INTERVIEW WITH IAIN HARVEY FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES
Iain Harvey, guitarist for Del Amitri, talks about the creative songwriting process, his guitar influences, and his last dream before this tour.
DM) It's a pleasure to speak with you.
IH) Why thank you.
DM) What I really was most interested in speaking with you about was the songs themselves. I know yous write them all with Justin. What's the writing process?
IH) The songs on the record like, "Tell Her This", Justin writes in his bedroom.
DM) You didn't have much to do with that one?
IH) No, not really. I just kind of arranged it. Actually, that's kind of a unique song in a way, because Justin speaks about having written that song... the first song he had written without actually thinking about. It was just automatic writing; it just came into his head. And I think as a result of that... he'd written it very quickly, maybe in a couple of hours one evening.
Not having done that before, he didn't take the song seriously. It was a couple of weeks after he'd written it that he listened to it again and realized it was a pretty good song.
DM) Now, I remember first hearing about the group from "Always the Last to Know". In the review, it scribed, "these Beatles-esque songs"... What's the story behind that song?
IH) That's the first time I ever heard "Always the Last to Know" described as Beatles-esque. I mean, we have written songs which I'd call Beatles-esque, but that's certainly not one of them. We're more likely to be compared to something like "The Faces". We went through a phase where there was a rash of journalists who compared us to the Eagles, after the album before the "Always the Last to Know" one came out.
DM) Who would you want to compare yourselves to?
IH) I always saw that as a trick question.
DM) Well, like in your own mind. Who would you say influenced you, for example?
IH) We went through a phase of listening to a lot of country music. I like listening to new country stuff, things like Steve Earle and Lyle Lovett. That's more of a song- writing influence. Those kinds of people who seem simplified, and lean towards writing simpler songs. When we first started years and years ago, it would never have come to us to write a song with three chords. Then after listening to country music, and especially the new country stuff, it occurred to us that you could write a good song with just three chords.
DM) What are some examples of your songs which reflected that change?
IH) "Just Say Goodbye" was a three-chord song. Not in the classic way, but it had the key change in the middle. We never had considered writing something like that before. We just took those influences on board.
DM) My favorite song you guys have played was "Be My Downfall". What's the story behind that song?
IH) That was one of Justin's bleak periods. Most of the songs on "Change Everything" are rather bleak outlooks at various aspects of life. That kind of fits right in there with most of the stuff on the record. It's a pretty obvious one about being disenchanted and unconventional with the "worthwhile-ness" of being in love with somebody.
DM) If the feel of "Change Everything" was more of the "bleak" album, what would be the feel of this album, "Twisted"?
IH) This is sorta, not quite as bleak, which makes it pretty popular for us! There are a few upbeat songs. And the songs are a little less autobiographical whereas most of the songs on "Change Everything" were pretty autobiographical. You'd be out for a beer with Justin, and they'd be talking with him and they'd be like, "I know what that's about. That's about so and so." Most of the songs are pretty much about made-up stuff, and I've got two pretty upbeat songs on it. "Be Somebody Else" is pretty "throw away".
DM) "Throw away?"
IH) I don't mean that in a bad way. I think sometimes really good lyrics can be pretty "throw away" where you don't spend so much pain on them. There's nothing wrong with that. I think you don't have to pour your pain and heart into a "throw away" song.
DM) Lyrically speaking, while the melodies seem to be pretty upbeat, the lyrics can be pretty down, like "Be My Downfall", "It Might As Well Be You" and "Always the Last to Know".
IH) We sort of write jaunty pop melodies, and if we had some jaunty lyrics that went with it... it just seems to work better. We just seem to feel more comfortable, shall I say, with slightly twisted lyrics. Maybe that comes from being a dear Scotsman or having spent ten years doing that, I don't know.
DM) What kind of band would you see yourself in if you weren't in this one?
IH) I don't have much of a voice. I'd have to be in more of a thrash metal band with my voice! I can sort of sing backing vocals. If I'd be in a different band, I'd definitely want to be the singer, but since I couldn't sing, the only thing I could sing in would have to be getting into thrash metal stuff, like Napalm Base impersonation.
DM) That's getting pretty heavy there! A very different style from Del Amitri.
IH) Well, you asked!
DM) No, I don't regret it. It shows a well-rounded person. When you sit at home, playing the guitar on your own, what do you usually play?
IH) I don't think I usually play anything. I just sit there and fool around. If I was bored and couldn't think of anything, I'd start playing Neil Young.
DM) When you're not writing anything, you play Neil Young?
IH) Yeah, Neil Young or old television songs...
DM) Television songs?
IH) Yeah, Tom Verlaine's band. You must have heard of Tom Verlaine. He came out of CBGB's. He and Neil Young play very similar guitar styles.
DM) Which songs on the album were the ones you initiated writing?
IH) I suppose, "Being Somebody Else" and "Here and Now". "One Thing Left to Do" or "Never Enough", I don't have an album list in front of me... "Crashing Down".
DM) Do you ever write the lyrics?
IH) I do, but they never get used! I mean, Justin's the singer, and I'll let him write the lyrics... and I'll let him sing the lyrics.
DM) That might explain why the musical style might be different from the lyrical style.
IH) Possibly. Are you saying that I'm a happier guy then Justin!
DM) Well, some people write happier songs than others.
IH) Well, that's definitely true. We're definitely, consciously, trying to write as many happy songs as possible. It's kind of avoiding being accused of being these miserable f%*$s from Scotland. Happy songs are not just as visible songs. How often do you go to a bar and listen to people sing how good they feel about other things? Often that's just pretty unpleasant.
DM) Do you ever listen to the blues?
IH) I never really learned to play the guitar from listening to blues records. I really like, Buddy Guy and the Chicago blues men. And Jimi Hendrix. I don't think very few people can claim to play the guitar without claiming to be influenced by Jimi Hendrix at some point. At least having listened to him. Amazing.
DM) Who was the one who scribbled all over the lyric sheets in the inside of the album cover?
IH) It actually wasn't one of us. It was a very expensive design company. We were working with a couple of designers. They had these photographs which we really liked, which were taken by a photographer, A guy from New York, a guy called Mario Cerventi. And they really loved the photographs, and we wanted to present them in a precious way. They came back with the sort of doodle dot thing. Those are professional doodles.
DM) I also saw this album was mixed by Bob Clearmountain who's done a lot of popular stuff.
IH) I mean we've met Bob Clearmountain a couple of times. He offered to make the last album, but we couldn't get him in the last time. This time, he was kind of lined up to mix it. He's kind of an unassuming guy. He has this amazing house and studio, and he's just this sweet guy who steps in there and mixes people's records.
DM) If you had to choose a couple of songs to stick in the musical encyclopedia of the world under the listing of Del Amitri, which would you choose?
IH) Good question. Good question. If they were looking for anomalies, they can get something from our first earlier, funnier record. The record we did years ago has some very interesting stuff on it. But that's a bit of obscure. "Being Somebody Else" I really like because we've never written a song like that before. Oh, and "Tell Her This".
DM) Why not any of the earlier stuff?
IH) Because you always feel better about the stuff you've written most recently.
DM) When you play concerts, do you ever play covers of other bands?
IH) Yeah, we always used to do a cover of "Maggie Mae", that Rod Stewart song. We used to play it on and off during our British tour. They all seemed to love it. They used to go bonkers. I don't think we'd do that again. It was kinda cheesy. We're just learning to play, "Come Together" by the Beatles. Not that it takes much learning, which we may do tonight. We have been know to fill in with the Undertowns, The Teenage Kicks.
DM) Now, this is the start of your tour?
IH) Yeah, we've done about a week already and have another seven to go.
DM) What was the last dream you remember having before the start of the tour?
IH) I had this dream just the other day actually. It was so strange, I was in the room, and our tour manager was there, and suddenly he was a priest. A religious pontiff person. I was really freaked out. And they were sort of like, "Calm down, don't freak out." I woke up at the point in a cold sweat on a bunker on the bus somewhere.
DM) Why was it so upsetting that he was a priest?
IH) I have no idea. That's strange... that somebody you knew just turns to us as a religious pontiff. Don't you think?
DM) But why the religious part?
IH) Well, priests aren't somebody I normally don't trust.
DM) Now that's interesting... that he would become somebody you don't trust. Do you get along with him now?
IH) Oh yeah. He's a great guy. Always looks after us.
DM) Well, on that note, maybe we should cut it short. Thanks for the time.
IH) Thank you.