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Wayne Coyne is about to reveal the meaning of life. He’s sitting in his living room in Oklahoma City, in a compound resembling Edinburgh Castle, staring at a giant inflatable sun and reclining on an oversized couch made of white fur. The dog he’s petting thinks the couch is its mother. Continue Reading »

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Popularity: 24% [?]

“Whoops!” – tUnE-yArDs’ Merrill Garbus is falling off her seat. She’s vivacious, engaged and sailing on nervous energy, barely recognisable from the person who introduced herself with the words, ‘Listen, I’m nervous’, just hours before. She was postponing the interview and skipping dinner, she explained, to make sure her voice was in the right shape. From a distance, there seemed little reason to be jittery. Continue Reading »

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Popularity: 24% [?]

A considerable number of people want to see Donal MacIntyre dead.

Whether it’s being shot at in Burma or finding his car painted with

the insignia of neo-Nazis, repeated death threats have seen the

investigative reporter move house over 40 times. Yet after 15 years,

he still hungers for new challenges. Yesterday it was the ghettos of

Washington DC; tomorrow it will be kidnapping in Mexico City. But

tonight it’s the Ultimate Ice Disco in Guildford. Continue Reading »

Dead band members, armed robbery, comas, confused sexuality, ‘poop journals’, self-loathing, child abuse, genetic disorders, nervous breakdowns and walkouts – this is the context that framed Deerhunter’s output in 2007. The music may have been good enough to stand on its own but, whether the listener was interested or not, it came with side stories.

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Beach House – Holy Dances

It’s only natural to imagine Victoria Legrand as an ageing chanteuse and intimidating seductress. With that sultry timbre, it’s a pre-conception that’s fully deserved. As she reclines on a sofa dressed all in black, one hand resting on her leather waist belt while the other holds a bottle of beer, the only thing to suggest that she may not be a modern-day Nico is her baby-faced complexion. But then she speaks…and the pre-conception remains just that. Continue Reading »

Mogwai have a secret to share – one key to their endurance in perhaps the most limiting genre of modern music. “We’re not cool,” says multi-instrumentalist Barry Burns, shrugging the idea off with a laugh. “This is not a bunch of Nathan Barleys. We’re just boring bastards.” As one self-effacing quip follows another, it quickly becomes clear that the band doesn’t take itself too seriously. But as they’re coaxed into reflecting on their 13 year career, the subject of Mogwai’s staying power manages to keep cropping up. Fitting, then, that with the release of their seventh album, The Hawk is Howling, Mogwai believe they’re ready to face their greatest challenge yet. Continue Reading »

Every interview with the notoriously volatile Anton Newcombe seems to end the same way: with an abrupt fit of profanity and condemnation. Evidently this can happen after just the first question. So an encounter with the man described as a “brilliant monster” and “the single most ill-tempered motherfucker in rock’n’roll history” poses somewhat of a challenge. I’m determined to engage him in a worthwhile discussion, albeit on his own terms, to get a sense of what drives a musician for whom independence is everything. So I’ve done my homework and I know what questions not to ask: there should be no mention of the film Dig!, no inquiries about the 60 or so previous band members and, most difficult of all, no questions about the music. I’m not here to push his buttons: it’s been done…comprehensively. Continue Reading »

The new issue of Circa magazine features an in-depth interview that I did with the artist Brian Maguire. It’s available from Borders, Eason’s, the IFI and all good galleries and exhibition spaces. You can also purchase a digital copy online.

In the new issue of Film International, there’s a lengthy feature I did on the work of director Vincent Moon – it seems to has surfaced online in various places, so you can read or download the whole thing here.

In the 25 years since their last album, the prospect of Bauhaus reuniting long enough to record new material always seemed unlikely. Now with Go Away White, the ‘godfathers of goth’ return with a final artistic statement, a swan song born out of necessity, rather than design. After rediscovering the same bitter turmoil that first led to their demise, lead singer Peter Murphy explains that this time, there will be no encore. Continue Reading »

Stars of the Lid – Music For Twin Peaks Episode #30 Part I

As scientists of sound, Stars of the Lid compose their slow motion symphonies with an expansive, ethereal drift in mind. Lasty year, their Kranky-released double album …And Their Refinement of the Decline was met with widespread critical acclaim and has since been heralded as the duo’s masterpiece. However, despite the gushing praise, Adam Wiltzie insists that it’s certainly not ambience for the masses.

Your music has a sort of visual, cinematic quality to it. When you’re composing, do you ever think in terms of images or colours? Continue Reading »

While assuring me that he really is mentally sound, David Shrigley suddenly interrupts himself and catches me off guard. “I’m just looking out the window. There’s a man delivering a parcel and I’m wondering if that’s my parcel. It’s my birthday today. It’s from Amazon.com, a ‘learn to speak French’ tape…it’s my birthday present.” It’s a quintessential Shrigley moment that, albeit unintentionally, perfectly epitomises the tone intrinsic to his art.

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Having traded in the ambitious concept albums for uncompromising yet well-crafted rock songs, Liars’ self-titled fourth album produced their most entertaining and critically acclaimed release yet. Returning to Ireland for Dublin’s Analog festival, frontman Angus Andrews and guitarist Aaron Hemphill discuss their drive to be different.

Each Liars album seems to be radically different from the last. Do you think that every release draws a different set of fans that like a particular type of music? Or do you think you a have a steady following that enjoys whatever you do? Continue Reading »

The old Jim Morrison adage of “I don’t know what’s gonna happen…but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames” has never been put into better practice than with the work of Brooklyn-based group Yeasayer. Much has been made of the apocalyptic confirmation that their lyrics surmise, but the songs themselves are buoyed by an optimism that calls for us to revel in whatever few days we may have left. Continue Reading »

Epitomising the notion of being mature beyond one’s years, indie starlet Alela Diane may sound like a greying, motherly figure with a knack for storytelling, but her growling timbre came about with astonishing ease. “I started playing guitar and writing songs when I was 19, so I was a late starter to both,” she says. “It was only because I had moved far beyond my comfort zone to San Francisco that song writing became my way of getting the homesickness out of me.” Continue Reading »

In the course of ten years, the albums of Six Organs of Admittance have chartered explorations across a multitude of genres and styles, all driven on by a quiet yet uncompromising strength.

With the release of “Shelter from the Ash,” Ben Chasny’s distinctive mixture of heavyweight post-rock epics and finger-picking folk returns once more. However, rather than speak in terms of development or maturity, Chasny insists that there’s no reason why the formula should change from one release to the next.

“I think it’s a myth that records have to progress a certain way,” he says. “I don’t think there’s been a step A to step B for me. It’s just about how I feel at the time, which is always changing. The new album is a good example of not sticking to a trajectory of continuation…because I just don’t do records like that.” Continue Reading »

Few bands can make as immediate an impression as So So Modern. With four hooded guys flailing about the stage in a flurry of colour, swaying between guitar-driven dance music and a chorus of fizzing keyboards, this is a show that demands energy and generates enthusiasm. To flawlessly recreate the same dynamic over 200 times a year, however, requires a lot more than just an unwavering will to party. Continue Reading »

As the saviour of dancing concert-goers everywhere, Dan Deacon’s live shows are all about leaving self-awareness at the door. Beginning what initially feels like an awkward drama workshop, Deacon will typically coax the surrounding crowd into joining him for some warm-up exercises. Yet what follows in the next hour is a transformation so pronounced that no one hesitates to grab a lyric sheet for a sing along or to participate in a free-for-all dance contest. Continue Reading »

Gregg Gillis has discovered a simple but extremely successful formula to ensure that just about anyone will enjoy his shows: play every type of popular music at the same time. Gillis is not a DJ or a remix artist; his compositions qualify as neither hip-hop nor dance and are too original to be considered mash-ups. If anything, Gillis is a form of sound magician, bombarding you with one moment of misleading brilliance after another. Continue Reading »

Parisien guerilla video bloggers Vincent Moon and Chryde (aka The Take Away Shows) bring music and film out of the venue, onto the streets, and onto your computer. Cian Traynor tracked them down on the streets of Paris.

Whether it’s squeezing Arcade Fire into an elevator or getting Grizzly Bear into a bathtub, French music site La Blogotheque has a way of capturing bands in a moment of haphazard beauty. The Take Away Shows are a series of vignettes that lure artists, with instrument in hand, out to wander the streets of Paris under the gaze of a loosely held camera.

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The drummer rises from his stool, wailing, bare-chested, whipping chains from the grip of each hand against a kit of rusty old canisters, spurring on the rest of the band like an infuriated slave driver. The tempo is driven by a hardcore-punk ethos, the lyrics are tinted with the macabre, and the songs sound old enough to be yellowed and smoke-stained. This is O’Death: the sound of an Appalachian apocalypse, a band of musical misfits that escape classification and outpace tradition – a set of parameters bound to cause trouble. Continue Reading »

Right now, the sweet folk sounds of Marc Rigelsford’s Magic Arm is a best kept secret, unspoiled by the vultures of TV advertising. But for how long? Cian Traynpr debates.

There’s no shortage of armchair rock stars out there who consider the act of lending your music to advertising the ultimate sell out. But for those underexposed artists scraping together a meagre existence, the issue becomes a much thornier one. Continue Reading »

David Thomas Broughton is a man who takes spontaneity to new extremes. Unlike other artists, he’ll willingly let the tapes roll in the knowledge that he’s leaving everything to chance. Stranger still, he’ll wait until his mind has gone completely blank before getting up on stage to perform. Continue Reading »

There’s no point in covering a song unless you’re going to bring something to it, to make it your own in some way and bring out an element that may not have been there before. Anything else is little more than self-indulgence.

Though it may seem crass to draw comparisons with Johnny Cash’s “American Recordings” series, there’s a refined quality to Christy Moore’s new album, “Burning Times,” that recalls the same kind of presence the Man in Black imbued to songs that were not his own. However, rather than having a producer like Rick Rubin to pick out the songs that might work best for him, Moore has found himself magnetically drawn towards certain songs over the years: “I love to sing a song that has meat and bones in it, that has a personality and a character…’cause it’s what I do. I wouldn’t perform my own or another writer’s songs with any more passion or examination. To me, a song is a song no matter who’s written it. I mean if I sing a song to you now and it lasts four minutes, for those four minutes, that song belongs to me and you – the singer and the listener. As soon as I’m finished singin’ it, then it reverts to Bob Dylan. He gets it back then,” he laughs.

In many cases, Moore has been playing these songs for years, honing and subtly re-shaping them until they’re as familiar as an old set of friends. Yet even for those that have come to make regular appearances in live performances, the songs of this particular collection were fortunate to find a home together at all. Ever the perfectionist, Moore’s meticulous preparation also means long periods of incubation, wearing a tune in like a new guitar until there can be no doubt about its place in the fold. So much so, in fact, that Moore didn’t hesitate to re-record the album until it felt right: “We tried it in two different recording studios, and the third time we did it down in Declan’s house in Cork. Just from the time we kicked off, I knew we had it, which was fabulous. We both knew it was happening. I mean it is a bit of a cliché, but in a way, this is a series of photographs of what Declan and I have been doing for the last couple of years.”

Having such an inclination towards the heart of a well-written song, crossing paths with the penmanship of Bob Dylan may have always seemed inevitable. Covering the likes of Morrissey, on the other hand, may come as a surprise. “I was talking about my ambivalence towards America, the fact that I’ve got wonderful American friends whom I love dearly. I love being in America, I love gigging there, I love a lot of its culture and art. And yet, the behaviour of some Americans appals me…at the moment, it’s a very frightening country.” Having been a major part of the “When Bush Comes to Shove” protest gig last year, and recently organising a benefit concert for New Orleans, it’s clear Moore harbours a bittersweet relationship with the US – one that led him to an acquaintance with the ex-Smiths singer’s song at just the right time. “I think I said to my wife: ‘I’d love to write something about my mixed feelings for America’. So she just played it for me and I said: ‘Jesus, I wonder if I could sing that’. And then it started,” Moore smiles, “…the long, agonising journey of trying to learn a Morrissey song.”

Moore has enjoyed a fruitful association with some of Ireland’s finest songwriters, and so unsurprisingly, when the Kildare-man applies himself to the work of John Spillane and Wally Page, it’s an entirely natural fit. The country-tinged macabre of the world of The Handsome Family, however, is another connection that one might not have foreseen with Moore. “I heard the Handsomes singin’, and I was instantly smitten… I mean they are very dark, but sometimes they manage to be hilariously funny simultaneously, and I love that. It’s great sometimes to be breaking your hole laughing at something so incredibly dark.”

One of the two Handsome Family tracks to feature on “Burning Times,” “Peace in the Valley Once Again” imagines an end to the world’s all-consuming concrete sprawl with an apocalyptic vision where only insects remain. The rather serene contemplation bookends matters nicely by answering the almost despondent call of Natalie Merchant’s “Motherland” at the album’s beginning. Despite not being his own songs, everything that lies between and around those two points is distinctly Christy Moore. Perhaps it’s that there are universal themes at the foundation of many of these songs, or maybe it’s just the feel that Moore’s voice lends to them, but he has found a way to make the work of Merchant, Richard Thompson, and Joni Mitchell sound like they were once traditional Irish folk songs. In fact, finding that means to add eloquence to shards of life-changing memories and heartbreaking imperfection – the fabric of Ireland’s character – is what makes Moore the iconic storyteller that he is. In his own words, though, cohesion and the themes that announce themselves from it only arrive as an afterthought: “I don’t set out to make a concept album…I hope that in the recording, sometimes unbeknownst even to myself, one will actually emerge and there will be a vibe that will go through an album. But it’s just twelve individuals that’ve been brought together, and hopefully, will hang well that way.”

As a whole, there is a duality at play within “Burning Times” – a mixture of nostalgia for the craic and biting statements that can touch a nerve unexpectedly. An expert at knowing how to prick the listener’s consciousness, Moore knows that the right moment to do so is just when you’re at your most comfortable. “…I suppose that would be my approach,” he ponders, as if he had never thought of it that way. “But I think you’ve got to be very careful how you do it…you can’t go straight from the abuse of children into ‘The Craic Was Ninety In The Isle Of Man’, we have to move gently from topics that deserve sensitivity to bit of lunacy.”

Stepping seamlessly from the warmth of “Magic Nights in the Lobby Bar” to tales of injustice within a minute, the proportion of this balance on “Burning Times” acutely represents the essence of Moore’s live experience. “My impression of the atmosphere around the countries I do is that there’s usually a fairly happy aul’ buzz around the hall when it’s over, a lot of smiling faces. So that seems to be the way it works; we seem to be able to present a mixture of songs, some of which reflect on heavy subjects, and we manage to do it in a way that also allows us to have a good night and to enjoy ourselves.” Even still, Moore is always prepared to pick up a lesson or two along the way: “I remember a long time ago in the Point I got stuck in some kind of a rut. I played ‘Farewell to Pripchat’ and then I did ‘The Middle of the Island’, and this guy shouts up: ‘For feck’s sake Christy, would ye ever lighten up!’ Just this voice booming down the Point: ‘Bloody lighten up man’. But he was right…and it was a magic moment.”

Taken from Trinity News, November 2nd 2005

During the opening tracks of Jenny Lewis’ solo album “Rabbit Fur Coat,” there’s a decidedly M. Ward feel to the flow of things. With all the quality of a veteran songwriter nearly twice her age, Lewis embraces touches of gospel, hymnal, traditional folk and blues while recalling the great white soul classics – all coming together across the racing strings of an acoustic. With that in mind, the M. Ward factor was the first thing on my lips when I sat down with the Rilo Kiley singer before her debut Irish performance.

I’m a big fan of M. Ward…

Me too!

…what did you think he would bring to the project?

Well I think there’s a magical quality to his records, they’re really timeless. They occupy this weird place in my brain when I listen to them – it’s like nothing else. So I kind of just hoped that he would do whatever he does for his own songs on my songs. I didn’t know how that would turn out because when I went up to Portland, some of the songs weren’t even finished. So we sat down and he played guitar with me, and it was so seamless, so easy working with him. We recorded like five songs a day and I think we work really well together.

A lot of questions are being asked on ‘Rabbit Fur Coat’ – is that reflective of the time you wrote them, or are they just things you’ve always wondered about?

I think songs tend to reflect how you feel in any given period; you know, they’re not necessarily life lasting, burning questions. I think these ideas just come up in songs and perhaps they’re just passing thoughts, you know? They’re not quite as important as they become later when you actually record them and people ask you questions about them.

Well I’ve always wondered whether, when you’re playing the songs every night, if it’s kind of like re-living a certain moment, or maybe even exorcising your demons a little bit…

(Contemplatively) No…

…or is that you just don’t think about them?

No, it’s not like a big therapy session up there on stage every night, and there are a lot of stories in the songs and made-up characters and plots…so not all of the characters necessarily lead back to me. But I think every night is different, some songs feel better on certain nights and I just try to find the honesty as far as how I’m feeling in that moment. Performing the song on the spot relates it back to a more personal thing that’s happening to me rather than the songs which aren’t necessarily always personal.

Yeah, I was going to mention the storytelling on the album; do you think you might have a book in you one day?

I don’t know if I have the patience or the true talent to write a book.

Well what about an autobiography? You seem to have had a pretty interesting life…

Yeah, that would be great…just to tell the story of my family. Because I come from a long line of performers: my father was a harmonica player, my mother was a singer, my father’s mother was a dancer on vaudeville, so I think it’s an interesting lineage of crazy show people.

How have you found the solo experience so far?

It’s great! It’s been really carefree, you know? There’s not that much riding on it, because I haven’t put a lot on the line for this. It’s kind of funny when you work really hard doing something, because it has a different effect. I’ve come into this and the whole process has just been carefree and easy. I recorded the album quickly, mixed it in three days, the touring’s really great, and I feel like good things are coming because I didn’t put too much on it.

So it doesn’t feel like a gamble?

Yeah! I’m doing it exactly as I want to, there’s no compromise, and you know, if it didn’t work out initially, I guess I could have always gone running back to the band.

Given the stripped-down nature of album, I’d imagine a more intimate setting could be a contrast to the bigger venue gigs you would have experienced with Rilo Kiley and Postal Service…

I think with Rilo Kiley we always have a moment that’s small and intimate, and I think a lot of the songs on this record stem from some of the tracks on ‘More Adventurous’, the last Rilo Kiley record. There were some stripped-down, kind of pop-country songs and I think I kind of elaborated on that idea. So I think a lot of the same elements are there…but for the most part we are a rock band and there are no electric guitars on stage for this, which is nice.

But in terms of the atmosphere at the shows, though – is that different?

Yeah, it’s completely different. Completely! Because it’s a very deliberate show, it’s kind of theatrical, and everything is the same every night. We play the same set, and it has dips and bobs, but they’re calculated, almost. Whereas with Rilo Kiley, we’re a little more willing to change up the set and have a more spontaneous thing.

With such a personal record, and arguably more of a specialised audience, it’s probably going to give you a bit more of a hands-on relationship with the feedback from the audience. If you found that – on an individual basis, anyway – you were really touching people and relating to them with Rabbit Fur Coat, would that feel more rewarding than being part of a bigger, commercially successful band?

(Puts chin in her hand, pondering the question carefully.) You know, it kind of feels the same as with Rilo Kiley because I write the songs in that band and I definitely put my heart into it. Plus, you know we’re really not any big rock stars or anything, we haven’t really been played on the radio much, so it’s still the same kind of feeling within the band. But with this there’s a lot more on me, so if someone doesn’t like it, then I tend to take it more personally.

I know Laura Nyro and Loretta Lynn were big influences in making this album, but are there any modern artists within relatively similar brackets that have caught your attention?

Gillian Welsh – she’s great. She actually came to our show in Nashville and sang with us on a song. That was so amazing, just to see her up close and to hear that voice coming out of her. I’m such a huge fan. I really like Will Oldham; I’ve never seen him play live. I love Bonnie Prince Billy; ‘I See a Darkness’ is such a great record.

Finally, and I hope this doesn’t sound too ridiculous, but I have to say there’s definitely something about the album cover that reminds me of ‘The Shining’.

(As I say the sentence, the expression on her face rises up with excitement only to fall disappointedly on those final two words.)

Okay, you’ve heard that before then…

(Nods patiently)

Oh, well at least you weren’t mortified by the comparison…

We didn’t really intend to do that, we took a bunch of pictures for the artwork inside the album and that was one that really was the creepiest, so we opted for that to be the cover. I was like “that’s it! That has to be the cover.” It’s really eerie…

And with that, I get up to leave, thanking her for time. Perhaps a little taken aback that an interviewer has managed not to touch upon her child acting career for once, or maybe that the interaction felt more casual than professional, she seems somewhat disappointed as I excuse myself. As I walk away, all questions answered but now wondering if I was leaving prematurely nonetheless, I turn back to see Jenny Lewis still sitting at the table, pensively poking at her smoothie with a straw as the sunlight streams in to The Village’s now-empty hall. I don’t know why, but it’s an image that will stay with me.

A densely layered album, Broken Social Scene’s self-titled third release arrived as one of the most well-formed projects of last year, so few should have been surprised at how quickly their show in TBMC in February sold out. It doesn’t take long to realise there are more than a few members of Broken Social Scene, so when the band rolled into Galway recently, I was more than delighted to grab lead guitarist Andrew “Whitey” Whiteman for a chance to pick his brain and dissect the bells and whistles of their ostentatious production values.

There seems to be a bit of an explosion going on with Canadian bands at the moment, what do you think’s going on?

“I guess for us that question’s kind of a few years old. For us, the rush you get from thinking: ‘wow, look at all these Canadian bands coming up’ – that happened a few years ago, so maybe it’s just that now it’s making ripples over here. I don’t know much to say about how it feels because we’re on the road all the time and that kind of deflects the feeling of it because it’s a whole different existence. But I mean there’s a lot of great music from Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver and it’s just a good time, I guess.”

You don’t think that, in the wake of Arcade Fire’s success, maybe a certain part of the music industry are looking to Canada now even more…in a cynical way, almost.

“I don’t know what we can serve up to them – do you know what I mean? I don’t know what they would really want. I remember seeing Arcade Fire four or five years ago and I would never have imagined that they would be played on the kind of radio stations that your average secretary listens to, along with the likes of Rod Stewart – I would never have guessed that! So I don’t know what the industry would be hoping for. The Canadian bands that I’m in love with, they’re certainly not compromised or capitulating…

In terms of Broken Social Scene, there are so many elements to it – and so many people on stage even – that it almost seems like a collective rather than a band. Would you go along with that?

“We got a little bit of backlash for using the word collective due to its political connotations, so I wouldn’t want to use that because we’re not really an overtly political unit, although the lessons you learn from being in a band that has this many people – meaning anywhere from eight to sixteen, not including all the non-musical people in our crew – fluctuating, changing together, you learn certain lessons politically…sorry, what was your question again? (laughs)

Seeing the group as a melting pot or a team, rather than just a band…

“Yeah, absolutely. I mean it feels exactly like a family – a large, dysfunctional family, and it’s just what we do together.”

I was listening back to ‘You Forgot It In People’ recently and there seems to be a definite progression from the KC Accidental days right up to the new album. Would you agree?

“Oh absolutely, I would.”

What do you think that’s down to?

“Given that KC Accidental was pretty much Brendan and Kevin, and the first Broken Social Scene record was just them noodling in the basement. Then came the band and we played for a year – approximately five shows – but we jammed a lot. Then we hooked up with (Dave) Newfeld and made ‘You Forgot It In People’, and his thumbprint is all over that. For some reason, we played some more shows and the record blew, so now we’ve been on tour for three years solidly and in between coming off the road is when we made ‘Broken Social Scene’. So progression was inherent in that. Plus, Newfeld was as shocked as anyone else that ‘You Forgot It In People’ took off so he obviously amped up his side of things considerably – (impersonates the producer) ‘More! More tracks! More compression!’”

I’ve been told you’re playing a three hour set tonight…

“Oh reeeeaaaally…I don’t know about that.”

Well would that be very much a one-off thing then, or do you come close to that in your standard sets? Can you even sustain that over a tour?

“It depends…we do get into it. On the last tour, we did end up playing two and a half hour sets, so it’s not unheard of. I doubt it’s going to happen tonight, simply because this is the first show of our tour and we’ve had three people exchanged. We lost Lisa Lobsinger and John Crossingham and we got Jason Tate on percussion – who’s never played with us before – and then we have Amy and Evan from the band Stars, who we haven’t really toured with in a year and a half.”

Are you interested in how it’ll sound, whether it’ll keep things fresh for you?

“Absolutely! Are you kiddin’? I would die of boredom without these little injections of newness.”

It hasn’t been that long since you were last in Ireland. Would you remember that, or is it all just a blur?

“No, no, no. Certain places stand out. Well, everywhere stands out, but Ireland’s special for everybody. We’re thrilled to go there and play, not just Dublin, but Belfast too – that was a big thing for us. We were really happy to reach out and go there, and then playing here is the same sort of feeling. It’s fantastic to play somewhere that’s not ‘the’ place where everyone goes. People are like: ‘oh, we’re going to Ireland…’ – no you’re not, you’re going to Dublin – which is a fantastic place, but if you’re going to Dublin, then you’re leaving straight after – that doesn’t count, that’s not Ireland. I wish we could spend more time here, basically.”

So what do you think of the Heineken Green Spheres concept?

“Well, let’s see…I wouldn’t exactly know the back-story to it, but if you follow down every event and who is paying for it, I don’t know whether or not you’d be shocked but more likely than not, you’d find people promoting that event and paying for that event that you’re not really proud of and that you’re not willing to support. Sure, Heineken’s the same way – it’s a giant multi-national corporation. I didn’t know personally that that was going on here, but I do know we’re playing here – we’re playing Galway and that’s fantastic.”

Well the idea is basically to have “trendy” bands and have them play out of the way places for fans only…

“Well the only other gig that I know Heineken have done is a gig that I wish I was at, which is one with my favourite flamenco singer, Enrique Morente. He did a gig where he jammed with Sonic Youth and they played in Valencia in Spain, and that sounds like exactly the same sort of deal. You know, Valencia’s a bit out of the way, and that’s a fantastic gig so maybe they’re doing great shows. It’s great for the fans and it’s great for us too.”

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.

Copyright © 2006 – Connected