This Is Not TV

I once had a friend who knew a dour New Zealand couple that were consistently and unwittingly hilarious. He would regale us with their favourite phrase and we would laugh, both at his accent and its absurdity: “How’s Ewan?” “Same as ever: unpredictable.” Pulled Apart By Horses are a bit like that. You know it’s going to get weird and silly, but that’s all you know. Therefore, this interview should be hoot.

Formed from the choicest cuts of Concentration Champ (drummer Lee Vincent), It Take Bridges (guitarist James Brown), Mother Vulpine (front man Tom Hudson) and Monster Killed By Laser (Robert Lee), PABH (as they shall be known for the duration) first came into being at a ‘secret gig’ on 13^th February, with guests being invited by text message. Their pre-gig birth is, however, up for interpretation. “It was a bloody mucky mess,” says Rob, getting weird, “there was hay everywhere, I put my arm up the wrong hole first…” getting weirder, “but I held it in my arms and it was a beautiful moment.” James (a self-confessed ‘fucking idiot’) turns on him with a look of puzzlement on his face. “What, were you dying?” he says, “our band started…” followed by a drawn out death rattle. Yep, things have degenerated pretty quickly. Good. “It’s really boring actually,” says Tom soberly, “It started on the internet with James getting a bit bored and sending some emails.”

“Yeah, it’s not very exciting,” admits James. “ I heard Lee had left Concentration Champ and I was like ‘He likes Jesus Lizard, I like Jesus Lizard, let’s start a Jesus Lizard band,’” he drops the Alfie Noakes voice for a moment. “But that’s the complete opposite of what happened.” What actually happened was that Lee, James and Rob started rehearsing in a room in a less than salubrious area of the town before realising they needed a singer. James from Napoleon 111rd was considered for a while, but it was Tom who stepped manfully into the breach, turning up to a rehearsal “AND THAT WAS IT!” shouts James indignantly. It could have all gone wrong, though. Tom had met Lee once before at the Library… and been a bit scared of him. “He had a stocking over his face and was pounding the crap out of drums,” Tom says in his defence. “And he had just finished having a wee.”

Okay, so if they don’t sound like the Jesus Lizard, what do they sound like? Everything else, apparently. Everything good. “I always have lots of trouble trying to describe in interviews ‘so what does your band sound like?’” Says James putting on silly voice no. 3, “but I think it’s because we’ve all come from totally different bands and it’s just one big melting pot and the end product is… one big mash-up.”

“I think you can definitely hear stuff like Nirvana and RATM coming back in,” says Lee, “not because we sound like them, but because it’s stuff we’re influenced by, it becomes part of how you play music, and when you try to play naturally, everything that you’ve been brought up on comes out again.” But it’s not just about the bands you listened to, is it? There’s a whole teen culture with games and silly jokes coming out too. The Super Hang On thing?

“It was Paul Marshall’s birthday,” says James grinning, “and he really liked the game when he was a kid; he wrote some lyrics to the theme tune and used to sing them all the time.”

Lee nods, smiling. “He wants to sing the intro to that song when we do an album or something.”

“A lot of it’s based on a silly sense of humour that we all share rather than…” Rob trails off, making shapes, “and it turns itself into music.” Yeah, those titles certainly reflect a silly sense of humour. Part Chris Morris, part Peter Cook… part Richard Attenborough.

“I didn’t realise ‘til the other day,” says James, wide eyed, “I was sitting on the train, and I’d written out a set list in a book and I remember reading ‘I Punched a Lion In The Throat’ and I thought ‘what the fuck is that?’” the rest of the band explode into giggles. “My mum originally thought the title of that song was ‘I Punched My Girlfriend In the Throat’” says Tom. James calms down for a moment. “She was really upset by it…”

But the musical and humorous influences are linked intrinsically to and by the overriding philosophy of PABH: have a good time, all the time. “When we started doing it,” says James, “it was for fun. I think that’s when those influences from when you were a lot younger would come out… we are a serious band, but if we were a band trying to sound like the Arctic Monkeys, I think it wouldn’t be as much fun and everything about it, about us going out for drinks or doing a gig… it’s just about enjoying ourselves. It comes out in the music… you think of happy times and you end up playing a Nirvana chord…” So it’s a bit of a crisis thing? “It is for me,” says Lee gruffly, “I’m old.”

If you haven’t tagged on to the element of fun when listening to their recorded stuff, full of sound and fury signifying… well, lion abuse for a start, going out to see them drives the point home more thoroughly than embroidering with a pile-driver. Rob, Tom and James throw themselves about the stage like it was electrified and by the end if someone is not in casualty, projectile vomiting or stark bullock naked, it’s been a quiet night. “Tom keeps throwing up on stage,” jokes James, “it’s turned into our gimmick.” Tom quite infamously emptied his guts on the Introducing stage at the end of their set at Reading this year. “It’s happened three times in the past four gigs,” says Tom, “although Reading Festival was from pushing it too much and going all out… but I didn’t mind it then.”

James leaps in to defend Tom. “But with Tom,” he says, “out of all of us, he’s the one that’s screaming and jumping and playing guitar at the same time and, outside of that, he’s the one staying up ‘til four in the morning doing the artwork.” So he’s the pusher?

“When you’re playing it live,” explains Lee, “there’s no effort at all because you’re having such a good time… I think on the… admin side of things, the things you do outside of playing live, James is definitely the guy who pushes us all and sorts everything out. I’m not saying that he’s good or anything…” he quickly adds.

“You never want to say that,” says James.

“But you’re an eager bastard,” says Tom, finishing him off.

As well as playing the Leeds and Reading festivals, PABH have also signed with alternative noise merchants Big Scary Monsters, home of Tubelord, Blakfish and Itch, to release their first single, ‘Meat Balloon’. With James running his own label, it does strike me as owning a dog and barking yourself, but what do I know? “I think when you have your own label,” says Lee, “it just seems so easy to do that yourself. I think if you find other people who you respect and will make it good and are willing to put money and time into it… you just know they’re going to do a really good job.” In answer to my previous question about my personal knowledge, apparently very little. “We did have a couple of offers at the start,” adds James, “some in Leeds, some other people – but I think with [Big Scary Monsters] it’s based on the bands and stuff that are on the label… there’s some really good stuff, so I think we’re suited to do a release with them.” Professional in operation but DIY in attitude, Big Scary Monsters may not make hod loads of cash, but their collective heart is in the right place. “They’re bang into it,” says Lee, “not because they think ‘we can make a bit of money off the back of these guys,’ no, they really like the band… they’re just really nice people to work with.”

Rob rouses himself from a moments alcoholic musing. “The thing with releasing it through On The Bone,” he says methodically, “is that it would have been too easy. We wanted to wait for some outside enthusiasm.” The rest of the band sit back looking very satisfied with this answer, so I move on… to Spain!

The concept of these guys abroad is a frightening one, even more so when it transpires that it wasn’t their idea. “It was really early on actually” says James, “they asked us. We’d had these songs up (on Myspace) for about two months when we got this message saying, ‘come to Spain to do a tour,’ and we thought what’s this gonna involve? Are we gonna have to pay for it all blah blah blah, but basically they said ‘we’ll do it all for you, we really want you to do it.’”

Lee nods in agreement. “It’s a testament to the music scene in mainland Europe – you don’t get that over here. There’s no DIY Spanish booking agent that will go to a Spanish band and say, ‘do you want to come over to the UK and we’ll sort you out a tour.’ It’ll never happen. But I think they’ve got much better attitude to underground bands over there. Any promoter in the UK could learn a lot from Europe. There’s still good places in the UK, but they go above and beyond, they look after bands so well and people over there seem to be a lot more into going and seeing bands they’ve never heard before.”

“I think the main reason we were asked to play there was because we sound remarkably like the Gypsy Kings,” says Rob sensibly.

So to recap: in eight or so months they’ve played two of the biggest festivals in the UK, got themselves signed to a label and agreed to tour Spain. Swallowing my justifiable envy, I ask them what they put their success down to. As a group they shrug. “I can’t fathom it,” says Lee, “don’t get me wrong, it’s really cool and really exciting but I don’t have a fucking clue.”

“I guess some bands come along at certain times and it’s what people want to listen to.” Rob tails off, shrugging. “I dunno, I’d like to think that’s the case for us – I hope it is because that’s literally the only explanation I have. Other than that… I think it’s quite evident that we enjoy ourselves when we’re playing and people just want to have a good time too and get involved with it.”

Tom picks up on this. “I think there’s so many bands now that are just going for the big goal and they’re trying so hard and are so serious about it… I don’t know, I think it’s refreshing to see someone doing it because they’re enjoying it… a bit of a party.”

From what I’m hearing, all of them have been in those serious bands and have seen what can happen. “You get to a point when you’re in a band,” says James, “and you play a gig and you’re quiet and you’re really pissed off and don’t play properly and your hearts not in it… I think that’s the point where you should start questioning why you’re doing it. Because I think, not to be big headed, we’re doing it for all the right reasons. We love it… that’s all.”

And so, it would appear, do a lot of other people. Especially the naked guy who gets up on stage with them an hour later. And with horrified realisation, I knew where they’d got the title of their debut single from.

‘Meat Balloon’ is released on 27^th October on Big Scary Monsters and it isn’t named after what I thought. They will be returning from Spain to play the Brainwash Festival on 18^th October unless they get sold into arse slavery. Oh yes, and in case I forget: spatchcock!

Popularity: 8% [?]

The Great Escape Festival, even in its short life time, has already garnered itself as a place to make or break bands thanks to its penchant for new music. Yet every year there is an act or two who are already on the runway with engines running using the festival season as a platform to launch themselves into the stratosphere that is the public consciousness. Whilst the Ting Tings were getting ready to top the charts the other must see of the festival weekend Bon Iver (pronounced Bonn eevair) was in the midst of a busy week breaking Britain. With a couple of Jools Holland sessions, two appearances at the Great Escape, and gigs in London and Sheffield sandwiched in between the man who can do no wrong did pretty well to find time to speak to TINTV just before he kicked proceedings off at Pressure Point. Right now Justin Vernon (the man behind Bon Iver) can do no wrong and if you haven’t seen or heard him in the past few weeks you may well have had your head buried in the sand. Even then, pictures cannot sufficiently communicate his gentle giant qualities.

Lounging on a sofa in the bar below Pressure Point, where he would later prove how different the live show is to the sounds produced on ‘For Emma…Forever Ago’, sporting an understated cap, jumper and jeans with rucksack in tow Justin Vernon looked every bit the travelling musician, “We just turn the record inside out, the songs are in the same sort of order as the album but the live show is a whole different concept”.

It took a second longer glance to see the man who went into the forests of Wisconsin in the depths of winter with a shotgun and a guitar and brought back the album of the year so far. It is amazing what a bit of alone time can do for some people.

Having read various articles, blogs and biogs that mention Justin in a previous life singing in Bruce Springsteen tones it was interesting to speak to the man himself about where the layers of vocal brilliance on ‘For Emma…’ come from. “It was very accidental at the time. When you are alone for that length of time you challenge yourself and try out different things and you don’t have anyone to tell you whether it is good or bad.” With his new found freedom he began to create songs rather than write them, going about the whole process without lyrics, a guitar or any structure “The songs started as layers of vocal building, sounds and syllables and were there in a certain form before I decided exactly how the guitar should be sound. I think this made the delivery of the songs more poignant and meaningful”.

On the subject of meanings I asked how much of the stories were true and who was the Emma who the record appears to be dedicated to. The question was met with a lot of ums and arrghs before the answer came. “It’s a hard question, one to which there is no easy way to answer. Emma was like my first love, who I thought I would spend my life with and then you get to your early twenties and go your separate ways; a lot of people have them. Well I spent a long time looking at this void in my life and blaming her, and then during the record I just realised it was as much me as anything else and this had started to come out in the songs. I had filled the hole and it was framing the songs that were already there and it framed and influenced the songs that weren’t. It summed up the record and I am big on titles, they are an important part of anything you create. It is supposed to be the start of a letter.”

A lot has been made of Justin’s successful winter and how it was the result of the break up of his former band DeYarmond Edison, but Justin insists their friendships stay strong. “It’s not that simple, there were people in that band I’ve been playing with since I was 11 or 12 and most of them I have been close to for the last decade. I still speak to them, I still miss them, I miss being in a band but for this I was musically better off with the isolation.”

Amongst the many myths surrounding the rise of Bon Iver is one that sits a little out of place with the old fashioned hunter gatherer way of life, the effect of Pitchfork Media and the internet is something to be thankful for, after all without it we may never have stumbled across Bon Iver at all. “It was crazy, we had sold 375 copies off our own backs over a period of time and we were already talking to labels, but then somehow Pitchfork got their hands on it, without us sending out any copies to the media or anything like that and the same day a review appeared in the New York Times and the last 125 copies of the record went that afternoon. All of a sudden we were talking to bigger labels with a bit more power and things took off.”

The album itself is a story from start to finish, and is proof enough that shuffle buttons are bad for music, each song appears more powerful when surrounded by its partners. “Like I said, the songs are framed by what they represent and as a whole I see them as sort of a bloodline, a family of mine that I made behind closed doors and came out with this vibe. There was a lot of thought that went into ordering the songs and mixing them together; they are where they are for a reason.”

Just a few hours later this emotionally charged but often soft record was used as the main tool to rock the roof off of Pressure Point, instruments and artists were carried into the crowd, who joined in pitch perfect for “Skinny Love” and with/without the bands encouragement threw backing vocals in for “The Wolves”. Just as he had promised the live show turned the record “inside out” and with the help of some extra additions, including a guitarist who was given one night to decide to continue at college or go on the road with Justin, created, from the same roots of beautiful songs and spine-tingling timbre, a completely different spectacle.

Popularity: 1% [?]

By now you’ve read the tour blog, seen the photos and tried to book a gig in Birmingham through Professor Robot, so it seems only fair to put up the interview that Tom and Rich gave before the tour – see if you can spot the irony lurking amidst these lines…

They’re not what you’d expect them to be, these two. Glissando spin out epic black candyfloss confections as light as air, as mournful as Penelope’s shroud, built insubstantially from minimal piano phrases, ambient synths, samples and bowed guitars from Richard Knox and bound together by the haunted, fragile vocals of Ellie Irving – it’s the stuff of abandoned toys in attics and other ghosts of childhood. Her Name Is Calla, though similarly epic, are more robust. Their songs arise from ambient folk soundscapes to cataclysmic riff laden climaxes, punctured by Tom Morris furious cries and Thomas Corah and Sophie Barnes blaring brass. You’d expect them all to be fairly dour and quite serious. So wrong, so wrong…

Rich (Glissando) has collared Tom (Calla) from packing up duties and he’s looking a trifle confused. “I didn’t realise I was staying for this,” he says, “I just came to get my piano case.” Still, general confusion, spontaneous puzzlement and utter bewilderment all go hand in hand with touring, which is what the two of them will be doing for the next week or so. Having both recently released albums (Her Name Is Calla’s ‘The Heritage’ and Glissando’s ‘With Our Arms Wide Open We March Towards The Burning Sea’) in need of some promotion, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Who’s was it? “It’s half and half really,” says Rich quietly amidst the furore of instruments being stowed and the birthday party next door. “We decided to do it… just to push a few areas that we had… and it worked out alright. I think.”

“At our level where you’ve got no representation it’s really hard to get things fluid, getting one day after another,” adds Tom, openly proud of their achievement, “no-one really wants to take two smallish touring bands. But it all seemed to come together really easily. Two of the dates we’d prefer the other way around because it means we’re going to have to do more driving, but in general things have been really good.”

“We’re just looking for fees to cover the petrol,” says Rich, ever practical, “that’s the starting point, and because we’re travelling together we can pool the money, plus travelling together is… nice.”

Nice? That’s a new word for it. Last time I spoke to Calla, they cheerfully recounted the drubbing Rich received at their hands. Tom grins evilly when I mention this. “Touring with us is quite eventful. We’re really worried about Sophie and Ellie because they’ve not come out on the road with us before.” I ask if he’ll be showing some sort of restraint with the ladies, stumble half way through my statement and end up in Mark Manning territory. I meant restraint, not restraints, Tom. “We’ll try… but probably after a few days…” he tails off enigmatically before regaining the thread. “It’s not that we do anything wrong, it’s just that… we seem to get involved with Portuguese drugs barons and things like that.” Tom reconsiders his last statement. “I wouldn’t say he was a drug baron, more of a peddler.”

“We have some footage of Mike asphixo-wanking…” chips in Rich. We’re going that way again…

Fortunately, Thom chooses to interrupt at that point, with a moment of purest Tap brilliance. “The handle of my case just broke,” he says mournfully, “the tour’s off.” After some gentle persuasion by Tom, he is mollified and continues to load up the van. I tentatively re-approach the subject of touring hijinks… “Basically, the last tour that these guys had, they played with Twilight Sad,” says Rich. “Pete (iLiKETRAiNS sound man) came with us and said it was the best time ever – and he’s done like a million tours.”

Tom stops Rich, remembering something. “About half way through,” he says, ”we had to pull over and all sit apart for about half an hour because… I didn’t know it was possible to get bruises from laughing so much.” It all sounds very chaotic and rock and roll. “What you’ve got to remember is,” explains, Richard, “all the tours that our two bands do are holidays from work and families. So none of us take holidays at all. We have to have a good time or it’s like more work and more work.”

Tom nods. “If we could take it to the next level,” he says dreamily, “if we could take more days off work and get more money from gigs then we could go out more – which would be ace.” It can’t be easy with petrol costing an organ every time you want to go beyond the city limits either. “Petrol costs are insane,” agrees Tom. “But apart from that, there are no real negative aspects, so we’ll keep on going out on tour.”

The tour this time around will be re-visiting some familiar haunts, but also opening up new territory. “I’m really looking forward to playing Newcastle and Cardiff,” says Tom.

“Cardiff’s a nice place,” confirms Rich, “and the promoter’s done a lot of work.” Tom notices that all his equipment has been put away. “This is awesome,” he says, “like having roadies. TRAiNS haven’t even got roadies.”

“I’m not really looking forward to London,” admits Tom, recovering from the novelty. “I don’t know what the York one’s going to be like. We seem to be playing some places this time that we haven’t played before – well, we’ve only been to York once… there are places that we’ve played at once, really small gigs, so it’s nice to get the chance to go back.”

“And because we’ve got the two records out,” Rich rethinks frowning, “but the students have gone, so it might be a difficult time.” Chin up, Rich, things could get worse.

At this point, the noise level rises a decibel next door as they put on Guitar Hero. “I think I might walk in there with my balls out,” says Rich, “see what happens.”

“I think someone would punch you,” says Tom.

Rich shrugs. “They’re playing Guitar Hero.” For some reason, this seems to explain everything for him.

‘The Heritage’ and ‘With Our Arms Wide Open We March Towards The Burning Sea’ are both out now and available from Gizeh Records.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Right, these intros are getting beyond a joke. Just print the goddamn interview:

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at this year’s Latitude festival across the Arenas (Obelisk, Uncut, Comedy, Theatre, Literary and Poetry, Film & Music) and why?

I’m excited to see Sigur Ros again, they put on a magnificent show and Crystal Castles purely for great energy and Interpol, coz I’ve loved them forever!

What aspect of Latitude Festival interests you the most and why?

I guess the fact that the festival acknowledges various genres of music/art/culture is a real turn on for everyone. Latitude’s kinda like the hot geek at school, you know, a lil Leelee Sobieski in ‘Never Been Kissed’, she’s cultured and sexy and ways eccentric. That’s how I feel about Latitude, a lil nerdy, but profoundly cooler than the rest.

What can people expect you to bring to the festival and do you have anything special planned?

We’re in the process of finishing our second record, so defiantly a whole lotta new songs, we’re anxious but excited, it’ll be one of our first few shows since the last tour!

If you weren’t doing this what would you be doing?

Anything involved in the arts, fashion, media, and culture. I have to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE what I do.

What is your favourite colour Sheep?

Aubergine

Popularity: 2% [?]

Less than three weeks to go – still no idea of how to put up tent – still no sign of tickets. If you are in a similar boat (hoping that we won’t need one of those too), sooth yourself with these calmly spoken words from stick-and-key man David Boulter concerning all things latitude:

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at this year’s Latitude festival across the Arenas (Obelisk, Uncut, Comedy, Theatre, Literary and Poetry, Film & Music) and why?

I’m only there Sunday, so I’ll miss Julian Cope. Barry Adamson and Jonny Trunk in the Film and Music Arena sound good to me. Hope I’m there then.

What aspect of Latitude Festival interests you the most and why?

Latitude seems to offer something else, and diverse acts get space. It seems to make sense.

What can people expect you to bring to the festival and do you have anything special planned?

We’re playing as a 12 piece band at the moment and it’s been great fun, so some of that.

If you weren’t doing this what would you be doing?

Sat in one of the many beer gardens of Praha, where I live. Probably in a 3 piece suit, so pretty much the same as at Latitude.

What is your favourite colour Sheep?

I once saw a huge orange sheep. Like a really rusty orange. That was pretty funky. It may of been the mushrooms from the meadow next door though. Or maybe it was a cow?

Popularity: 13% [?]

As the weeks, days and hours count down to Latitude (and I still haven’t worked out how I’m going to put the tent up yet), bide a while and read this laconic interview with Fife’s extra special terrestrials, The Aliens:

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at this year’s Latitude festival across the Arenas (Obelisk, Uncut, Comedy, Theatre, Literary and Poetry, Film & Music) and why?
The aliens will probably hanging around the comedy tent, picking up tips for our new album. Seen Bill Bailey a few times over the years and always thought he was smashing.

What aspect of Latitude Festival interests you the most and why?
The poetry/comedy/theatre stages.

What can people expect you to bring to the festival and do you have anything special planned?
We are bringing a tent full of psychedelia and a fridge full of funk.

If you weren’t doing this what would you be doing?
The dishes.

What is your favourite colour Sheep?
Wool coloured

Told you it was short. Kudos for using the word ‘smashing’ though.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Continuing the short and irregular series of interviews with artists playing at the Latitude Festival and their opinions on said festival, here is a brief insight into the thoughts and opinions of everyone’s favourite half man half vole, Bill Bailey!

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at this year’s Latitude festival across the Arenas (Obelisk, Uncut, Comedy, Theatre, Literary and Poetry, Film & Music) and why?
Elbow, Sigur Ros, Interpol, Phil Jupitus doing Porky the Poet, Mark Lamarr doing God’s Jukebox, Rich Hall. John Hegley, Elbow, because they are wonderful, Sigur Ros cos I love the grandness, the huge sounds, the slow build..

Interpol cos they continue the spirit of guitar indie punk that I grew up on, Phil is doing poetry again, which is great, what he did before anything, his first love, Mark is playing records – what he loves – and Rich Hall is doing Otis, but also just stand-up – we’ve toured together, and it’s always good to hear what he has to say. John Hegley is performing who was an early inspiration.

What aspect of Latitude Festival interests you the most and why?
I love the mix of stuff, the great bands, and the fact there is a Poetry Arena..
Good vibes all round..

What can people expect you to bring to the festival and do you have anything special planned?
I will bring my Bouzouki-Saz Hybrid and I will act on the impulse of the crowd

If you weren’t doing this what would you be doing?
Holding up shells to my ear.

What is your favourite colour Sheep?
Blue

Popularity: 4% [?]

For anyone labouring under the false apprehension that pride and humility are mutually exclusive, try meeting someone like James Yorkston. This softly spoken enigma, based in the unlikely star cradle of Anstruther (a seaside village in the East Neuk of Fife that boasts one of the country’s best fish and chip shops and has direct links to the Beta Band, Aliens, King Creosote, the Fence Collective and KT Tunstall) started his musical journey playing in punk band Miraclehead and later Huckleberry. His first solo release, the single ‘Moving Up Country/Roaring The Gospel’ was awarded title of the year by John Peel in 2001, released under the title of ‘J. Wright Presents’. It was more than just a good title though, and caught the attention of Domino head Laurence Bell, who soon had him signed up as ‘James Yorkston and The Athletes.’ The album ‘Moving Up Country’ was released in 2002, a touching, quiet and poignant collection, and was named Album Of The Year by Rough Trade. His two follow up albums, ‘Just Beyond The River’ (2004) and ‘Year Of The Leopard’ (2006) received a comparable level of praise. I hate to use the words ‘universal acclaim,’ but when reviewers bandy the word ‘masterpiece’ around like it was available for a limited time only and Plan B like them… he’s doing something right.

So it was odd that my first encounter with him was as warm-up act for an indie disco at the Faversham in Leeds (supported by Kenny Anderson aka King Creosote), hardly a quiet or particularly salubrious setting. However, amidst the noise and fury he made a little nest for himself and his loyal fans, one of which I became that night. Fast forward to the more intimate surroundings of Cockpit 3, where a small but select group of listeners catch him on a ‘for the hell of it tour’ Being such a lovely man, he agrees to come to a pub that is dry by the time we get there and answer a few slightly sozzled questions.

“It’s a council tax tour to be honest,” he says whilst his ‘roadie’ Dave rolls a cigarette and chuckles in the background. “I just felt I wanted to do some live shows because we’d spent so much time rehearsing and recording for the album.” So it’s not related to the album? He shakes his head. “There’s no real reason for it to be now, it’s just that I wanted to get on the road and play again.” Having only done about three shows this year, it’s understandable that he’s been feeling a bit cabin-y, plus his new material remains an unknown live quantity. “I played a few of the new songs tonight and I still don’t have a clue what I’m doing with them… I don’t know where they’re gonna go, how they’re gonna end up, and it’s interesting but… you’ve gotta go through that.” Though this sounds quite resigned, he says it with determination and confidence: if it worked in the studio, it will work on the road, even if it becomes something totally unexpected.

‘Unexpected’ sums up James’ live act quite well in fact: he takes requests (‘I Feel Love’ and ‘Ace of Spades were quite inspired requests/renditions); he jokes and converses with the audience; he meanders and makes up stories about rescuing sheep; he goes off into Public Enemy’s ‘Fight The Power.’ James grins cheerfully about this “I did a series of shows a long time ago with a chap,” he explains, “and he said ‘it doesn’t matter if it’s a good show or a bad show, people just wanna feel that they’ve experienced something.’ When you’ve got that on board, you can relax a lot more on stage. [And] It makes it a lot more interesting for me because, although I’ve written out a set list, you can imagine playing night after night that it’s going to be more fun when you communicate with the audience.” In a way, it sounds like a neat little game of give and take: you put the spectacular production on the records; you put the bad jokes in the gig. “You can’t have that on the record,” he says, the epitome of self deprecation, “because face it that’s what they are. It’s just crap.”

This tour is an admittedly understated affair, but he has toured with some very interesting artists in the past, including The Tindersticks and Adem. “It was good fun touring with Adem. He’s good guy, really friendly. I did a show with him recently,” he recounts, “playing with Daniel Johnston and we had to learn some songs to do with him. I was in a ferocious mood so I hadn’t learned any of the songs so I just thought ‘fuck it, I’m not going to learn the songs.’ But I got there and Adem had learned all the songs and he just taught me them and it meant that the show was great.” He has also toured with Rodrigo Y Gabriella, an unlikely match at best. There is an unspoken amusement shared between Dave and James when I mention it. “The thing is that last album (Year Of The Leopard) cost quite a lot of money to make. To try and promote the record, they try and get you supports and whatever to try and spread the word. I was happy to do it, because the way I see it, somebody’s invested.” Here he makes an analogy to haircuts and marketing that makes some kind of sense to my beer-befuddled brain. “We keep scores on tours. You get a point if you thought it was a worthwhile gig and you lose a point if it’s not worthwhile or a no-score draw. I think we won that tour something like 7-5. So it was worth doing but… I don’t think the audience gave a monkeys about us but it was reasonably good fun. They’re (Rodrigo Y Gabriella) very nice people.” He sighs, another moment of resignation. “Look, they’re two people who play amazingly quick guitar music and basically what I do is play very sad, slow songs, so it’s never really gonna work.”

Though James has strong sense of duty, he doesn’t seem to be overly enamoured with the business side of things, especially considering his stance on advertising in ‘Woozy With Cider’ and his refusal to sell one of his songs to sell butter. “I shouldn’t have said that,” he says with some regret. “That advert thing was funny, because I got offered it and I said ‘no’ and I got in a lot of trouble with other musicians who said I was a fucking idiot for not taking it and that me not taking it made them look bad because they were taking adverts.” He changes to a more positive tack, not really wanting to be drawn into the question too far. “But it’s absolutely up to every individual whether they want to take adverts or not. A lot of my friends have done and I’ve got nothing against them whatsoever – Vashti did really well with the orange advert, Kenny (King Creosote) did a Coca Cola advert and that’s absolutely fine… for me, I didn’t want to advertise butter.” Considering that James is a Vegan, it does make good sense. Besides, at least two of his songs have popped up on Skins, so if that isn’t promotion… “Skins played ‘Tender To The Blues’ – I think that was on the Friday – and on Sunday, Country File had ‘Moving Up Country.’” He laughs, considering his demographic. “No, I was delighted to do Skins – I actually watch that programme!”

It may sound like a strange combination, but adolescence and James’ first album, ‘Moving Up Country’ do feel like a good match with it’s take on love, as opposed to ‘Just Beyond The River’s take on… love gone wrong. He frowns. “You see, I think it’s completely the opposite,” he says. “I think ‘Moving Up Country’ is the big break up album – if you listen to songs like ‘Tender To The Blues’ and ‘St Patrick,’ ‘Six Thirty Is Way Too Early.’ I guess there are songs on there which are more optimistic, but those three songs are fairly dour whereas for me… ‘Heron’ is just a great song, even if it doesn’t do anything, ‘Shipwreckers,’ ‘Surf Song,’ ‘This Time Tomorrow’ – I just think they’re really optimistic songs.” He reconsiders for a moment. “And then you’ve got ‘Banjo #1’ which is really fucking dark… and ‘Hermitage’ is really dark as well…” But ‘Year Of The Leopard’ was a lot more positive on the whole? “‘Year Of The Leopard’ was my favourite album until this new one.”

Which leads us neatly onto the as yet unnamed album, due out in August this year. More optimistic and featuring a huge range of instruments, James describes it eagerly: “Sonically I’d say it was like the first one, but it hasn’t got the full band – not much drums on it, ‘cos our drummer’s ill, but tone wise it’s more like ‘Year of the Leopard.’ There are lots of really long songs, eight minute songs on it, and I just think the orchestration and instruments… for me, really exciting and some of the best things I’ve done but it’s so hard to say… Domino took one listen to it and said ‘that’s fine’ but I haven’t had any reviews yet so I don’t know if it’s a good record or not.” He retreats into humility, just for a moment, but the excitement he shows for it has it’s own momentum now. “I mean, obviously I know it’s a good record to me, but I don’t know if it’s going to be accepted. We’ll see. At this stage, I feel that I’m sitting with a good record under my belt, and it’s great having the Watersons on it and Nancy Elizabeth Cunliffe on it and everyone who’s there playing really well.” It certainly sounds like an ambitious piece of work – it’s a good thing they’re behind it. “They’re a very supportive label. The fact that they still release music from people like me even though they’ve got much, much bigger artrists who are making them money, it just shows, in my eyes, what a good label they are.” Domino also represent Franz Ferdinand and Artic Monkeys, to name but two of an impressive list. “And it’s not just blind acceptance,” he continues, “they do say no, though they’ve not said no to anything I’ve ever handed in but they do say no. I count them as friends now; all the people that have been there since I’ve joined I count as friends. Very nice people.” He pauses. “And I’ll be dropped next week.”

Once this impromptu tour finishes, James admits he has a busy time ahead. The album artwork needs finishing, he has some Pictish Trail and Fence shows planned, “I guess I’ll be digging out the last patch of the garden… that sort of thing. And I’ll be working on the next record as well, which I don’t really want to talk about because I have to concentrate on this new one but the next one… I’m really excited about.” And with that, the hunger takes him and he’s off with Dave to seek out some vegan food. And something to wet his whistle. Sorry.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at this year’s Latitude festival and why?
Grinderman happen to be playing the same day as Interpol, whom I know from NY. Good band: I remember when they used to play tiny Manhattan clubs like Brownies, way back when. I haven’t seen them perform in a long time and I’m really looking forward to seeing them again most of all. It will also be nice to hook up with The Breeders; The Bad Seeds spent an entire summer touring the US with them on the 1994 Lollapalooza.

What aspect of Latitude Festival interests you the most and why?
The audience: they seem more easygoing and relaxed than most festival crowds. Not frazzled, like they’ve been engaged in trench warfare for days, rather than enjoying themselves in the outdoors. Latitude seems to attract an interesting diversity of types and ages too.

What can people expect you to bring to the festival
A pink suit and a sturdy umbrella.

…and do you have anything special planned?
Eating ice cream in the sunshine in a sheep meadow – my idea of a good time. Maybe see what’s happening down at the Bimble Inn??

If you weren’t doing this what would you be doing?
I can’t imagine a more pleasurable way to pass a summer’s day.

What is your favourite colour Sheep?
Pink, of course… to match both my suit and drum kit.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at the Latitude festival and why?
I don’t go to festivals to see anyone in particular. For myself, what makes a festival great is not who you saw but who you missed, as it is evidence that there was so much going on you could not hope to take it all in.

What aspect of Latitude Festival interests you the most and why?
The name of the festival is its most essential aspect, for its title sums up everything about living here in these islands. We are lucky to be in a geographical location where food is guaranteed through our highly temperate climate, and where there is some kind of balance between the sexes.

What can people expect you to bring to the festival, do you have anything special planned?
People can expect a beautiful array of instruments, including 2 Mellotrons and several marching drums plus the strangest percussion rack this side of a Harry Partch composition. There will be epic amplifiers and extremely pretty guitars, plus anecdotes and strange tales. Also, I shall be playing both old and new material at the festival.

If you weren’t doing this what would you be doing?
I’d be researching for my next book, which is a study of the Ancient Law.

What is your favourite colour Sheep?
I’m interested only in the black sheep.

Popularity: 1% [?]