Sound bites from the second episode of Sundance Channel’s original 12-part music series “Live From Abbey Road” airing on Friday, March 5 at 8PM ET/PT. Below are excerpts from some of the A-list performers featured in this episode, including Seal, Imelda May and Sugarland.
“Meeting President Obama, he wasn’t president at the time, and performing for him in Los Angeles at the Staples auditorium, was perhaps the highlight of my professional career.”
~ Seal, recording artist
Seal on the Power of Music:
“Albums are one of the few things that enable us to escape for 45 to 55 minutes. If the album is really good, that’s what it does, it’s escapism.”
Sugarland on their influences:
Kristian Bush: “As you turn into a teenager you run from all the tastes you were born with. And so when we were running, the things we picked up along the way were, you know…REM and the B-52’s were establishing themselves when we were in college. I remember thumbing through the import section of a record store. That’s the only place I’d go. I owned every Clash record, every Adam the Ants record. Not what you’d see in the iPod of a country singer, right?”
Imelda May on her musical family:
“Well I come from a very musical family anyway. Everybody sings and dances and has a party piece. The first time my husband came over to meet my family there was a session going on and as we were leaving he said to me ‘Aw, you shouldn’t have done that for me,’ because he is English and thought that we put on a little show for him, a little Irish show. And I said, “No that’s just a normal night.”
Seal on how writing music is like therapy:
“And that’s why I got into it. It was like therapy. You write a song, you play it on the guitar, and even if two people hear it you have aired that problem or you’ve aired that experience and emotion. And that hasn’t really changed. I’m writing at the moment. And a quintessential Seal album of original material isn’t far, far away.”
Imelda May on her style:
“I love the rebellious side of the whole rock and roll, rockabilly thing. I love the grit of it, the rawness and the passion of it, it really gets me. It’s really exciting stuff. The 50’s style seems to suit me.”
SUNDANCE CHANNEL’S “LIVE FROM ABBEY ROAD”