backtalk with jesus & mary chain
Neva Chonin / Option
07.1998
07.1998
If it weren't for the Jesus & Mary Chain, we'd likely have no Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage or any of the other 5,000 groups who cop the British band's signature wall of distortion. You can curse of bless Jim and William Reid for this contribution to rock history, but you can't deny them their place in the alternative canon. This June, some 13 boozin', battlin' years after Psychocandy, the Reid brothers released Munki, an album three years in the making and their first for Sub Pop (Creation is their U.K. label). The LP is a return to the band's manic, fuzzy, feedback after 1993's country-tinged Stoned and Dethroned. Brother Jim spoke to us from London, where he lives with his two cats.
Do you see much continuity between Munki and Stoned And Dethroned?
There's a thread that runs through everything we've made, and sometimes it may be difficult to follow if you're not in the band. Stoned And Dethroned seemed to confuse a lot of Jesus & Mary Chain fans because it was kinda mellow and downbeat. And it depresses me that it confused people, because I thought they could follow our direction easier than that - it's not like it was bagpipe music. We're definitely a rock'n'roll band, but we tamper with the idea of what a rock'n'roll band should be. We did a tour in America with a drum machine in 1987, and it was like we were pissing on the Bible.
How did the recording process stretch into three years?
We thought we had a band together, and that we could get that horrible recording part done quickly. Then we realized we couldn't, because every album has its own shape, and if you try to fight against that you're going to make a bad record. There were interruptions, as well. We started recording, and then we got kicked off of Warner Bros. We didn't have a clue as to how to go about striking up a relationship with another label. So we got rid of our management and went around drinking for a year, feeling sorry for ourselves, saying "Isn't there something we're supposed to be doing? Oh yeah - working." We had just about run out of beer money when the phone rang it was Creation's Alan McGee going, "Hey, you want a record deal?" And it was like, "Oh, thank fuck! Please! Please! We'll do anything!"
I heard you almost killed William while recording this album.
Actually, I've already killed William. He's under the floorboards in my bedroom, stinking up the place. Me and William are always like that when we make a record. Brothers are supposed to love each other and hate each other at the same time, and we're no different. We're cooped up together in this space called the Jesus & Mary Chain. There's about enough room for a midget in that space, but there happens to be two non-midgets fighting for the same little piece of territory. [slurping sounds]
What are you drinking?
Labatt's. I've been drinking many different types of beer today. Rolling Rock, at one stage. It was warm. But I'm in a record company office. I take what's given to me. But I'm such a little alcoholic that I don't care. My body's pretty tough.
You're 36, right? So you've already out-lived Christ.
By three years. When I hit 33, I was expecting to be knocked over by a truck or nailed up to a bloody fucking neon cross, because I've got so many similarities to Jesus. I'm a Capricorn. I was a carpenter. I'm in a band called the Jesus & Mary Chain. But I was born the usual way. Mary popped the kid without ever having been shagged. That was a good trick, wasn't it? "Hey Joseph, I'm prrregnant!" Anyway, back to the question.
I've forgotten the question.
I have, as well. I'm drunk. What's your excuse?
Do you see much continuity between Munki and Stoned And Dethroned?
There's a thread that runs through everything we've made, and sometimes it may be difficult to follow if you're not in the band. Stoned And Dethroned seemed to confuse a lot of Jesus & Mary Chain fans because it was kinda mellow and downbeat. And it depresses me that it confused people, because I thought they could follow our direction easier than that - it's not like it was bagpipe music. We're definitely a rock'n'roll band, but we tamper with the idea of what a rock'n'roll band should be. We did a tour in America with a drum machine in 1987, and it was like we were pissing on the Bible.
How did the recording process stretch into three years?
We thought we had a band together, and that we could get that horrible recording part done quickly. Then we realized we couldn't, because every album has its own shape, and if you try to fight against that you're going to make a bad record. There were interruptions, as well. We started recording, and then we got kicked off of Warner Bros. We didn't have a clue as to how to go about striking up a relationship with another label. So we got rid of our management and went around drinking for a year, feeling sorry for ourselves, saying "Isn't there something we're supposed to be doing? Oh yeah - working." We had just about run out of beer money when the phone rang it was Creation's Alan McGee going, "Hey, you want a record deal?" And it was like, "Oh, thank fuck! Please! Please! We'll do anything!"
I heard you almost killed William while recording this album.
Actually, I've already killed William. He's under the floorboards in my bedroom, stinking up the place. Me and William are always like that when we make a record. Brothers are supposed to love each other and hate each other at the same time, and we're no different. We're cooped up together in this space called the Jesus & Mary Chain. There's about enough room for a midget in that space, but there happens to be two non-midgets fighting for the same little piece of territory. [slurping sounds]
What are you drinking?
Labatt's. I've been drinking many different types of beer today. Rolling Rock, at one stage. It was warm. But I'm in a record company office. I take what's given to me. But I'm such a little alcoholic that I don't care. My body's pretty tough.
You're 36, right? So you've already out-lived Christ.
By three years. When I hit 33, I was expecting to be knocked over by a truck or nailed up to a bloody fucking neon cross, because I've got so many similarities to Jesus. I'm a Capricorn. I was a carpenter. I'm in a band called the Jesus & Mary Chain. But I was born the usual way. Mary popped the kid without ever having been shagged. That was a good trick, wasn't it? "Hey Joseph, I'm prrregnant!" Anyway, back to the question.
I've forgotten the question.
I have, as well. I'm drunk. What's your excuse?
