2008/05/02

Mojo's interview (courtesy of Alex McLaughlan), for all the foreign countries.

It was a talk by Bill Smith, who designed many of the Jam's iconic, and still wonderful, sleeves.
(Courtesy of Mike Cobley)


Mojo: There's a rumour of a reconciliation between you and Rick and Bruce.
PW: Who said that?
M: My editor.
PW: Well, he knows more that I fucking do. I saw Bruce about a year ago, the
first time in God knows how many years, and that was fine. I've had contact
with him in more recent times, too, because his wife was really ill, so I
got in touch to see how she was doing. There's not much bad blood between me
and him anyway. The drummer I never fucking liked from way back. But that's
all right, 'cos he never fucking liked me. I couldn’t give a fuck if I never
saw Rick ever again, to be honest. So that's fine as well. "Reconciliation"
...
you mean in a professional sense?

M: Yeah like, well, reforming The Jam.
PW: That would never fucking happen in a million years, mate. I'd have to be
fucking lying in that gutter covered in piss and starving with my children
totally potless for me to even think about it. There's never going back,
only going forward. We're Mods, you know what I mean? I take it seriously.
Every cunt is reforming, every fucker on the planet. It's only the Roman
Empire that's left to reform now. Incredible. Even the shit bands that were
rubbish first time around. Who needs Tears For Fears back?

M: How do you feel about Bruce and Rick playing your songs without you?
PW: I think it's fucking bizarre. I don't want to be goaded [into a slanging
match]. But you asked me, and I think it's wrong. At the time it was
brilliant, and we stopped at the right time, and that's helped what we did
endure. And I think they should just leave it, move on and do something
else.

M: Do you think it tarnishes the legacy?
PW: It doesn't do it any favours, and I don't think it does them any
favours. I don't know if they need the money, because I don't know about
their financial circumstances, but I think we all did quite well out of The
Jam and still do. We get pretty healthy royalty cheques. To me, it's just
cabaret. Which is the antithesis of what we were about.

M: So have you been along to see From The Jam play?
PW: You must be fucking joking, mate!

... /...

Mojo: What do you think of Paolo's book?
PW: I haven't read it. I've got lots to say about it, but I don't want to
say any of it in print. I don't want to give it any credence by talking
about it, man. I don't know why he did
it.


2 comments:

YV said...

Pic courtesy of Mike Cobley. ;)

Leonard Zelig said...

All this is quite incredible. I can hardly imagine Bruce and Rick playing Jam songs without PW (except Smithers-Jones and a couple of other tracks, maybe).
It's bloody ridiculous.
And so is the bad language used by PW in this interview, if you ask me. I believe there's no need for him to be insulting towards the other two guys.
He could have sung "So sad about us" instead !