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Interview
by SashaS
6-2-2003
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| Richard Warren of Echoboy: sideway pop |
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Spiritual safari
Richard Warren on wildlife and crowd-songs
“I want it to be pop music - but with a difference”, Richard Warren, better known as Echoboy, once remarked. And the difference is clear: one man, a myriad of ideas, and a sparkling new pop vision for a new era. The theory is simple: “You listen to a Bob Dylan record, listen to a Television record, listen to a Kraftwerk record, listen to a Chemical Brothers record and then put it all together. All these are the best people of their day, so if you put it together then you should have the perfect hybrid,” reckon Warren. Perfect pop music both captures the spirit of an instance and transcends its time. If you love pop music, then you have no choice with Echoboy.
The man’s new album, ‘Giraffe’, is like Eno-meets-(dare we utter it?)-U2; yeah, it is that powerful, that peculiar, that quirky, that discerning…
“Spontaneity is the key,” Warren assures us, “I’ve always been into doing things one-take… All the best albums are spontaneous, all my favourite bands, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, all the blues-guitarists; that’s what I got into first, obsessed… Kind of mid-1960s British R’n’B, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Eric Clapton, I’m massive Eric Clapton, Peter Green… fan. I just learnt to play to them records, like ‘Fresh Cream’.”
If spontaneity plays such a great part in his career, how did he take having to wait some four months for the LP to be issued?
“Well, the album was supposed to be out in October… But, due to the unexpected response to our 7-inch singles… We started putting out 300 copies and the response from DJs and media types was so great, we were to be playlisted on Radio 1, and thought that we might better wait a minute and go the whole hog. Get a band on the road, I’ve got a new band now, have six months of experience under their belt…”
“It was a bit of a big gap between albums,” Echoboy mainman remarks, “for my usual timetable and, if I didn’t have the band, I’d go mad. This is the best bunch of musicians I’ve worked with and makes me feel like I’m 16 again, forming my first band.”
Good everywhere
‘Giraffe’ is produced by Flood (Depeche Mode, U2) who insisted working on it despite a modest budget…
“It all happened in a strange way; I recorded 60 tracks that were in the vein of the last two albums… The aim was to continue doing it as before, recording it by myself, in the cellar, lo-fi music, pick ten songs and put ‘Volume Three’ out. Apparently Flood was a fan and had been talking to Daniel (Miller, head of Mute label) ever since my first release (‘Flashlegs’) in 1998… When Daniel mentioned it to me, I was intrigued and Flood took my stuff a step forward.”
Warren is magnanimous in praising Flood’s contribution that seems to have released his creative spirit.
“‘Giraffe’ sounds like the culmination of all the records I’ve ever released,” Echoboy adjudges. “It sounds even like The Hybrids (his first band), the British-beat, psychedelic sound and all through the electronica and Left-field stuff I’ve done. We deconstructed my 60 songs and reconstructed them into… There is a dark edge to it all and that’s what holds the album together. We’ve made a conscious decision of chopping off all the fat and compressing everything, make everything concise and direct. Lyrically, I’m especially proud of it, and Flood brought it out more of it.”
Emo tumult
The bloodline of Echoboy’s vision is Warren’s lifetime search for a sound that can relax/revitalize/heal souls. He almost got sidelined from his agenda when courted by Oasis at the time they found themselves suddenly guitar-less, The Sun, upon discovering he had turned them down, awarded Richard the immortal accolade: “He’s not mad for it – he’s just mad!”
No, he isn’t; he would have been a slave to somebody else’s dictum while as Echoboy, imagination is his only boss.
“I didn’t want to go back in time,” Warren sounds adamant, “and recreate the past… I’ve been there and I feel it is wrong; if something sounded like Kraftwerk I’d be delighted in the past and leave it in but now, I’d rework it. Too many artists, producers, companies, pull on the past far too much and making something sounding like somebody else’s records… I feel it is time for musicians to start all over again.”
“I didn’t want a record to be easily pigeonholed, again… You know, I’d go into a record store and find my record in ‘Post-rock’!? I’d pick it up and move it to the ‘Pop’ rack. That’s what I do is pop music.”
There certainly is pop music and POP music. This is not like any of the ‘TV-Idols’ cack (he addresses on ‘Good On T.V.’), this is pop music of the ‘Pet Sounds’ kind.
“I’ve always wanted music to be like paintings, and going to a gallery,” Echoboy finds the most appropriate comparison. “I’ve never wanted my music to be like a photograph of a painting, or a reproduction, because the vibe is never the same. I’ve always wanted to be like an original work you go and see in a gallery. First-hand experience, not a recycled thingy… Musicians have always been valued less than artists and I feel as valuable as Tracy Emin…”
We disagree with Warren because she is part of the Brit-art movement known as ‘FCUK’ (F**k culture UK) and he had to revise his stand.
Echoboy’s music has also moved into other media: ‘Wasted Spaces’ has been used in a horror flick ‘My Little Eye’.
“It’s all to do with Flood, it’s his soundtrack,” Warren confesses, “and I really had nothing to do with it. It’s at the end of the film, a chase building to this climax, but the track is heavily distorted and you have to listen hard to…”
Well, as usual: you have to listen hard to hear goodies out there…
SashaS
6-2-2003
Echoboy’s album ‘Giraffe’ is released 10 Feb. 2003 on Mute
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