Slo-Mo
Dave's Rave
Sure to
be hitting the airwaves over the summer, Slo-Mo release their innovative,
and swaggeringly catchy “Death Of A Raver” on August 12th.
If it’s not a hit, I’ll eat my trousers and leave room for
my socks as dessert. David Gledhill is the man behind it all. He’s
a top bloke, and the fact that he was a huge Smiths fan meant I hit
it off with him immediately.
AD: Was rave something that you yourself were a part of, or was it
something you were glad to see the back of?
DG: I think, I knew an awful lot of people who WERE involved heavily,
so I was always around drugs and people from the scene. I was more of
an interested observer than anything else. I mean, yes, there were elements
of rave that appealed, like The Prodigy, but I wasn’t someone who
would get in the car, do three lines of speed and then go and sit in
a field somewhere. I’m definitely interested in cultural phenomenons
though, so it’s fascinating to look back ten years later with your
own observations. This single’s for some of my friends who were
really heavily into the scene, and who came through the experience,
and others whose brains have been affected dramatically.
AD: and Dave Ball from Soft Cell remixed it…
DG: Yeah, but the weird thing is that when I met him, nobody bothered
to tell me who he was. I was just sat in a pub where he was talking
to a guy from the record company. He was this slightly overweight, middle
aged bloke, and because he was talking to one of my representatives
I started talking to him as well. We were just talking about books for
ages and we’d brought up “Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas”,
which is the ultimate source of inspiration for me and we were chatting
for ages. Then I was asked “You do know who he is, don’t you?”
and he was quite embarrassed, going “No. Don’t tell him who
I am!” It turned out that he’d heard “Death Of A Raver”
and fell in love with it, so he remixed it. When I told people, they
were like “No, don’t do it! That’d be a really uncool
thing to do.” The good thing about me though is that I don’t
give a fuck, so we did it anyway, and now there’s this massive
buzz about the whole thing. I love it when you can prove people wrong
like that. I’ve always loved people who don’t give a fuck,
as in Fear and Loathing…people who are that destructive appeal
to me a lot. I suppose there’s a small part of me that aspires
to be that way.
AD: Apparently you promised various countries that you’re going
to go over and sing the single in their language…so how’s
the learning process coming in?
DG: (shudders) When I signed to Circus, and then to Play It Again
Sam, the international label, I think I just got carried away with that
one. We had all these representatives coming over from Portugal, Spain
and Italy, and I just said it as a flippant, off the cuff remark –
“Oh, I’ll have to come over and sing “Death Of A Raver”
in Spanish. The record company came up to me afterwards and said “That’s
great! We didn’t know you were multi-lingual”, and I was like
“Er…actually no, I can’t speak any other languages at
all!” The worry is that, if we get anything wrong, it’s going
to go really, really badly wrong. The whole thing looks as though it’s
going to go really big in Portugal though, so we’ll have to make
a special effort for them. I’ve just been out and got my Portuguese
phrase book this week in fact! Anyway, that remark, I think I’d
compare it with being a kid who gets really excited about the amount
of toys he gets at Christmas.
AD: Listening to the CD, it’s obvious you regard lyrics as being
of paramount importance…
DG: I would say they are probably the number one importance to me.
I think it’s probably because I grew up listening to The Smiths
and have always been heavily into films and books, and if you love great
lyrics, I just think it makes the song so much better. You only have
to look at Travis, who have some great tunes, but terrible, terrible
lyrics. The thing about The Smiths is, people will still be talking
about them in ten, twenty years time. I think Britpop was like the antithesis
of that lyrical depth, but what’s around now, well, maybe Oasis
can get away with it, but all the rest just seems like throwaway rubbish.
I’m amazed at how much fuss has been made of the lyrics to “Death
Of A Raver”, and I can’t wait to see the reaction to the next
single, “Girl From Alaska”, which is about a girl who dreams
of murdering people and blowing up her dad, and takes photographs of
dead people. I just can’t believe how what someone says in a song
can be taken so seriously in certain circles.
AD: Like Eminem? I know you were criticising Travis for their lyrics,
but Fran Healy came out with the quote of the year when he said “I
can’t understand people who get upset at Eminem’s lyrics.
It’s just a pantomime after all. It’s a bit like getting upset
when Widow Twanky comes on stage.”
DG: Exactly. I mean, I’m not exactly a big hip-hop or rap fan,
but I would say that he is probably the best lyricist around at the
moment. I thought “Stan” was one of the best records I’ve
heard in the last five years. We’ve got another track which is
dark and sinister in that way too, called “Junkie On A Fast Train”,
which is again a homage to Fear and Loathing.
AD: Talking of lyrics, I personally think that the recent number
one by Liberty X has the worst line ever in the history of music…
DG: Go on…
AD: “It’s so exciting the way you’re inviting me”.
I challenge you to come up with any that you’ve heard that are
worse.
DG: Ha ha. Erm…actually I’m not sure I can! And there’s
a girl in the band who’s so repulsively ugly too. They’re
normally all so pretty aren’t they? But when she comes to the front
of the screen I have to look away. It’s a shame with bands like
Travis though because they seem like a really nice bunch of blokes.
It’s a pity their lyrics are shit.
AD: You mentioned The Smiths before. Now, last year I achieved a
lifetime’s ambition when I got to interview Johnny Marr…
DG: I got to support him a couple of years ago. He was such a lovely
bloke too. It was weird though, as there were so many other people just
waiting to bow down to him, so I didn’t really say that much to
him. I didn’t really want to tell him what a huge, huge fan I was.
I had to share a dressing room with Liam Gallagher which was THE experience
from hell. It was the day after he’d split from Patsy Kensit and
he was coked off his tits. I just remember thinking “Someone please
get me out of here!” But Johnny Marr was lovely. Oddly enough,
I’m not sure I’d want to meet Morrissey as I’ve heard
a few stories from people who have, and apparently the judge in a court
case called him “the most scurrilously untrustworthy individual”
he’d ever met.
AD: Really? He probably dines at McDonalds regularly now then…
DG: Ha ha, yeah he’s probably the biggest meat eater out now!
Still, great lyrics though.
AD: Definitely. So, if YOU had the opportunity to interview any famous
or infamous person, past or present, who would it be?
DG: That would probably have to be Carlos Jobim, whose song I sampled
for “Death Of A Raver”. We’ve actually sampled two of
his songs for the album and people were telling me I wouldn’t have
a hope in hell of getting clearance to use them. As luck would have
it, his widow heard the album and loved it.
AD: And she’s not the only one – Butch Vig rang you up
didn’t he?
DG: Yes he did. That was just fantastic. I’ve always been a
pretty confident person, but the one thing I was unsure about was the
fact that I’d recorded the whole thing in my bedroom – a six
foot 7 foot box room – so for Butch Vig, who produced THE rock
album of the last twenty years to ring me up and praise the way it was
recorded was wonderful. I mean, I know a lot of dance music is produced
this way, but I wasn’t so sure about doing it as a guitarist. The
record company said it was fine, which was a big relief, as I didn’t
really want to go into the studio and do it all over again.
AD: Now then, originally you wanted to be backed by an all female
band. I must admit I always quite fancied that idea myself – but
was there a specific reason behind that, other than just for the sake
of having a perv?
DG: (laughs) It was just a whim really. I’d always been in
bands with men before, and it was always really smelly and disgusting,
and involved lots of talk about football. I fancied a change from that,
and women are always cleaner and more hygienic. Of course there’s
the other side of the coin, because you go on tour and they talk more,
and it’s always about sex, shoes and shopping. God! That sounds
really stereotypical and sexist doesn’t it? But it’s true!
They keep telling me I’m like Alex from Big Brother.
AD: Hmmm…Big Brother – is it evil, or is it a necessary
part of modern TV culture?
DG: To me, it’s like taking a drug that’s crap, and you
KNOW it’s crap, but you still like to take it from time to time.
And I DO watch it. If ever I feel like I’m a bit strange and on
another planet to everybody else, I just stick Big Brother on and realise
I’m the same as them really. I think Jonny’s gonna win because
the Geordies are such a loyal bunch. I’d love to se Jade go up
against Tim, and for Tim to be voted out, because he just wouldn’t
be able to work it out. Tim’s a tool.
AD: Quite. Now, apparently, you were something of a “rock star”
before Slo-Mo…
DG: Mmm. I was in a band called Elephant And Rhino. I’d been
going out with a girl for a long time before that, and when we finished
it wasn’t very pleasant at all. It was quite a bitter experience
and because of that, the band ended up sounding like a cross between
Nirvana and Pulp Fiction. It was very dark and nasty, and so extreme
that I’m not sure any of the record companies wanted to touch us.
I remember we did a showcase for the head of ZTT, and we started with
a very dark number called “Bank Job”. We all came out with
suits on, but with stockings over our heads. He walked out pretty much
straight away. I think it’s fair to say that’s about the time
the band fell apart after that. Still, it was great to have my odd “Rock
God” session on stage!
AD: I heard a few dodgy stories about your manager at that time…
DG: I haven’t got a clue where he is now. I haven’t seen
him for about five years. It was a really surreal experience, because
he had lots of money, except we never seemed to do anything but go to
pubs because he was a big drinker. Then we found out he was running
DSS frauds in our names! It all sounds very rock ‘n’ roll
now and it’s a great story, but I can assure you it was actually
very scary at the time. I mean, we were living in a country house with
him at the time, and to suddenly have the fraud squad on your doorstep,
and the police asking you “Did you realise he was doing this and
doing that?” was really quite frightening.
AD: Finally, if Slo-Mo were a kind of curry, what would it be?
DG: Erm…probably a lamb balti, because Balti is slightly hot,
but it has hidden depths. And lamb is a good quality meat….hmm…that
answer really was a load of bollocks wasn’t it?
And herein lies the appeal of David Gledhill and Slo-Mo. I don’t
think he realises how good they are, or how funny he is. I laughed my
head off most of the way through the interview, and throughout the little
bits of chat we had between questions. Without a doubt one of the most
enjoyable, not to mention easiest articles I have ever had to do. Which
is great, because the single really is fabulous and deserves to be a
huge success. I just hope he wasn’t too downhearted about fit Kate
winning Big Brother 3…
Interview and transcript by Tone E
(Great web site - check it out! Ed.)
