Thanks again to Bart for another fantastic interview! Please do order his latest record, I recommend it highly. You can do so from the Lost & Lonesome page. If you want to check prior interviews with him, just click: The Cat’s Miaow, Girl of the World, The Shapiros and Pencil Tin. Now sit back, and enjoy!

++ Hello Bart! How are you doing? Summer coming soon in Australia, any special plans?

Doing well. No special plans, not unless you call sitting in the shade with a long cool drink special.

++ So you just released a new album called “Stories with the Endings Changed”. Why the name of the album? And what can we expect on this album different from previous Bart Cummings offerings? 🙂

The title is a line from one of the songs “Cast of Half Forgotten Names”. It could apply to a band of has-beens who take small parts of peoples’ lives, and then change them around a bit to make songs. But it doesn’t. The main difference on the new CD is we’ve bought Scott and Irene in from the Summer Cats to play on half the songs.

++ How did the collaborations on this album came about?

Scott came in because there was a song that didn’t suit my voice that i thought would work well with his. After he finished recording his part, he goes “I can hear organ riffs and backing vocals, is it ok if i ask Irene along”. So it just sort of goes viral until i step in and say “no cowbell!!”. Pretty much every musician in Melbourne is one degree of separation from Mark, we’ve got a fairly large pool to draw on.

++ I see that two tracks on the album weren’t written exclusively by you. So that makes me wonder how does the process for Bart & Friends work out with so many people collaborating?

The 2 that I co-wrote with Scott follow a pretty straight forward process. the music is written first and Scott gets a copy of the guitar track to write the words to, he emails me a rough copy of him singing over the top when he’s done (just to make sure I’m happy with it, I always am) then we record it with everyone. Mark and Louis come up with their own parts and have quite a large input into the recording rather than the writing. It’s Mark that always says, lets do another take, we can do it better.

++ What would you say are the main differences between The Cat’s Miaow and Bart & Friends?

The Cat’s Miaow was my main priority above all else in my life at that point in time. For the bulk of the band’s existence, I shared a flat with Andrew and we recorded at home, so in some regards you could say the we operated the band 24/7.

This incarnation of Bart & friends is an excuse to go to Melbourne and hang with friends every few months, something to talk about with people online. Some men my age play golf, I write pop songs. It’s still very important to me and everyone else involved, we’re in no way half-arsed about it, but it’s not the main thing in our lives.

++Let’s go back in time, it was 1998 when Bart & Friends started more or less, right? What was the main reason to work this way, collaborating with other talented musicians and not having a regular lineup, and how hard was it to come up with the name for the “band”?

The main reason for the collaborations on the first album was that i had songs with no lyrics, so writing with other people was part fun/part necessity. I think doing just one song in an afternoon kept it fresh and exciting, it prevented it getting boring. And I seriously doubt that any of the people I collaborated with on “Car & Girls” would have been interested in forming a band with me, but were fine to do one song. I think the first one we did was “Are You Guys into Wings” with the meadows brothers.

The purpose of the name is to indicate that it’s me and some other people. It’s a pretty crap name, but I think people more readily accept the floating lineup concept with a name like that. The band name is a bit of a joke as well, I’m hardly a social butterfly.

The songs were recorded over quite a long period, quite possibly 18 months if not longer. “10 Songs About Cars & Girls” was released in 1998 but we may have started work on it as early as 1996. I know the B&F versions of “Crying” and “Don’t Worry, This Isn’t About You” were recorded before The Cat’s Miaow versions, but were released later.

++ Amazingly, with this “band” you’ve managed to play gigs! Is it easy to rehearse with everyone? How does that work?

There was the 3-piece line up of the band in 2000, with Andrew, Mark and myself that played a handful of shows and even did a couple in Sydney. “I was lonely ’til i found you” is sort of a document of that lineup

The 2011 incarnation has only managed to play live once and had one full band rehearsal the afternoon of the show. Getting us all together at the same time is quite a challenge. Luckily we’re a bunch of old pro’s and i think we sounded pretty confident on the night. Scott and Louis in particular are keen to play again, it’s just a matter of finding time when everyone is free.

++ And I know you don’t like playing live that much, so from the few Bart & Friends gigs, which have been your favourite and why?

One of the good things about interviews is that it makes you re-examine things about yourself.
I actually quite like playing live but i really hate
1 Organising shows
2 Singing, especially live

Whenever I play solo I’ve generally got a little loop going in my head “Bart, you sound like SHIT and you have all the stage presence of a wet dishcloth. Who do you think you’re kidding” and that generally continues until I finish. So the performance is generally a bit tense and I don’t exactly sit back and revel in the moment, but afterwords I get to have a few drinks, usually see a band I like and chat to nice people, so it evens out.

If I’m playing and Pam or Scott (or Kerrie back in the day) are singing the loop is generally “this sounds so cool, we’re fucking untouchable” and its all quite enjoyable. On re-reading this it sounds like I’m either suffering from bi-polar or schizophrenia and I’ll just stress I don’t hear voices in my head at any other time.

I think the last 3 shows I’ve played have been some of my favourites of all time:
London, not me solo, I was dreadful, but with Pam was great. We hadn’t played together in 15 years and it was just too easy
Berlin, solo, not the greatest performance, but I got swept along by the loveliest of audiences.
Melbourne, with Bart & Friends, first public outing with this line-up and it was just the best fun. We’d all been wanting to do this a while.

++ How did your relationship with Lost & Lonesome start? I thought no one in Australia knew about Bart Cummings 😉

Well prior to being on Lost & Lonesome no-one did, now I’m even getting played in the cafe around the corner from where we record. Out of everything I’ve ever done, the releases on Lost & Lonesome have probably been the ones that have reached the highest public profile for me in Australia. The benchmark wasn’t that high.

We’d pretty much finished mixing “Make you Blush” before I came around to the idea of releasing the songs on CD at all. My original intention was to have them as free downloads on last fm. Mark had been offering to release them on Lost & Lonesome almost from the get go but I didn’t think it would sell more than 20 copies and I had visions of it getting awkward between us when the CD flopped so I had been reluctant to agree. Uts working out ok so far tho.

In some ways it was inevitable that the CD would come out on Lost & Lonesome, pretty much everyone that plays on “Make you Blush” are in other bands that are also on Lost & Lonesome.

++ But first release was “10 Songs About Cars And Girls”on Drive-In who you had collaborated earlier with The Cat’s Miaow. Funny thing is that there are 12 songs, and then lots of “hidden” songs in this CD. Why is this? The title is really deceiving!

One of the few regrets I have is that we didn’t do a full color sleeve for “Cars n Girls”, the car was a lovely shade of red, matched the model’s lipstick…. yes, the title, I can be quite a smart arse at times, I think it was as simple as “10 songs” sounded better to me than “12 songs”. I definitely didn’t want the 20 bonus Cat’s Miaow songs listed on the back , as I did want them to be a surprise and not a reason to buy the CD. I rationalised that it was only Cat’s Miaow fans that would buy it so it would almost be like getting a free CD worth of songs

++ Second release was “I Was Lonely ‘Til I Found You” with a Penguin Books kind of cover. I read that after this release you had a lack of creative momentum. Why was that?

Probably down to a lot of things. From memory I was working in a job that was quite time consuming and generally left me feeling fairly tired and stressed. My dad had died. I’d bought a house. On the plus side I was in a relationship and that was taking up a lot of time but in a good way.

There was probably a bit of self imposed early retirement going on there as well “you’re 35, stop embarrassing yourself”. But having said that, the songs I was writing then were crap and the break has done me the world of good.

++ Then, 9 years after, you released “Make Me Blush” were you collaborated again with Pam Berry. How did the recording process work for this record? Was it any different from the previous ones?

In some ways its still the same, I write a song and we record it in someone’s house. The difference now is the standard home recording equipment these days is pro-tools and not a 4 track portastudio so it sounds pretty swish. The internet has made working with Pam overseas a lot easier. Not as easy as if we were in the same city but definitely made it a viable option.

The sessions for “Make you Blush” were quite odd for me as I hadn’t played music with anyone for nearly 10 years. The others hadn’t heard the songs before we started recording them (which is something that still happens now) but we’ve got into a routine of me bringing the chords, a vocal melody if I’ve written the words, an arrangement and tempo and the others fill in the gaps arrange the core structure. It seems to work ok. there’s probably thousands of bands that operate in an identical way except most don’t record the song 15 minutes later.

++ And we end up again on your last release, “Stories with The Endings Changed”. Something I find interesting is that for this release and the previous you had two indiepop fans, who are bloggers, and graphic designers as well, to work on the artwork. How did that happen? And how do you see this new up and coming generation of indiepop fans?

I had been reading their blogs for the musical content and admiring the look of the blogs as well. Krister and probably Matt had also been customers of Library mail order, tho I don’t think I initially joined all the dots until much later. I think with both of them doing blogs, I had a fair idea of what they were capable of and I also felt confident that they would know what I’d like as well.

Regarding the new generation? same as the old but younger??? what I do find interesting about it all is that it is much more international and interconnected and multifaceted. It is rare to find someone who is “just” a fan. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but it seems everyone does something whether it’s play in a band, organise shows, do a club night, a blog, design sleeves, run a label, take photos and usually a combination of several.

++ And what about the newer bands? Like any?

Yes, Sunny Street, Motifs, Days, Middle Ones, Fireflies/Very Truly Yours have all produced gobsmackingly beautiful music. I don’t spend a lot of time searching out new music, apart from reading a few blogs . You could drive trucks through the gaps in my musical knowledge regarding new bands.

++ On the Lost & Lonesome site it says “A new Bart & Friends EP is planned for release in early-2012”. Have you already recorded these songs? Care to tell me more about this upcoming EP? What else is in store for the band?

We started recording last weekend and I must say I think its sounding really good so far. Its got a kinda late 50s/early 60s sort of feel. The usual star studded line-up with Pam and Scott handling all the lead vocals. There’s a couple of covers and Scott wrote the lyrics to one which is shaping up to be the pick of the bunch. Oh and a couple of them are over 3 minutes which is unheard of for us.

There’s no real long term plan or goal for B&F. We’re trying not to over-think things and are basically just a bunch of grumpy old men doing the things that we enjoy for no other reason than the enjoyment that doing them brings.

That said, we’ve started talking about the next session being a bit more keyboard orientated and there’s a couple of songs written for that already and I’ve started writing another one tonight

++ I also want to thank you for the mini CD we put together, I was wondering if you could do some shameless promotion for it here. Maybe explain why the tracks run in increasing order if you check the minutes?

I think the EP really sums up a lot of what I’ve tried to do musically. It’s not exactly a best of but it does have a lot of my personal favourites on it to answer your next question.

The songs are arranged in reverse chronological order, ie: from newest to oldest. And it was only after I did this that I noticed that with the exception of the first song, there was a pattern of the songs getting shorter as they got newer. As to the why I’m not really sure but I kinda get the mental image of a spinning top going in ever smaller circles as it slows down.

++ So which would you say are your favourite Bart & Friends songs? And why?

“CBGBs” is possibly my favourite song I’ve written in any band, not just B&F. Both the music and the lyrics are concise, simple, melodic. Its got a dreamy quality to it that works in with the lyrics. Its just a little snapshot of a moment and is probably the best example of the type of song I always try to write.

“How Can You Tell Me You Love Me” is another personal favorite. Anytime I record a song that has what I tend to think of as a “50’s feel”, traditional arrangement, minor chords with a lot of spring reverb, i’m happy

++ Alright, so I was thinking, you as a librarian you must have some favourite books to recommend, right? What have you been reading and enjoying lately?

What I mostly read these days are picture books to my kids. A couple of my favourites have been Oliver Jeffers “The great paper caper” and “It’s a book” by Lane Smith. Even for people who don’t have kids I’d still recommend both these books

++ When I was in the UK they were closing lots of libraries and lots were complaining about it. With the imminent grow of the e-books and digital files in general, how do you think libraries will survive?

That’s a good question. From the articles I was reading online in the UK newspapers you did get a recurring train of thought that was loosely “libraries = books. Books are on the way out, so libraries are redundant”. Whereas I tend to advocate “libraries = access to information, irrespective of the format it’s stored in”. I think the key to libraries surviving is staying relevant/essential to your community, and being able to demonstrate this to your funding bodies. It’s not an easy call by any means especially when your funding body has its own agenda which I think was the case in the UK.

++ One last question, see you at Indietracks next year? Hopefully performing?

Yes, I’ll be the one yelling at his kids to get off the llamas. There’s a good chance I’ll be over that way mid year, but my attending will mainly depend on when it’s on, But i’d love to go. Performing? I’d say it would be near impossible to get all B&F there, (or anywhere really on the same day) but maybe me & Pam. If team Indietracks would have us we’d love to!!!

++ Thanks again Bart, anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks again for showing an interest

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Listen
Bart & Friends – These Words Are Too Small

October. Now this blog has 4 years! I didn’t expect to write or interview bands this long to be honest. It’s funny, Emma, who pushed me to blog again, and helped me back in the day coming up with questions for the interviews, has been back in my life this week after a whole year of silence. Don’t know if that means anything, but it’s something really nice. She is one of my dearest friends and I had missed her during all this time. It’s true that she is out of the loop now when it comes to indiepop (she is into Beyoncé and that kind of things), and long are the days when we would talk about friends like The Pinefox, love_tropicana or the “sad girl”. Those were the early days of this blog. I remember many of the great questions she came up with for my interviews, some that I wouldn’t have even thought about asking! Like, when she asked if the Pink Noise’s vocalist hair was real blonde or not (!).

Also since August I have a new great friend, Yuiko, who has been pushing me even further, in making more and more interviews. Sometimes I feel I just blog for her. And I enjoy that idea. She was the one who has made the b-flower interview possible, first by translating my questions to Japanese, and then translating Hideshi’s answers to English. Lots of work, and just for the love of indiepop. Also she was the one who asked me to do interviews with The Thieves, Episode Four and East Village. On the pipeline there are other interviews she has requested like the one with Newsflash or Sugarfrost Records’ Akiko. Hopefully those will be up soon. And you know what’s funny, I’ve never met Yuiko, but before emailing, in July, we both attended the same Jasmine Minks gig in London. Who would have known. Small world.

So yes, I’m thanking those who have kept me blogging as you can already tell. I do blog for my own entertainment to be honest, as I’m a terribly curious person, and need to know the story behind the records and songs I have. It’s all like a big jigsaw for me, trying always to put the pieces together. But, there are people that share that same passion and that have given me feedback and inspiration for keeping this blog alive, even when there were catastrophic moments here earlier this year, and made me wonder if indiepop was dead or not. I figured out this month that indiepop has a chronic disease too, sometimes it feels great, vibrant, but sometimes it gets really ill.

Another person I want to thank is Bart Cummings for talking about every single band he has been in and always having the most interesting answers, he knows what I want to read! And yes, there’s a Bart & Friends interview coming up too these days. What is left? Hydroplane?

Helping me get in touch with bands both Uwe and Jessel have been fantastic through the years.

Also I want to thank Phil Ball for his support and all the great chats about lost bands. Someday I know he’ll digitise his tapes and lots of great obscure bands will be re-discovered. Same goes to my dear friend Andreas that really needs to fix his tape player! One of the few that I know that has the blog on an RSS reader 🙂

Thanks to William Jones from Friends & Summerhouse Records for being an inspiration. Always spaghetti carbonara with him.

Last but not least, to Jennifer for being such a big supporter through all these years. I know she prefers my blog posts to be shorter, but well, I can’t help it. One day I promise that I will retake the book idea for compiling interviews from the blog, so you can all read them just before going to sleep just like I do with my Tintins, comfortably in bed.

I know this blog won’t be as popular as those who offer the whole record for download. People enjoy the easiest route always, one click. Aside from those blogs making music throwaway, making these great songs have no value whatsoever, I believe in the challenge of finding out for yourself, going through the depths of ebay, musicstack, record stores, gemm, discogs, and the entire whole wide web trying to find a record. That’s way more rewarding than one click. So to all the readers who have stuck around, a big THANK YOU. And especially, those that leave comments, you make my day.

And to those that think that I steal their “finds”. Just a couple of words, grow up.

Moving on…

The CDs that have been played at home this week were:
1. The Haywains – A37 Revisited (Cider City)
2. Various Artists – The Legendary B Sides (Richmond)
3. The Ethnobabes – Thoughts on Barbecuing (Perfect Pop)
4. Blackberry Wine – Modern Living in a Survival Handbook (Pony Proof)
5. Sambassadeur – Coastal Affairs (Labrador)
6. Paisley & Charlie – Songs in Black and White (Pebble)

And listening to the Legendary B Sides of what was  él Records, I was struck on track number 14 of the second CD, repeating it over and over. I’d say it’s a very Cloudberry song, if that’s a thing you could say. The track was “Valediction” by a band called Ambassador 277. Immediately I started to google about them, to find out who made such a catchy and nostalgic song at the same time. Sad and upbeat. I wanted to know who was singing with breezy vocals, who was the girl that was doing such delicious backing vocals, and who came up with all these great different instrument arrangements all over the song. It’s just a perfect song!

First things first. What’s a valediction? A valediction (derivation from Latin vale dicere, ‘to say farewell’), or complimentary close in American English, is an expression used to say farewell, especially a word or phrase used to end a letter or message, or the act of saying parting words- whether brief, or extensive.

And to make things even more clear, an ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization. But what about the number 277? Is it a secret code?

I wasn’t surprised to find absolutely nothing about them. That’s the story of my life, haha. According to Twee.net and the liner notes of the B sides compilation CD, there was just one release. A 10″ that had on the A side the song “Pop Up Man” and on the B side this new favourite of mine, “Valediction”. I wonder why the 10″ format for just two songs. Could be one of Mike Alway eccentricities? From what I’ve read on many liner notes, él always was usually short on money, so they could have saved some pounds if this was released on 7″, right? But I’m sure there was a reason to do it on a 10″. If there was a label that had reasons to do something for aesthetic purposes and leave the economic reasons behind, that was él.

So now I’m listening to the “Pop Up Man” and it sounds very familiar to me. A little research and I figure out why. This song was covered by the great Minneapolis band Ninian Hawick on the “All Done with Mirrors” compilation released on Le Grand Magistery. It’s a very strange version of the song though, very eclectic. For starters it’s all electronic and has a dancey feel. Not really my thing. And it’s sung in French. I usually skipped this song when playing that compilation.

On the other hand, the original “Pop Up Man” is great, it has a sixties feel with it’s guitar riffs and soft trumpets in the chorus. Just so you know, don’t be deceived by the Minnesota version!  In any case,  for me, the winner on the record, is “Valediction”. That’s my song. I still don’t have this record, and I haven’t had the chance to see the sleeve. It’s not even listed on Discogs. I wonder if on the sleeve there are more details about this band. Probably. At least some last names.

The band did appear on many compilations usually with “Pop Up Man”. You can check many of these compilation albums here.

And that’s about all I could gather about them. I guess they were long forgotten, hard to compete in a label catalog that included the likes of The Monochrome Set, Momus, The Would Be Goods or Louis Philippe. If you happen to know anything else about them, or if you know what the 277 number means, please leave a nice comment down below. You’ll make my day!

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Listen
Ambassador 277 – Valediction

Thanks so much to Daniel Wylie for the interview. The Thieves were a Scottish band that released 4 singles during the late 80s before splitting. After his adventure with The Thieves, Daniel made it much bigger with the Cosmic Rough Riders. Please also check his latest solo stuff on his myspace. And now sit down and enjoy!

++ Thanks so much for being up for the interview Daniel. So The Thieves were based in Castlemilk. First time I hear about that place. How was growing up there? Was there any sort of scene? Where would you hang out and go see bands?

The Thieves were from Cumbernauld, 16 miles outside Glasgow. I was the only member of the band that lived in Castlemilk. Castlemilk is a council housing estate and had no music scene. There were band members that came from Castlemilk, for example; James Grant (Love and Money/Friends Again) and I’m sure one of Simple Mins was originally from Castlemilk and one of the guys from 80’s electro duo Bronski Beat. Oh yeah and the girl singer from a short lived duo called Banderas.

++ And of course, being close to Glasgow was an advantage as during those late 80s there were so many great bands there. Did you have any favourites?

Glasgow has always had lots of great music venues so yes, it’s a great city to live in. I loved Orange Juice, especially their second album, Rip It Up. Also Aztec Camera. I always had time to listen to Scottish bands. I bought a lot of their records as I wanted to support them and help them make it. It’s always great for a city/country when it has successful bands.

++ So let’s talk about the band. how did it start? How was the recruiting process? There’s that story of the music advert at a Glasgow music store, which store was that?

Yeah, I answered an advert in McCormack’s music store in Glasgow. They were looking for a singer and I’d just left a band called Pioneers West. I arranged to meet the band at a rehearsal space in Cumbernauld. My girlfriend at the time (now my wife) and I went along and I didn’t like their music. They played me some really bad instrumentals. One was a ska tune and was terrible. But they were good players. I borrowed a guitar from them and offered to play them some of my own songs and they liked them. So I was in.

++ Were you involved in bands before The Thieves? Or was this your first experience?

Yeah, I was in a few little bands. Cubic Zirconia were a covers band. We played two gigs then the keyboard player and myself formed Transaction. After that it was Pioneers West and then for about two weeks I was in a band called India. Then I joined The Thieves.

++ Why the name The Thieves?

We were called The Bicycle Thieves but then found out someone else had that name so shortened it to The Thieves.

++ How does the creative process work for you? What comes first, music or lyrics? Do you usually get inspired by anything in particular?

Vocal melodies come first 90% of the time. Other times I might just be strumming the guitar and a tune will pop into my head. Lyrics are much more difficult. I wrote some of The Thieves songs on a Casio keyboard.

++ How many guitars do you have? And do you have a favourite?

A. I have two cheap acoustics. One I wrote all the Cosmic Rough Riders songs on which I no longer use. I keep it as a relic from my past in remembrance of a really creative period in my life. My son plays guitar (and he’s great) and he has another three guitars. We only have one electric in the house. A Fender Telecaster. A white one that I bought my son for Christmas a few years ago.

++ How about gigging? Did you gig a lot? What are your favourite Thieves’ gigs? And why?

The Thieves played a lot of gigs and recorded a lot of songs. Mostly demos but there’s an unreleased album we recorded at a studio called Shabby Road, which was owned at the time by The Trash Can Sinatras. One gig I enjoyed was at Kelvingrove Bandstand. My friends, The River Detectives were also playing that day and it was broadcast on Radio Clyde. I also loved supporting The La’s in Edinburgh.

++ Your first release “Talk Your Head Off” was recorded at Park Lane Studios in Glasgow. How do you remember those recording sessions? I read that Trevor was only 15 back then!

Yeah, Trevor was still at School. The sessions were pretty terrible. The engineer totally messed it up and the mix was shocking. The mastering at Abbey Road was even worse. We still had a lot to learn 🙂

++ You formed a label to release this single, Planetarium Records. How did you like doing label stuff? Did you find it easy to do promo and distro back then?

A. We had no distribution for the first single and ended up giving most of them away to people attending a gig we did at Barrowlands supporting Simple Minds. We got it sorted after that. We did almost all of our promo ourselves, learning from our mistakes as we went along.

++ What about your appearance on Famous For 15 Minutes. How did that happen? How was the experience of being on TV?

We had recorded some 4 track demos with Jim Brady (who helped us out on keyboards). We heard about the TV people looking for demos and sent off three songs. I had just written Star Spangled Banner the week before we did the demo. My Girlfriend (now wife) had just gone to work in America for three months and it was a funny look at me missing her. There were 12,000 entrants and the guys chose us because they loved Star Spangled Banner the first time they heard it. The other songs on the demo were Stranger Today and Silver Rain. Being on TV was strange and we became instantly recognised around town. It’s a bit creepy when people you don’t know think they know you. 🙂

++ And how was the experience working with Harry Enfield?

I didn’t even know who he was at the time but the other guys in the band knew his TV comedy. He was lovely. Genuinely a nice person. He would sit with us for lunch and ask us all about our music and what life was like living and working in Glasgow. He kept re-writing his script and would learn his lines in minutes. He’s a bit of a genius to be honest and a very nice man. Geoff Wonfor, who directed Famous For 15 Minutes, went on to direct The Beatles Anthology documentaries. He also worked on music show The Tube.

++ This appearance makes me wonder. It feels you were on the verge of something bigger, was there no interest from bigger labels? Why do you think it didn’t happen?

Labels would come up and see us but would never commit. We were doing well on our own so didn’t really care. We were selling 4,000 copies of our singles (ep’s) and selling out The Mayfair (now The Garage). We were getting good support shows at the Barrowlands and around the country and we’d been on TV and built up our own following. We were our own little gang with our own record label.

++ You released, after the 7″, a string of three 12″ singles. Which song of your repertoire would you say is your favourite? And why?

From The Thieves repertoir? I like a couple of the B Sides. Calling All Stations and And Then He Died. I preferred the direction we were taking by the third ep and I like the song Paper from the Rain ep.

++ For me it is, “And Then He Died” is such a fantastic song, it stands up clearly on the Leamington Spa Vol.5 compilation. I was wondering what’s the story behind the song?

I wrote the lyrics and the melody to a chord structure Tom McGarrigle was playing one day. It’s about suicide. A friend of mine commited suicide by hanging himself but I didn’t want the song to be graphically about his suicide. So I generalised it by turning it into a story of a body being found and a suspected suicide. I also wanted to keep the song upbeat and angry, not melancholic and depressing. You get angry when someone that matters to you like a good friend ends it all.

++ I still haven’t been able to get around to have your releases, and online there is no tracklist for the 12″s, would you mind writing that down for me?

The first three are on Planetarium Discs and the fourth is on Limo Records.

Theft 1. Talk Your Head Off/The Party
Theft 2. Soul Thief/And Then He Died/Souvenir Of 1969
Theft 3. September Rain/Anxious Moments/Calling All Stations/The Splendid Gift
Limo 1. Rain (Beatles cover)/Paper/Can’t Hold Back/Sound Of Music

++ And what about compiling all your releases on some sort of retrospective album, have you ever thought about doing that? Is there more unreleased material?

I haven’t thought about it. There’s a lot of material. Lots of demos and unreleased songs. It would be difficult to source the masters and a lot of stuff is on cassette and DAT. There’s about two or three albums worth of songs.

++ When and why did you split? What did you all do after?

Trevor the Drummer was first to leave. We replaced him with Stevie Boyd and I thought we improved but then Trevor’s brother Mark (guitarist) left. He wanted to go explore the world and wasn’t getting to see much of it being in our band. The Thieves morphed into a band called Rise and we almost got signed by EMI but it didn’t work out and people were getting into different kinds of music. At the time I thought it was a mistake to break up but of course, I went on to make solo records under the name Cosmic Rough Riders and managed some success. I got signed by Alan McGee had a couple of top 40 singles and sold over 100,000 albums. 🙂 Tom McGarrigle from The Thieves still plays on some of my records.

++ And what are you up these days? Still making music?

Yes. I’ve released over 100 songs over the last 11 years. Nine albums counting Cosmic Rough Riders and solo releases. I have a new album finished but haven’t found a label yet. Check out some tunes from it at; www.myspace.com/danielwylie
The Thieves was my apprenticeship before I got much better.

++ I’ve been a couple of times to Glasgow now, and I’ve learned to enjoy the city and the haggis and the Irn Bru. I was wondering if you’d recommend me your favourite sights in town, restaurants, and perhaps any particular Scottish dish that you like?

I never eat out. I’m a choosy eater. I don’t like haggis and I don’t drink Irn Bru. I love the Transport Museum. In fact, I love all our museums and there are plenty of venues to watch bands. My current favourite is the 02ABC. Did you know it’s free to get into any museum in Glasgow?

++ One last question, I interviewed Neil Sturgeon not so long ago and I’ve seen you have played together with him live. How did this collaboration happen? And what does Neil bring to the table? I can see that you have similar musical taste, no?

Neil is a great friend. He plays guitar on my last two albums, Car Guitar Star and the (as yet) unreleased new album, Fake Your Own Death. I’ve known him for years. Since I was in The Thieves. I’ve demoed my last two albums at Neil’s house. I just turn up with my acoustic, he sticks a mic in front of me and I play him 16 or 17 new songs I’ve written. Once I decide which ones are being recorded, Neil will learn them too. He’s a great songwriter himself and I would say we’re big fans of each other’s music. He also toured Spain with me as part of my band and also played some solo sets on the tour. He’s one of life’s good guys and is massively talented. I would urge everyone reading to check out his music.

++ Thanks again, anything else you’d like to add?

The Thieves interest from around the world astounds me in a nice way. When I look back, we weren’t as good as I thought we were at the time but it’s still nice to have some starting point to remind me of where I began to get my act together as a songwriter. Needless to say, in my opinion, I got so much better and looking back reminds me of just how much. 🙂

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Listen
The Thieves – And Then He Died