RECORD STORE DAY: 10 (More) Albums That Changed My Life, Part Four - NEW WAVE Edition

10 (More) Albums That Changed My Life

Part Four: 

NEW WAVE Edition

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

     In order to change the format a little, I thought I’d present a list of another 10 amazing albums that changed my life, but this time I’d venture out into that amazing wilderness called NEW WAVE… which really isn’t a musical genre at all… And, lo and behold, this list contains albums and artists that actually scored hits thanks to radio stations like KROQ and, of course, MTV! It was always a thrill when an album that I had owned for months finally got the attention it deserved and started selling. As many of us know, there are so many great bands of all genres that deserved fame and fortune but, for some reason, it just never happened for them…. 

     So, what was New Wave? Well, as I stated, it wasn't initially a genre of music: it originally was a description given to a fast-growing movement of new artists that had evolved from the Indie and Punk scenes of the late '70s. These new artists were a little more accomplished musically and created songs that were more sophisticated and melodic than their Punk and Indie brethren, yet they still retained the excitement and quirky energy of Punk. 

   New Wave was actually a lazy way for critics to describe a band. Did The Jags and Culture Club really have anything in common stylistically? Er…no. Howabout The Fabulous Poodles and The Human League? Nope. Squeeze and Depeche Mode? Not really. But all of the aforementioned bands have been called New Wave during much of their careers. It boils down to lazy journalism written by stoned Prog Rock-loving critics who no longer understood the concept of a three minute Pop tune. Eventually, all the different sub-genres (Synthpop, Power Pop, Mod, Post-Punk, Goth, Ska, etc) became part of the New Wave umbrella and that is where they remain today. 

     I personally don't use the term New Wave to describe any of the bands I listen to, but in order to make the case for lazy journalism, I will on this blog entry! 

     Here are 10 albums that never fail to take me back to a certain period in my life. They may or many  not have sold millions of copies but they had an enormous impact on me. And they are albums I will cherish until my dying day….  I still remember the exact record store I made the purchases at and the first time I sat down with the headphones and gave it a listen...

     I’ve listed them in alphabetical order by band because, to be honest, I can never say that one of them had more of an impact on me than the other. They are all equally important. And I've refrained from explaining WHY they mean so much to me. Those reasons are ones that only I would understand... (and I'm sure that your choices are made based on similar situations and circumstances).

BLANKET OF SECRECY/Ears Have Walls

DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS/Too Rye Aye








THE ENGLISH BEAT/I Just Can't Stop It

THE FIXX/Reach The Beach

 

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS/A Flock Of Seagulls

INTERVIEW/Interview (AKA Snakes & Lovers)

NEW MUSIK/Sanctuary

PREFAB SPROUT/Two Wheels Good (AKA Steve McQueen)

SPANDAU BALLET/True

SPLIT ENZ/Time & Tide

An EXCLUSIVE interview with BRIAN WILSON!

Rhapsody In Brian

An exclusive Interview with BRIAN WILSON

BRIAN WILSON REIMAGINES GERSHWIN

Available 8.17.10

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

Sometimes, you wake up and expect your day to be as unexciting and humdrum as the last. But then two simple words can suddenly break up the monotony of your existence and allow the sun to shine again. Those two words for me were: BRIAN WILSON. Yes, as in ‘songwriting legend’ Brian Wilson!

So, anyway, Brian was going to be promoting his Reimagines Gershwin release (Disney/Pearl) and I jumped at the chance to throw some questions together for this once-in-a-lifetime interview opportunity. This was Brian Wilson, after all. Living legend. A Gershwin for our generation.

If you haven’t heard anything from Reimagines Gershwin, then my suggestion is to immediately throw this mini masterpiece in your CD player and crank it as loud as possible. As you would guess from the title, the album finds Wilson approaching the music of George and Ira Gershwin with a fresh perspective, complete with those gorgeous harmonies that Brian is so famous for. On this release, he embraces the music that influenced him, and returns the favor by ‘reimagining’ these lovely classics, creating both an absolute gorgeous Brian Wilson album and a perfect homage to the music that moved him. In turn, Brian reintroduces Gershwin to a whole new generation of music fans who may not have really bothered to listen before (“Gershwin? That’s SO grandma and grandpa!”)

The real treats on Reimagines Gershwin are two songs that Brian wrote after listening to over 100 unreleased Gershwin demos. “Nothing But Love” is a wonderful uptempo track that will be considered one of the finest tracks he’s written in 20+ years. But the absolutely gorgeous “The Like In I Love You” is certainly one of the finest songs he’s written in his long and well-documented career. The great rearrangements of Gershwin tunes are utterly fantastic, but “The Like In I Love You” is worth the price of admission alone. Man, this is a song to cherish each and every day!

I was able to catch up with Brian as he was promoting Reimagines Gershwin on the East Coast. While I had prepared to ask him 457 questions about life, love and music, I felt that I should stick with the topic at hand, so I whittled my list down to the handful listed here.

SPAZ: What inspired the Reimagines Gershwin project?

BRIAN WILSON: We had always sort of kicked around the idea of doing something with Gershwin songs. When we signed with Disney, we talked about it and then we just ran with it.

SPAZ: Was it easier or more difficult to approach and reinterpret these songs than it normally is to arrange a batch of new self-penned tunes?

BW: It was more of a challenge to me because I wanted to do it justice for George and Ira. I wanted them to have been proud of this album.

SPAZ: You’ve been working with a band of great musicians. How did they feel about this project when you first put the idea forth?

BW: The band thought it was a fantastic idea because they all love Gershwin music as much as I do.

SPAZ: The album has a beautiful flow to it. Before you commenced recording, was there a pre-conceived idea on the tracklist or did you put it all together after the tracks were recorded?

BW: A bit of both. Part was preconceived but we recorded all of the tracks before we figured out the lay out of the album.

SPAZ: You listened to hundreds of Gershwin piano demos and created two wonderful tracks from that experience. What was it like listening to these unreleased melodies from a musical legend?

BW: I was thrilled beyond belief that I was able to get in touch with George Gershwin through his music. What a wonderful experience

SPAZ: At the end of the day, are you hoping that this project will introduce (or re-introduce) the brilliance of Gershwin to your Rock ‘n’ Roll fan base?

BW: I think it’s a wonderful way to bring Gershwin music to a younger generation. Young people need to know this music.

SPAZ: When thinking back to the first times you heard these Gershwin songs, were you enchanted by the melodies, the lyrics or the original arrangements?

BW: I was enchanted by all three!!

SPAZ: Is it flattering to know that you are often mentioned in the same breath as other songwriting legends like Gershwin?

BW: It’s a thrill to hear that, of course!

SPAZ: Are there any plans in the future to work your magic on other classics from legendary songwriters?

BW: I’m not sure. Don’t know how you top Gershwin

SPAZ: What’s next for Brian Wilson?

BW: I’m looking to do something with the Disney catalog. Classic Disney songs.

SPAZ: What do you currently have spinning on your CD player?

BW: Oldies but goodies, of course!

Thanks to Brian Wilson

Special thanks to Monica Chamberlin, Betty Cruse, Thuy Ngo and Craig Swedin

An EXCLUSIVE interview with JIMMY WEBB!

Jimmy Webb

Just Across The River:

The Legendary Songwriter Comes Home

An Exclusive Interview by Stephen SPAZ Schnee

“By The Time I Get To Phoenix”. “Up, Up & Away”. “Wichita Lineman”. “McArthur Park”. “Galveston”. “Didn’t We?”. “The Highwayman”. Songwriting doesn’t get much better than this. Say what you will about certain renditions of these songs, but there’s no denying the power and the majestic beauty of the words and melodies themselves. These are songs that will outlive us all. Your great, great, great grandchildren may not know much about you many years down the line, but they most certainly will know all the lyrics to “Wichita Lineman”. And they may even have already deciphered the meaning of the rain-soaked cake in “McArthur Park” by then!

So, when I got a call to interview Jimmy Webb, the man who wrote these classic songs, I had to pinch myself. Me? Interview THE Jimmy Webb? Hell, yeah! The following day, his 2010 album Just Across The River, showed up on my desk and it never left my side for at least a week. This glorious album finds Webb revisiting some of his finest songs, aided and abetted by some of Nashville’s finest players… and some of his famous friends such Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell, Mark Knopfler, Michael McDonald, Vince Gill and Linda Ronstadt. The album is warm, organic, sincere and uplifting and an absolute must-have for any real music fan.

It was an honor to speak with Jimmy Webb (THE Jimmy Webb) about this new album and much more. Jimmy is one of our nation’s greatest living songwriters yet he remains humble and very personable. That, in itself, is a rarity in this business that tends to add extra helium into the over-inflated egos of less talented mortals.

SPAZ: How did you come up with the concept for Just Across The River?

JIMMY WEBB: My producer, Freddie Mollin, who did a great album with me about 10 years ago called Ten Easy Pieces. We actually did it up in Toronto and it was a real departure for me… away from heavily produced things: orchestrated, sustained guitars… I really came from the L.A. school, you know. He did this nice little album called Ten Easy Pieces and it really became kind of a minor classic. It’s still being manufactured, it’s still being sold. Actually, EMI is re-releasing it in about two weeks. It’s such a special album. He called me up last year and he said “I want you to come to Nashville. I want you to have the most wonderful experience of your life working with the top line of the session musicians, the guys that I’ve been working with here that are all anxious to do an album with you. They’re all calling me and saying when are we going to do a Jimmy Webb record!” Believe it or not, this is really what happened! He said we’ll take two days, we’ll cut a dozen, 13 tracks. Believe me, you’ll be transported. You’ll have an epiphany. You’ll actually have some fun making this record.

And you know, that’s exactly what happened! I went down, we didn’t have much of a budget, it was a low budget album, but some wonderful people that are on that record: Chuck Mitchell, who loved the idea and wanted to help as much as possible within the ‘new’ financial picture in the record business is quite different from the way it was years ago…..they offered us everything they could and believed in us. So, really, that’s the way it got started. We cut 13 tracks in two days and every track, to my ear, was more beautiful than the one before. I kept crying. I kept laughing. I didn’t play a lot of piano on this record. I ended up only doing one piano track on the JD Souther track. I was too busy. I sort of put that one together. Mostly, I just listened to these guys play and marveled at the consistency of the musicianship and they way they listened to each other and they way they related to each other’ playing in a kind of awe. From the first moment of the first note of the first track, there was something special about this project. It just seemed to be a communicable disease that everybody caught who became involved as we moved down the line.

I wouldn’t want anybody to think that we intended to create a celebrity album. That was the last thing on our list. We didn’t think we could afford it and it wasn’t what we set out to do. But celebrity artists began to become involved. Lucinda Williams sort of asked if she could be involved in the song “Galveston” because it meant so much to her personally. Of course, I was honored. I’ve always had an idea that “Galveston” would make a great duet, that it’d be a great dialog between a man and a woman. The man being a soldier, far away from home and the woman at home giving her side of things, waiting to see if this guys gonna come back. So, that worked. That came off so beautifully.

Other people fell into place. Guys like Vince Gill, who I have a long-standing friendship with and we’re both Oklahomans, we wrote the Centennial state song for Oklahoma in 2007. Vince and I wrote that together and we performed quite a few engagements together. We got to know each other. Amy (Grant) and I knew each other for years. She sang the part of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in this cantata I wrote called ‘The Animals’ Christmas’, so I’ve known her for a long time.

It was like bits and pieces of family coming together and saying “Oh, you’re doing this. I wouldn’t mind being asked! I sure love that ‘Oklahoma Nights’!”

There were occasions where actual love affairs where already in place. Jackson Browne loved “P.F. Sloan”. Lucinda loved “Galveston”. Billy Joel has made no secret that he is a special fan of “Wichita Lineman” and I’ve heard him do it a coupla times: one time when they gave me the Johnny Mercer Award at the Songwriter’s Hall Of Fame. Bit by bit, in dribs and drabs, these things came together. I’ve worked with Michael McDonald on many many albums and it just wouldn’t have been right to do it without him. He just proved once more that he’s just the greatest background singer in the world, never mind that he’s a superstar! There’s just nobody who can touch him when he does all those parts.

In so much that we were conscious of it, we did not contrive to make a celebrity album. It was something that just kind of evolved as a labor of love and people stopped by the studio.

Willie Nelson stopped by the studio to do the song that had been recorded years ago by Waylon Jennings called “If You See Me Getting Smaller”. It was one of the funniest things in the world. Willie came into the studio and Freddie Molin was there and Willie said “Hi!” and Freddie said “Hi!” And he (Willie) says “Where’s the mic?” then he went in and sang a couple of takes and then he said “What do ya think?”. And Freddie says “I think it’s great!” and Willie says, “If you see me getting smaller, I’m leaving! Tell Jimmie I love him!” and he walks out and his bus was parked outside the studio!

So many cool things happened making this record. It was just a great thing. If nothing ever happened at all to make this album popular or successful, I’d be happy with this whole experience. It’s just been so great.

Q: When sitting down to figure out which songs to choose for the album, what was your criteria?

JW: Well, I wasn’t the one picking. It was really up to Fred. His philosophic picture of this album was very clear. This is, to him, Jimmy Webb comes home. He puts all those high falutin city airs behind him and he’s not singing for crowds at the Regency Hotel. He’s coming home to get back to where he came from, vocally. And I think that’s pretty much right. The first cut on the album says “Put the top down on this ol’ mustang and I’ll buy you a bottle of wine. We’ll head down south to see the old gang, I wanna see some friends of mine”. That was pretty much the philosophy of the album in a phrase. And he followed that line with consummate skill in picking the songs because there’s almost a kind of meandering story that kind of holds this whole thing together. To my mind, and I’ve deliberately made a lot of concept albums, this one seems to hold together in a very nice way right up until the moment when Linda Ronstadt and I sing “I Love You And That’s All I Know”. She was officially retired. She had had a press conference and said “I’m not going to sing anymore”. And this is because of some problems I still don’t feel comfortable talking about because to me, it’s just a tragedy. It’s a modern day tragedy. I can weep over the fact that Linda has had some vocal problems and she feels like she doesn’t want to burden the public with her vocal problems. And so she had officially hung it up, which I think is a tragedy in the history of American Pop music. Yet, when she heard the track that we had prepared with just this simple guitar, I said “Freddie, I can’t ask Linda to do this. I can’t and I won’t because I know how she feels. This is not a good time. “ Freddie said “What would you say to sending her the guitar track?” I said “I think that would be cool. I think that is the only way that you can approach it, frankly” And he MP3’d the file out to her and a couple of days later, she e-mailed back and said “I have to try this. If you’ll come to San Francisco and record me, I’ll try to do this but I’m not sure that I’ll be able to”. I think what we got from her is just as pure and precious as anything Linda ever sang. I’m hoping that that will be an encouragement to her and that in some way, it helps her resume her career. That’s what I’d like to see. It certainly is the capper on the album for me. Its just a moment when you kind of pause and you think about some of the tracks you’ve heard and you think about Michael McDonald. You think about Vince Gill on “Oklahoma Nights”. You think about Mark Knopfler on “The Highwayman”. And it seems like some of those things were meant to be. They don’t sound forced. They don’t sound like someone trying to ram a square peg into a round hole. I think we were lucky but we were also dealing with consummate talent. We weren’t dealing with people who….this wasn’t their first rodeo, you know? There’s something to be said for experience and we had plenty of it on that album.

SPAZ: When an artist goes in and revisits their back catalog, may times it does sound forced, as if the artist is just going through the motions… but I never sensed that on this album. It all sounds so natural. Billy Joel sounds better than he has in decades.

JW: I’m so pleased to hear you say that. When he comes in (on the second verse), I start crying.

SPAZ: The way I got into Jimmy Webb was, as a kid, I was a big Glen Campbell fan. In fact, Glen was my first concert back in 1969 or 1970. In the years since then, I’ve heard some of Glen’s live albums where it just sounds like he was sleepwalking through the songs. But when I heard his voice on “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” on Just Across The River, it blew my mind. I don’t think he’s sounded better. He just sounds amazing!

JW: We had done a concert the night before in Nashville with the Nashville Philharmonic and, to tell you the truth, without sounding like I’m bragging too much, it was just one hell of a concert. I came out and I did about 35 or 40 minutes and then he came out and we did all the hits together and we did “McArthur Park” with the full Philharmonic and, believe me, it’s a closer. So, we were on our little puffy white cloud because we had really scored in Nashville… and Nashville is a place where people are pretty discerning about what they listen to…. And we had really done well. There was really good word of mouth on the street about how Glen and I had performed together. And Freddie, that night, before he went to bed, called me up at the hotel and said “Somehow or other, we have to get Glen in the studio tomorrow. You guys have never recorded together. And I started thinking… oh my God, we’ve never recorded together! In all these years, we never recorded together. And he said “This will be an historic moment. You guys were great last night. We have to get this!” So, he called Glen and Glen was there on time. He came walking in and said “Where’s the booth?”. He walked in and listened to me sing the first verse and came in. It was basically a one-taker… we might have had two takes on it, but Glen is phenomenally strong as a vocalist at 74 years of age. He sings like a kid.

Usually, we resign ourselves to a decline in our vocal prowess as we get older. I think it also depends a lot on the way people sing. Some people are really hard on their voices. Some people would say that’s because they don’t sing correctly. I certainly don’t sing correctly and I’m getting stronger as I get older. I think you reach a certain point where you do begin to fall off but Glen Campbell has, by no means, reached a point where he can’t sing anything he wants to sing. He sings all those songs in the original keys as well. The aging singer’s trick is to just to start dropping things down a half step and then a whole step and then two whole steps, but Glen’s never done that. I know his show forwards and backwards and he does everything in the same key he recorded it in. I just find him to be an American treasure. I hope that there are people out there who appreciate and love him as much as I do. I’ve made no secret that I would like to write another Glen Campbell album and do it with him before it’s too late. I don’t know whether we’ll get a chance to do it or not.

SPAZ: Were there any finished recordings that didn’t make the album?

JW: No, there really weren’t. As it was, we were one over and you always have to go back to the record company and bicker around to get that 13th song on the album. In this case, you get your money’s worth.

SPAZ: How does it feel that you are mentioned in the same breath as other songwriters like Burt Bacharach, Richard Rogers, Lennon & McCartney and other legends?

JW: I feel flattered. The night I got the Johnny Mercer Award, it was such an emotional night for me because Billy (Joel) gave it to me. I think that there’s a disbelief…. But I’m certainly flattered to be mentioned in the same breath as Bacharach and Hal David, who I worshipped as a teenager. To me, it’s gratifying and rewarding to see your music last for so many years. I think it would hurt to be 40-50 years old and look around and have no one playing or listening to your music anymore. I think that wouldn’t feel good. I’ve been blessed to see my music performed right up to the present day. I’ve been blessed to be able to get away with this for so long without anyone saying “He doesn’t really know how to do this!”

SPAZ: What’s next for Jimmy Webb?

JW: Right now, I’m writing my first ground-up Broadway show, which is an idea that I’ve actually been working on in the back of my mind for many many years and I finally just decided that I’m not going to get any younger… and its never going to get any easier to get a Broadway show on. I’ve written several and I’ve had several failed attempts to get these shows on but this is a dream of mine, something I really want to do. I’m doing that…and pecking away at my memoirs. I’ve got an offer to tell these wacky stories, I’ve got thousands of them. The first two chapters of this book, I’ve pretty much devoted to my father and my grandfather because I felt like there’s not point in writing a book about me without telling you where this all comes from. Sometimes you get a little resistance there from the publisher: “Can’t we get into some sex and Rock ‘n’ Roll right away? Maybe on the first page?” (all laugh)

SPAZ: You should just a glossary at the beginning that sez ‘Sex with so-and-so: Page 17!”

JW: (laughing) That’s a good idea!

SPAZ: What is currently spinning in your CD and DVD players?

JW: In my car is Chopin’s Piano Concerto #1. In my house, I have a boombox. I don’t have a big fancy stereo at all. And, believe it or not, Just Across The River is in my boombox (laughs). I haven’t heard it in a few days, but I cannot deny that I like to listen to it. Some of my albums, I just didn’t listen to because I didn’t like ‘em! (laughs).

Thanks to Jimmy Webb

Special thanks to Robin Siegel, Tony Pellegrino and Mike Logan

EXCLUSIVE interview with THE RAVEONETTES!

Rave On, Raveonettes!

An exclusive interview with The Raveonettes' 

Sune Rose Wagner

Text by Stephen SPAZ Schnee

When an unknown band releases their first EP or mini-album, the general public seldom takes notice until a full album hits the shops. This, fortunately, was not the case for The Raveonettes. When Whip It On hit the shelves in 2002, critics and music fans immediately stood up and cheered. With great press and radio play, the Danish duo was a hit right out of the box. With a fuzzed-out Jesus & Mary Chain backdrop and gorgeous boy/girl harmonies, The Raveonettes were a sight for sore eyes and ears.

With each subsequent release, the duo could do no wrong. Here was a band that was well-versed in Pop music history, combining their influences into one big ball of fire: ‘50s cool, ‘60s charm, ‘80s smarts and ‘90s integrity. From the very beginning, Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo had it all except, thankfully, ‘70s excesses.

With their new album, In & Out Of Control, The Raveonettes take their signature sound to the next level. While holding onto what makes them so unique, the duo have come up with their most accessible album to date. Each song is so sweetly melodic that they melt in your mouth. Imagine taking Jesus & Mary Chains’ Darklands album and having The Shangri-Las come in and sing duets and backing vocals along with the Reid brothers. Then, add some delicious keyboards to the mix and you’ve got The Raveonettes latest opus!

I was able to reach out to guitarist Sune Rose Wagner as the band prepared for their tour and, while he was knee deep in the hoopla, he was still more than happy to discuss the new album and more…

SPAZ: What were your earliest musical influences while growing up?

SUNE ROSE WAGNER: I grew up with a variety of musical influences: RUN D.M.C, The Beastie Boys, everything Hip Hop really, Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and girl groups from the early 60's.

SPAZ: Do you remember the exact moment when you realized that you wanted to be a musician?

SRW: My parents gave me a drum kit when I was 5 years old, but it wasn't until I saw Dire Straits on BBC that I realized the power and impact you could have in front of so many people! It blew me away.

SPAZ: What was the Copenhagen scene like when The Raveonettes first got together, and has it changed much over the years?

SRW: I had been traveling in the States for years when I decided to go back to Copenhagen to get the band together, so I wasn't really aware of what was happening. The purpose for The Raveonettes, in the beginning, was to get out of Denmark and play… so we only really did a handful of shows there before we played CBGB's for the first time. Don't know what the scene was like and I don't really follow it now, either.

SPAZ: Was it your original plan to form The Raveonettes as a duo?

SRW: Yes. We're a duo but when we play live, we're 2,3,4 or 5 people.

SPAZ: Your debut album, Chain Gang Of Love, was created under a strict set of rules (entirely in B-flat minor, surrounded by only three chords, and each song had to be less than three minutes long). For each subsequent album, did you follow a similar set of rules?

SRW: Only for Chain Gang Of Love. I love working under strict restrictions, it's very healthy and inspiring: more bands should try it. We always have a few "rules" when we record.

SPAZ: As a duo, how difficult is it to actually sift through your material and decide what goes on the album and what doesn't?

SRW: Extremely easy, and that was part of being a duo really: easy decisions and not too many arguments.

SPAZ: Do you have a stockpile of unreleased Raveonettes tracks that might be released one day?

SRW: Hundreds of songs, yes. We'll definitely release them some day.

SPAZ: In And Out Of Control, while retaining the unique Raveonettes sound, is your most consistent album to date (and that is saying a lot!). Did you approach the songwriting differently on this album or did it all come organically?

SRW: We didn't have one single song before we went into the studio, so everything was written right then and there. That was definitely new to us. We worked under strict deadline and there were moments where we didn't think we would finish an album, but we did and we're still very surprised.

SPAZ: How do you keep things fresh and interesting each time you go into the studio? The new album sounds as invigorating and exciting as most bands' debut albums!

SRW: Thanks! I think it was because everything was made right on the spot. I don't even know the songs that well yet cause they're so new to me. I guess the spontaneity adds to the freshness. We basically recorded an album while writing it.

SPAZ: While you consistently evolve with each release, do you ever feel like breaking the mold and just starting all over again with a completely new sound and style?

SRW: Yes. Longevity in bands is a strange thing ‘cause it's very hard for bands to renew themselves.

SPAZ: In And Out Of Control is filled with possible hit singles. Do you have any control over what actually gets picked as a single release?

SRW: Yes, we're in full control of everything we do.

SPAZ: You're just about ready to go out on tour. Is it exciting to take a new album out on the road?

SRW: Very exciting! This tour is gonna be so good cause we have so many great ideas about how to perform the songs and how they should be treated live. We're really gonna take our time getting all the way into the core of the songs.

SPAZ: What's next for The Raveonettes?

SRW: You said it, touring.

SPAZ: What do you currently have spinning in your CD and DVD players?

SRW: “Enola Gay” by OMD and “Gimme The Loot” by Notorious B.I.G.

Thanks to Sune Rose Wagner

Special thanks to Bob Ardrey

Rave on,

Stephen SPAZ Schnee

RIGHT SAID FRED: The Exclusive Interview-Part Three!

EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT RIGHT SAID FRED (but were too sexy to ask!)

PART THREE OF THREE

An EXCLUSIVE interview with Richard and Fred Fairbrass By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

In Part One of our three part interview, we discussed the band's early days, the sudden success of "I'm Too Sexy", the making of their first two albums (Up and Sex & Travel) and lots of other revealing tidbits! Then, in Part Two, Fred and Richard discussed the difficult third album (Smashing) and the following two albums that coincided with their rebirth as one of the most exciting Euro Electro-Pop duos of the millennium: Fredhead and Stand Up. Now, in our third and final installment in this in-depth interview with the Fairbrass brothers, they talk about their brief foray away from the Electro sound on the album For Sale and then their triumphant return with this year's I'm A Celebrity album! Ladies and gentlemen, once again, I give you RIGHT SAID FRED!

SPAZ: In 2006, you released For Sale, which saw RSF tone down the dance beats and sound like a proper Pop/Rock band. Was this a conscious move away from club music?
FRED: Yes and no. We moved away from the dance beats but, by the time we finished the album, we really missed the dance beats. We had had a lot of personal during this album disruption (I had pneumonia and was in the hospital for awhile), so I think that's why it's very hit and miss. I love some of it and some of it doesn't touch me.
RICHARD: There are one or two tracks on that album of which I’m still extremely proud: "The Cost of Loving" and "I Wanna be Simple" being two that come to mind. "I Love My Car" was also a really cool song. The move away from dance beats towards more of a pop\rock feel was not right in retrospect, despite the process throwing up some good stuff!

SPAZ: Once again, the songwriting was top notch and the album was filled with tracks that should have been singles (“I Love My Car”, ‘Cry”, “Obvious”), yet you only released one from the album, a cover of “Where Do You Go To My Lovely”. Was the single chosen by the label or have RSF always been the ones to choose what singles are released?
FRED: Yes, they should have been singles but the label (MOS) weren't interested in those songs as singles. “Where Do You Go To My Lovely” had a lot of radio attention and was very popular when we played it on tour, which is why it was chosen as a single. It achieved the highest chart entry we had ever had in Germany.
RICHARD: I'm very proud of the songwriting on that album and you've reminded me of two songs I’m ashamed to say I’d overlooked ("Cry" and "Obvious"). We've always had a bit of a fight with labels over the choice of singles, trying as far as possible to come to some common ground. My choice at that time was for "Obvious".

SPAZ: Though For Sale was a slight change in direction, were you pleased with it as a whole?
FRED: Not really, it wasn't focused enough for my liking. I like eclectic albums but this was just too fragmented. 'The Cost Of Loving' is probably my favorite track, I think we nailed the writing 100% and the production is fantastic.
RICHARD: Although I still feel very good about the actual writing, we could've done more on the production, I think. There are "tracks" and there are "songs". Tracks have to be nailed on the production side to achieve a sense of completion; songs, in the simplest sense, can stand on their own without the need for too much messing with. It's just a rule of thumb… Readers can write in with exceptions!

SPAZ: Any particular memories about recording For Sale?
FRED: We had great fun recording the guitars: we spent quite a long time on that...some would say indulgent.
RICHARD: I really enjoyed working on this album but, ironically, for the wrong reasons. We were left entirely alone and we buried ourselves in the making of it for months… great fun! However, with not enough A&R input, we didn't focus as hard as we should have. Although I think it's a great album, it didn't have the first, and very necessary, fly away single that was needed to get the album recognized.

SPAZ: In 2007, the band was thrust back into the spotlight with a new version of “I’m Too Sexy” that was inspired by a detergent commercial that you appeared in. Can you tell us a little bit about how this came about?
FRED: The ad agency approached us about using “… Sexy” and asked us to appear in the commercial: we liked the idea immediately. The product, Daz, is very iconic and reminded me of my childhood. We had resigned to Gut Records (don't ask me why) and they had a new radio edit of “I'm Too Sexy” recorded. It was way below what the song deserves. Re-recording a song as big as “… Sexy”, you either get creative and spend some real money or you just leave it alone, Gut did neither. We did some promotion around this release but no one wanted to hear the 2007 version! We found ourselves promoting the original version, only 16 years later! It was a real fiasco.

SPAZ: Were you planning to release a new album at this time? I seem to remember that your website stated that you were working on a new album for Gut?
FRED: Yes, we were recording a new album. Half way through, Gut Records went into administration, so we were in limbo until we got all the recording rights returned to us. It was a tedious and expensive process.
RICHARD: I should have my eyes put out for ever thinking that going back to Gut was anything but a lousy idea. In the words of Jim Carrey: "somebody stop me!" My therapist has advised me to erase all memories of this period from my mind. "Nurse, where's my medication?"

SPAZ: At the end of 2008, you released the single “I’m A Celebrity”, which saw you returning to the club sound of Fredhead and Stand Up. Was the song written about the cult of celebrity in general or the sudden fame that reality stars were experiencing in the public eye?
FRED: “I'm A Celebrity” takes a look at today's celebrity culture, the good and the bad… and the ugly! People are famous and often the public have no idea why. It's an industry all on it's own.
RICHARD: The cult of celebrity is not entirely new, although the advent of meaningless reality shows which today feed it, is. The notion of "famous for being famous" is fairly new and the song tries to illustrate both the emptiness and the transience of the celebrity game.

SPAZ: Shortly after the single came out, you released the album I’m A Celebrity, which is, once again, filled to the brim with infectious songs driven by floor-filling dance beats. Were these tracks that you’d been working on for Gut or a whole new set of songs?
FRED: This was intended as the next Gut album. Although getting our rights back was painful, I’m delighted it didn't get released through Gut Records.
RICHARD: All in all, I’m as proud of this album as anything we've recorded.

SPAZ: One track in particular, “Melanie”, is definitely one of the greatest pop moments in RSF history. What is the story behind this track?
FRED: I'm so pleased you like this track. I think it's one of the best songs we've ever written. As a kid, I only had two posters on my wall: George Best (UK soccer legend) and Olivia Newton-John. The song “Melanie” is about looking longingly at my ONJ poster and just drifting off thinking all the things a hormone riddled teenager imagines when looking at someone as beautiful as she was... and is.
RICHARD: This was fun to record. I love bass synth line and the chorus vocals, which we really nailed. Also, without sounding big headed, I think we got the production just about right.

SPAZ: The album is club-oriented, but there is such a variety of songs on the album, including the oddly ‘80s experimental sound of “Yellow Metal Car”, the ragga-fied “I Am A Bachelor”, the jaunty sing-along “Infected” and other fine moments. Do you feel more comfortable keeping things interesting, musically?
FRED: We do mix it up quite a lot, partly because we don't know how NOT to. Whatever any one of us has been listening to recently finds its way into the studio. Clyde works with Chris Garcia from Trinidad which is how “I'm A Bachelor” came about. We all love the humor and chaos English bands like the Small faces exuded, so with “Infected”, we tried to recreate a bit of that madness. Humor and chaos is now sadly lacking in the UK music scene. It's a real shame.
RICHARD: I think it's better to keep things interesting and run the real risk of messing up than to stick to overly familiar territory. I'm really happy with the mix we've got on this album; it reminds me a little of our first album, which was also pretty varied.

SPAZ: There’s a bonus remix of “I’m Too Sexy” stapled on the end as a bonus track: When all is said and done, has this song been a blessing or a curse?
FRED: Definitely a blessing! I have many musician friends, some successful and some not, they would all give anything to have written “I'm Too Sexy” and, apart from that, I truly believe it's a great original record and I am extremely proud of it.
RICHARD: "I'm Too Sexy" is both the golden egg and a lead weight. Despite everything, though, it's hard to express how proud of it I am. It changed our lives and makes me smile every time we perform it!

SPAZ: What’s next for Right Said Fred?
FRED: We are negotiating a new deal, and we all know how much fun that is!
We're about to record a couple of tracks with The Disco Boys and Nosie Katzmann so watch this space… Then we'll be on the road doing lots of shows and counting our blessings.

SPAZ: What do you currently have spinning on your CD and DVD players?
FRED: (CDs) Lots of various dance tracks like Jennifer Hudson and Sneaky Sound System. Albums: Colin Hay’s Going Somewhere, Hotel Costes, Pet Shop Boys’ Yes, The Dresden Dolls’ Yes Virginia, The Infidels, Bruce Springsteen's Live in Dublin, Dandy Warhols’ 13 Tales, Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits. (DVDs) Family Guy, The Wire, CSI: Las Vegas, anything with Benicio Del Toro, Eastern Promises, Syriana, Canned Heat Story.
RICHARD: I can't get enough of Bruce Springsteen performing "Pay Me My Money Down" with the Sessions Band! I love him, totally cool and totally committed! Recently, I also became completely mesmerized by Leonard Cohen's "The Stranger Song". Why doesn't anyone write stuff like this anymore? Other than the above, I listen to a lot of Sinatra, Aerosmith, McCartney, Dylan, Pink Floyd, and the Stones.


Thanks to Fred and Richard Fairbrass.
Special thanks to David Levine.

RIGHT SAID FRED: The Exclusive Interview-Part Two!

EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT RIGHT SAID FRED
(but were too sexy to ask!)

PART TWO OF THREE

An EXCLUSIVE interview with Richard and Fred Fairbrass
By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

In Part One of our three part interview, we discussed the band's early days, the sudden success of "I'm Too Sexy", the making of their first two albums (Up and Sex & Travel) and lots of other revealing tidbits! Now, in Part Two, Fred and Richard discuss the difficult third album (Smashing) and the following two albums that coincided with their rebirth as one of the most exciting Euro Electro-Pop duos of the millennium: Fredhead and Stand Up

SPAZ: In 1994, you recorded “Dance Dance Dance (Under The Moon)”, available on the Asterix In Amerika soundtrack. How did you get involved with that?
RICHARD: Oh my God! I was rather hoping we'd got away with that one! Actually, the process of making that record was fun but I’m pretty sure none of us liked the end result.

FRED: Harold Faltermeyer (the Munich Music Machine), who wrote the music for Beverly Hills Cop, invited us to co-write. It was fun working with him but “Dance, Dance, Dance” is not one of my favorite RSF tracks.


SPAZ: Though the next two years saw some great singles like “Wonderman” and “Living On A Dream”, what took so long to release your third album, Smashing, in 1996?

RICHARD: I think the failure of Sex And Travel left us numb… more than we realized at the time. Looking back, before even considering making that album we should've got out and done some shows. At that time, all three of were pretty ignorant of who exactly was buying our music: we really needed to see the whites of their eyes! I think we hid from the world during the making of that album, the world had become a bit of scary place for RSF. The studio was comforting and safe so we buried ourselves there!
FRED: We were drift wood for quite awhile. Although I think we nailed it with a few tracks like “Living on a Dream" and “Big Time”, our relationship with Rob was unraveling very fast and Gut had distanced themselves immediately after the second album. I like bits of Smashing, but the fun of being in RSF with the current line-up was fading.

SPAZ: Was recording Smashing a different experience than your first two albums?

RICHARD: Our label at that time refused to release any funds so we found ourselves in the position of paying for the whole thing, which inevitably added pressure and a strong sense of urgency to the process. In addition, working with Rob at that time was becoming increasingly problematic. I don't have many good memories of that period!

FRED: We recorded it with Gerald Elms from G-Club. Meeting and working with Gerald was a great experience, he's a fun and talented guy to spend time with. The writing and recording was much the same, probably more fragmented than before. Rich, Gerald and I did a lot of the recording by ourselves.

SPAZ: Any particular memories about recording Smashing?

RICHARD: None really, other than the fact that on some of the vocal tracks buses can be heard going passed the studio!
FRED: Unfortunately, we were squabbling with Gut Records and finally parted company while recording this album. We were also bouncing from one manager to another, which didn't help the cause at all. Looking back, we were free falling but didn't realize it and no one on the payroll wanted to say anything in case we actually woke up and smelt the coffee.

SPAZ: After this album, why did Rob leave RSF?

FRED: Rob had started to drift as early as 1993, so by the time we got to 1996-97 it was very fraught. Richard and I wanted to go on the road; Rob was more of a home-body.
Splitting with Rob was inevitable; fortunately, we managed to keep it friendly and civilized.

SPAZ: Fans had to wait another five years for the next RSF full length. What happened in the meantime? Had you considered laying RSF to rest and moving on?

FRED: We were disillusioned and had had the stuffing kicked out of us. We also had a few of our own personal problems that needed addressing: domestic unrest, drugs, alcohol, various affairs… You know, the usual weapons of choice. Luckily, we were financially secure so we thought “FUCK THIS.... lets chill for awhile”. We still did a couple of tours and stand alone shows… I have to admit, though, looking back, this period is still very very blurred. In the words of Ozzy Osborne: 'I might of had a car'. By 2000, we were swimming, not drowning, so I went to the Dance Music Fair in Amsterdam and met the BMG Berlin guys who showed a lot of interest in doing a new record with us. We had been writing a lot in the previous year and we were ready to do a new album.

RICHARD: Splitting with Rob was difficult. I think Fred and I both felt badly let down so it was inevitable that there would be a period of reflection and decision making. To be honest I think we did, from time to time, consider packing it in although not in any real way. We toyed with the idea, but in the end, songwriting and a deep seated refusal to allow other people to determine our future prevented us from making the necessary moves!

SPAZ: When Fredhead was released in 2001, not only was the songwriting more melodic than ever, you seemed to have embraced Electronic music more so than before. What influenced this direction?

FRED: We've always loved dance music and Electronica, being signed to BMG/Kingsize, who were based in Berlin, Germany, helped to pull all the Euro influences together. At this time, we also met fellow songwriter and musician Clyde Ward, who's had a lot of chart success in Europe, particularly Germany. At the time, Rich and I were happy to soak up all that is Euro. Also we were very lucky to have a label as focused as BMG/Kingsize were at that time.

RICHARD: We've always embraced a mix of electronic and acoustic music. Up saw "Deeply Dippy" and "… Sexy" on the same album, so, for us, it didn't seem too much of a stretch. There's no doubt in my mind, though, that we were more focused and passionate on that album. It was also great to have hooked up with Clyde, who has proved to be a great songwriting partner.

SPAZ: How did you come to meet Clyde?

FRED: We met Clyde in Hamburg during a recording session in 2001; Kingsize introduced us to him. He's a very talented writer and musician. We are able to talk very openly with Clyde about music and say what we like and don't like. When we're writing and recording no one has to walk on eggshells, which is very rare in this industry.

SPAZ: From this album onwards, RSF perfected the ultimate Dance/Pop formula: House dance beats, infectious melodies and, unlike most club music, plenty of acoustic guitars (often times, more felt than heard). Is this the way you had always envisioned RSF to sound?

RICHARD: Absolutely! Mixing up the acoustic and the electronic has always been something we enjoy. Having said that, anything is up for grabs. It's always been a mystery to me as to why bands are expected to stay in their groove. Having a "sound" shouldn't exclude the desire to mess with it from time to time! It's risky (see Tin Machine), but always worth a shot!

FRED: “I'm Too Sexy” originally had a lot more guitars in it, electric and acoustic. We love dance music but, apart from the Chic-era, guitars are often over-looked. I think an organic acoustic guitar against tough beats can sound really infectious. Even with Fredhead and Stand Up, we had to fight tooth and nail for the guitars to stay in.

SPAZ: Any particular memories about recording Fredhead?

FRED: Fredhead was a lot of fun and, in many ways, very similar to recording Up. Like “… Sexy”, “You're My Mate” was a big hit while we were recording the album: this gives you an enormous sense of 'we're on it' which I think you can hear in Up and Fredhead. Having had the experience of the previous albums, we were much more aware of enjoying the moment this time round.

RICHARD: It was summertime. We did a lot of the work down at Clyde's home studio! I remember that period with a lot of affection. I could tell at the time that we were pretty on it and, although it might sound an obvious thing to say, a motivated label helped give us a clear sense of purpose and direction.

SPAZ: The following year, Stand Up was another solid album, filled to the brim with great songs and topped Fredhead as your finest work to date. Had you envisioned the title track, “Stand Up (For The Champions)” as an inspirational sports anthem?

FRED: “Stand Up…” was written soon after 9/11 and the idea of the song was when things go really wrong and the shit hits the fan, what the world then needs are the real heroes: the firefighters, paramedics, police, nurses etc…
RICHARD: The champions on that day were all the emergency workers. I don't recall any celebs getting the call to come on down to shift rubble and dowse the fires!

FRED: I'm delighted it's been picked up as an inspirational anthem for sports and other team activities. We get a lot of very positive mail about “Stand Up…”

SPAZ: Any particular memories about recording Stand Up?

FRED: Recording Stand Up was also fun but we were aware of the pressure. Sex And Travel had failed Up as the follow-up album and we didn't want that happening again. Obviously, we were very happy that Stand Up was so successful.

RICHARD: You know, for some reason, I don't recall the making of Stand Up anywhere near as clearly as Fredhead. There were moments or real pride, however, concerning particular tracks. "Bombay Moon", I still love as much as the day we recorded it. "Night Night", too, has a sweetness that made performing at the end of live shows really enjoyable!

SPAZ: In 2003, you released the single “We Are The Freds” plus an alternate version with different lyrics, “We Are The Champs”. Which version was it originally intended to be?

FRED: We moved labels. Although we had been very successful with BMG/Kingsize, they failed to pick up the option for album three so we signed to Ministry of Sound who were also based in Berlin, Germany. “We Are The Freds” was the intended version, “We Are The Champs”, we did for a sports channel. Us and the public got very confused about the versions!

SPAZ: 2004 saw you release a cover of Madness’ “The Wizard”, a duet with Doris Dubinsky, from the soundtrack to a German film called Der Wixxer. Have you seen the film? The scenes from the RSF video look very intriguing?

RICHARD: We saw the film at the premier; couldn't understand a bloody word, of course, but enjoyed it nevertheless because it's a pretty slapstick visual movie.
FRED: The film was really good and it's a cool song.
RICHARD: Can't remember much about the video apart from Doris not turning up and then refusing to do promotion. Perhaps she was having a little trouble with the limelight!
FRED: People like that bore the crap out of me.

STAY TUNED for the final installment of our three part EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with RIGHT SAID FRED!
Coming Friday, May 22nd!