Although best known for his role as The Pogues' longstanding bassist, DARRYL HUNT is also an accomplished songwriter on his own terms. Indeed, one of his solo compositions ('Love Her Till The End') even featured in the soundtrack to the popular 'P.S I Love You' OST.
Encouraged by such success, Darryl's been working on his relatively low-key project BISH over the past few years and their second album 'Surrounded By Mountains' has recently slipped quietly into public consciousness.
If you're expecting it to be an extension of The Pogues' customary rowdy, Celtic-tinged anthems, though, you'll need to think again. Instead, 'Surrounded By Mountains' is a gentle, personal indie pop treat with songs of love, loss and longing and – the odd two-step rhythm aside – entirely unlike The Pogues.
It may not scream its' greatness from the rooftops, but it's the sort of record that's got a quiet, but steely determination about it and a melodic sensibility that will draw you back time and again. It's certainly reason enough for W&H to have a chat with Darryl over the 'phone on a sunny afternoon.
“Bish began as a solo project, but I was adamant that I didn't want to release stuff under my own name,” he explains helpfully.
“I wanted a group identity with the intention of keeping the same group of people together. We had a different drummer on the first record, a guy called Johnny Chandler, but the band on 'Surrounded By Mountains' are longstanding friends of mine from Munich and Berlin.”
Darryl is affable and courteous and he's happy to explain in more detail about the rest of Bish's personnel.
“(Rhythm section) Bernd and Andy play live with me, although they're based in Munich, so it involves a certain amount of to-ing and fro-ing between London and Germany as they also play in a band over there,” Darryl reveals.
Your guitarist, Knut Knutson, is based in Berlin, I believe. On your press release, he states he's from the “British sector” of West Berlin. Erm, I thought the Berlin Wall had fallen?
“Yeah, that's partly for fun, but at the same time I think that 'divided' mentality's still ingrained with people in Berlin,” Darryl laughs.
“Knut's from Wilmersdorf, which is/ was in the British sector of West Berlin and he's a very busy guy. Andy the drummer is also a painter and he has a similar background to me in that I also did a degree in Fine Art and came from that whole Art school background.”
Are you very much the dictator in Bish? I don't imagine you'd have a Mark.E. Smith-type mentality.
“No, no,” laughs Darryl, “though it's true that I do organise everything with Bish. I make the decisions and I feel it's primarily my project. That's very different to the way things are done with The Pogues. That's a lot more egalitarian and everyone has a vote. It's our project with The Pogues. Collectively.”
We're here to discuss Bish, but I can't resist a quick diversion into Pogues-related affairs. What's the current situation with The Pogues? I know the Christmas shows have been as popular as ever, but will there ever be a 'new' Pogues album?
“It's still very much an ongoing thing in terms of live shows,” Darryl replies. “I imagine we'll be doing the December tour again and next month (April) we've got a tour of the East Coast of America, so that'll keep us busy.”
“As to new songs, I really couldn't say,” he continues, disarmingly.
“There could be, of course, but it all depends on Shane (MacGowan). Ultimately, Shane has to come up with stuff because he won't sing the stuff the rest of us write, even though he's very egalitarian in not pushing to put his own stuff forward. I will say that we're all very wary about sullying our back catalogue in any way and I think perhaps Shane is a little in awe of his own material in that sense. None of us want to do anything that's below par in any way, that would be taking the piss.”
Very laudable and an attitude more 'established' acts keen to make a comeback should maybe mull over a little harder before they take the plunge. But what's it actually like working with Shane MacGowan these days? I know the whole situation got very difficult for all concerned the first time round?
“There's much less anxiety involved these days,” Darryl admits.
“It's a lot more fun these days and that makes all the difference. For one thing, Shane takes much better care of himself now and we all look forward to playing live. As you said, the Christmas shows continue to be as popular as ever. There again, I think it's important to point out that we never actually split up as such, we just took a much-needed break and now we enjoy re-convening on our own terms.”
How does it feel to move centre-stage and be the frontman with Bish? Does it feel very different from being in The Pogues where the spotlight tends to fall mainly on Shane?
“Well, I've sort've got a history as a frontman in that I was in (Nottingham new wave act) The Favourites in the late '70s,” Darryl considers, telling me about their minor brush with fame courtesy of a splendid cover of Abba's 'S.O.S'.
“But I do need to have a guitar in my hands because I do find it a bit odd,” Darryl continues.
“I'm naturally a team player if I'm honest, so I suppose it's a bit strange. It's funny, actually, because with The Pogues, Shane always wants people to look elsewhere, certainly not at him. He's not a 'star' at all in that sense,” he finishes, chuckling.
“I guess I grew up with the whole thing of a 'group' identity dating back to The Beatles really, where there wasn't always a defined 'lead' singer and several people supplied harmonies. In the '60s and '70s that was more the norm, whereas now we tend to always scrutinise the frontman and all the creative input is assumed to have come from them. I mean, I'm a big fan of people like Will Oldham and Mark Linkous, for example, but they're always assumed to 'be' Palace Music and Sparklehorse or whatever.”
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OK, so while Bish is intended as a group identity, the fact you shuttle between London and Germany must be quite difficult in terms of practicalities?
“Well, we work it all out,” Darryl replies. “We rehearse in Munich and with 'Surrounded By Mountains' we met up in London to record the songs. The guys are perfectly happy to come here and there's plenty of give and take. Although it is harder to sort out in terms of live shows.”
Right. Do you actually have may shows planned in relation to the album's promotion?
“There are plans, though nothing absolutely concrete at this time, possibly May and June,” divulges Darryl.
“Gigs are enjoyable, but they're not what's first in line with Bish, which is primarily writing and recording for me at least. But playing live is always a great experience and it'll be nice to get behind these songs in a live setting.”
Nonetheless, most of the songs comprising 'Surrounded By Mountains' should translate to the stage with ease. The record's warm, live sound is a key to this and Bish chose wisely in asking Brian O'Shaughnessy (whose credits include Primal Scream and Spearmint's Shirley Lee) to help in producing the album.
“Yeah, Brian's an excellent guy,” enthuses Darryl. “He has a studio in (London's) E17 area and he's a bit of a boffin in the studio, which is a help. He's brilliant with guitar sounds and he has his little boxes he uses (laughs) – all very mysterious. He likes tinkering with stuff and he works very quickly, too, which suits us. He's good at getting great sounds without any fuss and if you can achieve that, you're well on the way.”
Darryl was introduced to O'Shaughnessy through a long-term mutual friend, Debsey Wykes. Those of you out there who are (like me) long enough in the tooth, may recall Debsey as one third of early '80s indie pop contenders Dolly Mixture. She was also god enough to stick around and sing with Darryl on a couple of tunes on 'Surrounded By Mountains'.
“Debsey's a long-term friend,” Darryl says.
“She's a good friend of both Jem (Finer) and Spider (Stacy) too and I was in a group with her after Dolly Mixture finished. She's stayed in the music business. She was with Birdy and currently sings with Synthetia. She appears on 'Love Her Till The End' and she got involved with the new record as well, though I wish I could have used her more because she's great and we only had one short session with her for the new record.”
One of 'Surrounded By Mountains'' most striking aspects is the fact Hunt's songs are so open and honest. There's a lovely innocence to one song - 'I Just Want To Hold You' – which is one of those songs that just simply melts your heart however hard you may feel you are.
“Yes, that's one you can't miss with,” he agrees.
“It's quite simple, but at the same time I was trying not to be too sugary or crass. I mean, ultimately people want to hear love songs they can relate to and I think 'I Just Want To Hold You' is that kind of song. David Crosby, for example, has this thing about always writing about the people you love and being totally open about it. 'I Just Want To Hold You' is from that school.”
There again, sometimes the honesty can be almost a little too much. Enjoyable though they are, songs like 'Blue Today' and 'Feel A Lot Better' make me feel like I'm listening to a break-up album. Am I horribly wide of the mark in this conclusion?
“No, you're quite perceptive,” Darryl says to my relief.
“I separated from my wife around three or four years ago, so there's some truth in that. If I'm honest, I feel I'm still partly writing about that situation now.”
Yeah, but writing's cathartic, isn't it?
“Yeah, it is,” he says.
“And especially in the case of 'Feel A Lot Better' there's a real Dylan-esque, 'Blood on The Tracks' kinda feel to it. I do want to stress, though, that was trying not to write in a snivelly, “me, me, me” kind of way. I don't like that self-pitying approach at all.”
“After all,” he finishes tellingly, “the greats like Dylan and Van Morrison have a special way of drawing you in with the depth of feeling in their music and they're always inclusive, their audience can relate to them on a personal level. That's really important. If you're gonna be sad, be inclusive, that's the bottom line.”
'Surrounded By Mountains' is available now.
(www.pogues.com)
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