Interview

Hello M
M: Good afternoon!

How excited are you about the new album?
M: Excited probably isn't the word. When you've given birth to something like this album, it's more of a paternal love, I think. You know it looks perfect now but equally you know there are going to be many sleepless nights ahead. I love the album, and I think it's my best album. In fact, we think it's our best album.


It sounds like more of a band sound.
M: Well, we are a band.


In the past, they played like a band, and you sang like a solo artist. With this album, it sounds like you are now an integral part of the band somehow.
M: With our last producer, and now with Tony Visconti, we've been working on that aspect of things. I have always felt like I'm in a band, at least since the "Kill Uncle" tour. It's a mystery to me why some people say we didn't sound like a band before. Perhaps it's because I work with great musicians who can change their sound so dramatically. If you compare "You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side" with "Let Me Kiss You," you can see for yourself. Perhaps because of this versatility, my voice is the one constant and so people naturally assume I am playing with a different band each time I release a record.


Is it true that you're working differently in the studio though? Could this by why it sounds so much more band-like?
We are working differently - Jesse is now making the sandwiches and I've been relegated to making the tea.


What has Jesse brought to the band?
M: Apart from his egg and tomato sandwiches? Jesse is great to write with, and having him around has added something musically too. Alain writes beautifully melancholic songs - he's obsessed with melody. Boz is interested in rhythm and form, and Jesse likes dynamism and power. I don't know why I never thought of hiring a third guitarist before, but for the next album, we intend to have four. Is anyone from Cream still alive?


Are you looking forward to touring again?
M: There are very few artists who can play live. That probably sounds silly, but it's quite simply the case that the vast majority of artists are going through the motions. They're on stage for the money, or because someone is telling them they must. I simply love to stand on a stage and sing and as a band, we love playing live. I came to the conclusion long ago that for me, being on stage is reality and being off stage is unreality. I exist in pop music, and nowhere else, and so, for me, the most natural expression of reality is singing. When I'm on stage, I feel almost human and I think the audience can relate to that relief of finally being able to be natural, just for 80 minutes a day. They are swaying, and I am singing, and someone, somewhere in the crowd already knows the words to "Dear God, Please Help Me."


How have the various internet sites affected you or your career?
M: I don't think they have affected me personally in the slightest. I'm happy for the fans who benefit positively from the various sites, and I think www.true-to-you.net is a very nice site. The problems arise with the completely dehumanised nature of communication on the internet. A minority of people will say things - particularly on the so-low site - they would never dare say if they were not afforded complete anonymity, and so there's a gentle drip, drip, drip of poisonous rumours and lies that never quite disappear. The lies remain engraved on some silicon chip in some dark corner of California, potentially forever. I find that troubling, but only slightly. It doesn't keep me awake at night. Have they affected my career? I would say about as much as Jools Holland has affected my career.

Is that a "no?"
M: It's a "yes" but also a "not much."

Why did you record the album in Rome?
M: Rome is a remarkable relief. In among the beautiful monuments and dark, dingy pawn shops - that's pawn with a "w" - there's a certain softness that America seems to have forgotten about. Los Angeles is beautiful, but Rome has a gentleness and a warmth. In LA, the people feel they almost need to salute the police. It's tragic. Rome shaped the new album in many ways.

Have you ever thought about auditioning for "American Idol?"
M: I'm not even going to joke about that.

Will you ever retire?
M: I retired from human life long, long ago. Will I retire from singing? Only if Richard and Judy go through a messy divorce and someone makes me a very, very good offer to take over.

What do you think of Coldplay?
M: Coldplay don't grab me, but nothing has recently. If I ever get stuck in an elevator long after security have gone home, and Coldplay are on repeat function for the next 11 hours, I shall be delighted. Unless the CD gets stuck.

What would it take for you to return to England?
M: A change in government. The legal establishment to be drowned. The Cheshire greenbelt to go up in a puff of smoke, and a new series of "Brookside."

Not much, then.
M: I'm a man of simple means.

Why do you continue making music?
M: I think I answered that question earlier.

Finally, is there a theme you would never sing about?
M: The colour of somebody's eyes. Why sing about someone else's eyes when I have my own to sing about?

Thank you
M: Many thanks.