Interview – Percival – English version

For the German Version Click here!

Michaela: Would you say music was your first love?

Percival: No. It was acting. I did a lot of acting in high school and television commercials. I wanted to be in films. But I kept getting stage work and singing jobs which led me to New York City at the age of 15. Music came easy. It was like breathing. Acting was something I WORKED on.

Michaela: You performed a great version of „Seven Nation Army“ but also a fucking awesome version of „Purple Rain“. What is your favorite song?

Percival: Funny, I’d never sung either of those songs before I sang them on TV.
My favorite song of all time is “Company” from Rickie Lee Jones who is as well my favorite artist of all time.

Michaela: In 2017 you had a club tour in Germany. Do you prefer small clubs or big stage tours?

Percival: I did? LOL! So I don’t remember things well after I have done them. Between 2015 and 2017 I was almost constantly on tour in different places, with band or just with guitarist. I love it all. Stage is holy ground, so it doesn’t matter if I am in front of 50 or 5000 people, its always home.
Michaela: Do you work on new stuff and when can we buy it?

Percival: Atm I am recording an FULL on ROCK EP, with my band for release in Spring 2018 called Dirty, ironically.
I have two albums on the market, both recorded live. One was recorded 20 years ago and just released called WHEN I WAS BEAUTIFUL. The other was recorded last year. And is called STRIPPED SONGS, recorded live in the studio. I think it took us two hours to record the whole album?

Michaela: What kind of music do you like the most?

Percival: Things I have never heard before. Voices I have never heard before. These days so much had been copied that I stopped listening to it. No radio, no TV, nothing like that in my home. It all sounds like the same person. Can’t even tell anymore if the person has a dick or vagina cuz everyone is trying to sing as high as possible and being mixed by the same people and have the same people writing the same songs over and over. Give me the creators. The individuals. The people who sound like NO ONE else. That’s what I like.

Michaela: Is there any kind of music you would say that´s no music at all?

Percival: There are loads of things I do not like, but there is nothing I would ever say was not music. There are people who enjoy things I hate, but I am never going to degrade it only because I do not like it personally.

Michaela: Are there any musicians you would like to sing a duet with?

Percival: No. VERY few. Most singers are out there singing for themselves trying to impress people. That turns me off. I only love the ones who GIVE, so no more duets unless I can someday sing with someone like Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes! LOOOOVE her. My friend Lucie Silvas and I actually have a duet we did long ago which I cannot find…a type of Disney song we wrote together way back in 2005. She sadly cant find it either. Skin of Skunk Anansie is also an old friend I’d love to do something with, but her scheduling is so crazy that I haven’t even seen her in 3 or 4 years. People I have already done duets with on the side – Chaka Khan. Shirley Manson of Garbage, but we were at a party drunk, so I don’t think that counts. Paulo Nutini was at the same party and sang with us, so I guess you could say we had a threesome! LOL!

Michaela: You grew up in Texas, moved to New York then Germany. What does a country/city need to feel like home?

Percival: It needs to have stages and jobs for me and amazing musicians. I have never cared about countries or borders or languages or any of that banal bullshit. I just like good people, and you find those everywhere you go. One just has to weed through the shit people to find the good ones! 

Michaela: What kind of things can really piss you off?

Percival: Complacency. People who don’t open their mouths when they have something to say. Politics. Ignorance. People who always think they are right. People who do not listen. The word ‘No.’

Michaela: What do you need most in your live?

Percival: Me and my mouth. Oh and my dog!

Michaela: You said about yourself that you’re not a polite person. Is it that you don´t give a shit what others think about you or maybe coz sometimes there is no holding back if something pisses you off?

Percival: Hahahaa! As far back as I can remember I have never given a fuck what anyone thought about me as a person. I have always liked myself in a healthy way and I know that I am a hard but fair person. There is no hiding AT ALL in my life. If I like something then I love expressing it. If I don’t like something I will express that as well. I will also say that I don’t like something for MY life but I will not knock it down if my friends like it. I am not living their lives, and they are not living mine.
I think its because the ONLY thing that impresses me in life are honest people. Not someone with a great voice. Not beauty –whatever that means! If someone has money or a title, I don’t give a fuck. They better be decent people, otherwise they will be dealing with ME. And I have a good side, and I have an evil side – which seriously NO ONE wants to ever see.
Never hold back and never shut up!

Michaela: What is the hardest part of being Percival?

Percival: Nothing is hard about being myself. It’s the easiest thing I do in life. I know where I stand. I let others know where they stand in my life. I hold nothing back. Literally nothing. I am never ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘insecure’. And I love listening to other people’s stories/adventures.
 
Michaela: What is your biggest concern right now?

Percival: Israel and Palestine and the ramifications of what that DUMBFUCK who bought the White House has done. When they are finally going to get rid of that DUMBFUCK in the White House? When is that DUMBFUCK in the White House is going to prison along with his DUMBFUCK family and the DUMBFUCK NAZIS he has hired around him? Russia and what their true plans are. The fires in California. The pipelines in North Dakota. North Korea. The murders of U.S. citizens by U.S. Terrorists with fucking GUNS!!?!?!? When will they stop showing Theresa May’s face in public? Those and like about 30 other things…

Michaela: Thank you for finding time to answer our questions. Finally we would like to give you the opportunity to address your fans directly.

Rock and Roll!