It's the one riguet I've caught about the band because it was a bit brilliant.
Hello and welcome to Midnight Chats, a podcast of casual interviews with leading musicians, published weekly and midnight to suit these informal and often under research conversations. This week's episode is hosted by me Stuart Stubbs, editor of Loud and Quiet magazine. Tonight's guest here on the podcast is Stuart Briefwait, the leader of Scottish band Maguire, who formed back in
nineteen ninety five in Glasgow. Over the last year, they've been celebrating twenty five years of being a band together, which has also seen them release their tenth album, As the Love Continues, back in February of this year, twenty twenty one. Most importantly, though, that album, quite unexpectedly to
the band and everyone perhaps went to number one. It was the first record the band have released to do so, and it's something that Stuart and I talk about on this podcast, including what actually happens when you get a number one record. We talk about that, We talk about the beginnings of Moguai, we talk about some of the music that's influenced them as always. There are a bunch of links in the description of this episode, including to
some of the songs that we talk about. Also down there is a link to a report from The Guardian which contextualize something that Stuart mentions briefly but doesn't go into in too much detail. It was an incident that happened in two thousand and eight when John Lyden's entourage physically attacked Kellyokariki from the band Bloc Party. Thank you
to Stuart for taking the time. I really enjoyed our conversation a couple of weeks ago, and here is in fact the first Stuart that we've had on as a guest. There's myself, but I don't think I can, although that does lead on nicely to where we pick up this
conversation talking essentially about me. This episode of Midnight Chat is supported by Because Music, the record label that's home to Jango Django, Charlotte Gainsboor Christine and The Queen's Justice and Metronomy, who are in fact the most featured band by us here at Loud and Quiet over the fifteen years that we've been doing this. Joe Mount has even been here on Midnight Chats all the way back in
episode eight of the podcast. Metronomy have just released a special ten year anniversary edition of that album, the English Riviera. It features not one, but six previously unreleased songs. It's available on limited numbered vinyl, which is heavyweight at a whopping one hundred and eighty grams, and the final side side D of the double vinyl is not something you can even play because it has an etching on it. I'm not going to tell you what the etching is. You will have to go and pick up a copy
from your local record store right now. Thank you too, because for supporting Loud and Quiet over the years and this episode of Midnight Chats. I mean, it's twenty five years of more quie I'm guessing is this the thing that you've been mainly speaking to people about at the moment.
No, not really. People are more interested in the fact that we've got a number one album than we've been going for ages. But yeah, I'm fine chatting. But both are pretty good things. It's actually no, almost twenty six years.
Because you've formed in ninety five, right, yes, So what I mean I mean, firstly, like, how do you having reached that milestone of twenty five, not that it necessarily means a lot more than twenty four years, but how do you how do you feel about it that having gone that long.
Feel great to be honest, really really good, and like I think maybe I think maybe because we're in quite a good place just now, that colors my perception of it. Maybe if we weren't having the greatest year, or people hadn't been as receptive to our last record or something, I'd maybe be like, oh God, maybe we've overstaid a welcome But things seem to be going well, and yeah, we're in a good place.
I suppose. The reason I asked that is my own insecurity projecting here is that because the magazine that we make is in its sixteenth year at the moment, And yet I feel quite conflicted by that in a way, because as part of me that thinks, isn't that amazing We've done this thing, It's made it last this long, and it's still going and people are still interested in
it and all the positive things. I certainly think that, but there's also this devil on my shoulder that's also kind of maybe a little bit embarrassed that I haven't done something else that I've not moved on that I'm still doing this thing I start when I was so young.
No, no, I kind of get a little bit and I do know. I mean a really good pal of mine, Stewart, who was in the Delgados and part of Chemiconderground, he quit music to become a fireman, and I think that was kind of I can't. I think that was just
kind of thinking. It was like, I want to do something because you get in this bubble, don't you, in the music world, and you think things are so important and gets so wound up of it stuff, and then you don't have to take too many steps back to be like it doesn't matter at all, Like your average person doesn't know who's number one and buys one record a year. It's kind but yeah, it's I would probably be more prone to that kind of thinking if there
was anything thing else I could do. Literally, all I can do is play the guitar.
And skateboarding, right, you could just become a pro skype.
I really could not become a pro scare. I love skateboarding, but it's kind of like, yeah, it's just something that I really it's it's like people that I don't know get together with their mates and play red to Chili Peppers covers, you know, like they adore that and I wouldn't take that away from them. But that's me skateboarding. I'm I'm just rolling about and alling up small curbs
with my equally old pals. I guess, I guess the music there is that kind of a lot of people do kind of go what God, what am I doing? And it gets tough as well to be honest in your shoes. I mean, I would just be so proud of keeping going, you know, like it couldn't be a more challenging environment to be making a print music magazine.
You know. Yeah, no, it's true. This is making me feel better, Stuart, thank you today. I think it's also just about I think it's also maybe that question of time slipping away and whilst I'm doing whilst you're doing one thing. I don't mean just me in this, and I don't want it to sound like people listen to this thinking to this guy moaning about this great thing
that he does. And I do genuinely love what I do, but it's also whilst doing one thing, when you commit, when you go all in on one thing, there's part of you that can't help but to think of all the things you're not trying, you know, Like I'm like you, there's nothing else I want to do as something else I think i'd be any good at. But there's part of my brain it thinks maybe I would be the best plumber in the world. Maybe I'd love plumbing if I just went and did that, you know.
I mean, I've I've had to try plumbing and I'm absolutely shut Yeah, just like ended up like flooding the house and having to spend five hundred quid for some guy to come and fix the mistakes I've made. So yeah, I'm fairly staring and I'm rubbish at everything apart from playing guitar, although sometimes sometimes I'll see someone playing guitar and I'll think I'm crap at that too, But yeah, I try and bury those I bury those starts.
So take me back to nineteen ninety five when you guys started. What was the what was the musical kind of landscape? I guess, what was the scene in Glasgow? What world were you going into as mog Quair, What type of bands were out there? What was the thing.
It was? It was good actually the kind of the mainstream culture kind of grunge. It kind of fuzzled out and everything was Brett pop and that wasn't I'm sure you can guess, wasn't really our bag. So we kind of weren't interested in the kind of mainstream culture. And then and the and the the Glasgow music scene was great.
Actually there was a very scene based around the thirteenth not Alex from Who's now in Franz Ferdinand used to book the bands there, so his band the Blisters would play Urisayatsura, Pink Cross, the Yummy for Delgado's spar Snaire from Dundee This We're kicking off. They were, so they were like the kind of the band from our scene that had kind of like amazingly gone on top of the pops and left Chemical Underground to go to Grand Royal.
And so there was there was stuff happening, but Glasgow was very much a backwater then there wasn't I remember the best thing being a big deal because people were coming up to see the other bands and that hadn't really happened before. So there was a kind of like scene kind of bubbling away, but without anyone having any expectation of getting signed to a label. Or even like going on a big tour or anything. I think like
everything that was pretty diy. Everyone was starting their own label to put their own seven inches and that's that's what we did. That's how we started Rock Action was to put out our first small gway seven So so it was good, but it was very very No one had any real expectations. It was kind of quite pure and in that way is when people were just doing their own thing and going to see all our friends bands and maybe going to see some bigger touring bands.
So people were kind of making connections. I know, like like the Yummy Fur people kind of had connections with like some of the bands from Olympia. I know they played with like Slayer Kenny. I know I'm probably now jumping out years ahead or whatever, but there was kind of connections. But it wasn't pre Internet. The idea of like your band getting signed and going in specially of your band wearing mainstream it wasn't really a possibility.
The whole scene up there was that all quite removed from britpop in the way that you guys were in their own ways. Were all those bands kind of pushing against.
That in a way. I mean I know best. I know. I know Stephen quite liked liked Blur, but he didn't. They weren't copying them, you know, like yeah, people were just doing their own thing. I think people in Glasgow maybe felt more connected to American underground music like Sonic Youth and a Sonic Youth like invited Pink Cross to play with them, so there was the kind of like that kind of connection. People maybe looked across the Atlanta rather than so much down to London when there was
cool stuff in London too. Back then. I remember that band like Quick Space and Ligament were obviously great. So it was definitely an interesting time. It's kind of it's kind of weird explaining or trying to explain this to like young people now because pre Internet the world was very different. Yeah, yeah, you know, I mean there's there's there's probably quite a strong argument that if it wasn't for John Peel, the bands from that time in Glasgow
would never have done anything. You know, Like John like really got behind Delgado's this Arab Strap, beiln Sebastian Usaas, who are all these all these bands, like he kind of championed them and it wasn't it It went just beyond playing the songs on the radio. The other thing was the sessions, like if you've got a Peel session. I can't remember how much money it was. I think it was six hundred quid and that that's a lot
of money. That's a lot of money when you're either living in a bed set or with your parents, you know, So that the money from those sessions was really important to kind of give bands money to press up seven inches, to go down to London to play more people, to get seen by any emaild maker, all that kind of stuff. And yeah, he really he really had a huge part to play.
I didn't realized that they that there would have been a fae attached to a Pale session. I wonder, I wonder if that's I'm guessing that's not the case now at six music or whatever. If you if you go and play, it's for the promo of playing, right.
I think that is the case, which I think is a bit of a shame actually, because I think it's a big help to to young young and you.
Yeah, it's funny, well, like what you were just saying about, like obviously the Internet has just connected everyone in such a lightning speed way that wasn't back then, And I was thinking Godspeed had started around the same time as you guys, but away over in Canada in Montreal, Like, would you have would you have been aware of them and what they were doing and that that that they was kind of this just similar kind of vibe between you or would would that not have even reached you
back then because there would just been nowhere of you hearing it without going there.
Well, I didn't hear them till their album came out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I didn't hear them till their album come out. I mean I'm guessing if, yeah, nowadays you would know about a band like that, I mean there were there's such a such a great band and clearly influenced by so much of the same music as us. Yeah you would, you would hear about them. But even that was kind of cool. Like I remember we played with them and like we all got on stage and did a big
noise sham. It was awesome how we first met. I'm trying this is now going back. Maybe play the gig together in Belgium or something. Right, Yeah, they're actually a lot of fun. Those people are a lot more fun than they probably won't anyone.
To keep that quiet. I saw a tweet from you. It was you mentioned like it was when Spider Lamb by Slint had turned thirty, and you said a tweet saying that you can remember the first time you heard washing by Them, you were driving your car and you nearly crushed your car.
Yeah, is that true. Yeah? I can even remember exactly where it was in the motorway. I remember just like being completely entranced and like forgetting to drive, like I got. I was so into I was like, oh my god, this is like this is like the perfect music. This is amazing.
Yeah, at the moment you I'm guessing was that case that you'd never heard anything like that before? Did it just sound so so different and new to what you heard?
Yeah, it was pretty different, but it's also it's also really good, you know, Like I think Dominic it was on a tape Dominic gave me, and I think Dominic was more he was more in an undergrade music of the time, like I was kind of more in a like undergrade music of the sixties and seventies. So like we kind of like our record collections could have We're quite similar, but from different decades.
So this is this is just as you're forming the band. You've just started the band around this time when you nearly crash your car, right yes, yeah, yeah? And did you did you know at that point? Was that a moment where you thought you wanted to not that you not that you make the same music as slind, but what you knew the type of did you know the type of music you wanted to make?
Could what? I mean? We had a few bands that we were really into, and we kind of we were really into the God Machine, We were really into my Bloody Valentine and Joy Division, and I think a lot of this was us trying to do something like something, but we couldn't really play properly, so it just kind of came out a bit wonky, do I mean, like like those other bands were obsessed with, like Bardo Pond,
Like remember hearing Bardo That was another band. I heard Bardo Pond on John Peel on the radio driving about and God almost crashed my car. When I heard that, I was like, this is next level, honestly. I mean I did actually crash my car well a lot in the nineties, but most of it was due to ineptitude
rather than than hearing really good music. But what we're kind of trying to do was like do something like emotional like Joy Division or God Machine, but maybe with some of the like drones and kind of interesting sounds of tor toys. But a lot of this was kind of done quite accidentally because we couldn't really play that well, right, you know, like we were learning. We were learning on the on the job, you know, which in a weird way, and I think that actually happened with Joy Division two.
You know, learning while you're working out what you're doing can be quite you can come up with some interesting things. There's a lot to be said for not being properly trained.
Yeah, there's a lot of those happy accidents. It's like like that thing about bands like like the Velvet Underground not wanting to practice too much or the sex Pistols not wanting to practice too much because I didn't want to get better because it would lose the thing and it wasn't about Yeah, although I suppose that's more of just a punk mentality ruling over anything else.
Yeah, there's a bit of a myth that sex Pistoles couldn't play. They were pretty good players, and like the Velvets, I mean John Kele's like a virtue also, but yeah, Lou Reed's had a very distinct style. Will Tucker is just doing her own thing. I mean, they're probably my favorite band of all time. Like that, I've almost got like a religious view of the Velvet Underground that's probably
like completely detached to what it was actually like. I just kind of have this idea of it just being this kind of like one in a million, absolute lightning bolt of weird psychedelic perfection.
Did you ever get to see Lou Reid play?
Yeah? I so a few. I actually saw the Velvets too, So I saw the reunion show that I loved it, but I was very young, so I think I just was excited a bit the occasion. I know a lot of people didn't enjoy it because lou sang weird?
Did he sing weird? In because I saw Lou Reid just once? And when you say sang wed, did he did? When I saw him, he would do. He would He did do some weird singing, But by that I mean he would just play the songs that you When it got to a song that you really wanted to hear, he would just do a really strange version of it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what he did. But it was a revery of underground show. So every song was one that you really wanted to hear.
Sure, Okay, So like.
The one I remember quite clearly was was Venus and Furs and he just go shiny shiny, shiny, shiny but a leather and like not sang the rhythm. Even though it's a really rhythmical song. He would almost kind of purposefully sang the wrong rhythm. I mean, I was just still just feeling it was just the fact I was watching John Cale and Stale and Morrison and Motucker. Yeah, but yeah, I think he kind of semi sabotaged it. I mean, I mean Bob Dellan does that as well.
It's quite a weird old old dudes tree. You know. It's like almost like the opposite of the cure. You know, like Robert like really puts every effort into making it sounds as good as possible, and like Bob Dillan's just like fuck it.
Yeah, really he really resents playing the show. It's as if he's like it's.
Kind of weird because he can't really because he doesn't have to do it, doesn't.
Have That's what's strange about it, right, whereas like it makes me think what was going through like lou Reed's head to do that. I mean, and also do you think the band were on board with that? Do you think the rest of the PAM were like, well, this is just what he wants to do, so we're just going to do that because we're just playing these shows for the for the cash.
I guess, I don't know. I don't think he seems like the kind of person you would want to give a roud to do. Well. I really don't know it. And the weird thing about it, I mean, I don't know if you play music, but to play a song that you've been playing your whole life completely differently on purpose would be really hard. Like if I don't know, if like we suddenly decided we were going to like play mog wife you're saying, but I was going to try and play all the bits kind of like reggae
or something. I mean, a would be a would be horrendous, but be it would be really difficult, Like it would be much easier to just keep playing the way it's always been.
Yeah, goes to show just how much he wanted to be difficult. He was so determined to be difficult. He was willing to try that hard.
I was going to say he actually once asked us to to to play with him, to do some like noise jam, and we didn't do it for such a rubbish reason that it's it's the one regret I've got about the band, because it would be brilliant. Well, I think we had the studio books, we booked the studio, and we would have had to like move the recording of our seventh album by a couple of months or something,
And I don't know. That's kind of like, you know, we were talking right at the start of this about how you get so wrapped up and stuff, and you you take a step back and you're like, what the hell do I mean? Like, now I'm thinking about it, I'm like, what the hell will we thinking? Like, that's so dumb.
It might have been the thing that turned you off him, though right, I mean it might not have been.
That was maybe that was in the back of my mind.
It could either be the best time of your life or it could be it's the risk, and the risk is that he spends the whole time shouting at you and telling you you're awful and then you would you wouldn't been able to listen to it in the same way.
Right, Yeah, yeah, because I mean we were there. I don't actually don't think that would have happened. I'll say that now. I think it would have been fine. I'm sure he would have been a bit weird and maybe the music wouldn't have been great, but I think it
would have been nice. I don't think it would have been a dick, but we were We were there when there was all that stuff with John Lyden and his bouncers attacking Kelly from Block Party, and I've I can't listen to I know obviously now I can't really listen to him sing, and I mean, no, he was a Trump guy as well, which kind of Johnny Ron. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was a big Trump guy, So like that kind of paints paints a picture as well, doesn't it. But usually I can listen to people if I think they're
a bit of an arsehole. But that's a step too far. I mean, I can still listen to Morsey because I never particularly held him up in a pedestal anyway.
It's it's Morris is one where I've always been such a big Smith's fan. And his solo stuff. I like some of it, but it was all about the Smiths for me, really, and I'm normally quite sensitive to this sort of stuff, whereas as soon as someone's done something bad, I'm like, I've got to just I've got to reject that. I can't, I've got to just deny myself that, even
if I really still love it. But the Smiths are one thing that I've managed to I guess because it's so embedded in me, those songs, and it's so removed from Morrissey, the person that that's that I'm managing to do that. But when I listened to his so I've recently listened to us. So, so you are the Quarry, which I got into. It came out when I was at university, and it's got all of those memories in it.
And I recently listened to it and I felt marginally guilty that I was putting this record on, but I still really, I still really managed to enjoy it. But you don't have that problem, are you? Are you better at separating the art and the person that made it generally?
Yeah? Yeah, in fact completely. The only one I can handle is Johnny Roe, And I think it's because was I really did look up to him. I really did, like I'd read his book, I'd kind of like, like was obsessed with those records public image, so sex Pistols was obsessed with it. And just when I met him and I was like, oh my god, this guy's an arshole, like I really like and not just like a bit of an arsehole, like behaving really poisonously towards Kelly, who's
a really sweet person. And I suspect the fact that Kelly's black had quite a big thing to do with it, even if not directly the people around him that I was this it was just, yeah, I can't can deal with it more? See, yeah I can. Let's still listen to Smiths. I never like, I like the singing and the lyrics are fine, although like a wee bit try hard. So I wasn't like I wasn't getting his lyrics tattooed on me or anything. So I can still kind of handle it. But I mean it just lose my way.
I've never seen someone sabotage themselves so badly in a really unaware way too, like that no one around her would go a lesson. I know you're starting to get into all this fucking weird shit, but just shut up about it because it's not good. It's not gonna go down.
Well, do you think that comes down to him like not having any friends or not having like a not having having pushed people away throughout his life. I'm obviously have no I have no basis for this, but just from the outside, how it looks like it's a guy who you know, he's he's never on a record label for more than a record. He seems to upset a lot of people, and he doesn't seem to have anyone.
He almost prides himself on being this loner, to the extent that you think maybe there's not there isn't that person who's like saying, advising him properly because he's surround he seems like this person that surrounds him. His fans are so ardent that they kind of forgive everything. And if you surround yourself only by those people, you think
I can just say this stuff and it's fine. He doesn't have he doesn't have that common sense, basically doesn't have someone there being common sense for him.
Yeah, there is that. I also think maybe a lot of it kind of reeks of kind of like your uncle on Facebook that just starts kind of going down a weird kind of football hooligan Nigel Farage wormhole. Like you can imagine the kind of trap that's kind of led him to this worldview, you know, it's very much Yeah,
he's been radicalized by poorly drawn right wing memes. Yeah, I'm fairly I'm fairly certain of that, but yeah, you're right, just not having someone to just go hold on a minute, it'd be funny to kind of calculate how much money it's cost him as well, because it must be a lot. Seems to be something of that kind of generation. Because yeah, Marquise Smith had become a proper gammon as well, hadn't you Like, that's kind.
Of like the term gammon still makes me laugh.
It's a genius.
It's a genius.
It's a genius. Yeah, I've mentioned that a few times when people have called me a racist. So you're like, yes, such a strange argument if I had, I mean, I'm sure if if I could be bothered getting getting flustered about anything, I'd probably go that kind of color myself.
We should talk about you becoming number one. It's obviously such a huge thing. Congratulations. I mean, how did that obviously felt? I imagine it felt surreal, but tell me how it did feel.
It felt unbelievable. And the whole week was just so surreal from like tell you what. Like I left the house like the record come on the Friday, and then on the Saturday, I went to take the dog for a walk and I literally five meters out of my door, a guy came up to him went the album's great, and I was like, thanks very much, like that's literally
never happened to me before. And then at the end of the street, I got the email with the first day's charts, but I didn't realize what it was because I saw we were number one, and I was like, all right, this must be like the indie charts or or I think I thought it was maybe the Scottish charts. Like I just texted Traiger label label manager. I was like, what is this and he was like, it's the chart
and I was like, you're choking, like it's funny. Maybe I'm not as involved as I usually am because I used to manage the band. We've had a manager again for the last few years, so maybe I would have seen this coming. If i'd been more involved, but I was.
I was. I was really genuinely amazed. And then like after a couple of days, like we noticed, well my wife noticed the dude who was number two Gets kind of like really really pushing it, and she was like, this guy's going for it, like you're gonna have to We're gonna have to do something. So yeah, she started like a hashtag and stuff. Yeah, she was awesome. She really kind of went for it, and and it was pretty stressful because we were never that far ahead.
Really, I think it's always really exciting and fun when if you're into things that aren't necessarily mainstream and they infiltrate the mainstream in that way, sometimes quite unexpectedly. And twenty five is poetic, twenty five years of putting out Recourse is your tenth album, and it was It was also great there was you against Gets, who really is not the kind of guy that's going to be going to be like normally challenging for a number one record himself as well.
Yeah he's yeah, he's an under he's an under around musician too. Yeah, And I thought that was cool, like he's he's he's from a different, different scene. But I mean super underground. Do you mean like pirate Radio, grind DJ, it's it's it's awesome. There was there was a weird, weird one just the other week or last week, someone saying to me, like, Elton John's got a show on Apple Radio and he played us and like did a big shpiel. But how great it was? Or number one?
Like all again, I'm like, this is fucking mental. Like it's mental that Elton John even knows who Magua are, and it's mental that he's talking about us having a number one album. The old the old thing is just surreal.
Is there anything you can attribute to like this record?
What?
What did it do you think for this record? Like when you woke out your house and someone says I love the record and you said, as you say, that doesn't normally happen. I don't normally like say that when a new record comes out. What do you think? Is there anything that you think could be the reason why this was the time.
I mean, I think our music probably really really works well with people sitting alone in their house, and everyone is everyone is sitting alone in their house, Yeah, you know, and I mean that's maybe also I think kind of we really kind of went for it, doing like the live stream and all that stuff, so we made sure everyone knew about it. But yeah, I don't really know. It's a weird one, and yeah, you're right, tenth record.
Tenth record is a cool thing to get to, but it's not a lot of people give a shit about most bands tenth record, you know, it's kind of it's pretty amazing people want to hear more after presumably having heard quite a few already. I mean, I don't know how many people have heard every single one, but I guess most people that like us have definitely heard quite a few, you know. So yeah, it's good. It's definitely
a really nice thing. And it was nice to feel all the support, you know, especially from like other musicians, ones that we know, but even people we don't know, you know. It was it was really cool, really nice. So definitely it kind of I definitely took from it that I need to be as supportive as I can of other people's projects. Having experienced like how nice everyone's
been about ours. I think I generally am anyway, but it definitely made me kind of think that that is an important thing to do to kind of, yeah, get behind people's music or whatever, books, films, magazines, just kind of yeah, because people put a lot into things, and especially now there's less like we were kind of chatting earlier, there's there's less media, there's less space. So kind of any any any any way that I can support people's endeavors, I'm going to try and do it and thing that's
a good kind of thing for us. All.
You know, did you go down to Sainsbury's to see it be stocked in there? That's what I would do if I got a number one record, I'd go straight to the supermarket to see it there.
You know. The sad thing is that they still wouldn't have had it.
I thought they had to have the number one record.
No, they have their number one record.
Oh I feel cheated by.
That kind of I was aware of that. I think I must have asked when we got to number nine one year or something, be like, why am I why are we knowing Sainsbury's? Yeah, they could have. They tend to just have whatever the Foo Fighters and Ariana Grande and Yeah and seventeen now compilations, But it would have been nice to know if anyone would have bought them or why record and Sainsbury's.
But yeah, yeah, I just slipped it in with the chicken kievs at the tail.
And why not. Yeah, like a big bag of grated vegan cheese. It's literally what I bought from Sainsbury's last night. It's in my mind.
Did you but you did get sent the did you get sent the trophy? The number one trophy?
We actually had to do the photos with the trophy before we knew we were number one.
Oh right, And if you hadn't been number one, they would have just been destroyed.
Yeah, much like our souls. If you actually look at if you actually look at it, if you actually look at the photo of us with the trophy, Barry looks really visuable. So I think he's was probably thinking we're never getting to number one. Yeah, it must actually been super weird for the rest of the band because they're
probably not quite as well. I know they're not, as they're not getting sent the chart every day and phone in their pals from record labels, so they're probably just like, this is just insane.
What day do you get the photo taken with the trophy?
That was at the start of the week, so that was it Tuesday or something, And then I think we yeah. Yeah, so we did the photo and the Thursday, and then I had to send it back. Yeah, but we we got real ones, which is one. Yeah.
Yeah, okay, nice, sure, if you're okay on time, I just want to ask you a few a couple more things. Yeah, there's one thing I thought we could do in twenty sixteen. I don't expect you to remember this, but you gave an interview to our magazine. We used to do a musicians survey in there where the questions were the same each month, and we'll just send them. We'll send them to artists and then send them back. It was called
getting to Know You. And this was around the time of this was where Minor Victories was coming out.
All right, cool, So.
I thought I could ask you some of those again and you can see if you can remember what you said, then we can prepare your answers then to your answers. Now, there's just a few here that I thought would be interesting to get your updated take on.
Okay. I prayed myself for my lack of personal growth, so yeah, okay, so they should be all spot I think the same.
Yeah, great, can you remember who you would have put down as your style, Like, these are all pretty dumb questions.
By the way, I wouldn't have taken that very seriously, so probably did I don't know, did I write Chuck Tea?
You didn't, but you put you put Jimi Hendrix.
Jimmy Hendrix, Oh yeah, well I think yeah, that was probably my younger style icon. And yeah, my ex wife used to. She used to one of her many criticisms of me, was that addressed like a middle aged guy who liked hip hop, which my which my retort was, I am a middle aged guy who likes hip hop. Oh yeah, Jimmy Hendrix probably is. Yeah. I used to rock the velvet jacket, did you Yeah, yeah, I'm obsessed with Jimmy Hendricks.
Did you did you go down the whole the kind of the army, you know, with what they called bullet belts on the on the on the shoulders.
Oh no, I never, I never, Nah. I just kind of went for the velvet jacket. I think that was. Yeah, I've never because he had the ruffly shirts like yes, yeah, yeah, and I never went that phul Hendricks. I will do at one point. Now, the Princess and the Prince, they I'll take over the the Mantle.
Can you remember can you remember the first time you heard Hendricks? How old would you have fel when you've heard Hendrick?
You know, we're doing pretty young? And actually I think it was the Star Spangled Banner.
Oh wow, okay, yeah, yeah, I like.
Appearents wear it super into music, but or wear into music, but just not as full and as I am. But I think my dad, who's a very political person, I think he played me the Star Spangled Banner and I was like, what the hell is this? So yeah, that must have been when I was pretty young.
I mean that is that is as Hendrix as a track gets as well, isn't it that live? Yeah?
Yeah?
And it's so so wild and like barbed.
And yeah, and it would it came with a really serious, like like little lecture about like an information blast about the Vietnam War and the protests and the sexties and everything. Yeah, so we'd do It would have been a lot to take in, but I was I'm sure I was more affected by the feedback than the concept of some war that had no idea about, because I was a luck.
Kiad Okay, what do you think what do you think you put to people's biggest misconception about.
You probably that I'm a very serious person that I write that that's exactly what you're right. Yeah, yeah, because I mean that's kind of true, and I think people are maybe over that now, But for a long time people would meet us and just be either really entertained or genuinely appalled that we were idiots.
You would you have people say to you, you're actually really nice.
Well, that that was one of the reasons why I stopped being rude about people. Yeah, that happened. That would happen a lot in Yeah, in my kind of early twenties round about whatever, the blurr shite T shirts and stuff, and people will say you're You're actually really nice, and then I'd be like, yeah, of course I'm really nice.
And then I had a bit of a realization like maybe if people are surprised that I'm nice, it's because I'm giving the impression that I'm being that I'm a total dick, and that it should change that I should not be behaving like a total dick. Yeah.
That T shirt that you mentioned, which was the Mogwai T shirt that just said Blair are shy on it. This is from like nineteen nine, right, yes, yeah, which one is just a very funny T shirt, very funny Jack. But did people not see it that way as like as a good gag. Did you get kicked back on it?
Yeah? Yeah, we did, And to be totally honest, we probably deserved it. It's quite braddy, it's very bright, and I think it maybe kind of came a little bit from I was still not thinking anyone really noticed anything we did, you know. And I mean I'm not a Blur fan, but I think any of us really cared that much. It was just it was just being kind
of stupid and whatever. But then again, these things are kind of hard to read, even actually after we're number one actually online, so a few people go, I can't be happy for them because I'm still so annoyed about that T shirt. Really yeah, I mean, I guess those people are huge Floor fans or whatever, and I don't know that's fair enough. If someone did that about Jimmy Hendrix, have would be pretty mad, you know, But in fact, I really wouldn't actually know think about it. I'd probably
just feel like imagine saying that that's weird. But yeah, and it's also a very different time isn't it like they kind of I mean round about that time. I can't remember exactly what he said, but did Liam Gallagher not say something really bad about blurting?
Like I remember, I remember Noel said that he hoped that two of them he singled out two of them. I think it was Diamond and Alex James. I think he's I think he said that he hopes they catch EIDs they don't.
I mean, I mean that's which is that's a lot.
I mean that that is a lot.
Yeah, that's a lot.
I mean, I mean, can you imagine if somebody if he said that now, or if anyone said that now and no, that would be the end of.
Them, right, Yeah, yeah, Yeah, things have changed and probably for the better because you know what, like that's not nice. That's that's not nice. And even our T shirt is totally dumb. I mean, I'm kind of glad we did it because it's still funny, but it's not what I
want people to think of when we think of our band. Yeah, but I mean again, we kind of go back to the kind of like analogue times, like things were kind of narlier, like people maybe because there wasn't social media, so people like people would like save up their like horrible things to say with people for interviews, like they were there were it was just and it's weird, like the kind of some people that have kind of kept
that going. It seemed really like no Gallicer kind of does it a little bit actually, and it's it's got a bit of an old man shouts at cloud vibe
about it. Do you? I mean, it's like you don't need to do that anymore, like if you, if you whatever, like you could tweet someone now, but they would actually see you say it and maybe tweet back, and you'd look terrible thing like like things have like things have changed, you know, like and like oh, I also kind of realized that all the time that I was being horrible about other bands or whatever, I could have been talking about bands I liked, you know, it could have been like,
which is way more productive. I mean, who cares what Magua I think about Robbie Williams? Do I mean Robbie Williams? Or I'm trying to think of people we slagged off. It's just so pointless. It's so pointless, and like, I mean even I even remember because we Blur aren't particularly famous in America. I mean, I'm sure they do fine, but like people people in America would like ask us about that and it would be like the weirdest thing ever.
They would just bea why did you do that? Like didn't realize that at that point Blur were massive pop stars and it kind of i mean, still not totally justified, but made a bit more sense doing. And that kind of put it into perspective as Yeah, a bit of a waste of energy, the fact, a total waste of energy.
How about the one song that you wish you'd written?
God, did I say Markimon by Television? No?
You said straight hassle.
Oh that's good. I really do wish it right now. That is an amazing song. I've just been thinking about marku Mian a lot recently.
I mean, that is an incredible song as well.
Oh my god, everything about it. I'm just all over it. It's kind of funny that like that kind of era, like that kind of like seventies CBGB punk is now kind of dad rock. Yeah, I mean I'm fine with that, you know, I'm I'm over the age that I should be listening to dad rock. But it's kind of funny that, like, yeah, stuff that was still relatively underground is now overground.
Yeah, his top top gay soundtrack, The Street has so I did I had. I didn't actually know Street hastening until yesterday when I look back through.
Your answer, I really did you love it?
Yeah? I loved it. Yeah, it didn't. It didn't surprise me that it was one of Louie's eleven minute songs. In fact, on that record, it's the only really long song, right, Yeah, and I was I wasn't surprised that that was one that you were like, that's the one I wants.
Yeah, Yeah, it's great, and it's it's called like Bruce Springsteen doing the doing the monologue at the end and the strings, everything about it. Yeah, we were talking about Louie Darlier. I actually had a dream that louvi'ed gave me a fiver when I was a young teenager, when I was first getting into the veil of underground and stuff, and I think I've kind of in my mind had this weird idea about him ever since. It's like when you were talking about being horrible to us, I was like,
that would never have happened. But it's all based on a dream I had when I was like thirteen.
When he gave you a fiver.
Yeah yeah.
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