Sinister: Swearing with dignity

[honey at xxx.org]

Sin sisters,

- BRRRM -

The Glasgow University Guardian's Jason Cranwell sent the article below
to the band's office to pass on.  Thanks Jason.  It's mainly about
Stuart's new friend, Max.  It's good.  I bet Max doesn't get a
namecheck in Time magazine.

- SWEARING -

This list has a long and honourable tradition of swearing.  Some of you
will remember Tim's "Belle and Sebastian Swear Word Competition" or
Profanathon:

http://www.missprint.org/cgi-bin/listsearch.cgi?query=swearing%3Bcompetition
http://www.missprint.org/cgi-bin/listsearch.cgi?query=Profanathon

I can't remember if we ever announced the winners, maybe they were too
rude for Tim; I seem to remember "Bell-end" featured in almost every
entry.  Others will remember the Welsh "Yale College Rude Word
Collector" ("YCRWC") that only knew English swearwords, not Welsh:

http://www.missprint.org/cgi-bin/listsearch.cgi?query=Welsh%3Bpomegranate

Chris Leonard got a thanks on the new LP for his contribution to B&S
themed swearing, and his place of work also scores rude words out of 10
and sets off alarms when you hit 50 or something and he gets in
trouble: it's fun to mail him and see if you can score 49.  Finally, as
confessed by Steve Carsmile, he also lives somewhere that doesn't like
the words "bum", "willy", and I regularly get told off by the mail
software there for you all swearing in mails to the list that wind up
in his mailbox.

At night I sweat through fevered dreams imagining I'm stuck in a
windowless office with the central heating on full in one of these
venerable institutions, in a meeting where they decide which words they
should detect, whether "bugger" is still rude, if they should meet
regularly to add new emerging swear words like "flibbing", whether
"pish" is valid Scots dialog or not.  I awake exhausted.

With regards to the current incident, originating as someone pointed
out from some crazed software on the loose at a school in Cornwall,
I've moved the unsuspecting listee from the main list to the digest,
meaning I'll hopefully get the emails instead of all you, and less
frequently.  I hope this time the software points out *which* words it
objects too; it doesn't do to get left behind in the ever evolving
world of objectionable phrases.

Anyway, I hope you're all doing well, all 1400 of you.  I'll be back a
bit more in a little while probably.  Did someone review a Bon Jovi LP
on this list a few days ago, or was it my imagination?  
Honey x


-----

MEETING MAX for the first time was a strange experience. Sitting there
on the side of the road with the sun gleaming off his black body he
looked elegant, like he'd grown old gracefully and could tell you some
stories. But we weren't there to meet Max. You see, Max's owner is a
certain Stuart Murdoch. And Max is his recently acquired 1973 Ford
Granada.

Stuart is understandably precious about his recent automobile purchase,
politely warning your Guardian scribes not to lean on the door. His
eyes are lit with pride as we sit within the confines of its leather
interior, before a flick of the key starts the car first time, and the
engine rumbles contently with a gallant whir. Stuart obligingly tells
the story of its acquisition.

"Me and my brother were expecting the worst. We'd already seen a car
that this guy couldn't even get started, and this one was ten years
older than that. My brother was like 'this is going to be a wreck, do
you still want to see it?'"

Stuart's gut instinct was to take the trek to a farm in Aberfoyle. The
decision was the right one, as the car proved to be what can
unequivocally termed a 'classic'. However, the pair were still
cautious, as the young lady owner hadn't actually stated a selling
price in the advert.

"We eventually asked 'What are you wanting for it?' And she said
'900'... Me and my brother were like [gesture of stifled excitement]
'don't say anything!'.

Stuart thought the Granada suited the name 'Max', after a character in
'Hart To Hart'.

"It's not a woman. Because it carries you about and does things and
it's black, you look at it more as your butler."

Driving along the city boundaries of Maryhill, Stuart speaks of the
houses that were once there and points to a church name-checked in a
Belle & Sebastian song. Memories are sparked from teenage days of
skateboarding and jogging along the Forth and Clyde canal, and it
becomes clear the extent to which the landscape of Glasgow is a source
of inspiration for Stuart's songwriting.

"Sinister, for instance, is so geographical," comments Stuart on Belle
& Sebastian's second album. "Every song was written in a specific part
of the city, and the place left its mark on the writing."

As we edge with terrifying predictability closer to Buchanan Street Bus
Station, the temptation to Park and Ride must surely be overwhelming
bus fanatic Stuart. But Glasgow's main terminus does not hold the same
fondness for Stuart as the depots at Knightswood and Butterbiggins Road
in the Southside.

A detour from the city centre via Strathclyde University reminds Stuart
of his fresh-faced years as a DJ there, helping to run a club night
called the 'Wasp Factory'.

"We did it at the QM as well, actually. It was a Thursday night.
Thursday nights in the QM were usually great. In the end I got sacked
for playing alternative music. And within a year the alternative was
the mainstream."

Stopping at traffic lights, we notice a fly-poster for Belle &
Sebastian's 'Legal Man' single and inquire as to whether Stuart often
listens to his own songs.

"I listened to Tigermilk again when we mastered it and stuck it out.
That was the first time I'd heard it for ages. I don't feel big-headed
when I say I think it's perfect, but I think it sums up that time that
we had and the coming together of the group. It's got a lot of energy
and I wouldn't change a thing about it."

However, the Belle & Sebastian frontman is surprisingly much more
critical about the band's second album, If You're Feeling Sinister.

"It's really flawed, it's all over the place, and it's not such a happy
listening experience. For a long time afterwards it was hurtful,
because when we were still learning about how to make records, I
thought 'we could have done that better. I want to do it better. I want
to do it again.' I don't think about it too much now. Personally
speaking, for the songs I've written, I think they're definitely the
strongest, but the music on it fell short."

As for the new album, Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant,
Stuart is again frank about how he thinks it has turned out.

"To be honest, it's not as fresh, and I think it will lose a bit in
time. I'm happy now that the record's finished, but there's songs I've
been disappointed in and it's been a total struggle. I can't describe
how much work we put into that, and how much we've thrown away and
chopped and changed and re-recorded. Hopefully next time we'll be able
to craft a song and an arrangement without so much pain and waste."

Fold Your Hands... and previous LP, The Boy With The Arab Strap have
seen the songwriting and vocal duties evolve from a Stuart Murdoch
showcase to the present situation where almost all of the band members
contribute songs.

"I think it's great that we've moved on, it's what the band's become.
After we did Arab Strap, a lot of the band were really unsure what
their role was, and if it was right that they should be putting songs
in. And I was half way down on my knees begging them for songs, and
that was wrong at the time. It actually reflected in how the album went
badly initially, because the balance was all wrong, and we chucked it
in for a few months and came back to it. By that time, Stevie had a
couple of songs he wanted to do with Sarah, and I was like 'Sarah,
where the fuck have you been hiding that one?!' Chris had started a
song which we wrote together, and suddenly the whole dynamic of the
record was right. We couldn't make a record like we used to - the
interest wouldn't be there. We all know about music to an extent, and
we can't deny that to ourselves."

A near-escape onto the rush of motorway traffic, before a sharp change
of direction, and Stuart decides it's time to park Max kerbside at St.
Mungo's Cathedral. Religion plays a significant part in the life of
Stuart Murdoch. Much of his time away from the band is spent looking
after his local church hall, and the influence of his faith often
extends into Belle & Sebastian songs.

"My favourite book is the Bible, and my favourite book in the Bible is
'St. John', and I've lifted freely and happily from that since I read
it."

Unfortunately, the intended pilgrimage to the visitor centre proves
elusive, as we arrive 45 minutes after closing time, so a brisk walk to
the nearby caf for a cuppa seems a sensible alternative. In the
multi-national surroundings of the caf (it's a strange mix of foreign
tourists, post-work drinkers and college kids), Stuart ruminates on
life before Belle & Sebastian.

"It was a long drawn out process of actually hoping to be in a band and
getting a band together. From '92 till the end of '95 I was playing
with musicians and trying to get songs written. I recorded demos with
Stuart, other people and on my own, and there are still songs that
haven't been recorded, and from time to time we'll drop one in."

>From a creative flurry in 1995, a name was now needed under which
Stuart could release the fruits of his songwriting labour.

"In the summer of '95, I started writing a story about two characters.
One was a guy, a bit of a layabout, quite directionless; the other was
a young girl who was quite plugged into what she was doing, and they'd
see each other about. Basically, he ends up giving her a guitar lesson
and stuff like that, and he finds that she's got a great talent for
songwriting, and he's absolutely enraptured. I called the boy
'Sebastian' just because I quite liked the name, and then I thought it
would be quite funny to call them 'Belle and Sebastian' because it's a
nice memory from childhood."

Events closer to the present day have seen bassist Stuart David
relinquish his responsibilities with Belle & Sebastian to pursue his
pet project, Looper, full-time. Stuart recalls the moment his namesake
announced his departure from the band.

"We were having a meeting to decide what we were doing about gigs and
things, and Stuart said he was going off on a Looper tour, and I think
I said he should maybe take a break from the band."

Stuart David, though, felt a permanent leave of absence was more
suitable.

"I don't think he was very happy with the band or else he would have
stayed. It was totally amicable when it happened. It dawned on me that
day that that's what he had to do, and that's what he was completely
intending to do. I mean, he basically wasn't there [laughs] - there was
no real grief about it, it was a relief. My memories of Stuart and his
contribution to the band are totally sweet."

Coffee break over, once again we return to Max, and Stuart executes a
textbook three-point-turning before we journey homewards. A couple of
suspect lane changes go unmentioned, but by and large Stuart's driving
skills are admirable, content as he is to cruise in resplendent
leisure, paying full attention to the road ahead.

"It's just as well it's an automatic," smirks Stuart, "if I had to
change gears as well I wouldn't be able to speak."

As Max climbs the gradient of University Avenue, just before we are
dropped off, we enquire if Stuart thinks he'll write a song about his
beloved car for the next record.

"I don't know, if one of the songs talks about a guy called Max then
you'll know what it's about..."

Jason Cranwell







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