Features & Interviews
On right path
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| SINGING MUCH BETTER: Tim Burgess of The Charlatans at Newcastle's Academy on Wednesday last week. Picture by Chris Booth |
Andy Welch talks to Tim
Burgess of The Charlatans
about the band's tenth
album and tour.
IF you were to write a novel about
a fictional band and put them
through the same ups and downs
as The Charlatans have faced
throughout their turbulent
career, the book would be
criticised for asking too much of its
readers.
The line-up changes several times?
Then a member gets jailed? Then he
dies tragically? But they carry on to
deliver the best music of their career?
Then sign to a label that closes down?
No thanks, the audience would say, It's
just too unbelievable.
All of those things, and more, have
happened to The Charlatans since they
formed in the West Midlands in 1990.
The original lead singer and guitarist
soon made way for Salford lad Tim
Burgess and Mancunian Mark Collins
to come in.
In 1992, the band's keyboard maestro
Rob Collins - no relation to Mark - was
jailed for eight months for assisting in
an armed robbery and was killed in a
car accident in 1996, just prior to
completing the band's fifth album,
Tellin' Stories.
Of course, there was glorious music
in between these incidents, but a curse
seemed to rear its ugly head again in
2007 when the band's new home,
Sanctuary Records, folded not long
after The Charlatans' ninth album,
Simpatico, was released.
The fresh start began when the band
sacked their former manager while
Simpatico was being recorded in 2005.
"I'd been wanting to do it for years,"
says frontman Tim Burgess, staring
intently through thick black-rimmed
glasses, matching his jet black, dyed
hair.
"The others finally agreed, so I asked
Alan (McGee, former Creation Records
boss, and the man who discovered
Oasis) to be our manager. As soon as he
took over, the first thing he said was
You're doing a Greatest Hits tour'.
Then we did a DJ tour - just me and
him - and that was the beginning of
something new."
A Greatest Hits album also arrived; a
collection of the band's most
memorable songs which invigorated
Burgess and his cohorts, and raised the
bar for the album that would become
You Cross My Path.
"We had a remix of You're So Pretty,
We're So Pretty from Wonderland done
for our Greatest Hits by a producer
called Youth. He found the tempo we'd
always been looking for, I think, so that
made me think I'm going to write a fast
album next time'.
"Also, we wanted to make whatever
album followed as good as, if not better
than, the Greatest Hits. It was quite a
smart move in a way, to give ourselves
that to aim for."
Of course, this isn't the first time You
Cross My Path - which sees the band
now signed to independent label
Cooking Vinyl - has been made
available. In partnership with radio
station XFM, the album was online as a
free download earlier this year and was
a resounding success.
"Yes, it does feel like it's come out
twice," admits Burgess. "It's good to
look at something, an actual CD or
vinyl, though. People were demanding a
physical copy, but I think most people
who got the record for free are also
happy to buy it. You can't sign an MP3
can you? It's still out there as a free
download, too. We haven't stopped that.
So you can get the record in any way
you want, for free, whatever.
"Digital releases are definitely the
way to go, and we've got big plans in
that area that I don't want to talk about
just yet, but we're excited. In a year or
so, everyone is going to be releasing
albums like this." The new label, new
method of releasing music and new
manager aren't the only things that
have changed for Burgess recently,
either.
"I gave up drink and drugs about two
years ago," he says, candidly. "I feel
revitalised about everything now,
especially going on tour.
"I won't say I've been living a lie in
the past, but the gig was just part of the
day, and the party after was the main
part of it. Now, it's all about the songs,
and I'm singing much better. I had to
give everything up because it was
affecting my physical state, and my
voice. I was drinking all day, every day
while on tour, but I've always pushed
the limit with that side of things.
"I feel amazing now. Alan McGee
doesn't drink either, so when he came
on board it felt like a great opportunity
to give up, a fresh start.
"It's just made for a really honest
singer/manager relationship. There are
no drunken conversations, mood
swings, false accusations - it's just
honest. He listens, I listen, and we
remember everything."
■ The Charlatans' tenth album, You
Cross My Path, is out now.
www.thecharlatans.net
11:55am Friday 30th May 2008
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