Andrew Garfield shares his deep love for music and its transformative power, particularly in live performances and emotionally resonant artists like George Michael, Bill Withers, Nina Simone, and Cut Stevens. He recalls a powerful moment from a Glastonbury show where Cut Stevens performed as both father and son, creating a transcendent, almost spiritual experience. Garfield emphasizes music’s ability to inspire purity of spirit and collective awareness. He reflects on his own songwriting experiences, including a humorous French hip-hop group from university. He also discusses how music informs his work, such as creating themed playlists for film roles—like English folk songs for his upcoming film *The Uprizing*, which centers on a historical peasant uprising. These songs connect him to a pre-Christian, grounded English identity. Ultimately, he finds inspiration in music that brings joy, freedom, and authenticity—most notably Louis Prima’s energetic, joyful sound, which he sees as a guiding rhythm for his life. Music, for Garfield, is not just entertainment but a vital part of identity, emotion, and artistic expression.
- Hey, I'm Andrew Garfield, so this is Trackstar. - You're a big music fan? - I love music. Yes. (laughing) - I love music. - I feel like Garth and Wayne's world. - Yeah. - But I know I love music. - Who are policing a lot of music and doing musicals and stuff like that too? - Musicals, yeah. And my dad, he's a deadhead. So it doesn't get any more music fan than being a deadhead in a really awful way. - Here you go. - I'm gonna play some songs. - And you tell me who the artist is. (upbeat music) - Deadhead, that was quick. (upbeat music) - One of my favorite new bands, Passels, saw them in Glastonbury. - How many times have you been there? - I've been going since I was 20 years old. - Need to go. - So I'm 42 now, so that's like-- - Oh my god. - Not every year, but pretty much whenever it's on, I'll be there. I've seen Passels like three or four times. - They're so funky. - And it's pure joy and you can't not move. - Are you ready for the next song? ♪ I'm in your body ♪ (laughing) - Ah, the figure, George Michael. - It's like, from the loins. - There's a lot of biopics, music biopics, but not him. - No, yeah. - Ooh, that's-- - Is there someone that you would wanna play a musician? - That's so interesting. There is someone that I would like to play. Cut Stevens. I got to see him in Glastonbury, one of the great gigs of my life. Like, there was a moment in the set where he was playing father and son. - Yeah. - And he's playing as an old man. He's in the 70s, I think, maybe even 80s. And he finishes that first part of that first verse. And then he goes, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And he turns around and he looks upstage at this huge projection of himself as a young man of 25, I think, singing that second phrase in that first verse, in that higher register as the son. It's like one of those moments where you're like, some artists can change the molecular structure of the air, not only in a room, but in a field of thousands and thousands of people. So, yeah. What's the next song? - Just one look at you, Bill Withers. It's a theme that's developing for me here, as I listen. And it's about a purity of spirit, and a purity of voice, and a purity of generous expression. And I think you look at parcels, you look at Bill Withers, you look at George Michael, there is some pure, uninterrupted, unfiltered, transmission, cut Stevens. Like, cut Stevens, a lot of his music and lyrics of, like, so naive and innocent, like, almost for children, in a way, you play parcels at a kid's seven-year-old birthday party, they just be like, what is this? This is, yeah. - Have you ever written a song? - Yeah. (laughing) - How was it? Tell me about your songwriting. - I had, like, a French hip-hop. (laughing) - Joke group when I was in university called Le Zufd extraordinaire. So, we went right, really bad French hip-hop. Like, Pigeon French. - Is that available? - No, it's not available. It was just live. ♪ Tennessee made me lose ♪ - One of, again, purity. Nina Simone, Mississippi Goddamn. I mean, that doesn't get much better than that in terms of a song for revolution, in a song to inspire. Collective consciousness and to heal. I was just with John Baptiste, very randomly, listening to Nina Simone together, and the way he listens to music, it's like you're with someone from an alien planet. - He's an antenna or something. ♪ He's an alien force ♪ - Yeah. - Jeff Buckley? - Yeah. I haven't listened to this album so long. - His favorite artist was Nina Simone. - When you hear that, you're like, "Okay, that explains it." - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - I mean, that's college years. For me, Jeff Buckley getting stoned with college friends and feeling a lot of feelings and talking about what we're doing on this spinning orb. - It's so much more impactful, like when you've had more time to live, but you don't have time to get high and listen to music anymore. - That's true. - I want to listen to this Jeff Buckley album, all the way through a little bit stoned, purposefully. You're gonna have a different experience than he's just coming on. ♪ Talk about that long way ♪ - I wish you could hear. It's a great podcast about Felicuti that came out recently, did you listen to it? - Yeah. - Is this water, get no enemy? - Yeah. - So I started listening to Felicuti when I was doing the Spider-Man movies, when I first got Spider-Man. And there was something about his spirit and his, I don't know, the sound and the rhythm that was really useful to me for that character, which is weird. - Yeah. - I create a playlist for every character I play, which is a lovely fun thing to do anyway. I was like, I don't know what it is about. This guy's power that I want to somehow reflect in this guy's power. - What's your next movie that's coming out? - I have a film coming out called The Uprizing. It's a true story about the peasants uprising in the 1300s in England, where common folk were being oppressed and suppressed and abused to the point of their own souls having to say no more and wake up and they kind of collectively created a movement. It was like the first kind of people's socialist movement in the UK that was almost successful and ultimately wasn't. - So you created a playlist for even for that character? - Of course, yeah, yeah, yeah. - So what kind of stuff is on that? - A lot of old folk, old English folk music, actually. ♪ It's called the more ♪ Martin, Karthi. I don't know what song this is. - A "Win" that shakes the bar. - "Win" that shakes the barly. - This is the kind of stuff you're listening to. Yeah, there's a specific song called "Genuary Man." ♪ Oh, the January money walks the road ♪ ♪ In woolen coat and boots of leather ♪ - Which is about a man through all the seasons 'cause I play a farmer, a plowman in the film. These songs harken back to a pre-Christian era for me that feel a connection to what it actually is to be English rather than what it is to be kind of crushed by a monarchy and by, you know, a religion that may not be for the people. That sound. ♪ And just a jiggle of it everywhere I go ♪ ♪ People know the bottom plain ♪ - It's Louis Prima. The sound of Louis Prima's music is how I want to live. And I can't explain it better than that. There's something about the fast, joyful, enjoy of living. The amusement of living that I want to try to keep in my rhythm as I move through the world. - What are you doing? Am I going to see a movie tonight? - Do you know what you're going to see? - Yeah, I know what I'm going to go see. - Is it a secret? - Well, I don't need to talk about it. - It's personal. - But you are a real fan of movies. - Great to meet you. - That was awesome, thank you. ♪ And just a jiggle of it everywhere I go ♪ ♪ People know the bottom plain ♪
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Andrew Garfield is a passionate music fan, especially drawn to live performances and artists with emotional, pure, and unfiltered expression.
He highlights influential musicians like George Michael, Bill Withers, Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley, and Cut Stevens, citing their authenticity and ability to deeply move audiences.
Garfield has created music playlists for each character he plays, drawing from thematic and emotional connections—such as English folk music for a farmer role in his film *The Uprizing*.
He values music that embodies joy, innocence, and resistance, seeing it as a powerful force for personal and collective awakening.
The sound of Louis Prima represents his ideal lifestyle—fast, joyful, and full of life—and he aims to live by that spirit.
Summary:
Andrew Garfield shares his deep love for music and its transformative power, particularly in live performances and emotionally resonant artists like George Michael, Bill Withers, Nina Simone, and Cut Stevens. He recalls a powerful moment from a Glastonbury show where Cut Stevens performed as both father and son, creating a transcendent, almost spiritual experience. Garfield emphasizes music’s ability to inspire purity of spirit and collective awareness.
He reflects on his own songwriting experiences, including a humorous French hip-hop group from university. He also discusses how music informs his work, such as creating themed playlists for film roles—like English folk songs for his upcoming film *The Uprizing*, which centers on a historical peasant uprising. These songs connect him to a pre-Christian, grounded English identity.
Ultimately, he finds inspiration in music that brings joy, freedom, and authenticity—most notably Louis Prima’s energetic, joyful sound, which he sees as a guiding rhythm for his life. Music, for Garfield, is not just entertainment but a vital part of identity, emotion, and artistic expression.
FAQs
Andrew Garfield cites George Michael, Bill Withers, Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley, and Cut Stevens as some of his favorite musicians, praising their pure, heartfelt, and emotionally powerful music.
He was deeply moved by a performance at Glastonbury where Cut Stevens played both as an older man and a young man in a live projection, creating a powerful emotional moment that felt transformative for the audience.
Yes, he wrote a French hip-hop song in university with a group called Le Zufd extraordinaire, though it was never released and only performed live.
He creates custom playlists for each character he plays, blending music that reflects the character’s personality or background — like English folk music for a farmer in his film 'The Uprizing'.
It's a true story about a 14th-century peasant uprising in England where oppressed common people collectively rose up against systemic abuse and oppression.
He references old English folk songs like 'Genuary Man' and 'The More,' which evoke a pre-Christian, grounded, and deeply connected sense of rural English life and identity.
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