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By Michael Lara
Tokyo, Japan

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“I wouldn’t wanna go home on a night like this… When I find out that some of the past has been missed…” Nothing was missed this night. BIG COUNTRY’s epic and amazingly visceral track from 1983 best encapsulates what Patrick Wilson (vocals, piano) and his fellow mates of Mishka Stein (bass, vocals), Robbie Kuster (drums) and Simon Angell (guitar, vocals) deliciously delivered to the cozy confines of Astro Hall to the ever-hungry fields of fire in Tokyo this night.  Stuart and his mates are duly proud from afar.

Full of appreciation and prior to their solo set, Patrick and myself share 10 about life, delicacies, zeroes and more:

THIRSTY: Just pick out, one by one and we’ll go until we…

Patrick: Ha-ha! Al right! (Big broad smile and a laugh) Chocolate stir sticks in a bar!

THIRSTY: And if you look on the back, it’s expired.

Patrick: Yeah.

THIRSTY: So to you, what’s expired?

Patrick: Interesting…Uh, stomach problems (laughing). Expired means I will be sitting on the toilet for the next 4 hours. Ah, expired for me…I see what you are getting at though. Um, I dunno…tough question.  You wanna know why these things expired?

THIRSTY: No, well but what to you, is tired?

Patrick: Um, tired, I just think tired or expired means that like when you walked, you have a certain distance that you are supposed to walk and once you’ve walked that distance, and then it becomes meaningless. I just got no more distance to go, no matter how much energy or legs you got. That’s just as far as it goes.

THIRSTY: I here you.

Patrick: This is two! This is exciting! (Big grin)

THIRSTY: Oh, which one do you want to pick on first?

Patrick: I’ll just combo them (smiling).

THIRSTY: Okay, you want to do a combo?

Patrick: Yeah, let’s do a combo.

THIRSTY: It’s like a set meal.

Patrick: “CHOCO-AID”

THIRSTY: We can do that.

Patrick: Chocolate band-aids? That’s disgusting.

THIRSTY: But you notice, it does say, “It’s fun and delicious.”

Patrick: Okay yeah.

THIRSTY: So, what is fun and delicious to you?

Patrick: (Chuckling) Ah…Interesting…What’s fun and delicious?  Um, sorry, just thinking. Fun and delicious is like that second wind. You know, when you get that second wind in the night…

THIRSTY: Yeah.

Patrick: And you like feel like that you can go to the end of the night, no matter what. You feel you can do anything. For me, that’s fun and delicious would be eating when you’re in that second wind and you’re super drunk and you’re eating and you get to finally eat food when you have been starving for 4-5 hours. I would say that is fun and delicious.

THIRSTY: And wait, wait, number 2 here…

Patrick: Tequila is fun and delicious you see beer is not fast enough.

THIRSTY: So what’s not fast enough?

Patrick: Ah, there you go. What’s not fast enough? Um… Is that Jameson?

Manager: Yes.

Patrick: Ah fuck yeah! (Perked up)

THIRSTY: That’s good. I see you are Catholic I guess.

Patrick: Ha-ha! Yeah. I think something that’s not fast enough would be something that can’t keep up to the speed that your feet want to be walking at. Um, airplanes are not fast enough (big grin)…That’s a tough question you got me going here.  I really don’t know what’s not fast enough anymore. Everything seems to be going pretty bloody quickly these days.

THIRSTY: Well then, let’s flip it: What’s going slow enough?

Patrick: What’s slow enough?

THIRSTY: Yeah. What’s just right?

Patrick: The time it takes you to walk to your local grocery store is always the right speed.

THIRSTY: This is a shotgun interview you know…

Patrick: COLA SHOCK! Oh, I gotta try this!

THIRSTY: Yeah, go for it! Knock it out (as the can opens crisply).

Patrick: Okay, that’s now why (after savoring it). COLA SHOCK, what’s shocking?

THIRSTY: Well, you could say that, but what’s zero to you?

Patrick: (Laughing) Ah, you know there’s no such thing as zero.  I don’t really believe in zero. I just don’t believe in it.

THIRSTY: So, they have the COLA SHOCK. It’s a new drink.

Patrick: Yeah. It’s pretty fucking intense I am not going to lie.

THIRSTY: Yeah. It came out last year. First, it was just COLA SHOCK then to COLA SHOCK ZERO.

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Patrick: Yeah.

THIRSTY: But what to you has shocked you most recently?

Patrick: I guess because I’m traveling, the most shocking thing to me was going to Beijing and I thought it would be like a huge modern city, like super tall and modern city and I was shocked to the fact that it was so old school. It was so grimy and old. I thought that was shocking for my expectation of China was more like Hong Kong, you know. Tall, kind of modern cities that move a lot…So Beijing I was so shocked at how old-fashioned it was so that was shocking. That’s all I think about in this recent trip.

THIRSTY: It’s all in the here and now right?

Patrick: I guess so.

THIRSTY: Now my nephew Nick gave this to me. He made this for me because I was doing some work in Las Vegas.

Patrick: Yeah.

THIRSTY: Over Christmas whilst home.

Patrick: Yeah.

THIRSTY: Where my parents live so…“Do not disturb. I’m working.” So what disturbs you when you’re working?

Patrick: Um…People who don’t believe in what I’m doing…Well, you know if you play your show right and probably you know, people go to a show and they don’t want to let themselves go to go with it.

THIRSTY: Yeah.

Patrick: They’re fighting it.

THIRSTY: Yeah.

Patrick: And instead of just leaving and they fight it the whole time…I find that the most disturbing thing ever. It’s okay, but what I’m saying it’s the most difficult thing in the world.  I can feel it. I was playing this city and there was this guy right there and I knew he wasn’t going for it and wasn’t enjoying, which is cool for he doesn’t have to enjoy, but I could feel it the whole concert. I just knew, you know.

THIRSTY: So was your left eye or right eye on him?

Patrick: No. I didn’t see him. I just knew it. You can tell because what happens is you feel this electricity onstage.

THIRSTY: Right.

Patrick: And then you’ll feel this gap and you’re all, “What the hell is that gap all about?” And there’s some dude, like ah fuck.

THIRSTY: Maybe he was just off his head.

Patrick: No. You can tell…Rechargeable! (Cell phone battery charger he’s gazing at).

THIRSTY: Now of course, don’t leave home without it.

Patrick: Right.

THIRSTY: So what do you not leave home without?

Patrick: Ooof! (Eyes rolling back and mind alive) Ah, passport! That’s ‘cuz I travel all the time (huge grin). Um, but well, I always bring one book with me when I travel each time, or one object that’s a part of the trip each time. Could be a journal or a book, things like that. I think you need one little object that’s a part of your trip and you should always have with you your whole trip and keep it. It shouldn’t be too many things. It should be a couple of select things. And I think an iPod is really handy.

THIRSTY: They definitely are…Al right…A vintage bottle opener…

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Patrick: Yeah.

THIRSTY: So, what would you like to open right now?

Patrick: Hmmm…another bottle of Jameson (with a big smirk). Um, you know what I’d love to open right now…You know like when you’re 12 years old and it’s like Christmas and you get to open presents when you’re like 12…

THIRSTY: Yeah.

Patrick: And everything is so new and exciting. That’d be fun to open right now and be 12 years old and opening a Christmas present. I’d be up for that. Other than something dirty (big cheeky smirk).

THIRSTY: Ah, and there’s one last one! Now you know they have a new burger in town here…

Patrick: Called the Big America??? (The latest McDonald’s fare for Japan)

THIRSTY: Well, the Big Texas and now the Big New York!

Patrick: Cool!

THIRSTY: Tell me, what is the Montreal Burger?

Patrick: Oh, it’d be petin. It’d be different because ah…

THIRSTY: What’d be the ingredients?

Patrick: Well, okay, you’d have a beef patty and you’d have French fries with a special cheese that comes from Oka there. It’s like curd cheese, squeaky cheese with gravy. We call it with gravy, onions and Foie gras, which you know what it is right?

THIRSTY: Yeah man.

Patrick: That’d be Montreal (with a big, broad smile).

THIRSTY: That’s it!

Patrick: Done deal! (Beaming)

Far from being done, nothing loose here so click away and trip away:
patrickwatson.net
myspace.com/patrickwatson