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Ken Stringfellow.
 Ken Stringfellow is easily one of the busiest musicians in the world at the moment. Just last year he released his latest solo album, 'Soft Commands'. He has also recently recorded new records with his band The Posies, and the long-awaited new album from 70's power-pop legends Big Star. Tonight though, Stringfellow's mind is on another commitment: he is calling me from the Sydney Entertainment Centre, where he's just finished sound checking with R.E.M., for whom he plays guitar.
"Umm, it's been going for quite a while," he says of the current R.E.M. world tour. "We started rehearsing last August, so it's been a pretty monumental undertaking. I'm starting to get just slightly fried, but I still manage to get it together and have a great time for the two hours that we're on stage, and then I have to sleep for the rest of the time. It's all been amazing, but when you can sleep more than six hours it's even more amazing."
The R.E.M. tour finishes in UK in July, but then Stringfellow will begin touring with The Posies pretty much the same week "...for who knows how long." Stringfellow is not yet ready to reveal the name of the newest Posies record, even the artwork is still not decided, but he promises that "it will be recognisable, with variations. You know, it will be familiar, but cured. We wrote and recorded and mixed it in the studio together in about thirty days in [their hometown] Seattle."
Even as the Australian leg of the R.E.M. tour closes, Stringfellow is cramming in his own solo tour in support of 'Soft Commands'. R.E.M. finishes on the Fri 8 April in Perth, and then it's off to Brisbane for a show the next night. Ultimately he intends to cover the whole country in a week, and then play a couple of shows in New Zealand. "It's nuts," he admits. "And so far, I've gotten what I've asked for. But because I'm on tour, the biggest problem for me right now is picking up visas. I've sort of got it worked out, but doing the paperwork is probably the worst part of the job."
Touring in a big group can be just as bad though, says Stringfellow. "I'm almost on the edge of saying that I'm kind of over flying everyday. But the reward is, you get there, you play a show, you have a great time, and you forget about the flight. But I picked it. I chose it. I signed on. I dream of having one day where I can sleep for 24 hours. It's like this one thing, this holy grail that I keep inside."
Gruelling schedule aside, the guys in R.E.M. are quite accommodating, says Stringfellow. "They give me plenty of advance notice as to what the tour will look like, so then I just kinda fit my stuff in around whenever there's a slot. But with the REM tour coming to a conclusion in July it appears that they'll be quiet after that, hopefully for enough time for me to do a pretty extensive Posies tour. And all of us who play in the Posies have made it pretty clear that that's our priority for that time, and hopefully we can squeeze quite a bit of touring out of it."
So, to recap: a solo tour sandwiched inside a gargantuan R.E.M. tour, followed by a substantial Posies tour. It doesn't even end there, as Big Star's new album will come out later on in the year and Stringfellow and fellow Posie Jon Auer will be expected to join front man Alex Chilton on a tour for that album as well! When asked about the album, Stringfellow replies "It's always a wild ride with Alex. You don't really know what you're going to get. And I'll just say that the trend is going to continue."
So after that, priorities will obviously shift towards supporting that album. "In the 'States at least," says Stringfellow. "I don't really know how it's going to work. But yeah, we're obviously going to have to figure out a way to accommodate both of those and touring together at times is probably going to be the obvious solution. I think that's a great bill anyway."
All of those things are in the months to come, though. For now, Stringfellow suggests you simply "come down to the Grace Emily. There's nothing like a great rock show."
Eddie Chan
 | Ken Stringfellow and Even play at the Grace Emily on Thurs 14 April. |
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