As a firm favourite at Captainskydiver HQ, we just HAD to learn more about the wise and wonderful Calum Baird, and to find out his opinion on a few things Christmas.
When did you get your first guitar? What kind was it?
I got my first guitar quite late, for my 15th birthday. Most other guitarists I know started learning when they were much younger, around 8 or something. It was a Jim Deacon acoustic – don’t know if they even exist anymore but it did the job! I wanted to start learning the guitar so I could play Oasis songs – I was mad fer them when I was growing up! That guitar taught me the basics but I later sold it and put the money towards a coat for the winter (I had bought a few more since then)! I wish I had kept it but there’s something poetic in selling a guitar to buy a coat.
What got you into specifically writing political songs?
I’ve been around political songs for much of my life. As a Celtic supporter, I heard Irish rebel songs at the games most weeks which helped my understanding of history as well as my appreciation for music! As well as this, and after/during my Oasis phase, I got into Neil Young (I heard a version of Hey, Hey, My, My by Oasis which set me off). From there, I got to Bob Dylan and eventually Woody Guthrie. I was aware of John Lennon and bands like The Jam and the messaging in their songs, too.
After school, I started to find grand political ideas and musicians like Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs and Victor Jara (Chile) were the soundtrack to this as was Christy Moore from Ireland and Scottish folk great, Dick Gaughan. From there, I started writing; I had the tools I needed.
I would say the first few “political” songs I wrote were more activist songs, like a call to arms, than a “protest song”. I also wrote about other things, too, but it was these political songs that people picked up on more. Nowadays, I try to write songs which have a political message but which are more insightful or challenging and involve a bit more artistic skill than just a guitar and harmonica.
For what it’s worth, I think all songs are political. What I mean is, a song is political in as much as what someone doesn’t say, write about or include in their music as much as someone who does say something political, overtly or otherwise. In times like these, if you leave political themes out of your music, that’s 100% a political choice.
Despite this, I still think there is a taboo around political messaging in music. Music is treated as a place for people to “escape” from life, not be embraced by it. So, if you have anything vaguely political to say in your work, and you want to be accepted by the industry at large, it better be wrapped in an enigma, have pretty melodies and be full of other tricks to get passed the gate-keepers who curate taste and determine what has value.
You write/record a lot of music with fellow musician Tobias Thiele. How did that come about?
Tobias and I met in 2017 at a festival in Berlin. It was called the Festival of Political Song and was housed in the WABE Theatre in Central-Eastern Berlin. I was playing on the smaller stage called something like Liedermacher and Tobias was the compere. After that, we struck up a friendship and stayed in touch ever since.
Over the years, Tobi has really complemented my music and been hugely supportive in getting me gigs in Germany – and recently in Havana, Cuba, too! – so we just deepened our collaboration over time.
He has a studio in North-Eastern Germany called Blue Lizard Studio. It’s in a place called Funkenhagen – Funkytown as we like to call it – and I’ve been recording my music there in-person since 2023 and it’s been getting produced there since 2021 or thereabouts.
Have you been to any gigs this year that really made you go “wow”?
Getting out to gigs this year has been tricky as I’ve been playing so much myself and not always in the UK, either. I have managed to see wonderful performances out and about by Jess Silk, Iona Fyfe, Attila The Stockbroker and Brenda Navarette (Cuba). One aim for 2025 is to get out and see more bands and artists!
What’s your favourite song to cover?
This is tricky and depends on setting! Right now, I am enjoying playing a version of Boots of Spanish Leather by Bob Dylan. There’s something so intimate about that song that I love getting into when playing it live. I also do a version of El Derecho de Vivir en Paz (The Right to Live in Peace) by Victor Jara which he wrote about the war in Vietnam but I think resonates today. I sing it in Spanish which is a challenge for me as well as audiences but I think it’s important to keep it in the original language as it retains the spirit of the song.
Right now, at this time of year, I’m doing an acoustic version of Fairytale of New York (less the slur which even Shane MacGowan regretted in later years) based on Christy Moore’s version of the song – it’s the only Christmas song I’ll play!
What is your “guilty pleasure” song to listen to?
Since it’s Christmas and following on from the last question I’ll say that my guilty pleasure is Fairytale of New York. The song is starting to get a bit of hate these days; people getting played out with it, I guess but for me it’s just a quality folk-pop song that brilliantly captures the love/hate atmosphere that surrounds Christmas which is partly why I think it’s so relatable.
I think guilty pleasures in general are a little daft, though! Music is music, after all. Someone once said to me that their guilty pleasure was listening to classical music like Beethoven and Mozart. Feeling guilty about listening to Beethoven?! One of the greatest to ever to do it?! What’s that all about?!
Do you have a favourite Christmas song?
See previous answer, I guess! I’m also partial to Driving Home For Christmas. As a musician who is always in his car driving somewhere, I can relate to it. Also just like Chris Rea so, yeah.
Would you rather have dinner with Father Christmas or Krampus, and why?
Father Christmas. Krampus is just a mean guy and the darkness gets us all in the end so I fancy staying away from that as long as possible.
Do Yorkshire puddings belong on a Christmas dinner?
Hmmm. I have to say, I’ve never had a Yorkshire Pud in my Christmas tea, that I can remember. If someone was to put them down on the table, I wouldn’t object to it. How’s that?
Is Die Hard a Christmas film?
It is a film that has Christmas in it and that I only ever watch at Christmas time. The rest of the franchise should never have been allowed to happen, though.
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