An ornate candle lit pub in a run down area of Kings Cross, with Chas & Dave playing on the Jukebox. Not a bad place to meet up for a chat with the frontman of the most exciting new band around at the moment. Just don't mind the Libertine hanging around in the background. It's time to fall in love with the band that will, without a doubt, dominate the next year and beyond in music.
Johnny: Just depends where you start because we have been together for 8 months, so it was just an extension of what we were doing before and it was just a question of finding the right people.
K: So are you the only existing member from the previous line-ups?
J: Yeah because I’ve been...I mean, Razorlight didn’t exist before everyone else was in it. Everyone was doing their own thing, I guess. But Razorlight happened when Carl joined the group and that was the last piece of the jigsaw so, you know, it's just getting the right people in, you know what I mean? I’ve known Christian from absolutely years ago and I always wanted to be in a band with him and I think he always wanted to be in a band with me, but it just never happened so I knew him when he was playing in Stony Sleep and I know his brother 'cause I used to play bass in Serafin as well. Bjorn I met almost a year ago now and just...
K: So where did you come across Carl then?
J: Carl is a friend of Bjorn’s – they come from the same little town. He told me he had this friend who was looking to be in a band, but that wouldn’t be right for the band cos - I shouldn’t say this... I only heard one story about him that he had been kicked out of the Garage at a Guided By Voices gigs and he was so fuckin' upset 'cause he had been waiting months and years to see them and he got thrown out before they even started playing and they played for 2 hours and played like every song, so he tried to break in and he climbed on the roof and... I don’t know how he got there. But he reckons there was a skylight and he was kind of looking down it. But he didn’t get in. So I sort of heard that and went to meet him.
K: With that kind of story you would want to meet the person??
J: Yeah absolutely, but I knew I wanted Carl in the band before I even met him and I knew I wanted Christian because I always liked the way he plays and Bjorn told me that he had a friend and it was just something about the way he said it. And it is working so far.
K: How did things go from there?
J: So we just got into the studio. We got a warehouse in Clapton and we all made a decision and kind of made a pact with ourselves that we were just going to do it. Work at it and make it happen. I think we had 5 songs when Christian joined and now we’ve got at least 20. It’s been like a dream really.
K: So all the practice comes together and...
J: Yeah, I think it is not obvious. I mean it takes 3 minutes to play a song and it can take a minute to write it, I mean you just get a verse and chorus and there you are, but it probably takes you without realising about 2 years to do it, because you take in everything and it will come out in different forms and stuff like that.
K: Two years ago you wouldn’t have imagined you would be here at the moment?
J: I was just walking down off Horleigh Crescent where there is a little shortcut and it's the first time I've walked down that street in 3 or 4 years or something like that, and I just suddenly realised that I remembered walking down that street about 3 years ago thinking about where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do and it is exactly where I am now! I just want to have a really good band and write really good songs.
K: So where do you see it all going from now?
J: Well, I think we are going to make a great album. I heard the demos for it the other day and that was sort of the first time that you can consume your own thing, and I was so blown away by it and it was one of the first moments I had when I was really, really proud. So, you know, I hope we make a really good album and I hope you like I it. I reckon you will, I hope everyone does.
K: I’ve liked what I’ve heard so far.
J: There are so many good songs. I mean we did 20 tracks for the album – so there is only going to be 12 on it or something like that.
K: So it’s already recorded or have you just recorded the demo at the moment?
J: No we’ve just recorded demos, and we will start recording it properly in a few weeks or something and... I think people will put it on for when they go out, and when they go to bed and when they are making love. I just think it will be wicked!
K: Have you got any plans for the first release?
J: 28th July.
K: "Rock-n-roll Lies"?
J: Yeah. With "In the City" and another b side.
K: It seems a shame to lose "In the City" on a b-side though.
J: John was just saying that to me.
K: It is too much of a... sorry!
J: Do you want a job? Do you wanna be A & R?
K: It is too good a song to lose as a b-side.
J: The first single is 1,000 copies so I am sure we will sell it out.
K: Is it going to be just a vinyl release?
J: Cd and some vinyl. I’m sure we will sell it out straight away and there is always a Xmas release. I mean, we could put it out again. I mean I wrote the song and I wrote it in two ways, but part of it was to be a great live song you know and it’s worked. We’ve never done a gig without anyone saying “oh we love that song”. The good thing now is that more are saying it about other songs as well.
K: It’s the one that everyone goes away singing though. It’s the one that sits in your head.
J: I get "To the Sea" in my head. I wake up in the morning and I’m just like... but I love that song. If I could live in any song I would live in "To The Sea".
K: It has been said that you are a band that have a New York versus a London sound. Would you agree with that?
J: Well they are both good things so that’s good. I mean I’ve never been to New York and I don’t sound like I come from New York so...
K: Are you from London?
J: Yep.
K: So do you see London as a big influence on your music?
J: Yeah, it’s got to be. There is not a song on the album that is about anywhere else or about anything else. Not at all – not that there is anything specific.
K: So what do you think of the constant comparisons you get to Television?
J: I am sort of flattered and amazed because Television wrote great pop songs and I think the heart of this band is... just put Carl in the room and put on "Here Comes the Summer" and I just, you know, that’s the heart of the band, do you know what I mean? There is not a song apart from "In the City" and "Vice"... there's nothing over 4 minutes on the album and most of the songs are either 2 minutes or not more than 3 minutes 20 and it's like a meeting point of a lot of things and I think that balance is really important and that's something that the band brings a lot – especially Bjorn and Carl. It's kind of a frame for things to fit into and I think what I do and what Christian does is kind of embellish it and go off on tangents, but they hold it in a straight formula. I mean, "Marquee Moon" is a brilliant album and it’s got 6 songs on it...or seven?
K: It's 8.
J: Right. When did you last listen to it?
K: About a week ago.
J: "Marquee Moon" always seems too fast when you are drunk.
K: I’ve never listened to it drunk actually, it's not one of those drunk albums. I can’t get my head around it.
J: You try and go to bed and put on "Marquee Moon" – it’s like that song seems like they're playing it too fast. I mean, it's better than being compared to Chas'N'Dave! There's something very poetic and non-specific with his lyrics, whereas I think in our songs there is a story there in every song.
K: I think a lot of it’s the vocals they see a comparison in.
J: Yeah but he whines a lot more and I sing with an English accent and he sings with an American accent. I mean maybe our larynxes are the same size. I don’t really think there is much there.
K: Have you got a label yet? I’ve heard that you have signed to Telstar.
J: We have a deal with Mercury and are signing it on Wednesday. There is stuff in here that is absolutely hilarious…
K: That is your evening reading?
J: It's 50 pages and I’ve read it all.
K: Blimey, when did you get it?
J: Friday, I think. We didn’t do anything at the weekend.
K: Is that the kind of label you wanted to go for?
J: I had no preconceptions at all. These were the people that we liked and they seemed to understand us. I think they understand it a lot further than the first album in terms of support.
K: So where do you get the inspiration for your lyrics?
J: I am trying to think of a specific example so that I can answer you properly. It's a funny thing sometimes because if you write a set of chords and a melody you could conceivably sing any words over it and they should work but they don’t. There's only a certain sound and type of syllables that work. So sometimes it will be that I just hear a sound in my head and I will match 2 or 3 words to it – the first couple of words, you know and then you just tell a story from there. You are always talking to someone, you know, there is always someone or something that you are talking to, whether it’s yourself or somebody else or an idea of somebody or anything. With "To the Sea" I just thought of a day away and I went and I said “where are we going to go?” so you just start saying “where do we go?” But the thing is, I write constantly, so they are never just empty words, do you know what I mean, you always say things at least on two levels. I just wrote a song the other day with about 500 words in it or something – it’s called "Dear Peter" and it’s to a lot of people. It’s to friends of mine called Peter, it’s to St Peter, it’s about anything and you just write stuff like and, I don’t know, it has a certain magic.
K: Do you always want to tell a story with your lyrics then?
J: Otherwise what are you doing? Like, say something like “I am the Walrus” by The Beatles, I mean what is he saying? It's a whole load of junk. I don’t think you can do that convincingly until you can do it the other way and I think if I... sometimes you deliberately try to confuse people and you mislead them by putting a word here or there, but you know what you are saying and what it means to you. Or sometimes even you don’t and you figure it out after a while. Otherwise you are just putting words together you know and it all gets boring to everybody. Have we got any songs that aren’t about anything? Why would you want to write a song that isn’t about something?
K: Do you mind that people are going to be analysing your songs in certain ways or take away their own meanings from them?
J: No, because I’ve done it with a million – there's at least a thousand songs out there that are talking completely about me and my life to me and so that’s just the way it is. That is something you have no control over. It’s not your thing to tell people to think of it that way or another.
K: Do you write for yourself or do you write these songs wanting them to get out to as many people as possible?
J: Lyrically I write completely for myself. I think it is impossible to sit down and say “I want to tell these people this about myself” and then write a song cos it’s going to be false. If you write to somebody or to yourself it kind of takes care of it.
K: Do you write as a band or do you get an idea in your head and take it back to them?
J: Most of the songs I've written on my own, but they wouldn’t be the songs without the band. The input of the band is so important. Done with the wrong musicians it just wouldn’t be right. Everyone in the band has got a good sense of song-writing which is really important, which is something I looked for in everybody when we were working out who was going to be in the band and who wasn’t. I mean, sometimes Bjorn will write chords and I’ll sing over that or somebody else will write chords and I’ll sing over that They have all a sense of how to make a song work. What was the question? K: Whether you write separately from the band or with the band?
J: I do write separately from the band, I mean non-stop. I can’t sit down on my own for more than 20 minutes without having to write, I just do it.
K: It's a constant thing for you?
J: Yeah.
K: It must be confusing to have all this stuff going round in your head all at once. How do you keep track of it all?
J: I think the scourge of my life is my ansafone 'cause the moment I get an idea I call up my phone and put it on the ansafone but the fucking thing only saves your ansafone messages for a day so you have to call up every day and keep saving it, right. Which is kind of good cos it keeps you honest - I think John Lennon used to say - or McCartney or one of them - “if it's good enough you will remember it” and that’s very true, but it is good to have it down. Yeah, so this fucking thing keeps deleting my songs and then they are gone! But it is easy enough, you know what I mean, because what you’re thinking, your thoughts on the day and what you said in the song that you wrote the night before are not very far apart. And they don’t have to be.
K: It must be frustrating to lose that melody in your head.
J: Yeah, but none of the best music you will ever make anyone will ever hear apart from you. I mean, you go into the studio, you put down 15 songs for an album, the chances are you are going to get the best take of one song only once in that session. And it is weird when you think about the great albums, the albums you love and you think something you really like is all about performance, you know, and you can think that maybe you did it better the take before the one that went down. That’s just how it is. Some of the most beautiful things you do will be walking down the street just singing to yourself. We are in a good position because we can interpret the songs and we can do them and that is better than most. There is never any chance to get everything out.
K: So who have you got lined up to do the album? Is there anyone who you would really like to do it?
J: This guy called John Fortiss who produced the Toe Rag demos.
K: Would you like to go back to Toe Rag?
J: No. Not for the album. It is a really great place, Liam was great and everything but it just sounds a little bit too 60’s. That’s what it is there for; you can’t do anything about it.
K: What kind of sound do you want to get on the album then?
J: I don’t know. I can’t say it in words, you know, I can’t describe the sound.
K: What do you think about the attention you are already getting as a band? Things have gone pretty mad the past couple of months.
J: It’s fantastic.
K: In comparison to how things were in December and how they are now, things have changed a hell of a lot.
J: That’s always the way though. It’s not anybody’s fault, but they have never heard anything so how are they going to like it. There are things out there in the public eye that nobody likes but there are plenty of things out there that people like but don’t get any recognition and it’s not their fault and it’s not the people’s fault 'cause how are they going to know about it. There is probably a band playing right now that either you or me would absolutely fall in love with and we have never even fucking heard of them.
K: What kind of bands have you seen lately that deserve that kind of attention?
J: There is a band called Go Rambo that are absolutely fantastic. They kind of remind me of the Pixies – not sound-wise but, there’s a point – why don’t we get compared to the Pixies?
K: Why don’t you?
J: Yeah. Well the Pixies are an incredible band.
K: They are an amazing band but they are not something that I would automatically associate...
J: Yeah, probably not. But Go Rambo are just an incredible band actually. I am producing their debut ep.
K: Is that going to be released on any particular label?
J: It will probably be circulated by hand, unless we can find someway of getting it out. But if having amazing songs and being a great band equals success, then they will be successful.
K: Where do you want to go from here? Where do you intend to play next and how do you want to get Razorlight heard by even more people?
J: I don’t know when the next gig is? I always think that gigs should be like... if there is any way you can make them more than going to a scummy, fucking venue. I mean you would want to do it in a massive fucking room...
K: Where would your ideal venue be?
J: The abandoned Fire Station on Kingsland Road. We would put backlights on the stage in blue so you feel like you are underwater.
K: Sounds amazing.
J: Yeah well we did a gig like that at this squat and it was absolutely amazing apart from the fact that the PA was about “that big”. It wasn’t that small, but Christian plays really hard – he hits the drums harder than anyone in the world so it’s like you can never hear the vocals 'cause everything has come up so much. So apart from that it was the greatest gig ever. There is some film of it – we were all really stoned as well – I think it was the only gig we ever did where we were stoned and it was incredible it was like we were fucking underwater. But he would hit the snare and I would hear it 3 seconds later, but because we were so rehearsed we were still playing in time. I want to play some big venues as well – do some good supports and stuff.
K: Is that what you want to do for your first tour, kind of a support slot?
J: You can’t have any expectations. I mean, you can’t decide these things because it’s like if you have expectations and say I want the gig to go like this, I think you will be disappointed. You have just got to find the space and the moment your chance comes you just take it and run with it. There should be one in June and I think we will be touring in July.
K: It’s been pretty manic at the last couple of your gigs seeing Steve Lamacq wondering around and all the high & mighty from the NME at the last Barfly gig. How does it feel to have those kinds of people coming to see the band?
J: It doesn’t feel any different to anybody else. It’s not like a halo that you get to wear when you are starting to be liked by the NME.
K: They are just ordinary people. Most of them like music less than the rest of us.
J: Absolutely, but then wouldn’t you if you had to fucking sift through 100 tapes every day! It’s a shit job to have if you like music. Music journalism is going to be fucking awful job to have. It’s good that you get to hang around with bands and get free tickets, but then free tickets are not a good thing anyway. You know when you get a free ticket into a gig or a free pass and you go through the guest list entrance it's fucking rubbish its like “oh whatever” but if you fucking buy it 2 weeks or 2 months in advance you are like fucking ready.
K: You have already built up quite a fan base. Is it something that you appreciate that you have got already?
J: Absolutely. It’s weird to relate because you know the feeling of loving a band and I haven’t really come to terms with it that anyone could love this band.
K: There are a lot them – all the kids down the front already know all the words!
J: That’s weird. I was saying to the band that we are never going to hear ourselves singing "In the City" ever again, and apart from in rehearsals we get a real... it couldn’t really get any better could it??
K: Something I thought was really amusing is that people are already bootlegging Razorlight merchandise.
J: Oh right. What’s available?
K: Badges at the moment.
J: Razorlight bandages would be better. Like what we were going to have is promotional cigarettes and lighters so that you get a pack of Razor lights. So we are going to go down Holloway Road and get a thousand Marlborough Lights off of Ahmed and then we will make the packs ourselves.
John Hassell (Libertines): I’ve already seen the prototype.
J: Yeah he’s seen the prototype. There is a photo of the band on each side and it says Razor lights with Marlborough Lights inside. We could have got sponsorship off them…
JH: Do you think that would be good for your image – to support smoking?
J: Well it would just be like for our friends and family. We could have got sponsorship off Camel but we just thought that would be the daftest thing to do because tobacco companies are such arseholes. I would rather support Ahmed down the Holloway Road who has got a wife and kid to feed than fucking the marketing executive at Camel. And we are doing Razorlighters as well.
JH: You could have razors as well. Get really light with holes in the grip so that it is like whoosh. No, I don’t think so, but Razorlights and Razorlighters.
K: Will it be Marlborough Lights that are Razorlights or anything else.
J: Probably just Marlborough Lights. It's weird, you spend like 10 years smoking and you think that is time enough to cultivate a good brand that says something about the man you are and then you walk into the shop and say “ah, can I have 20 Marlborough lights please” and it's like what’s that about. It’s what all the whores liked to smoke in 1940’s Paris.
K: I thought they were the ones that come in a variety of colours?
J: Yeah. I hate that! It's like you wake up and you’re like “oh yeah I wanna fag” and you're lying in bed and you get like a luminous yellow thing!
K: What do you think your place in the current music scene is?
J: How many good English bands are out there?
JH: 3. The Coral, The Libertines and Razorlight.
J: I’ve got a feeling that there will be a lot of good English bands. I was saying this to someone the other day and they were saying “well, what bands have you heard?” and I haven't necessarily heard any evidence, but it’s impossible for it not to happen. Like last year was kind of exciting because it was like suddenly there were all these bands coming over, you know.
K: It was the return of music with guitars...
J: Yeah and there were good bands to see every week, and that can’t not have an effect on people. I don’t know, there are shit English bands. The Beatings are good.
K: A very good live band. A bit manic live, always good fun. You supported them.
J: No I didn’t.
K: Yes you did. I saw you and the Casanovas and The Beatings at The Barfly a few months ago.
J: Like I said, I’ve never seen them live. If there is a band on after you, I never watch them ever. Do you know what I mean? It’s just like, you’ve done your gig and...
K: You’re off home!
J: I wish.
JH: You’re straight down the golf course for a couple of rounds.
J: That’s not true. I never play golf.
JH: Don’t lie Johnny.
J: Carl reckons he is into golf though.
JH: Carlos?
J: No, our Carl. He said he played it once or twice. There is a golf course next to our rehearsal studios.
K: It’s never appealed to me as a sport, to be quite honest, it doesn’t look that much fun.
J: We’ve got an amazing football team. Libertines V Razorlight football. That would be awesome. Obviously Christian is South American, so he’s got brilliant skills.
JH: Yeah, but I used to be in a football team.
J: Yeah, I know he’s fucking good man, he’s deceptively good. Obviously I am an amazing footballer and Carl's a 6’1” Swede, what can't you do?? And Bjorn’d probably be a good goalie.
JH: Pete’s good.
J: Pete’s quite tasty. He’s got a header on him. And Carlos is fucking rubbish.
JH: Carlos is rubbish – he’s in goal.
J: You know there is always somebody who can’t throw. Bjorn is that and so is Carlos.
JH: Sorry Carlos! “He throws just like a woman, yes he does” (sings to the tune of Bob Dylan)
J: What’s Gazza like?
JH: I don’t know what he's like. He’s good at baseball.
J: He’s quite athletic isn’t he? He’s fucking built!
JH: Gary would just go in for fucking slide tackles.
J: He’s really got thigh muscles that bulge...
JH: He’s got massive biceps – I don’t know about his legs, but he has got huge biceps.
K: At next year’s Glastonbury you can have that as your football teams. Libertines and Razorlight. It would be amusing to watch.
J: It would be good actually. We're not actually playing Glastonbury this year. Are you?
JH: (Nods)
J: I know we're going to do Reading. Are you doing Reading?
JH: (Nods)
J: John’s my best mate. It’s like - fucking hell we are both playing Reading!
K: Are you playing on the same day?
J: I don’t know, it's still being sorted.
JH: I used to go to school with him in '97. He used to bully me.
J: John's a year younger than me and there was never any bullying. But we weren’t really mates at school. It’s more like later on - it was just like we spent about 3 years just fucking around.
K: Do you find it a help to be put in the Libertine bracket - to be stuck in with The Beatings and the perception of a little group of you and the Beatings and the Libertines and the Queens of Noize being this kind of mad little family?
J: I’m very happy if people see us with the same telescope as the Queens of Noize and The Libertines. I don’t know the Beatings. But The Libertines have written such amazing songs, it’s like you couldn’t help but be proud. And the Queens of Noize are so good at what they do and it’s weird because 4 years ago Mairead was putting on gigs at the 333 with The Libertines and Johnny Borrell and there would be like a man and his dog there. It was a challenge. It doesn’t matter what’s going on, at the core of things it is always the same.
K: Do you think it is easier for bands at the moment to get noticed since everything kicked off last year with the resurgence of guitar music?
J: It’s a double-edged sword. If bands are in fashion, then there are people looking at bands, but if bands are in fashion then there are more bands. If you are good then you are going to make it, and if you are not then it doesn’t make a difference.
K: Crap bands will always get weeded out though.
J: Yeah. But they will get weeded out at times when bands are not in fashion and get weeded out... I don’t know, I would like to think there are more good bands around now than there were 2 years ago, but I don’t necessarily think that’s true
K: Do you think it is a more interesting scene then it was two years ago? And a lot more inclusive than it was back then. A couple of years ago gigs were depressing and really dull.
J: Yeah. A lot of people with beards and acoustic guitars.
K: Music seems to have got its passion back.
J: Yeah. I mean, I found it hard to get noticed and so did that lot (gestures to John Hassle of The Libertines). So maybe it is easier to get noticed or perhaps we have just reached the point of being good enough. You can always tell with people whether they have got it or they haven’t. It’s like with a song you can tell within the first two notes whether it’s got it or not and I think with people that you meet who are in bands you can tell if they have got it straight away. Or maybe that they’ve got it but just haven’t harnessed it yet.
K: I know what you mean.
J: It’s like you see someone who is in a band and you know that they are just never going to go anywhere or they are going to do it and you know straight away.
K: There are plenty of bands that make it that really shouldn’t!
J: Yeah, but nobody makes it who really shouldn’t!
K: You would say that even of people who kind of end up being big because they have gone on talent shows?
J: Pop music? How big are you going to be in pop music? You may be big, but for how long? Pop singers don’t write their songs. Where is the money coming from? Their money comes from working really hard, but making it is measured by money. Their money comes from working really hard down the gym looking good and whatever.
K: In a certain stylised way?
J: Yeah. So it’s almost like manual labour. You put the hours in and you get it. But they never last.
K: Do you see Razorlight being around for a while?
J: Absolutely! If everyone has got the heart for it, presuming they do, then you know… The thing that we care about is our talent and our songs and working to be the best at what we do, and that is the only thing we care about so it is a pretty healthy state of affairs.
K: That’s the only way you should be as a band.
J: Hardly any bands are that way. It is so easy to get sidetracked. It could easily go to your head that you hear someone singing your song or saying your name or walking into a club and everyone looking at you and things like that but, you know, nobody wants to be famous for being famous.
K: How do you stop it getting that way?
J: It’s just not your trip, it’s not your thing. The only way I am ever happy is by doing something that I think is good. Nothing else comes close. There are other ways of spending your time but nothing else comes close. I push myself every second. We have written this album…I am writing every day and trying to move beyond and get better than anything I’ve done before. It is almost like everyday you wake up and you say “Right, what’s the best song I’ve got? I am going to write 10 that are better” – I can’t stop.
K: When do you think the album will come out?
J: It’s not really up to us. It’s either going to be out before Christmas or after Christmas – not the most specific answer is it? There’s a lot of things to think about so we don’t want to rush the album but we don’t want to leave it too long either. It gets on your nerves if there is a band that is getting a lot of press for like 6 months without even having an album out. It puts you off a bit because you want to get press for the music, rather than for what you are. At the end of the day though, that is only England and that is only the NME and you know, if the height of your ambitions is to be good in the NME then your career is gonna die. It is a big world. It is very easy, English people do it all the time, to think this country is it. But it is just as valid for anybody out there, whether they are in Japan or America or wherever, if they relate to your music.
K: So you’re looking forward to conquering the world?
J: Absolutely!
K: I have some stupid questions for you now. There is a section on the website of band’s favourite songs and albums.
J: I’ve got a list of favourite songs…’End of the Day’ by The Kinks, ‘50 Ways to Leave Your Lover’ by Paul Simon, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ by The Beatles, ‘Death on the Stairs’ - when the Libertines played at the Astoria I was practically weeping when ‘Death on the Stairs’ came on. I was practically weeping – gearing up to have a good cry. I haven’t cried probably since 1989 and I was gearing up for a really good sob, and then someone came up to me and said “All right Johnny, how are you?” I should say ‘Here Comes the Summer’ by The Undertones as well. I should also say…Jesus this is so hard, there is that Bob Dylan song….he always gives his songs daft names:- (sings) “Gypsy girl the hands of Harlem cannot hold you to its heed. Your temperature is too hot for taming. Your flaming feet are burning up the street”
K: I know the one you mean, but I can’t place the title.
J: Who else have I left out? I am sure there is a really good song that begins with M as well. ‘Apple Blossom’ by The White Stripes… (sings) “Hey little apple blossom…”
JH: I hate that song.
J: No. It’s definitely in there.
JH: It’s rubbish. You could pick something better than the “Shite Stripes”.
J: Whose interview is this? Who is this guy? That song is amazing. It is a song Paul McCartney would have written.
JH: It’s a song that Paul McCartney rejected…
J: I had to put in one contemporary band or it would have been fuckin’ Dad Rock!
K: You did you put in the Libertines.
J: I sat at the piano and played ‘Death on the Stairs’ for about 3 hours the other day actually. I was working out the guitar part on the piano – it sounded so cheesy but it was fun.
K: I can imagine it played on the piano actually.
J: Those chords are so classic, they just go clink a dink a dink duh da la da…yeah that will do. What else, favourite albums? Nah, I don’t do albums.
K: You don’t do albums? More a song person? It is hard to pin down an entire thing…
J: The Beatles ‘White Album’ obviously, ELO ‘Greatest Hits’ – no! ‘Lipstick Rogue’ Elvis Costello – that’s a beautiful song. ‘I’m So Tired’ by The Beatles – that is probably the best song ever written. Is there one more stupid question?
JH: What’s your favourite colour?
J: Blue.
K: Actually, I didn’t have that as one of the stupid questions.
JH: That’s just a standard stupid fanzine question.
J: ‘Ashes to Ashes’ - David Bowie, Very important on the song list.
JH Saddam Hussain
J: Saddam Hussain. Bin Laden. ‘Dreamy Lady’ by Marc Bolan. An odd one that. (sings) “I washed my hands of everything concerning love” I think it’s Ella Fitzgerald. Finley Quaye ‘Your Love Gets Sweeter Everyday’. No, I like the song….
K (laughs) That’s an interesting choice
J No, actually I do think that’s an amazing song. Really good song. But he didn’t write it. Lee Perry Curly Locks
JH Here’s a question I got asked the other day, which book do you hate and why? It’s a really stupid question.
J ‘Breaks for Young Bands’
K: So where do you get the inspiration for your lyrics?
JH: That’s what I said! It was for the Independent. I said ‘Breaks for Young Bands’ by Ed Berman with foreword by Captain Sensible. It was the most featherbrained book I have ever read in my life. It was going to be ‘Standing Room Only’ by Eva Rice which is pretty atrocious. Have you read that?
J: What did I read that I really fucking hated? Cos the band always get pissed off with me.
JH: It's funny cos, like, it would be hard to really hate a book.
J: ‘East of Eden’ by John Steinbeck. God I hated that. I read it all as well.
JH: Were you just bored with it?
J: No, I fucking hated it.
K: So, if you could pin one down, what would your favourite book be?
J: ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’. ‘The Tropic of Cancer’ by Henry Miller. I’m in danger of just reeling off a list of everything I’ve been reading recently.
K: Is there one that’s always with you? One book that you can read again and again - that you never get bored of.
J: Nothing I’d like to say without sounding really wanky. Cos the only one is actually ‘Ulysses’. It’s just the last chapter. ‘On the Road’ I suppose.
JH: Kerouac man, fucking rubbish. It’s just trading on its beatnik reputation.
K : You are seen as quite a literary band, and became a band by mistake as a way of expressing - that’s what a lot of people seem to think of you.
J: Yeah but not in a kind of like, slightly lame, cum in your pants bookish student kind of way. More like in a kind of…I’m saying with us, people can read whatever they want. I happen to read constantly and this is what you get for it. Depends on how many channels you’ve got, if you’ve got cable or not it makes a big difference. People always say reading is really important. I wouldn’t know, cos I’ve always read a lot. But I know loads of people that don’t, so maybe I’ve made my own bed, you know what I mean? I’ll have to lie in it.
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