Onze laatste liverecensie.
Onze laatste albumrecensie.
Ons laatste interview.
Onze laatste video.
How exactly did the Looper project come about? Was it something you had
always had in mind before Belle and Sebastian, or did the work come
afterwards?
"It all fell together by accident in a way. Me and Karn (Stuart's wife
and Looper co-member -Ed.) had been looking for a way to work together for
years. I'd been writing songs and in bands from I was about fifteen, and
she'd been at art school doing sculpture. Then I started recording the
Looper stuff and my sister asked me to do a show at the art school. So to
save it being too boring Karn made some films and a stage set and stuff,
and it all just fell into place and grew from there."
When you started Looper, was it your intention from the beginning to do a
project of any sort with Karn?
"Not right at the beginning of doing the music. We didn't think of it
till the idea of the show came up."
How exactly does the writing process work in Belle and Sebastian?
"Mostly with B&S someone writes a song and brings it in finished, and if
whoever wrote it has any ideas for what the other instruments should play
then the other instruments play that part. Otherwise everyone just plays
whatever they want to. I think they've been doing things a bit different
recently, but I haven't been there for a while."
It's quite evident from your songs and stories that you have quite an
imagination, though some of your songs (Impossible Things, for example) are
based on real life events. Are any other songs you've written based on
experiences you've had or of people you've met?
"All of the Looper songs are pretty much taken straight from life.
Columbo's Car I developed a bit after seeing the car around, but all the
rest are just straight."
Are you a Columbo fan?
"Oh yes. Karn got me the pilot episode on video recently, and I'm looking
forward to having the time too watch it."
When did you start work on your novel Nalda Said. What inspired you to
write a novel? Was the book concieved pre- or post-Belle and Sebastian?
"The book was written and finished before I'd even met anyone from Belle
and Sebastian. I wrote it about five years ago."
Who are some of your influences, both musically and in writing?
"Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, Tom Waits, David Holmes, Fatboy
Slim, Ronnie Size, Charles Bukowski, Raymond Carver, J D Salinger, Martin
Amis, Baudelaire. Stuff like that."
What current artists and authors are you a fan of?
"Badly Drawn Boy, Fonda 500, IQU. I haven't read manny current authors
lately."
In a recent interview, you said that with Nalda Said in print, you want
to put writing words aside for awhile, and that the next Looper LP will be
more instrumental-based. Will there be any vocal or story based songs at
all?
"That was a bad misquote on that dotmusic website. I told the guy, that
because I was writing stories on the page again I was getting more into
writing songs again than spoken word pieces. Most of the pieces on the new
album will have woords. I think there's only one instrumental at the
moment.
More sung songs, but still a few stories."
In the same interview, you mentioned possible upcoming remixes from
Cornelius, Badly Drawn Boy, and Beck. Will you be doing any remixes for
them or for anyone else in the near future?
"Well, Cornelius wanted too much money to do a remix. Two and a half
times as much as Pulp. We haven't asked Badly Drawn Boy or Beck yet. But I'm
doing a remix for Scott's single just now, Scott who plays keyboards in Looper.
And I did one of the Longpigs single, but I'm not sure if it's on there or
not. Luke from Salako has done a great remix of our next single, and we did
one for IQU a few months ago."
The release of Up A Tree showed not only your prowess as a singer,
storyteller, and songwriter, but also seemingly as a multi-instrumentalist.
Do a lot of the sounds on your records come from things you play, or are
they pretty much all sampled from other sources?
"I played a lot of it. But I count the sampler itself as a musical
instrument, I don't sample things straight and just use them, apart from
occaisionally drums. I cut everything up and replay it on the sampler the
way I want it to be. But I can play most instruments, except drums."
What sorts of equipment and/or programs do you use to sample and
sequence?
"I made the first album just on my PC, with a program called Magix Music
Maker, which was 35 pounds. I've done quite a bit of the new album on that
too, but recently I got an Akai MPC2000 sampler, and I'll mostly work on
that from now on."
You've mentioned a film version of Nalda Said is in the works. Would you
ever consider doing an audio book of Nalda Said, Looper-style?
"Not Looper style, no. I'd maybe read it - but not with music."
Another one of the great things about Up A Tree was that one melody
which floated in and out of different songs, yet this one melody evoked many
different moods and all of the songs retained a sound of their own. Was
this coincidental, intentional, or sheer laziness?
"Laziness?!! It was just something I'd wanted to do for a long time, from
listening to film soundtracks, and classical music. It happens all the time
in there. And I thought the album was a bit like a film soundtrack 'cause
most of the songs were written for live shows where there were films and
visuals."
Do you have something of this nature in mind for Geometrid?
"No. We've gone for a kind of cohesive sound overall, and a certain theme
lyrically. But I wanted it to be as different as possible, and I thought if
I tried that again I might fall into some kind of formula or habit."
You flirt with a few different musical styles on Up A Tree"... jazz,
electronica, hip hop... Will you experiment with any other styles on the
new LP?
"Hopefully dance, pop, and a bit of retro-futurism!"
Could you spill any details on the next B&S LP? What will it sound
like...
"I don't know too much about it. I recorded some stuff with them in
December last year, and I'm just surprised it's not finished."
You have said that you're a fan of the internet and of computers. Do you
think the internet has been a great way to spread word of mouth about both
Looper and Belle and Sebastian, and also to try to spread the word on the
things that you like? Take the B&S Sinister Mailing List... The list has
thousands of subscribers from dozens of nations. Do you think such
widespread fandom would be attainable without the internet, considering
Belle and Sebastian don't really do much press promotion or touring?
"I think the internet has made a big difference to a lot of things. And
it is a great way for things too spread word of mouth, yes. I love it - but
most of Belle and Sebastian aren't really fans of it. It's kind of strange.
I think it's been their biggest help."
http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/looper/looper/392/
Meer Looper op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/looper
Deel dit artikel: