Onze laatste liverecensie.
Onze laatste albumrecensie.
Ons laatste interview.
Onze laatste video.
Hi Guto! Nice to see you. Have you toured Holland a lot in the past?
"We'd only played Amsterdam, and we had a disastrous gig at the Lowlands
Festival last year as well. We forgot our disks, so we couldn't play any of
our samples. Now it's the first time we've played Eindhoven and Rotterdam,
and that's been quite different. In Amsterdam, there are always a lot of
British and American people in the audience, which is not the case in the
other places."
Have you had a chance to actually see anything at all while you've been here or is it basically hotel-soundcheck-concert?
"Well, no hotels unfortunately - it's the bus for us! And, well the
weather - today, to be honest - today is too bloody cold, too wintry, too
much like home to go and do anything."
Do you have any favourite places to tour then?
"People are quite different everywhere really. Spain's unique. We did
our first tour there before we came here. The climate and the hours of
living agree a lot more with us there. I could live like that. When you go
to a country for the first time you enjoy it the most because it's exciting.
And now we're in Holland, playing places like Groningen for the first
time..."
Had you ever heard of it?
"Oh yeah, I've heard of it - football and all. We were just happy that
people turned up, happy that people came to see us. That's all we can ask
for."
It's interesting you mention football. I had read somewhere that in
every interview you guys do, you always manage to smuggle the topic of
football in there somewhere, and you already just did...
"Haha, did I?!! Well, we're not massive football fans. When you're
travelling around a lot football seems to be the common topic of
conversation with people - apart from in America!"
Have you played the States a lot?
"We played twice last year. We did a month's tour in September, and it
was great. It's remarkable, because you can drive for two days and not see
anything."
You originally started off as a sort of techno band, but now your music
has become a lot more eclectic. Why the change?
"Well, that's what we said when we started off. It's one of the things
that aren't strictly true, but it's been printed in biographies and passed
on that way. When we started, the cheapest gear we could find was all
synths, so we experimented a lot more with that sort of thing and with drum
machines. At the same time, we were writing songs on guitars, and the idea
was to combine the two. We did a live techno thing, which was more of a
noise really. It was fun to do, because we toured for years in Welsh bands
playing guitars, and it was just good to do something different to what we
usually had done. It's quite liberating in a way."
So you never planned to stay with that musical direction?
"We've always written songs, and we've always been into dance music.
We're influenced by so much music, we've never narrowed it down to one style
of music."
That's fairly evident on 'Guerrilla', where everything comes together
nicely. You've done fairly well in the year-end polls in the music press.
Do you care about that sort of stuff?
"Oh yeah. we make music for people to listen to. We've been really
lucky, because the press have always liked us, and it's something we don't
have to worry about so much. It is influential. I read music papers and I
always have. That's how people find out about music, so you want people to
hear us. We don't want to be a 'cult press band' either and not sell any
records. We want people to actually hear the music as well."
Well, are there going to be any complications for you now, with Creation
Records ceasing to exist soon?
"To be honest, it's all totally up in the air. We've been on tour for
three months, and then a few weeks ago we found out that Creation was coming
to an end. It's sad, but the label was a sinking ship as well. The passion
wasn't there like it used to be, so it's time to move on."
Has there ever been any consideration to start your own label like
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci?
"We've thought about it. It's just all of the work involved! We'd love
to do it outside of the music industry machine. We're based in Cardiff, and
we've managed to keep out of the London thing. Creation were a very cool
label, people-wise, so it didn't really seem like we were involved in the
music business. We'd like to keep it that way. So it's going to be weird.
We've got to find a new label, basically. We don't want to get dragged down
into the major label machine. We've had experience with Sony around the
world, and we got off of Sony in a lot of countries and signed to
independents instead. In America, we're signed to a label called Flydaddy.
There are only two guys running it, and they sell more records than Sony and
Epic ever did. They were always too busy selling Pearl Jam albums."
One of your song titles... 'Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)'.
Is that a Paul Young reference in there as well?
"Haha! No, it's just an observation really, about mobile phones.
They're everywhere, everyone uses them, but it seems quite obvious that
they're dangerous as well. It's like smoking in a way. All this talk of
brain tumours is quite frightening, yet people use them because they're very
handy. It's one of the many things in life maybe, that if you thought about
it, it might change the way you did things. (Guto is the proud owner of a
mobile phone and a happy smoker as well. -Ed.)"
Another song, 'Northern Lites'... Were you aware that this is also a
particular blend of marijuana?
"Indeed we were! But it's a coincidence. It's about El Nino and the way
things seem to be getting a bit fucked up. Last year the weather seemed to
be so extreme. I can't remember ever in my life that it was that way.
There's something not quite right, so it's an observational thing again."
Your artwork is amazing. You always work with Pete Fowler for all your
sleeve art, and right away you can see that it's a record by Super Furry
Animals. Any other collaborations planned with him?
"We seem to work with Pete a lot, because his stuff is always amazing. It
always fits in really well with what we want. When it comes to records, we
just play him the record and talk him through it. He's helped us on a few
videos as well. He comes back with great ideas, so we'll be working with
him quite a bit."
Welsh is the 'flavour of the month' in the press right now. Do you ever
get tired of being thrown in with Stereophonics, the Manics, and Catatonia?
"We are Welsh, and we've never denied it. The worst thing that can
happen is when people deny it, and people have denied it for so long. Yet
again, we're not into flag-waving. Our next album is going to be entirely
in Welsh. It's going to come out in March. At least that's what we hope
with the situation as it is now. It was recorded last Summer in nine days,
basically live. That was good fun to do. 'Guerrilla' took months to do,
because we experimented a lot. It was just good this time to play, record,
and not analyze it too much. When we make our 'normal' albums, our 'pop
albums' like 'Guerrilla' we spend a lot of time on them, so it's good to
just let loose and put it down. That's the quality we like about raw
recordings."
Do you enjoy playing live as much as the studio work?
"Oh yeah. You go into the studio for three months, then you've had
enough and you want to go on tour. Then you go on tour for three months,
and you want to go back to the studio!"
Welsh sex God Tom Jones has a new album out, filled with collaborations.
Why aren't you on it?
"I didn't form a band to play with Tom Jones. I don't really want to
think about that!"
I've heard Gruff (SFA singer. -Ed.) owns a lot of ELO albums. Is that
a big influence?
"Ha! Well, he's probably got about two! We listened to 'Mr. Blue Sky' a
lot when we did the first record, but that's about as far as it goes.
There's always stuff we listen to. We're probably all big fans of the Beach
Boys and the Velvet Underground. You take influences from so many places
when you're starting."
Well, at least that way you don't sound like a copy of one particular
band.
"That's why we've never named influences as well, because you get known
as the next... whatever. We hear that we sound like Roxy Music or early
Genesis, which are two bands I never listened to. They say that sort of
thing in America a lot. If people can't categorize you, you must be doing
something right. ...Maybe! I wouldn't use that as a strict rule!"
One last question: I read the 'Rough Guide to Rock', where they refer
to you as the 'cross-dressing bass player'. Explain that one, Sir!
"Hahahaha! I don't know where that one ever came from. I've gone into
book shops, looked through a few books, and this one said I like to
cross-dress. Absolutely not true! Please believe me. Please."
http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/super-furry-animals/super-furry-animals/408/
Meer Super Furry Animals op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/super-furry-animals
Deel dit artikel: