| Subject: Interview |
Last Update: |
Harry from Chumbawamba was talking to Tim Sismey from the magazine "RetroActive Babbage".
Chumbawamba may have only played Rolf's when they came to Warwick, but they were still rather cracking. Tim and Ben caught up with drummer Harry on his birthday:
Chumbawamba have been around for ages but are still quite low key. Why?
"I don't think we're particularly low key, I don't know, probably because the music press like to ignore us, you know, you get other bands who play concerts and get two hundred people along and they're all over the front of the NME and they're this week's thing, whereas we get more people at gigs, but we don't get any of that NME exposure. I suppose it's basically because we don't suck up to them, and we think that the paper stinks anyway, you know. I mean, if they got in touch with us and said 'Do you want to do an interview' then yeah, we'd do an interview, but we don't lose any sleep over it, you know. It's not important to us, really. Because they've hated us for the past twelve years anyway, so even if they start loving us now, it's not going to make any difference in how we feel about what we're doing."
The band started off with a much more punk guitar sound to it, and over the last couple of albums there've been samplers and keyboards, and much more of a pop feel. What brought about the change in direction?
"It's just cause we don't like to... you know, loads of bands find a formula, and they'll stick to it, and that's what they are, you know, whereas we're not really into that... we're into doing different things and trying to make it interesting for us as well as other people. And also we're really into the fact that something happens in popular culture and we sort of take that on board so that it's like pop music is dealing in what's going on around us. So yeah, loads of bands are using samplers, so yeah, OK, we'll have a go at that we'll see what we can do with that. I dunno, I think it's more interesting and it's more challenging for us to be able to look back and think, yeah we did two really punk albums and then we did an acapella folk songs album and then we did some dance music. We're into that, we're into the idea of... you sort of do different things and try different things, you don't just stagnate and stay the same."
So has the change of style been successful? It seems you've had a lot more exposure.
"Yeah, maybe. But I don't think the music really matters that much. I think it's more a case of lots of people come and see us and lots of people wear Chumbawamba T-shirts and buy Chumbawamba records so the music press has to compensate for that, it's like the Levellers thing. We did a tour with the Levellers, and basically the Levellers refused to do an interview with the NME on the eve of the tour, and so the NME actually had to go and interview a group of people who go around following the Levellers, and take pictures of them, and they still stuck up a big picture of the singer playing live at a gig on the front cover to sell it because they know that they've got to get rid of a certain amount of papers a week, and so they have to somehow reflect what people are listening to and what people want. But they hate getting proved wrong and they sort of forget about what they've said about people in the past. It's like, suddenly, 'Yeah! this band, they're so great!' and then two months later they're the first ones slagging them off, saying 'what a crap band, how comethey ever got so far in the beginning". It's just so fickle."
So do you feel happy with the sort of cult status that you seem to have? Like at Reading two years ago, when as soon as you came on stage, you could see a certain section of the crowd knew what was going on, and knew your lyrics.
"I suppose so, yeah. I mean, it's nice if we can try and get other people to listen to our music and we're into getting played on the radio and being in magazines, and whatever, because that's like getting more people in to listen to what we're doing, but at the same time we don't lose sleep over it, you know, we don't care what the press say about us, because they've been saying horrible things about us for years. It's just hardened us to it, really. Character-building."
Your songs combine serious issues with a humorous element, and the live shows are quite humorous, with Alice Nutter in boxing gloves. Do you not sometimes worry that the humorous element is going to overshadow the issues that you're dealing with in some of the songs?
"No, not really, because when we started we were a lot more straight faced about it and serious, and people then used to complain that we were po-faced about it. But even if you look back to the first records, theres still that sort of humour there. It might not be as obvious but there's still that tongue in cheek irony and all that sort of business, 'cause we're into that, and we're into the seeing the funny side of shit things, you know. "
It just seems a bit of a problem... like people who've not seen you before see you aren't taking yourself too seriously and it really comes across to people. Do you not care if you're not taken seriously?
"Well I think we want to get taken seriously, of course we do, because we feel like we're doing something and we're saying something, but also we're realistic enough to realise that we're just all these people, these mates, who are just doing this thing and it just so happens that yeah lots of people are coming to see us, we're doing quite well, and that's great, but we wouldn't lose sleep over it if no-one came to see us tomorrow, we'd just stop doing this and do something else. It wouldn't matter. "
On the last couple of albums, since you've taken on the more dancey side of music, you've worked quite a lot with MC Fusion and CommonKnowledge from Credit to the Nation. Is that going to be a link that's carried on, over the next few years?
"CommonKnowledge, we've known him for years anyway, we've known him since 1976 or something. He used to put on punk gigs in Lancashire. It's like he's always been on the scene anyway, and it was him who introduced us to Matty (aka MC Fusion), 'cause he does music workshops for kids and stuff at youth clubs, that's how he met Matty and Matty used to come round his house, and he had an eight-track machine so he could write some songs on there. And Simon sent us a tape, and we really liked it, so we asked him to do a tour with us, and he did it, and it all sort of went from there, really. It's quite funny you mention that, actually, cause I've got something for you here. This is hot, yeah? Common Knowledge and Matty are having a few problems at the moment, so I don't know if they'll be working together anymore. So there you go, you know that before the NME."
It's just that after their album came out, there was less interest in them. And then they disappeared from view recently.
"Well he's just finished recording his second album, so we've been helping him with that, up in Leeds, so he has had time off, but he's been busy as well, writing new songs and recording them."
This tour's obviously to promote the new live album, so what's the story behind that? Is there any new material on it?
"It's a bit of all sorts, really. There's songs from 'Anarchy' on it, there's songs from 'Shhh' on it, just basically what we've been doing live. We just wanted to do it because we've always had this thing that... we're into doing different things, and when we go into the studio to record we approach it totally differently to what we do live. It's like the two things are separate in a way, and we just want people to realise that it is different and the songs are different and it seemed like it was something we should do, as well, especially to do something in Leeds where all your friends can go along and capture a good moment in time, you know."
It just seems strange, 'cause a lot of bands put out live albums, but when Chumbawamba do it it's like 'what are they doing that for?' especially with the recent rerelease of your back-catalogue.
"We did try and make the live album interesting as well, not for it just to be a live recording, just to leave it at that. So we had somebody going around talking to people in the audience all night, and we've put snippets of that on, and snippets of other things that were going on, and the news that was on the radio that day, that we had on in the dressing room, just to make it a bit different. We did feel like we wanted to... I don't know, document it, you know, we're into historical documents. "
What was the story behind the 'English Rebel Songs' album?
"Well basically you get all this thing which is like Scottish rebel songs, and Irish rebel songs, and everybody knows about that, and we just wanted to... you know, you'd hear a song off somebody's tape and think, that's cool, and then find out it's written by somebody English, and we wanted to try and make people aware that there is a history of English folk music. Because everybody always thinks, well, the English have always been ripping everybody off, which they have, but they were also ripping themselves off, you know."
We were listening to 'Anarchy' before we came out, and we were wondering whether you ever listen back to an album and really cringe at the lyrics any of the time?
"Ye-es... not very often, 'cause I'm not really a great one for going home and sticking a Chumbawamba record on, but I remember just before we rereleased some of this stuff, we were listening to 'Pictures of Starving Children' and there's a couple of things on that obviously we wouldn't do now, but it's like it was then and this is now. And hopefully that's what people realise from it now, 'cause I hope we don't suddenly get loads of people saying, 'why are you saying this?' People have got to realise that it's like ten years old or something. Frightening, isn't it?"
There's always been a thing about the way Chumbawamba have worked: you don't really get along with the music industry as a corporate thing, do you?
"We hate the record industry, I think it stinks, it sucks. But at the same time we realise that we are part of that, and sometime we do have to compromise. But that's OK as long as we feel good with it ourselves. There's some things that we wouldn't do. They got really cheesed off not so long back, cause when we did Homophobia they didn't even hear a tape of it. We took it down and got it cut and everything, and they couldn'y say anything, but you could tell that they were a bit peeved really, that they didn't get to hear it, you know... and that's funny too you know... we're in a powerful position with One Little Indian, and it feels quite good."
So when's there going to be some new material from Chumbawamba?
"After we finish this, we're back to Leeds, and we're recording eight songs for a... what were doing, Casey, who does the backline tech work for us, who is a photographer and takes photos, sort of band photos as well, and she's been taking photos of anarchists from all over the world. Young people and old people, whoever we've been able to get in contact with, and Alice has been interviewing these people, for a soundbite, so we're going to do this book, which is portraits of anarchists, with a little soundbite, you know, hardly any writing, we just want it to be pictures, and there'll be six or eight songs from Chumbawamba that sort of go with the idea of the pictures. Plus we're doing another proper album. But the book thing I'm really looking forward to, because it's another example of how we try and do different things so we just have an idea like 'yeah we could do a book' and then hopefully it'll be in bookshops and record shops and some people'll buy it for the book and some people'll buy it for the Chumbawamba CD and then throw the book away and that's sad, but... you know."
Why would you choose the Oyster Band as support?
"'Cause they're the only band we know who are older than us. No, that's not true, it's just that we've played a couple of times with them, and we just like their attitude to it all and also it carries on that thing of having different bands supporting us, like we've done it with Credit who are a rap band, and the Oyster Band who are a folk band, and we've done it with Mambo Taxi, who are an all-woman band. It's good to do that, I think. And people hopefully come along and think 'yeah, this is interesting, I wasn't expecting this...' and also, 'cause we like what the Oyster Band are doing, it's nice to be able to say 'Look, would you like to do this.'"
Last year there was a lot of music politics, with the Carnival against racism and the whole Criminal Justice Bill thing, which the Levellers did a lot on, and it was the kind of thing you kind of expected Chumbawamba to do, but there wasn't a lot of that.
"Well we did have a hand in it, you know, we did loads of stuff to tell people to go down to the march or whatever, but as it happened on that day we were playing a gig in Southampton, so it was impossible for us to go there and play, but yeah, it's great to see things like that going off, like the Poll Tax riots, and we went to them and that's good, when it becomes more than just a march, something more... when there's other people around you and you think yeah, there's other people who think the same way as me but also hopefully the cops get a bit of a beating as well, sort of try and even things up a bit."
Who are the current top three music peronalities on the Chumbawamba hitlist? Who do you really hate at the moment?
"Richie Manic, Elton John... I know he seems really safe but he's been doing a lot of interviews recently, and going on about how much fucking cocaine he's done, and it's like I don't want to know that, I think it's fucking obscene how he can live with himself after consuming that amount, you know... who else can we hate?"
Why Richie Manic?
"Just 'cause we hope he's dead. We sort of discussed it and we think it's a good idea if he dies, you know. Just because he's such a... we heard this story, right, About when he's on tour, he was on this tour, and he asked the catering people, who make everyone's meals, he drew this little diagram out of how he wanted his dinner set out and how he wanted his Mars Bar cutting up. I think somebody like that... they're fucked. Luckily this woman just turned round to him and said look, love, I've got twenty-five people to cook for, if you want your Mars Bar chopping up, you can chop it up yourself. Just that he's so up his own backside that he thinks that people should be employed to cut his Mars Bars. Sorry, but he's lost it badly. He's believed the hype too much, you know. Everybody's turned him into this tortured artist, which he probably is, poor bloke, but when you get that far gone, I'm sorry, but he deserves everything he fucking gets."
No. 3?
"I dunno... who do I hate? Theres loads of fucking people I hate. Bono."
Bono's always an easy figure to hate, though.
"Yeah, totally. Every time I see his face on MTV, it's like..."
The one burning question that everyone is really interested in is: who's got the highest scores on Daytona Racer?
"Pete the bus driver. He's really good on it. But then he would be, wouldn't he?"