Three and a half years after the concept album "Citizen" with "Citizen: In The Next Life", the multi-instrumentalist, singer and current Yes-bassist Billy Sherwood has dealt a second time with his fictional figure Citizen, a man whose soul incarnates in ever new historical situations. A bad thing for Citizen is that he has to stay only in dark times. Unlike his predecessor, the 54-year-old Sherwood, who also works as a sound engineer and producer, recorded everything on his own this time.
eclipsed: What makes the character Citizen so exciting for you?
Billy Sherwood: I like to write about historical things. And if I can combine that with mysticism, it's all the more exciting for me. It's not easy for my protagonist, he keeps staggering through the centuries. And he obviously has no chance of salvation from his hideous existence. I'm not a Buddhist, by the way, and I'm not a particularly spiritual person. I only find the basic idea of reincarnation interesting.
eclipsed: How did you choose the historical figures Citizen encounters this time on his seemingly endless journey?
Sherwood: First of all: I don't like most of these people [including Adolf Hitler, Mata Hari and Wyatt Earp; note]. But in my eyes it is the duty of a curious artist - and as such I see myself - to have a fictitious protagonist come together with characters who shape history, in order to give thought-provoking impulses to outsiders, in the manner of a "passer-by": What kind of people do you only know from books? What made them lead their existence the way they did in the end? That's the kind of approach that interests me most.
eclipsed: Why did you give up guest musicians this time?
Sherwood: I know it sounds arrogant, and I'm at least occasionally an arrogant Fatzke, but I just wanted to be the absolute ruler of this production. I had a lot of fun playing the great Zampano. I just didn't want to have to answer to anyone.
