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1471 - Jack InterviewJames Brown rings... Bobby Gillespie: rock star, film buff and admirer of drug-crazed dogsHi Bob, it's James. Can I ask you some questions for my new magazine? Sure. Are you excited about the World Cup? No, I've no interest in football. I liked it when I was a kid and I'll probably watch a couple of games, but I'm not interested. What about a German, Bert Vogts, managing Scotland, though. What do you think of that? Well, the Germans and the Scots both hate the English, so that's alright. Did you see that Liam Gallagher said you were to blame for September11? Yes, what a great quote, what can I say? It cracked The Scream up when we saw it; we were all in the studio together when we read it. What did you think about September11? Spectacular, wasn't it. So, are you making a new record? Yes, we're here just now. We're doing it in our studio, The Bunker, in Chalk Farm. How's it going? It's going amazing, it's mostly mixed. There's about three more songs to go. What's it Like? It's hard really to say. We love what we've done so far, it's harder... no not hard... Fucking hell, man! A guy just went by with a plastic bag on his dog's head, just walked past the studio, looks like he's got the dog's head in a bag of glue, like in a lirvine] Welsh book, but it was a flea collar... So, the music, we're happy, it's really amazing. Who's on it? We've just done a track with Andy Weatherall, it's probably the best thing we've done since "HigherThan The Sun". One track's kinda like Neu meets The Beach Boys. Then there's some extreme rock'n'roII with Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine. Half ofthe tracks are sort of psychedelic and the rest are quite light rock'n'roll. What's it called? I don't know yet, we haven't i even got titles for some ofthe songs that are finished. But it is coming together well. And you've had a baby haven't you? Yes, we've got a son, he's three months old. You've had one as well, haven't you? Yes, he's nine months old. What's your boy called? Wolf, WolfGillespie. Katie [his gidfriend] thought of it. What's yours called? Marlais Marley? Fucking hell, that's brilliant. Is he called Wolf on the birth certificate? Yes, we'd decided before he was born. And when the nurse brought him out and gave him to Katie, she said, "He's beautiful, he's Wolf." And you just can't argue with the women on this. That's true Something amazing has just happened. As we speak, Chris Blackwell [founder of Island Records] has just got out ofa car and walked past the studio window into the next one and your son is called Marley. Wild, isn't it? How's the mag going? It's called Jack. I met Jack Nicholson last year and after talking to him, me and my mate went, 'We've got to call it Jack' I met Nicholson... in that restaurant above the Met Bar, with Kate Moss. What, he was with Kate Moss oryou were? We were with Kate and the restaurant was empty but for us and this other group of people about six tables away-we just got talking. Afterwards he came downstairs and had a drink, he was alright. I was asking him about Gene Clark and Dennis Hopper, and he was telling me about Easy Rider. He's a cool guy. He's just Jack. Who else is in the first issue? Well, I hung out with De Niro, so you're next to him Two Bobbies, Mean Streets, heh heh. Have you seen Douglas [Hart, filmmaker, who was in the original jesus And Mary Chain with Bobby]? Yes. Last Sunday we went to see these Alan Clarke movies at the NFT. One was Road and the other was Christine. Great films. I've seen Rita, Sue And Bob Too. He died young, didn't he? I know he's dead, but they were great, brilliant films. Amazing. Christine is about a teenage lunkie going from house to house, visiting her friends, getting her works out and shooting up, just sitting about, chatting. It's about the boredom, the dull, existence ofthe junkie. There's cartoons in the background on all the TVs, on but with the sound down. It captures it really well. Road is set in a place where all the houses are boarded up, and people walk the streets muttering to themselves. Their lives are fucked up and it's frustrating living, it really reflects the days of Thatcher and the desperation of those times. It's very accurate in its portrayal ofthat whole thing, it's tragic but funny as well. Spot on. What are you doing tonight? I'm inthe studio with Mani recording some bass. Then Kevin is at the RAK studio so I'm going overthere to see him, and then I'm going down to Old Streetwhere Weatherall's working and dropping something into him. Then I'm home to my girlfriend and baby and bed. Tomorrow we've got a 40-piece orchestra coming in and we've neverworked with one ofthem before. We're recording at the old CBS studio in Whitfield Street. Iggy recorded Raw Pawer there. And The Clash cut their first album there Yeah, so we better get the fireman's haton. Where can I get a good picture of you? I've got a photo-booth one, come round and get it. OK, I'll see you in the morning. Thank fuck the answerphone wasn't on! Originally appeared in Jack Spring-Summer 2002. Copyright © 2002 Jack Back |
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