ACR Interview Q+A

These indomitable denizens of Manchester funk were rehearsing at The Greenhouse when Lucia Cox caught Jez Kerr, Donald Johnson and Martin Moscrop in high spirits reflecting on an illustrious past, an excellent latest album, “Mind Made Up”, and their opinion on today’s music. Picture: copyright Phil Tragen

 Where have you been?

 JK I’ve just been to St Anne’s and back. I forgot me guitar.

 DJ Just working.

 JK There wasn’t some big reunion thing. We got back together cause of the Soul Jazz thing, the compilation album. Then we were asked to do a gig and we did it and went, oh right, this is good innit.

 So what were you doing in that ‘dormant’ period?

 DJ Bringing kids up, real life. We don’t tour as such. We’ve never been one of those bands. Last tour we did was five weeks in Europe then we didn’t see each other for a year after that.

Why?

DJ Too stressful. Imagine living with these guys for five weeks.

JK By the fourth week touring you start to get tired. I mean we could keep it interesting ’cause we’ve got so many tunes, it could be different every night but all that takes up time.

Prefer doing one-off gigs then?

DJ I mean it was different when we were younger. We liked to play different stuff ’cause it was what we got off on. If you’re doing a 30-day stadium tour and you’re the Status Quo guitarist, it’s not a challenge by the 30 days, is it. So, we play infrequently and we put our all into that one gig. If you’re watching it, you can see that, I think.

How did you decide what to play?

JK Well, we wrote these songs (for “Mind Made Up”) and then we kind of forgot about them and just played our old stuff. But then we realised they were still there, we still really like them and we’re itching to get to that point where it’s second nature to play them.

MM We’ve got such a massive back catalogue now that it’s hard to choose. Sometimes it’s like doing other people’s songs, like doing a cover version. Sometimes a bad cover version.

Where’d the inspiration come from for “Mind Made Up”? How did you start that process?

JK We keep it evolving. You get loads of bands writing tunes, play them for ages then go in the studio and record it. That’s wrong. Write a tune and go in the studio the next day and record it. Capture the tune when you first write it and you’ve got the freshness there that you will never get back.

DJ We always kept the takes to a minimum, even keeping the mistakes. We’ve never bothered trying too hard to make it sound perfect. It’s the mistakes that make it interesting, especially when you go to a gig and you find out the keyboard isn’t working so the keyboardist is going to play the trumpet instead.

JK What I was concerned about doing this time was going back over some of the old tunes and borrowing the classic rifts for these new tunes.

It sounds exactly like that, this album. Familiar but brand new.

JK We’ve been together so long now that we sort of forgot about some of our tunes. I mean, I hate every single album we’ve ever done except this one. I hate the way I sing. 1985 was my first album, which was “Force”, we had no singer so I got the job and I can’t even listen to it.

DJ I love “Life’s a Scream”but he (JK) is one of those people who can’t listen to himself.

JK It’s a learning curve for me, a 25-year learning curve. But I’ve written some lyrics now that I think I can sing. I’m not a great singer but it’s not about that. Ian Brown’s not a great singer but he puts across a song.

DJ We’ve said to Jez that these are some of the best lyrics he’s written.

JK I mean, I got good at playing bass by rehearsing four times a week but writing lyrics, it’s more of a head thing.

You came up during the punk era, do you think that affected your attitude to music?

JK Best bit about the punk era was that people were having gigs in the weirdest of places, in warehouses at the back of Piccadilly. Those are the gigs you remember. You go to the MEN (Arena) and it’s the same every time. It’s soulless. Rock and Roll’s about fun and as soon as you make it about money, it ain’t fun.

DJ We liked the vibe of punk without ever being punk.

We get the impression you always had that ethos, that you never really wanted to impress anyone but yourselves and if people got it, they got it?

DJ Correct, and if they didn’t, move on.

JK We came out of a time when if you wanted to do a gig, there were places you could. People still want to do that but it’s a lot harder. People want to be creative but you have to create your own scene.

DJ I never thought we’d be here 30 years on.

Are there are any bands in Manchester today that you like? Anyone’s vibe you like or if you think they’re all rubbish?

JK How the fuck should I know, I’m 51.

MM There’s not nearly as much of a scene as there was when we were kids. I quite like The Whip, they’re playing with us. What’s weird is I listen to bands that say they’re influenced by us and I end up being influenced by them. I like the Friendly Fires. DFA Records, I like what they’ve done: dance music with a bit of credibility.

You’re not playing many gigs this year. Any reason for that?

MM We don’t use an agent and agents hammer the festivals and try get you gigs everywhere. We wait for gigs to come to us ‘cause if people ask you, it means they really want you and they’re fans. You just end up on that gravy train with an agent. I guess if there isn’t an element of surprise in what you do it’s not worth doing, is it?

Which are the stand-out tracks of the new ones? What’s the element of surprise?

MM The best things happen by accident. If you go out every week looking for a partner, you’re never gonna find one but when you least expect it, it happens. The tunes on here, some of them are genre specific but there’s one or two where you can’t put them in a genre. They’re the surprises.

DJ We’ve all arrived where we’ve wanted to arrive on this album. Creatively, sonically…we’ve stuck to our guns and I think it shows.

“Mind Made Up” was released earlier this year.