SNAPSHOTS: LUKE (SEED-LEE) SIEDLE
As I take the first foamy sip of my cappuccino I'm thinking about Luke Siedle's surname which is pronounced Seed-Lee. The name got me thinking about a certain John 'Johnny Appleseed' Chapmon renowned for wandering around North America in the seventeen hundreds planting apple tree nurseries as he went. He'd return occasionally to collect any money, old clothes or corn as payment for trees purchased. The story is something of a legend that I remember hearing about as a kid. This shoeless, humble man wandering around being kind to people and collecting very little in return somehow built something worth remembering. That's his story and I'm seeing some parallels with him and the world of musicians out there on the road spewing forth their art into a world that sometimes gives very little back. The thing that keeps them going might be the idea that they are building for themselves some kind of legend; that maybe one day they'll be remembered and thought of with the same fondness and affection we reserve for the likes of the Johnny Appleseeds of the world.
Luke's strolling across the street in my direction now and he's got his own story to tell. Indeed, if his new album titled, "Our Stories" is anything to go by Luke has more than one story to tell. If comparisons must be made then Luke's album is something like a South African Fionn Regan or Bob Dylan. The difference being that Luke has a better voice and is already a far more accomplished guitarist that Bob ever was. This is an intellectual, songwriter's album full of great guitar driven, melodic, soulful stuff.
Sitting down at the table we exchange greetings and order another cappuccino. I'm trying to play the part of the interviewer and asking Luke a lot of questions. It seems we're both new to this situation but we nevertheless manage to get bite out of an interview-type-thing. On his beginnings Luke shares that he's been playing the guitar since age 14 and had the good fortune to be taught a few things by Durban legend, Guy Buttery. "It was a bit intimidating playing with someone like him but he was always very chilled about it. We'd mostly just share our ideas." On his goals for the future I find we share the dream of doing this 'music thing' for a living. Luke's ambition is to keep challenging himself and not become like so many prolific young songwriters who seem to lose it as they age. When it comes to songwriting we also seem to share the habit of writing words and music at the same time, "It needs to happen all at once. If I force one on the other I usually end up getting rid of it."
If you can picture a couple of songwriters sitting and chatting over a cappuccino; If you can picture them parting ways and going home to pick up their guitars; If you can picture them feeling a little awkward about their place in an industry that seems to swallow up so many people like them; If you can picture a man walking barefoot across a country planting seeds hoping the sun will shine and the rains will fall; If you can hear a guitar and a warm voice somewhere behind those pictures then you're starting to see this story more clearly. It's not much perhaps but it's a story and it ours so far. As Luke says, "We've got the rest of our lives" to finish this one.