With their core trio of members based in London, Kent and the North Midlands respectively, CLAYHILL'S modus operandi would scupper most bands, but in their case the distance only serves to fuel the creative fire. They'd already turned our world around with the heady, rustic charms of their mini-album "Cuban Green" earlier this year and now their brilliant debut album "Small Circle" has arrived, we've been swooning over its' rich diversity. The band are due to tour in support of the album but we have the time to place a call to singer GAVIN CLARK to find out more about the making of one of the year's very best records.
Gavin is gentle, thoughtful and patient and one of the most enjoyable interviews W&H have conducted. The discerning out there will no doubt recall him as the voice behind the short-lived SUNHOUSE (who made the great "Crazy On The Weekend"), but this writer never ceases to be amazed by that incredible honey and gravel voice. Gavin, how did you cultivate it? Were you always in bands?
"No, I dunno really. It just came...out of nowhere," replies Gavin, still a little surprised himself.
"For me, going back I was into the club scene and initially it was drugs and stuff....that kind of thing does affect you and open you up. I was knocking around with Shane (Meadows - director of great films such as "Twenty Four Seven" and "Once Upon A Time In The West Midlands" - ed) and we started writing. It didn't come straight away and it was over a period of time. I didn't have a grand plan to get into a band when I did Sunhouse even and I'm still discovering what I can do with my voice."
Well, you've all achieved some wondrous things with CLAYHILL and "Small Circle." It's so rich and diverse. Was there any concept behind the record, or did the songs just evolve organically?
"No, it all just happened that way," muses Gavin.
"I guess we didn't want it too downbeat, and there was a conscious effort for it to be a good mix of tempos. Mind you, the upbeat songs aren't exactly up and really happy. I think a big influence was Ali (Friend)'s driving double bass playing. That's a big part of the way the songs came together."
Is there any set process behind the writing of a Clayhill song. Does someone bring in a complete song, or do you do it the old fashioned, jamming-in-a-room way?
"Normally, Ted (Barnes - guitarist) and Ali bring ideas down," reveals Gavin.
"They'll maybe suggest a vocal idea and I work on that and perhaps bring in a chorus or finished lyric. I'll send that back to them and then we get together and we flesh it out."
I remember Ali telling me they started writing songs with you by sending you ideas on tape up to Stoke where you live. The method you're describing sounds the same...
"Yeah, I still spend a lot of time at home in my garage," laughs Gavin.
"I like the idea of writing in isolation. For me, it makes it all more personal and I'm still up here a lot. It works for me. Ted especially is very good at encouraging me with titles and vocal ideas, like with "Northern Soul" with the loop and so on."
Right. The song "Northern Soul" is great. It's the new Clayhill single and it introduces a confident pop feel to the introspective Clayhill sound with some aplomb. It's also the title song from the new Shane Meadows short film of the same name, which the band are taking on tour as support on their forthcoming British dates. You mentioned Shane a little earlier, Gavin. How did you first get involved with him?
"I used to live in (Midlands town) Uttoxeter and he's born and bred there," Gavin replies.
"I was working at Alton Towers (famous amusement park -ed) and met him there. I was living in a caravan and working there and he was employed as a face-painter there (laughs). He was a nutter, but I liked him and we hit it off. If you meet him, you'll see how funny he is."
He pauses for a moment.
"So, yeah, we struck up a great friendship and then we started writing together because we played guitar and so on. Shane started in film when he went off to university and when he was there he made all these mad films playing all the parts himself. He needed songs for the soundtrack of "Small Time", an early project and he kinda got Sunhouse to form for that because he was given about 5 grand to make it and couldn't afford a soundtrack as such. That led to making "Twenty Four Seven" and the rest is history."
I must confess that I'm still backtracking with Shane's work, though what I've seen I really like. Do you personally have a favourite Meadows film and what particularly strikes you about his work?
"Mmm....I think "Room For Romeo Brass" is probably my favourite," muses Gavin.
"Maybe it's because it's all based on stuff that happened to him in his childhood, although I really love all his work really, so it's difficult to choose."
OK, well to get back to "Small Circle," the opening song "Alpha Male" is a very striking opener. It's a great flourish of a song and I like the sarky lyric, the lines like: "Here's a man at the top of his tree....here's a man who can blaze us a trail" etc. What was the starting point for that lyric?
"It was Ali's idea for the verse, because he'd noticed the use of the phrase 'alpha male' a lot bandied around in the media," divulges Gavin.
"I wrote the song about people who get seen as movers and shakers and how ridiculous that concept is. It seems to get used everywhere. So yeah, it is pretty sarcastic and it's kind of a dig at powerful people."
Lyrically, you really fascinate me. All your songs have finely-turned, evocative phrases that draw the listener in. The references to "Cain" in the song "Human Trace" are intriguing. Is religion an area that influences your writing?
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"Yeah, it is actually," says Gavin.
"I mean, I'm a Christian, so it does become a part of it, though in a broad way, not in any evangelical sense. The reference to Cain isn't used in a specific way."
"I spent a long time dealing with drug and alcohol problems," he continues quietly, "and reading the Bible has been something that's helped. It tends to seep into everyday language actually and there's so much to take from it....and there's no copyright on it either!" he finishes, laughing.
That's very true! But we've been speaking about Shane Meadows and the way cinema has influenced/ encouraged your music. How about literary influences?
"Hmm, dunno, really. No, not particularly," Gavin considers.
"I mean, it's only the past few years I've got into reading. I'm very much from a working class background and reading wasn't a formative influence. I'm the first to admit I got brought up on music and drugs and I only tended to read religious stuff for ages. I'd like to say something impressive, but I can't really. I suppose my favourite book is probably J.D Salinger's "The Catcher In The Rye"....there's something so brutally honest about the meltdown he (Holden Caulfield, the book's anti-hero) goes through that gets to me."
I agree entirely. It's a pity about the Mark Chapman stigma that has become attached to the book, isn't it?
"Yeah, absolutely, it's horrible that such a great book has become synonymous with the guy who killed John Lennon," says Gav.
There's great wisdom and experience in Clayhill's songs. The minimal, emotional "Mystery Train" is another one I really like. I interpret that song as about the passage of life itself (e.g, the lyric: "Life's a spectrum, so let's just watch the colours blur"). Am I miles off thinking that?
"No, though it's written from a personal point of view," Gavin responds.
"It's very much about my life and all the ups and downs. It is a love song, though, and a positive statement, even though it probably sounds depressing! Lyrically, it's lifted from "The Song Of Solomon" of all things...or at least the ideas stem from there."
Back to the sonic side of the album, I like the orchestration involved in the songs. As well as the acoustic sound of the three piece, stripped-down version of the band live, the songs work well with strings. Was it always the idea to have a big sound on record?
"I don't know really," Gavin muses.
"We weren't really sure what we wanted initially. Ted and Ali have been knocking around for a while and they know a lot of people. Ted actually lived with a string section for a while! So we had some money - not all that huge an amount - but we could get some friends to put down parts and it evolved from there really. For me, it's always very much about the songs first and foremost, getting to the core of it, and then thinking about the arrangements. Getting in the strings was us calling in favours," he finishes, chuckling again.
At a tangent, I also really like the way the songs are tempered by really funky rhythms. Ali's background n trip-hoppers Red Snapper would suggest he's the main man here. Is that the case?
"Yeah, totally" confirms Gavin.
"Ali's a real beat nut. He's very much the driving force with the grooves. He's got great feel and understanding, which is so important. He's the balls!"
Blimey. Also, an important element is session guy Tim Weller's drumming. Will you be able to hang onto him?
"I hope so," says Gavin. "Tim's just come off the road with The Divine Comedy, and he's very much in demand, but I'd love to think we can work with him again because he's excellent."
Brilliant. Finally, Gavin, is this just me, but I can always detect something peculiarly English about Clayhill's music. It's got that special rustic, slightly reserved and enigmatic quality about it. Is that something you notice yourself?
"Yeah, I'm really pleased you picked up on that," Gavin replies.
"I do notice the Englishness and I can never understand it when we get whacked with this "you sound American" thing we seem to get sometimes. Maybe the pastorality's down to Ted as he's the folky guy in the band(laughs). But, yeah, that maverick English quality. That's the very essence for me."
And long may that be the case. Clayhill are a special reserve and no mistake. Savour their elixir once and you won't want to miss a single drop from then on.
("Small Circle" is out now on Eat Sleep Records.)
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