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Interview
by SashaS
12-9-2002
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| The Coral are on a higher ground |
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Aural sculptures
The Coral: revisit to our favourite of Mercury nominees
In our unscrambling history of the world, that seems to be on the brink of finishing any moment if we are to believe ‘Dubya’, music provides one of the great escape routes. And, there is more aural diversion to be found on The Coral’s eponymous debut album than on many a competitor’s, not even The Music’s. Inspired by variety of artists, genres and periods, the young lads from Merseyside have created a musical banquet of 12 courses.
The album was justly nominated for this year’s Panasonic Mercury Music Prize and within days they’d find out whether they were successfully patted on the head, me sons! Regardless of the outcome, The Coral are a great band that can also cut it live. That’s where we start talking with vocalist James Skelly, his drumming bro Ian, guitarist Lee Southall and organist Nick Powell.
“Our appearance on Top Of The Pops should set the standard,” Southall claims confidently, “because we were the only ones playing live; the rest were miming and you could sense lack of atmosphere… As soon as we got onstage, there was a vibe, there was excitement, and there is nothing more we want but an audience to enjoy themselves, have fun…”
“Most of the bands… the bands that we like,” J. Skelly muses, “have that and it is the best thing about being in a band. Getting out there and getting a manic response, screaming and nobody wants to know anything personal about you, they just like you for music, the show… Not for whom you are dating, where you are hanging out, what you are wearing… They just like the tune and dance to it, that’s the way I imagined it to be and it is…”
“There is no chin-scratching and pondering,” singer assumes American accent, “‘What’s their lifestyle?’ That’s not important, people like our music because they are good songs.”
Life of Riley
Are you suggesting there’s been no need to adjust, at all?
“Yes, I haven’t noticed anything changing much,” James confirms, “and I think it is because it’s been gradual. Sometime in the future we might notice some huge changes but nothing really right now. We go home and just do normal things, go to our ‘preccy room’, play, hang out together… We then get on the bus and go touring; someone would occasionally recognize us, come and talk to us and that’s about it. You got people in Liverpool talking how we changed and don’t hang out at our usual places but we are either on a tour or want to relax when we are back home.”
“We’ve been doing this since the age of 16,” Power adds, “and when at that age you play an Irish bar, that’s scary but even that didn’t change us, just taught us a lesson or two. Playing three gigs a day at the Cavern Club, that’s what makes you and not being interviewed or appearing on television.”
You’ve got Rock’n’Roll, aren’t short on dope, how about sex?
“Erm…” James hesitates, “I try to remain…”
“Nick has his woman in every town,” Ian points the finger, “but me and James, we’ve got hometown girls…”
“Nick’s a bit of a Romeo,” James adds with a smile.
“Nick lives dangerously,” Ian continues, “he doesn’t wear protection…”
“I like a girl who is hard to get,” James expends, “but he doesn’t care…”
“Most of them are, like, ‘Get-away from me’,” Ian acts disgust, “‘you are too desperate-like’…”
“’Which other bands have had hands on you?’,” Southall chips in. “So many others shagged them last week!”
“But, very often we smoke too much drugs,” Power goes on defensive, “to allow for sex.”
“No, we give each other massage!”, Southall laughs.
“Nick is modest,” Ian concludes, “he is the stud of the band!”
Leaves of time
With Deltasonic, their manager, Allan (ex-Shack) Willis’s label, providing a Kevlar-protection from the conglomerate claws of Sony, The Coral are well placed to survive the music industry’s business practices.
“If you’ve gotta a plan,” James outlines their course of action, “then there is nothing that can change it; if you haven’t got it, then you are in trouble, they (biz-men) can do whatever they want with your band. When we had things suggested to us we simply said we’d be doing it this way and they could do nothing but agree. We just do our own thing and let the business side be handled by people who know it.”
“I’m sure the record company has a back-up plan,” he continues to muse, “if ours fails. That’s okay with us but we are confident in doing the things our own way.”
Is it true you have another album written already?
“No, we just say that,” James admits, “to appear to be prolific… We’ve got three or four new songs.”
“We’ve got plenty of ideas,” Ian illuminates, “we just need to work on them, find time to do so…”
“One thing is for certain,” James states towards the end, “that we’ll progress from the debut’s sound…”
Can you spell which way it is heading?
“That’s a secret and you’ll find out when it comes out. But, you know, if you are an original person, then a song will sound original… Like John Lennon, ‘Come Together’ is almost note-for-note a Chuck Berry song but he made it sound original. He’d do it in a way to make it a Lennon original… If you are original then the tune will be, as well. Jumping on a bandwagon is not something we’ve ever been interested in…”
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Tour dates:
01 October - Newcastle University, Newcastle
03 October - Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds
05 October - Manchester University, Manchester
06 October - Sugarhouse, Lancaster
07 October - The Foundry-Sheffield University, Sheffield
09 October - The Junction, Cambridge
10 October - Shepherds Bush Empire, London
11 October - De Monfort Uni, Leicester
12 October - Bristol University, Bristol
14 October - Lemon Grove, Exeter
15 October - Concorde 2, Brighton
17 October - Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton
18 October - Liverpool University, Liverpool
SashaS
12-9-2002
The Coral’s album ‘The Coral’ is available now on Deltasonic
The Coral’s single ‘Dreaming Of You’ is released 07 October 2002
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