Interview: Ian Fisher

Singer-songwriter Ian Fisher, with his deeply personal songwriting, uses songwriting to tell stories and convey his thoughts and emotions on a wide array of topics. Born in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, Fisher started writing songs at 13 and played his first show at 14. He became interested in politics in high school and was outspoken in his political views and studied politics in college. Disillusioned with the political landscape of the US, Fisher moved abroad to Vienna at 21, where he finished school and focused on songwriting. In 2010, he moved to Germany (Berlin), where he established himself as a singer-songwriter, and has achieved success in the German and Austrian indie-folk scenes. Over the years, Fisher has put out over a dozen albums, with his latest album, Go Gentle, being perhaps his most personal album to date.

Go Gentle is an album about grief, resilience, and a topic with which Fisher says many in today’s society aim to avoid discussing-death. After watching his mother battle cancer for 26 years, she passed away in 2023. Fisher wrote the songs that would become his latest album, both while she was battling cancer and in the aftermath as a way to process his feelings. The album is a deeply reflective snapshot of Fisher’s views on death, mortality, and being more open to having conversations around death, as well as leaving his songs open to others who may be going through the same experiences to find solace and comfort. You can connect with Ian Fisher via the following links. You can purchase his new album, as well as merch HERE. Photo credit: Talitha Lahme. Head to his website to find upcoming European tour dates.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | ITUNES | YOUTUBE | BANDSINTOWN | BANDCAMP

What can you tell me about growing up in Missouri, getting into songwriting at 13, and deciding you wanted to pursue music?

I mean, it was just a series of little happenstance mistakes and dreams all mixed. Like most things in life. But yeah, when I was a kid, we always had a bass guitar in my basement. My dad used to play in the 70’s. And so we had one down there that he never played, and I always found it interesting that it was just sitting down there. I would pick it up and pick it with a penny now and then as a kid. Then, I was at some grade school dance and I asked this girl, Katie Shue, if she would be my girlfriend. I was like 12 or something. She said no and I was just heartbroken and thought to myself, “I bet she would have said yes if I was in a band” (laughs). Instead of bumming, I just went around and told all my friends that we were starting a band next week. I went out and bought a bass guitar and they were all very surprised that I did that. And so, yeah, I started playing then and luckily, my motivation to continue has become a lot more deep. Soon after that, I started writing songs and just wrote a lot. I feel like that was kind of my way of, I don’t know…yelling out into the darkness and seeing if there was kind of an echo out there. I just kept doing it and doing it and eventually, the band broke up and I did solo stuff. Then I moved to Europe and started playing more and more there.

Early on, your music was a lot more political and later veered away from being overtly political. How would you describe the evolution of your songwriting? What kinds of things inspire you with your lyrics?

Yeah. It just has a lot to do with personal experiences. It’s not only that. Sometimes I’m inspired by a book or someone else’s personal experience. But largely what I have written about, in the last 10 years or so, is about personal experiences. And a lot about, I don’t know, internal struggles. I view that as political, as well. The individual is part of society. I mean, like, I view a lot of the stuff that I sing about as still being political. Often I find that most of the interviews I do end up being about politics, as well. I studied politics. And I don’t think that being political has to be completely overt. It can also be just in the way you live and the way you think about things. Granted, I would like to see my side of the aisle become more active in different ways. It’s just unfortunate that there’s no real political representation for the left anywhere in the Western world at the moment. It just kind of feels like a big thunderstorm without a weather vane. It’s really a prequel to an authoritarian regime.

You have lived in many places throughout your career-Austria, Germany, Canada, and the US. What kind of influence do you feel that the places you have lived have had on your music and perspective on things in general?

Yeah, definitely. The first main impact that I have found, aside from the roots I already had growing up in Missouri, was that when I moved abroad, I felt liberated to embrace aspects of my American cultural identity that I once associated with a political identity that I didn’t want to be a part of. Because, at least pop country has kind of been commandeered by conservative politics, since, like, the Nixon campaign of 1968. I didn’t like that as a teenager. But once I moved abroad, I was able to view it more or less like something in a Petrie dish. I think that changed a lot. And also the introspection of being in Vienna, which is, like, the home of psychology, where everything is analyzed and everyone thinks thoughts within thoughts. It’s not so apparent as Midwestern culture. I mean, of course, people here feel and think things that are the opposite of what they say. Very often I don’t feel like, when in a conversation, people are, like…not everyone, but some…but it’s not like a cultural trait for everyone to be dissecting what someone might be implying by what they say. And in Vienna, that is the culture. Like, when you have a conversation, at least me and a lot of people I know, it’s all about reading between the lines of what’s actually being said. I don’t feel like that’s so much of a thing here. Not as much anyway. Maybe some people do, but it’s so hard for me to read people here sometimes. Because even though I’m from it, I’ve grown away from it so much.

You just released your latest album Go Gentle, about the power of grief and the resilience of the human spirit. Having written the songs while your mom was dying, as well as after her death, in what ways do you feel that making the album helped you to heal and cope with her death?

I feel like it forced me to confront it. And I think that if I hadn’t done this, then I would have kind of, like, put it in a drawer and hid it away and not have dealt with it. Because I think that’s what most people do. That’s what I would have done if I didn’t do this album and I don’t think that’s healthy. I think it’s very much an aspect of Western society. Not just American, but also Western European and many other societies. I feel like in writing these songs and recording them and now in playing them live, it’s a constant confrontation with what happened. And, I don’t know. It kind of gives her death and her suffering a purpose, in a way. Because through her suffering, and my and my family’s suffering, I feel like in putting it in art this way, it is somehow a vessel that other people could pour their emotions and their personal experiences into. Because it’s the way I wrote these songs to be intentionally structured to not be so specific that it would exclude others from being able to relate to them. I was hoping that other people would also see themselves and their experiences in these songs. And I think that with many of them, in the live performances that we’ve done, it does seem like people feel that way. And in bringing these to the stage and to the world, in recorded form, maybe it gives meaning and purpose to all of this.

How do you think your views on death have changed in going through the process of being with your mom as she was dying and processing her death?

I feel like, since I was a kid, I’ve always viewed death as something that’s not as cut and dry as we often talk about it. I mean, I don’t even necessarily believe in an afterlife or anything like that but am more just pragmatic in the sense of when you walk out that door, the memory of you and the influence of you on my life, at least however little or much that may be, it’s there, in the sense of, like, consequence. Like every action has a consequence. Every person’s existence has some type of influence on those around them and the circumstances of the world, really, in some way, shape, or form. And so, just because someone dies, it doesn’t mean that they cease to exist. It’s almost as if, when you throw a stone in a pond, just because the stone has sunk to the bottom doesn’t mean that the ripples stop. I’ve always viewed death that way, that the people that die are never fully gone. And especially in losing my mom now, I see her very much in me. And those times when I feel like something is haunted or something like that, are the times that I actually welcome wholeheartedly, because if there are ghosts and are ghosts of people that you love, then bring it on (laughs). I think that it’s beautiful. I don’t know if you believe in angels and all of that shit, but they’re ghosts too (laughs).

In what ways do you try to connect with your audience and fans through your songwriting and using music as a way of storytelling?

I don’t know. That’s a hard question. I just try to be honest and put things in a way that others can feel it. And sing it like I mean it.

Having played solo and with a band, what do you enjoy about each experience? And what can you tell me about your band?

I enjoy playing solo and also with a band. I feel like in playing solo, sometimes I don’t have anything to hide behind. So sometimes it makes for an even more vulnerable performance, which can be nice, especially with these songs. But I do find that with a band, musically it’s so much better because of the spectrum of sound that we can achieve. The lows and the highs. It’s just much more dramatic, as opposed to just guitar and voice. But what I find very different with touring with a band, as opposed to touring solo, is the personal aspect of it. It’s just a lot more fun with your friends. And I always play with slightly different bands when I go on tour. This time I’ve taken three friends, from Germany, Austria, and South Africa. They’re not making any money one’s making any money (laughs). But yeah, it’s just a 4-piece for this tour. Just big enough to fit in 2 beds and one car!

You have talked about how you feel that touring and playing shows is the best way to connect with your fans, rather than through social media. What can you tell me about your thoughts on social media, as well as creating your own fan club?

I personally despise social media. It’s really…it could potentially be a great thing. I remember when Facebook started and was less algorithmic and less pay-to-play and you would actually see posts of your friends. It had more of a community vibe. If it were like that, then sure. And if all of the money and data wasn’t going to neo-fascists, then sure. I think we have to change something in this society, and also legally and governmentally, to deal with this, because this is leading us towards autocracy. I feel like, on a financial level too, it’s centralizing so much wealth in the hands of so few. And this is how all societies end. It’s exactly how the Roman Empire fell and how so many things have fallen apart. Too much money is in the hands of too few private-sector people. And that’s what all of this digital revolution is doing. And so I feel like a hypocrite for being on any Zuckerberg-owned media platform. I don’t even stoop so low as to get involved with anything that Musk is involved in. As soon as this tour is over, I’m hoping that I can find a way to minimize my activity on any of those platforms. But it’s just so necessary now. It’s past the tipping point and such a ubiquitous thing. I think that personal connection is really important, and if it’s going to be online, then I think that things like Patreon or the Fanclub thing I do in Germany can work. And newsletters help. I don’t know what to do.

Is there anyone you are listening to right now that you are really excited about and inspired by?

Yeah. Let’s see. There’s a band from Louisville that I think is really great called Bendigo Fletcher. I mean, Adrianne Lenker’s great, but everybody knows that. There’s this artist in Nashville who’s going to be something soon called Kaelynn Hayes. She’s great. She gave us the link to the album she’s working on so hopefully we can listen to it in the car tomorrow.

I read that you were writing songs last month with some fellow artists in Nashville. Are you starting to work on a new album?

No. It was just for shits and giggles and to see what would come of it. There were a couple of good songs I was writing with this woman named Leah Marlene who was on American Idol a couple of years ago. We wrote a really good song. One I’d stand by and think will be something for her. I don’t know that I wrote any songs for me. I don’t need them (laughs).

Do you like writing songs with other people or do you prefer to write on your own?

I actually prefer to write them on my own, but I think that sometimes, especially around an album release or the lead-up to one or the immediate aftermath, I just feel so empty that it can be helpful to go to a certain room at a certain time and have the pressure to do something then and there.

What has the live response been so far to the new songs and album?

Fundamentally different from the previous albums. There’s not a night that goes by where I don’t find myself in a conversation about someone’s personal story of grief. So, that’s a very different vibe than when I was singing about heartbreak or whatever. Or even politics back in the day. It’s just such a universal thing that everyone can connect to on some level and something that we all neglect in our society when it comes to talking about it. I’m hoping that it’s been cathartic, as well, for others and not just me.

What’s next for you after this tour?I don’t know yet. This will take me to the middle of April and then I need to find out what I want to do for the rest of my life (laughs)!It seems like in 2025 everybody’s just amazed that we’re even still alive. It’s a strange time to plant the trees of tomorrow’s fruits.