Andy Lewis, part 3 "It's nice to be important but it's important to be nice".

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1) You’ve used several times on stage a 8 strings bass (like Led Zep’ John Paul Jones!), a Rickenbacker, what’s the point?

I USE AN EIGHT STRING RICKENBACKER FOR ONE SONG IN THE PAUL WELLER BAND- “ECHOES ROUND THE SUN”. IT’S THE ONLY SONG I USE IT ON, AND I USE IT BECAUSE THE HUGE SOUND OF IT FILLS THE SPACE LEFT BY STEVE CRADOCK PLAYING PIANO ON IT, RATHER THAN AN EXTRA GUITAR. IT’S NOT SOMETHING THAT YOU’D USE ON EVERY SONG, BUT EVERY NOW AND AGAIN IT SOUNDS RIGHT. IT’S LIKE AN ELECTRIC TWELVE-STRING, THE PAIRS OF STRINGS ARE TUNED IN OCTAVES. THE 8-STRING RICK IN PARTICULAR IS VERY LOUD AND PUNCHY. IT LOOKS GREAT AS WELL… ALL THAT CHROME!

2) Did you have someone special as an influence from the bass point of view? Who are your favourite bass players? You play with pick and with fingers?

I SUPPOSE EVERYONE EXPECTS THE USUAL ANSWERS… MACCA, JOHN ENTWISTLE, BRUCE FOXTON, MAYBE JAMES JAMERSON. WELL ALL OF THE ABOVE DEFINITELY HAD AN IMPACT, BUT IN ALL HONESTY THE FIRST BASS PLAYER THAT HAD AN OVERWHELMING INFLUENCE ON ME WAS THE SESSION GUY WHO PLAYED ON “GROOVING WITH MR. BLOE”. WHEN I FIRST HEARD THAT RECORD ON A JIMMY SAVILLE OLDIES SHOW ON RADIO 1 AT THE TENDER AGE OF ELEVEN YEARS, THAT’S WHEN I DECIDED I WANTED TO PLAY THE BASS, RATHER THAN BE A LEAD GUITARIST. MY FINGERS ARE TOO FAT TO PLAY LEAD PROPERLY ANYWAY! MY FAVOURITE PLAYERS ALSO NUMBER HERBIE FLOWERS (ALL THOSE KPM MUSIC LIBRARY TRACKS!), STEVE YORK FROM MANFRED MANN CHAPTER 3, JOHN DEACON FROM QUEEN AND MARTIN GORDON FROM SPARKS & THE RADIO STARS (I’D NAME HIM AS AN INFLUENCE OVER JEAN-JAQUES BURNEL FROM THE STRANGLERS BECAUSE HE VERY RARELY GETS MENTIONED BY ANYONE!). I USE FINGERS OR PICK TO PLAY- IT DEPENDS ON THE SONG.

3) Do you work the songs with bass first? Don’t think about Paul Weller’s basslines but your solo material, When I listen your music (a bit obsessive at the moment…) I think you have a very very special skill to give the songs dynamic and it’s pretty rare, many songs are done after a verse and a chorus… A very round and elastic bass, I’ve thought a bit to Andy Rourke’s style… What you think?

IT REALLY DEPENDS ON THE SONG. GENERALLY THOUGH, I WILL BE SITTING AT MY DESK WITH A KEYBOARD IN FRONT OF ME, OR A GUITAR ON MY LAP. I LEARNED GUITAR SPECIFICALLY TO WRITE SONGS, AS IT’S EASIER TO SHOW SOMEONE SOME CHORDS RATHER THAN EXPECT THEM TO WORK OUT WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO FROM LISTENING TO A BASS PART. I STARTED OFF LEARNING THE ‘CELLO WHEN I WAS VERY YOUNG, SO I WAS TAUGHT FROM AN EARLY AGE HOW IMPORTANT THE LOW END IS IN MUSIC. YOU CAN DO SO MUCH TO BUILD TENSION AND ADD DYNAMICS IN A SONG WITH THE BASS. I THINK THAT’S WHY “GROOVING WITH MR. BLOE” WAS SUCH A POWERFUL INFLUENCE! I ALWAYS LEAVE SPACE FOR THE BASS WHEN I’M WRITING A SONG, AND OFEN IT’S THE LAST THINK I RECORD-AFTER THE VOCALS SOMETIMES. ANDY ROURKE’S ANOTHER GREAT BASS PLAYER TO ADD TO THE LIST. WHEN PEOPLE TALK OF THE SMITHS BEING A GREAT BAND, THEY GENERALLY THINK ONLY OF MORRISSEY. THEY WERE ALL GOOD.

4) Where have you found that groovy style on keys, Hammond, etc? Sometimes the bass is here to drive the song and the keys for the melody, aren’t they? I think to “41”, the song.

I’M NOT A GREAT KEYBOARD PLAYER AT ALL, BUT I THINK I CAN PLAY ENOUGH TO GET MY IDEAS ACROSS. WITH THE TRACK “41” THE HARPSICHORD, PIANO AND BASS GUITAR ARE ALL PLAYING THE SAME LINE IN UNISON. IT’S A REALLY DENSE SOUND, AND ACTS AS AN ANCHOR TO ALL THE OTHER BITS AND PIECES OF MELODY THAT FLOAT AROUND DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE SONG. THEN FOR THE SECOND HALF, THE BASS CHUGS AWAY AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MIX, THE HAMMOND SWIRLS IN AND THE SYNTH CARRIES THE MAIN MELODY. IT’S A TECHNIQUE USED A LOT IN SONGWRITING AND PRODUCTION TO MAKE A SIMPLE SONG SOUND MORE COMPLICATED THAN IT ACTUALLY IS!

5) A touch of “Magic bus / Bo Diddley / Motown beat” in Complexity? It just came that way? Was it a tempo to express the complexity of love?

THIS WAS A SONG WHERE I HAD THE MELODY AND THE MUSIC BEFORE I HAD THE LYRICS. I WAS REALLY INTO THE MELODY AND THE FEEL OF THE TRACK, BUT WAS STRUGGLING A BIT FOR SOME WORDS. THEN THE LINE ABOUT SOMEBODY BEING IRREDUCIBLE IN THEIR COMPLEXITY CAME INTO MY HEAD, AND THE REST OF THE SONG JUST WROTE ITSELF. THERE’S DEFINITELY A MOTOWN VIBE TO THE DRUMS. I REALLY LIKE HAPPY, JOYOUS, UPTEMPO SOUL MUSIC AND THE CLASSIC “YOU CAN’T HURRY LOVE” BEAT ISN’T ONE YOU HEAR VERY OFTEN THESE DAYS, MORE’S THE PITY.

6) Sky Bar has a very special percussion’s touch and the bass take the power back a bit later. Did you add it after a first version? The lyrics is about the “Past Glamour”, do you think we lost many things? There’s many songs about a kinf of “Lost England”, I’m French, please explain your feelings about that idea, Mr Lewis?

THE DRUMS ON “SKY BAR” ARE A TAKEN FROM A SAMPLE CD I’VE HAD FOR YEARS- A COMPILATION OF DRUM LOOPS AND SUCHLIKE THAT I BOUGHT WHEN I FIRST GOT INTO MAKING MY OWN RECORDINGS. THE PERCUSSION WAS ALREADY ON THERE. ONE OF MY MUSICAL COLLABORATORS RECKONED THAT THEY WERE TOO LOUD, BUT I WASN’T BOTHERED- YOU CAN’T BEAT A GOOD BIT OF BONGO DRUMMING! THE LYRICS ARE BASED ON MY REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE OF BEING IN THE BAR OF ONE OF THE TALLEST BUILDINGS IN BRITAIN. FROM THE WINDOWS YOU CAN LOOK OUT ACROSS A CITYSCAPE DOTTED WITH CLOSED-DOWN FACTORIES, ABANDONED RAILWAYS AND DERELICT CANALS. YOU CAN SEE FAR BELOW THE POVERTY OF EVERYDAY PEOPLE WHILE YOU SIP EXPENSIVE COCKTAILS AND RELAX IN THE COMPANY OF WANNABE GANGSTERS, SUPERSTAR DJ’S, SOAP OPERA ACTORS, FOOTBALLERS’ WIVES. PEOPLE WITH MORE CASH THAN BRAINS, A BIT LIKE YOU HAVE BECOME. BUT THEN YOU CAN ALSO, IF YOU REALLY TRY HARD, SEE A PUB WHERE YOU HAD A FANTASTIC TIME MANY YEARS BEFORE WHEN YOU USED TO VISIT FRIENDS FROM UNIVERSITY WHO LIVED IN THIS PARTICULAR CITY, AND THE SITE OF THE CLUB THAT YOU ALL USED TO GO DANCING IN. THIS REMINDS YOU OF THE KIND OF PERSON YOU USED TO BE AND CAUSES YOU TO PUT DOWN YOUR CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL, MAKE YOUR EXCUSES TO YOUR NEW FRIENDS AND GO BACK TO YOUR HOTEL ROOM AND WRITE A SONG ABOUT HOW YOU’VE JUST FELT! IT’S NOT SO MUCH A SONG ABOUT A LOST ENGLAND. MORE ABOUT HOW YOU CAN BE SEDUCED BY THE ARROGANCE OF WEALTH AND THE TRAPPINGS OF FAME.

7) Yarbles… I had to make a long research to understand, it’s a bit far from the official English and I’ve read it’s a reference to the Clockwork Orange movie. Bollocks? (lol). Why do we have to get our Yaya’s out? There’s a brilliant melody on keys, you’d rather play it than sing it sometimes? Excellent drumming on it, who’s on drums? I LOVE “A CLOCKWORK ORANGE”, BOTH THE BOOK AND THE FILM HAVE BEEN A BIG INFLUENCE NOT JUST ON ME BUT ALSO ON CREATIVE PEOPLE I ADMIRE. I COULD CLAIM SOME INTELLECTUAL THEME BEHIND IT, LIKE “THESE DAYS MORE THAN EVER WE NEED TO SHOW WE’VE GOT THE GUTS TO STAND UP TO OUR GOVERNMENTS, TO PROVE THAT WE CAN GET THROUGH THE HARD TIMES, TO FACE DOWN BULLIES… WE’VE GOT TO GET OUR YARBLES OUT! “ BUT ACTUALLY I WAS JUST IMAGINING IF BOYS WONDER HADN’T BECOME CORDUROY BUT HAD MERELY INCORPORATED ELEMENTS OF CORDUROY’S MUSIC INTO THEIR “CLOCKWORK ORANGE” INSPIRED FUTURE-SHOCK ROCK. THIS TUNE WASN’T REALLY INTENDED TO HAVE ANY VOCAL MELODY, IT WAS WRITTEN AS AN INSTRUMENTAL. I AM GETTING BETTER AT PLAYING THE KEYBOARDS, AND THE MELLOTRON FLUTE PART AND THE EPIC MELODICA SOLO SHOW THIS!! THE DRUMMING’S CUT TOGETHER FROM TRACKS ON ANOTHER SAMPLE CD… IT’S REALLY HARD TO RECORD REAL DRUMS IN A TINY FLAT ON THE THIRD FLOOR WITHOUT GETTING LYNCHED BY YOUR NEIGHBOURS! PLAYING THE MELODICA LIVE WAS ENOUGH TO GET THE PEOPLE BELOW BANGING ON THE CEILING.

8) What was really different for this one? I mean comparing to Billion and You Should..?

IT CAME TOGETHER REALLY QUICKLY. BOTH MY OTHER ALBUMS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE, AND THE ONE THAT’S COMING OUT THIS SUMMER, TOOK ME AGES TO WRITE AND RECORD. ALL THE SONGS ON “41” WERE WRITTEN AND RECORDED IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS. I THINK I’M MUCH MORE CONFIDENT ABOUT WHAT I DO NOW. I’M LESS INCLINED TO SPEND WEEKS ON END LISTENING TO ONE SONG OVER AND OVER, AND MINUTELY ADJUSTING MIXES BEFORE I’M HAPPY. WITH THE SONGS FOR “41” IT WAS A CASE OF WRITE IT, RECORD IT, MIX IT AND MOVE THE F*CK ON!

9) Do you have vocal role models, you’re not so far IMHO from Damon Albarn, are you?

I DON’T CLAIM TO HAVE ANY INFLUENCES AS A SINGER BECAUSE I HONESTLY DON’T HAVE ANY! I WASN’T EVER INTENDING TO BE A FRONTMAN, SO IT’S NOT SOMETHING I’VE THOUGHT ABOUT. DAMON ALBARN IS A VERY TALENTED MUSICIAN WITH A VERY DISTINCTIVE VOICE, SO I’LL TAKE THAT AS A COMPLIMENT.

10) You look very nice and cool, dare I say well educated in any circumstance and a well known blog reader (Simon Cooper, you’ve signed him a promo card, for…me!) met you (he won a AAA ticket on the blog) and he told me you’re absolutely nice. Do you hate Prima-donna fake star behavior, big headed and oversized ego? No need?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I THINK THAT IT’S NICE TO BE IMPORTANT, BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT’S IMPORTANT TO BE NICE. I HAVE EXPERIENCED ENOUGH OVERSIZED EGOS AND PRIMADONNA-ISH BEHAVIOUR IN MY LIFE WITHOUT WANTING TO ADD TO IT MYSELF. I’M TOLD I HAVE MY MOMENTS, THOUGH!

11) What do you mean exactly in Mr Camera, could you say a bit more than “the view of the recession”? WHO CAUSED THE RECESSION? THE HARD-WORKING AND PRODUCTIVE INVESTMENT BANKER WHO EARNED MILLIONS IN BONUSES DREAMING UP WAYS OF MAKING MONEY OUT OF SUB-PRIME MORTGAGES

AND CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS, OR THE ASPIRING POET SITTING IN THE LIBRARY IDLING THE DAY AWAY SOAKING UP OBSCURE AND ARCANE LITERATURE IN PURSUIT OF INSPIRATION? PERSONALLY I THINK IT WAS THE FORMER, YET IT’S THE LATTER THAT’S GOING TO SUFFER WHEN LIBRARIES ARE CLOSED AND FUNDING FOR THE ARTS IS CUT IN THE NAME OF AUSTERITY. THIS ANNOYS ME. ANOTHER THING THAT ANNOYS ME IS THE FACT THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE PERCEIVED AS “CHEATING” THE BENEFITS SYSTEM ARE DEMONIZED AND YET PAYING THEM THEIR BENEFIT PAYMENTS COSTS OUR SOCIETY FAR LESS THAN SYSTEMATIC TAX AVOIDANCE BY BIG CORPORATIONS. I COULD GO ON AND ON ABOUT WHAT I THINK IS WRONG WITH THE COALITION’S VIEW OF HOW BEST WE CAN GET OUR ECONOMY OUT OF RECESSION. CHIEFLY I RESENT BEING TOLD BY A PROCESSION OF PRIVATELY EDUCATED, EXCEEDINGLY WELL-OFF AND WELL-CONNECTED PEOPLE THAT “WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER”, WHEN IT’S CLEAR THAT SOME ARE GOING TO BE “MORE IN THIS TOGETHER” THAN OTHERS, TO PARAPHRASE GEORGE ORWELL. I DON’T SEE WHY A SINGLE LIBRARY HAS TO CLOSE, WHY A SINGLE POLICEMAN SHOULD LOSE THEIR JOB, WHY A SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT HAS TO BE CANCELLED, WHY STUDENTS HAVE TO INCUR HUGE AMOUNTS OF DEBT TO OBTAIN A UNIVERSITY EDUCATION THAT THOSE IN GOVERNMENT IN THE MAIN ENJOYED FOR FREE, WHY PUBLIC INVESTMENT HAS TO BE CURTAILED, WHY A SINGLE ACRE OF NATIONAL FOREST NEEDS TO BE SOLD OFF, WHY ANYTHING THAT NEGATIVELY IMPACTS ON THE PUBLIC AT LARGE HAS TO HAPPEN WHEN IT’S CLEAR THAT THE RECESSION WAS CAUSED BY A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT ONLY IN THE MAIN STILL IN POSSESSION OF THEIR JOBS, BUT ARE ALSO STILL IN POSSESSION OF MORE MONEY THAN THEY COULD POSSIBLY SPEND IN A LIFETIME. ADD TO THIS THE OVERWHELMING POWER OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO SCRUTINIZE AND EXAMINE YOUR LIFE, AND THE DISPROPORTIONATE NUMBERS OF CCTV CAMERAS IN THE UK, AND THE FACT THAT NOBODY’S SURE IF I’M SINGING “MR CAMERA” OR “MR CAMERON”, AND YOU’VE GOT THE THINKING BEHIND THE SONG. THERE YOU GO. ENOUGH EXPLANATION?

12) The last song of the year has a Kinks’ sound, don’t you think? Should have sell this one to Ray Davies! Honest, have you thought about that reference? I’VE BEEN TOLD BY AN AMERICAN THAT THIS SONG SOUNDS LIKE HARRY NILSSON, AND BY A GERMAN THAT IT SOUNDS LIKE ROBERT WYATT. NOW I’VE A FRENCHMAN TELLING ME IT SOUNDS LIKE RAY DAVIES. THE FIRST ENGLISHMAN TO HEAR IT SAID IT SOUNDED LIKE GILBERT O’SULLIVAN! PERSONALLY I THINK IT’S GREAT THAT PEOPLE DEEM IT WORTHY OF SUCH ESTEEMED COMPARISON.

13) You have been a DJ, producer, studio and live musician? What’s the best place for you?

I DON’T KNOW. THEY’RE ALL GREAT THINGS TO BE DOING, AND I’M LUCKY TO BE DOING ANY OF THEM AT ALL.