Drill Hall Playlist #14: James Rogers

“This selection is informed by the times when I was a member of the audience for live shows. It seems that twenty odd years is a lifetime ago. Done on a budget, but with repeat exposure, an intimacy of empathy grew with the characters who unlocked the magic in song time and again with a view to interpretation from week to week. I didn’t see all of them live, but as chance had it, I was able to share chat and lunch with Charlie Owen around a table in a share house. I was banging away making sculpture in the backyard. He was tolerant and insightful of this activity and we found some common points in language through our completely antithetic phenomena. He knew a good tune too, and sometimes popped his head in if I happened to turn up something on the radio. His cohort feature large here and I’ve picked the rhythm and blues of others that didn’t go on too much as the structure warranted.” James Rogers

James Rogers sculpture survey, Tunnelvision, is on at the Drill Hall Gallery from July 31 to September 27 2020.