Sinister: (London) Evening Standard: 27.03.02. interview with Ian Watson

[David Moore]

Hi All,

There's been an abnormal amount of press about the band recently, but so far
I've not been able to find this interview on line, & its the one I find the
most interesting (confirmation that IWUTU is about Struan & Isobel, wanting
to play Glastonbury, "heads in the clouds", etc.) . So here it is:


"Considering that Stuart Murdoch has refused to speak to the British press
for the past four years, he has chosen bizarre circumstances for his first
one-on-one interview of the 21st century Fifteen hours before our meeting in
an Albanian bar in the centre of London, he had boarded a plane at Tokyo’s
Narita airport. He hates flying and never manages to sleep, so he took along
a bottle of whisky to keep him company. “I must admit I’ve been drinking
solidly,” he says, ordering a Martini Rosso. He looks glassy-eyed with jet
lag. Belle and Sebastian have a reputation for treading their own
idiosyncratic path, of course. Easily the biggest cult band in Britain, the
eight-piece from Glasgow have actively broken every music-business rule.
They decline to pose for standard band photos. Murdoch — the band’s
33-year-old singer and guitarist — stopped giving interviews as soon as
people started calling his group the new Smiths. And they hardly ever play
live. Indeed, when Belle and Sebastian won a Brit award for Best Newcomer in
1999 (beating the hotly tipped Steps), they sent their drummer and trumpet
player to make the acceptance speech.

The past 12 months, though, have seen a subtle shift in B and S’s attitude.
Previously contrary through inexperience, as much as sticking to points of
principle, they now have the confidence to enjoy themselves.
“We got together to specifically record one record (their critically lauded
debut album, Tigermilk] and then spent years learning how to play together,
and making all sorts of mistakes and burning out.”
How did they burn out? “When you’re passionate to the extreme and things go
wrong and you don’t know why, and you see them through to the death, then
your health can suffer. I got into that situation a couple of years ago. We
finished our last record and I couldn’t take it any more. I said I’m going
to leave it and go at my own pace.”

Murdoch’s main problem was his relationship with the band’s cellist, Isobel
Campbell (always assumed to be the Belle to his Sebastian, although the
singer has previously denied this). The couple were falling apart and the
band couldn’t help but be affected. Now, though, Murdoch has channelled his
feelings into the music: the band’s most recent single, I’m Waking Up To Us
(on the Jeepster label), was generally regarded to be a return to form.
“There’s something of that in there,” nods Murdoch. “It certainly took us a
long time to realise that the group wasn’t happening while we were arguing”

What does Campbell think of the song? “She’s never made any reference to it.
I don’t know. I think she managed to get over things a lot faster than I
did. But it’s not a vindictive song.”

Even with lyrics such as: “You need a man who’s either rich or losing a
screw”? “I think at the end the caring things outweigh the niggling things.”

Another turning point came with a comment from the band’s manager, a friend
called Neil Robertson —although Murdoch is essentially B and S’s mentor.
During the difficult years, Murdoch admits he “put more effort into keeping
the group together than I did writing, singing, playing”. B and S had turned
down countless magazine covers and television appearances and Robertson had
had enough. “He said: ‘If you have complete disdain for the media, how can
you expect them to have anything but disdain for you?’ It is a point.”

Most cheering for the fans, B and S have also been signing up for concerts
(including the Brixton Academy next Wednesday). Last summer’s tour of
Britain in July culminated at the sold-out Albert Hall. The band also toured
America (where they enjoy a critical reverence on a par with Radiohead),
played two dates in Brazil and five shows in Japan.

“I like to communicate with people,” Murdoch says now “I love getting up in
front of folk.”

This doesn’t mean that Belle and Sebastian have lost any of their original
charm or eccentricity. Far from it. “I really felt like playing golf in
Japan. So we rolled out a bit of turf halfway through the gig and knocked
some balls into the audience. They were going ‘Hit me!’ Someone had a big
Bing Crosby cap at the front, so I borrowed that. In the meantime, my guitar
started to feedback and this reminded Stevie [Jackson, guitarist] of I Feel
Fine by The Beatles, so he sang that while we played golf”

A new album Storytelling, will be released on Jeepster in June and Murdoch
has an ambition for this year that will surprise many long term fans: “I’d
like to play Glastonbury. We had a brilliant time at Benicassim [festival in
Spain], so I think the group’s ready. I’ve never been to Glastonbury. I’ve
been to T In The Park, which is terrible.”

Any year’s Glastonbury line-up is a compendium of the contemporary British
music scene of the moment: how exactly will Belle and Sebastian fit into
that? “I don’t think we fit in at all,” smiles Murdoch. “We’ve got our heads
in the clouds. Me and Stevie are living ha1fway between the Sixties and the
Seventies. And I don’t really care.” Amen to that."


Sorry its a bit old now, I had to teach myself how to do OCR. (It was an old
dog, new tricks kind of thing)


Nearly everything has been said about the UK bit of the tour now. I'd just
like to enter a plea for the band to PLAY LOUDER!  (And I'm not a Linkin
Park fan. Oh yeah - who ARE Linkin Park?) On reflection, the reason I didn't
enjoy the 2 gigs I was lucky enough to attend as much as I should have done
is that often the sound of people chattering even several yards away was
loud enough to drown out the sound of the band playing & singing, & not just
during the quieter passages. So please, turn it up a bit.

And play Highway To Hell :)


A couple of things about the Brixton gig: they sounded very much like they
were going to move into Sympathy for The Devil from the percussion bit of
Legal Man, but didn't :(  - teasers! ....... No one mentioned
Stuart/Stevie's AC/DC type opposing runs across the front of the stage
during one number & Stuart's chucking the mic into the crowd ...... Struan
looked like he was contemplating climbing up the PA to jump off at one point
(frustrated rocker!) ...... Katrina was looking even more gorgeous than
usual.


Hope everyone enjoys the mainland Europe shows.



Love,

David Moore
Chelmsford, UK

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