the jesus and mary chain
 
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Interview with William Reid
Rockin' On
08.1995
Note:This is a re-translation from Japanese back into English. Which means the words in this translation may not be exactly what was said at the interview.


In fact the original appointment with William Reid was broken, though unintentionally. He had completely forgotten about it and was out shopping at the appointed time. So I made another one and got there - only to be told that he was on the phone talking passionately to his new girlfriend and that I had to wait. William, who was said to be absent-minded late last year after breaking up with Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star, might now be in high spirits, sort of.

On stage in Japan in such a mood, William suddenly started singing the lead vocals for an encore, "I Hate Rock'n'Roll." The Jesus and Mary Chain have expressed despair in noise and lingering hopes in melodies. This is how they have been telling us that it is this ambivalent frustration that signalled their attitude towards everyday life and rock'n'roll. That EP [I Hate Rock'n'Roll], which could be regarded as the original Mary Chain song, shows it in a cool and almost persistent manner.

Interviewer: I saw your live performance the day before yesterday (17 May) and had an impression that it had a more relaxed atmosphere than any other show of yours that I have ever seen. How do you feel about that performance yourself?

William: Well, I don't know... (silence) We just managed to do what we wanted to do.

Interviewer: I felt that the contrast between the noisy part and the acoustic part was very clear.

William: Yes, that's probably what we want to do. After all, noise and acoustics co-exist at the same time. I make songs with acoustic guitars anyway, and I make melodies and songs so that they will come up above the noise.

Interviewer: I see. Then here I can confirm once again that the most important basis for your songwriting is, orthodoxly, melodies.

William: Yes, that's right. I like melodies. That's why I like bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground, who base their music on melodies... I don't like complicated music. But simple and not so complicated music is pop music too, strange to say. The Beatles were all geniuses, but their music is very basic and full of inspiration.

Interviewer: I think that all the talks about the Jesus and Mary Chain have treated melodies surprisingly lightly. But you could say that your music is the best pop music.

William: (giggles) I think we are underestimated as musicians. (laughs) I imagine every musician feels that way.

Interviewer: What impressed me most the last time I had an interview with you was that you had isolation or separation from the outside as a theme. Especially Jim was saying that you had brought noise, which was the symbol for discommunication, into music. But come to think of it, don't you think that rock'n'roll itself started out as a noisy means of communication?

William: Yeah, so... music can't get away from communication in the first place, and you can't make things without escaping from it. That's why we had to play music in an ambivalent way.

Interviewer: Then what do you think of the idea that rock'n'roll, as a means of expression, is anxious for the listeners' reaction as well as the players'?

William: Well, I don't dance or sing or jump around to music... (laughs) How about this? The best concert I've ever seen was the Joy Division's in 79. The hall had an isolated atmosphere all over the place, and the audience were just looking up at it. I was personally influenced a lot by that show.

Interviewer: I see. I think I can understand. Then, what are listeners to you?

William: Listeners... I have no idea who the listeners are or what sort of people they are. One truth can be understood in different ways by different people, and that's the true nature of human beings, so I guess it's meaningless to think of what the listeners feel or who the listeners are.

Interviewer: Okay, let's change the subject to expression. What puzzles me is why the Mary Chain songs, with such negative and frustrated lyrics, are written with beautiful melodies. What do you think yourself?

William: Yes, I've been thinking about that for many years myself. But I can't find any answer. For me, melodies come from a different place than the lyrics. So I can write great songs even when I'm drunk or tripping. But I can write lyrics only when I'm sober. (laughs) Writing lyrics is like tracing the outline of your own soul and it's a mental task, so I try to write them when I'm sober and feeling fine. Then I try to write about life, but life is not always wonderful and I get to think of those times when life was hard or when I had trouble with others, so naturally the lyrics end up really dark. Then I play these songs to the melodies I make when I'm high or drunk. (laughs) This usually goes well. (laughs)

Interviewer: (laughs) I see. But there I can feel your ambivalent approach to rock'n'roll.

William: Hmmm, maybe. I'd say melodies are like meeting a girl and finding her pretty, and lyrics are like getting to know her better and better, and maybe you don't get to like her, or maybe you get irritated because you are not getting to know each other at all...ha ha.

Interviewer: Now, with the newest single, "I Hate Rock'n'Roll", which you played as an encore at the show, what was the motivation for writing this provocative song?

William: It was the frustration that's been building up for 11 years, 11 years of being in this business and 11 years of underestimation.

Interviewer: If this is a critical song about the business-like industry, you have already made a song titled "Write Record Release Blues" before.

William: ...I mean, this has a more limited theme, that is, MTV and the BBC.

Interviewer: I meant to say that this song is the very expression of your ambivalent feelings towards rock'n'roll.

William: No, I have no such feelings towards music. I love rock'n'roll. (laughs) Well, to be frank, the music industry has been really insincere to us. For instance, I have an acquaintance in an American record company who is in charge of Sherryl Crow, and I hear that in this business, if you're lucky, you can spend one million and a half dollars on the promotion for one record. But we can only spend one hundred eighty. It really makes me think, if we had had that amount of money at first, we would have sold hundreds of times more records...

Interviewer: I thought this song reflected your view of life and rock'n'roll. That is, no matter how much excitement you can get from rock'n'roll, you can't avoid being confronted by the harsh realities the moment the music ends.

William: No, no, I didn't mean to say that. I never blame music itself. Like I just said, I feel resentment towards the industry and not towards music. I do envy big bands like R.E.M., but I know I'm not going to be better than this. Certainly I'm sometimes driven by envy and think, "Damn it, I want to sell twenty million copies too", but this is the way this business is. I can't help it.

Interviewer: I see. By the way, do you feel lifted when you hear the word "tomorrow"?

William: Urm..., well, yes, usually. Oh it's strange that I feel this way, because I'm a pessimist... But I think I get lifted, after all. (laughs) I've got a new girlfriend, and I've got a plan to make a new recording in September, so I think there is hope in the future, though I have no idea what it will be like. Sometimes I wake up and think of my future and think that I might be in a totally isolated and lonely place, but I'm trying not to think of it that way at the moment.

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