William Shatner has gone personal with his new autobiographical album, Billspin

Before we get close to talking about her new album, Bill, In our scheduled zoom call, William Shatner was already staring at my beard. Now, this isn’t my first interview to be disturbed by enough hair on my face, but Captain James T. My plan to start a chat with the guy behind Kirk wasn’t exactly that, dozens more characters from my childhood, and some of the most memorable cover songs in history.

Always a storyteller, Shotner happily recalls once when he was performing live and was a man with a big beard in the audience.

“He was standing, and I went back to his wife sitting next to him, and I said, ‘Do you like that beard?’ She looked at her husband and said, ‘No!’ Apparently, in my mind, it was a moment. Can you imagine the husband next to the wife saying ‘I hate that beard!’ Does your wife like your beard? “

And the moment I met Mr. I told Shutter that my wife not only likes my beard (she manages her monthly trimming), but she even said that I would stay unmarried if I wanted to shave. Now, before we get too deep into the forest Bill, I think it needs to be mentioned that my beard is not unusually long. It rarely covers my fingers and is usually quite well maintained. It’s hard, but we’re not talking about something significant here like ZZ Top or Mike Beltran.

With the beard discussion settled, Shutter was finally ready to discuss the day, with his brand new spoken-word album created with the help of his friend Robert Shereno and The Mighty Bee Giants Dan Miller.

A few decades ago, a new William Shatner album seemed like a joke. His first attempt – starting in 1968 Transformed people -Some of the well-known songs have been provided with really unforgettable cover versions, but not exactly as many artists would expect. However, Shatner has never been able to give up things so easily. In 2004, he released Ben Folds-produced Done, Which was only a cover and was generally well received by both fans and critics. By then he has released his latest album Bill, He topped the blues charts last October with a proper title Nilkul.

But now that he has released his most autobiographical album, the legendary showman is once again presented with a very familiar feeling.

“There was a time when I was doing a play that was going to New York and rehearsing here in Los Angeles,” Shatner began. “We had an opening race in a big theater in Los Angeles, and then we were going to Broadway. It had an actress in it, but I forgot her name. It was Mart Crowley who wrote it and it was her next play. The Boys in the Band (1968). I don’t know if that means anything to you, but The Boys in the Band It was a big hit, so it was destined to be another big hit by Mart Crowley. The actress and I think it’s going to be a big hit, so we had the opening night in Los Angeles – with a full house and all the critics – and the opening was designed for the two of us to come out in the dark aprons. We are holding hands, the screen is going up, the lights are on and the game is starting. The two of us stand there once or twice while the audience is silent, and he turns to me and whispers, ‘Are we in trouble?’ And then the screen comes up.

“I’ve been wary of every new thing that has started since then,” Shatner added. “Whenever I think ‘Yes, it’s really good,’ I have to ask, ‘Is this a disaster?’ So I can’t believe this album is so good to me. The three of us [Shatner, Sharenow, and Miller] Think of it as cat food. It’s the best thing we’ve ever done, and we’ve zoomed in on the epidemic and sent messages over and over again. What we were doing was we liked that we prepared another album, because we thought it was good. And then I tickle that question, ‘Are we in trouble?’ “

As Shatner knows very well, it ultimately determines whether a project is a global hit or an unexpected dumpster fire, whether it’s an off-Broadway drama, a blockbuster movie, a 100-episode TV series, or Joe Jonas, Joe Walsh. And a spoken word album like Brad Paisley. Viewers are the “final actor members” who don’t join until the project is released, but they can completely ignore what others involved feel and think about it. (“You’re in the studio and you think ‘Oh my God, it’s so good.’ Then you send this precious thing there and [critics] Say it’s the worst thing they’ve ever heard. Then people cry, and shots are heard in different bathrooms because they commit suicide because it is too bad. ”)

Although at this point in his career, Shutterner had developed enough thick skin that some heavy criticism would not ruin him, he is running more into this subject than most projects. This is not only his epidemic album, it is his most personal component published in any format. On Bill, Shatner, Shereno and Miller explore a variety of songs and song structures to share the actor’s life stories that he has never said before – after leaving his rural Montreal home in his old Maurice Minor when he almost drowned in acting dreams (“The Bridge”). The ongoing fear of dying alone (“loneliness”) and how he constantly feels that he is behind an mask (metaphorically, not clinically) as an actor and in society in general (“mask”). In one song, the -0-year-old lyricist even went back to grade school to share a struggle of early life.

“I was Jewish, and when I was in elementary school প্রায় from about 5, 6, 7 until I was a teenager আমি I was in very non-Jewish school,” Shatner said, referring to the interview with a more serious tone for the first time. “They talked a lot about me being Jewish, and I had to fight with two or three people every day after school. I would poke my way out of it. Then when Canadian Jewish troops returned from World War II, there was no longer any idea that Jews were quietly heading to Owen. By then, I was already fighting my way because I was Jewish, and it was forced on me. But a terrible thing happened along the way, and that is the tendency to call it ‘dirty Jewish’ and push about it. You fight back, but at night as a child, you ask ‘Am I a dirty Jew?’ One of the songs is how did you impose that self-image on you? You can’t help but exploit it and say, ‘Well, are they okay?’ “

To distribute his signature on this highly personal story, Shutter knows he’s never going to be Frank Sinatra – or any other classic trained singer – but he delivers something that no one else can do. In a world where Shutter’s voice and melody are so recognizable that you’ve probably heard it in your head every time you read his quote, he doesn’t have to pretend to be something he doesn’t. In fact, he is so committed to his dramatic reading style that there is a certain punk rock air about his reluctance to give up or give up on initial criticism. William Shatner doesn’t really care if people laughed at his musical styling or didn’t understand why he was committed to releasing albums when most would cruise his acting career. She doesn’t have to, because she’s fucking William Shutter and she’s having a great time doing it.

“It makes me happy [perform music], ”Shatner said. “I get a physical thrill by doing it. When it happens and it works, I go ‘Wow, I really did it! I sang a song like my own.’ I think I’m a whole new one to serve a song. “It’s made, it’s said, but it’s not spoken. When you hear some great singers speak, I guess I’m up to a degree. If I hit it right, it’s exciting to me.”