Elbow (2014)
Interview Background
With more than 20 years of output to their (admittedly awful) name, Elbow are a strange species: their songs are often drenched in sorrow and loss, yet they are beloved by beardy men in pubs who’d usually run a mile from emotional outpourings. Frontman Guy Garvey was as winningly jovial in interview as his sozzled poet persona would suggest. Highly regarded as a broadcaster in addition to his musical catalogue, half an hour in the company of Garvey is an enjoyable romp filled with tales of booze and nudity. If Dirk Benedict from The A-Team is a fan, how can you go wrong?
The following is an edited version of an interview first published in mX, March 2014.
Elbow - No More Mr Nice Guy
by Scott McLennan
Known for propping up many a bar around his Bury hometown, cheery Elbow frontman Guy Garvey has a good idea how he’ll be feeling on the morning The Take Off And Landing Of Everything is released. The Manchester band’s sixth album drops the day after Garvey’s 40th birthday.
“I’ll be feeling fucked, obviously!” the affable Garvey offers. “My 40th birthday celebrations will be taking the form of a big band karaoke evening, which is fucking genius; I get to headline the whole thing, because it’s my event, and pick who sings what with a huge brass big band. I’m looking forward to it.”
Matched by stirring strings and heartfelt melodies, Garvey’s beautifully introspective Elbow lyrics bring a wistful tear to the eye of everyone from suburban octogenarians through to burly homosexuals (“You must see our American audiences – we’ve got a ton of bears,” the beefy, beardy Garvey acknowledges). Although The Take Off And Landing Of Everything fits neatly alongside former successes The Seldom Seen Kid and Build A Rocket, Boys!, a marked change in Garvey’s personal circumstances have influenced his latest tales. After a number of years together, Garvey and his author partner Kate Unsworth broke up in 2013. Reworking a number of The Take Off And Landing Of Everything’s lyrics in the wake of the split, Garvey suggests the album finds him at a strange point in his life.
“It certainly does. I wouldn’t say I’m feeling lost, but I’m certainly pensive about the future when plans changed as radically as ours did. It’s not like I feel like I wasted a second with my relationship with Emma – she’s a great girl and we had a great time, but obviously I miss her.”
Garvey reveals that Colour Fields, one of the Unsworth-influenced tracks on The Take Off And Landing Of Everything, was originally ear-marked for Lorde to record.
“We share the same publicist in New York. Alex [Baker, High Rise PR] played me her stuff early on and I was so impressed with her prodigious talent, it made me think of this poem I wrote for Emma. I thought it would be great to hear a really talented young woman sing Colour Fields, but instead it’s ended up on our record.”
When he’s not people-watching for future lyrical nuggets, Garvey is also a bird-watching enthusiast.
“I’m what real birders would call a robin-stroker, since I concentrate on my British garden birds and the maintenance of a healthy aviation restaurant… errr, avian restaurant – an aviation restaurant conjures up different images entirely.
“I lost my goldfinches over Christmas ‘cos the right fussy little buggers didn’t like the new seed the lady who was looking after the house for me chose. They were all eating across the road instead – I was watching the old guy who lives opposite very smarmily putting his seed out and having goldfinch flocking to him. I was like, ‘They’re my fucking birds, man – I want them back!’. I went back to the old seed mix and finally won them back, but I have to make sure I keep the feeders topped up to keep them.”
Breaking into an adaptation of Kelis’ Milkshake, Garvey concludes with a light-hearted dig at his avian fascination.
“Myyyyy feed-mix brings all the birds to the yard!”
The Take Off And Landing Of Everything (UMA)
Unpublished Interview Material
Are there resolutions to look after yourself better once you tick over to 40?
“Wellll, you say these things, don’t you Scott? I think I’ll start looking after myself when the doctor tells me I’ll die if I don’t – that’s probably what will happen in reality.”
When I spoke to Craig [Potter, Elbow keyboardist] for the release of Build A Rocket, Boys! he told me you love getting naked for a laugh, if only to see your bandmates recall in horror – how many nude moments were notched up during the making of this latest album?
“I think it’s like a nuclear deterrent – it’s a good thing to have in your back pocket, but you don’t go around employing it. I’ve threatened the band a couple of times (laughs). It’s always there, but I haven’t got naked on this record yet.”
[In relation to the break-up with Emma Unsworth] People often throw themselves into work or projects when they don’t want to deal with the emotional issues at the back of their mind. On the last album you were talking about maybe settling down and having children.
“I have no plans to have children. Throwing myself into my work involves very careful examination of my own feelings, so it’s not like an office job. (coughs) I’m okay and I’m happy, but obviously I miss her. We’re still mates so we don’t miss each other entirely. She’s got a book coming out next year which is an extraordinary body of work, so she’s going to be fulfilled in her work as well.”
Bono once sang that New York was the place to figure out midlife crises – has that been your experience?
“Well I wouldn’t say I’m having a crisis, although it’s not an ideal situation when your romantic life is truncated. It’s certainly a great place to go ponder things. The band isn’t as successful in the US as we are in a lot of places and I’m still very anonymous in New York, so that helps with introspection and with looking at your situation. It’s a good place, that.”
Were you finding it hard to go to the pub back at home without people singing the chorus to One Day Like This to you?
“That does happen, which can be a bit of a pain in the arse. People don’t seem to aggressively badger me until they’re pissed, by which time I’m probably pissed too and don’t mind. It’s not that I don’t like people approaching me – I’d really miss it if it stopped, but a big part of me learning to write songs in the first places was anonymously sitting in the corner of cafes and people-watching. It’s hard to watch people when they know who you are, so you could say I went to New York out of voyeurism.”
What ever happened to your idea of putting together an album of self-penned songs by your favourite female artists?
“It’s still there on the backburner. The problem with pursuing some kind of solo project when you’re in a band as good as mine, the minute you come up with something good you want to play it to the boys, then it becomes company property as it were. Elbow still gets all my best stuff, but there’ll be time for it in the future and it’s not something I’ve completely abandoned. For the time being I’ll concentrate on Elbow for a couple more years and maybe during the next break between albums I’ll look at it. I was going to do a lot more collaboration in the year we’ve had off from touring, but with personal circumstances changing, I ended up somewhat distracted I ended up amending songs on The Take Off And Landing…”
Morrissey is set to take Cliff Richard and Tom Jones out on tour with him. If Elbow were to pay tribute to some veteran artists by offering them support slots, who would you choose?
“Oh my God, well we’d all choose somebody different, I’m sure. Pete would favour members of Duran Duran. Whenever Pete [Turner, bassist] rings my mobile, the song that plays is Notorious. Do you want to know the ringtones for all the band members? I don’t think I’ve ever told anybody. Craig’s is Private Dancer by Elton John. No, that’s not right – Tiny Dancer. Private Dancer by Tina Turner would indicate something completely different. For one part it’s because of his life-long love of Elton John, but it’s because of the size of his feet. I am very fond of taking the piss out of him for his tiny feet – he’s got tiny, bound geisha feet. Mark’s is Back In Black by AC/DC, since he loves AC/DC and has their lightning strike tattooed on his arm (laughs) I can’t believe I’m telling you this. When [drummer Richard] Jupp phones it’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo. We always said that when we got a record deal we’d go to Pete’s mum and dad’s house in rural France for four months and write the album out there, on our own, away from civilisation. I think it was my idea and it was a fucking stupid one – it was like the Big Brother house, but more extreme. We got some good songs out of it, but we also had the biggest arguments we’ve ever had. The social experiment was way too long and we’d exhausted every drinking game known to man and we also ran out of music – we didn’t have anything new to listen to. After the umpteenth time of listening to the same song I asked if anyone had anything we hadn’t heard yet, so Jupp pulled out some CDs. He put Ladysmith Black Mambazo on and later on there was a natural pause in the conversation – you know when everyone stops talking? – when the song reached the ‘Oooooh, beautiful rain’ part. That song had been really hammered back home on the telly on some bank ad or something. The stereo was so loud that the line just sounded shit, so we all burst out laughing. I think they’re beautiful and I love their stuff, but this one song had been hammered and in that instance it sounded so shit. Jupp got pissed off and ejected the CD and we never heard it again. Now whenever he phones I get a little smile on my face. When our manager from the last 20 years Phil phones up, the song is Nick Cave’s Easy Money.”
Sticking with the phones, it seems you have everyone from The A-Team’s Dirk Benedict through to members of The Smiths on your mobile. What other marvellously unexpected names do you have in your mobile phone?
“The most unexpected name? I’m very good friends with the actors Timothy Spall and Benedict Cumberbatch. I’m friends with all kinds of people. It’s about time they utilised my prodigious acting talent, isn’t it? I’ve trod the boards, donned the greasepaint, et cetera.”
Thanks for your time, Guy.
“You’re an absolute gentleman, Scott. Have a lovely day, pal."
With more than 20 years of output to their (admittedly awful) name, Elbow are a strange species: their songs are often drenched in sorrow and loss, yet they are beloved by beardy men in pubs who’d usually run a mile from emotional outpourings. Frontman Guy Garvey was as winningly jovial in interview as his sozzled poet persona would suggest. Highly regarded as a broadcaster in addition to his musical catalogue, half an hour in the company of Garvey is an enjoyable romp filled with tales of booze and nudity. If Dirk Benedict from The A-Team is a fan, how can you go wrong?
The following is an edited version of an interview first published in mX, March 2014.
Elbow - No More Mr Nice Guy
by Scott McLennan
Known for propping up many a bar around his Bury hometown, cheery Elbow frontman Guy Garvey has a good idea how he’ll be feeling on the morning The Take Off And Landing Of Everything is released. The Manchester band’s sixth album drops the day after Garvey’s 40th birthday.
“I’ll be feeling fucked, obviously!” the affable Garvey offers. “My 40th birthday celebrations will be taking the form of a big band karaoke evening, which is fucking genius; I get to headline the whole thing, because it’s my event, and pick who sings what with a huge brass big band. I’m looking forward to it.”
Matched by stirring strings and heartfelt melodies, Garvey’s beautifully introspective Elbow lyrics bring a wistful tear to the eye of everyone from suburban octogenarians through to burly homosexuals (“You must see our American audiences – we’ve got a ton of bears,” the beefy, beardy Garvey acknowledges). Although The Take Off And Landing Of Everything fits neatly alongside former successes The Seldom Seen Kid and Build A Rocket, Boys!, a marked change in Garvey’s personal circumstances have influenced his latest tales. After a number of years together, Garvey and his author partner Kate Unsworth broke up in 2013. Reworking a number of The Take Off And Landing Of Everything’s lyrics in the wake of the split, Garvey suggests the album finds him at a strange point in his life.
“It certainly does. I wouldn’t say I’m feeling lost, but I’m certainly pensive about the future when plans changed as radically as ours did. It’s not like I feel like I wasted a second with my relationship with Emma – she’s a great girl and we had a great time, but obviously I miss her.”
Garvey reveals that Colour Fields, one of the Unsworth-influenced tracks on The Take Off And Landing Of Everything, was originally ear-marked for Lorde to record.
“We share the same publicist in New York. Alex [Baker, High Rise PR] played me her stuff early on and I was so impressed with her prodigious talent, it made me think of this poem I wrote for Emma. I thought it would be great to hear a really talented young woman sing Colour Fields, but instead it’s ended up on our record.”
When he’s not people-watching for future lyrical nuggets, Garvey is also a bird-watching enthusiast.
“I’m what real birders would call a robin-stroker, since I concentrate on my British garden birds and the maintenance of a healthy aviation restaurant… errr, avian restaurant – an aviation restaurant conjures up different images entirely.
“I lost my goldfinches over Christmas ‘cos the right fussy little buggers didn’t like the new seed the lady who was looking after the house for me chose. They were all eating across the road instead – I was watching the old guy who lives opposite very smarmily putting his seed out and having goldfinch flocking to him. I was like, ‘They’re my fucking birds, man – I want them back!’. I went back to the old seed mix and finally won them back, but I have to make sure I keep the feeders topped up to keep them.”
Breaking into an adaptation of Kelis’ Milkshake, Garvey concludes with a light-hearted dig at his avian fascination.
“Myyyyy feed-mix brings all the birds to the yard!”
The Take Off And Landing Of Everything (UMA)
Unpublished Interview Material
Are there resolutions to look after yourself better once you tick over to 40?
“Wellll, you say these things, don’t you Scott? I think I’ll start looking after myself when the doctor tells me I’ll die if I don’t – that’s probably what will happen in reality.”
When I spoke to Craig [Potter, Elbow keyboardist] for the release of Build A Rocket, Boys! he told me you love getting naked for a laugh, if only to see your bandmates recall in horror – how many nude moments were notched up during the making of this latest album?
“I think it’s like a nuclear deterrent – it’s a good thing to have in your back pocket, but you don’t go around employing it. I’ve threatened the band a couple of times (laughs). It’s always there, but I haven’t got naked on this record yet.”
[In relation to the break-up with Emma Unsworth] People often throw themselves into work or projects when they don’t want to deal with the emotional issues at the back of their mind. On the last album you were talking about maybe settling down and having children.
“I have no plans to have children. Throwing myself into my work involves very careful examination of my own feelings, so it’s not like an office job. (coughs) I’m okay and I’m happy, but obviously I miss her. We’re still mates so we don’t miss each other entirely. She’s got a book coming out next year which is an extraordinary body of work, so she’s going to be fulfilled in her work as well.”
Bono once sang that New York was the place to figure out midlife crises – has that been your experience?
“Well I wouldn’t say I’m having a crisis, although it’s not an ideal situation when your romantic life is truncated. It’s certainly a great place to go ponder things. The band isn’t as successful in the US as we are in a lot of places and I’m still very anonymous in New York, so that helps with introspection and with looking at your situation. It’s a good place, that.”
Were you finding it hard to go to the pub back at home without people singing the chorus to One Day Like This to you?
“That does happen, which can be a bit of a pain in the arse. People don’t seem to aggressively badger me until they’re pissed, by which time I’m probably pissed too and don’t mind. It’s not that I don’t like people approaching me – I’d really miss it if it stopped, but a big part of me learning to write songs in the first places was anonymously sitting in the corner of cafes and people-watching. It’s hard to watch people when they know who you are, so you could say I went to New York out of voyeurism.”
What ever happened to your idea of putting together an album of self-penned songs by your favourite female artists?
“It’s still there on the backburner. The problem with pursuing some kind of solo project when you’re in a band as good as mine, the minute you come up with something good you want to play it to the boys, then it becomes company property as it were. Elbow still gets all my best stuff, but there’ll be time for it in the future and it’s not something I’ve completely abandoned. For the time being I’ll concentrate on Elbow for a couple more years and maybe during the next break between albums I’ll look at it. I was going to do a lot more collaboration in the year we’ve had off from touring, but with personal circumstances changing, I ended up somewhat distracted I ended up amending songs on The Take Off And Landing…”
Morrissey is set to take Cliff Richard and Tom Jones out on tour with him. If Elbow were to pay tribute to some veteran artists by offering them support slots, who would you choose?
“Oh my God, well we’d all choose somebody different, I’m sure. Pete would favour members of Duran Duran. Whenever Pete [Turner, bassist] rings my mobile, the song that plays is Notorious. Do you want to know the ringtones for all the band members? I don’t think I’ve ever told anybody. Craig’s is Private Dancer by Elton John. No, that’s not right – Tiny Dancer. Private Dancer by Tina Turner would indicate something completely different. For one part it’s because of his life-long love of Elton John, but it’s because of the size of his feet. I am very fond of taking the piss out of him for his tiny feet – he’s got tiny, bound geisha feet. Mark’s is Back In Black by AC/DC, since he loves AC/DC and has their lightning strike tattooed on his arm (laughs) I can’t believe I’m telling you this. When [drummer Richard] Jupp phones it’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo. We always said that when we got a record deal we’d go to Pete’s mum and dad’s house in rural France for four months and write the album out there, on our own, away from civilisation. I think it was my idea and it was a fucking stupid one – it was like the Big Brother house, but more extreme. We got some good songs out of it, but we also had the biggest arguments we’ve ever had. The social experiment was way too long and we’d exhausted every drinking game known to man and we also ran out of music – we didn’t have anything new to listen to. After the umpteenth time of listening to the same song I asked if anyone had anything we hadn’t heard yet, so Jupp pulled out some CDs. He put Ladysmith Black Mambazo on and later on there was a natural pause in the conversation – you know when everyone stops talking? – when the song reached the ‘Oooooh, beautiful rain’ part. That song had been really hammered back home on the telly on some bank ad or something. The stereo was so loud that the line just sounded shit, so we all burst out laughing. I think they’re beautiful and I love their stuff, but this one song had been hammered and in that instance it sounded so shit. Jupp got pissed off and ejected the CD and we never heard it again. Now whenever he phones I get a little smile on my face. When our manager from the last 20 years Phil phones up, the song is Nick Cave’s Easy Money.”
Sticking with the phones, it seems you have everyone from The A-Team’s Dirk Benedict through to members of The Smiths on your mobile. What other marvellously unexpected names do you have in your mobile phone?
“The most unexpected name? I’m very good friends with the actors Timothy Spall and Benedict Cumberbatch. I’m friends with all kinds of people. It’s about time they utilised my prodigious acting talent, isn’t it? I’ve trod the boards, donned the greasepaint, et cetera.”
Thanks for your time, Guy.
“You’re an absolute gentleman, Scott. Have a lovely day, pal."
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