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Interview
by SashaS
26-8-2004
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| Clinic: all-British and cathedral-like |
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Sonic tonic
Clinic: like The Coral on more invigorating medications
A huge attraction of interviewing is unpredictability and each encounter is a particular event: it can take you away from the planned topics, miles from subjects one feels it should be discussed but the power of mind has its own path to meander… Without wishing to brag faux-theology or quasi-philosophy - you receive as much as you give… That’s the feeling we had when talking with Clinic’s Ade Blackburn.
The band’s new album ‘Winchester Cathedral’ is more of an English affair than the previous efforts, according to the keyboardist and vocalist, but it is not an isolationist work. Thus, one shouldn’t be surprised that some of the topics covered are the New Vaudeville Band, Mungo Jerry, The Residents, Euro-Ralph label, Calico…
“There is not a lot of music out there that excites me,” Blackburn explains the band’s artistry, “and we simply make music we’d like to listen to. We spend time on working out material, a lot of thought goes into it, so - it is never throwaway, never technically enhanced, we record on tape, because it adds to the sound… There is no excuse for mediocrity…”
“We got inspired by Mango Jerry on this album - you know ‘In The Summertime’? - but it is more percussive and in extreme setting; then, Calico: it was something we were using on a guitar and it reminded us… We named our album ‘Winchester Cathedral’ because too many people tried to pigeonhole us into some retro-American genre, such as the modern Stooges, Velvets… So, it is an English title, a complete opposite to inventing some US Rock’n’Roll-style title.”
“Musically, when we started the album, the songs were very simple, folk-based and the feel of the album was English. I feel there is also a slightly medieval sense on certain songs.”
Troupes amnesty
Clinic are from Liverpool but you’d need to be better than Philip Marlowe to detect it in their music. In fact, Clinic sound like The Beatles never cursed the Merseyside with its legacy but are a group with a sense for sonic adventure... Namely, Clinic play as individually as Suicide or 13 Floor Elevator, are as creatively obstinate as Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds, as self-sufficient and biz-bull-free as The Residents… Taking you up the yellow-brick road to that magical place where you are Prisoner no more.
“I like The Residents very much,” Ade states rather casually, “because it is more mysterious, more enigmatic… It has more depth because people present themselves in a way where image is crucial but the quality of music is never sacrificed, it is always innovative, fresh, new… there is no one like them and that is inspirational. It is great the way they incorporate technology into their ever-changing musical expression.”
Aspiring to it is noble at this time when vulgar-makeovers sell discs rather than songs?
“Everything in music, including NME [New Musical Express, weekly music organ published in London], has gone so much more tabloid… The write-ups are getting shorter and pictures are getting bigger and bigger. It is much more celebrity based rather than music based. And the industry… ”
“Well, there are two sides to it: one is dedicated public and the other is the business side. These two don’t see eye to eye right now and public is well aware of being hyped, bullied, ripped off. We have a great relationship with our label whilst major look like what they are - huge corporations.”
That are too monolithic to move with the times and be able to react quicker to the ever-evolving market demands.
Knights of twilight
Clinic recently played a London show and will soon be travelling through Europe before returning to the States once again. There may still be too few people to elevate them above the cult status but Clinic have dedicated army of fans that is obsessively discussing everything via the band site’s Forum.
“People who like the music stick with it and are strongly loyal to our music but it is inevitable that when you do something different and it is not something that is quite obvious to people, you are not ‘part-of-the-scene’, you have to pay the price of being marginalized… It kind of works both ways: doing something different has allowed us to continue, rather than just be part of the scene and disappear after a year or two…”
“Our Forum, I visit regularly, is good because you can see what people are thinking, arguing over, discussing… It is good because the fans are also critical of what we do and have high expectations, it is not simply the case of brain-dead fans, they wouldn’t just accept anything from us.”
It may not bring loadsa kudos but provides critical support?
“We’ve always had an enthusiastic response to our music, ever since the first album and it’s always been positive criticism.”
Clinic’s novel, dark, singularly portentous pyche-fraught pop music for a shadow-walk through the valley of the damned…
SashaS
26-8-2004
Clinic’s album ‘Winchester Cathedral’ is released 23 August 2004 by Domino
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