Zane Lowe talks to Tim Burgess....here's the highlights from the interview...Zane Lowe talks to Tim Burgess....here's the highlights from the interview...
Zane: For the Charlatans the rock'n'roll rollercoaster ride has been a particularly bumpy one, they have made seven brilliant, original records, the latest of which "Wonderland", I think is your best. And as a band you guys have survived jail, fraud tragic death, and worst of all blonde highlights!
Tim interjects: Yeah red highlights as well - Led Zeppelin!
Zane: It's been 12 years, and right now we are going to go under the influence with lead singer Tim Burgess and find out whether it feels like it. You alright?
Tim: Yeah Great!
Zane: What was your earliest musical memory, tell me that, can you think of one?
Tim: Er shit, yeah but is a bit bad, I reckon the first record I ever bought was an Osmonds record, er Wild Horses I think, and then even worse Sham 69, I must have been trying too hard!
Zane: So was it love at first sight for you and music?
Tim: erm yeah I think it was actually, I sort of grew up in a village, there were only 4 channels on the TV and er, music sort of gave me something else, somewhere else to go really.
Zane: It captures your imagination more than television?
Tim: Yeah I thought so at the time, definitely.
Chemical Bros - "Life Is Sweet" plays
Zane: You know this relationship with the Chemical Bros has been one that has benefited both parties throughout and you've obviously both learnt a lot from each other and its helped your musical careers to a certain extent by coming together. How did that relationship actually come together in the first place?
Tim: Er, they did a mix of a track called "Patrol" which is on "Up To Our Hips", 1994, they were Djing at the (Heavenly) Sunday Social.
Zane: Back in those days as well, you had people like yourself, Noel Gallagher was down there, Bobby Gillespie was down there, I mean it really was the foundation for a lot of what came out.
Tim: I never saw any of them. I mean they sort of jumped on it later!
Zane: So you're old school social?
Tim: I'm Fuckin' old school, old School! (laughs)
Zane: You're so real it hurts Tim, from what I can tell!
Tim: I'm so surreal it hurts!
Zane: You've flirted with electronica over the years, but you've always returned to rock'n'roll - what is it about guitars and drums and organs and bass and stuff?
Tim: Well, I like music…. I like simplicity and I like what the Charlatans do, yeah
Zane: As a band and the chemistry that you guys have created over those years, have there been moments when you have sat back, in the recording studio, on the road or whatever and thought I want to try something different, want to push the envelope and maybe do an album based entirely around pro tools or around samplers?
Tim: Most of the albums we have done have been based around pro tools, I think we have taken it as far as pro tools can go, I think everyone is starting to get more obsessed with pro tools than playing as a band - it's a great tool to use, but people ask, normally the first question they ask now is did you use pro tools? And its like, yeah, why do you ask?! (laughs)
Techie talk follows!
Zane: People shouldn't forget that you guys can play and play rather well!
Tim: The charlatans shouldn't forget they can play either! (laughs)
Bit of a Starsailor chat follows, Tim says he liked them live - put hairs on the back of his neck - like the chemical bros when he first saw them.
Zane: Whats was the first song you wrote where you really thought you had fulfilled your promise as a songwriter?
Tim: The Only One I Know.
Zane: It's a hard act to follow then when one of the first songs you write goes top 10.
Tim: I didn't really write all of it, I just wrote the words and bits of the music for it really.
Zane: Was it a monkey on your back for a while, having to follow it up?
Tim: Yeah it was, I thought it was our "Blue Monday"! (laughs)
Jeff Buckley track - "Last Goodbye" plays.
Tim talks about it changing his life and mood and how he got into it over months of constant play. He says he couldn't get enough of the track but it really made him miserable too!! (laughing again)
Zane: The death of your keyboard player, Rob Collins, when recording "Tellin' Stories", people will say things happen for a reason, with the benefit of hindsight can you make sense of that?
Tim: Yeah, but I didn't think so at the time.
Zane: So was it a tough decision to carry on with the band after he passed on?
Tim: At first I think we got told we had to play with Oasis as supportband, which he (Rob) didn't want to do anyway, but he died so we did it! (laughs)
Zane: How do you feel about that album "Tellin' Stories" now?
Tim: I can't listen to it (laughs sadly) it brings back too much shit.
Zane: It's a shames cause it's a great record regardless of obviously what surrounded it. As tragic as Robs death was, Tony's (Rogers) become an incredibly strong member of the band.
Tim: Yeah maybe things happen for a reason obviously we'd have never met Tony and y'know….Tony's brilliant, I think in some ways he's very different, and in some ways he's more instinctive.
Gram Parsons chat next! Morphine heroine and death discussed.
Zane: Do you have a chance to indulge, to live out some of the wilder things in Rock'n'roll being in a band? Do you indulge? A lot of what you guys seem to do seems fairly guarded. Do you have fun?
Tim: Yeah we have fun but I don't indulge really, lots of fun, I have a lots of fun though, I indulge in traditional rock'n'roll.
Zane: Hedonism?
Tim: I don't think that's indulging, a boring description, people get really shocked by it and that's even more boring.
Zane: This brings us round to "The Charlatans" by Dominic Wills - is it a good read?
Tim: Did I choose that?! (laughs) Yeah it is, I like it because I, er, I wrote the foreword, that's why I like it!
Zane: Really! Is it a good read then?
Tim: I don't like it but its because it's about me and its really very truthful.
Zane: Is it the only one you've read about your own band?
Tim: Yeah but I've not read it all, but read it in places, Dominic's a lovely man but won't let you get away with murder so a lot of the stuff in there is stuff I like really wouldn't have wanted to be in it if we'd had a choice and been like writing our own book.
Zane: Would you ever consider writing a book?
Tim: No, cause I've forgotten more than most people will ever remember! (laughs)
Zane: That's what always pissed me off about Wonderland Avenue, was the fact that you know, Danny Sugerman who wrote Wonderland Avenue which is the inspiration behind the title of The Charlatans new recording. He goes into so much detail about the exploits of Jim Morrison and Iggy Pop and all his so called show biz mates back in the 60's and 70's and he talks in so much detail about how many drugs he took, if you took that many drugs how can you remember that much detail?
Tim: I think when you look at the pictures of him, you just know he didn't take any drugs at all!
Tim: In 1993 I did a heroes and villains thing in NME, and one of my heroes at the time was Danny Sugerman and then, 8 years later we did our best record and we recorded it on Wonderland Avenue, and you know, I didn't even think about it till later until after we'd completed the record, never thought about it once while we were there. It happened because a friend of ours, Danny (Saber) was gonna produce it (the album) and that's where he lived.
Zane: Did you see the house where a lot of it took place?
Tim: No, cause we didn't think about it.
Zane: It was only afterwards when you got the title?
Tim: We only got the title cause we had no other title and we had to come up with one!
Zane: Lets look at the titles of your records.
Tim: Why? (laughs)
Zane: Some Friendly - why did you call it Some Friendly?
Tim: er, mumble mumble!
Zane: Don't mumble Tim!
Tim: Some Friendly - it was something I read in the Sunday Times.
Zane: Just a phrase?
Tim: Just a phrase. There was a song called Some Friendly and we changed the title before the album was finished.
Zane: Has its meaning changed over time?
Tim: There was something to do with a war that was going on and an American journalist asked me was it "Some friendly fire" and I really didn't know what they were talking about!
Zane: Between 10th and 11th
Tim: The first concert we played in America, at a place called the Marquee in New York, it was just a place across the road!
Zane: Up To Our Hips
Tim: Er…, it was er.. I was thinking of "Out Of Our Heads" by the Rolling Stones!
Zane: A play on words, nice! Has that one changed over time?
Tim: No, I still don't like the cover, but I like some of the songs on it.
Zane: Self titled, "The Charlatans", you waited for your fourth record to call it "The Charlatans".
Tim: That's when we felt promising! (laughs)
Zane: So that's when you first felt you were making music you were happy with?
Tim: No, not that we were happy with, cause we've been happy with everything we've done but its when we thought, right, we have something to offer the world.
Zane: So that's a very important title for a record.
Tim: Yeah it is, we put ourselves on the line. The title for "Us And Us Only" came about from a song, "Forever", it was like the first single.
Zane: It was best bass line of the year that song.
Tim: Best bass line of the year, yeah (laughs) it's great innit! It wasn't really about the band it was talking about the lyric like an overlay, don't worry about anyone else, but me and you but then Us And Us Only became the title for the album cause it was like it felt like a very private matter, cause we were testing out a new thing, it was Tony's first record and although it wasn't private it was private in our own heart of hearts.
Bjork chat follows!
Zane: When did you first realise that you wanted to be a singer? Was singing the hat you always wanted to wear?
Tim: Tried everything, I'd tried to play bass, keyboard and tried to play guitar, couldn't play guitar.
Zane: And what's left is the mic.
Tim: I was only invited down cause they thought I looked good, you know, then I had to prove myself as a singer.
Zane: Did you take to being at the front of the stage and being centre of attention immediately? Was it something you felt comfortable with?
Tim: No I didn't feel that comfortable at the start, no. I didn't know what I had to offer.
Zane: What about now?
Tim: I think I'm getting good, yeah.
Zane: I think you are as well!
Breeders chat next! Cannonball features - Tim loves it, says its an absolute classic!
Zane: Were you aware of the pigeon hole that was opening when you guys were recording Up To Our Hips that you were potentially getting lost in the wash of this whole Madchester thing at the time?
Tim: Erm….might have been….
Zane: Was there concern at the time to break out though and do something different?
Tim: No I think for us Up To Our Hips for me was again a learning record, not only did he (Rob) die but before he died he went to prison and we pretty much had to take what we could get out of it (him), cause he was awaiting trial for eight months.
Zane: The whole thing about your history and I've talked to you on many occasions, there seems to be a lot of key moments out of your control. That lead to a change in your sound when people expect you to go the way of say the Inspiral Carpets.
Tim: Yeah absolutely key moments but how many bands have recorded albums while their keyboard player is awaiting trial for armed robbery and it sort of puts you in a sort of weird state! I can't judge the album on anything more than that. (laughs)
Zane: Yeah right, you poor sod!
Doves chat next! Tims seen the Doves live and loved it!
Zane: What it is it about Manchester as a place that's given birth to so many great bands man, it just continues to happen man!
Tim: I dunno, it hasn't given us as many great bands as Los Angeles has given us.
Zane: That's true, but you know, you're in the same ball park and considering how many cities there are in the world with people making music in their bedrooms, Manchester is definitely top 5.
Tim: Manchester is good, I love it, there is a Manchester sound.
Zane: Is there something about growing up in Manchester?
Tim: I didn't grow up in Manchester I moved to a place like, south of Manchester when I was 7, then moved there when I was 16/17 it was the city I aspired to and the city I went to at the weekend.
Zane: You mentioned Los Angeles and that it's given the world a richer musical legacy than Manchester
Tim: No, no, not richer, it's just like - more (laughs).
Zane: What is it about Los Angeles?
Tim: It's the opposite of Manchester for me, er, I dunno, I just love the Beach Boys, obviously, I'm 30 years behind them but I can just imagine them everywhere I go, I can imagine Dennis Wilson walking about so it's like heaven for me!
Zane: That's your home now?
Tim: Yeah it is Manchester LA!
"Mulholland Drive" (David Lynch film) chat next!
Zane: What was the last new record you bought?
Tim: "Mulholland drive" soundtrack!
Zane: You're not very obsessive then!
Tim: So! And before that, "Love and Theft" by Bob Dylan, Unbelievable!
Zane: Are there any influences you wish you'd talked about today?
Tim: Yeah millions, I've forgotten them already(!) but I love records, love music and I love travel!
Zane: So you're in the right job then.
Tim: I'm doing it the best I can.
Zane: Keep doing it then, nice one.
Tim: Cheers