Yeah Yeah Yeah: Where are you residing now?
Robyn
Hitchcock: I live in London now for about six years.
Y3: The
reason I ask is because I know you were living in the U.S. for a period.
RH: I was living in Washington, DC for about eight months.
Y3: Didn’t take to it?
RH: I was there to be with
someone specifically, not because I wanted to hang out in the nation’s
capitol.
Y3: So I was a huge Soft Boys fan.
RH: Yeah,
they were good.
Y3: Yeah , they were amazing. The Soft Boys were
like the quintessential ’70s band: the perfect bridge between like Dylan
and the Beatles and what was going on in the industry at the time, with the
Pistols and the Damned…
RH: Good. I’m glad you liked them.
Y3: So with the new record you’re working again with Kimberley
[Rew, former Soft Boy). “Nasa Clapping” could easily be mistaken for
a lost soft boys track.
RH: Well yeah, I was hoping that we’d
have some of that same sound. I wanted to get Kimberley in and have that thing
of left and right guitars competing a bit. There are a lot of guest guitarists
on the record. I’m usually in the middle, though sometimes I’m on the
other side of the other person on the end of it. But probably it wasn’t a
similar sound cause in those days there were different amps. I think Kimberley
didn’t even use an amp this time and he still managed to be louder than
me. But actually the first guitar break in ‘Nasa’ is me even though
it sounds like Kimberley.
Y3: So where has Kimberley been all these
years?
RH: Well he’s been in Cambridge doing odd things with
Katrina and the Waves, but I think that’s pretty much worn off now.
They’ve split into two factions which are both claiming to be called
Katrina and the Waves. One of them is Katrina without the Waves and one of them
is the Waves without Katrina, so there are some legal problems. They had their
final supernova a couple of years ago; they actually won the Eurovision song
contest with one of Kim’s songs. And I don’t know, I seem to run in
to him more lately. He lives quite simply.
Y3: So there was no
‘falling out’ between the Soft Boys?
RH: No no no, none of
us were ever confrontational enough to actually fall out with any of the
others. We were all far too uptight. Kim’s quite a shy person and he
expresses himself most through his guitar, though I did think the Soft Boys did
get into a bit of a guitar battle. And he needed an outlet for his songs and
the Soft Boys were my vehicle for songs. I don’t think it would have
worked with us alternating songs. we might well have had a hit [laughs], but
that wasn’t really the point of the game. And our approach as songwriters
then was really different although we’re musically quite compatible. So he
needed to go off and have his own thing. Ya know the Waves were really going
before the soft boys and we actually pinched Kimberley from the waves around
‘77. if you go back not quite 25 years, and I know we’d all love to,
the Waves were the best band in Cambridge. They had the best equipment and they
had Kimberley, and Alex Cooper, who’s still there today. and they had a
bass player who did all the singing and Kimberley wrote all their songs. The
Soft Boys kind of became popular but we weren’t nearly as good or
proficient as they, we were far more chaotic. but we sort of eclipsed them
during 1977, in this small pop world way. Microfiche. And their singer got some
sort of glandular fever and they sort of died out, so we pinched Kimberley,
which annoyed Alex to no end. But then at the end of the Soft Boys , Kim got
back with Alex in a band that would become Katrina and the Waves. Alex was a
much more straight ahead drummer than Morris Windsor was. In lots of ways
Kimberley’s playing is better suited to Alex. Alex’s playing is more
square. Morris is more sort of ornate if you like. So anyway we never really
fell out’, we never communicated a great deal anyway. None of us did. It
wasn’t really a social thing. but whenever I’m in Cambridge I seem to
run into him and get him on stage, and Kimberley has come down to London a few
times. Got him up for a few encores. I’d love to bring him over here but I
don! ’t know.
Y3: When you set out to make Jewels For Sophia,
did you intend to involve Kimberley and/or any of the other players? I know in
your bio you state that you ‘haven’t made a record in this manner
since Black Snake Diamond Role.’
RH: Yes it was a plan not
specifically to involve anybody but the plan was to form a series of bands in
different places just for the purposes of the recording. Really it was the
Young Fresh Fellows in Seattle, plus Peter Buck and Tim Keegan. And it was
Kimberley and the rhythm section of the High Llamas in London. And there was a
bunch of stuff done in L.A. with Jon Brion. And Grant Lee was involved. And
Ethan (Johns) and Tim. You know that whole Largo [the L.A. club] set-up.
Although I was introduced to Jon with the idea of doing some recordings, I then
got to like him and became part of the Largo set.
Y3: You have
indeed…
RH: Which I love! You know it’s only 6000 miles
from home, but to me it’s the local club that you can drop in and play.
Y3: So how many more visits do you think you have before you finish
“Chimes of Freedom?”
RH: Well I’m there on Thursday
so that’s another verse. How many verses does it have? Another four at
least but there’s bound to be some repeats because I haven’t been
making notes.
Y3: Have you been taping all those shows? It would be
great to piece it all together.
RH: The great thing is we tape them
but we always lose the tapes. [Laughs] Rick [Gershon, Warner Bros promo man]
tapes them but I think there was one he couldn’t get to. I imagine we
could put together a good album from Largo. I should make more of an effort.
There’s so much good stuff that’s gone you know. But I think
that’s the beauty of it, the fact that you’re doing it, you’re
not trying to do it for eternity you’re doing it for the moment, and
people just have to remember it. They can’t always go back and access it.
Certainly I can’t.
Y3: How did you find Largo?
RH:
You mean how did I discover it? Geoffrey Wiess, my A&R man at Warners, said
“Why don’t you meet this guy Jon Brion, I think you’d like
him?” And I knew about Largo anyway from Grant Lee and his wife Denise,
whom I know, or I’m getting to know and love more and more. So I go in and
see this Jon play some lovely stuff at the piano and we sang through
“I’ll Keep It With Mine,” you know, the Dylan song?
Y3: Sure, Nico, Judy Collins, the song Dylan “never
recorded”…
RH: Right, and he could play it exactly the
same. So I think I sang it, and then he says, “I know,
‘Heliotrope,’” and I thought, well that’s nice, that’s
quite a new song. Mostly people come up to me and proudly announce that
‘they were in a band that played “Queen Of Eyes” or something .
Not many people have had time or decency to pick up on what I’ve done
recently, so I thought that was nice. Jon is fast, you know how fast he is. Is
he playing a show this week?
Y3: Yeah this Friday he’s got the
eels on the bill.
RH: We did that TV show with them [the lost VH1
pilot of “The Jon Brion Show”].
Y3: How did you enjoy that
taping?
RH: I had a good time , but I know Jon felt really kinda
drained afterwards. Cause you know he had to do something like 8 hours…
Y3: I know it was draining on the audience, or at least those of us
that stayed from beginning to end.
RH: Oh I could see by the end
when we were doing the improvised bits that everybody was glazed over. I
enjoyed I because I just did things in little bursts and sort of got gradually
drunker. And Grant had fun I think. I’ve actually seen a bit of it. A bit
of a rough cut of it. It could be good but I’ve got a horrible feeling
they’re going to try and trim it down to a half an hour, which will mean
three minutes of music with the commercials. utter useless crap. But maybe,
just maybe they’ll pick up an option of doing a series and that would be
so good. But the real thing as Jon says is to’ capture the
improvising.’ It might be easier if they just shot it at Largo on little
handycams, whatever they are, rather than having lights and camera and crew,
though I don’t know if you are allowed to do it that simply…
Y3: I think the problem was that the audience and performers never
felt like they were at Largo. Somebody should have revved us up a bit
more… It has been an extreme treat for us to have you as a Largo regular.
RH: It’s a great spot. I was just telling Lou Barlow he should
go down there.
Y3: How has the tour with Sebadoh and Flaming Lips
going for you?
RH: It’s been good really to get to know the
musicians, that’s what I like. Expands the phone book. I actually now do a
couple of songs with Sebadoh at the end of my set. And I’ve enjoyed
meeting the Lips. Stephen [Coyle] used to do some stuff with Sonic Boom and
Sonic Boom used to do some stuff with me in my set. And EQ is interesting.
It’s all interesting. Logisticially it’s a drag because you’re
all going around in a big circus and I’d much prefer to be a lone
operator. I’m going to do my own tour in November.
Y3: Solo
tour?
RH: I’m gonna try and bring out some musicians, but there
are logistics and…what I can afford. Those tours with the Egyptians, we
never really made any money, by the time you pay for your roadie and your bus.
I do sorta like to bring something back from tour. I don’t just regard
them as some sort of promotional exercise. I am very proud of this record and I
have to do everything I can to let people know its there.
Y3: Jewels
is one of your finest works, and I think you’ve made a number of strong
records in the 90’s, but there seems to be no allusion that you’ll
ever approach the mainstream…
RH: Oh I’m never anywhere
near the mainstream. It’s like an optical illusion if people think
I’m mainstream. I think it stems from the fact that my music is more
conventional than the lyrics, it’s probably at odds with the lyrics. If I
produced music that was more like Captain Beefheart or a modern experimental
atonal dissonant freaky whatever, people would probably find it easier to
except. It’s like pop songs with the wrong words. In a way neither camp is
really satisfied, unless you’re really tuned into it, in which case there
is no substitute. But that means that the sort of pop world was kind of scared
off by my words and I think the sort of hip, noisy indie people were scared off
by my melodies. Ha Ha, so there you are.
Y3: So cult figure suits
you fine?
RH: I remember doing an interview with the NME with the
lovely Ian Pennman back in 1978 and he asked me what I wanted and I said
‘I wanted to be a cult figure on the obscure cult fringe,’ I think I
said, and he quoted me on that and he said he didn’t believe me, he
thought I wanted to be a true star. I don’t think I knew exactly what was
involved, but also things have changed a bit over the last 10 years. In terms
like the industry was prepared to have people like Roy Harper or Kevin Ayers,
Syd Barrett or The Incredible String Band—all the people I liked. Even
people like Martin Cathey would be on major labels. I suppose now it’s
gone back in a way almost to what it was like 40 years ago. All they’re
interested in is hit singles. I grew up in a time when there was the ethos that
you had album acts and they did albums, and that’s obviously being eroded.
I’m still on Warners but I don’t know if I’ll be on Warners for
my next record.
Y3: So how has the association been with WB? How do
they treat a Robyn Hitchcock record, do they ask you for singles?
RH: No they don’t do any of that. I actually, artistically, had
a really good time, compared to what happened at A&M where I very
discreetly got railroaded into making more and more produced records. Warners
have let me do what I want but they haven’t really done much to promote
them either. You know, I guess it just looks good, but I don’t know where
it looks good for their accountants. So we’ll see. It’s certainly
been fun working with Rick Gershon. He’s my anchor there. It’s all
changing in the next few years again anyway.
Y3: And it will all
change back again.
RH: I don’t think it will change back into
vinyl. I don’t think it will change back into large companies being
interested into promoting niche artists.
Y3: But with the advent of
the internet and the proliferation of indie labels there seem to be more grass
roots type music avenues than ever.
RH: Oh yeah. I mean probably
when the time comes that I want to release another record it might just be that
it all just goes straight down the internet anyway. Maybe it would only be
available on either vinyl or something where you turn on the tap and it just
comes out.
Y3: You’ve got a really imaginative web site
(www.robynhitchcock.com). Are you a big fan of the internet? Do you have a
computer?
RH: No not at all. That was done for me by David
Greenberger of Duplex Planet. As my girlfriend Michelle says about the internet
‘it supplies information but it doesn’t supply knowledge.’ You
can find all sorts of stuff but are you really any wiser at the end of it all?
You can get Chinese Beet root eels or you can find out how many takes of “
Jolly Hangmen” Fairport recorded before they shelved it, but it’s
just information gabbling at you. But what I do foresee is that the unit that
once was vinyl and is now disc will be shrinking down…
Y3: To a
credit card.
RH: Yeah. That is gonna go, but what you’ll do is
your account will be debited by PhonyWeaGram or whatever and let’s say you
want to hear ‘Walk Awhile’ by Fairport Convention; you’ll either
pay 20 cents for a rental or a dollar for a life time supply of this thing, and
you will then get it through any crack in your wall or through your car
speakers or it will come out of your shirt. The line between record company and
radio will just completely vanish. You’ll be able to access anything you
want anytime and you won’t physically have to have the thing. If you want
to look at the record cover you can get the computer to show it to you. And if
you want it you can print it out on whatever you want. I would think actual
records as such, will become redundant in 10, 20 years. Everybody says no, no
they always want to buy a piece of the artist. My daughter says ‘No they
want it, it’s like holy relics’. It’s like getting the shoulder
blade of St. John. They used to do that in Medieval times, go around selling
things that claim to be a relic of the shroud or one of the bandages that
Christ had been wrapped in.
Y3: Or Hitler’s pencil box.
RH: Yeah Hitler’s Pencil box. Or John Coltrane’s pencil
sharpener.
Y3: Or The Elephant Man.
RH: Yeah except he is
the Elephant Man. But we are our own holy relics. I personally would be happy
never to acquire a record again. If some one says you should listen to Massive
Attack, I’ll go sure and dial up Massive Attack. So when I do get computer
stuff, which will probably be next year, I would plan as if to make stuff that
could be pulled out of a tap. I assemble a clutch of songs and work on how to
do that, and it seems that most of my audience would want to buy that. You know
this project, the album you see which is called Jewels For Sophia and then
there’s the album you don’t see which is coming out in November but
only through the Museum of me or through live gigs.
Y3: The
label’s ok with this?
RH: Yes, Warners is letting me do that
myself. You know it would be just as easy for me to line up the 24 songs and
say ‘Ok, here you are, give me 35 cents per song, have as many as you
want, my favorites are this.’ People are always hollering for the
outtakes, they seem to want them more than the actual records. So maybe if we
no longer make a distinction between the two, if you just say Robyn
Hitchcock’s laid a bunch of eggs and here they are.
Y3: Does
the companion record have a title yet?
RH: No, not yet. I know
generally what the record is going to be composed of. When I get back to London
I’ll figure it all out. I know I better get a move on.
Y3: I
asked Rick about a couple of new songs I had heard you
perform—“Don’t Talk To Me About Gene Hackman” and
“Last Night I Saw Nick Drake” and he told me they’d probably
never be released…
RH: “I Saw Nick Drake”? Yes, well
that’s on the outtakes record. And you know now that “Gene
Hackman” is hidden there at the end of Jewels, and you know Rick actually
recorded that with his little DAT machine right there from his table at Largo.
Y3: Well yes I know. I believe I told you this before but there is a
whistle at the end of the song…
RH: Oh yes and that’s you.
Y3: That’s me!
RH: Well there you are then, captured
for posterity. Don’t expect a royalty check anytime soon though.