Atlantica - 01.10.2006, Side 16

Sara Blask: What’s it like coordinating
music among seven people, with everyone
bringing their own styles and opinions
to the drawing board? Where does the
cohesion come from?
Stevie Jackson: It comes from just
knowing each other for a long time.
We’ve been together for ten years and
it took us a while to get it together.
Everybody brings different things
and we truly don’t like the same stuff.
You’d be quite hard-pushed to find one
group we can all agree on. There’s not
really any kind of stylistic strand going
through everybody’s taste. Personally,
I’m influenced by everybody else in
the group because we all play different
things.
SB: Ten years together and six proper
albums later, how do you keep things
fresh?
SJ: We didn’t really start playing
properly until about five years ago; the
group was kind of part-time for the first
five. I guess we had a lot in reserve.
We’ve been playing more, reaching more
people and making better records. But,
you know, it’s all up and down anyway,
in the pop world and in life. In a funny
way, I feel that we’re kind of established
now. We could probably go on for a
while if we wanted to, but you have to
keep something in it for yourself. We’re
probably at a stage now where we will
do something else. I don’t think we’re
going to make another record. I think
we’ll get involved in something else.
SB: What are your thoughts on Scottish
music right now with bands like Camera
Obscura, Mogwai, and Reindeer Section
all rising to the mainstream? Is Glasgow
becoming the new London?
SJ: No, no, Glasgow is just the old
Glasgow. The thing that makes Glasgow
good is the fact that it’s not London.
There’s a lot of mechanism in London
that can tend to drag a good man or
good girl down. Glasgow’s free of a lot of
stuff in London – a lot of the hype, a lot
of the mechanics of the music press. It’s
just a much more natural environment
for getting it together. Glasgow’s lucky
that it’s not like London. But don’t get
me wrong. I love London.
SB: Some great music seems to be
coming out of Stockholm, and then there’s
always the steady stream from Reykjavík.
Is the scene getting more northerly,
perhaps with Glasgow as the gateway?
SJ: That’s an interesting idea. I’m
not sure. Certainly the groups from
Reykjavík and Stockholm are making
lots of headway. I’m thinking of the
Concretes, múm, and Sigur Rós. Sigur
Rós are bigger than anybody at the
moment. They’re huge.
SB: Most recently you played in Spain
and Portugal, and prior to that you were
on tour in the States. My friends in America
have emailed me reports of apocalyptic
heat this summer. Any thoughts on global
warming and your collective impact on
the environment?
SJ: Ours is probably pretty bad
because this year we’ve been on way
more planes than busses. We’re on planes
practically every day. We’re conscious of
these things in the group and certainly
there are members of the band who’ll
catch the train before they’ll board the
plane. I think things will change fairly
quickly in the global sense in the next
hundred or two hundred years. People
are really getting worried about it. You
just have to be optimistic. We’ll certainly
be working in the future for more ways
to support environmental issues.
SB: It’s your first time to Reykjavík.
Initial thoughts?
SJ: It reminds me of other places,
but kind of weird around the edges.
You see young guys driving around
with their windows down and blasting
techno or something. But here I heard
Tom Jones blasting from a Range Rover.
I wondered who it was, and the window
goes down and it was a guy, maybe 60
years old, with a beard. He was totally
on the scene, you know, blasting Tom
Jones. It was incredible.
SB: You guys scored the original
soundtrack for the 2001 American
comedy, Storytelling. Will we begin to
hear your music elsewhere, in future films
or maybe in the advertising world?
SJ: We haven’t stooped so low as to
be in an ad. I think it’s a sin, a criminal
act. We’ve done a few, I think one for
a music festival, but we didn’t get
paid. Same thing with a piece for an
environmental commercial in Australia.
At the moment, we’re very against
music for advertising. We’ll see how it
goes. Everybody has their price. We’ve
turned down hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
SB: If iTunes asked you to create a
celebrity playlist, what would you put on
there?
SJ: I don’t have an iPod (laughs).
SB: Ok, say you sell out and buy one.
What would you be playing on there?
SJ: At the moment I’m going through
a very ‘70s period, listening to songs
I can remember from my very early
youth. Things like “Do the Hustle” by
Van McCoy and Moondog, the great
composer guy. Also Bob Dylan bootlegs
and The Basement Tapes [series
recorded by Bob Dylan and The Band].
SB: I’ve noticed that Belle and Sebastian
doesn’t have an official MySpace page like
the rest of the world. Do you believe in
MySpace?
SJ: I find it... well, I’ve just not gotten
into it. I do have an account, but I’ve
never used it. I find myself slightly
intimidated by it. I suppose I’m lucky.
I mean, I’m in a position of power
because my group is established and all
that. I think certainly for young bands
it’s a great way of pushing music or
letting people hear music. So I believe
in it in that sense, but as a kind of
social interaction, I prefer postcards or
something.
SB: On your website, Stuart Murdoch,
the band’s founding member, responds
to a fan’s question and writes, “Interviews
and magazines are so bloody boring.
That’s it, I’m going to go into a five year
hiatus. I’m not going to answer questions
on music until there’s something to say.”
If you were sitting in my position, what
questions should I be asking you?
SJ: “Why are you such a miserable
bastard?” That would be the first
question I’d ask. a
Scotland’s first family of indie pop, Belle and Sebastian, made a stop in Europe’s northernmost capital this summer to share their
whimsical sounds, drawing sold-out crowds at both shows. Ears around the globe have been tuning in to the septet since 1996,
and the band was backed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra this summer at the Hollywood Bowl. Guitarist Stevie
Jackson chatted with Atlantica’s Sara Blask before a soundcheck about Europe’s music scenes, the band’s eco-footprint,
and one question she should’ve asked.
Belle Epoque
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14 AT L A N T I CA
009 airmail Atlantica 506 .indd 14 28.8.2006 9:21:16