Re: BluePlanes Digest, Vol 110, Issue 2

["Mike" <mike@ma...plus.com>]

I'll second that request about supports - nothing announced for Glasgow or
Edinburgh yet but given that the supports announced for other dates on the
tour are all different, I'm assuming that they're all local-ish.

Did mean to punt Life Model for the Glasgow show - not just because of the
name but because they're a smart, young dream-pop band.

Mike M
http://manicpopthril;s.wordpress.com

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Subject: BluePlanes Digest, Vol 110, Issue 2

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Gerard interview #2 (Andrew Keulemans)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2017 11:59:45 +0000
From: Andrew Keulemans <keulies@gm...com>
To: GORDON WILHELMI <gordon.wilhelmi192@bt...com>,  A Discussion
        list for The Blue Aeroplanes <blueplanes@bl...org>
Subject: Re: [BluePlanes] Gerard interview #2
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Whilst acknowledging that it could unleash a torrent of similar requests,
but on the basis that the voodoo rooms is the first time the band has been 
a
mere bus ride away from me since Cardiff university back in the eighties,
can misfiring, pony boy or up in a down world elbow their way into the set?
Who is the support, BTW?
AK

On 30 Dec 2016 3:11 a.m., "GORDON WILHELMI" <
gordon.wilhelmi192@bt...com> wrote:

> At one point, many of the faithful began calling for standards.
>
> 'Colour Me'
> 'Weightless'
>
> Gerard pointed at his watch.
>
> 'Have you seen the time ?'
>
> G
>
> ----Original message----
> From : keulies@gm...com
> Date : 29/12/2016 - 23:47 (GMTST)
> To : blueplanes@bl...org, nickw@bl...co.uk Subject : 
> Re: [BluePlanes] Gerard interview #2
>
> Thanks nick, great stuff
> AK
>
> On 29 Dec 2016 3:41 p.m., "Nick Walters" <nickw@bl...co.uk> wrote:
>
>> I've cut and pasted my interview below as Virgin email is being wank 
>> about emailing hyperlinks.
>>
>> NW2
>>
>> ----------------
>> Interview: The Blue Aeroplanes? Gerard Langley
>>
>> *?  The cult indie band?s frontman talks to We Are Cult about the new 
>> album and what 2017 may hold for the Blue Aeroplanes.*
>>
>> I?ve been following the trajectory of the Blue Aeroplanes for nigh on 
>> thirty years, and so I was honoured to have the opportunity to talk 
>> to Aeroplanes frontman Gerard Langley before the band?s traditional 
>> Christmas gig at the Fleece (which they own) on Friday 16 December. 
>> An instantly recognisable figure, in his ray-bans, black garb and 
>> tousled black hair, Gerard looks every inch the rock?n?roll beat poet 
>> that he is. A man with an encyclopaedic knowledge of music and vast 
>> experience in the music business, Gerard is Head of Songwriting and 
>> Music Business Tutor at the Bristol branch of the British and Irish 
>> Modern Music Institute. Gerard lives in the same part of Bristol as 
>> me, so I have encountered him quite a few times in shops or out and 
>> around the area (he once walked past my kitchen window as I was doing 
>> the washing-up), and conversed with him before and after gigs, but 
>> this is the first time I have actually formally interviewed him. As 
>> my experience of interviewing rock stars is zero (I drunkenly 
>> interviewed indie band The Wood Children at Wolves Poly in 1988), I 
>> was quite nervous, but I shouldn?t have been, as Gerard is an affable 
>> dude, clearly proud of his band, and excited about the new album and 
>> what
2017 may hold for the Blue Aeroplanes.
>>
>> We talked in the attic-like dressing room in the Fleece whilst other 
>> band members such as Chris Sharp (bass), Bec Jevons and Mike Youe 
>> (guitars) came and went. I made a lame joke about Christmas not being 
>> Christmas without a Blue Aeroplanes gig. ?Not in Bristol, anyway!? 
>> said Gerard. I started the interview proper by drawing a comparison 
>> between the Blue Aeroplanes and The Fall.
>>
>> *NW:** It strikes me that the Blue Aeroplanes are a lot like The Fall ?
>> both bands have been around for a long time and seen many line-up
changes.
>> However, the current line up of both bands is quite stable; with the 
>> Fall it?s ten years, with the Aeroplanes, it?s..?*
>>
>> *GL:* Four and a half years. The main difference between the 
>> Aeroplanes and The Fall is that we?ve had a lot of members, but they 
>> tend to be line-ups that stick around for a bit, make a couple of 
>> albums, then it all changes. It?s not people constantly drifting. But 
>> we haven?t had a stable line-up really since, probably, 
>> Swagger/Beatsongs [1990-91]. People stick around for a long time but 
>> they never overlap a record, so I was always putting out a record 
>> with one line-up and touring it with another. So this is the first 
>> time really since the early albums that we?ve had a line-up that?s 
>> written the stuff, recorded it, and is now playing it live. The other
difference is, of course, I get on with former band members!
>>
>> *NW:** I know you see yourself as a national band first, and 
>> international band second, but you are synonymous with the Bristol 
>> music scene, you own the Fleece, and Bristol often turns up in your 
>> songs. Does it bother you that when articles appear about the Bristol 
>> music scene, you are seldom mentioned?*
>>
>> *GL:* Well, Bristol decided it was gonna go trip-hop and not guitar 
>> bands! We can?t do anything about it. Apparently we?re included in 
>> RyanAir?s guide to Bristol, alongside Bananarama!
>>
>> *NW:* *The new album is extremely poppy and accessible, in direct 
>> contrast to ?Anti-Gravity? [the band?s previous album, released in 
>> 2011] Was this deliberate?*
>>
>> *GL:* To an extent, yeah. ?Anti-Gravity? was done a lot around jams 
>> with various different musicians, but ?Welcome, Stranger!? was fairly 
>> stable. It was basically, initially, me and Bec and Mike, working on 
>> loads of material on stage at the Fleece. And the material we came up 
>> with was so immediate and really strong. It?s a long time since 
>> Anti-Gravity, so I had a lot of words, and I was picking up all the 
>> best ideas from those to make it quite hooky and strong. And then we 
>> thought, well, we?ve got all these really good songs now, so we?d 
>> better record them properly. So we actually went into a really good 
>> studio with a really good engineer, and thought, right, we?re going to
record this to a major label standard, just a lot quicker.
>>
>> *NW:* *The production is absolutely beautiful, very sharp and clean, 
>> it really brings the songs to life.*
>>
>> *GL*: But it?s still basically the all band playing live ? two or 
>> three takes, max.
>>
>> *NW:* *There?s a very sixties, psychedelic sound to the album.*
>>
>> *GL:* Sixties but punkier.
>>
>> *MY [Mike Youe, Aeroplanes guitarist]:* It was recorded at Vale 
>> *[Worcestershire recording studio situated in a Georgian manor house 
>> renowned for its retro
>> equipment]* using a vintage Neve console, and ?classic? microphones, 
>> so that might contribute to it.
>>
>> *NW*: *The production on ?Swagger?, your most acclaimed album, in 
>> comparison, at least to these ears, sounds awfully flat and 
>> uninspired. It seems to smother the songs.*
>>
>> *GL:* To be honest this is one of the first albums we?ve ever done, 
>> apart from ?Bop Art? *[the band?s first album released in 1984]*, 
>> where I actually really like the production. I always thought the 
>> production on our albums sounded a bit tame ? it should have sounded 
>> louder, on things like Swagger.
>>
>> *NW:** I like the cover, it somehow reflects the playful mood of the
>> album.*
>>
>> *GL:* Yeah ? I was trying to get people to do artwork based on 
>> retro-friendly aliens and rockets, but it nothing seemed to work so I 
>> just bought a rocket myself!
>>
>> *NW:* *The guitar riffs in Sweet Like Chocolate, and in other places 
>> on the album sound remarkably like the distinctive style of Angelo 
>> Bruschini [former Aeroplanes member and legendary guitarist who 
>> featured on Massive Attack?s Mezzanine album]. Was this a deliberate 
>> attempt to sound like the ?planes of old or was it? how can I put 
>> this? alchemy?*
>>
>> *GL:* Well whilst we were jamming, I played Bec *[Bec Jevons, 
>> Aeroplanes
>> guitarist]* some early Aeroplanes?
>>
>> *BJ:* And I said, Wow, this is just like the stuff my band is doing! 
>> I?d not really properly listened to the Aeroplanes before, but it 
>> just came out that way, kind of semi-accidentally.
>>
>> *GL:* With Mike* [Youe, Aeroplanes guitarist]*, there?s a mutual 
>> influence, in the shape of Richard Thompson, who played modally. So 
>> did Angelo, and so does Mike ? so they?re going to sound similar 
>> because they?re coming from the same place.
>>
>> *NW:* *Is the album, and the upcoming tour, a conscious decision to 
>> try to get new fans on board? To ?welcome strangers?, as it were?*
>>
>> *GL:* Let?s put it this way. This Christmas gig used to do all right, 
>> but never used to sell out. Three years ago, it sold out on a 
>> walk-up, so on the night. Last year, it sold out a few days in 
>> advance. This year, it sold out six weeks in advance. So, there?s a 
>> curve, and if I can get that curve into other cities and promoters go 
>> with it? Because normally, if a band who?s been going a quite a long 
>> time like us, like Theatre of Hate, draw 250, then that?s their 
>> audience ? 250 people. But we?re actually growing an audience here, 
>> and in London, places where we play regularly, we?re building an 
>> audience as if the Blue Aeroplanes was a new band. We?ve got a 
>> promoter on board with that, and if we can get the venues on board 
>> with that, and give it a go, like a new band, say right we?ll play 
>> 150 in Liverpool then 300 next time, we?ll see where it goes. At the
moment we?re literally just writing the songs.
>>
>> *NW:* *After the forthcoming tour, are you planning further dates 
>> later in the year?*
>>
>> *GL:* One of the reasons for this tour in January, apart from that?s 
>> when the album?s coming out is, I don?t know if I can manage it, but 
>> I want to have a go, is to get two albums out in a year. I can?t 
>> guarantee it, because the quality?s got to be there, but if I can, 
>> I?ll get another out in October/November.
>>
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>>
>>
>
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