Much like his character Fox Mulder in The X-Files, David Duchovny is a bit of an enigma.
He is quite comfortable, alone with his thoughts, out in left field. He backs himself but is also his harshest critic.
Why, people ask, is Duchovny making music and, heaven forbid, actually recording and touring it, when he is an award-winning actor, filmmaker, director and New York Times best-selling author? Why would he bother?
The truth is, of course, always out there so Weekender asked the question and Duchovnys answer was surprisingly simple.
Because he can.
He enjoys it. He finds it challenging. And he doesnt need anyones approval to continue doing it.
Duchovny is, of course, best known for his roles in television series The X-Files, Aquarius, Californication and Twin Peaks. His film credits include Kalifornia, Zoolander, Evolution, House of D, Beethoven, The Rapture, The X-Files: I Want To Believe and Julia Has Two Lovers.
For fans of The X-Files, some good news. Season 11 of the hit series will return in 2018 and star both Duchovny as Mulder and Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully.
But today, were talking music and his upcoming Australian tour.
Debut album Hell Or Highwater was a collection of Duchovnys musings on pride, loss and remorse. If you havent heard it, it is a nod to his musical heroes: Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Leonard Cohen and R.E.M. His second album, Every Third Thought, is due for release in 2018.
Duchovny supports the DAddario Foundation and believes music education can change lives, especially those of disadvantaged children.
It has certainly changed his own.
When it comes to music education, well, I didnt really have any, he says.
But I do think that as I have learned a little about it, I can objectively and scientifically see how music education increases performance by students in all areas, not just in music. Its an integral part of the brain that needs to be fed. Now thats a scientific fact.
The only instrument he knew how to play until about seven years ago when he picked up a guitar was the humble recorder.
I dont know if you had that instrument in Australian schools but in the US its what they used to make kids learn. And that was the extent of my music education, he says.
I liked it but I didnt go beyond the recorder, unfortunately, until I started learning the guitar.
Recorder lessons were once common in NSW schools, I tell him, much to the despair of many a parent.
I also remind him of something he was once quoted as saying: I may not ever be a good singer but I can sing.
Thats right. You dont have to be born with a good voice to be a singer.
There is so much about speaking out or singing out loud that is scary to people. People are afraid to be heard in that way if theyre not confident about being in tune or whatever.
There is a lot of fear involved and there certainly was for me.
I was lucky enough to find a guy who was a really great teacher of voice, Don Lawrence, and somehow from the first lesson he kind of liberated me and turned me around. I had to work at it though.
And then there is the question of pitch. Good pitch. Duchovny says he is one of those people born without it.
Some people are and they can just sing. Effortlessly. But if youre not born with good pitch you can actually get better at it. It is like a muscle.
And I dont think I will ever have a kick-arse voice but I have got my voice.
Im not going to win any contests and Im not going to go up there without a microphone but Im pretty confident that I can learn my tunes and sing my melodies to within about 80 to 85 per cent accuracy.
And for a live performance thats fine. Im not looking for 100 per cent.
Duchovny is brutally honest when it comes to his musicianship, too.
Im never going to be even a good musician. Ill be OK. I can play the guitar well enough to throw chords together to write rock n roll songs, he says.
But Im not a composer. Im not an educated musician. Im humble enough, and been humbled enough, to have been around some amazing musicians and there is a huge difference between me and them. But what I do is, I throw chords together and I come up with melodies and I write lyrics and I can write songs for some reason and I dont know why.
I certainly never could until about four or five years ago so Im as surprised as anyone else that I can do it. But it doesnt have anything to do with me being a good musician, which Im not. It just happens.
It is perhaps no coincidence that he started writing songs in the wake of his divorce from actor Tea Leoni. The couple share custody of their two children.
He is in two minds when asked if he feels vulnerable singing lyrics he has written to an audience. He feels the need to distance himself from his words.
It is a vulnerable position but its still a performance, he explains.
Even when I write a song I dont feel like its me writing the song. Yes, its my point of view, but it was mine on the day that I wrote the song. Which is not necessarily my point of view now.
So for me, all the songs are kind of characters in a way, or all of the songs from an album are similar characters from a similar time.
I dont feel like they are me I feel that they were me when I wrote the song.
He continues on the subject of lyrics, saying that its all up to the listener and how they interpret them. Thats what ultimately gives them meaning.
I dont think great lyrics are straight-up confessionals, like what I did today and what Im feeling and these are my political views, Duchovny says.
But I think great lyrics are somehow very personal but also abstract and universal at the same time.
Its very interesting to go back and sing a song that you wrote a few years ago and try to inhabit it. Thats where singing on stage is a bit of an acting performance, when you want to convey the emotion of the song.
In some ways I think thats why covers are easier to do than your own songs because youre not covering yourself. You can throw all your emotion into a cover because somebody else wrote it.
When suggested it takes guts to do what hes doing because of his public profile, Duchovny agrees.
People are going to take their shots and people are going to want to dismiss somebody doing something that they are not known for. That just seems to be the way it goes.
You might buy my album or come to my concert because you like my work as an actor but thats not going to make you like the music. Once you get in there, your ears dont care what else Ive done in my life. Your ears are your ears. Youre either going to like it or youre not.
All I want you to do is listen to the music. I dont care why youre at my show, I dont care about your skepticism, I dont care if youre a fan or if you came to watch me fail or whatever, all those things are fine. But open up your ears and it is very possible that youre going to like this stuff. Thats how I feel.
So, can the Newcastle audience expect him to whip out the recorder during his set?
Duchovny laughs.
Well, you know, maybe I should. We dont have enough recorder solos in rocknroll. Maybe its time to change that.
