KS: What artists do you listen to/did you grow up with/influences?
CC: I loved everyone from Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Al Green, Sly and the Family Stone, Willie Nelson, Otis Redding, Sade, to hip hop R & B. Tribe, Outkast, Dr. Dre, Tupac.
KS: Play anything other than guitar?
CC: I program most drum machines and play a little keys, but very, very little. I don't even consider myself a guitarist after playing with Robert Randloph and Carlos Santana. And seeing people like Doyle Bramham.
KS: What do you understand about surfing after your Hawaii vacation? You get some waves?
CC: No waves. Most people told me to stay out of the water. And I just did 3 months of hard touring so I didn't want to leave my house. Sanoe wanted to take us surfing, but after watching you I just decided to live vicariously and leave it to the pros.
KS: You seem to be a little shy when you're performing. Is that true and if so does that get a little tough in the more intimate settings when people are drinking/talking/etc?
CC: I used to have bad stage fright. I don't now but when I play real small places like I did in Hawaii it reminds me of my early days and I guess I go back into my shell. I try to connect spiritually so its real personal it wnds up looking that way.
KS: Who would you like to tour/play with?
CC: It’s funny. Early on I reached out to a lot of people to open for but now I just want to do my own shows. I turned down two Dave Matthews shows last summer at Jones Beach and my manager nearly killed me, but I just didn't feel like the shows would be for music, more for marketing. I would love to play with Jack [Johnson] and Ben [Harper] though. I opened for Ben once in DC.
Eddie Vedder, Kelly Slater, Citizen Cope, and Jack Johnson
KS: Tell us a little about your song topics: Son's Gonna Rise, Bullet and a Target, Brother Lee, D'artagnan's Theme....
CC: I love all those songs. Song writing is so hard to explain. It comes from life and experience, but it’s hard to explain how it happens. I was really inspired to write those songs but I don't know how they happened. And whenever I try to explain the meaning, sometimes I disappoint people who have their own idea what the song is about.
KS: Good to meet you and hope we get to hook up along the way and play some music. Talk to you soon.
CC: I can't wait to jam with you. Peace. And thanks for the invite to watching the Pipe. I really enjoyed it.
[Editor’s Note: after Kelly interviewed Cope, Cope wanted to interview Kelly. Who were we to stop ‘em? So, here you go — with the tables turned.]
CITIZEN COPE: Do you listen to music before a heat? If so, what inspires you musically and what did you listen to growing up?
KELLY SLATER: I don't necessarily listen to music or avoid it before a heat. I feel like I need to be free to think any way I can and get in the groove of what's happening with or without music for a heat. Sometimes I just want a clean thoughtless mind before I go out. I grew up listening to all sorts of stuff my parents liked from John Denver to Jimmy Buffet to Jackson Browne to Seals and Croft to Dan Fogerty to Van Morrison, etc. Lots of country too that I didn't think would sink in. My brother and I like Devo, Surf Punks, AC/DC, Oingo Boingo, The Cure, The Cult, INXS, Midnight Oil. Pretty eclectic, I guess.
CC: The surfing culture seems to be having a huge impact on mainstream popular culture, i.e. fashion, music, etc. What do you think about that?
KS: I think it's natural. Surfing had a strange connotation about it for years, but it's always been a magical thing in peoples' minds. I think it's just starting to get captured more in a broader way through the media, but there's really nothing more beautiful than surfing and music in my mind.