hero, subsequently we did Bill little cellar l next film. Later on David Putnam promoted l back again with Cal, and that’s we did two I started. I think David Putnam’s I a big fan of the band, and so along with l playing the records around the \ That’s what l think got David off at the Rock I He’d actually put a bit of rip him off at l Love” on the end of Local j show me the kind of thing he England? I And you played on a Steely England, then l l played on a song called London and did I TURN

I played on a song called "Time Out Of Mind” from Gaucho. That was my first session. I’ve loved doing sessions ever since, really. I’ve done quite a lot since then.

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How about Tina Turner? How did you come to write “Private Dancer," were you friends?

I’ve never met Tina, actually. I’d really love to.

It sounds like it might be written by a girl.

No, it wasn’t. Then again, you can say “Money For Nothing” could have been written by a hard-hat. But it’s just a character piece. You just have to try to get into people’s way of thinking.

What inspired “Private Dancer"?

Just seeing a sign that said it. Just thinking about the implications of what it said, what it means.

How did Tina come by it?

Ah, I suggested it, it was lying around. I didn’t feel as if it should go on the Love Over Gold album, and we recorded the track for it, when I had written it. We rehearsed it, but it just didn’t seem to go with the other songs that were on the record, like “Telegraph Road.” So it was lying around and I thought that maybe someone like Tina could record it, and then boom\

Some of the people you’ve worked with—let's say Bob Dylan—is there anything in particular that you remember learning from him, or get out of his experience?

I don’t know, I can’t think of anything specific, but I’m sure that there was. Bob’s difficult to really get close to. But I’ve never seen anyone be more like a sponge, then squeeze out of himself his expression. Bob is really like that. I remember a few things where you could actually see whatever his last experience had been; he was ready to re-express it, his way. He's got a lot to express.

He’s like a sounding board for whatever his last experience was. Then he’ll absorb it, and squeeze it out his way.

Did you ever discuss writing techniques?

No, not at all. It’s funny, we never really did that. Because apart from anything else, we didn’t want to interview one another, particularly—because you have to say all those things so much in interviews. Our relationship never really proceeded along those lines of a mutual interview situation.

Is there any particular person, mentor you have? Possibly your father?

Yeah, definitely. But you have to depend on yourself to a certain extent, your own feelings and reactions to things.

What gets a good reaction out of you? (laughs)

Do you want an example? I’ll give you an example, just looking at a beautiful guitar.

I thought you were going to say “looking at a beautiful woman."

I said it was just an example. (laughs) I like talking to, say, a guitar builder—to me it’s just such a great thing to do with your life.

You always just wanted to play guitar?

Yeah, I used to eat the catalogues. I know what an old Fender guitar catalogue smells like. I know exactly what kind of paper they used, what the colors were. There was a guy making a guitar in the wood-working shop at school; I used to go down after school just to be able to hold the body that he was making. "Money For Nothing"—how did that get written?

My wife Lourdes and I went to look at some kitchen stuff in this store, and there was a wall of TV sets in the back of the store. And they had all this kitchen stuff in the front. There was some, like, blockhead who was talking about the acts, because all the TV’s were tuned to MTV. He was talking about the stuff that was on and coming out with these classic lines. I went back to the custom kitchen part of the store and asked for a pen and paper, and start writing the song down at this kitchen table. He was coming out with lines like, “you maybe get a blister on your little finger.” Yes, it’s what you’d call a hard-hat, the protaganist, the main guy in the song. Prejudiced and ignorant. It was so classic, it was great.

How did you get Sting to sing "I want my MTV"?

He was on a holiday at the time, in Montserrat. He said he had the time, and he’d be honored to do it.

How did MTV react?

Tickled to death.

Do you like doing videos?

I haven’t in the past, but this I enjoyed. I’ve never had time to get involved in the past. Which places in particular do you like to play?

I like playing in the States a lot, I always did. Australia is real good fun. France is amazing. "Move Right Across The River," I like that a lot.

I could see you out there on the battlefield, a freedom fighter.

Yeah, that’s the first verse, and the second verse is the mercenaries, then the third sort of says that that’s the system. That’s the way it is, that’s how it works.

It’s basically saying fight for what you believe in. You seem like a person that has very strong convictions, a person that stands on his own.

I don’t necessarily see myself on some kind of crude crusade, in terms of myself against the rest of the music business. I’m a strong person.

Dedicated to your art.

I’m dedicated in the sense that I love rock ’n’ roll music, and I love playing it. I love the guitar.

Do you consider yourself a sensitive person?

I can give the impression of being sensitive, but I can be really insensitive too. I don’t think I’m a very good judge of character.

Make a lot of mistakes?

People are always making me realize things I hadn’t noticed. Quite often anyway, so I don’t think I’m that sensitive.

Anything in particular that people have made you realize that you were wrong about?

One thing comes to mind; Lourdes pointed out once that some guy that I thought was a real good friend was just a con man. Suddenly it all made sense—“how could I have been so stupid?” So I think I’m kind of gullible about some things. I fall for most of the things that people fall for. I think women are better judges of character.

Are you a romantic?

I think, yeah. To a certain extent a bit of an idiot.

A poet has to have so much emotion; you're such a great poet.

I don’t think so. I think of myself more like a jack of all trades and a master of none. Do you? Some people might argue that point. You play guitar well, you sing well, and I'm sure that you do a lot of other things well, too, that I don’t know about, (laughs)

I don’t think so, I have to disagree with you on all those points! (laughs) ©