The Luminaire, London
Monday 19 February 2007
It can be tough going from being an established act in your homeland to having to play as an unknown act down the bill on a foreign shore. This wasn’t Wolf & Cub’s first visit to the UK, or even their first gig in the country on this tour, having played the support slot to Wolfmother at larger venues around the UK. Yet trying to get your message across at 8.30pm on a Monday night in London is still a tough ask.
London audiences have the reputation of being hard to please, cynically standing with their arms folded, waiting to be impressed. While this wasn’t the case tonight, there was the bafflement of an audience not knowing quite how to react. The period of Oz music from which W&C draw their antecedents didn’t have an equivalent here so there are no points of reference for an UK audience to draw on. So This Mess ends up sounding reminiscent of ZZ Top, and when they do a Glitter-band style glam-stomp, it recalls Kasabian’s Shoot The Runner.
The two drummers make an instant visual statement, and all is well for their epic opening instrumental. But when Joel Byrne starts singing, there are problems. It’s a small venue, and the drums are virtually unmiked, and it’s hard to work out if the vocals are meant to be audible, or another instrument. It improves as they progress, and a friend who saw them the week before felt that tonight’s gig was a vast improvement. There’s no denying the intent of Tom Mayhew’s iron bass lines, but overall they just seemed to be lacking a certain drive and passion tonight. Or maybe they just seem underpowered, as the band that follows is such as removes the memory of anything that preceded them?
For tonight The Early Years are a revelation; I can barely believe that this is the same band I saw support iLiKETRAiNS last October. For now they are a band of power and intent and innate craftsmanship, and have expanded to a four-piece from the trio that recorded their debut album. There are a few minutes of gentle bleeps, feedback and fiddlings before they launch into All Ones And Zeros, but these have been building up an atmosphere so shivers run down my spine when the bass kicks in. The sound is crystal and sharp, the lighting thoughtful and evocative.
In some ways it’s pure shoegaze - exciting, uplifting and brilliant. The one downside of that style was a tendency for somewhat atonal vocals, yet Brown Hearts shows Dave Malkinson can really sing. There are elements of some early new wave as well; the way the bass lines break out is reminiscent of Echo and the Bunnymen; while the driving guitar riff of So Far Gone reminded me of the Talk Talk Talk era of The Psychedelic Furs. But theirs is a new spin on this, and they’re very much their own band.
One of the best things that can happen at gigs is when you find yourself grinning inanely at the sheer pleasure of the experience. Even better is when you turn around to see your mate wearing the same dumb expression - it’s joyous and wonderful. Sometimes you’re torn whether to watch the band play, or just close your eyes and loose yourself in the music. The room went whisper-quiet later during Things, and a prolonged applause and cheering provoked a rare genuine and heartfelt encore.
The Early Years is the band that the Secret Machines promised to be but never delivered. And for them this was just one of those special nights where it all came together.
© James McGalliard 2007
A version of this review appeared in Inpress, Melbourne, on 28 February 2007
Monday, 19 February 2007
Sunday, 31 December 2006
End Of Year Polls: 2006 Inpress Writers' Poll
2006 INPRESS MAGAZINE WRITERS’ POLL
TOP 10 ALBUMS (format: Artist TITLE)
1. Mogwai MR BEAST
2. My Latest Novel WOLVES
3. Model Morning YOUR WORST ENEMY [Mini LP]
4. Archie Bronson Outfit DERDANG DERDANG
5. The Veils NUX VOMICA
6. Lily Allen ALRIGHT STILL
7. The Long Blondes SOMEONE TO DRIVE YOU HOME
8. I'm From Barcelona LET ME INTRODUCE MY FRIENDS
9. The Black Angels PASSOVER
10. Spotlight Kid DEPARTURE
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
1. iLiKETRAiNS
2. Model Morning
3. Evi Vine
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST GIG
1. I'm From Barcelona @ Hoxton Bar & Grill
2. Mogwai @ Manchester Academy
3. Echo & The Bunnymen @ Clapham Common
BEST LOCAL ARTIST GIG
1. The Church @ The Borderline
2. Devastations @ The Luminaire
BEST RADIO SHOW
1. Gideon Coe @ BBC 6Music
2. Andrew Collins @ BBC 6Music
3. Steve Lamacq @ BBC 6Music
BEST TV SHOW
1. Life On Mars
2. Love My Way
3. Battlestar Galactica {Season 3}
BEST WEBSITE
1. Wikipedia
2. BBC News
3. Mess+Noise
BEST MEDIA MOMENT
Watching hasbeens try to resurrect their careers by appearing as talking heads every time there's a celebrity death or envelope opening
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Vibrant wave of exciting new UK acts
PREDICTION FOR 2007
C86 Mk II; famous people will screw around, take drugs or die. Acts to watch: Evi Vine, Model Morning, The Boxer Rebellion. Debut albums from Apartment, iLiKETRAiNS, Fields; second LPs from Bloc Party and The Duke Spirit
WHERE WERE YOU LAST NEW YEAR’S EVE?
At home
WHERE WILL YOU BE THIS NYE?
In an airport
IF ‘06 WAS THE YEAR OF MYSPACE, WHAT WILL ‘07 BE?
Shambling
2006 IN REVIEW
If 2005 was musically Canada‘s year, then 2006 firmly belonged to Sweden. It wasn’t a good year for albums; The Long Blondes were failed by their production, while Archie Bronson Outfit’s second effort was a far better representation of them as one of the UK’s finest live acts. It was a better year for upcoming bands than those more established. Oz acts (except for Jet and Wolfmother) failed to make major impact, but special mention must be made of Morning After Girls - they were all but unavoidable for months and should buy their UK rep a big Chrissy present! The second season of Doctor Who fell short of the first, probably by being closer to the original series, whilst spin-off Torchwood was no more than mildly diverting. Life On Mars showed how to successfully blend sci-fi and drama. Little Miss Jocelyn was probably the best new original comedy.
© James McGalliard 2007
TOP 10 ALBUMS (format: Artist TITLE)
1. Mogwai MR BEAST
2. My Latest Novel WOLVES
3. Model Morning YOUR WORST ENEMY [Mini LP]
4. Archie Bronson Outfit DERDANG DERDANG
5. The Veils NUX VOMICA
6. Lily Allen ALRIGHT STILL
7. The Long Blondes SOMEONE TO DRIVE YOU HOME
8. I'm From Barcelona LET ME INTRODUCE MY FRIENDS
9. The Black Angels PASSOVER
10. Spotlight Kid DEPARTURE
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
1. iLiKETRAiNS
2. Model Morning
3. Evi Vine
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST GIG
1. I'm From Barcelona @ Hoxton Bar & Grill
2. Mogwai @ Manchester Academy
3. Echo & The Bunnymen @ Clapham Common
BEST LOCAL ARTIST GIG
1. The Church @ The Borderline
2. Devastations @ The Luminaire
BEST RADIO SHOW
1. Gideon Coe @ BBC 6Music
2. Andrew Collins @ BBC 6Music
3. Steve Lamacq @ BBC 6Music
BEST TV SHOW
1. Life On Mars
2. Love My Way
3. Battlestar Galactica {Season 3}
BEST WEBSITE
1. Wikipedia
2. BBC News
3. Mess+Noise
BEST MEDIA MOMENT
Watching hasbeens try to resurrect their careers by appearing as talking heads every time there's a celebrity death or envelope opening
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Vibrant wave of exciting new UK acts
PREDICTION FOR 2007
C86 Mk II; famous people will screw around, take drugs or die. Acts to watch: Evi Vine, Model Morning, The Boxer Rebellion. Debut albums from Apartment, iLiKETRAiNS, Fields; second LPs from Bloc Party and The Duke Spirit
WHERE WERE YOU LAST NEW YEAR’S EVE?
At home
WHERE WILL YOU BE THIS NYE?
In an airport
IF ‘06 WAS THE YEAR OF MYSPACE, WHAT WILL ‘07 BE?
Shambling
2006 IN REVIEW
If 2005 was musically Canada‘s year, then 2006 firmly belonged to Sweden. It wasn’t a good year for albums; The Long Blondes were failed by their production, while Archie Bronson Outfit’s second effort was a far better representation of them as one of the UK’s finest live acts. It was a better year for upcoming bands than those more established. Oz acts (except for Jet and Wolfmother) failed to make major impact, but special mention must be made of Morning After Girls - they were all but unavoidable for months and should buy their UK rep a big Chrissy present! The second season of Doctor Who fell short of the first, probably by being closer to the original series, whilst spin-off Torchwood was no more than mildly diverting. Life On Mars showed how to successfully blend sci-fi and drama. Little Miss Jocelyn was probably the best new original comedy.
© James McGalliard 2007
Wednesday, 11 October 2006
Live: The Hidden Cameras and My Latest Novel - Manchester
The Hidden Cameras / My Latest Novel
Night and Day Cafe, Manchester, UK
One of the biggest bugbears of playing quieter music is the risk that the chattering masses in the venue will be louder than you. I was excited when I found that My Latest Novel were the support tonight, as they’d been on my ‘to see’ list for ages. Yet at first it’s hard to make out what they're doing over the hubbub. But as they proceed, something extraordinary happen – people shut up and listen.
Theirs is a mad blend – some tracks are like an indie guitar band, some sound like a modern day act for legendary Scottish label Postcard Records, whilst others are more like an off-beat folk act. One song features exquisite four-part harmonies over a bass drum. Others, like When We Were Wolves are deceptively simple, the three or four repeated lyrics locking in the back of your brain. With their use of melodica and violin, at times I’m reminded of The Associates, at others Arcade Fire, but it’s all intensely original. Even if no-one can quite decipher the between song banter due to their thick Glaswegian accents, all would agree that this brilliant band were worth the price of admission alone.
Which was just as well, as the current incarnation of The Hidden Cameras proves to be a major disappointment. One of my live highlights of 2004 was the Union Of Wine show they put on at London’s Bush Hall, featuring dancing satyrs, and nymphs running through the crowd squirting wine into revellers’ mouths. So why the fall from one of the most lively and exciting gigs I’ve witnessed to this?
Well, firstly all the theatrics are gone. Secondly there’s a heavy reliance of the new album Awoo, which isn’t as instantly memorable as its predecessors. But mainly it’s the sound of the band itself, and the way they’re playing. The amazing builds that marked them last time are missing, and the tempo is quite leaden throughout. No, for the first half the songs never got the chance to soar; even long-time favourite Day Is Dawning fell flat. Almost unthinkably, it was just dull.
And then there’s Joel himself, who’s also undergone a bit of a metamorphosis. With his muscled arms emerging from his blue vest, with his very short hair and a three day growth – bloody hell, he’s evolved into Mark Seymour!
Near the end they finally pull it all together, but it’s a little too late. And it all falls apart again as we’re asked to sing Happy Birthday for band member Maggie, who then spends five odd minutes talking crap about Manchester vs. Liverpool rivalries. For ages I’d wanted a copy of their rare debut Ecce Homo, but as I’ll have to talk to the band who are now signing all merchandise sales to get one, I slip out empty-handed and sad-hearted.
© James McGalliard 2007
A version of this review first appeared in Inpress, Melbourne in October 2006 (see below)
Night and Day Cafe, Manchester, UK
One of the biggest bugbears of playing quieter music is the risk that the chattering masses in the venue will be louder than you. I was excited when I found that My Latest Novel were the support tonight, as they’d been on my ‘to see’ list for ages. Yet at first it’s hard to make out what they're doing over the hubbub. But as they proceed, something extraordinary happen – people shut up and listen.
Theirs is a mad blend – some tracks are like an indie guitar band, some sound like a modern day act for legendary Scottish label Postcard Records, whilst others are more like an off-beat folk act. One song features exquisite four-part harmonies over a bass drum. Others, like When We Were Wolves are deceptively simple, the three or four repeated lyrics locking in the back of your brain. With their use of melodica and violin, at times I’m reminded of The Associates, at others Arcade Fire, but it’s all intensely original. Even if no-one can quite decipher the between song banter due to their thick Glaswegian accents, all would agree that this brilliant band were worth the price of admission alone.
Which was just as well, as the current incarnation of The Hidden Cameras proves to be a major disappointment. One of my live highlights of 2004 was the Union Of Wine show they put on at London’s Bush Hall, featuring dancing satyrs, and nymphs running through the crowd squirting wine into revellers’ mouths. So why the fall from one of the most lively and exciting gigs I’ve witnessed to this?
Well, firstly all the theatrics are gone. Secondly there’s a heavy reliance of the new album Awoo, which isn’t as instantly memorable as its predecessors. But mainly it’s the sound of the band itself, and the way they’re playing. The amazing builds that marked them last time are missing, and the tempo is quite leaden throughout. No, for the first half the songs never got the chance to soar; even long-time favourite Day Is Dawning fell flat. Almost unthinkably, it was just dull.
And then there’s Joel himself, who’s also undergone a bit of a metamorphosis. With his muscled arms emerging from his blue vest, with his very short hair and a three day growth – bloody hell, he’s evolved into Mark Seymour!
Near the end they finally pull it all together, but it’s a little too late. And it all falls apart again as we’re asked to sing Happy Birthday for band member Maggie, who then spends five odd minutes talking crap about Manchester vs. Liverpool rivalries. For ages I’d wanted a copy of their rare debut Ecce Homo, but as I’ll have to talk to the band who are now signing all merchandise sales to get one, I slip out empty-handed and sad-hearted.
© James McGalliard 2007
A version of this review first appeared in Inpress, Melbourne in October 2006 (see below)
Saturday, 31 December 2005
End Of Year Polls: 2005 Inpress Writers' Poll
2005 INPRESS MAGAZINE WRITERS’ POLL
TOP 10 ALBUMS (format: Artist TITLE)
1. Editors THE BACK ROOM
2. The Arcade Fire FUNERAL
3. The National ALLIGATOR
4. Kate Bush AERIAL
5. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club HOWL
6. Art Brut BANG BANG ROCK & ROLL
7. The Magic Numbers THE MAGIC NUMBERS
8. The Chalets CHECK IN
9. Maximo Park A CERTAIN TRIGGER
10.Emiliana Torrini FISHERMAN'S WOMAN
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
1. The Arcade Fire
2. Gang of Four
3. The Fall
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST GIG
1. Hope Of The States – Astoria, London
2. The Psychedelic Furs – Shepherds Bush Empire, London
3. The Arcade Fire – The Leadmill, Sheffield
BEST LOCAL ARTIST GIG
Enough of The Birthday Party / Scientists stuff already! None of the Oz acts I saw in the UK this year rose much above mediocre.
BEST RADIO SHOW
1. Gideon Coe – BBC 6Music
2. Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington on XFM
3. Steve Lamacq – BBC 6Music / BBC Radio 1
BEST TV SHOW
1. Doctor Who
2. The Monastery
3. Peep Show
BEST FILM
Didn’t see enough to say
BEST BOOK
1. Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978-1984 by Simon Reynolds
BEST WEBSITE
1. Tachyon TV Hub
2. BBC Cult
3. eBay
BEST MEDIA MOMENT
Return of Doctor Who – they got so much right, how can you quibble?
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Moshpit at the Furs - years fell away…
LOWLIGHT OF THE YEAR
London bombings and reactions, tsunami, Iraq, Cronulla, etc. Crappy behaviour at gigs
PREDICTION FOR 2006
Is disco coming back now? We’ve had everything else…
Looking forward to albums from Apartment, The Long Blondes, The Blue Aeroplanes, The Duke Spirit
QUOTE OF THE YEAR
“Political correctness gone mad” - almost a catchphrase
WHERE WERE YOU LAST NEW YEAR’S EVE?
The Bell, E17
WHERE WILL YOU BE THIS NYE?
No idea
IF ’04 WAS THE YEAR OF ‘THE’ AND ’05 WAS THE YEAR OF ‘WOLF’, WHAT WILL ’06 BE?
The year of Pop. Independent artists are creating great pop music – let’s hope it breaks into the mainstream
2005 IN REVIEW (150 WORDS OR WE CUT IT OFF AT WORD #150)
2005 was the year of the oldie. With some new acts proving poor live performers, it was up to the old guard [Gang Of Four, The Fall, etc] to show the way. Even Simple Minds and New Order produced their first decent LPs since the 1980’s. Art Brut and The Chalets reminded us that pop could be fun, and The Arcade Fire’s controlled onstage anarchy was a hard act for anyone to follow. Arctic Monkey’s # 1 proved that downloading wasn’t killing music.
Amidst a pile of reality shite, BBC’s The Monastery showed how it could be. Old sci-fi franchises were revived successfully, with Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who. In comedy, Peep Show continued to impress, and The Thick Of It was almost too accurate to be funny.
The continuing rise of intolerant attitudes made 2005 an uncomfortable political year. Will longer pub hours make us forget nuclear power stations?
© James McGalliard 2007
TOP 10 ALBUMS (format: Artist TITLE)
1. Editors THE BACK ROOM
2. The Arcade Fire FUNERAL
3. The National ALLIGATOR
4. Kate Bush AERIAL
5. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club HOWL
6. Art Brut BANG BANG ROCK & ROLL
7. The Magic Numbers THE MAGIC NUMBERS
8. The Chalets CHECK IN
9. Maximo Park A CERTAIN TRIGGER
10.Emiliana Torrini FISHERMAN'S WOMAN
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
1. The Arcade Fire
2. Gang of Four
3. The Fall
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST GIG
1. Hope Of The States – Astoria, London
2. The Psychedelic Furs – Shepherds Bush Empire, London
3. The Arcade Fire – The Leadmill, Sheffield
BEST LOCAL ARTIST GIG
Enough of The Birthday Party / Scientists stuff already! None of the Oz acts I saw in the UK this year rose much above mediocre.
BEST RADIO SHOW
1. Gideon Coe – BBC 6Music
2. Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington on XFM
3. Steve Lamacq – BBC 6Music / BBC Radio 1
BEST TV SHOW
1. Doctor Who
2. The Monastery
3. Peep Show
BEST FILM
Didn’t see enough to say
BEST BOOK
1. Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978-1984 by Simon Reynolds
BEST WEBSITE
1. Tachyon TV Hub
2. BBC Cult
3. eBay
BEST MEDIA MOMENT
Return of Doctor Who – they got so much right, how can you quibble?
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Moshpit at the Furs - years fell away…
LOWLIGHT OF THE YEAR
London bombings and reactions, tsunami, Iraq, Cronulla, etc. Crappy behaviour at gigs
PREDICTION FOR 2006
Is disco coming back now? We’ve had everything else…
Looking forward to albums from Apartment, The Long Blondes, The Blue Aeroplanes, The Duke Spirit
QUOTE OF THE YEAR
“Political correctness gone mad” - almost a catchphrase
WHERE WERE YOU LAST NEW YEAR’S EVE?
The Bell, E17
WHERE WILL YOU BE THIS NYE?
No idea
IF ’04 WAS THE YEAR OF ‘THE’ AND ’05 WAS THE YEAR OF ‘WOLF’, WHAT WILL ’06 BE?
The year of Pop. Independent artists are creating great pop music – let’s hope it breaks into the mainstream
2005 IN REVIEW (150 WORDS OR WE CUT IT OFF AT WORD #150)
2005 was the year of the oldie. With some new acts proving poor live performers, it was up to the old guard [Gang Of Four, The Fall, etc] to show the way. Even Simple Minds and New Order produced their first decent LPs since the 1980’s. Art Brut and The Chalets reminded us that pop could be fun, and The Arcade Fire’s controlled onstage anarchy was a hard act for anyone to follow. Arctic Monkey’s # 1 proved that downloading wasn’t killing music.
Amidst a pile of reality shite, BBC’s The Monastery showed how it could be. Old sci-fi franchises were revived successfully, with Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who. In comedy, Peep Show continued to impress, and The Thick Of It was almost too accurate to be funny.
The continuing rise of intolerant attitudes made 2005 an uncomfortable political year. Will longer pub hours make us forget nuclear power stations?
© James McGalliard 2007
Wednesday, 7 September 2005
Interview: Editors - Tom Smith and Chris Urbanowicz
"We know that we can make better records," says EDITORS’ mainman TOM SMITH. JAMES McGALLIARD meets him and guitarist CHRIS URBANOWICZ in London to find out how.
"A lot of people say ‘Why do you make such dark music?’ And the first answer is ‘I don’t know. Is it? I thought it was optimistic’…" Chris Urbanowicz, guitarist of Birmingham four piece Editors is discussing misconceptions about the band and their music.
Tom Smith [vocals and guitar] has some thoughts on the names of a few bands being brought up time and time again in reference to them: "I understand why it happens… Maybe they just can’t get past that and listen to what we’re doing; and listen to it without any cynicism - it can grate slightly…" Chris picks up his thread: "Slightly through their teeth they’re giving us compliments - ‘It sounds like so-and-so, but I really like it…’ It’s almost like they shouldn’t like it. They’ve already come with that pretence that they shouldn’t like it…"
The band first met around as friends around five years ago at university in Staffordshire when they were studying the same course. They may not have enjoyed the course, but by the end of it they were playing music together, which led to a management deal. After university, the four (Tom, Chris, Russell Leetch - Bass and Ed Lay – Drums) moved in together "down the road" to Birmingham, taking up day jobs to allow them to play at night.
They changed their name from Snowfield to Editors shortly before signing to Kitchenware Records. "Bands like Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand have proved to us that we don’t need to sign to a major" says Chris. "One of the reasons we signed to an indie was so that we didn’t get the big marketing push right at the start, we tried to hold the first single back (Bullets) by making it a limited release".
As the follow-up, Munich, was released, the band locked themselves away to record what would become The Back Room. The recording took place over 3½ weeks in February and March of 2005, with producer Jim Abbiss (Placebo, Kasabian, Ladytron, Unkle, and DJ Shadow) at the desk. "It didn’t seem to be the obvious choice" states Chris, "That’s exactly why we chose him. He likes his dance music, like us, and… also we clicked straightaway when we met him."
The resulting album, The Back Room, could well be the one album you’re still playing in years to come when you’ve forgotten everything else you bought in 2005. Some of the songs were straight-to-tape live performances, whilst others involved a bit more work. "Lights was pretty well one of those ones where we didn’t really add much from the live take" says Chris. "We wanted to go straight in and show our intentions for the album – it’s a very aggressive start…"
With hindsight, which track is most special to you now? "Straightaway, from the first day we put an organ piece on Camera it became our favourite track" Chris opines. "It’s just so important. Just a three-day blur, can’t remember anything that happened, and just came out with this track and it was very special." Tom continues: "Before we went to the studio it was completely different, it was uptempo, structurally it was different." Chris: "It was one of those potentially awkward ones, there was something wrong about it…we recorded it a few different times, and we just thought ‘Tell you what! Shall we start again?’ I’m really glad we did that"
Do you ever get surprised at the end result, when you make something you weren’t expecting? "After those three days we sat there listening to it all of there in the studio, we’d set ourselves a new benchmark; we’d become something we weren’t before we started recording that song (Camera)", answers Tom. And it’s about trying to keep achieving that through your career, for that reason that felt so important which is why it’s the centrepiece, and why the album’s called The Back Room."
There’s a great contrast to this quiet man, leaning his head on his outstretched arm talking to me now, and the possessed spirit Tom becomes on stage. "Absolutely. We put literally everything we can do into performing the songs…There’s a certain intensity that’s in the songs that when we’re performing comes through, as when we’re playing them; all of us have different ways of expressing that. But we’re not shoegazing, we’re not standing there. We want to try and incite some kind of reaction from the audience - that moment where you feel compelled to move or be moved like the hairs on the back of your neck – you can’t help that"
Although Elbow and The Strokes may have been their student soundtracks, Chris thinks that their environment may have influenced their music "There was this myth that whenever you drove to Stafford it started to rain. You always knew when you were close because there was this big grey cloud. We weren’t really that happy there, and the same in Birmingham because we all had shitty long day jobs and we were going to rehearsals after these day jobs when we were all knackered, so maybe that had an influence." Tom remembers an upside to this: "Birmingham kind of looked after us…It kind of sheltered us and looked after us as well, so as bleak as the place is, and when we get the chance we’ll probably all going to move away from there, we don’t mind Editors being seen as a Birmingham band". "Because, "Chris adds, "the album’s way better than it would have been…"
They’ve a busy time ahead. A new version of Bullets will be released ahead of their large scale UK tour in October. Then they’re supporting Franz Ferdinand in arenas throughout November. They’ve also got to find time for the USA, writing the second album, having a break... So, what are the chances of coming out to Australia for the summer? "I would love to", coos Tom. Chris grins at the thought: "Do you want to give us some time off to write, or do you want to go on holiday to Australia and play some songs? Take your pick. We’ll get to Australia…"
In these days of the firework career, it seems as if these guys are in for the long haul. "We know we’re not the finished article yet", explains Tom. "We know that this is our debut record. We know that we can make better records. We know we’re not going to sound the same five albums down the line, so with that in mind, it’s healthy to want to try and grow and push yourself".
© James McGalliard 2007
I interviewed Tom and Chris prior to their soundcheck at The Scala on 9 August 2005.
A version of this interview was published in Inpress, Melbourne on 7 September 2005
"A lot of people say ‘Why do you make such dark music?’ And the first answer is ‘I don’t know. Is it? I thought it was optimistic’…" Chris Urbanowicz, guitarist of Birmingham four piece Editors is discussing misconceptions about the band and their music.
Tom Smith [vocals and guitar] has some thoughts on the names of a few bands being brought up time and time again in reference to them: "I understand why it happens… Maybe they just can’t get past that and listen to what we’re doing; and listen to it without any cynicism - it can grate slightly…" Chris picks up his thread: "Slightly through their teeth they’re giving us compliments - ‘It sounds like so-and-so, but I really like it…’ It’s almost like they shouldn’t like it. They’ve already come with that pretence that they shouldn’t like it…"
The band first met around as friends around five years ago at university in Staffordshire when they were studying the same course. They may not have enjoyed the course, but by the end of it they were playing music together, which led to a management deal. After university, the four (Tom, Chris, Russell Leetch - Bass and Ed Lay – Drums) moved in together "down the road" to Birmingham, taking up day jobs to allow them to play at night.
They changed their name from Snowfield to Editors shortly before signing to Kitchenware Records. "Bands like Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand have proved to us that we don’t need to sign to a major" says Chris. "One of the reasons we signed to an indie was so that we didn’t get the big marketing push right at the start, we tried to hold the first single back (Bullets) by making it a limited release".
As the follow-up, Munich, was released, the band locked themselves away to record what would become The Back Room. The recording took place over 3½ weeks in February and March of 2005, with producer Jim Abbiss (Placebo, Kasabian, Ladytron, Unkle, and DJ Shadow) at the desk. "It didn’t seem to be the obvious choice" states Chris, "That’s exactly why we chose him. He likes his dance music, like us, and… also we clicked straightaway when we met him."
The resulting album, The Back Room, could well be the one album you’re still playing in years to come when you’ve forgotten everything else you bought in 2005. Some of the songs were straight-to-tape live performances, whilst others involved a bit more work. "Lights was pretty well one of those ones where we didn’t really add much from the live take" says Chris. "We wanted to go straight in and show our intentions for the album – it’s a very aggressive start…"
With hindsight, which track is most special to you now? "Straightaway, from the first day we put an organ piece on Camera it became our favourite track" Chris opines. "It’s just so important. Just a three-day blur, can’t remember anything that happened, and just came out with this track and it was very special." Tom continues: "Before we went to the studio it was completely different, it was uptempo, structurally it was different." Chris: "It was one of those potentially awkward ones, there was something wrong about it…we recorded it a few different times, and we just thought ‘Tell you what! Shall we start again?’ I’m really glad we did that"
Do you ever get surprised at the end result, when you make something you weren’t expecting? "After those three days we sat there listening to it all of there in the studio, we’d set ourselves a new benchmark; we’d become something we weren’t before we started recording that song (Camera)", answers Tom. And it’s about trying to keep achieving that through your career, for that reason that felt so important which is why it’s the centrepiece, and why the album’s called The Back Room."
There’s a great contrast to this quiet man, leaning his head on his outstretched arm talking to me now, and the possessed spirit Tom becomes on stage. "Absolutely. We put literally everything we can do into performing the songs…There’s a certain intensity that’s in the songs that when we’re performing comes through, as when we’re playing them; all of us have different ways of expressing that. But we’re not shoegazing, we’re not standing there. We want to try and incite some kind of reaction from the audience - that moment where you feel compelled to move or be moved like the hairs on the back of your neck – you can’t help that"
Although Elbow and The Strokes may have been their student soundtracks, Chris thinks that their environment may have influenced their music "There was this myth that whenever you drove to Stafford it started to rain. You always knew when you were close because there was this big grey cloud. We weren’t really that happy there, and the same in Birmingham because we all had shitty long day jobs and we were going to rehearsals after these day jobs when we were all knackered, so maybe that had an influence." Tom remembers an upside to this: "Birmingham kind of looked after us…It kind of sheltered us and looked after us as well, so as bleak as the place is, and when we get the chance we’ll probably all going to move away from there, we don’t mind Editors being seen as a Birmingham band". "Because, "Chris adds, "the album’s way better than it would have been…"
They’ve a busy time ahead. A new version of Bullets will be released ahead of their large scale UK tour in October. Then they’re supporting Franz Ferdinand in arenas throughout November. They’ve also got to find time for the USA, writing the second album, having a break... So, what are the chances of coming out to Australia for the summer? "I would love to", coos Tom. Chris grins at the thought: "Do you want to give us some time off to write, or do you want to go on holiday to Australia and play some songs? Take your pick. We’ll get to Australia…"
In these days of the firework career, it seems as if these guys are in for the long haul. "We know we’re not the finished article yet", explains Tom. "We know that this is our debut record. We know that we can make better records. We know we’re not going to sound the same five albums down the line, so with that in mind, it’s healthy to want to try and grow and push yourself".
© James McGalliard 2007
I interviewed Tom and Chris prior to their soundcheck at The Scala on 9 August 2005.
A version of this interview was published in Inpress, Melbourne on 7 September 2005
Monday, 1 August 2005
Album: Editors - The Back Room
Editors The Back Room
It’s hard for a new band to get a proper hearing. Critics can spend so much time trying to work out who they sound like that they don’t listen to the music itself. In the case of Birmingham’s Editors, comparisons have been made to Joy Division, Interpol and Echo and the Bunnymen. It’s true to say that their sound has echoes of music from early eighties England, but these tags get applied to any band with baritone vocals, strong bass lines and crystalline guitar sounds.
Such comparisons are lazy, unfair, and unimaginative. Why does no one ever reference The Sound, or Comsat Angels? You want an Interpol comparison? Here’s one: "The Back Room is a better debut than Turn On The Bright Lights!" This is an album of thought and depth, which can evoke complex emotions and improves with every listen. It’s sad and uplifting at the same time, and has the power to move below the depths, so that the songs and mood continue even when the album’s finished.
Credit for this is due to the simple and direct approach taken by the band and producer Jim Abbiss, whose work is so good you don’t even notice it. The strongest songs aren’t the three singles [Bullets, Munich, and Blood], but those which form the centre of the record. All Sparks has a simple motif that wraps and repeats; the insistent riffs of Chris Urbanowicz’s guitar rising above the backbone of Ed Lay’s thumping toms and Russell Leetch’s bass, which bounces like “cigarettes on the road”. This is followed by wistful Camera, which explains that The Back Room is “where we hide all of our feelings”. There’s nothing to do when love dies “I'll just close my eyes as you walk out”.
Fingers In The Factories is about the only time the restraint is unleashed; the near desperate repetition “Keep with me” hints that these songs will expand explosively in a live context. Conversely, the album closes with the almost stately pace of Distance. This sombre tune is unlike quite the rest of the album and it’ll be interesting to see if they progress in this direction in the future.
The Australian version has two bonus tracks not on the UK release. You Are Fading was one of tracks from rare Bullets debut EP, and the wonderful Let Your Good Heart Lead You Home was produced by members of Elbow, and should have replaced that Someone Says on the main album anyway.
If you’re quick, there is also a limited edition of the album with an extra disc collated from b-sides (Cuttings) which proves that Editors are no “one album wonder”. On Lights, Tom Smith sings “I've got a million things to say…”. Based on the evidence of what they’ve released so far, he may just be right.
Without any doubt one of the albums of the year.
© James McGalliard 2007
A version of this review was published in Inpress, Melbourne in August 2005
Monday, 11 July 2005
Album: The Departure - Dirty Words
If you wanted to crucify The Departure, they’ve given you lots of material to work with. There’s their youth, the fact that they were signed after only a few gigs, and the stories of singer David Jones’ childhood in the Jesus Army, isolated from the modern world until the age of 15. And I haven’t even touched the rumour that they were manufactured…
When I first saw them nine months ago, I thought they were just TOO good to be real. But maybe they just had to be - this is the age of the firework career, and only a few acts get more than one crack at it. Which is why it helps that four of the eleven tracks on Dirty Words have already been released on singles, making it feel a little like a greatest hits set already.
If you want to spot reference points, you don’t have to look too hard – the guitar break on Talk Show could be an outtake from War-era U2, the bass line in Changing Pilots is pure Duran, and there are hints of the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode and The Comsat Angels. But these are all British signposts – there’s also reminders of the Deluxe-era INXS [but without the charismatic front man], Kids In The Kitchen and The Expression.
There are enough hooks here to fish a river dry; whether they catch you or not will probably depend more on your attitude to the band itself, rather than the music they make. It’s a solid record, which grows with repeated listening, but it’s not going to change anyone’s life; the Numan-esque alienation of both lyrics and vocals will stop you loving it too much.
Still, it’s better than The Killers debut, and the band are a better prospect live. The biggest criticism is that the recording is too clean and reserved, as all the rough edges have been hewn away. Which is a shame, as Ben’s a great bassist, and the interplay between the two guitars provides solid entertainment. So go and see them at The Corner, and expect to nod in appreciation, rather than have a Franz-like conversion.
Then again, if you look at early Depeche Mode, you‘d never imagine meek Dave Gahan could become the Hutchence-like rock god of Devotional [even if it did nearly kill him], so there is hope. At a recent instore, Lee was sporting a beard and a Smiths t-shirt, and ended the gig by throwing himself into the audience, guitar and all. The Departure have been signed for a five-album deal; if they get past this, they may even find their own voice.
© James McGalliard 2007
A version of this review first appeared in Inpress, Melbourne in July 2005
Friday, 31 December 2004
End Of Year Polls: 2004 Inpress Writers' Poll
2004 INPRESS MAGAZINE WRITERS POLL
TOP 10 ALBUMS (Title/Artist)
1. Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
2. The Runaway Found - The Veils
3. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
4. Antics - Interpol
5. The Lost Riots - Hope Of The States
6. Stellastarr* - Stellastarr*
7. Play The CBC Sessions [Mini-Album] – The Hidden Cameras
8. As The Crow Flies - Seafood
9. Codename:DustSucker - Bark Psychosis
10. Up All Night - Razorlight
Just outside:
The Futureheads - The Futureheads
The Invitation - Thirteen Senses
Bone - Tim Booth
ARTISTs OF THE YEAR
XTC and The Gang of Four – everything in 2004 started here…
For 2004
The Hidden Cameras
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST GIG [UK]
Tim Booth and the Individuals
BEST LOCAL ARTIST GIG [Oz]
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
BEST RADIO SHOW
Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant & Karl Pilkington on XFM Saturday afternoons
BEST TV SHOW
Bo’Selecta! Vol. 3 {maybe not best, but fun!}
BEST FILM
None springs to mind
BEST BOOK
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
or
Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland
[both paperbacks published in 2004]
BEST WEBSITEs
Wha’happenin’ - BBC NEWS http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Skewed Cult TV - TACHYON TV http://www.tachyon-tv.co.uk/
Retro band news - REMEMBER THE 80’S http://www.remembertheeighties.com/
BEST MEDIA MOMENT
Rebecca Loos wanking off a pig on Channel Five reality show The Farm.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
“Last Wave” – the new wave revival, and good pop music – party like it’s 1979
LOWLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Globally?
Conservative politics.
Zeitgeist?
Death of John Peel; Keane
PREDICTION FOR 2005
Prog rock revival
Bands to watch?
Bozilla, The Long Blondes, The Dears, The Departure, The Bravery, The Magic Numbers
Revival?
The return of The Psychedelic Furs
QUOTE OF THE YEAR
“His keks didn’t do his Jacobs any favours” – Ian McCulloch getting vernacular on Rufus Wainwright
WHERE WERE YOU LAST NEW YEARS EVE?
Visiting a friend in a oncology ward
WHERE WILL YOU BE THIS NYE?
St Etienne, The Concretes and The Magic Numbers gig at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire
What scandal would u most like to see Delta Goodrem involved in for 2005?
Pig wanking
2004 IN REVIEW (150 WORDS OR LESS)
Forget Year Zero – This was NINETEEN EIGHTY – TWO – THOUSAND AND FOUR.
© James McGalliard 2007
TOP 10 ALBUMS (Title/Artist)
1. Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
2. The Runaway Found - The Veils
3. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
4. Antics - Interpol
5. The Lost Riots - Hope Of The States
6. Stellastarr* - Stellastarr*
7. Play The CBC Sessions [Mini-Album] – The Hidden Cameras
8. As The Crow Flies - Seafood
9. Codename:DustSucker - Bark Psychosis
10. Up All Night - Razorlight
Just outside:
The Futureheads - The Futureheads
The Invitation - Thirteen Senses
Bone - Tim Booth
ARTISTs OF THE YEAR
XTC and The Gang of Four – everything in 2004 started here…
For 2004
The Hidden Cameras
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST GIG [UK]
Tim Booth and the Individuals
BEST LOCAL ARTIST GIG [Oz]
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
BEST RADIO SHOW
Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant & Karl Pilkington on XFM Saturday afternoons
BEST TV SHOW
Bo’Selecta! Vol. 3 {maybe not best, but fun!}
BEST FILM
None springs to mind
BEST BOOK
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
or
Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland
[both paperbacks published in 2004]
BEST WEBSITEs
Wha’happenin’ - BBC NEWS http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Skewed Cult TV - TACHYON TV http://www.tachyon-tv.co.uk/
Retro band news - REMEMBER THE 80’S http://www.remembertheeighties.com/
BEST MEDIA MOMENT
Rebecca Loos wanking off a pig on Channel Five reality show The Farm.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
“Last Wave” – the new wave revival, and good pop music – party like it’s 1979
LOWLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Globally?
Conservative politics.
Zeitgeist?
Death of John Peel; Keane
PREDICTION FOR 2005
Prog rock revival
Bands to watch?
Bozilla, The Long Blondes, The Dears, The Departure, The Bravery, The Magic Numbers
Revival?
The return of The Psychedelic Furs
QUOTE OF THE YEAR
“His keks didn’t do his Jacobs any favours” – Ian McCulloch getting vernacular on Rufus Wainwright
WHERE WERE YOU LAST NEW YEARS EVE?
Visiting a friend in a oncology ward
WHERE WILL YOU BE THIS NYE?
St Etienne, The Concretes and The Magic Numbers gig at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire
What scandal would u most like to see Delta Goodrem involved in for 2005?
Pig wanking
2004 IN REVIEW (150 WORDS OR LESS)
Forget Year Zero – This was NINETEEN EIGHTY – TWO – THOUSAND AND FOUR.
© James McGalliard 2007
Wednesday, 15 December 2004
Interview: Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile
An Ordinary Miracle
"Never mind the money, never mind the time, never mind the career, never mind anything…" The Blue Nile are three people, four albums, and twenty-one years in the public eye. Singer, guitarist and songwriter Paul Buchanan explained their strange career path to James McGalliard on a late-night call from Glasgow.
"The thing is that we’re three guys who came to the end of University and looked at what was ahead of us and could sorta play our instruments and somehow or another kinda got sucked into this…we are just regular flawed black-and-white people. But in these terms, we have remained deeply committed to it in every way that is good." Paul Buchanan is trying to find the words to explain how The Blue Nile have managed to keep it all together through the intervening years from their formation at the beginning of the 1980’s. "…There’s that terrible struggle fighting off your own flaws and your own vanities and dynamics between the three of you, and the pressure of never quite having enough money and always being on the outside…and spending years not getting anything that you think is warm-blooded."
For those who have just joined us, a quick history lesson. The three members of The Blue Nile, Paul Buchanan, Paul Joseph Moore and Robert Bell, got together at Glasgow University. Their debut album A Walk Across The Rooftops was released in 1983. That enigmatic recording only listed the names of the three members and little else, a fact which probably helped to create the mystique that has since surrounded them. This was intensified by the five long years that passed before Hats [1989], which was rightly acclaimed as a masterpiece. The live dates to support it were a revelation; for people who had exclusively worked in a studio, they were absolutely phenomenal as a live band.
It wasn’t until Peace at Last in 1996 that we heard from them again. We hoped for new songs before the end of the century, but it wasn’t to be. Other than Paul’s guest appearance on Peter Gabriel’s Ovo, then there was silence. Even the fan’s websites stopped being updated. "It was all terribly ominous, wasn’t it?" notes Paul.
"We recorded an album and a half and…we realised we weren’t in love with it… The vast majority of it we just dumped; we just put it to one side and didn’t touch it any more". Then Paul contracted a form of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and was completely unable to work for months. But even this is seen in a positive light, "In a funny way …even though I was kinda dilapidated, I started to do better work then than I had been doing".
The result is High, which following the calm of Peace at Last, sees them return to the search for the soul. So what happened? "Peace didn’t last", says Paul. "It didn’t last".
Paul is a thinker, and comes across as open, honest, even disarmingly frank, which only serves to give his answers a special resonance. I tell him that, even as a fan, I found this album hard to come to grips with. It’s not as forgiving as the earlier ones; you actually have to give it the time to reward…"Yeh, I totally agree. I was worried when we finished it. I thought ‘Oh Jesus!’ It’s like too resilient, too low-key, too sorta unbending in some way, it’s just too stern and there’s not enough glamour, and not enough ‘you’ll love this’. I thought there was too much hard work for the listener and I still think that. I don’t think it will be everybody’s cup of tea."
"But actually I think if it gets to you, and if it gets under your skin, and you stop worrying about that stuff – the tone of the record, by which I mean the overall sense and the feeling that you get from the sound of the record from the first note to the last note, is just at such a lovely frequency. I think it was a record about standing up again. If you look at each of the songs … it’s a record that’s looking at circumstances and starting to build from there, and getting to the point and state of everybody else symbolically, or literally, moving on."
So why the length between their albums? "I don’t think we would have wished for it, but … it should be the quality o’the work that’s important. I think what we’ve done is gone into the diamond mine each time and however long its taken us to find the thing that we believed was good – that’s how ever long it’s lasted. I know it kinda sounds like we’re tuned out and it’s not a very rock-n-roll thing to do, but actually, in my experience, it’s a quite hard-working, hardcore way of approaching things. Because we’re just thinking ‘Nah! Never mind the money, never mind the time, never mind the career, never mind anything…It’s what we do."
I tell him that High almost comes across as a love letter to someone that you don’t know if they still quite love you anymore. "What a lovely way of putting it" he says, lost in thought for a moment, "write that down".
Filmic images permeate Paul's lyrics, and how he sees the band’s music. "I thought that the camera distance was different this time. If it was in a movie, this would be a head-and-shoulders shot, you would see a little bit of the background; you would have an impression of the background." But what the band creates is more like a snapshot, or a sketch, as it’s not following a narrative line telling a straight story. "I never think they’re autobiographical…I’m not really writing about my own life. Funnily enough, my dad said to me on the phone last night, he said ‘Son, can I ask you what Broken Loves is about?’ I was taken aback by the question. I mean, clearly a bit of it is about my relationship with him, but I’m not sure which way. But I also regard it as a love song, and I don’t regard it about myself at all in many ways. I’ve got a complex relationship with the track. He said ‘I’m really getting to like Broken Loves at the moment’. It was very touching."
"In many ways it would have been easier to explain socially and to my family if we had had a more recognisable career pattern. But we only get the juice that we get and we have to be content with communicating at a meaningful level with the people we communicate with, on the occasions we communicate with them, either through a record or through a live thing. But the downside is that as people, and financially, and creatively, we can’t deliver it all the time – I wish we could. I wish we could"
Such integrity and purpose is rare, and should be cherished. The Blue Nile tell stories that delight in detail, the minutiae of modern existence. "You know, I think that’s part of our job really – to express what’s going on in that little gap in between what people dream and what they get. To find good ways of looking at that and to find what is positive about it and to make unimpeachable records as far as possible on behalf of the stupid and the crazy or on behalf of the part of us that is dispossessed by a non-spiritual retail-orientated society".
© James McGalliard 2007
A version of this interview was printed in Inpress, Melbourne on 15 December 2004
"Never mind the money, never mind the time, never mind the career, never mind anything…" The Blue Nile are three people, four albums, and twenty-one years in the public eye. Singer, guitarist and songwriter Paul Buchanan explained their strange career path to James McGalliard on a late-night call from Glasgow.
"The thing is that we’re three guys who came to the end of University and looked at what was ahead of us and could sorta play our instruments and somehow or another kinda got sucked into this…we are just regular flawed black-and-white people. But in these terms, we have remained deeply committed to it in every way that is good." Paul Buchanan is trying to find the words to explain how The Blue Nile have managed to keep it all together through the intervening years from their formation at the beginning of the 1980’s. "…There’s that terrible struggle fighting off your own flaws and your own vanities and dynamics between the three of you, and the pressure of never quite having enough money and always being on the outside…and spending years not getting anything that you think is warm-blooded."
For those who have just joined us, a quick history lesson. The three members of The Blue Nile, Paul Buchanan, Paul Joseph Moore and Robert Bell, got together at Glasgow University. Their debut album A Walk Across The Rooftops was released in 1983. That enigmatic recording only listed the names of the three members and little else, a fact which probably helped to create the mystique that has since surrounded them. This was intensified by the five long years that passed before Hats [1989], which was rightly acclaimed as a masterpiece. The live dates to support it were a revelation; for people who had exclusively worked in a studio, they were absolutely phenomenal as a live band.
It wasn’t until Peace at Last in 1996 that we heard from them again. We hoped for new songs before the end of the century, but it wasn’t to be. Other than Paul’s guest appearance on Peter Gabriel’s Ovo, then there was silence. Even the fan’s websites stopped being updated. "It was all terribly ominous, wasn’t it?" notes Paul.
"We recorded an album and a half and…we realised we weren’t in love with it… The vast majority of it we just dumped; we just put it to one side and didn’t touch it any more". Then Paul contracted a form of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and was completely unable to work for months. But even this is seen in a positive light, "In a funny way …even though I was kinda dilapidated, I started to do better work then than I had been doing".
The result is High, which following the calm of Peace at Last, sees them return to the search for the soul. So what happened? "Peace didn’t last", says Paul. "It didn’t last".
Paul is a thinker, and comes across as open, honest, even disarmingly frank, which only serves to give his answers a special resonance. I tell him that, even as a fan, I found this album hard to come to grips with. It’s not as forgiving as the earlier ones; you actually have to give it the time to reward…"Yeh, I totally agree. I was worried when we finished it. I thought ‘Oh Jesus!’ It’s like too resilient, too low-key, too sorta unbending in some way, it’s just too stern and there’s not enough glamour, and not enough ‘you’ll love this’. I thought there was too much hard work for the listener and I still think that. I don’t think it will be everybody’s cup of tea."
"But actually I think if it gets to you, and if it gets under your skin, and you stop worrying about that stuff – the tone of the record, by which I mean the overall sense and the feeling that you get from the sound of the record from the first note to the last note, is just at such a lovely frequency. I think it was a record about standing up again. If you look at each of the songs … it’s a record that’s looking at circumstances and starting to build from there, and getting to the point and state of everybody else symbolically, or literally, moving on."
So why the length between their albums? "I don’t think we would have wished for it, but … it should be the quality o’the work that’s important. I think what we’ve done is gone into the diamond mine each time and however long its taken us to find the thing that we believed was good – that’s how ever long it’s lasted. I know it kinda sounds like we’re tuned out and it’s not a very rock-n-roll thing to do, but actually, in my experience, it’s a quite hard-working, hardcore way of approaching things. Because we’re just thinking ‘Nah! Never mind the money, never mind the time, never mind the career, never mind anything…It’s what we do."
I tell him that High almost comes across as a love letter to someone that you don’t know if they still quite love you anymore. "What a lovely way of putting it" he says, lost in thought for a moment, "write that down".
Filmic images permeate Paul's lyrics, and how he sees the band’s music. "I thought that the camera distance was different this time. If it was in a movie, this would be a head-and-shoulders shot, you would see a little bit of the background; you would have an impression of the background." But what the band creates is more like a snapshot, or a sketch, as it’s not following a narrative line telling a straight story. "I never think they’re autobiographical…I’m not really writing about my own life. Funnily enough, my dad said to me on the phone last night, he said ‘Son, can I ask you what Broken Loves is about?’ I was taken aback by the question. I mean, clearly a bit of it is about my relationship with him, but I’m not sure which way. But I also regard it as a love song, and I don’t regard it about myself at all in many ways. I’ve got a complex relationship with the track. He said ‘I’m really getting to like Broken Loves at the moment’. It was very touching."
"In many ways it would have been easier to explain socially and to my family if we had had a more recognisable career pattern. But we only get the juice that we get and we have to be content with communicating at a meaningful level with the people we communicate with, on the occasions we communicate with them, either through a record or through a live thing. But the downside is that as people, and financially, and creatively, we can’t deliver it all the time – I wish we could. I wish we could"
Such integrity and purpose is rare, and should be cherished. The Blue Nile tell stories that delight in detail, the minutiae of modern existence. "You know, I think that’s part of our job really – to express what’s going on in that little gap in between what people dream and what they get. To find good ways of looking at that and to find what is positive about it and to make unimpeachable records as far as possible on behalf of the stupid and the crazy or on behalf of the part of us that is dispossessed by a non-spiritual retail-orientated society".
© James McGalliard 2007
A version of this interview was printed in Inpress, Melbourne on 15 December 2004
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