CINERAMA'S DAVID GEDGE passed through the notorious W&H interrogation chamber last summer and enjoyed it so much that he decided to succumb to our charms again. The last time he spoke to us he was celebrating the release of Cinerama's under-rated "Torino" album, but this time he's got two fascinating compilations, "John Peel Sessions: Season 2" and a remastered edition of his old band, The Wedding Present's "Hit Parade" about to hit the racks. He spoke to TIM PEACOCK about rediscovering his back catalogue, living in Seattle and why he'd want to cover a song written by "the Anti-Christ" of bands....
David is quite possibly one of the most affable and approachable interviewees you're liable to encounter and is open to discussing virtually anything. Not surprisingly, we begin by referring back to one of our mutual heroes, John Peel. Cinerama's second Peel sessions album, the excellent sophisto-pop of "Season 2" is due out as we speak. Presumably you still get a buzz recording songs for him David?
"I do, very much," he confirms.
"I mean, I grew up listening to John and while it might sound stupid, it was always the biggest ambition for me to record a Peel Session when I was a kid."
More than appear on "TOP OF THE POPS" even?
"Oh yeah, absolutely, and to still be doing it now is really exciting," enthuses David.
"He's shaped my musical direction, too. It's great because he's not influenced by marketing at all. In a way he's the only one who's ever retained that original BBC "anything goes" attitude that they really did have back at the dawn. These days the rest of them are totally playlist dominated."
The new Peel sessions album features a French-language version of Cinerama's seriously sexy "Lollobrigida". This writer's well into some of Gina's old movies himself - like "Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell" and the Anthony Quinn version of "Hunchback Of Notre Dame", but is it fandom that drove Dave to write a song about her originally?
"No, to be honest I don't know all that much about her, atlhough I do like the film mentioned in the song's chorus," laughs Dave, referring to he movie "Belle de Nuit."
"I'm not Fluent in French, but "Lollobrigida"s such a raunchy little song and I just love the sound of the name, it's begging to have a song written about it, so we gave it the "Je T'Aime" treatment."
"I have a confession to make, actually" laughs David.
Go on...don't stop now!
"I actually wrote the song around the title. I don't normally contrive things that way. I do usually have melodies and lyrical ideas first, but with "Lollobrigida", well...the name just blows you away, doesn't it?"
Even more unlikely, but actually surprisingly effective, is Cinerama's remarkably straight cover of The Carpenters' "Yesterday Once More", which was also birthed in the Maida Vale studios. You're not gonna tell me you were a fan as a kid, are you Dave?
"Oh God, no," he denies, almost in disgust.
"I hated them when I was growing up, probably because my Mum played 'em all the time. Shocking. They were just the Anti-Christ of bands during their heyday."
"More recently, though," he continues, "I finally got the courage to play their 'Greatest Hits' and thought most of the songs were actually really good. Her (Karen Carpenter) voice is just so gorgeous, regardless of what happened to her."
"It was a good idea to try it first for Peel, too," he says, "because the engineers at the BBC studios are so good and you can feel confident trying out new material."
Meanwhile, the last time you spoke to W&H, we spoke about your ongoing interest in Soundtracks and composers like John Barry and Ennio Morricone. Presumably you feel your own songs are much more fully realised now you've added orchestral embellishments and have worked on a regular basis with the likes of strings, flute, trumpet etc?
"Definitely," Dave agrees, "though it's funny in that I was very naive when I wanted to start using orchestration. I truly didn't realise people spent years studying and getting degrees in symphonic composition and so on."
Did you think..."this'll be a piece of piss"?
"Yeah, basically, I thought I'll get the hang of this in an afternoon," Dave laughs uproariously.
"Of course the reality is that it's taken me a couple of years to achieve something like what I wanted. "Torino" finally sounded to me like I wanted Cinerama to sound, though ironically these days we seem to be getting back to being a more basic guitar band again. Maybe we've been there and got the T-shirt with the orchestral stuff."
I personally thought "Torino" was a terrific album, but now you're concentrating full-time on Cinerama, what can we expect from you record-wise, after the current UK tour?
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"Well, we're due to play a lengthy US tour from May until July," replies David.
"The idea at present is so drop in to record with Steve Albini in Chicago, during that time. We'll be able to start off a new album, but I doubt we'll finish it at the time as we don't have enough songs yet. After that, we'll have to see. Sorry if that sounds a bit vague, but it's up in the air at present."
Apart from the Cinerama activity, re-issue label Camden Deluxe are also re-releasing David's "Hit Parade" album with The Wedding Present in remastered form. The album documents the year 1992 when the Weddoes released a new limited-edition single every month, with a weekly deletion date ensuring each single got a chart position and consequently a regular TOTP appearance for the band. Some have accused the band for being cynical and manipulative, but was this an exciting time for the band with hindsight?
"Err...actually, it took us by surprise how big it got," says David, frankly.
"I can't deny that it was a media-friendly idea and we did have a sense of pride that we were breaking Elvis' record for hit singles and so on. But ultimately, the project began to take us over and overshadowed us as a band."
How do you mean?
"Well, we got into a situation where we actually got over-exposed and we started to turn TOTP down. Once, we actually lied and said we couldn't do it because our bass player was sick or something. It became a bit of a millstone, but it was an interesting idea and I'm glad we did it at the time."
I haven't as yet read them, but I believe the sleevenotes for the new version of "Hit Parade" are by notorious ex-Melody Maker writer Everett True. Was he a Weddoes fan? He could be very withering towards people, couldn't he?
"He was certainly a fan at the beginning," David recalls.
"I remember he called "My Favourite Dress" one of the best love songs ever. Later on, he slagged us off, but, y'know, he's a character and I always thought he was a good writer, anyway, so why not. It's entertaining."
Talking of which, I imagine that remastering The Wedding Present's songs has allowed you to re-evaluate those early albums. Has this given you a new perspective, given that previous Weddoes live favourites like "Bewitched" have also found their way into Cinerama's live sets?
"Yes, definitely," David replies. "I like digital remastering in that it does bring more out of the original recordings, but it has been a positive exercise in that I've never wanted to play my own records at home, so it focussed me and I found I was actually proud of some of the stuff. "Bizarro" and "Seamonsters" sound much better than I remember."
Talking of being focussed, am I right in thinking you've been living in the States for a little while, to get a change of scene from the UK?
"Yeah, I split up with my girlfriend at the end of last year," Dave says, matter-of-factly.
"I thought it would be a good time to get away as I've always fancied it. I've only been back for a week, actually. I've been living in Seattle, as it's my favourite US city. It's nothing like LA or anything."
A good experience?
"Oh yeah, very much so. Seattle's great as the weather's nice and it's kind of alternative, very arty and music-based. I hear there's even something going down there called....er, 'grunge'...I think that was it!" he laughs, with his tongue disappearing into his cheek.
"Joking apart, though," he finishes, "it's a typical irony, but I ended up really missing England a lot, however much I enjoyed the place."
With timing redolent of one of his own song's kiss-off lines, he pauses and adds:-
"But then, the grass is always greener on the other side, isn't it?"
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