Interview: Tim Burgess, The Charlatans

admin on Apr 23rd 2006

Taken from Connected magazine, April 2006

Latecomers to the “Baggydelic” scene of the early ’90s, The Charlatans seemed doomed to be remembered as Madchester also-rans. However, having endured imprisonment, death, embezzlement, and illness, the band have survived every rock’n'roll cliché in the book to earn a name for themselves as comeback kings. Released on the 17th of April, “Simpatico” is their 10th studio album, and while it’s in keeping with their constantly adapting musical direction, its dub-centric feel has already been raising many an eyebrow. I caught up with frontman Tim Burgess over a pint of Guinness to talk about Curtis Mayfield, white reggae, and David Lynch.

You recorded the new songs live in the studio – what did that bring to the album, and what was it like for the band to be living together again?
Well I think that the songs were written in that sort of way – very organically – and so to do them live just felt like a natural thing to do. In terms of living together and being together as a unit, it felt like a good thing. I wanted to feel like we’re a band.

I know that when you were making “Us and Us Only” you were listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, and during “Wonderland” you were listening to Curtis Mayfield…
Well no, I pretended to be Curtis Mayfield (laughs). I felt like him, I felt like I got in the spirit of him. He’s an amazing man. When I was in England, “Superfly” was the only record I really knew by him. But when I went to America, I got all these Impressions records and then realised that he did quite a few art film soundtracks – he had quite a long career span, you know? So I started to learn a lot more about Curtis, and then I ended up liking every record he did better than “Superfly”!

…but was there anything in particular you were listening to while making “Simpatico”?
I was listening to “Sandinista!” by the Clash a lot, and quite a lot of the Trojan back-catalogue, which Sanctuary bought. You see, part of the deal when we signed with them was that we got every single record that was made under them. So I think there may be a Trojan influence in there, possibly…A lot of Gram Parsons, a lot of Bob Marley.

It seems with every Charlatans album there’s a new shift in sound. Are you consciously trying to keep things fresh? Or does that just happen without you even realising it?
“Well it’s good to keep things fresh, but at the same time, I find that I naturally change directions quite a lot (giggles)…only because it’s just a part of learning and going through phases. Fortunately, in between records there’s normally a two-year gap, so you get turned on to stuff and it digests, rather than just thinking “oh I’m goin’ to do that this week, or this next week,” you know? You actually get a chance to digest. Whether it’s cool or not…obviously The Charlatans have gone through cool phases and not-so-cool phases, but I just like to absorb cultures of the world.

Would ripping yourself off ever become an issue?
Em…I’d like to!…and charge ourselves for it (laughs). But no, I’ve always – and I know this sounds really corny – considered myself a searcher.

There is a bit of a stigma attached to white reggae and ska – how do you feel about that?
It’s very important for us to be able to do it in the best “white” way. The few bands that I’ve heard who do reggae and are white were Japan – with a song called “…Rhodesia,” which I think is one of the greatest white reggae records ever – and The Clash.

…well and The Specials, in a ska sense anyway…
But they were more of a multi-cultural melting-pot of a band. Actually I was very fortunate to meet both Joe Strummer and Terry Hall, who are heroes of mine. So maybe I’m just tryin’ to copy them, I don’t know…

Living in the States and having done the solo album, what’s it like to return to the band for the whole process of recording, promoting, and touring?
All good. As long as people get to hear the record, I don’t care! (laughs).

Sitting down to do 50 interviews in a row, I’d say that can be a bit of a surreal experience. Do you even remember any of it?
I do remember certain common threads, questions that are asked. I try not to repeat myself, but I don’t want to tell lies either. So I try to say the same story in a kind of (well, hopefully) new and elaborating way!

Let’s talk a little bit about David Lynch. I know you’re quite a fan, as I am I myself.
Really? He’s got a new one, “INLAND EMPIRE.”

Yeah, I can’t wait to see it.
…I can’t either. It’s amazing, when he was asked what it was about, he said: “It’s about a girl in trouble” – all of his films are about a girl in trouble!

Apparently he didn’t have a script when he was shooting…
Yeah and he says he’s never going back to film, but he’ll change though…in ten years time maybe (laughs).

This may be a bit of a difficult question, but how do you think one could make the album equivalent of a David Lynch film?
I think we have with “Wonderland” and this album also. I gave the perfect David Lynch answer when someone asked: “how is this album different from the rest of your records?” And I said: “well it’s ‘Wonderland’, but in the rain.” It’s fairly Lynch-esque. I mean I don’t know…he definitely does his own thing, and so do I. I love “Twin Peaks”; I’ve even been on lynchnet.com to get the deleted scenes released.

Yeah, there are hours and hours of footage out there somewhere…
I know! But I want to see it – do you know what I mean? It might take me a while to understand it but…

Ah, they have to bring it out. I recently showed my friends the series and they think it’s the best thing that’s ever been on T.V.
Really? Well it was the best thing ever on T.V. Now when you look back it on DVD, it kind of runs a bit cloudy in some episodes. But people were crazy not to put “Mulholland Drive” on as a T.V. series…

Well I’m kind of glad he made it into a movie, at the same time…
Check this out for a Lynchism: we just did some music for a Naomi Watts advert. It’s “You’re So Pretty” from “Wonderland,” and it’s her looking like she did in “Mulholland Drive,” floating about for three minutes. I’d show it to you, only my computer’s broken…

How’s the DJing going?
Well I’m actually playing tonight in Whelans…

What kind of stuff are you playing?
Whatever’s in my bag, really (laughs).

A bit of everything?
“Bank Robber” by The Clash, always. Things like “Disco Infiltrator” by LCD Soundsystem…The Rolling Stones (breaking out in a cheeky grin).

You’re coming back for Oxegen in the summer, anyway…are you looking forward to the festivals?
It’ll be good if we play at night, that’s the only thing I ever worry about. In the daytime, it’s like you have no mood there. One of the big things about the record – and The Charlatans in general – is the feeling…just like a David Lynch film. It’s the mood.