Digital Interviews: When did you first get the idea that you wanted to be a musician?

Marc Antoine: I started playing the guitar when I was 11 years old, but the calling for music, I think, came earlier -- maybe five or six years old. I remember singing melodies I’d heard on the radio -- the top-40 stuff they used to play. So I think the calling was already there. At 11, I had a friend who was playing the guitar. I couldn’t help but try. It went pretty fast after that. As soon as I grabbed it, I didn’t let it go.

DI: When you were eight, you moved from Paris to the Brittany area of France. Was that locale different?

MA: It’s very different. It’s very Celtic -- almost like living in England, or in Ireland. I went back to Paris, when I was about 15, to study more music.

DI: You also lived in London and Tokyo. What were you able to absorb musically from those two cities?

MA: When I used to work in Paris, I wasn’t writing much. I was writing a little bit of jazz here and there, but mainly playing with African bands or doing sessions, even producing a little bit. But I didn’t have the concept of how to really write a good song. That came out of London. In London they write so many pop songs -- more international hits, as well. It’s very different from the popular music you’d hear in France. Really, that helped me become more of a professional musician, and a professional writer as well. From Tokyo, it was just learning more about the business, and discovering different cultures. Finally the States -- I think you have to be over here for music.

DI: You were also classically trained?

MA: Yes. Classical music came pretty fast. That was the first thing I was listening to when I was a kid. For me, the guitar was the classical guitar at first. I didn’t know this “jazz guitar.” [laughs] That’s really where I came from. And I studied the normal course. The first two years, I studied "playing" only -- enjoyed the instrument, which is what I recommend to parents when they push their kids to play. First, try to enjoy the instrument, and then study it. After that, I started to read music. I had to, for the classical studies. Then I started discovering, little by little, other types of guitar -- bebop jazz guitar, funk, rock 'n' roll, Jimi Hendrix, pretty much everything. You know, when you grow up, you just encounter everything. It was good, too, to start from the classical. I think classical is a very strong base.

DI: Tell us about the Afro-pop music you played in the Paris clubs.

MA: Paris is a very African-influenced city. There’s a lot of African people living in Paris -- from Senegal, from Zaire, from pretty much everywhere. There are a lot of Arabic people in Paris. There’s a very strong cultural background. You’d be traveling in Paris and see areas that look like you’re in Tunisia. You’d go to another area and, all of a sudden, you’d be in Zaire. [laughs] A lot of African bands played pop, a mixture of jazz and pop, and even Latin music. It’s very interesting for the study of African music.

DI: You also played in the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra?

MA: That’s right. It was actually a combination of reggae “dub” with a little bit of pop-funk music, with the string section that played on the first few Soul II Soul records.

DI: Tell us about touring with Basia.

MA: That was my first international experience. That was the reason I moved to London. For me, all of a sudden, it was a completely different picture. When you’re in France, you just work in France. It’s difficult to walk into the international scene from a country like France or Italy. Spain is a little easier because the flamenco scene and Latin are so big. London, all of a sudden, was a huge platform for me to start going to Japan and America. I didn’t even speak English at the time. It was very hard for me. [laughs] The very first rehearsal was very funny. I didn’t understand when the guy called and told me I had the job after he auditioned me in London. [laughs]

DI: What memories do you have of playing on Selena’s last album?

MA: It was an incredible story. She stopped by the studio. She was very nice to everybody. Then, a week later she got killed. It was very hard for me because I had played certain things at the end of the song, and when the record company heard it, they asked me after she passed to play the same thing at the beginning of the song -- the same kind of thing. I had to go back into the studio and listen to her voice. When I originally played to the track, it was somebody else’s voice. It was a guide for her to sing after the musicians played. It was very intense.

DI: You also recorded with Sting?

MA: I actually didn’t meet him. A friend of mine was producing some of his remixes for London. I ended up being in the studio playing on This Cowboy Song. Also, at the time, I played on the Demolition Man soundtrack. The same friend of mine, Stoker, produced all this wonderful work.

DI: When you don’t actually play with the artist, how do you make your part match so well?

MA: You just have to listen to the music and let yourself go with it, and come up with what people are expecting you to do. Being a session musician is very different. If you’re in the studio working on your stuff, you know, everything is permitted. You can do anything and everything. On stage, it’s the moment, what’s happening. But in the studio it works this way. I like being in the studio with four or five musicians, and we all record live at the same time to tape. There’s many different ways of approaching a situation.

DI: Which is your favorite, being on stage or in the studio?

MA: Well, if I’m in the studio too long, when that gig comes, I love it. But if I’m on the road too long, when that studio gig comes, I love it, too. [laughs] After I’m on the road too long, I like to just go back home and rest for three days and forget about the rest of the world. [laughs] You know, no studio, no music, no sound. [laughs]

DI: Do you have a home studio?

MA: Yes, I do. I have recorded a lot of things on my records out of my studio.

DI: How did you approach your first CD, Classical Soul?

MA: Almost in a pop way -- even hip-hop. The idea came way back when I was in London playing with the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra, Soul II Soul. It was very interesting for me. They asked me to play only the nylon strings. We were like a classical symphonic group, but with drums and bass and playing with some reggae grooves. I thought it was interesting to mix something that is pop -- in a way, reggae is part of pop music -- with a nylon instrument that is very classical, really. I mixed the R&B with the hip-hop with the flamenco with the classical. Obviously, as soon as you play a nylon-string guitar, it sounds a little flamenco, because it’s where the origin is. So I had the idea way back then, but I never had the time to do it. Finally, in Los Angeles, I decided to concentrate a little more on that, because I thought it was interesting. I heard friends of mine who were already on the radio, doing different types of things, but using their own instrument. I was like, “Hey, I want to do that.” [laughs] That’s how it came out.

DI: Then you released Urban Gypsy.

MA: That’s right. I pushed the envelope a little more, but tried to be more accessible as far as the melodies went. When Classical Soul came out, radio really found only one song to play. I had to come back with a new record fast. We wrote, recorded and mixed Urban Gypsy in two months, or a month and a half.

DI: You self-produced both of those albums?

MA: I did.

DI: Your next release was Madrid. That was with somebody else?

MA: That was with Rick Braun. I had started the record, actually. I had 75 percent of the record in the can. Then we got bad news from NYC Records. They lost the distribution deal. So we had to stop the record. Then we jumped onto GRP, and I spent so much energy trying to find a situation that worked. [laughs] You know, sometimes the business can be really nerve-wracking. I was like, “Well, I should call somebody else to just finish up the record with me.” Rick Braun jumped on board and finished the 20 percent of the record that was supposed to be made.

DI: Are you okay with somebody else bringing their ideas into the mix?

MA: Oh, sure. Of course. I think that’s the reason why, after that experience, I decided to work with somebody who would take care of everything -- Philippe Saisse -- on the new record.

DI: Your latest CD is Universal Language. Tell us about some of the special guests on it.

MA: You know, this record is more of a mixture. I pushed the envelope even more here. [laughs] We’ve got some African things, some Celtic things, even drum and bass pop music. It’s like jazz, straight-ahead jazz. It’s a big mixture, basically. As far as the guests, we had the privilege to have Dave Valentin come and play the flute, Will Lee on bass, and Marc Egan on bass. It was incredible. And Philippe played almost all the keyboards. I’m sure I’m forgetting so many people.

DI: You’ve been receiving some positive feedback from places like the Gavin Report and Radio & Records. How does that make you feel?

MA: Oh, it makes you feel good. It makes you feel like it’s working for you. [laughs]

DI: Tell us a bit about the music you’re recording now, for future release.

MA: I am producing it, so far, myself. Later, Tommy LiPuma’s going to come in, and we’re going to work it together. At this point, I pretty much know all the songs that are going to go on the record.

DI: Some producers come in and say, “This is the way it’s going to be.” It seems like you, though, move the project in your unique way, even with an outside producer.

MA: I think a producer tries to understand where the artist is trying to go, trying to bring his “two cents” into the story. That’s what happened with Philippe on Universal Language, for example. It’s got a very strong vibe of mine, but it’s got a very strong vibe of his, as well.

DI: Would you ever be interested in producing for others?

MA: Yes. That’s something I’m really interested in. The problem is time. [laughs]

DI: Besides the upcoming album, what projects would you like to do? Who would you like to play with?

MA: It’s very, very diverse. I like doing so many different things, that sometimes it’s even difficult to pinpoint what you want to do. In the future, I would like to be free to do anything. If I one day feel like playing in a jazz trio, I’d do it -- because it’s good for you, because you can learn more. Play in more of a world-music situation, as well. Maybe producing some artists like that, and try to put your own vibe, as well, in the field. I’m really loving world music. I think there’s a lot of very good things happening in world music right now. It’s a multicultural thing. Music is part of a different culture, as well. It’s still music at the end of the day, and we’re still people at the end of the day, too, but from different backgrounds and different cultures. We have different flavors. We’re still the same, but we have different flavors. World music has a little bit of that, because it means everything and it means nothing. [laughs]

DI: What advice would you give a young musicians about their craft and the music business?

MA: Be patient. Work real hard. Know when to take a break, as well. That’s very important, because you could be overworked and past the point of no return, where you’ll just start losing your head. [laughs] You know, you have to be patient. If you really want to do it, if you think that’s the only thing that you want to do, you have to go at it so hard. You have so many sacrifices. They have to be prepared for that. If they’re not prepared for that, get out of it now.