Did you wake up this morning with a smile?
It all depends on the kind of night I've had. If we've spent the night comforting babies and listening to them cry or if I find myself trapped within the suffocating grooves/eternal loop of idee fixe, usually focusing on a small event in my past where I was faced with a fork in the road and I took the wrong one, these things can have a detrimental effect on my ante meridiam tenor but it doesn't last long. Once I'm up I'm ok and kids are great at raising the spirit. Before I had children I would get up before six anyway but in those days I had the sweet luxury of an afternoon siesta.
*Reads question again* Oh, did I wake up this morning with a smile? No.
How has the new record been received and what is the idea around issuing a series of singles rather than an album?
It was reviewed, it got played on the radio, it sold a few. That's what it's all about. I can't make a whole album on my own, I've got the songs but I'm too distracted and it takes too long. Working on two songs at a time is much easier. I haven't released enough music over the last few years; I need to step it up.
The current single is just available digitally. With such a delightful cover, why is that and, any thoughts about a
I would love to release seven inch singles, the seven inch single is the pinnacle of human endeavour, but I can't afford the outlay. It's an ambition, no, a cacoethes!
On the subject of the cover of the single, who designed it?
It's one of mine. I'm a one man music business.
How is life today as a musician when compared with your early steps into the industry?
Completely different. We recorded our first album in 1989; our records came out on vinyl and cassette. Record companies took more chances, people were happy to pay for music. I understand that things have to change but it's hard not to miss those times.
I think that now, being a musician is seen as somehow being a doss and that in itself is its own reward but I work hard, most of the musicians I know work hard and we devote our lives to making these small pieces of art but now, because it's been made possible by the internet, what we do has little or no monetary value.
People tell me I shouldn't bother, that to think about selling music is idiotic in these times but what else can I do? Make bland lift muzak for television? When I was a kid I heard a record on the radio or saw a band on Top of The pops and I went to Rox Records in Liscard and bought the single. I didn't feel ripped off, I felt great. Years later I made records myself, some sold, some didn't but I never felt ripped off, in fact half the time I felt guilty about the amount of (unrecoupable, FREE! ) money that was spent on us.
That's the industry though; the noisy marketplace, bustling and aggressive. What I do, alone in peace, fashioning things from thin air, hasn't changed at all. It's wonderful.
‘Terming music as a business’ may be incorrect but for you, is it still something you love?
Of course and I think myself incredibly lucky that I've spent most of my life making music. Now I have a family it seems more like a business because I have to account for what I spend on making the records.
Any plans for
No plans. I always enjoyed traveling but I think our best shows were here. I miss the travelling more than I miss the playing. Seeing the world, meeting new people and buying drugs off them.
Just the one Boo Radleys question: Is Wake Up Boo! the antidote for Love Will Tear Us Apart?
I don't know what Love Will Tear Us Apart is about. Wake Up Boo is an alleluia to staying up all night on acid. I'm reasonably certain that the two can co-exist happily.
How are you with the Social media world and do you think it is vital for a musician to be switched on that these days?
I'm ok. Good at dicking about, not so good at selling my own stuff. It's vital for a musician only to become a better musician.
Will Bravecaptain return or has it gone down with the ship?
Dead as a doornail.
Any regrets musically that you can still put right or, a smile knowing that was just right?
Yeah I would go back to 1994, calm myself down, sober up, take look around me and think.
Music in the car.. what’s be playing over the last few days?
Diplo - 'Barely Standing'.
Thanks to Martin.
Sailor is available here
