Interview With Jim And Douglas
Picture Disc
1985
1985
| I: | Okay. We'll, start with introducing the band. |
| J: | Jim Reid, vocals; Douglas Hart, bass; William Reid, guitar; Bobby Gillespie, drums. |
| I: | And where have you met? |
| J+D: | Me and him went to school together. |
| J: | And William's my big brother, so I've known him for a long time. Bobby's - Bobby's in another group and he was a, you know, he was an admirer of ours. Primal Scream's singer... |
| D: | One of the first admirers. |
| J: | We needed a drummer; we says: "Bobby, will ye drum?" Bobby says: "I kennae drum." We says.. |
| D: | We say "That's good, you're qualified!" |
| I: | That's something with the punk ------- |
| J: | D-d-don't say punk! |
| D: | The thing is that we mean it, we really aren't very good at our instruments. If you listen to any ------- Sex Pistols overplayed but they were really good at the time. |
| J: | To be honest we are good at our instruments. |
| D: | We're getting better. |
| J: | When we played our first gig we could hardly play a note. But now - I mean, we've been playing for nearly a year now. You do learn as you go along. We're reasonably good at our instruments. But that's punk thing - we've got nothing to do with punk. Punk is - punk was something that happened a bit - ten years ago that I don't really care about, you know. |
| I: | It didn't affect you at all? |
| J: | It did at the time. I was only a boy, you know. I got caught up with it. So did everybody, but... |
| D: | Because it was ------- |
| J: | Don't understand how anybody ------- could not have got caught up with it. |
| D: | But ------- |
| J: | It was laughable. I mean, let's face it, it was a joke. |
| I: | There's been a fair amount of hype surrounding the JAMC? |
| J: | I call it promotion. I mean, hype you know, I don't know what hype is. Hype. Some silly things have happened and they've got written about. That's no hype, that's promoting your group. |
| I: | Are you resentful to the amount of promotion - what some people would say is overpromotion? |
| J: | Most of it was our due. Most of it was us making sure that...that our stories hit the papers. |
| D: | And that our names was... |
| J: | Looking back I think we overdid it. I think we made a mistake there. Don't think we should've done it as much. But, doesn't matter. |
| I: | What about the violence that's been following your live shows? |
| D: | That irritates us. |
| J: | Well at first it was funny, you know, at first it was pretty hysterical, you know. You'd be..you'd be playing away and some wee idiot would be up in the corner getting his head bashed in or something like that, you know, but he'd be asking for it. But then like, eh, you..you...you'd see it written about in the music papers the next week and then the next gig you play you get twelve complete headcases that come and beat the shit out of each other. We don't want anything like that. We want nothing to do with that. That's fools. |
| I: | Will you have it that way, are you prepared to - success sort of at any price? Will you do just about everything to promote yourselves? |
| J: | No. But...that... |
| I: | To promote yourselves? |
| J: | No no, see that's the opposite of us. We want..we want success, but we want to do it on our own terms. You know like if we wanted success at any, like any..any..any, you know like any cost we wouldn't sound the way we do. 'Cause you'd have to be deranged to think that, you know, like a record like well, soon to be out in a ------- way, You Trip Me Up. You'd have to be deranged to think that that kind of record was going to be a smash hit. I think it could be, in a...in a...in a kind of an indefinite sort of way, it's unconventional, but there's easier ways to become a success. So not at all costs, no. |
| I: | What attitude developed your wall of sound? |
| J: | Develop. |
| D: | Well... |
| I: | What is it about like distortion and feedback that you like? |
| D: | It just sounds good. It's exiting and exhilarating ------ played ------- sound. |
| J: | It's difficult to describe as well, you know. It's like, it's just natural for us to make records like that. That's the kind of sound that suits us. We don't always sound like that, we got some, we've got songs that we play live that we do without any feedback, almost acoustic. I mean we've..we've..we've actually considered taking acoustic guitars on stage with us. But instead what we..we've got semi-acoustic guitars. We just turn off the feedback and do Just Like Honey. Two and a half minutes of pop classic... But nah. That kinda gets ignored, I don't know why. It won't when the LP comes out. |
| I: | That's an excellent progress. You're ------- recording now -------. |
| D: | Next week we start. |
| I: | What, you produce that yourselves? |
| D: | Yeah. Just everything. |
| I: | Why? You wouldn't trust somebody else or you want to do it your own way? |
| J: | You can't trust anybody else. How can you trust anybody to produce your record? You write a song, and you've got an idea of how it should sound. It's downright bloody laziness to go and get some wee fat bastard to produce it for you. On top of everything else he'll probably do it totally different from the way you want it to sound. Anybody that gets a producer should be shot. |
| I: | You don't think that it's a matter of know-how, sort of to use the technology? |
| D: | It doesn't take you long to.. |
| J: | You use an engineer, not a producer, two totally different things. |
| D: | Also it doesn't take you long, it's not very difficult really. |
| I: | What's the album going to be called? |
| D: | Haven't titalized it yet. |
| J: | Not sure. We've got a couple of possibilities but I don't think we should say just yet. |
| I: | The B-side of the latest single was initially banned, wasn't it, or the pressing people refused to print it. |
| D: | Refused it. |
| J: | Yeah, yeah. |
| I: | How do you feel about that? |
| J: | I mean that's typical, you know. Sort of disgusting but I half expected it, to be quite honest. I mean there was nothing in the record that...that...that was offensive. |
| I: | Do you think they listened to it? |
| J: | Yes, they must have done because there was nothing wrong with the title. The title of the record was Jesus Suck. And the lyrics were, well, I don't know if you're going to broadcast it, but the lyrics were: 'fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck Jesus fuck. And occasionally Jesus cunt. But eh, I don't know, you know. I..I...I kind of...There's..there's a lot of stupid people that get upset by words like that. I don't understand that but I realise there's all those people. So I kind of half expected it. It was funny to watch." |
| I: | Will it ever appear on ------- ? |
| J: | Mhmm..maybe. |
| D: | Possibly. |
| J: | There's a place in France that would press it. We're maybe, we're maybe gonna press it in France. |
| I: | Do you think that the fact that offends ------- people's religious ------- you don't respect ------- - that doesn't bother you at all? |
| J: | I don't think it does. And I think it's just people that, I don't know, just people that love to scream and shout about something. |
| D: | We ------- |
| J: | I got them a song to moan about, you know. I mean it's like, it's people that work in pressing plants, are probably sitting by a bloody machine all day long pressing a button and they think: 'Christ! Excitement! Here's a record we can refuse to press!' |
| D: | They're always on the lookout for something |
| J: | I mean people's, eh. If it offends anybody that's religious you know if the religion can't take that well the religion's not worth a fuck, you know. I mean, eh, there's no excuses, it's just stupid people, that's all. |
| I: | What about your approach to videos. You had one for, what was the name of it... |
| D: | Never Understand. |
| J: | Videos are horrible, I hate videos. |
| D: | Horrible to make. |
| I: | Why are you doing them? |
| J: | You know. Because like they're necessary, you know, they're ..they are necessary. I also hate recording. Recording studios are disgusting. Making records is disgusting. But if you bring out a record you've got to record it first, you know? It's a shame but it's a fact. It's the same way with videos, you know. You make a record, you do want it to get ahead. You do want it to get to Number 1. So you're going to make a video for it. It's necessary. Disgusting but necessary. That is the sandwiches, yeah, yes.. Ta. |
| D: | Ta. |
| J: | To us. |
| D: | To us. |
| I: | So, where is You Trip Me Up at the moment on the charts? |
| D: | Well, it's just been released this week. Find out Tuesday. |
| I: | You don't know where it's at? |
| D: | No. |
| I: | No initial -------. |
| D: | Got a prediction but I can't remember what it is. |
| J: | People are saying it's selling well, but you can never tell from that. People will always say it sells well. You always get some wee bastard running about going: 'It's selling well, sonny! |
| D: | That one's gonna be a hit. |
| I: | All the, all the bad press that you've been giving that you've been quite resigned about your record company. Have you had any feedback from them about it? |
| J: | The record company. You mean that we don't get on? |
| I: | Yeah. |
| J: | Well, that's a fact, we don't get on. They hate us. We hate them, it's a, it's a..maybe that's a bad arrangement, but... But it can't be avoided, you know it's like a... Right from the very beginning we..we..we..we...I mean like, we decided that we were going to sound the way we do. And like, we also decided we weren't going to let any record company tell us, you know, like: 'don't do that, son', you know like 'make a record without that loud noise on it because it puts people off', you know, that's the kind of thing they would say and we'd just start laughing, you know? 'You're talking to me?', you know. They - they just don't like people that actually answer back. They use the other groups, you know like they make the suggestions and the group just do that. They're used to that, and they don't really, they don't really understand that people can actually decide that they want to sound a certain way. |
| I: | As you improve your playing and, you know, get older, how do you think the JAMC-sound will change? |
| J: | That's totally...you know...I mean that can't be predicted. |
| D: | Impossible. |
| J: | I mean that's like saying what kind of clothes you're going to be wearing in five years' time. |
| I: | Do you think you'll change? |
| J: | Oh, definitely we'll change. Definitely. If we don't change we're not worth a fuck, you know we've got to change. Change is necessary. We'll become stale if we don't. But hopefully we'll be just as good in five years' time, definitely just as good. |
| I: | Do you pay any attention to other popular music around? |
| D: | Very few groups. |
| J: | Not really. |
| D: | One or two. |
| J: | I mean some things I like, you know, but...most things I hate. Pop music... We like Madonna, actually. Madonna makes good records. |
| I: | What is it about her records that you like? |
| J: | The works. Good pop songs. |
| D: | Good pop songs! ------- original little attitude ------- or something. |
| J: | Probably a lot of like, people, expect us to say Madonna's a pile of shit but, eh. We make way old rock n' roll music, you know, you've got to listen to way old rock n' roll music. That's crap, I hardly ever listen to anything that sounds, eh... Way old. That's a lie, I do, quite however but what I'm saying is that I listen to other things as well. |
| D: | ------- Very white sixties music. |
| J: | I think everybody should. It's healthy. |
| I: | Pay much attention to the music press? |
| J: | I read things about us. That's about it. I just..just want...I just... want to find out what people think about us. |
| I: | Do you think the music press reflects that? ------- draw guidelines? |
| J: | The music press dict..dic..dictates what people think about us. It's a sad fact, but it's a fact. |
| I: | You don't think they should like do ------- ? |
| J: | They should, but they don't. The music press - if all the music press suddenly takes a dislike to you they've got the power to destroy you. Well, I should - I should say that they've got the power to destroy a lot of people. I think, eh, I think the music press could take a...a real bad dislike to us and it would do us harm, but it wouldn't destroy us because I think we are too good to be destroyed, but... |
| D: | They can ------- to destroy groups that aren't good enough, really totally destroy them, but if the records are good enough I think they'll always... |
| J: | What it comes right down to, we're good at what we're doing and that's all that matters. |
| I: | I can see you're too good to be ignored. |
| J: | Yeah, that's been the case, so far. We could easily have been ignored, but we're too good to be. |
| I: | What about further live dates, when are they happening? |
| D: | Manchester and Nottingham. |
| J: | Manchester and Nottingham. In June. |
| D: | 25th and 26th I think. |
| I: | What about ------- through Europe? |
| J: | Just back from Scandinavia. |
| I: | What was that like? |
| J: | Some of it was okay. Scandinavia is a really boring place, couldn't believe it! Christ! Horrible! |
| D: | Dull. |
| J: | See, that's..that's.. ------- What you're gonna hear is like munching sounds, and slopping sounds. I'm eating a ham sandwich by the way. (munch, munch, munch. Slop.) |
| I: | You remember the first record you ever bought? |
| J: | Probably, but I'd never admit to it, you know. |
| D: | It's probably like ------- or something. |
| J: | Yes, first record I ever bought...let's see... Eh, no. |
| D: | Maybe a Sweet record or... |
| J: | I honestly can't remember. |
| D: | Sweet ------- |
| J: | I can't remember it.. It was probably embarrassing anyway. No. Don't remember. |
| I: | Hmmm. You're all from Glasgow? |
| J: | Uhm. |
| I: | And is it as much of a scene as it were ------- ? |
| J: | No..not a scene, not a scene. |
| D: | Not at all. |
| I: | What direction ------- ? |
| J: | We don't get back very often for a start. And when we do we don't go out very often. I don't really know. We've never been very popular in Glasgow. That's why we had to do our first gig in London. Nobody'd have us in Glasgow. Which suited us real well. |
| D: | We played once in Glasgow and were thrown out the back door and told never to come back again. Now they're begging for us to come back and play - offering us lots of money. We think it's very funny. |
| J: | Ha ha. |
| I: | You only play short sets, don't you? |
| D: | Yeah... |
| J: | Yeah, well... |
| I: | Why's that? |
| J: | Well, you should say we play sets shorter than most other people's. I wouldn't really say it's a short set, its..it's as long as it should last. It lasts as long as we want to play. Usually when, eh, when we become bored playing on stage we just leave. That's what everybody should do. I see no reason why you shouldn't. |
| I: | But don't you think that, eh, people come along to see you look out, that's a pretty much arrogant attitude, you know, they payed 3 pounds a gig and then normally when they go out they, somebody plays for about 45 minutes... |
| J: | But..but I think - I think by now everybody's heard that..our set..set - set's a horrible word - that our concerts usually only last for a bit, 20 - 25 minutes, sometimes half an hour. So if they're prepared to come, you know, that's fair enough. They don't wanna come, don't come. And eh, I don...I don.. I think if everybody was telling the truth I think... I think if eveybody told the truth I don't think they've ever seen a group - ever - that they didn't get bored with after half an hour. 'Cause I know I haven't. Any group I've ever seen I've started to yawn after half an hour, I usually leave... So I mean, it makes sense to..to stop playing after a bit, 20-25 minutes. |
| I: | ------- |
| D: | What's that? |
| I: | ------- |
| J: | I used to..used to know a guy I went to school with. His name was Gordon McKellaugh. He emigrated to Australia about 10 years ago. And he wrote me a letter about a year ago. Just suddenly, after nine years, wrote me a letter! As if he'd only been away for a week. And I forgot to reply. Well I'd just like to say, if you're listening Gordon, I apologise and I'll reply soon. Okay? |
| I: | Where is he? |
| J: | Eh...I forget. In Australia somewhere, but I forget. |
| D: | Big place. |
| I: | Well, a bit somewhere. For MTV shows, Australian soap operas. |
| J: | Not me. William's in ------- |
| D: | I like 'em. Young doctors and that. ------- is brilliant. |
| J: | Mhm. |
| D: | Immensely entertaining. |
| J: | William's ill by the way, William's a guitarist. He would be here, but he's ill. |
| I: | Is it going to be a lyric sheet on the...the album? |
| J: | That's something I never thought about. Nobody's asked. I've never thought about it. Possibly. What we might do is print some of the lyrics for some of the songs. The lyrics that we think should be noted, maybe on the cover. Or inside. |
| I: | ------- You don't think all the lyrics are equally important? |
| J: | No, some of the lyrics are, eh, like the lyrics, like, eh, it's like, ah, it's like you've got a line. It might not mean anything but it sounds good. It sounds good to sing. It's just...like it sounds good. Like we like the word candy and we like the word honey, we use that in a lot of our songs. So some lines are the same - all the words sound good so the next line should fit with the one it sounded good - just keep going, something like a poem. Shouldn't really sound...shouldn't really..doesn't...doesn't necessarily have to mean anything. But it should sound good, it should sound poetic. We don't really need to print those lyrics on the sleeve, you should probably hear them with the music. Some of our lyrics may actually mean something that we want to be noted, so we'll write them down on the cover. |
| I: | ------- Cocteau Twins, too, I mean they ------- |
| J: | Did ------- don't know ------- |
| I: | They used words just 'cause they liked the sound of it. |
| J+D: | Yeah, yeah, mhm. |
| I: | So which particular songs - is there any kind of lyrical point you want to get across? |
| J: | Eh..no. Most of our lyrics, as I said, is just made up of words that sound good, phrases that sound good, sentences that sound good. Just words. Words used imaginatively. Some of our songs..eh - sounds pure rock 'n' roll cliché here! - but some of our songs do have some drug..eh..drug...references in them and...not - not quite straightforward but some of them were written either about drugs or way along drugs. Not very many. Just a couple. |
| I: | Do you take lots of drugs? |
| J: | Some drugs...probably no more than anybody else. Bit of speed every now and again... |
| D: | LSD, occasionally... |
| J: | I don't like to see people getting too much caught up with drugs. |
| D: | Use them carefully. |
| I: | How long are you signed to WEA? |
| J: | Five..five.. |
| D: | Five... |
| J: | Five - five rec... |
| D: | Five LPs. |
| I: | Doesn't that seem a daunting prospect? |
| D: | Don't think about it really. |
| J: | No, not at all. Hard to imagine five LPs later, but we will do it, I can assure you. |
| D: | We will be there. |
| I: | ------- if it were an option ------- |
| J: | Mhm. |
| I: | How important to your success was Alan McGee? Was he like pivotal? |
| J+D: | No, not really. |
| J: | Not very important. Alan was the one who gave us our first gig. |
| D: | Put out our first record. |
| J: | He had a..a record label and he put out our first single. That's that as far as I'm concerned. |
| D: | ------- he does the day-to-day things, organises the things like that. |
| J: | But we don't like to have to go to Warner Brothers so we send Alan, you know. Alan's a kind of, inbetween.. |
| D: | Gobetween. |
| J: | ...the two of us, you know what I mean. That's that. Alan manages the business, we manage everything creative. |
| I: | Will you actually buy your own PA because I've heard the PA companies won't hire you stuff anymore? |
| J: | Mhmm. Well...the sort of places we can play now have actually got their own PA... |
| D: | Their own PA... |
| J: | So it's a matter of finding a venue that's actually got a house PA now that..that will accept us. We've got a couple of venues, as I've said we're playing in Manchester and Nottingham. |
| D: | The Hacienda ------- can't remember the name of the place. |
| J: | We don't like to play too many gigs anyway. |
| I: | Why's that? |
| J: | 'Cause you get fed up with it. It becomes boring after a while, I mean we done that Scandinavian tour, we played - we played six gigs and... |
| D: | At the end it was totally tedious, just like totally, just like... |
| I: | What day do you think you get bored with the whole music scene? If you got bored playing after six shows, surely if you think logically then you're going to get more popular, more people are gonna want to see you, you're gonna have to play more shows, surely.. |
| D: | Don't have to. |
| J: | No, not really. |
| D: | Make more records. |
| J: | No, I mean... |
| I: | ------- that ceiling to your popularity? |
| J: | No, but the reason that isn't so is because we're playing less gigs now than we ever did. When we first started we had to play loads to get noticed. But now you can sort of rely on your records. What is most important is that you bring out good records, play the odd occasional good gig. You know, as I said, we're playing less now than what we ever have because we don't need to play as much now. Everybody knows who we are now. |
| I: | You're not worried about the ------- surrounding you? |
| J: | Not really, no. It's got a bit out of hand really. Which will cease. Because we want it to. |
| D: | Don't like it. |
| I: | Okay. |
| D: | Right. |
