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| © L.J. Spruyt |
by Amândio Barbosa,
Guilherme Lucas & Raquel Pinheiro
When did you come
across Serge Gainsbourg? What made you take an interest in his songs?
I
came across most of his recordings in the mid-80s. Until that time I had only
really heard “Je t’aime’, ‘Lemon Incest’ and ‘Bonnie & Clyde’. Obviously he
is a great songwriter so that is what made an impression on me - so many great
songs that people didn’t really know very well outside France. That offered up
some interesting possibilities.
Was it difficult to
translate the lyrics into English? What did you value the most, preserving
rhythm and meter, the rich images conveyed by the lyrics or making sure they
were singable?
It
was important to preserve all these elements. Probably the hardest of those is
the richness and style of language as that is almost impossible to convert.
Each language has its own feel, its own musicality. This is something that is
usually lost in translation. It’s nearly impossible for it not to be. From my
side I tried to retain all the meter and rhyming schemes as it was essential -
these are part of the music. And of course the meaning was very important. I
tried hard to insert the word plays and puns where I could but this was also
not possible sometimes. So yes, it was a major work to create these English
versions and I worked very hard on them.
Is there a difference
between recording and playing Serge's songs live and your own?
Yes,
it’s very different. My own songs and most of the work I do with other
musicians on their original work is usually very moody and quite dark. The
Serge material feels, in comparison, like entertainment and more like fun when
it is played live. And it IS very entertaining. With all my other pursuits I am
not interested in making it easy for the audience - on the contrary, I think
most of my work is quite hard listening. So it was funny to start playing the
Gainsbourg material and realise it was in a very different area.
In what do this new
Serge Gainsbourg songs' concerts differ from previous ones?
Well,
there are some new songs in the live set from ‘Delirium Tremens’ and
‘Intoxicated Women’ - volumes 3 & 4 - so yes, there are some differences.
Which is your
favourite Serge Gainsbourg song?
I
don’t have favourites. My mind doesn’t work that way.
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| © L.J. Spruyt |
Edgar Bourchier, the
poet of The Fall and Rise of Edgar Bourchier and the Horrors of War, is a
ficitional ones. His poems are similar, and his birth year the same, to Wilfred
Owen. Was he based in Wilfred?
Not
exactly, no. I think he was an amalgam of a few different war poets. I’m sure
Christopher had Siegfried Sassoon In mind and I know he is also interested in a
couple of other British war poets so I’m sure he was taking ideas and direction
from all of these.
What is your interest
in WWI?
I’m
not sure why it holds such a fascination for me but it’s something I keep
coming back to. I had already read quite a bit about WW1 before I even learnt
about my Grandfathers’ generation’s involvement in it. That just made it that
little but more personal. Obviously I have worked on several projects which
have WW1 connections including ‘Let England Shake’ and this recent ‘Edgar
Bourchier - Horrors of War’ album. A few years ago I was also enlisted to
compose the score for a documentary by Sam Neill presenting the history of the
Australian and New Zealand (ANZAC) troops which took part in WW1 and what
happened with that alliance through to WW2. In fact, my next release will be
‘Waves of Anzac/The Journey’, an instrumental album featuring music from the
documentary.
How do you choose the
musicians you want to play and work with when it comes to another artist, and
how do you do it when it is for one of your own projects or records.
To
me this is a strange question. I would have thought this was obvious - like
hiring anyone for a job based on how well they will do the job. If I am
choosing musicians for my own project I have to take into account many factors
but mostly their suitability to the music I am trying to make - what they could
contribute, which would be their natural style? I don’t ever work with session
musicians apart from string players playing my arrangements so it’s all about
having a good stylistic connection. The same applies if I am helping other
people decide about who to work with.
Which
is your favourite instrument to play and which is your favourite instrument to
compose.
I
think my favourite instrument to play is the drums. For composing I don’t have
a preference but obviously most things I compose would be on guitar or
keyboards.
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| © L.J. Spruyt |
In a recent interview
with Louder, that challenged you to choose twelve favorite songs from your long
musical career, you said of The Birthday Party, and I quote “Our mission in The
Birthday Party was to destroy rock’n’roll from within. We knew we wouldn’t, but
it was worth trying: by using its own history as ammunition against it, killing
it with its own germs. And having fun trying to do it. Unfortunately, we
failed.”
Speaking strictly
from a musical point of view, we are in absolute disagreement. The Birthday
Party were one of the rare, really fundamental and exciting bands of the late
70's and early 80's. They saved rock'n'roll by then and still do.
That
was my point. You misunderstood what I was saying. Clearly we were trying to
make something valuable and relevant by fighting against the accepted version
of rock’n’roll. It was something which began with punk and new wave but really,
not many people had tried to turn the music upside down. Most of the punk/early
new wave stuff was just loud, faster, nastier rock’n’roll. We were trying to
say what you can present and play can be so much more than that - find your own
voices, stop copying so much of what already exists. But that is the tendency
of human nature. And anyway, most music listeners are pretty unadventurous and
conservative in what they want to listen to. That is why our mission was always
impossible on some level. However, in taking that path we managed to create
something unique and exciting. That was our aim, that was the point,
ultimately. Our conceptual mission to destroy rock’n’roll from within failed,
of course, but the resulting music was what we are left with and that was a
great success.
What kind of legacy
do you think The Birthday Party left in rock'n'roll history?
I
have no idea. I cannot analyse that. For me, I can’t be objective.
On what This measure
identifies its aesthetically revolutionary and overwhelmingly creative sound in
new generations of bands within your musical niche?
Like
many otter bands and artists across the last 30 - 40 years we probably had a
large influence on people who are interested to make something original and
challenging for the listener. That’s has to be a good thing.
In 2010, in a radio
interview with French blog Meltingpod, you spoke about your departure from The Bad Seeds. You
were not kind with Nick Cave, enumerating in detail your hurts and
disappointments towards him and the band. How do you see the huge success of
the Bad Seeds today? What does it feel like to have been primarily responsible
for what the group was, and became, and no longer being there to enjoy the
laurels?
It’s
strange not being in the band anymore but I am very glad not to be there. I
think all I’ve ever really said about Nick publiclly is that he was very unkind
to ME in the last year of being in The Bad Seeds. If that is unkind to him then
it is an endless circle. He was very unkind to me at that time and gave me no
option but to leave the band. We are good friends and talk with each other
whenever necessary. We have a good relationship. I love the guy. Are you trying
to stir up trouble here? It’s ancient history.
A lot has been said
and written about your genius, but what was it like to work and be friends with
Rowland S. Howard? In your opinion, what is the main aspect that differentiated
him from other great artists you've collaborated with, such as Nick Cave, PJ
Harvey, Anita Lane or J.P. Shilo?
Each
of these people have their own style and way of conducting themselves and their
ability, or lack of it, with being in the public eye. Rowland was never geared
to being on top of the management aspects of having a career or leading a band.
He was quite disorganised about this stuff and wasted years sitting around between
projects. Drugs played a role in this but it was also a situation created by
the fact he was only ever writing 2 or 3 songs a year. In the last 10 years it
was even less that that. However, I would always argue for quality over
quantity. He was a difficult and impractical man but also fantastically
entertaining and a true gentle soul. It’s hard to explain the complexity of
these situations but I loved making those last 2 solo albums with him. I’m very
honoured to have been involved in those albums.
How important are art
and poetry in your life?
Art
in general is very important. Poetry? I don’t read much poetry. I have
start trying to include it in what I read but it’s not something I connect with
as much as I would like. In general I probably spend a lot of time each day
listening to music, watching films etc. and reading. I always try to go to
exhibitions or galleries if I am travelling and have time off in a city. This
is just normal for most artists.
You've created an
Instagram account to denouce architecural crimes and misdeads in Melbourne -
Melbourne Architectural Disasters. How important is architecture and urban
planning to you? Are there many Architectural Disasters in Melbourne?
In
general this is a worldwide problem driven by capitalists and developers.
Controls have been diminished and they are designing and building far too much
rubbish, especially in new world cities. That account is just trying to have a
bit of fun with it. In general it is a horrible thing and they are ruining the
character and soul of some of these places.
In a scale of 1 to
10, how instagramable is Misha, your cat?
How
would I know? I can’t review myself.
Whatever Happened to
Anita Lane?
Anita
is living in Melbourne and has 3 grown boys. I suppose much of the last 25
years was spent raising them and trying to be responsible. It was a bit
difficult for me to prioritise working with her any more after ‘Sex O’clock’
(which by the way will be finally released on vinyl soon) because she refused
to do any interviews and does not want to perform live which made promoting the
album almost impossible. It seems a bit unfair on one level but I have so many
things I can be working on that it just seemed better to focus on future
projects where months of work was not simply lost. I love my recordings with
Anita but I like my time to be well exploited if possible. She is still around
and I was hoping to have her sing a couple of songs on ‘Intoxicated Women’ but
we couldn’t seem to get it organised so I used other singers.
