Michel: “I grew up in a travelling artist-community performing between Europe and Asia and in the States with dance, music and all kinds of shows. Music is natural to me since my early childhood. I worked out electronical soundstructures when I was five, started to play guitar, piano, harmonica and other instruments when I was six and began to sing my own songs when I was twelve. My father was a violin player in Memphis U.S.A. and my mother was singing in a choir in Vienna. They met in Paris.”
inMusic: “Where from is your special liking to Bob Dylan, because of similar voice?”
Michel: “Sympathy and respect for Bob Dylan’s art and work.”
inMusic: “Which other performers/bands did influence your sound?”
Michel: “I am open to everything authentic, sensual, independent and joyful with an inner richness. I guess Woody Guthrie, Elvis Presley and Françoise Hardy in this way had an influence on my song-music, and in instrumental music the Egyptian-French artist Mira Alfassa.”
inMusic: “Did you meet Bob Dylan ever? What did he mean about your coversongs?”
Michel: “I saw him at a concert. When I started covering his songs we sent the tracks of ‘Eternal Circle’ for Bob Dylans approval to his management and the answer was ‘He can do whatever he wants.”
inMusic: “Report me about the work on ‘Jet Pilot’, please!”
Michel: “Jet Pilot is a rock journey through the world of mysteries where dreams, fantasy, yearning and border-crossing are as much part of life as are realism, pragmatism and good sense of humour. Jet Pilot evolved right in the middle of a series of fiery, intense and tender concerts with close audience contact. The song choice for Jet Pilot grew out of this interaction and reflects what people like. Jet Pilot therefore is very enjoyable for lovers of Bob Dylan songs and his artistic ambient. For this reason we also included as Bonus Tracks some songs of Woody Guthrie, Jimmie Rodgers and from the Folk heritage which Bob Dylan too likes to perform at his concerts, as well as two songs by myself. As with the previous Bob Dylan coverproductions ‘Eternal Circle’ and ‘Born In Time’ we produced Jet Pilot as an interactive CD-Plus with song-tracks, music-video, picture-events and internet links which give a groovy feeling and longtime-energy. The soundstructure of Jet Pilot is fresh and young as well as timeless. It has the lasting quality so that you can listen to it again and again.
Michel: “I’m lucky to have two beautiful, erotic and artistic supergirls at my side who also perform their own songs. I met them on the road when I was performing solo. Mirakali, who plays guitar and is part Native-American and part European, joined me when I was singing in a pretty desolated military outpost near the Mexican border. Diana comes from New Zealand and grew up in Europe. She plays keyboard. I met her when I was travelling with a circus. She escaped from the situation where she was in and was hiding in one of the circus-trucks. On the way east we found her and helped her out of the jam. Since then she is in the band. David I simply met on street and then he joined the group.”
inMusic: “Tell me something about your favorite song on the album, please!”
Michel: “They are in a way all favourite songs. But ‘Things Have Changed’ stands out as an impressive masterpiece melting the essence of Bob Dylan’s life and art into the expressiveness of one song. When I heard the song soon after it was recorded by Bob Dylan I asked if I could cover it and got the okay right away. Thus I’m the first one to cover ‘Things Have Changed’ and we are able to release it at the same time as Bob Dylan releases his own version. For ‘Things Have Changed we produced a hot music-video which can be seen on the internet. The song ‘Jet Pilot’ of course is as much a favourite. Bob Dylan released only a short version of this supersong. Here comes the long version. Then there is •Mississippi’ a great song which Bob Dylan himself has not released up to now and is one more favourite.”
Michel: “As always: many concerts and as speciality regular concerts in the ‘Michel Montecrossa Rock Vision Diner’ which was opened recently near Munich in Gauting. Furthermore we play live for three days and nights at the ‘Spirit of Woodstock Festival in Mirapuri-Coiromonte in Italy’. A new CD-Plus release is scheduled to come out in a few weeks presenting highlights of our live performance at the 99 Spirit of Woodstock Festival with exciting soundtracks and cool festival movies. Don’t miss it and let’s meet at the Spirit of Woodstock Festival!”