ADD David Duchovny to the long list of actors who have used their fame to become gigging musicians. The New York native best known for his role as the brooding Fox Mulder on "The X-Files" or bacchanalian Hank Moody on "Californication," Duchovny released his first album, "Hell or Highwater," last year.
A literature major with degrees from Princeton and Yale, Duchovny, 56, found it easy to match poetry he had been writing to the music he was just learning on guitar. He also writes prose, having published two successful novels and readying a third.
We spoke to the actor-musician recently while he was en route to his first U.S. tour date in San Diego.
Q: What brought you to music this late in your career?
A: I've always loved music, and it was just something where I had a lot of down time. I always told myself I was always going to learn guitar at some point, and I finally did. I'm in my trailer so long. As an actor, you sit on your hands for three hours and then you act for 10 minutes. That's just the nature of it. So while I wait, why don't I learn guitar, because that will make me happy to be able to play music and listen to it. It kind of organically grew from just knowing a guitar well enough to throw some chords together, and then putting some melodies over those chords. I guess the lyrics came most easily because I've always written words. So before I knew it, I was putting songs together.
Q: Are people skeptical of this new direction?
A: Sure. We only have so much room in our brains for other people. So people think of me a certain way. If they don't think of me as "X-Files," they think of me as "Californication," or they maybe think of me from some other movie. But that's probably as much as they care to think about me. So if I come and tell them I'm a singer as well, yeah, maybe they don't want to think about that.
But certainly, there are some other examples of actors who make music. I don't judge it categorically. I think music, of all the arts, is really the most unprejudiced. Your ears are not looking at anything; you're just listening. And you either like the music or you don't. I'm fine with that. Not everybody's going to like it. Not everybody's going to hate it. I'm making music for myself and for those who might get something out of it as well.
Q: What music got you inspired enough to pick up a guitar?
A: I'm a pretty much a child of the late '60s. I had an older brother who kind of defined my music taste, because he had enough money to buy albums, and he had a record player. So he was the DJ of the house. So I would say my tastes were really formed by '60s music. You know, the British Invasion, Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Who, Zeppelin ... And then when I got $4 in my pocket to buy an album, I went a little softer than my brother. I was kind of into Elton John, then I went to Steely Dan. I was into Yes, like, prog-rock for a while. I also liked funk. After that, Bowie, Lou Reed, so I was kind of all over the place ... I do like the singer-songwriters as well.
Q: Do you see yourself in that tradition?
A: I guess if I have to see myself in that tradition. I'm a guy who's writing songs on a guitar. I guess that's a singer-songwriter.
Q: Do you think music is something you will continue to do? It's not a phase?
A: I don't think it's a phase. It's definitely like a new door that I opened later in my creative life. It just seems fertile for me. It's been an interesting way to express myself and connect in ways that the other things that I've done don't.
Who do you see in your audiences? Fans of your acting?
A: I imagine they are. I'm not vain enough to think they're coming out because they know the music. It's hard to make an impression in the music business. Especially because I don't think my stuff is exactly what's radio friendly right now. It's like, "Come for the actor, stay for the music." So if I get you in there, you're going to hear the music, and you're going to like it or not. And maybe you'll come back. In Europe, honestly, one of the most amazing things was people singing along to my songs in a language that wasn't their first. That was special.
Q: Do you have new acting projects coming up?
A: I'm looking at new shows to do right now. I've got a few things that are taking shape and are pretty interesting to me. I've got a movie script of (my novel) "Bucky F------ Dent" that I want to make as a director. The nice thing about music is that I can do it wherever I am.
Q: You returned to "The X-Files" last year. How was that experience, and is there talk of doing more of those?
A: We're talking about doing more of those soon. The experience was strange at first to go back to something that I'd started, at the time, over 20 years ago, and I hadn't done for seven or eight years. But since I had done that character for so long, it was really simple to find it again. But it was also an interesting challenge, because it was playing a guy who's older, and maybe character doesn't change, but we change a little bit - our energy changes as we age. Our maturity changes. So it was interesting to try to bring that to the guy.
Q: I understand you're returning to play another character after 25 years, transgender Special Agent Denise Bryson on "Twin Peaks," when the show returns this spring.
A: Yes. That character was kind of ahead of her time way back when. And I believe that society has caught up to Denise Bryson finally. I feel good about that.
The Washington Post
Sun Feb 19 2017
Actor and musician David Duchovny, best known for his roles on "The X-Files" and "Californication," has released two novels and is readying a third. He is now touring in support of his first album, "Hell or Highwater." - Photo by Adam Bradley
Tindakan keras terhadap penjualan racun makhluk perosak haram - CAP
CAP menggesa Lembaga Racun Makhluk Perosak segera mengambil tindakan keras terhadap penjualan racun makhluk perosak haram di negara ini dan menguatkuasakan dengan tegas Akta Racun Perosak 1974.
SDG: UTP lahir pelajar berkemahiran, tinggi tanggungjawab sosial
UTP berhasrat mendidik pelajar bukan sahaja untuk mahir dalam aspek teknikal tetapi juga untuk menjadi warganegara yang bertanggungjawab dari segi kemahiran dan keupayaan sosial.
RUU 355: Pindaan perlu untuk praktikaliti, keadilan
Apa sahaja pindaan terhadap akta itu perlu berjalan selari dengan persediaan mereka yang bertanggungjawab melaksanakannya, seperti mahkamah syariah, pegawai penguatkuasa agama dan peguam syarie.
Kerajaan teliti kaedah baharu lantikan tetap
Kerajaan sedang meneliti kaedah baharu lantikan tetap bagi memastikan pengurusan kewangan negara yang lebih mampan.
Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Wilayah Persekutuan), Dr Zaliha Mustafa berkata hasil kajian tersebut akan dibentangkan kepada Jemaah Menteri untuk pertimbangan dan kelulusan.
Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Wilayah Persekutuan), Dr Zaliha Mustafa berkata hasil kajian tersebut akan dibentangkan kepada Jemaah Menteri untuk pertimbangan dan kelulusan.
PDRM gerak unit skuba forensik, K9 cari bukti hari ini
Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) akan menggerakkan unit skuba (Unit Forensik) serta Unit Anjing Pengesan (K9) ke lokasi penemuan mayat Nur Farah Kartini Abdullah, 25, di Kampung Sri Kledang, Hulu Selangor, pagi esok.
Timbalan Ketua Polis Daerah Hulu Selangor DSP Mohd Asri Mohd Yunus ketika dihubungi Bernama berkata proses mencari bahan bukti akan dimulakan sekitar jam 9 pagi di kawasan parit berhampiran ladang kelapa sawit berkenaan.
Timbalan Ketua Polis Daerah Hulu Selangor DSP Mohd Asri Mohd Yunus ketika dihubungi Bernama berkata proses mencari bahan bukti akan dimulakan sekitar jam 9 pagi di kawasan parit berhampiran ladang kelapa sawit berkenaan.
Dewan Rakyat: Langkah meknoktahkan kemisikan tegar di Sabah antara tumpuan hari ini
Langkah-langkah untuk meknoktahkan kemiskinan tegar di Sabah terutamanya di lapan daerah yang dikategorikan termiskin di Malaysia antara tumpuan persidangan Dewan Rakyat hari ini.
Kagame, menang 99.5 peratus pilihan raya Rwanda
Paul Kagame meneruskan khidmatnya buat penggal keempat berturut-turut sebagai Presiden Rwanda, selepas memenangi 99.15 peratus undi dalam pilihan raya negara itu.
Polis kerah lebih 300 anggota kawal perlawanan Piala FA
Seramai 351 anggota polis ditugaskan bagi mengawal perlawanan separuh akhir Piala FA antara Terengganu FC (TFC) dengan Selangor FC di Stadium Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin (SSMZA) Jumaat ini.
Perisik Korea Utara berpaling tadah
Seorang diplomat Korea Utara berprofil tinggi yang ditempatkan di Cuba dikenali sebagai Ri II Kyu, 52 tahun, berpaling tadah ke Korea Selatan.
Dua warga AS antara yang ditemui maut di bilik hotel di Thailand
Jabatan Negara Amerika Syarikat ambil maklum mengenai laporan mengenai dua warganegaranya yang ditemui mati di sebuah hotel di Thailand.
Siri penyiasatan misteri fiksyen sains The X-Files kembali menemui peminat
Siri yang popular sepanjang tahun 1993 hingga 2002 itu pernah dihidupkan semula dengan enam episod pada tahun lalu.