Graham Parker Finds Himself an 'Interesting' Documentary Subject

Posted on Apr 1st 2011 2:30PM by Eric R. Danton
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Kevin Trapp

In Graham Parker's experience, the performance you try to record is always the one where something goes wrong.

"There's always a certain edge that creeps in, and usually what happens is, something creeps in that makes it the worst gig of the tour and ruins the whole thing," Parker tells Spinner.

Fortunately, that wasn't the case with 'Live at the F.T.C.,' Parker's live DVD/CD set with the Figgs, filmed last year at Fairfield Theatre Company's StageOne in Fairfield, Conn. That's not to say there weren't a few glitches.

"Everyone was fit, I was well, my voice was in good shape. The only thing that happened, of course, is that we walked on stage and immediately the monitors weren't on," Parker says with a chuckle. "And then I break a string in like the second song, and I didn't break a string for any other gig the entire tour. It means your nerves are ramped up just a little bit more and you hit the guitar a little too hard."

Parker and the band sound found equilibrium, though, and the result is one the English singer is particularly pleased with.

"It's obviously a very professional shoot," he says. "I think there were eight cameras or something. It was very well done."

It's Parker's first "visual release" (as he puts it) since a 1982 video of a show he did in Chicago. Logistics precluded Parker's suggestion to film in Chicago this time, too, and he and the filmmakers eventually agreed on Fairfield.

"I've always packed that place out and gotten a good crowd, and there's room to park, you know?" Parker says. "It's hell in a big city. Just doing a gig in New York is a pain."

Next up for Parker: writing songs and, he hopes, the release of a documentary 10 years in the making by the same people who did 'End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones.'

"I put these guys off for years, because I thought it would be like watching paint dry, a documentary of me, but it turned out they made an amazingly interesting documentary," Parker says. "I started to forget it was about me after about 10 minutes. It was like watching this other artist who was fairly interesting."

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