Johnny Dowd is one of the most interesting artists currently performing and recording. Since he made his noticed entrance into the music world in the late ‘90’s at the age of 49, he’s released four albums and an outtakes compilation that introduce you to a world you previously didn’t know existed. Alternately sounding like a Hank Williams from hell, Tom Waits on a bad acid trip, Nick Cave after having spent twenty years in a trailer park, or his own unique self, his albums are surely not for the faint of heart. His music can be extremely inaccessible, often venturing extremely close towards nightmarish dreamscapes, while the more accessible songs draw equally from country, rock, blues, folk and other assorted roots-genres (waltzes, etc). His lyrics betray a healthy obsession with biblical matter and broken relationships and surely are a rarity in rock music: even without the music they stand as intriguing pieces (during concerts, Dowd sells his own volume of poetry). I asked him for an interview by e-mail and he agreed, but like his music, his replies to my questions weren’t exactly what you would expect, either.

You just finished another European tour. Did you do your own tour or together with some other band(s)? What were the reactions like?

We did one gig with the Sadies but the rest of tour was on our own. People seemed to enjoy our shows.

You used to be in a band called Neon Baptist before you went solo. To my knowledge, that band never released any music, but could you give an idea of what that band sounded like? Did it have a similar line-up as your current band?

Neon Baptist was a triple guitar monster. The music was similar to what I'm still doing. Kim Sherwood-Caso [vocalist in Dowd’s backing band] was in that band.

Talking about “Baptists,” are you familiar with a band called The Baptist Generals? Their music really reminds me of your first two albums, as they’re crammed with intense, acoustic and off-kilter roots music, plus in Europe they’re also distributed by Münich Records.

Yes, I am. I did a press tour with Chris last year. Great band.

A big part of your lyrics contain biblical imagery, less oblique references to the Bible, and characters that le(a)d sinful lives. Is that because the Bible provides you with lots of interesting stories, or is it a result of your upbringing?

Both.

Your latest album (The Pawnbroker’s Wife) was the first of your albums in which I couldn’t detect some kind of thematic unity. Did I miss something, or did you deliberately not want to create another Wrong Side of Memphis or Pictures from Life’s Other Side (with its focus on murder ballads, bad love, etc.)?

I just record the best songs I have at the time. I don't deliberately seek to have any thematic unity.

Also musically speaking, The Pawnbroker’s Wife seems less homogeneous and less indebted to roots music than your previous albums (at least, that’s how I perceive it). Is that because you’ve been playing with the same line-up for a while now? How does the song-writing process go? Do you come up with a finished song in your head, or do you provide basic ideas, which you work out with the band?

I don't think in terms of roots or non-roots music. Ultimately I'd like to create my own genre. All my songs start out as waltzes, then the band reconfigures them.

Do you try to keep in touch with the current music scene? I’m asking this because your music is so hard to categorize, despite critics’ and music fans’ (including me) tendencies to compare you to artists such as Nick Cave, Captain Beefheart (I guess that’s for convenience’s sake – people want to categorize stuff they can’t really grasp). I think it would be hard to call your music alt country, nor blues (like your debut), nor is it alternative rock. So the albums don’t sound as if you care about trends.

You're right. I don't follow trends.

I saw you play live a few times in the AB Club in Brussels, and besides the fact that the shows rocked and were really “different’, the thing that appealed to me the most, was the almost unbearable intensity of the performances. What’s your secret? It must be different from running a furniture moving company [Dowd’s regular job]?

Alcohol. Yes, it's very different from moving furniture.

How did you end up playing with the Mekons? Did they contact you, and what exactly attracted them to you (or vice versa)?

They contacted me. I don't know what they saw in me. I believe they are one of the great bands in the history of rock 'n' roll. It was the high point of my career to tour with them.

I bought a volume of your poetry after one of your gigs. Have you been writing poetry for long now, and have you ever thought of looking for a publicist for your writings?

I've been writing poems for a long time. About 30 years.

I just bought the newly released Wire Flowers: More Songs from the Wrong Side of Memphis, which contains songs you recorded on four-track in 1996. There were two things about it that really interested me. Firstly, I wanted to check out how the songs sounded that you would later use. I also noticed that the compilation sounds more ‘professional’ than your actual debut album, with more studio frills and a less primitive sound. Did you use the more sparse songs for the debut album, or did you deliberately want it to have a more lo-fi sound?

The second group of songs was recorded the same way. I just spent a little more time cleaning them up.

Finally: is there any artist you would like to work with? Or would have liked to work with if you had had the chance?

ZZ Top.