a pre-show chat with José González at The Stone Church

Since releasing his debut album, “Veneer,” in 2003, José González has dedicated his life to spreading his reflective folk songs to a wide audience. In addition to an impressive touring schedule, his music has been featured in television shows such as “House,” “Scrubs” and “The OC.” Through all this, the Swedish musician of Argentinean descent has remained a soft-spoken man whose songs often intimately express what it means to be human. The Wire caught up with González prior to his June 23 show at The Stone Church in Newmarket, where he performed for a sold-out crowd in support of his latest album, “In Our Nature.”

What impression has all this traveling and touring all over the world had on you?
It’s been very interesting for me to see how similar places I’ve been (are). It’s been mainly Western kind of countries. But even South Africa was pretty Western. So, yeah, it’s sort of nice to see how similar places can be, and people.

How often do you write new material?
I’m always very slow with writing, so I sort of need continuous time. So that’s a problem, actually. Being on tour, you have one hour here, one hour there, but you want to use that to walk around the city. When I’m at home, it’s easier. I can just take crappy riffs and I make it better after a couple of weeks.

And is that your writing process?
Yeah, it’s the only thing that works. On tour I can write, but it doesn’t sound as good as I want (it) to. It is just frustrating. By now I’ve sort of decided not to even try. But, yeah, I sit down with a Dictaphone and play guitar riffs for, I don’t know, 10, 20, 30 minutes, and then pick out the parts that I like and sort of continue with those.

After I started getting into your music, I was surprised to find out your musical background included hardcore punk. Is there any correlation between that music and what you are doing now?
There wasn’t ever a switch. I was 14 when I picked up the guitar and started with my dad. He encouraged me to play Beatles and Bossa Nova so we could sing together, and then like a year later I started to play classical guitar. During those first years I was trying to write my own songs in a similar style to Silvio Rodriguez and Simon and Garfunkel. So this was all at the same time as I was playing bass in a sort of punk band inspired by The Misfits.

Was it a punk cover band?
No, no. We wrote our own songs, but we were practically ripping off The Misfits and Black Flag—and then later in a hardcore band, which I played for a couple of years. We released a 7-inch and not much happened. I started to study more and more, so I sort of let go of the bands but kept on playing my songs, and that’s when I recorded and released my stuff, and that sort of took off. I took my Masters in molecular biology and then, for like one and a half years, (studied) biochemistry. Also, I released my first EP. I was trying to do both for a while, but the cells were dying on me so I couldn’t.

You were working toward a PhD, but you left it to pursue music. That seems like every parent’s nightmare. What does your family think of your music?
Oh, my family, they were OK with it. Also I checked up on my professor and asked him if it was OK to take a half-year off.

It’s been a long half year.
Exactly, it was. The plan was to see if the plan worked. I could go back if I wanted to. And after a couple weeks, I released my EP and it went into the charts in Sweden. I was like, “Yeah, I can do this for a couple of years, probably.”

Can you tell me about the song “Killing for Love?” I really enjoy listening to it.
I guess it’s not that deep. I tried to pick words that were primitive and simple. It’s about risking hating for something you love. If you love an ideology or an object and something or someone happens to that, it’s easy to change that love into something equally strong in hate. And, of course, I was thinking about mainly ideology and nationalism.

Both your albums “Veneer” and “In Our Nature” feel pretty heavy at times. What do you hope people will take away from these albums?
Most of the time, it’s about a certain feeling. I am starting with the music and I add words trying to convey that feeling. I don’t think people need to get a point. It doesn’t matter how people perceive the music. I am just happy if they feel something. On the second album, I tried to get the frustrated fist-in-the-air feeling, like Rage Against the Machine (laughs). That gets you going inside. Some of the songs are more toward the personal, internal struggle. On the new album, I put more songs that are extroverted at the beginning and the more personal at the end.

I understand you have a lot of young listeners. Can you offer any life advice to someone just starting out?
For me, it was very nice to know that I was doing something that was completely on my own terms. I was recording at home. I was playing a style that wasn’t really working in the charts. I was trying to do something interesting, something that I didn’t hear other people making in Sweden back then. I guess some advice would be to find your own niche, or do what you think is interesting to do or fun without thinking too much about the consequences. Try to have fun.

Final question: What is one way people can make a positive impact on the world around them?
I always feel like information is always crucial. Instead of panicking with stuff that is going on in the world, the first step is always trying to learn about whatever you want to do something about. So, yeah!