Chris Isaak says, “It’s the greatest day of my life,” any time someone asks him how he’s doing. It’s something he learned from a dude named Fox, who worked on the crew of The Chris Isaak Show on Showtime a few years back.
The rockabilly Elvis-Jerry Lee Lewis crossbreed had his own cable TV show, and he also had small but memorable parts in films by master directors including Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs), David Lynch (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me) and John Waters (A Dirty Shame) – just to name a few. But for him and certainly for his fans, the truly great days involve music.
His most recent release, 2015’s First Comes the Night, portrays the singer-songwriter with a happy-go-lucky demeanor on the album cover. But the Sun Records throwback continues to stick to themes that gravitate toward heartbreak. Either he’s been hurt by many women in his life or he just knows how to write very good songs that happen to deal with that subject matter. Nearly every tune on the record is about a relationship, love lost or heartbreak, from “Please Don’t Call” and “Baby What You Want Me To Do?” to “Perfect Lover” and “Don’t Break My Heart.”
But after talking to Isaak for more than a few minutes, you’d never think he’s crying on the inside. He loves life every single day.
Weekly: What have you been up to?
Isaak: I just rehearsed with my band in Los Angeles. I don’t know why we make each other work, but it’s fun. The same guys have been playing for 30 years together. These are the guys who’ve made the records with me over the years, and once in awhile we say, “We’ve played this set for a year’s tour, how do we change it? What songs are new or songs people haven’t heard much?” We’ll go back to our albums and see which songs we haven’t done for awhile. It’s fun and kind of scary. I mean, I wrote it and I know I could sing it. Still, when you’re on stage performing, it’s not like being in the studio performing. It’s not like if you screw up you get a second shot. It’s like, this is the Olympics, you have to get it [right] the first time.
Why didn’t The Chris Isaak Show show run longer?
It was supposed to be five seasons, but after three seasons I was dying to go on tour. We’d do a season of the television show and as soon as we finished, I would get on a bus and tour a couple months and at the end of touring, we’d go right back to making the television show. The people from the TV show got a rest, the people from the tour got a rest, but I worked year-round, literally every day. I did it for three years, and I just wanted to be able to tour; to get up, play with the band and make records.
“Wicked Game” has taken on a life of its own. Do you have a favorite story involving that song?
This is tangentially connected, but I’ll tell you a story. I went to Molokai, Hawaii. A remote area. It wasn’t a fancy place – I thought, there’s a place I can go and surf. There are no bars or clubs, there’s nothing there. I just wanted to sit, write and take it easy. Wherever I go, I bring this little guitar with me so I can play any time. I’m walking down the beach and I see a couple. There’s no one else on this beach. She’s in a white dress and he’s in a nice sport coat. I see them taking selfies. Since I’m the only guy on the beach, I ask if they’d like me to take a picture. They just got married, they came to Hawaii and had no budget – there were no bridesmaids or friends. They just got married at City Hall. I asked if they had music for their honeymoon and they said no. I asked if I could sing a song [Isaac goes into song], “To you, I sing aloha it’s our wedding day… ” It was an old Hawaiian wedding song I know.
Then the woman looks at me and says, “You’re a singer… ‘Wicked Game’! Oh my god, that’s my favorite song.”
So, I sang “Wicked Game” for them, and the guy asks if they could take a picture with me.
I said, “Only if you tell your friends you hired me to play your wedding and have photographic proof.”
“Wicked Game” isn’t really a romantic song per se, but it’s always connected to romance.
In a way, it’s not romantic, but in a way, people hear what they want to hear, and they hear, “The world was on fire, no one can save me but you.” Then it’s a love song. You’re basically saying no one’s in love with you, but I’m in love with you so much that you’re everything.
Are there any songs that have evoked lasting passion in you?
When I was young I found a 45 of Elvis with two early songs from Sun Studios. That 45 changed my life. I had never heard anything that beautiful. I thought, “I have to do this. I want to sing and sound like that.” I bought a microphone and just started fumbling toward [that sound].
[Isaac breaks into Elvis’ “I’ll Never Let You Go”] “The stars would tumble down beside me/ The moon would hang his head and cry.”
It’s amazing how this world is magical in some ways. If you told me one day Sam Phillips was going to listen to [my] music and say he likes it, I would have said you were nuts, but like Jimmy Stewart said, “It’s a wonderful life.”
CHRIS ISAAK 8pm Tuesday, July 11. Golden State Theatre, 417 Alvarado St., Monterey. $50-$108. 649-1070, www. goldenstatetheatre.com