Turningthe
CONE
Some bands explode into the spotlight only to fade all too swiftly, while others, like ELBOW, steadily grow in stature with every release. James Smart discovers a band, new album in tow, finally content in their own skin.
ust of 'I‘hnusam/s. Elbow‘s last album.
started with what sounded like a
statement of intent. 'We blew the doors. didn‘t we/ Pissed in their champagne.‘ began Guy Garvey in a low and perfect munnur. ‘And did a real thing. didn‘t we/ Gave ourselves a name.‘ It was the opening salvo of a superb album — the best of the year — but it turned out not to be the sound of a band crashing the pop party. Elbow were too dark. too complex for the mainstream. So the album met with a predictable response: four and five star reviews almost everywhere and gold sales certification.
Now. several dozen bands sound like Coldplay. any record company worth its shareholders is looking for the new Keane. and accessible guitar bands are shifting big units. In this context. Elbow. who combine beautiful melodies. smart lyrics and serious music with a surprisingly invigorating live show. would seem ripe material for pop grooming. They aren‘t quite ready to sell themselves to the supermarket shelf. 'World domination is something you think about when you‘re a teenager.‘ says Garvey from his Manchester home. ‘It‘s enough now that we‘re writing and recording whatever we want.‘
Wouldn‘t Garvey like to bestride the Earth like a ballad-spawning colossus? ‘You consider it. but the costs are too high.‘ he says. ‘I couldn‘t live in a bubble the satne way Chris Martin has to. He‘s a good lad. Chris. and he‘s handled it really well. But I don‘t know if I could cope with not being able to walk down the street. We would have to compromise something of ourselves to make something deliberately commercial. I don‘t think we‘re up to it.‘
Instead. Elbow have been having children and writing new album leaders of the Free World in a studio not far from their homes. If the DVD shot to accompany the album by long—term collaborators the Soup Collective is anything to go by. the recording process was an absolute hoot. The excerpts between songs show a band playing table tennis. using random implements as a percussion section and giggling merrily.
It‘s paid off. The new album is a line record. full of music that chimes and swells. alternately menacing. funny. mournful and fiercely
rhythmic. Like Elbow‘s previous efforts. C as! of
'l‘lmttsant/s and Asleep at the Back. it is also full of inspiring beauty: the tnoment when single ‘Forget Myself“ lifts from horrific town centre vignette intojoyful chorus. or the hazy. piano-led sway of “Great Expectations‘. a tale of a bus-
based wedding. The closest contemporary comparison is probably Radiohead, although Elbow sound more human than Thom Yorke‘s dystopian hit-makers. Opener ‘Station Approach‘ builds slowly into a paen to Manchester. of ‘streets full of Goths and Greeks‘. ‘Coming home I feel like I designed these buildings I walked by.‘ lilts Garvey over a delicate backing. sounding like a man who‘s lost a penny and found the keys to the city in his back pocket.
This album‘s easy gestation was a far cry from Elbow‘s early career. The Bury-bom group sold double glazing and worked as doormen and bartnen while gigging. eventually signing to Island in I998. Just as they were about to complete their debut album, the label was bought up by Seagram. and Elbow were dropped. EMI were then on the verge of signing the band. before dropping out. Eventually. after an EP on
‘MUSICIANS FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS HAVE LIVED HAND TO MOUTH, AND DON'T REALLY KNOW WHERE THE NEXT WAGE IS COMING FROM'
local indie Uglyman. the quintet signed to V2. ‘It was pretty awful.‘ recalls Garvey. ‘It was
one of those things that you either let knacker '
Elm
you or you work a bit harder to get through. I think it‘s the same for most bands. I would say 95% of records don‘t recoup what it takes to make them. Musicians for hundreds of years have lived hand to mouth. you know. and don‘t really know where the next wage is coming from. They say you‘re only as good as your last record. and I kind of like that. I think you have to have that kind of mindset in the first place if you want to pursue music as a career. Mark [Potter. guitarist] is always pointing out that we made music for free for ten years before getting paid for it and that it‘s not fair to call it a struggle: it‘s something we enjoy doing.
Garvey. who has recently been listening to the Bees. Mark Lanegan. Elvis Costello and nationalist Italian composer Respighi (he heard him on Radio 2). is similarly upbeat about
developments in a music industry that. at the top end at least. is becoming increasingly streamlined. ‘The days of people pulling up in limousines with cheques is, like. over. But at the same time as that it doesn‘t cost a million quid to make a record any more. or a video. The power is moving away from the money men. I don’t think there‘s ever been a better time for music because you can get your stuff heard on the other side of the world pretty cheaply.‘
Elbow have more experience of travel than most bands. After Cast of Thouscmds, their touring schedule took them into towns across Cuba — making them one of only a handful of Western artists to play outside Havana. Garvey found the country‘s combination of cooperation and dictatorship a strange one. “On one hand I’ve seen worse poverty in Manchester than I have in Cuba, because of the way the system works.‘ he says. ‘But on the other hand if you say something nasty about el Presidente you get disappeared by the police. It‘s just like Communist Russia, with sun instead of snow and rum instead of vodka. The Cuban people themselves are full of pride but I can‘t help thinking that the whole country are waiting for Fidel to pop his clogs. I think it will be a great breeding ground for democracy because of the strength of national pride and I think that people would take responsibility in a way that they don‘t in most democratic countries in the West.‘
They enjoyed themselves. too. ‘They were a lot more forthcoming and passionate with their comments. whereas round here you‘d get, “Oh. it‘s fucking top, that.“ There they‘d talk to you for half an hour about what it did to their soul.‘
Elbow will be looking for a similar reaction to their Reading and Leeds dates at the end of August. ‘There is something special planned.‘ says Garvey. ‘It will be loads of fun to witness. that‘s all I‘m going to say.‘ Coming from a band who have previously used Glastonbury as a mass choir (the crowd‘s chorus of ‘we still believe in love. so fuck you‘ was sampled on Asleep at the Back) and who brought giant-size models (based on the cover art for the album) called Elle and Bo to festivals they couldn‘t appear at. you‘d be entitled to take Garvey at this word. As for a trip to Scotland. Garvey says the band will up in November. There may be models. there may be choirs. But whatever else happens, you can expect Manchester‘s finest band to be on song.
A single, ‘Forget Myself’ is out on 29 Aug, with the album Leaders of the Free World is out 12 Sep on V2. Live dates will follow later in the autumn.
LEADERS or "IE FIIEEWOIILD
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18—25 Aug 2005 THE LIST 9