KB: Tell me
how the experience of being a vocalist/guitarist differs from that of being a guitarist
performing next to a vocalist.
BB: Oh, I
don't know. People keep asking me about what it's like being a front person. These
things haven't crossed my mind at all. The idea of weather I'm standing stage center
or the left...or the back. It doesn't worry me where. I've got my eyes closed most
of the time anyway, so I could be anywhere. (laughs)
No, but it did take a while when I first started making records as a vocalist to
see myself as a front-person. That was important to me. I had the record companies
come down and just psyched myself up to sing. Most people get years being in a band
and traveling...you know, it's playing all the really bad pubs and loud rehearsal
rooms, and they have lots of experience that way and I never had that apprenticeship.
Aside from that, the only other thing that supports me is the lyrical side. That's
something I've never had to express. I've never thought about expressing before.
So that's a great thing that I've discovered.
KB: So it's
opened a whole new area of expression for you...
BB: It has.
I never would have expected that at all. And it, um, makes me wonder what's next.
There's something lined up for me in the year 2002. Sousaphone or...
KB: Harp...
BB: Harp.
I'd love to learn harp. That's great.
KB: Has singing
changed, at all, the way you write music?
BB: Yeah.
I changed at the same time. It was kind of a joint thing. I didn't start singing
and then change the way I was doing things. I started to change the way I was doing
things about two years ago. There were a lot of groups in England that were using
a style that I'd been using for a few years. Songwriting was almost like using children's
building blocks, where you've got different colors, a verse a bridge and a chorus.
You arrange them in certain ways and you have duplicates of each one. And I used
to work like that all the time and I used to think about my songs that way - structure
them in a very disciplined way. And I kind of felt that I was heading towards a self-parody.
I could see the end of all the possibilities. I could see all the possibilities being
used up. And I didn't like that. Most importantly, I could see other groups doing
that and I didn't like their records. I thought, if that's what I do and I don't
like these records when I listen to them, then I don't want to do this anymore. I
don't want to do something that I'm not interested in. Instead of turning on the
tape and writing stuff from 9 to 5 every day, which is what I used to do - just write
songs all day - I would just leave myself and not write songs on a schedule.
That's what I do now. When the moment comes - it might take weeks - but when it does
I've got a microphone, one acoustic guitar and a DAT player, and I just sing into
that, and let it all come out in a very undisciplined way. And let anything I'm feeling
come out. Then listen back to the rewinds. If I find a good bit in the rewind I'll
double that. I'll take it from there. Then I'll take it to the next step. It's very
improvisational. It great cause it means I come up with different structures. And
that's the way the lyrics started to happen as well. This was the same time that
I was starting to sing because, um, that's how the lyrics came out really. I didn't
sit down to write songs about anything, you know, I didn't have a list of issues
to write about. (laughs) When these songs started coming out, then afterwards, once
I'd written them out, then I started thinking,'wow, I know what I'm talking about',
I could see what this was about. It was really cathartic. It was wonderful.
KB: Can you
describe where and how you were inspired to write particular songs?
BB: I wrote
Not Alone in a hotel room in Paris. About half of the songs for the record had been
recorded. I went to Paris with my wife - we were having a little break sort of thing.
I knew I had all of these songs that I wanted to write, as I said, with different
structures. I felt that I've achieved that. I felt that I've achieved something that
other people weren't doing. I just woke up really early one morning and had MTV on,
and I was watching all of these crap pop records. And I just sat there and thought
to myself,'I could do this better than these people'. You know and I thought I just
had one last shot at pop music (laughs). That sort of three minute pop music, ya
know, pure pop. And so I went and recorded Not Alone there and then, yeah.
KB: About
the songs. Who are the subjects?
BB: You and
me.
KB: People
in general?
BB: Well,
some of them are and some of them aren't .
KB: Are there
any in particular that have special meaning about certain individuals?
BB: Yeah,
I don't really want to go into it...
KB: ..it's
more of a private thing...
BB: ..well,
it's not so much of a private thing. It's more that as soon as it becomes a specific
issue, people stop relating to it. And I want people to relate to it themselves.
I don't want people to say that it's about 'so and so' that I know.
KB: It's not
a documentary, it's more of an emotional thing.
BB: Yeah,
it's more of an emotional thing because a lot of things are very universal and very
vague feelings, which we all feel. That's the point of it. They're very varied as
well. I wouldn't want it to be specific. But they're generally about people in my
family. And people I've met. In People Move On, the people in that are about...I
used to do this job in London selling newspapers, and it's about people I used to
meet there. There are these guys that go around selling roses. They go into restaurants
with these really horrible roses. They try and get you to buy one for your girlfriend
and you think, " I'm not going to give her that. She'll dump me." (laughs)
There was this one guy that I remember, he had a hunch back and really long hair
that was kind of dreading as well. He was just the most hideous man that you've ever
seen in your life. And he would follow girls down the street - mostly tourists -
trying to chat them up, and it was just so depressing.
KB: You see
all that.
BB: You see
it all. And there's a guy with a sandwich board in London, he got a wooden board
over the back of him and the front of him saying,'thou must repent,' and' lentils
will save you and meat is evil,' and stuff like that. And he used to walk up and
down with it. I met a lot of funny people.
KB: Did any
songs go through significant changes in the recording process? Did they start out
one way and end up on the CD completely different?
BB: Probably,
yeah. Let me think. Well when I went in to record, everything was acoustic and it
was all in my head. I didn't do any demos or anything, so I wasn't sure what was
going to happen. But I thought that was good. That really turned me on not knowing
quite what I was going to do cause I knew that once I was in the studio and I had
all of the songs, I'd have all of the instruments lined up and I could do whatever
I wanted. And then when I finished the record I started playing them acoustically
again and started listening to them acoustically after the event, and suddenly realized
how much they had changed. That was really good.
There are a few songs that I wish in a way that I had recorded acoustically, and
I might at some point. I'd like to. They're not, like, muting every instrument aside
from the acoustic guitar and the vocal. They are completely different renditions.
Dynamically and in other ways. So I'd like to do a couple of them in that way.'Woman
I Know' is a good one because it's almost country/blues when I play it live, acoustically.
On the record it's very graceful and a completely different kind of thing.'Not Alone',
I really like acoustically. I'd love to do a recording of that. I really like that
way it's so small and it's a very story-telling kind of thing.
GM: OK. I
might as well be the first to bring this up. It's a dirty five-letter word. It starts
with S and ends with E.
BB: It's not
a dirty five-letter word at all. It's a band called Suede that I'm very proud that
I was in and I wish people would stop treating me as if I wish I was never in Suede.
I made great records with Suede and they're a great group. I'm very proud of that
and there's no big deal about it.
GM: The British
press is always....
BB: Yeah,
but I've never said that. It's one of the many questions that I face, day in and
day out. It's kind of second hand information, but you never find the guy who said
it in the first place. That's what always worries me. There's someone out there and
he's got a list of theories on me.
GM: Alright,
well let's talk about the songwriting. It's interesting, now that your solo work
is out, to compare your work to the B sides that were recently released on Sci-fi
Lullabies. When we listened to Suede 3 or 4 years ago we always wondered which parts
did Bernard write, what's his impact. I hear similarities between some of the B sides
and your solo work...the slow-boiled beginnings followed by a nice and sweet long
intro... were those your elements?
BB: Well,
I wrote all of the music when I was in Suede. So, yeah, it was all me. (laughs)
GM: Well,
the more brooding works such as High Rising...
BB: Yeah,
High Rising I was really, really into at the time. There were no drums on that so
I did percussion and everything myself.
GM: Was that
your reaction to what Suede was becoming popular as?
BB: Well,
I was just challenging...yeah, but in a musical way. Just like I'm doing now. I'm
playing these songs acoustically because it's being represented in a different way
and that turns me on. Yeah, at that time in Suede I was obsessed with challenging
the music. Challenging the way people saw the group. I never invented this glam rock
tag. I was never interested in any glam rock band, whatsoever. It meant nothing to
me, ever. So I was always interested in making classical music. That's what I thought
Suede was. I always thought it was great pop music, but there was also a classical
element to it that I was really into. So the songs on High Rising, yeah, it was just
me challenging my own songwriting and trying to do something different. I think they
stand up, you know.
GM: When reviewed
here in the States some of the strongest material, as quoted in various magazines,
was indeed the slower stuff, the darker stuff because it seemed like there was musical
progression.
BB: Yeah,
well that's what I was trying to do all the time. That's what I was trying to do
when I left the group. That's why I left, you know. There you go.
KB: When did
you make the decision that you were going to make a solo CD and be the vocalist.
BB: I made
one decision when I was in New York, the end of '95. I came here - we had a little
break. A little holiday in the heat wave. Like an Englishman does, comes to New York
in July in the heat wave and wonders why there's no one else on the street. We were
the only two people in Central Park. (laughs) But we had a great time. We had an
amazing time and came to a lot of conclusions. Basically my wife just told me to
shut up and go make a record, which is the best thing I could ever be told. But it
took another six month, probably took another year until I was even doing it, cause
I was doing other things with other people. It was just something I kind of kept
in the back of my mind. I was singing at the time anyway. It was just a matter of
realizing, this is ok for you to do that, and needing someone to tell me,'what are
you worried about. Why don't you just do this,' you know. It wasn't planned in any
way, really it was just an accident. I just found myself singing around the house.
Singing along to records and then singing along to my own little tunes. Then once
I started recording things, words were coming out, and I was thinking,' I might be
able to do this,' worrying about whether I could write one song. And then I realized
that that was what I've always felt about music as well. I've always felt that every
time I write a song it's the last one I'll ever write. So putting myself on the line
like that, I realized there was a lot in common. It took me a long period of time,
very naturally. It's no big story really. It was a very organic thing. Now I can't
not see the possibility of singing on my records.
Here are the rest of the questions, the answers to which will be posted soon.
Do you have any formal music instruction?
Who would
you say were your early influences - who inspired you to be a musician?
How about
more recent influences - is there anyone in particular that you've taken note of?
What would
you say is your favorite CD of all time?
When did you
make the decision to do a solo CD and be the vocalist. When were you sure that this
was something you were definitely going to do?
You've played
with a number of noteworthy artists; Bryan Ferry, Teenage Fanclub, Manic Street Preachers,
McAlmont, The Verve, Thom Yorke, and others. Can you comment on the experience of
working with each?
What did you
take away from the whole Suede experience?
What sustained
you during that difficult last tour of America with Suede?
What past
musician would you have liked to have the opportunity to collaborate with?
What current
artist or group would you like to work with as a one-off?
Do you read
your press and, if so, what is your general outlook towards press.
What is the
most bazaar or incorrect thing that was reported about you?
What was the
strangest fan experience that you have had.
How do you
manage being a new dad while touring to support the CD?
Tell me about the video for Stay.
What is the meaning of lying in the middle of the road?
What is the
personal significance of the grim reaper and the angel?
Where was
the video filmed and how long did it take to make?
Any stories
about events that took place on the set?
What is the
best thing that someone could possibly say about your music?
Are you a
cat person or a dog person?
hint:
Find out more about
American Curl Kittens
