Bryan Adams has sold over 65 million albums worldwide, garnered 21 Top 10 hits, seven No. 1 singles, and achieved No. 1 status in more than 40 countries. His music has appeared on more than 40 movie soundtracks, and he has been nominated for three Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, an American Music Award and five ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards for Most Performed Song From a Motion Picture. He is the recipient of 18 Juno Awards, including Artist of the Decade, and was inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame.
In 2010, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presented him with the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award, a tribute to his fundraising and charitable efforts, which include His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales Prince’s Trust, Live Aid, the Concert for Freedom for Nelson Mandela, Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Net Aid and campaigns that save rainforests, provide food and comfort for the needy and create whale sanctuaries. Through his own foundation he helped build schools in areas of Southeast Asia that were devastated by the tsunami in 2004.
Adams’ latest release, Bare Bones, is a live acoustic collection of hits from his 30-year career. Last year, he toured in support of the album.
Given the depth and breadth of Adams’ career, it’s a safe bet that there is no question he has not been asked, and no doubt a few he wishes he had never encountered. While on the road in Europe in 2011, he connected via e-mail for a “bare bones” interview.
Over the course of performing these songs acoustically, do you continue rediscovering them, particularly with audiences present?
Yes, that is what happened, but musically, I’ve always been about rediscovery — in the ’90s with Unplugged, in the ’00s with a three-piece band and now Bare Bones. It keeps things interesting for yourself and for the audience.
Have some of the lyrics acquired new meaning with time? Do you, like your audience, experience “timeline” during the performances, a sense of traveling back to the where and when of their original release?
I know what you mean, but somehow the songs, to me, only get that timeline when I hear the original recordings. When I’m playing them live, they all feel present-day.
In a recent interview you were quoted as saying, “Just focus on songs and don’t focus on your website. Just focus on making your music as good as it can be, because at the end of the day, the most important thing that people will remember you by is your music.” Could you elaborate?
I mean just that. Focus on your music and not technology.
Social media, as it’s called, has become a job requirement for almost everyone. Are bands spending too much time on Twitter and Facebook and not enough on honing their craft?
Social media is a giant distraction to the ultimate aim, which is honing your craft as a songwriter. There are people who are exceptional at it, however, and if you can do both things, then that’s fantastic, but if you are a writer, the time is better spent on a clever lyric than a clever tweet.
By the same token, isn’t this ability to communicate with the audience critical to building and maintaining a fan base in this age of technology?
If your music is great, you will have fans, not because you have spent time chatting on social media.
People who love your music use the word “pop” as a compliment. Those who don’t like your music dismiss it as “pop.” Why is the ability to create a “pop” song so criminal?
You can please some of the people some of the time ... not all of the people all of the time.
After all, aren’t “pop” songs the reason everyone worships at the altar of the Beatles?
Exactly.
What is the difference between being a songwriter and writing a song, and at what point did you understand that difference?
A songwriter writes songs all the time, whereas just writing a song can be done by anyone, anytime.
Rather than make these performances “solo acoustic,” you are accompanied by your keyboardist, Gary Breit.
Gary joins me on about half the show. He’s amazing. He’s worked with me about seven years and it’s way different to when we started, especially with the Bare Bones show. He really shines here. He’s a great accompanist. Sometimes I think we sound like one instrument.
Tremendous success has enabled you to make tremendous contributions to the world through the Bryan Adams Foundation [thebryanadamsfoundation.com]. What led you to create this foundation and what does it mean to you?
The Foundation was formed to concentrate my work for others in one place and keep the focus on helping children and education and for less fortunate people in the world. So as I go through my travels, I inevitably see things or hear of things I can help with. This is where the foundation comes in. It was formed around the time of the tsunami in Asia, and I kicked off the first project with having a guitar signed by all of my colleagues in the guitar world, and I auctioned it off. It has become the world’s most expensive guitar.
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