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Once dubbed "Rock's Angry Young Man" (a title that the media seemed to pass like a salad plate between Parker, Elvis Costello, John Hiatt and Joe Jackson) Graham Parker's catalogue over the past 25 years is nothing short of astounding. From the early pub soul masterpieces Howling Wind and Heat Treatment (released in one year, mind you!) to the classic Squeezing Out Sparks and the recent milestones Human Soul and The Mona Lisa's Sister, critics and fans alike have savored the results of the uncompromising choices Parker has made. His live shows, from the early band dates with the Rumour to his solo tours of the nineties, have always been a mixture of wit, sarcasm and great music. Like most veteran artists, finding airplay in this TRL world has not been easy. With that and the lack of new studio material in recent years, many believed he might have folded the tent to enjoy a well-deserved "normal life" with his wife and family in the calm country setting of Upstate New York. Foolish mortals! Deepcut To Nowhere will be released this month on Razor And Tie Records in the USA and marks Parker's return to form. Later this year, Parker will hit the road backed by The Figgs for a series of stage-burning rock and roll shows. In late June, MoMZine had a chance to speak with Graham about his recent activities and the making of the new record. Here's an excerpt from that conversation: MoMZine: I'm always glad to see a new Parker record, yet five years is a long time. Is this gap a natural progression of your domestic life now, or does living in teenybopper radio land constrict your urgency to record new music these days? Graham Parker: No, it's basically because I had a book out of short stories, and that took up my time. I wanted to give it a fair shot, and I did a tour promoting it where I'd read from the book and do songs based on the book. And then I had this spare tracks and lost demos thing out, I don't know whether you heard that... MoMZine: Oh, yeah! Loose Monkeys! That was great! Parker: Yeah, it was an Internet-only thing. By the time I compiled the tracks and did the cover and everything, somehow the time went by. But inasmuch as anything, I was in the literary mode, you know, trying to figure out what that was all about. A book is quite a big deal, between editing, and dealing with the publishing company, and just figuring out how this is done, really. Somehow a few years went by, and that's the way it goes, I suppose! MoMZine: That was a great book -- I reviewed that for another publication. During the past few years, there has been a ton of compilations. Some are probably just label grabs, while others you might have been involved with -- I know you wrote liner notes for more than one of them. I was wondering, for the benefit of those who may not have any, are there any you endorse over others? Parker: That's an interesting question. Most people these days contact me about it, thankfully. The new one on Universal, The Ultimate Graham Parker, they contacted me and start off with a mess of songs that I look over. Basically it's a blur, really, it's like, "Yeah, yeah, same old same old, whatever, fine." And then they ask me about photographs and I'm a little more interested, and I'll say, "Yeah, I'll look at photos." I didn't do any liner notes on the Universal one because I had just done so many liner notes for so many compilations. I mean, really, what is there that I can add to this now? But there have been a lot of people contacting me lately, and that's fine. I want the stuff to live on, and this is the way that that happens. But I think the best thing that's happened recently is Universal in the UK releasing my first four albums as separate albums. I did short liner notes for each one -- very terse, pretty scathing -- about what I think is going on, mostly towards myself. A guy has done some liner notes -- very good work actually -- and new photos; they also dug up some lost demos. Six of the titles were completely unknown to me! I thought they found somebody else's songs, y'know, and when I listened I went, "Oh God, yeah, I remember now!" (laughs) MoMZine: Where are the songs from? Parker: There's fifteen solo demos, some of which are from Howling Wind. Well, they wound up on Howling Wind. And some were just dumped along the way, plus six titles where I was just completely mystified. So they're putting that out along with Live At Marble Arch, so you've got the first four "Parker and The Rumour" albums and another called That's When You Know, which has the lost demos and the Marble Arch show. That's coming out in the UK and Europe; I imagine over here you can get them via the Internet. I prefer them to the compilations, which are kind of endless and subjective, anyway, you know. It's nice to see the actual early albums coming out like that. MoMZine: I'm very familiar with the Marble Arch recording; it's great live stuff. I know when people talk about you and write about you, there's always a focus on the first two records, which were absolute landmark recordings. The focus is on the early part of your career, so then they pull out Squeezing Out Sparks. Does that bother you? You've had a tremendous body of work, and despite the changes in radio. Well, I thought Loose Monkeys, your recent collection of demos and outtakes, was fabulous. Parker: Well, it was fun. It was a good thing to clear the decks, you know? I found all those things on a cassette in my attic in London, and when I was looking at all those titles I thought, "My God, look at all the stuff I've left behind here!" And because the moment has passed, I'm not really the one to say that I have to re-record all this stuff properly. Because I've moved on, I'm a current writer. But it was good to get it out like that. I think a lot of people really enjoyed it, and the songs are pretty strong, really, in their own kind of way. MoMZine: Let's talk about Deepcut to Nowhere. The title alone is pretty pessimistic, as is the first track "Dark Days". Is this a belated Millennium reaction, or just the curmudgeon in you? Parker: (laughs) Well, I never really thought of it as pessimistic! I had a lot of trouble coming up with the title, actually, and then I realized that the heart of the album was "Blue Horizons," which goes back into my childhood, with references to my parents and growing up. Deepcut -- one word -- is the name of the village where I grew up. So taking that as one half of the record we move on to (laughs) "Last Stop Is Nowhere," which kind of made sense to me; it seemed like a real trip to me. And "Dark Days." I never thought of it as a dark song, but I just love the groove! It's a better song than the Stones could come up with these days. But it should be a Stones song, y'know, I just love that groove. The lyrics just kind of popped out. I don't think it's pessimistic, I don't really feel that way myself. But the record speaks for itself; I really enjoyed making it, it was a lot of fun because everything just worked. Except for one track, but I dumped that and brought in "If It Ever Stops Raining", which the guys heard and said, "Yeah, we know those chords, we can do it" so bang-bang -- done in two takes. And I also have a couple of albums worth of songs left over, but I think I picked the right ones that worked together for this one. MoMZine: I like that track ("Raining") as well, because the glass is half empty or half full. And then there's the "if." Yet in the middle of the album are some upbeat songs. "Depend On Me" could be a bookend for "Wake Up Next To You" in its tone of devotion, while...well, is "Tough On Clothes" a nod to your child? Parker: Yeah, I play that one live a lot and I see all these couples nodding to each other and grinning, "Yeah, right, we know!" It's inevitable that you've got to get into that now and again. It's a very light song that makes people feel good. It makes me feel good as well, plus it's been a while since I really nailed a perfect soul groove like that. MoMZine: Absolutely! Still, your sarcasm is as sharp as ever. "High Horse" is a hysterical jab at pomposity... Parker: And then there's "Syphilis And Religion," let's not forget about that! MoMZine: I was about to say, "Syphilis And Religion," which is the other one I've heard you do live, and it's as cutting as it is true. When I listened to "High Horse" the first time, I was just grooving to it, but then when I started listening to the words I was like, "Yeah, great!" (laughs) Parker: Well, everybody gets it in that song, even me, you know. People get on their high horse now and again. It's a fun track, but the thing that I like is that music. We just got into such a groove on that one and it was great to get all that fun into the track. MoMZine: I've seen you a few times over the past few years and heard some of the songs -- "Socks And Sandals" for another... Parker: We've been doing that one for a while. That and "Syphilis And Religion" are some of the earliest ones we wrote for this band. MoMZine: What period of time were these songs written over, Graham? Parker: Well, it's hard to recall with that five-year gap and all! (laughs) I guess they must be about three years now, or more. "It Takes A Village Idiot" I wrote about the time of the Clinton thing, based on Hillary's book title of course. Although Bill did kick me into adding the word "idiot" of course. As much as I love Bill Clinton. That word just has to come up when you go back to the whole scandal thing that we went through. Of course, I made it into a song about me, or at least about men and women. And Bill exemplifies the idiocy of men in many ways. Let's see..."Tough On Clothes" is a bit as well. Actually, I have a lot more recent songs but some of these were so special to me I didn't want them to end up as "lost demos" rather than put in the ones I haven't played yet. I'm actually in the luxurious position of having two concepts for two new albums ready to go, and all I have to do is add some songs to those. That takes a bit of the pressure off. At least I know I've got some strong stuff still, and I won't go into that next songwriting binge and go through the usual agony wondering if I'll ever come up with something decent ever again! Which is still what happens to me whenever I have a blank slate, you know -- this is hard work! The anxiety is intense because I care about what I put out there for people. MoMZine: Do you think you put that pressure on yourself, where you sit down and think "I have to write this now," or do things pop out in short, sharp bursts of writing? Parker: Short, sharp bursts is the way I go, usually. I like to bang things out over a couple of month's period. And I guess what I have here is three batches of two-month periods, but I can mix them up and combine things from different periods of rather intense writing. MoMZine: By the way, "Short Sharp Bursts" would make a hell of an album title. If you want it, go for it! Parker: (laughs) That's pretty good, actually. I'll remember that one! MoMZine: One thing really stuck out for me on Deepcut To Nowhere. I've been listening to you forever, and I've seen your live show several times over your career. But your vocals on this record are among the best I've ever heard from you. Parker: Well, thanks! That's a good compliment for me, because I think that singers do get better up to a point. There's got to be a downhill progression at some point; the energy in the lungs just isn't there to do it. But I feel that makes this album is that I've used some of my old throatiness with some of the new "body singing" that I do now, where the singing comes from the whole body. My early singing all came from the throat; I was a novice, I came from the village of Deepcut working in a gas station to playing with a crack band and finding myself in the newspapers, and touring America the first year of my career. Some people develop a style by playing in bars for years; that's not me at all! I was a novice, I was green! Now, many years later, I still think I'm learning.that's the great thing about being in music for me -- I still feel as if I'm learning all the time. I did manage to get the facility that I have for my voice now -- the skill and the craftsmanship -- and combine it with the rawness of the early records, which you'll notice straightaway on "Dark Days." I haven't sung like that for years! But now when I do it I'm not straining. I'm very pleased with it. MoMZine: With the vocals, it sounds like you care about them more, yet I heard a lot of these tracks were recorded live as a band, one-off in a room. Parker: Yeah, they're live vocals. Well, I redid "It Takes A Village Idiot" -- it's a very tricky song to get on pitch. So the way we cut it was me on acoustic guitar and voice together off by myself in one room; then off in the big room were the drums, and the keyboard player was out there, and the bass player. Their instruments were separated pretty much, but there's a bit of leakage on them. I was separated on guitar and voice. The fact is, all the songs apart from "Village Idiot" are cut live -- acoustic guitar and vocals and the rest of the band playing! I just worked ahead of time to make sure my voice was up to it and the band played so well, it was just magic. It was absolute magic making this record! I think I may have redone the choruses on "Depend On Me" but that was it, really -- there was nothing much to fix. I just thought if you could do vocals that way with this kind of music, man, you've got a natural thing happening! Thanks to Dr. Bristol for the transcription and especially to Graham Parker for the generosity of his time, his spirit, and the joy of his lifetime of work -- so far! |
GRAHAM PARKER
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GRAHAM PARKER
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Copyright 2001 Bill Holmes
From Miles of Music MoMZine 8/2001 Reproduced with kind permission by Bill Holmes. |
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