|
|
| |
Mar 10, 2008 01:16 pm
Edited : Jul 01, 2008 07:34 pm |
![[ Admins only ]](/images/forum/n_ip.gif) |
|
|
MyGothicHeart.Com Interview with 1919 by Abortedlife
MGH: Please give us a chronicled history of 1919, since you're among the proud originators of our beloved 'gothic' culture when it all started to unfold.
My children let me blow the dust off this dusty tome and reveal to you how 1919 began. In order to do this let me transport you back to 1977 where two teenagers are watching the Sex Pistols play in a Keighley nightclub. Sid Vicious is pretending to play bass just six-feet away and John Lydon taking some cough medicine before launching into Pretty Vacant. Then there is the Clash playing Leeds, supported by the Slits, early Adam and the Ants with Matthew Ashman on guitar. Siouxsie and the Banshees at Huddersfield Poly and Throbbing Gristle at Wakefield. These bands were the early influences of Ian Tilleard the original singer in 1919 and myself. I had met Ian around 1977 when punk was kicking off and we used to go see all the bands. You have to remember at this time there was about three good gigs per week and you were tossing a coin on whether you would go see the Buzzcocks or The Heartbreakers, Generation X or Subway Sect. Punk only lasted a short while and then for me it got more interesting with bands like Joy Division and Wire, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle (who had ceased to exist by then) and early Ultravox. Things became more experimental and by 1979 it was Post-Punk and Positive Punk. We formed an experimental band called Rue Morgue and at this time we were in contact with Throbbing Gristle and other such post-punk pioneers. We termed this music “Experimental” and that is how we described our sound. The band name went through various changes adding and subtracting various members along the way, including Mark Manning later to be Zodiac Mindwarp God bless him and later Aky from Southern Death Cult. Our first real gigging band was Heaven 17…yes we had the name nicked….new-wave had popped its funny little head up and the New-Romantic thing was emerging…these were very strange but fun times and a lot of people were experimenting with image and music, there was an air of anything goes. The looks were outrageous and it was fairly dangerous out on the street, I think a lot of people forget this. People took offense to my larger than life Quiff, tartan pants and brothel creepers on numerous occasions. Anyway no more Heaven 17and enter Mick Reed a drummer from Dewsbury who liked his drums tribal. After rehearsing for a while we developed our sound and a new name to match. Enter 1919. It was now 1980. 1919’s sole aim was to pound out a rhythmic, heavy and melodic/ dark dance beat. I had acquired two Vox AC 30”s with the original blue speakers and the sound I required was like vicious monsters jumping out of the speakers, aural beasts from Hades. There weren’t too many ingredients to the 1919 sound. If we couldn’t file under EVIL, it would not make it on to the set list. 1919 was three Northern souls desperately different in temperament but with a much focused musical vision. Attila the Stockbroker I remember described the music as “Schonburg on guitars with some long lost tribe on drums”. It all started with a white label promo, limited to 500 copies, Repulsion/Tear down these walls. The copy we sent to John Peel said “take it or leave it”. He certainly took it and came up to Shipley, had a few beers with us and asked us to do a session down at Maida Vale Studios. On the strength of the Peel session we signed to Red Rhino Records And released two singles…”Tear down these walls”/Repulsion and “After the fall/Caged”. The next release was a mini-album called “Machine” which remained in the independent charts for months. Around this time there was a scene developing with bands like Killing Joke, Danse Society, Play Dead, Southern Death Cult (who were from The Bradford scene) but I still cannot remember when the term Goth began. Eventually the post-punk/positive punk tag became Goth and we somehow we became enveloped within this new musical genre Machine, the mini-album, was heavily inspired by the “Heart of Darkness” and we always liked the theme of Alienation. The band always felt like outsiders, people liked to tag us with various movements but we were having none of it. Outsiders looking in is the way we saw ourselves and we were fairly isolated living in Bradford as opposed to London, although some of the best bands did came from Yorkshire. We left Red Rhino and signed with London label Abstract Records and recorded our last single Cry wolf the last single said it all – “You’ve got what you wanted, all cry wolf”. After the CryWolf tour the band split due really to ego problems and the old musical differences. This was 1984 and the Goth scene really had more inner turmoil than Fred West, you only have to look at the band casualties. At the time we were all relieved to move on and look forward to new musical horizons. Ian, myself and the bass player Steve Madden formed Another Cinema and Mick Formed the Hive.
MGH: Thanks for sharing age-old stories of goth's seeding moments with us. Going back to the band, how did you end up calling yourselves as such?
1919 was a year of massive change and desperate rebellion. The murder of Rosa Luxemberg. The mutiny of the French fleet in the Black Sea. The Totsky/Churchull dual. The General strikes in Belfast, Glasgow and other cities. The great red scare in America. I think it was the caved in head of Mrs. Fannie Sellins, trade union organizer, killed by steel trust gun men in West Natrona, Pennsylvania, on August 26th 1919 that really started my obsession with that year. After that it appeared at an alarming rate, every where I looked….1919. The best 1919 image was Michael Biro’s famous worker poster of a naked giant of a man about to administer the most monumental hammer blow ever - Budapest, May Day 1919. Things were getting rather Fortean and there was no other contender so we called ourselves 1919. If you look in Revelations 19:19 it say’s And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. Good stuff. 1919 is definitely a vintage year. Even to this day it crops up on a regular basis in the weirdest places.
MGH: 1919 as a group is no doubt an early reference under the aforementioned musical genre, but whatever led to its untimely demise before?
1919’s split was due to various situations. If you have four guys in a band there is inevitably going to be ego problems and sometimes individuals want to pull the music one way or the other. Look how many bands spend years in a rehearsal room grafting to get a set together, then when they achieve some kind of recognition they split. Familiar story. The Goth scene in 1984 was dying a death, pardon the pun and that is why a lot of bands bailed out or changed direction. It is easy to look back with rose tinted glasses but for some of us it left a bad taste in the mouth. So we did survive the times because we all moved on and I think all of us have had different successes either in music or life.
MGH: Were there any attempts to reunite whatever trace of sentiments lingered with the band?
There were no attempts to save the band; it would have been like giving mouth to mouth resuscitation to a dead tramp. I was left with the job of telling Mick the drummer that this was the end, and then we walked out and that was it, 1919 ceased to exist. It was like we put the corpse in the crypt and sealed it. The only twist was that I had the key to the crypt. Nobody touched it for 21years; well not until I had that fateful dream.
MGH: Is there still camaraderie left between you and the former members?
Steve Madden who played bass post the Machine mini-L.P has retired from the music industry. Mick Reed continues with his various projects. Somebody told me Ian Tilleard is in a Tom Waits tribute band (oh dear) and the original bass player Nick Hiles has also retired from music. Mick Reed is the only person I would consider working with again, so don’t rule out in the future a return to the 1919 camp for Mick.
MGH: Now that you've brought back 1919 from a two-year hiatus, what have been the changes to the sound? I know for a fact that you detest labels, but how would you address this particular query of mine?
I like the way that you put “I know how you hate labels”. And you are right I do have a phobia with categories, pigeon holes. I love music I like being eclectic and I do have a lot of respect for people who are obsessed with certain genres of music when they are knowledgeable and enthusiastic. But I hate people with blinkers on who are sheep, who are told to like only “heavy metal” or “grunge” etc and they are more into the scene, the fashion. I like individuals, proper individuals.
As for the changes in sound well 21 years ago when you recorded you really had to try and all get it right when that dreaded “recording” was put through your headphones and if anybody went wrong you had to start again. That was a very big pressure. Now you can loop parts, redo sections of the music it is a lot more stress free. 1919 in the 80’s, all the recordings went out on vinyl and a lot of bands that were very loud did not capture their sound on vinyl because of the spacing on the wax. There is no such problem with CD and digital recording. I don’t hold with all the vinyl was warm and digital is clinical bollocks. Although the great and late John Peel RIP did say” vinyl’s like life -you can hear lots of surface noise”, I like that. But that is a from a guy that was passionate and I don’t know many people in the music scene that don’t owe John for his helping hand in their careers. But he would move on exploring the hinterland of the musical underworld, and as Miles Davies put it “change is as necessary as breathing”. I agree.
But the 1919 sound has updated and we use more electronica and mutated sounds. I like the layers of sound. You have to listen to Dark Temple a few times to let it seep into you, get through its myriad layers. There are a lot of mysterious sounds in there and voices of unknown origin creeping in from the ether.
MGH: Did it present more windows of opportunity and at the same time new challenges when 1919 eventually got reformed?
The re-birth of 1919 was a messy one. It started with a thought and when I say that it had been banging around in my brain for 21 years. I had done lots of sessions, different projects but it was always there- old ghosty head, 1919, 1919. That recurring mantra. 1919 is full of resonance and metaphor and meaning.It probes my mind, gets under my skin, it reaches the subterranean depths, it is full of disquiet. It had to eventually spewed out. There were new people, who had to be relieved of their duties, and not in a quiet way, but that’s life. My ideas had to be impregnated into the new disciples. Life is not easy.
MGH: Do you feel like you owe Cherry Records an imaginary amount in some way?
I owe Cherry red records nothing. They put out the 1919 complete collection. They collaborated with Red Rhino records and Abstract Records, who both made money out of 1919 and we saw very very little of that. This is why I set up We Must Mutate. We Must Not Get Ripped Off Again. End- of story.
MGH: Do you own We Must Mutate Records? The name itself signifies metamorphosis. I presume it's what you've been trying to express all along; an evolution of one's own artform without boundaries.
Yes I do own WMM. I was inspired by my absolute favorite opening line from any book- Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis- “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed Into a gigantic insect” Yes you are so right. Without boundaries and willful eclecticism. I like to mutate things, to sound transformed from its original source. The music has a lot of subtle mutations and in the future releases this will be explored more fully.
MGH: How were you able to scout for replacements, namely Ian Hardcastle and Richard Green?
Out in the real world there are many people. Call it serendipity/fate or whatever, these people ready to help you on your journey are there. Ian and Richard had been waiting to be initiated into 1919 all their lives and they will be great full for this unique opportunity. I am grate full for meeting them.
MGH: How do you find the overall venue of your Sleepy Hollow studio?
Sleepy Hollow is a sacred place where the vibe is right. Like Paris It is a movable feast.
MGH: "Dark Temple" is part of a trilogy called "The Voyage That Never Ends". 1919's most promising venture yet, it seems to be.
The new 1919 is a long term commitment; let’s face it I have had 21 years to think about this. The trilogy will be augmented by two more E.P’s and then released as “The voyage that never ends”. Dark Temple is a limited release only available through the 1919 website. It will be deleated when all the Copies are sold. Dark Temple will mutate. More special mixes of tracks will be available for download on our website soon. There will be dvd/film footage on the website eventually. The website will continue to expand and update.
MGH: What is the main driving force behind your numerous lyrical pieces?
The lyrics are based on Global problems. It is all about hypocrisy/greed/lies /hate/religion/politics, those universal themes. Man spoils a really nice planet, do you get my drift. Wolf is totally gothic in its content and Skin is unadulterated “Fetish” so the lyrics are universal.
MGH: What are the odds of playing in a live setting as soon as you start promoting your "Dark Temple" release?
1919 will play live only when we can present the music in a truly unique way. I cannot be bothered with the usual gigs. It is something we are working hard on at the moment.
MGH: Who are now the individual talents comprising the updated line-up of 1919?
There is myself on Guitars, Ian Hardcastle on synths/programming, and Richard Green on vocals and his brother Dave Green on Bass. I collaborate with people and 1919 could be a set of completely different people next year. That is the new regime, climb aboard/walk the plank. This is not arrogance but reality. Musicians are very fickle and a tad temperamental and some, like fruit can get passed their sell by date. Every band needs a dictator; democracy rarely works so this time round –I’m Hitler. People will come and people will go and I am the only constant. The people who stay for the duration will be very special indeed. The old 1919 ethos was “No Compromises” and it still stands.
MGH: Is there much of a difference in the area of the vocals, after hiring somebody else to fill up that position?
I am very happy with Richards’s vocals, he has passion and power. There are no backing singers, it is all Richard. I love working with singers, and in the past I feel I have taken people on different routes to where they would have normally taken.
MGH: What did your avid fans from the eighties have to say about your unexpected resurfacing in the music scene?
The response has been fantastic. I never underestimated that people would move with the times. People have been in touch and they love it. People move on and look for new things, but at the end of the day you don’t forget your roots. Looking back is more popular now. Retro is nearly a new genre, but while the fans are looking back the old band and musicians are always looking forward. They have lived and breathed the years while everybody forgot them. Life goes in cycles, I have told many people this, be patient it comes round again just like a carousel, just wait, your time will come again.
MGH: Do you think staying true to your roots would still be a good idea upto this day and age?
If we attract a small quantity of the youth of today I will be happy. Let’s face it there is more sheep around today following the herd towards MTV oblivion, listening to sanitized radio programming. There is no John Peel now and nobody worthy of his crown even worldwide, so where do they go from here?? I want people to like my music of course and music is the soundtrack to my life. I cannot imagine not having that love of putting on a King Tubby track I have never heard, not seeing a band that blows my mind, not driving to the coast with “Babylon’s Burning” booming out. I want people to do the same with 1919. I want someone to get buried with “Killing the alien” burning their tombstone.
MGH: Would you ever consider taking a more commercial route in some future time?
1919 are not commercial full stop. 1919 do their own thing, we do not care about radio, about TV, about anything, and we lay it down for you to make your own minds up “Take it or leave it”, throw away your minds. I don’t have to sell one CD to carry on, I have that freedom. But I know one certain thing; eventually people will catch up and suss what 1919 can give them. It is like a good red wine it needs time to mature and I am a patient man. As for other artists getting their work out, well it’s a mine field out there, your swimming with sharks, you meander around and usually so full of your own concerns that you are as vulnerable as any animal that has found their first food for three weeks out in the wilderness, that is the time to watch it.
MGH: Who designed the CD album cover?
The L.P. cover was my design, it was an idea that I had been carrying around for a while.
MGH: Dare to give the guitar works a break and experiment with an electronic structure or medium?
The band is moving towards a more electronic feel, but the guitars are there for eternity. All tracks start from guitar lines and I love the guitar too much to drop it out.
MGH: Please give us a list of all your musical and personal influences.
My influences in music are Steve Harley, Velvet Underground, Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Robert Wyatt, Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, King Tubby, Dillinger, Pablo Augusto, Ruts, PIL, Gina X, Captain Beefheart, This Heat, Throbbing Gristle, Early Adam and the Ants, Wire, Doctors of Madness, Hawkwind, Pop Group John Abercrombie, Wilco Johnson, Viv Stanshall/Bonzos, John Toop, Jaco Pastorious, Nico, Derek Bailey,…..I could go on and on. And my personal influences are Albert Camus, Derek Jarmen(alt-film dir), Alan Sillitoe(writer/playwright), Remedios Varo(painter), Albert Finney(actor), Northern Exposure(TV series), Roy Keene( ex- Man Utd capt), Gary Oldman(actor),The Archers (radio 4 rural soap), Fred Dibnah(steeplejack)…just a few of the people/things that give me a buzz.
MGH: What is your final message? Thank you very much!
My final message is Throw away your mind and enjoy life to the full. There are those who travel down the broad highways of arrogant ambition; others who make their way by base, servile flattery and fawning; and others employ hypocritical deceit; and there are some who take the way of true religion; but I, drawn by my star, travel down the narrow path of knight errantry, which profession leads me to scorn wealth, but not honor. Remember that life is sacred in a time that things are not sacred. Modern times puts its burden on you, a life lived with simplicity and honesty is one of quality and nobody can take that away from you…..I could pontificate for eternity
Thank you- Mark Tighe (humble musician). |
|
|
