Born on April 5: Stan Ridgway never abandoned his "Camouflage" outfit

Icon of American alternative rock, he was born in Barstow in the California desert in 1954,

A colourful character, Stan Ridgway has always loved telling stories. The stories in his songs, first with Wall of Voodoo then solo, sometimes intertwine with his own life. With him, there's never a clear line between reality and fiction. For journalists, he's what is commonly referred to as a "good client". Once he starts, it's hard to stop him. And the anecdotes, sometimes improbable, come thick and fast, always told with a wry smile and at a rapid pace. He once told me (and not just me) that he first spent a night in the police station at the age of 12 for stealing road signs. True or false? It doesn't really matter, as good stories are best used to their fullest…

Without ever reaching the top of the charts, far from it, the American artist nevertheless gained a devoted following with unwavering loyalty. Stan Ridgway indeed possesses advantages in his arsenal that few other artists can claim. This was already subtly present in the repertoire of his first band Wall of Voodoo with syncopated and hallucinatory choruses like "Mexican Radio". Since "The Big Heat (1986), the first steps of his solo journey", Stan Ridgway has always given equal importance to words and music, almost always embellishing his melodies with incongruous sound inventions. All this overseen by a voice that is sometimes nasal, sometimes guttural. More than four decades have passed, and the title track of his first album "The Big Heat" is still listened to with the same pleasure, like a summary of the man's obsessions: a tall tale, music with western accents, some harmonica interludes, cinematic sound effects, and a few poignant violins to top it all off. A little gem!

It's not by chance that alongside his ten studio albums, he has regularly been courted by the 7th Art. We would have liked to see his lanky figure appear in a western (spaghetti or not), but he has so far confined himself to participating in about twenty original soundtracks. He had set the bar very high back in 1983 by teaming up with Stewart Copland (The Police) for the theme of the strange yet fascinating "Rumble Fish" by Francis Ford Coppola.

More at peace nowadays but with his pen still sharp, one of his latest personal compositions, "A Town Called Fate" (2022), proves that Stan Ridgway remains true to himself with renewed relevance. Always eager for new collaborations, he found a playmate in the early 2000s in Pietra Wexstun, and together they have recorded three albums (to my knowledge), including the interesting "Priestess Of The Promised Land" in 2017. Unfortunately, since the Covid pandemic, he has not performed on stage…

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo : © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Portrait of Stan Ridgway taken in Brussels (Belgium) in the lounges of the Astoria Hotel in the spring of 1986 at the release of the album "The Big Heat"