David Gedge has been re-imagined Va Va Voom, the debut album from Cinerama, his Marriage ceremony Current ’aspect challenge’ for launch on thirteenth December alongside All The Songs Sound The Identical, a celebration his songs by within the phrases of followers, associates and celebrities being revealed in paperback for the primary time.
Iain Key appears on the revamped Va Va Voom, questioning if it has a sure je ne sais quoi whereas visitor interviewer Richard Houghton sits down with the artist to look again over the current previous and ahead to The Marriage ceremony Current’s fortieth Anniversary in 2025.
Va Va Voom 25
Again in 1998 the album was described by The Instances as ‘Turbo-driven melodies and bittersweet vignettes’ while the Impartial prompt, “David Gedge appears to have performed an Edwyn Collins and besuited himself with a well mannered, thirtysomething persona with which to ship his anxiety-riddled love songs”.
On the time it did really feel very completely different from a number of the latter Marriage ceremony Current releases comparable to Mini and Saturnalia. I can nonetheless recall seeing the NME announce the discharge of the debut single Kerry Kerry and dashing to purchase it. Being a Weddoes fan of greater than a decade I purchased each variations of the 7” to get the B-sides and the CD single too. I used to be disenchanted, there was a poppier, lighter really feel, not that I’d not beloved the guitar pushed loud/quiet/loud preparations of Bizarro and Seamonsters…
Va Va Voom took place because the artist took a break from The Marriage ceremony Current and commenced exploring the concept of writing songs by myself at house, utilizing the brand new know-how that had just lately turn out to be out there.
It appears unusual to assume now, at a time when you possibly can file an album in your telephone, simply over 25 years in the past this was a revolutionary strategy as samplers and sequencers, and such had solely actually turn out to be extra ‘reasonably priced’. With this freedom the sound of Cinerama owes lots to pop information of the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies and the work of movie composers like John Barry and Ennio Morricone (a number of of the tune titles would come from films too) with session musicians drafted in for the studio recordings.
Over current years the earliest Marriage ceremony Current albums, George Greatest and Tommy have been revisited and quite a lot of tracks had been stripped again for the Locked Down and Stripped Again classes which come about because of the pandemic, so it’s not shocking that when Va Va Voom was to get the twenty fifth Anniversary remedy on the annual ‘At The Edge Of The Sea’ Competition with a stay band it will result in this. As David himself says, “There was extra vibrancy and power – so I made a decision to re-record it!”
Whether or not you’re aware of the unique or not there may be loads inside Va Va Voom 25 to take pleasure in. My private favourites on the album, had been Laborious, Quick and Lovely (named after a 1951 film primarily based on John R. Tunis’s novel American Lady) and Dance, Lady, Dance and each stay so, feeling elevated on the brand new launch. Laborious, Quick and Lovely builds from its single piano chord and mournful strings. It’s crammed so stuffed with emotion, by means of its joyous melody on the refrain, the singer ensures the listener will get each beat. Equally with Dance, Lady, Dance already a pacy observe, Gedge’s vocals are delivered with extra freedom, extra flirtatious and playful.
Having listened to this over the previous couple of weeks it seems like a up to date album, a brand new launch, though I’ve performed or seen lots of the tracks carried out over the past quarter of a century and I’m positive will likely be appreciated by each long-term followers and new alike.
Tres bien!
Interview
Richard Houghton: What’s the present line-up of The Marriage ceremony Current? Is guitarist Jon Stewart nonetheless a member?
David Gedge: It seems like he’s completely away on worldwide responsibility with Sleeper.
Jon final performed with us at my pageant, At The Edge Of The Sea, in 2023 after which he grew to become extraordinarily busy with each together with his band, Sleeper, and on the BIMM Music Institute right here in Brighton the place he teaches.
He principally informed me that he wouldn’t be out there in any respect in 2024 after which launched me to Rachael Wooden. Once we had been provided the North America tour – for Could 2025 – I sort of simply assumed that Rachael can be our guitarist. However after I spoke to her, she mentioned, ‘Properly, sure, however, erm, wait a minute, it is best to most likely ask Jon. I’m simply the stand-in!’ So, I did, however Jon mentioned, ‘That’s superb. I’d like to do it however I’m nonetheless far too busy.’ However I’ve additionally been writing songs with Rachael, and she or he’ll be recording a brand new mini-album with us in January, so I don’t assume you’ll be able to actually name her “only a stand-in” anymore!
You’ve received different former band members you possibly can name on?
I definitely do! We did a few exhibits in California in 2015 and not one of the band at the moment had been out there, so Patrick Alexander (guitarist in 2012-13) got here again, as did Terry de Castro (bassist 2004-10 & 2018). And likewise, Paul Dorrington (guitarist in 1991-95) and Graeme Ramsay (drummer in 2006-09) each returned briefly in 2014! When individuals within the present line-up say they’ll’t do excursions, there are different musicians I can at all times return to.
Jon, the present drummer – Vincenzo Lammi – and our bass participant – Paul Blackburn – all work as academics at BIMM. As a result of it’s a music faculty, they’re inspired to take skilled depart to do excursions, however there’s a restrict to how a lot day without work they can have. Paul and Vinnie aren’t going to be out there for the North America tour, for instance, so it’ll be me, Rachael, Chris Hardwick (who was our last-but-one drummer) and Stuart Hastings, who, till just lately, was the bassist with our associates, Melys. I truly had Stuart in thoughts earlier than Paul joined, when the earlier bass participant – Melanie Howard – left in September 2023. Stuart was already studying the songs however, as a result of he lives in Wales, on the final minute I made a decision {that a} Brighton-based musician is perhaps extra handy, so I needed to disappoint him. So, it’s nice that he can do that North America tour. Everybody loves occurring these!
After I first got here to stay in Brighton, individuals used to slag BIMM off: ‘Argh, BIMM bands!’ They’d say, ‘I by no means went to varsity to learn to be in a flipping Indie rock band!’ However one of many issues that it’s glorious for is networking. There’s an entire neighborhood of not solely musicians but in addition technical individuals: backline technicians, sound engineers, recording engineers. Any time somebody in our entourage can’t do one thing, they’ll say: ‘However I do know somebody who can…’. Even Rachael was a pupil at BIMM, which is how Jon is aware of her. So, I suppose, we’re a BIMM band now!
You’ve simply accomplished a run of exhibits the place you had been taking part in three new songs. Do you write on the street? How does it work?
We did a mini-tour to mark the thirty fifth anniversary of our album Bizarro, and we performed three new songs on that. And there are three different new songs we’re within the means of arranging. We’re hoping to play these on our subsequent tour this November.
I can’t write on tour; I want isolation. Rachael has been sending me information with concepts on. I exploit the Logic Professional house recording software program on my MacBook as a manner of recording multi-tracks. I create a challenge, drop her components in after which add to her preliminary concepts with my guitar and vocals. I can chop it round so, if she’s written one thing which seems like a verse however I believe it’s too lengthy, I can reduce it in half and paste it someplace else. Then I do some demo which I’ll ship to Vinnie and Paul.
After that, we’ve association rehearsals the place we undergo it as a band. The tune clearly adjustments and develops whenever you add actual drums and actual bass. Sure belongings you thought would work don’t, and vice-versa. We determine on a tempo after which I am going away and make one other demo, primarily based on what we’ve recorded within the rehearsal room.
In the case of tour rehearsals, we check out the brand new songs to see if they really work as a part of the set and in the event that they’re ok to play stay.
I’ve been actually impressed, just lately, each lyrically and musically. That appears to occur at any time when there’s a brand new line-up or I begin a brand new relationship. I used to be conscious that Jon’s an unbelievable songwriter. A few of his guitar components for twenty-four Songs, the place we repeated what we did in 1992 with the Hit Parade – releasing one single a month all year long – had been amongst the perfect I’ve ever heard within the historical past of The Marriage ceremony Current! So, I used to be barely apprehensive about writing with Rachael: ‘Is it going to succeed in that very same degree?’ It definitely has! It’s completely different as nicely. Jon has possibly extra of an Indie Pop background whereas Rachael’s extra Indie Rock. However The Marriage ceremony Current have at all times had a foot in each camps, anyway, with the jangly Indie Pop of George Greatest and the darker Indie Rock of Seamonsters. We’ve gone backwards and forwards over time… and we’ve simply performed it once more!
We are going to play the brand new songs stay, the place they may change once more. Then we’ll do a few closing manufacturing rehearsals earlier than we file them in January. They’ll be out later in 2025.
You used to let former drummer Charlie Layton select the set checklist and say to the viewers, ‘If we didn’t play your favorite tune, don’t blame me, blame him!’ Who chooses the setlist now?
I do! Properly, after I say, ‘I do’, I imply I make use of a spreadsheet! I prefer to guarantee that we rotate the songs, so I make a remark of after they had been final performed. Once we usher in new ones, one thing has to drop out of the set. And it’s the identical dilemma if I wish to deliver again an previous favorite. I’ll take a look at sure songs on the spreadsheet and assume, ‘Oh, we haven’t performed that for ages. It ought to go within the set.’ So, one thing has to provide to make manner.
It may be troublesome to strike a stability between together with new songs and the “requirements” that folks wish to hear, like ‘My Favorite Costume’, or ‘Brassneck’ and ‘Kennedy’. I attempt to preserve it assorted. I don’t wish to be performing the identical set on a regular basis, and there are such a lot of songs and so many albums. However you’ve additionally received to retain the dynamics within the set and the temper and tempo adjustments. You possibly can’t put too many sluggish ones in, or too many quick ones. And I must stability it between the poppier ones and the rockier ones. It will get more and more troublesome the extra you might have. So, I’m the one responsible now! It’s a thankless job, although. No matter we play, somebody at all times complains as a result of we didn’t play their favorite tune.
While you toured the George Greatest album on its thirtieth anniversary in 2017, you mentioned there wouldn’t be a fortieth anniversary tour. Do you continue to stand by that assertion?
We’ve got no plans to do a fortieth anniversary George Greatest tour; Leeds O2 Academy felt prefer it was one thing a closing assertion. And it’s well-known that it’s my least favorite album. However that’s not a motive to not have fun it, I suppose. It does work very well stay.
2025 is the fortieth anniversary of the band, so I will likely be some sort of a retrospective set for subsequent 12 months. And it’s the thirty-fifth anniversary of Mini popping out, too, so we’ll be performing that at At The Edge Of The Sea. I’ve at all times thought that that was an enthralling little assortment of songs. In some methods it’s a disgrace it wasn’t a full LP. We hadn’t deliberate to do a thirty-fifth anniversary tour of Bizarro in 2024, as a result of we’d marked the thirtieth anniversary of Watusi earlier within the 12 months, however somebody prompt it and I believed, ‘Why not?’ We did slightly six-date tour within the UK and a few Continental Europe exhibits and it labored very well. The longer I preserve going, the extra anniversaries of albums there are to have fun!
2025 sees The Marriage ceremony Current musical, Reception. How did that come about and the way concerned are you in its manufacturing?
I’m not that concerned, to be sincere, however I’ve seen a draft of the script and it seemed nice. The producer, Matt Aston, simply approached me. He’s a well-established theatre author and director and has performed some huge exhibits. He mentioned he thought my lyrics had been extraordinarily appropriate for a musical as a result of they inform these little tales. His plan is to hyperlink all of them up and match them right into a narrative. Most likely a bit just like the ABBA songs in Mamma Mia!
He’s been engaged on it for a number of years, now. He was hampered by Covid as a result of he began work on it earlier than the pandemic. However it’s now booked for a two-week run in August in Leeds, and it’s truly turn out to be fairly well timed as a result of it will likely be staged in the course of the band’s fortieth anniversary 12 months.
I’m going to the rehearsals. I’m intrigued to see how he’s going to do it as a result of he’s sourcing actor/musicians who’re going to behave and play the music, however he additionally desires to retain a big component of the sound of The Marriage ceremony Current. So, I do marvel how he’s going to try this if he’s not utilizing precise Marriage ceremony Current musicians. I don’t assume it’s going to be piano variations of Marriage ceremony Current songs, or something. However I’m purposely conserving out of it. I’m not that keen on musicals, to be sincere, and I do know nothing about that medium, so it’s most likely greatest that I don’t get too concerned!
I find it irresistible when individuals strategy me with concepts that aren’t clearly appropriate with what I do, although, – just like the time after I carried out with the BBC Huge Band – as a result of I don’t wish to do the identical stuff on a regular basis. It’s good to have this ongoing multi-dimensional challenge that The Marriage ceremony Current and Cinerama is. It’s at all times been a part of our historical past, going again to after we did the Ukrainian stuff, and folks had been saying, ‘What on earth is that this?!’ After which the Hit Parade was one thing completely different. Even working with Steve Albini on our third album, Seamonsters, was a departure. And Cinerama was completely different once more. I’ve at all times been excited by the concept of stepping exterior of my consolation zone and making an attempt bizarre stuff. It doesn’t at all times work, after all, however I believe it’s higher than regularly taking part in protected.
2025 will see the fifteenth version of your annual At The Edge Of The Sea pageant at Brighton, which you curate, organise and carry out 3 times at. Given the exhausting instances that many festivals have had just lately, with fairly a quantity going below, what classes ought to budding Michael Eavis’s take out of your expertise as a pageant organiser?
The apparent reply is mine’s tiny, so there’s much less to lose! The capability of the venue – the Concorde 2 in Brighton – is just 600 and we don’t even promote it to capability as a result of it’s too uncomfortable for individuals in the event that they’re there all day.
Festivals usually develop too shortly. They begin off fairly small and it really works, they usually get a bit larger and it nonetheless works, after which in 12 months three it’s, ‘Oh, we’re going to have an additional stage now and invite some large American band.’ And if the audiences don’t go together with that, you’ll be able to lose some huge cash, each in charges to the bands but in addition in manufacturing prices. We don’t actually have that drawback as a result of it’s only a regular rock venue. We’ve made it higher yearly however finally, it’s only a regular gig. It does imply there’s solely a sure sum of money out there from ticket gross sales and we are able to’t afford to pay everyone large charges, however the artists who carry out perceive that.
You’ve performed the Inexperienced Man Competition greater than as soon as. What’s that like?
My pageant used to happen on the August financial institution vacation and after we determined to maneuver it, I used to be initially fascinated by staging it over the weekend earlier than the vacation. However everyone mentioned, ‘Oh, no, it’ll conflict with Inexperienced Man!’ It seems that many Marriage ceremony Current followers go to that pageant. And I can see why, as a result of it’s like Primavera Sound in Barcelona – which a number of our followers additionally go to – it’s a mix of massive various names and new bands. It’s eclectic and never significantly fashion-orientated.
We had been simply rehearsing at some point and I received the decision from my agent saying, ‘Are you able to do Inexperienced Man, as a result of somebody’s pulled out?’ I mentioned, ‘Yeah, we may most likely do it. When is it?’ He mentioned, ‘Tonight’! So, we loaded up the van and drove to Wales! And we’ve now performed it 3 times. We’re just like the tremendous subs! As a four-piece guitar band, it’s not too exhausting for us to play at brief discover, particularly if we’re already rehearsing.
You’ve been writing your autobiography in caricature kind. When’s the following quantity popping out?
We had been aiming to deliver quantity three out in 2024 however I’ve simply been far too busy. I get emails from my illustrator, Lee Thacker, on a regular basis saying, ‘When’s the following story coming?!’ He’s now retired from being a instructor, so he has way more time out there. It was the opposite manner spherical. It was me sending him tales and him going, ‘I’ve received half time period arising in two weeks. I’ll do them then.’ However now it’s him saying, ‘Ship me tales, ship me tales!’ However I’ve additionally received songs to jot down and live shows to play and recordings to make!
So, it is perhaps the summer season of 2025. It’s fairly a laborious process, writing with Terry (de Castro, former bass participant with The Marriage ceremony Current). One story can take a month of going backwards and forwards between us till it lastly goes to Lee as an instance. Even after that we’ll normally make additional adjustments. It’s a really sluggish course of. I like doing it, although. It’s fascinating to see the best way Lee’s illustrations deliver every little thing to life.
The late Steve Harley mentioned that your model of ‘Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)’ was his favorite of the 200-plus covers of his basic tune. Are there any specific covers of Marriage ceremony Current songs that you simply like?
I actually preferred Amelia Coburn’s model of ‘My Favorite Costume’, which she performed on the ukelele. I believed that was very cool.
The e-book, All The Songs Sound The Identical, during which followers (together with the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer) discuss their favorite Marriage ceremony Current or Cinerama tune, will need to have been an fascinating e-book to place collectively?
It was an odd expertise, studying followers’ interpretations of my songs. I take a look at the sooner lyrics now and it’s like studying a diary from 40 years in the past. A lot has modified on this planet, not simply in my life. It’s humorous how songs turn out to be a part of individuals’s lives and a part of their nostalgic expertise. It’s additionally very flattering, after all. Individuals do have their very own interpretations of tune lyrics. Mine aren’t significantly that obscure – you are likely to know what’s occurring in my songs – however they don’t at all times make sense to individuals and they also do misread them at instances. Which is okay. It’s pop music! Lyrics are sometimes misquoted!
Most of my songs are relationship primarily based, in order that they do imply lots to individuals. It’s not like Ian McCulloch singing about random imagery. It’s actual tales about actual individuals. Individuals used to jot down to me like I used to be some sort of agony uncle, saying, ‘I’m going by means of an analogous state of affairs to the one you’ve described on this lyric. I used to be questioning if you happen to may give me any recommendation?’ I used to jot down again and say, ‘No, that’s what the tune’s about! It’s about me having that very same drawback and never understanding what to do. I’m the final particular person you wish to ask for recommendation!’
Va Va Voom 25 is launched on 13 December and may be preordered right here
All The Songs Sound The Identical is now out there in paperback and hardback and out there to order right here
You could find David Gedge, The Marriage ceremony Current and Cinerama through their web site in addition to Fb, Instagram, and Twitter.
David Gedge interview performed by Richard Houghton, November 2024. Richard may be discovered on Fb and through the Spenwood Books web site
Different phrases by Iain Key. See his writer profile right here or discover him on Bluesky
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