Elbow: I don't know where life stops and music begins.
Mondays are for drinking to the Seldom Seen Kid
Thursday, 10, Jul 2008 03:35
Guy Garvey lights up a cigarette as the interview starts and admits he quit at New Year yet couldn't stick at it. But when speaking to a man responsible for one of the best albums of 2008, with The Seldom Seen Kid a crowning glory of the Bury band's 18-year career, a little bit of vice is perfectly acceptable.
The album, named after the band's late friend Bryan Glancy, saw them become the only band to achieve four successive 9/10 album reviews in the hallowed pages of NME, and with their orchestral wonder One Day Like This soundtracking ITV1's Euro 2008 coverage and magnificent sets at Delamere Forest and Glastonbury book ending the greatest-ever show of the band's career at the Meltdown, it's looking like a beautiful year for Elbow.
inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley talks to frontman Guy Garvey about life, love and the best gig of their lives.
In the programme for Glastonbury, it referred to you as 'Glastonbury legends' - how do you feel about that?
Very happy with that! Somebody called me a 'Glastonbury veteran' today, I was happy with that too!
Which Glastonbury was it for you?
The fourth one, but I've been about eight times.
Did you stay the whole weekend?
Yes, I did, I got there on Thursday and stayed until the missus had had enough! (laughs)
So where did you stand on the whole Jay-Z thing?
Of course he should have been there. It's always represented all kinds of music. I kept saying it - they've consistently thrown the best party in the world, so why wouldn't you trust them to choose the headliners? Plus, it just came from that one comment of Noel's! And I'm sure he'd not really thought about it.
Having been at your show during the Meltdown - you said it was the 'gig of our lives' - was it?
Very definitely the gig of our lives.
Are you planning to use the 28-man choir again?
I don't think we'll ever try and repeat it, because that would be to cheapen it. From the start to the finish of the Meltdown, the attitude of everyone at the Southbank Centre, etc, they were so 'can do'. John Brown, who arranged the choir, is a genius, Mary King who trained up is just so talented - it just made the gig of our lives.
With the new album, you've achieved a record of sorts by becoming one of the only bands to achieve 8/10 four times from NME, so...
It's 9/10!
Is it nine? Well, that's pretty unusual, for that magazine to stick with a band for that long - how does that feel?
We feel very fortunate to have their support, it's probably the most important musical publication in the UK.
With this album, why did keyboardist Craig produce it?
Well, we've all co-produced everything we've ever done. And over the last two records, Craig just took the helm so it seemed natural to do one on our own. And that made it very personal for us.
'Emotional' is a phrase that gets brought up again and again with you guys and all the records are very personal. But on this one, because it's your fourth album and you've been through a lot as a band, is there a difference with the others?
All our records document where we are at that time. It's not as black and white as this but - the first one was about wanting to do what we've done; the second was about being quite bewildered by it; the next was about coming home; and this one's about. some of the big stuff, the things that challenged us, which happened to everyone in their lives. The boys have had babies but on the other hand, we lost a friend of ours, which has never happened to us. So, it's all in there.
Would the record have gone in a different direction if Bryan Glancy hadn't died?
Absolutely, I don't doubt it.
As a band, you've had the great critical acclaim we've talked about, you've got an adoring fanbase but you've never been a Coldplay-esque band with mainstream success. Is that something that matters if you have the critics and the fans?
No. I had a brief brush with the paparazzi when I was going out with Edith Bowman and what very little attention there was, I found it intrusive and paranoia-breeding. And I've got friends who've had lots and lots of trouble with celebrity in inverted commas.
So fame doesn't interest you?
If you'd have asked me when I was 14 why I wanted to be in a band, part of it would have been to show off. But by the time of getting a record deal, it was more about making the music and making it with people I trust. I don't know how people get through their lives when they haven't got an outlet the way we have. And it's been my entire adult live, so I don't know where life stops and music begins.
Around the time of Asleep in the Back, you said in an interview you'd had to give up on a relationship to pursue a career in music. Do you still think you made the right choice?
It was, because we're still friends and she's got two beautiful children and a wonderful husband. Yes, it was definitely the right choice - no less harrowing at the time but it worked out very well for us. She's with someone she loves and I'm with someone I love - there's always a part of you that loves that person but you wouldn't be human if that wasn't the case.
Finally - I wanted to ask you about the Delamere Forest show in mid-June as I heard you proposed to a girl on behalf of her boyfriend?
Basically, I got the songs mixed up! As part of his proposal, he quoted one of my lyrics: 'You are the only thing in any room you're ever in'. No, it wasn't that one!
That's from the new album!
Yeah, it is! Oh, what line was it?
Was it 'You the only sense the world has ever made'?
That's right! And so we should have played...
Switching Off?
Thank you! (laughs) It's a good job you know! And yeah, I played The Stops which is about a breakup! So I f****d it basically! But they were kissing so they were all happy.
Lewis Bazley