Over the years actor Kiefer Sutherland has played a host of different characters. If he wasn’t busy taming the wild west as Doc Scurlock in “Young Guns” and “Young Guns II,” he was off saving the world from weapons of mass destruction as counter terrorism expert Jack Bauer in the hit television series “24.” Now Sutherland is challenged with perhaps his most difficult role to date, himself. Kiefer has decided to devote some time to another one of his passions and delve into the world of music. Now I know what you may be thinking, he is just another actor wanting to be a rockstar. But that is not the case with Sutherland at all. In fact, Kiefer himself said that “an actor playing music, that’s always made my eyes roll when I hear about someone else doing it so I completely understand how anyone else would feel that way. But I’m also at a point in my life where I don’t really care.” BackstageAxxess had the opportunity to take part in a telephone press conference with Kiefer and find out all about his exciting new venture.
His debut album “Down In A Hole” is a great blend of country, folk and Americana. Kiefer spoke about teaming up with singer/songwriter and long time friend Jude Cole to work on the album. “I went to my oldest friend Jude Cole, a beautiful musician and we finished the two songs and he said I really like the way these songs sound you should do them for yourself. And I laughed at him…and later he took me out for a couple of drinks and by the end of the evening it started to sound like a better idea. So we made a deal to do a couple more songs and I started to like they way they were sounding.”
The songs on the record tell such great stories and touch on some pretty heavy topics like drinking and losing a partner violently. When we asked if it was difficult to process and share on such an emotional level, he had this to say. “I’ve said before that this album is the closest thing that I’ve had to a journal. There’s positive aspects to whatever it took out and there’s also some things I’ve learned about that I wish I knew then what I know now, you know. So the album is a real reflection of that.”
Sutherland also spoke about the transition between playing a character and having to just be himself and connect with a live audience. “As an actor, I’ve actually been able to hide behind a character. These songs are actually very personal and very autobiographical and that’s the big difference. When I play a show, I spend a lot of time explaining this is where I was at in my life when I wrote this song…it’s not a character, it’s actually me and that’s the big difference.”
As to what motivates Sutherland to keep pursuing his dreams, “You find the challenge in every regard and for me I’m in the middle of shooting a show…and the great challenge is that the writing is so special that to kind of reach its potential as an actor is a challenge. For me, every audience when I go to play music is different and I try to understand that and figure out how to best perform under those circumstances, it’s a challenge. I think every day just trying to do your best with whatever challenges are in front of you.”
Sutherland is truly a man of many talents as “Down In A Hole” proves him to be both a solid songwriter and gifted musician. As he heads out on tour, this will be one of those unique shows that is a must see when he comes to a town near you. For those in the Buffalo, NY area, you can check him out this Monday 5/16/16 at the Iron Works.
We would like to thank Scott Adkins for letting BackstageAxxess take part in Kiefer’s press conference. For more information on the current tour including the show at the Iron Works in Buffalo, NY, please go to: Kiefer Sutherland
