I recently sat down with Corin Tucker before S-K's show at the ICA. The bar was loud. I was nervous. It may have had something to do with this sticker stuck to the back cover of my notebook. D'oh. Read how it went down over at <a href="http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/12296">Drowned in Sound</a>.
In <i>The Cinema-Goers Autobiography</i> Italo Calvino recalls his childhood spent ducking in and out of the local picture house. It didnt matter if he wandered in at the end of a film and then watched through to the beginning of the next showing. The fragmented images and stories resonated for him regardless of the lack of coherent narrative, clearly informing the structure of his writing in later life.
Ali Smith pointedly arranges <i>The Accidental</i> into three sections, The Beginning, The Middle and The End, before teasingly undoing it all. Its not that the action is fragmented or broken up - like Calvinos movies - it is instead that the novel transcends its flimsy structure, becoming much more than just a beginning, middle and an end.
Smith starts by introducing us to Amber, the figure at the heart of the story. We learn that she was conceived in a cinema one of those dusty, sticky, velveteen places that have since been swallowed up by multiplexes and bingo halls. It seems appropriate somehow; Amber is more of a sprite or phantom than real flesh and blood. She appears one day at a summerhouse in Norfolk and bewitches the Smart family holidaying there, in exile from their home in Islington in order for Eve, author and mother, to focus on her latest project. Amber befriends Astrid, the awkward and angsty 12-year old daughter, becomes a lover to Magnus, the troubled 17-year old son, a muse to Michael, the step-father, and a source of deep disquiet to Eve. Amber doesnt stay forever, but she flickers like light even on the pages where she doesnt appear.
Amber holds the story together but Smiths prose is the real star here. Her language is endlessly imaginative and lyrical, infusing even the inanimate with life and energy the chairs on the tables stuck their legs into the air. She brings clear, honest voices to her characters, capturing their infinitesimal thoughts and observations, the profound and inane in all their glory. Its all somehow incredibly moving. In the tiniest ways she manages to capture something essential about the human experience. Calvino once wrote of cinema that the film we thought we were merely watching is the story of our lives. <i>The Accidental</i> resonates in much the same way.
<b>Appeared in Time Out June 8 - 15 2005</b>
The death of privacy for those in the media spotlight is something that weve all become accustomed to. In fact, we not only tolerate it, we actually enjoy it. It isnt just about the salacious details made available to us the text messages, the fights, the beauticians its the sense that theres a rough justice in the tabloid treatment of press-hungry celebrities like the Beckhams.
More insidious is the invasion of privacy for the ordinary individual. Recent headlines revealed the story of a man whose wife filed for divorce when she discovered that he had installed a camera in their bathroom ceiling and was spying on her as she bathed. Many of us have also allowed cameras into our homes video entry phones, web and nanny cams. The UK has more CCTV cameras than any other nation in the world. We are all watching or being watched.
Tim Lotts latest novel is therefore nothing if not timely. The plot mechanism is ingeniously centred around a fictional tabloid sensation known as the Skin Tapes case. The novel treats the case as real - Lott is approached by the widow of Dr Alex Seymour to write an account of the events leading up to the murder of her husband and the notorious tape. The result of Lotts endeavours is the book that readers hold in their hands. The plot is revealed in a series of interviews with Samantha Seymour and accounts of videotapes as described by Lott. We learn in snatches that Dr Seymour was an ordinary man - a local GP, a decent father and husband who had been feeling depressed and dispirited. His life at home and work seemed increasingly complicated and in an effort to regain some control, Dr Seymour took the decision to install several secret cameras in his home. By doing so, he not only betrayed his family, he ultimately tore it, and his life, apart.
The Seymour Tapes is an unsettling account of surveillance and secrecy, manipulation and power. By keeping the readers away from the direct action, by leaving us to pour over second-hand material such as transcripts and tapes, Lott leaves his audience feeling as if we ourselves have pried. The mechanism unfortunately also serves to keep the action as stark and otherworldly as CCTV footage, meaning that, ultimately, the characters and events of The Seymour Tapes never really inhabit our own reality.
<b>Appeared in Time Out May 18 - 25 2005</b>
Expect a flurry of S-K related stuff from me over the next few weeks. I've just finished transcribing an interview with Corin Tucker that should be ready to go soon; I'm furiously reviewing their new album for 'Sup Magazine as we speak and I also managed to find the time to go check out the band at the Barfly last week. Some might say that I'm obssessed. I would just say to them shut up and <a href="http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/12047.html">read my review</a>.
At the end of last month I interviewed Art Brut in the pub across from my house. Actually, with that information and the above photo any Londoner could probably stalk me if they had the inclination...but anyway, I digress! If you're not familiar with Art Brut, they're London-based, punk-ish, have a penchant for Guns n Roses and an unhealthy obsession with being on Top of the Pops...
<b>So I guess youve just come off a UK tour with bands like Neils Children and The Chalets how did that go for you?</b>
Eddie: Great! I love both of those bands.
<b>And how was the tour itself?</b>
Eddie: The tour was great! And it made me ill! But Im okay now.
Chris: Was it the tour or was it the booze?
Eddie: It was the fruit! [All laugh]
<b>Fruit? Right
</b>
Eddie: Well, I drink a lot. The one thing I did to stay healthy was I added some fruit to my diet. I dont normally eat fruit you see
and I got sick! Well, they say from booze - I say from fruit!
<b>How did you work that out?</b>
Eddie: I stopped eating fruit and I wasnt sick again.
Chris:
Until we came off
Eddie: Right! And then I was really ill.
<b>Have you found yourselves becoming a better live band through touring?</b>
Ian: Yeah, you become tighter inevitably because youre doing it every night.
Eddie: Yeah, we started improvising too.
<b>Oh really?</b>
Eddie: Like Good Weekend and stuff, we started putting Top of the Pops in the middle and we were playing some Guns n Roses as well!
Mike: Yeah, we were playing some Guns n Roses in We Formed A Band!
<b>Excellent! Ive just learned the riff to 'Sweet Child O Mine'!</b>
Ian: Well thats what I was playing!
<b>Its really embarrassing. I cant stop talking about it. It was pretty much my lifes goal and now Im done!</b>
Ian: [laughs] Its pretty much the high point of your career until you can play Freebird by Lynrd Skynrd!
<b>Wow! Does that also slip into the set?</b>
Ian: No, I mean, Im not five guitarists!
Eddie: Sweet Child O Mine fit perfectly into Formed A Band. We wish wed done it to begin with.
Chris: I dont! Guns n Roses would have sued us! [laughs]
Ian: We might have got to meet them in court though!
Chris: Thats true.
Eddie: Yeah! Thatd be amazing! [laughs] Weve all got really into Guns n Roses in the last couple of weeks.
<b>So do you have any plans to go out to the States at all? Have you been out there yet?</b>
Ian: No, we cant afford to.
Chris: Theres been lots of call for it but I think we want to get England sorted first and then go out to the States.
Eddie: I really want to go to New York and play that would be amazing! And Kalamazoo! I want to go to Kalamazoo and play.
<b>You think you pull in a big crowd in Kalamazoo?</b>
Eddie: We can! On my live journal theres loads of people from Kalamazoo they all got put into detention for singing Bang Bang Rock and Roll in the library!
<b>Really?! How did you find out about that?</b>
Eddie: Ive got a live journal
Chris: Actually, youd be surprised - through the internet and file sharing weve got a lot of fans in America. Were the best unsigned band in the UK according to Blender and we topped their download chart. So there you go!
<b>Have you got a label out there or anything?</b>
Chris: No, thats the other thing! [Everyone laughs/groans]
Eddie: Theres actually a fund on the internet to get us to America. Some kids have started it over there.
<b>Oh yeah?</b>
Ian: How much have we got?
Eddie: Dunno. About twenty five quid! [laughs]
Ian: Well, if you say it in dollars, it sounds better.
<b>Right! Thats about fifty dollars! So you have good expectations of going out there
</b>
Eddie: Kalamazoo is gonna be great fun! And obviously New York. And I want to move to LA, so obviously I should go and check it out!
<b>Why do you want to move to LA?</b>
Eddie: Dunno!
Chris: Its Morrissey, isnt it?
Eddie: Its because, when I wrote the words for that, Id split up with my girlfriend. And I thought, well whats the point of being here, I could just as well be in LA. With Morrissey
on a motorbike! I was just sort of fantasising about not being here.
<b>No, I agree, its kind of this fantasy place. I used to live there. Except you never really see anyone anyone famous or interesting! Although I did have a friend of a friend of a friend who saw Axl Rose shopping once, so thats a vicarious thrill!</b>
Chris: Wow! Cool!!
Eddie: Shopping where?
<b>Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica
</b>
Chris: Damn! So not buying Pampers in Walmart then!
Eddie: My friends from LA know where Morrissey lives, so I could have just gone to his house and hung around!
<b>Right, peering through the gates
</b>
Eddie: They snuck into his bin! They got his phone number out of his bin and stuff.
<b>Thats quite psycho!</b>
Eddie: Yeah Im not that sort of Morrissey fan!
<b>So youve got a new single coming out in the UK
</b>
Eddie: Yeah! Emily Kane.
<b>Whos Emily Kane?</b>
Eddie: My first ever girlfriend - who Im still in love with.
<b>Youre still in love with her?</b>
Eddie: Everyones in love with their first girlfriend!
<b>Are you still in touch with her though or
</b>
Eddie: No this song was to do that and it worked!
<b>Really?</b>
Eddie: Shes got a boyfriend though, which is rubbish!
<b>You know, most people generally
</b>
Eddie: After ten years get over their first love?! [laughs]
<b>No! I was going say most people generally just stalk their exes through websites like Friendster or some shit like that!</b>
Eddie: I tried to find her on Friends Reunited but she wasnt there, so I thought Id just write Emily Kane!
Chris: Yeah, just write a song instead!
Eddie: And I found her! I love her! So she phoned me up and I had to tell her that it was ironic.
<b>Because really it would have been
</b>
Eddie: Just too embarrassing! But Ive written another song about how that song really isnt ironic and Im saying it is because I cant really tell her I love her in a song! And with that one, Ill tell her thats ironic too! And itll just go on forever!
<b>Madness.</b>
Eddie: Thats not madness! Thats romance!
<b>So, Im writing for an American magazine. Theyre going to have no idea what Top of the Pops is
</b>
Chris: Really??
Ian: Really??
<b>Yeah, well, maybe some really Anglophile indie kids might, but on the whole, no. How would you describe the show?</b>
Eddie: Its amazing! Half-past seven, Friday evening, prime time television!
Ian: To translate the song for America, I guess it would be Art Brut, Soul Train! [laughs]
<b>Or American Bandstand!</b>
Eddie: But Top of the Pops is amazing, I think! Half an hour, dedicated to pop music, once a week. JUST about pop music. I mean, Im not really a fan of Pete Doherty but when he did For Lovers with Wolfman on Top of the Pops - that was amazing! It was really, really good. This guy was just singing his heart out in between, you know, Destinys Child and bloody
<b>So its not actually the show you love, its just music.</b>
Eddie: No, its the show!
Chris: Its like whenever anyone goes on Top of the Pops, even if theyve been on it like five times, they always do their best performance
Eddie: Its had a rich history. You know, Mick whats his name? Ronson hugging David Bowie. And Nirvana! I mean, I dont like Nirvana at all, but they were amazing on Top of the Pops.
<b>Right, when Kurt was miming playing his guitar
</b>
Eddie: Belle and Sebastian! When they freaked out and went mad. That was one of my favourite Top of the Pops
And I like pop music too; I like Destinys Child!
Ian: I like watching the crowd that have to seem like theyre liking the bands!
Chris: Yeah! [laughs]
Eddie: Id just love to be on Top of the Pops. Id jump around; Id sing! Itd be great. Id just be so happy! Thats all there is to it.
<b>I quite like the fact that theres this dual aspect to Art Brut, that you take the piss and mess around at the same time as being deadly serious about what youre doing. Youre always urging your audience to start a band, start a zine, whatever what are we battling against?</b>
Eddie: Um, no one particularly.
<b>Really?</b>
Chris: Yeah, were just saying that you dont have to keep complaining and fighting about stuff, just go and do it yourself!
Eddie: I just love watching new bands that have just formed! And youve got the bass player singing along and he doesnt have a microphone. I love all that! And it would be ace to have lots of new bands starting because Id just go and watch them.
<b>So its just about sharing the excitement?</b>
Eddie: I just love music. And there wasnt any about
well, there was, but it was shit! But we do have a thing against computer games and television thats the enemy.
Chris: Hey, how can we be against TV when we want to be on Top of the Pops? [laughs]
Ian: I think its mostly a battle against taking yourself too seriously. Music is supposed to be fun, youre supposed to enjoy yourself, you know?
Chris: And you want people to enjoy it with you. You dont want everything to be perfect but a bit sterile.
Ian: Having said that though, I do like Radiohead. But I think that quote we heard the other day sums it up perfectly what was it again?
Eddie: What, the George Clooney one?
<b>Excuse me, youre about to quote George fucking Clooney?</b>
Chris: [laughs] Well, he quoted it, but I dont think he came up with it
Ian: He said, Take what you do seriously, but dont take yourself seriously.
Eddie: Yeah. Thats our motto. [laughs]
Ian: So if there are any other Clooneyists in America
Eddie: Come and join our cult!
(Photo Rhiannan Sullivan)
Prjct.com is the personal webspace of Natalie Moore. It's a collection of her writings, photos and cartoons.
Contact
Feel free to email me at nat@prjct.com
Current Articles
Loserrrrr [Words]
Icicles out the window [Photos]
Arnold Arboretum - October 21, 2006 [Words]
Ogunquit, Maine - January 2007 [Photos]
Lloyds...still beautiful [Photos]
Archive: All articles
Page: 1
Page: 2
Page: 3
Page: 4
Page: 5
Page: 6
Page: 7
Page: 8
Page: 9
Page: 10
Page: 11
Page: 12
Page: 13
Page: 14
Page: 15
Page: 16
Page: 17
Page: 18