This interview was originally published on the James official site Jamestheband.com that was lost when the band split in 2001
Int: So Tim, it is the 19th of June and in a few days time the first single from the new James album will be released. How are you feeling at this moment and is the world ready for you?
Tim: I don’t think the world has ever been ready for James. We have perpetually felt out of time and out of step with everybody. For example when we did the Jools Holland show recently and Dom Jolly was singing our praises. He was talking to Saul afterwards and he said his favorite video of ours was “Here’s A Mirror With Your Name On”.
Int: Right.
Tim: Have you seen that video?
Int: I haven’t seen that video.
Tim: I mean it is probably one of the worst videos KNOWN TO MAN. Well, Saul said to Dom Jolly, you’re joking, that is just the most atrocious video. And Dom Jolly said, the thing is when you see that video you know that the band who made it are not being manipulated, that no one can make a video that bad and be manufactured by a record company. He loved it from that point of view, that it was so bizarrely weird. Nothing happens in that video. ONLY JAMES COULD MAKE A VIDEO LIKE THAT. I have to choose my favorite 3 James videos for VH1 next week. There arn’t 3!
Int: That is very relevant today obviously isn’t it? With manufactured pop in general with Hear’say, Boyzone, even back to The Spice Girls. They are all bands that are put together. Something so alien to James.
Tim: I addressed that in “Destiny Calling”. Every band has to compromise, with the media or record company. So at some level you do have to play the game. So Destiny calling wasn’t just me laughing at The Spice Girls or whatever, it was also acknowledging the part of us that feel like puppets sometimes. When we played the gig last night, I was singing, “Some fat cats playing roulette with lives, this game is fixed it’s all a lie.”
I mean, you can see, that in this period of music, the media and the radio stations, and the managers who are creating these bands, have a stranglehold that they have never had before. We have seen some really bad periods and some really good periods in music, but each time the bad periods come, they get a little tighter.
The industry gets tighter and tighter and the people working in it have to watch out for their jobs more and more, and the constant search for celebrity has become IT. The complete driving influence in culture right now. The thinking seems to be… If you sell bucketloads you are great—regardless of the quality.
For instance when you see The Spice Girls on the cover of Q. Q is one of the only last surviving music magazines. When you see The Spice Girls get the front cover you think IT’S OVER. It has got nothing to do with music.
It felt like in the past you could make a great album, like say the Velvets. You could make a great album, not sell and ten years later get rediscovered. Because GENIUS SHINES. But now it feels like even that kind of loophole, of the great album being rediscovered, is really tight, really hard to get round.
Int: So you think manufactured pop is almost strangling music?
Tim: I think this is the worst time. In terms of James, the single is about to be released and the single, barring Virgin and Xfm., has not really been played on the radio in this country. It’s interesting you know for the first seven years we didn’t get played on daytime radio—EVER. EVER. They only eventually played us because they had to. We built up a such a live following which has always been our support and our strength. They had to, I mean we were selling out G-MEX two nights running and causing a big stir. Now we are in this place where we are still selling out those huge gigs, we are still headlining Guildford. Even though we are a big band it’s like the media is not interested, it’s, you know, we are not a brand new, young, cute, sexy new band. Young things discovered on television. It’s really kind of strange for us to suddenly face this reality. It’s our midlife crisis!
Int: So, it’s like what you are saying is in a cycle sort of way, initially a lot of people had to take notice of you because people were out there listening to you and supporting you and those people are still there and if they still continue to support you then people will have to take notice.
Tim: Yeah, I think these things always swing around again. I think it is just a matter of us hanging around until the next period of real music turns up.
Int: So what do you think is the best way to address that situation?
Tim: There is not much we can do. I mean in a way this is the best I can do which is by telling our audience what’s going on. They can pick this up on the internet and then hopefully tell their friends what is happening. If they want to support us, and value what we are doing, buy the album and single in the first week of release. Get that album to no 1 and leave some people with egg on their faces. However, instead of fighting it, it might just be the time to listen to another piece of my own advice. “Tell us when our time’s up. Show us how to die well. Show us how to let it all go .” James are in a transition period because this is our last record with our record company, and we will either resign or sign with another company. Transition periods are always dangerous, important moments, you know, like in a relay race. You musn’t drop the baton.
Int: You still feel like you have got a hold of the baton.
Tim: (Laughter) Well I had it a minute ago! I think the next few weeks will tell us. All we can do is what we have done. Make great music which we believe in. God knows if there is going to be a James around in a years time. Seven to sixteen year olds at the moment are dictating popular culture. I don’t buy singles, and I doubt many James fans buy singles and well, that is a problem for us.
Int: Is that one of the reasons, behind this single, the fact that it is on two formats and you have actually put a lot of thought and take alot of pride in your B-sides?
Tim: James fans know this. Barring a couple of lost years, we have always tried to put a lot into our B-sides. We love B-sides. The B-sides “Greatest Hits record” (laughs), which I believe, is still coming out this year. I spent weeks compiling. We are so proud of that stuff. With B-sides the pressure is off. You get to experiment. You get to try out things and some of my favourite songs are there. Certainly “The Lake” is one of my favourite James songs. “Egoiste” is a great song. You know there’s loads of them. And so we always try and do that because, yes, if you want to have some kind of hit single, you have to do a couple of formats. There is no choice. That is the competitiveness of it. So at least you try and make it good value. Something worth collecting. My favorite song of all time is the Patti Smith B-side “Hey Joe”.
Int: Have you kept up your standards with the new B-sides?
Tim: Definately. We had recorded too many great songs for “Pleased to meet you”. Lengthy discussions took place determining which songs got left off. The song “Stand” will now only appear as a B-side yet many people believe it was the best of the new songs we played live last year. “So Swell” is probably one of my best vocals yet that only made it as a B-side.
Int: Last year was a massive creative time for the band. With the tour, airing new material and then you went into the studio with Brian Eno to record the new album and ended up recording a lot of new tracks. Can you tell us a little bit about how you put together this album?
Tim: In The last couple of years we have sorted out a lot of our problems. Communication problems. All the problems aired in the biography, we have resolved. We did it. There is hope for humanity! It was amazing, we had some very fierce meetings with each other and broke through.
Int: That was often the spark that kept the band going, wasn’t it, the tension within the band that created this wonderful music. So what has been the driving force behind this album?
Tim: I think the creative tension was healthy to a point and then it welled over into something more dangerous. The balance went sometime before Millionaires. On this record and in the last two years we just suddenly got our joy back again. And getting the songs together, taking them out live last year and challenging ourselves again. Like we used to do. Working with Brian was the best time we have ever had. I mean in terms of joy, and creativity. We were really flying making this record .
Int: Brian, himself, has been quoted as saying that was one of the best projects he ever worked on.
Tim: Yes, completely. For us too.
Int: For a man of that stature to say that is pretty impressive. Why would he say that?
Tim: Sexual favours! Well it was fast intense work. He’d just taken a year completing the U2 C.D. Ours took about 5 weeks of 18 hour days. They are mainly live takes. Some songs are the original demos pre-Brian. Others we worked on alot. We were all hugely impressed by our own ability!
Int: Lyrical themes?
Tim: I’ve only realised this since doing press. There is an underlying theme; of frustration at being tied to habits, addictions, impulses that we can’t control. Different characters expressing their particular loops. Like the guy in “Senorita”, led by his balls, to chase a dangerous woman. Or the guy in “English Beefcake” who is always the one to finish relationships and who is weary of causing such pain. “Junkie” is directly about the day to day addictions that we all have.
Int: You really study people don’t you?
Tim: I’m endlessly facinated by what makes people tick. I’m trained in one therapy and I teach movement and voice work. Taking people into altered states without using drugs. I’m passionate about the need for this. Later in the year I’m going to do some workshops in different cities. In February me and my partner are teaching together in the Canary Islands, combining the work with trips to watch dolphins. We did it last year. I think it’s called the dolphin connection experience.
So the answer to your question is yes. What made us and how can we change are the questions that really drive me on and you can find them somewhere in most of the lyrics I’ve ever written.
Int: How do the rest of the band react to your intrests? I read in the past it’s caused quite a lot of conflict.
Tim: Well they hate getting tarred with the same brush which is pretty understandable. I guess they think I’m pretty flakey. However I really think we have reached a point where (said in a fake American accent) we have come to accept our differences.
Int: I have never met seven so diverse characters that work together as a whole. I mean you really wouldn’t pair any of you up with each other.
Tim: I think so, I mean there is a weird dynamic imbalance in James that is highly unusual. It’s remarkable that we have lasted so long. It is a pretty good marriage of opposites.
Int: It is a pretty good marriage! You must have a very good counselor. What is his name?
Tim: ..Brian Eno.
(Laughter from both)
Int: Is there anything else you wanted to mention to me?
Tim: Brian Eno is our RELATE counselor.
Int: Does he sit you down and have you doing certain things?
Tim: Yes, darling, but that is not something we can talk about.
Int: Anything you want to say to website fans?
Tim: Maybe one reference. Having read on one of the websites showing me how I use references to water and the sea in my lyrics. I will promise, after this record, I will try to keep the sea out of my lyrics. Though, in mitigation, I do live in Brighton, and we are 87% water. I will endeavor to struggle to keep liquids out of my lyrics in future.
Int: What’s special for you about this record?
Tim: It feels like the first time since LAID we have got back to songs which are more exploratory, which take more risks, that aren’t just verse-chorus, verse-chorus. That go on journeys. Journey songs I call them.
Int: Yes, I mean there are tracks on the album, for example, when I first heard “Falling Down” you wouldn’t know it was a James record.
Tim: This wonderful genius engineer, KK, had a good hand in that one, which took it away from what we would normally sound like. He did the same for “Fine”. But I am thinking more of songs like “Space”, “English Beefcake”, songs with unusual structures.
Int: Are you an angry band?
Tim: No, not anymore. No, we’re an awkward band.
Int: I will vouch for that.
Tim: We’re awkward because we don’t fit in and we don’t want to fit in. We’re always judging how far we can play the game to the point where we might lose our soul. It’s like, always going, now look how much compromise can we make before you actually feel like you have really just lost everything. That assessment we do all the time so like, record companies and the media have always seemed to have a problem with that. Also, obviously our biggest drawback is lack of image or lack of consistent image. It always felt to us like we should be all about content, not image. You know, Neil Young was one of our gurus and he is hardly a snappy dresser. I’m repeating myself with some of these statements. Most of our old fans have heard all this before. But it still holds true.
Int: So you follow that line of sort of being out of step with the current. Like the Velvet Underground.
Tim: I think so.
Int: So in twenty years time the album will be a classic and selling by the bucket loads.
Tim: Um, well, if you can still find it in twenty years time. I mean, technology is moving so fast you don’t know what is going to happen. You know, we are in a very exciting period of change, where everything is exponentially accelerating and you can tell we are heading for something. Hopefully not a crash.
Int: To quote a famous song.
Tim: Yeah well, a mildly famous song.
Int: The live James experience is really something special and you can’t really put it into words what happens…
Tim: We will be back in December. We intend to do some really big dates and we look forward to seeing you at those concerts. We know what kind of celebration. We know what kind of party we create. We’re continuously blown away by the communication, between us and our audience. I mean I don’t think anyone else has that live relationship.
Int: I don’t think anyone gets near it. It just happens, I mean you can be third on a festival bill or headlining Wembley Arena and it’s incredible the atmosphere you generate.
Tim: Thank you.
Int: You are a band of survivors. I mean how many other British bands have been going for this length of time?
Tim: We feel honoured at the moment when bands like Travis and Coldplay and people like Don Jolly say such nice things about us in public.
Int: Like at the weekend, when Wheatus were strumming away “Laid” outside your dressing room at CD:UK.
Tim: I know, we feel respected by our peers right now. And we still have this amazing audience out there, who support us and who are there for us. As I have said we are hoping that they know this record is out. The feedback from the record company is that it’s not being played in Glasgow, it’s not being played in Manchester and it’s not being played in Liverpool. That is our concern here, we are finding it hard to reach the people who really love James. Hopefully this information will reach them through the internet and the web sites.
Int: It’s the way forward I suppose.
Tim: It is the way forward. I think eventually it would be great just to put music out on the website. That would be it, you know and not have to interface with any media at all. We have always had a weird relationship with the media. I have always been afraid of being famous . I have been lucky.I have kept relatively anonomyous. And with our audience, when people come up and talk they can really lift our spirit. Just by saying thanks. But when you see the projections put on people, famous people. When you see the celebrity mania in HELLO and OK and all those other magazines. It is just the weirdest thing. It just seems like another planet. It is a very strange thing to be worshipped. Especially when you meet the people who are the object of worship and you find that they are incredibly fucked up, insecure individuals who are usually deeply in need of a good hug.
Int: It’s kind of refreshing to hear someone talk about that obviously because that’s not what drives you, it’s not the cult of celebrity you want to be part of.
Tim: Celebrity has always terrified me. I mean the first lyrics i wrote are about selling your soul to the record company. That was the lyric for “What’s The World”. Losing your soul, let alone your religion.
Int: But you have never have lost your souls, have you?
Tim: I lost mine years ago. I left it on the number 6 bus in Chorlton.
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