From his days as one of the UK’s major indie pin-ups in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s
With THE WEDDING PRESENT to his role as leader of the fascinating and under-rated CINERAMA, DAVID GEDGE has rarely failed to deliver music that has inspired devotion amongst the faithful. Armed with perhaps CINERAMA’S best album to date, David spoke to JAMES BLUNDELL at the birth of the band’s current UK tour in Leeds.
I meet David at the door to the New Roscoe, Leeds. He’s on his mobile. As it turns out he’s sorting out bookings etc “arranging interviews, booking hotels, getting all of the band together in one place.”
“The Wedding Present never had a tour manager either,” he tells me. “It’s more interesting, if I didn’t do it I’d be sat down here bored out of my head, waiting to be told what to do. I like to have things to do, to be in control.”
I ask David about his record label. Again, there are parallels with the Wedding Present who started on their own label before signing to RCA, which he tells me was lucky as the distributors for their first label went bust and they “escaped at the right time.”
“I never had any trouble with RCA, they were a great label to be on…really nice… we were there for years and then we signed to Island records and they were fine and then we signed to Cooking Vinyl, the independent label, which I thought would be fine, but they were the worst label we were on.”
He tells me that Cooking Vinyl had the “mentality of a major label” “but they weren’t even big” “We had less control” “They didn’t have any interest in the music…they could have been selling cornflakes.”
I ask David about the sound of his music which seems to have mellowed from the days of the Wedding Present and whether it’s a sign of mellowing with age or a change in what he’s listening to.
“I think the main reason is when I started Cinerama it was like a solo project and I didn’t see the point of making a record that sounded like a Wedding Present one. I did purposely try to get away from that type of stuff, but as time’s gone on I’ve got less precious about it and I’m less worried about making a record that sounds like the Wedding Present. Live especially it’s getting more and more abrasive.”
The lyrical humour and abrasiveness of the songs seems to have remained intact, does this give them more impact?
“Well, you can certainly hear them more,” laughs David. “I think the lyrics have got more extreme as I’ve gone on. Now it’s more about relationships but earlier it was more, well, not teenage exactly but more naïve, now they’re a bit more realistic and explicit.”
“I’ve always written about things that are heartbreaking, and I think that in those situations there’s a lot of humour and that people say the most ridiculous things as there’s a lot of stress.”
I ask David about his interest in soundtrack type music and that with the likes of Damon Albarn and Badly Drawn Boy producing music for films, would he be interested?
“I’d love to do a David Lynch type film, “Twin Peaks”-y type, and I have been asked to do a couple, but with the way these things work, they ask loads of people and they all say yes and then they go away and think about it. I’ve never been in the position of actually being asked to do a soundtrack. I’d be interested in doing it as an extension of Cinerama, maybe to take us in a different direction.”
I tell David how we interviewed Mark Burgess who he knows and that he said he mainly listens to soundtrack music as that’s what he finds stimulating and wonder whether he feels the same?
“I’ve got 1000s of CDs but I don’t listen to them – I’m more interested in what Peel’s going to play tonight – some band I’ve never heard of. I’m not one of those people who’s interested in some classic album from 1989, I’m more interested in a classic album from 2002.”
You’re playing some Wedding Present songs now. What are the rest of that band now up to?
“Well the guitarist form the Wedding present is in Cinerama, but as for the rest of the band, the drummer (Simon Smith) has been tour managing and drumming. The bass player (Keith Gregory) is a website designer.”
“The label Camden Deluxe re-released “Seamonsters” and “Bizzaro” and I had to go down to remaster them – I just thought – I quite like these albums and got quite nostalgic and thought they’re my songs and if I want to play them and the rest of the band thought it was OK. We do “Bewitched” which is soundtrack-y and “It’s A Gas” which is poppy – I’m proud of these songs and I should be able to play them.”
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You’ve been compared to John Barry, another Yorkshireman, how do you feel about the interest in him now – is that type of music due a revival?
“It never went out of fashion really – I think he’s a genius, I grew up with the Bond films – I’ve always liked the music. I grew up more with The Velvet Underground and The Membranes and I never really kind of thought about it and then I started Cinerama and started listening to soundtracks and bought a few John Barry albums and they are amazing."
"It sounds stupid but it did change my life – the way he uses instrumentation but then he’s still got all those things that I really like – twangy guitars, great drumming – cos he did come from a surf group – The John Barry Seven – it seemed to fill a gap in my musical taste, that and Ennio Morricone. I’m now drawing on that and the same stuff that the Wedding Present drew on.”
Do you still miss the seven- inch single? (During 1992,The Wedding Present released 12 singles, one a month for a year.)
“Yeah I do – I’m not bothered about LPs - I think CDs are great but seven inch singles are really cute, it’s a great format for pop music. It’s cheap and colourful. Cinerama have released coloured vinyl singles but we could never do what the Wedding Present did because it’s already been done.
How do you feel about your 80’s contemporaries that are still going? Or those that have stopped and fallen by the wayside?
“Well, there’s Primal Scream who I can’t stand, I think Bobby Gillespie’s a real Wanker, there’s only me and him form the English side. There are some American bands like Sonic Youth still going who are great.”
Is the music scene today stronger or weaker than it was when you started out?
“I suppose you always look back with a touch of nostalgia because I’d just started out being in a band and it was part of a scene and everyone was really friendly. So, yeah, it was good but a lot of the records haven’t stood the test of time. I used to love The Smiths, and I thought Morrissey was a really good writer but if I listen to them now it’s too much, it’s unlistenable.”
“ I hate his singing now and the production sounds really flat. I think they were great records of their time. They were really adventurous and breathtaking and looking forward at the time but now they sound old fashioned and really little.”
Do The Wedding Present albums stand the test of time? Which is the best?
“I think “George Best” sounds really scratchy now, and naïve. It’s funny because when we were recording “Seamonsters” a journalist asked me and I said that I didn’t think “George Best” was as good as everyone seemed to think because it had a few serious flaws in it. He said that was exactly why he liked it – a naïve young band with no idea of what they were doing - going into a studio and racing through all these songs and making a kind of exciting album.”
“ Looking back it’s like a live bootleg. Since them – the records all started sounding better. You learn and get better as you go along. I don’t know which one is the best as
They’re all different – with the line-up changes, some dark and some poppy, but I know George Best is the worst!”
Do you think in 20 years time it’ll be you, John Peel and Mark E Smith round John’s house for his 80th birthday still listening to new music?
“I’d like him to carry on – he’s my favourite by miles. He’s a legend. I never get tired of him – even now he’ll play records you’ll never hear from anywhere else. It’s too obscure for anyone else. Steve Lamacq’s good but he (Peel) plays stuff and you think, “I’m lucky to have heard that. It’s almost too obscure for Radio 1.”
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