Walks On The Wildside

Inevitably when being interviewed prior setting out on tour, the question arises “Among all the excitement of the shows, travel etc. What do you miss most about life when you are on tour?” The answer is that I don´t really allow myself to miss things when I am on tour. Because, feeling as fortunate as I do, and to have the type of professional life that I have, it is not right to indulge in a desire for alternatives, to wish for things to be in any way other than they are.

You cannot have it all, after all. And the life I have had, that continues to this day, is beyond anything I would have dared dream of when I was starting out. That is a fact that does me well to remember on the occasions when I might be close to taking my luck for granted.

Leaving family, friends, (and…er… pets) behind for lengthy periods is never easy of course, but that evens out over the long periods when we are not active. Plus, thanks to the everyday technology that is at all of our disposal, it is much more easier to keep in touch these days, even if the physical presence is missing. But is there really nothing that I even sort of miss? Well there is actually, but rather than miss, I prefer more to call it “crave.”

What I sometimes find myself craving during a touring schedule, is the kind of day that I have enjoyed quite a few of recently – particularly during the recent weeks while in Scotland. Days with little or nothing planned, days were I am at liberty to decide on a whim how I am going to spend the hours. Acts of spontaneity aplenty. What Bliss!

And so I will in someway miss the experience of the last weeks. where on waking early,  and checking the weather, I jump in the car and drive either to the middle of nowhere, or to some long forgotten (by me) coastal town, and lose myself. Sometimes literally, as I go walking with no particular destination in mind.

One of the great things about Scotland in my opinion is that there is still a great sense of space, even close to the perimeters of the cities. You don´t have to travel far at all to feel that you have left the typical struggles of metropolitan life behind. You can go for miles and see no one.

Not that I don´t like city life though, I do. But I like the balance of both, and I love the re – energising feeling that comes  from being out – in the different air. And as for that balance, take a few days ago for example when during late afternoon I was in a very remote landscape, and then only a few hours later I was in a packed arena watching Prince.

Well, all that is on hold now. The touring schedule over the next few months is that main thing in my life now, but you will never get get me complaining about that.

Jim Kerr