Author: sayitwithgarageflowers

INTERVIEW – Nev Cottee: “My album took five years to write and a week to record”

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Manchester singer/songwriter and guitarist Nev Cottee has made one of the best debut albums of 2013. Describing his sound as ‘Lee Hazlewood fronting Spiritualized’, his atmospheric, late night laments are steeped in Northern melancholy and laced with psychedelic effects and gorgeous string arrangements. 

I spoke to him about writing and recording the record, hanging out with Noel Gallagher at The Hacienda, supporting Neil Young, stealing a bottle of rum from Richard Hawley’s dressing room and why he’s a brown sauce man…

Congratulations on your great debut album Stations and the single, Oslo, which is one of my favourite songs of this year. Can you tell me about the inspiration behind Oslo?

Nev Cottee: Thanks for the kind words, Sean. Oslo was written about five years ago. I’d been out there in 2006 to visit a Norwegian girl I’d met while I was travelling in India. It was a disaster.

When we’d been in India, being on the beach and swimming in the sea every day, everything was easy, but reality hit when I landed in Oslo in January and it was  -17 degrees! We quickly discovered that we had little in common and so it was quite a sad time. I was just wandering around on my own for three days. I guess that’s the basis of it – being really down, melancholy and thinking ‘what am I doing here?’, yet, at the same time, being confronted with this weird, magical place, full of bizarre buildings and a frozen sea. Lyrically, I was trying to write something that was a bit more abstract and non-linear. I was trying to get away from the standard love song thing.

I’d love to go to Oslo – it’s on my list….

NC: You should definitely go, although it’s £9 for a beer. Everyone goes to the shop for some bottles, then sits at home and has these little gatherings. It’s cool, actually. Everyone I met was extremely friendly and helpful – even that girl. Cool people, beautiful place.

Your deep, rich singing voice reminds me of Lee Hazlewood and Leonard Cohen. Are they big influences on you? I can imagine Lee singing Oslo…

NC:  That’s a big compliment. Who doesn’t like Laughing Len? I saw him in Manchester a few weeks ago and it was one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen. What a lyricist, what a songwriter and what a performer!

I couldn’t believe it – the guy’s almost 80 and he’s down on his knees giving it his all. He’s not belting it out, but he’s putting it all in there. There were about 20,000 people there and he was almost whispering. He is the man and he has an amazing voice, which is so low these days, you almost can’t hear it. It’s not as easy at it seems – the low singing thing – and Cohen and Hazlewood are two of the best.

I’m a huge fan of Lee Hazlewood and I’m looking forward to hearing the new deluxe box set that’s coming out later this year. What do you love about him?

NC: Hazlewood was just a freak and I mean that in the kindest way – his look, the moustache, and his whole vibe. It shouldn’t work, but it does. Something like Nancy & Me – it’s just really honest and poetic and all beautifully put together with the strings and the guitars. The guy was a musical genius and he passed it off with an air of panache. It’s all there in the voice. Listen to Some Velvet Morning – it’s totally unique.

Tell me about your album Stations? How was it written and recorded?

NC: It took five years to write and a week to record. I’m a slow writer. I’m working on it. The next one won’t be so long. It was recorded inside The Magic Lantern, which is a small space in [musician] Carwyn Ellis’s home in Cardiff. I think that comes across in the sound – the intimacy of it. Mason Neely [who produced the album] and Carwyn are very talented musicians – they can play pretty much anything and they both know when not to play too much. After I’d sent them my demos, they came up to Manchester and the first thing they said was ‘Why are you singing so high?’ I’d never even thought about it too much – I just sang as I thought I should. They said ‘just sing like you’re talking’ and that was really a breakthrough moment, because I found my voice, which is quite low.

I saw Carwyn the other day and I said to him: ‘thanks for introducing me to myself…’ I’m basically a vocalist, guitar player, and sometime bassist – Mason can put together a string arrangement to melt your heart, or pick out an instrument that defines the mood of a song. I owe those two a lot. They gave me my sound.

It’s a very atmospheric record – often melancholy in tone…

NC: You just have to follow your instinct and use everything you’ve soaked up. As the record was developing, I said to Mason, ‘this is pretty sad stuff,’ and he said, ‘Yeah – great!’

I’m not 21 anymore. Those days are over for me, you know. I’m not into fake rebellion anymore –  ‘I don’t need an attitude/Rebellion’s a platitude.’ I was just trying to make an honest record with no tricks. I wanted to make an album that might stand up with some of the people we’ve spoken about [Lee Hazlewood and Leonard Cohen].

The album has been described as sounding like ‘Lee Hazlewood fronting Spiritualized’, which is a brilliant comparison. It also reminds me of Richard Hawley at times…

NC: Hazlewood fronting Spiritualized? Now, that would be worth hearing. That’s just an in to get people’s attention. Hawley’s ace. I’ve met him a few times and he’s hilarious – a proper comedian. I was in his dressing room and he caught me nicking a bottle of rum. He was just laughing, saying: ‘Go for it’. He’d just sold out Shepherd’s Bush Empire and was driving home to Sheffield to take his kids to school in the morning. He’s a true gent. Everything he’s ever released is brilliant. The other time I met him he gave me a bottle of limited edition Richard Hawley Henderson’s Relish. Apparently it’s been made in Sheffield for over 100 years. It tasted awful. I’m a brown sauce man myself…

What other music are you into?

NC: Tom Waits, Scott Walker, Cohen and then people like Tony Joe White and Link Wray – old school, hard living dudes. That’s for vocals and songwriting. Musically, I love Jason Pierce and anything he’s ever done – i.e Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized. I also like The Byrds, The Flaming Lips, John Barry, Bill Callahan… plus all the big guns…

Close Your Eyes is one of the album highlights for me. Can you tell me more about that song? I think it’s beautiful. It has a ‘60s Scott Walker vibe, with gorgeous strings and rain sound effects.

NC: Yeah – I can see the Walker influence. It’s just a simple riff that builds and builds. Mason did a great job arranging it, with the bells at the end and the Mellotron choir. Wonderful stuff. It’s this idea of sweet melancholy. I’ve got a love/hate thing with Manchester and it’s just saying… the rain – it’s just a state of mind, don’t let it get to you.

Hot Air and Devils have a folk feel to them….

NC: Hot Air started off as a John Martyn guitar echo thing that just developed as we went along. Devils is a tune that we used to do with my old band, which we completely reworked.

Some of the songs, like I Want You and Nothing Is Certain, are quite psychedelic….

NC: That’s the Spacemen 3 thing. I got really into the repetitive psyche/trance/call it what you want thing a few years ago. I saw a band called Black Mountain at The Green Man Festival in Wales and it was like a door opening. I was in the zone – completely sober and straight, of course… Then there was my mate Nolan who played with Spectrum (Pete Kember from Spacemen 3) for a few years. I used to go to see them and I really got into his whole aesthetic. He’s a genius. Then I started listening to Suicide, 808 State and loads of other stuff… It all goes back to Kraftwerk, of course. I think my brother must have played Trans-Europe Express for about two years continually, when I was growing up.

You were in Proud Mary, weren’t you? What was that like? They were a Noel Gallagher-endorsed, country rock band as I recall…

NC: Yeah – a country rock band from Oldham! Get on it! Everyone was going to crappy nightclubs and listening to bad dance music, but we were at home listening to The Band, Gram Parsons and Creedence. We used to go to the Hacienda and be stood with Noel in the bar, having a beer and talking about T-Rex and Crosby, Stills and Nash, while everyone else was gurning and dancing very badly to something or other. We were very set in our ways. We did ok, but we should have gone to America. We supported Neil Young and he came over, shook our hands and said he’d been listening to the album. That was enough for me! We went out with Crazy Horse after the gig and they were these gnarly old dudes in baseball caps saying: ‘You gotta keep the flame burning, man. We’re getting old…’ and we were like, ‘Yeah, we can do that…’ Noel was very supportive – another true gent – and it was great gigging all over the place, thinking we were in The Faces. We were a good band and Greg Griffin [from Proud Mary] was – and still is – an amazing front man. He’s a natural.

After playing in bands for so long, why have you decided to go solo?

NC: I’ve been in various bands over the years – Proud Mary, The Second Floor – that’s Nolan’s band, who I mentioned before – and Folks, whose guitarist and songwriter Michael Beasley directed the video for Oslo. He’s a good friend and a very talented songwriter. Their debut album I See Cathedrals is a classic. I only work with the best…

I did a solo record because it was time. The band thing is over for me. I’m on my own now and I’m just getting going. I’m in it for the long haul…

So, what’s next? Can we expect a tour and some live dates?

NC: Not a tour, but some choice dates for the album launch. I’ve got a couple of excellent musicians backing me up and I’ll hopefully be playing some festivals next year. Watch this space.

 What would you like to achieve with this record and in the future? Have you got big ambitions?

NC: Like I said before  – I just want to make some music that’s true, which has something to say and that sounds amazing. I’m under no illusions about the state of the music industry. So long as people like you are digging it and spreading the word, then let’s see where it goes…

Nev Cottee’s debut album Stations is released on October 28.

http://www.nevcottee.com

http://nevcottee.bandcamp.com/album/stations

INTERVIEW – My Darling Clementine: “Art and real life tend to blur – it’s like we’re living in the storyline of a classic country song”

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Husband and wife country duo My Darling Clementine (Michael Weston King and Lou Dalgleish) prefer a strong cup of tea to Jack Daniels and debauchery, but can often be found arguing in the kitchen over chord progressions. I spoke to them about their latest single The Gospel According to George, which heralds a new, soulful direction, and their forthcoming album, which was recorded with Richard Hawley’s band in Sheffield.

Your new single – The Gospel According to George – is a tribute to the late, great country singer George Jones, who died in April of this year. Can you tell me more about the song and his influence on My Darling Clementine?

Michael Weston King: It was not intended to be the first single. In fact, it was not intended there would even be a single right now, but it only seemed right and fitting to mark the sad passing of the magnificent George Jones – a man who, both as a singer and a songwriter, was such a huge influence on me. The music and legacy of George and Tammy Wynette was very much the template for Lou and I when we began My Darling Clementine.

Two years ago, I read George’s amazing autobiography, I Lived To Tell It All. It makes Keith Richards’ biog seem like Enid Blyton. There were so many great lines in the book, so I started jotting a few down. The end result was the song The Gospel According To George.

We were playing in Kirkwall on the island of Orkney when we heard the news about George – we were just about to go on stage. We walked on and opened up with Good Year For The Roses. There was no alternative.

What can we expect your new album, The Reconciliation?, which is due out in October, to sound like? How will it differ from your debut album, 2011’s How Do You Plead?

MWK: We recorded the new album in Sheffield with producer Colin Elliot (Richard Hawley, Duane Eddy). We used Richard Hawley’s band, along with added violins and horns. There are some very interesting guest appearances, too – Kinky Friedman sings on one track and The Brodsky Quartet played strings on another. It’s less ‘old time country’ than our first album, How Do You Plead? It’s also more varied in style – there’s some country soul, country rock, Mexican and folk influences, too. All the songs are duets and lyrically they’re quite a bit darker.

How is it writing, recording and performing together as man and wife? Your songs are full of heartbreak, bitterness and regret. Is it difficult?

MWK: It’s very easy – they’re just songs of everyday life in our household! Only kidding. No – it’s not tough. Lou is such a fine singer that it makes my life easy – she does most of the harmonising with me. Lyrically, yes, there have been moments when we’ve been into the studio to do some vocals when we were less than happy with each other on that day, but that can make for an even more impassioned interpretation and performance, so, in a way, that’s good. Being married – and being together for 12 years – means there is definitely a sixth sense when it comes to singing together and phrasing etc. It happens without too much work – it’s a natural thing, I guess. However, we still find plenty of time to bicker about other things. Especially in the writing process, or over who is making dinner.

Lou Dalgleish: There is always an interesting mix of harmony and downright disharmony in our kitchen, which is where we tend to do most of our collaborating. It makes for quite an interesting domestic situation, as we thrash out who will win the battle of the chord or the melody line. Having said that, we usually know what each other wants and we usually agree. Art and real life do tend to blur sometimes. Although there are times when being married to one’s job can cause tensions  – it’s like we are actually living within the storyline of a classic country song – on the whole it is a privilege to be able to share the creative process with my husband. But don’t tell him I said that!

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Your songs are very much in the tradition of the great male and female country duets by George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner and Johnny Cash and June Carter. Are they intended as a homage?

MWK: In many ways they are, but we did not want to cover their songs. It was all about re-creating that sound and feel, but with new songs written in that style. Lou and I had always envisaged doing something together, it just took us a long time to decide what. I was listening, as I often do, to my old George Jones records one day and it struck me when I heard his duets with Melba Montgomery and Tammy Wynette that this was it!

What’s the appeal of those songs and artists to you? Why are you drawn to them? 

MWK: Well, for a start they are older artists. The great songs of George and Tammy, Johnny and June etc were not sung by people who were kids or even in their twenties. These were people either in – or approaching – middle age, who had lived life and felt its pain and joy. Lou and I are both of that age so it fits. These songs are written and sung from a mature, seen-it-all view, and I love that.

Your songs have got a very authentic, American country sound, but your first album was recorded in London. How did you nail the traditional country vibe on that record?

MWK: By surrounding ourselves with the right players, the right producer and cutting most of the album live. There was a clear brief from me to the band and the producer on what we wanted, and they all immediately understood what we were after. I knew they would, that is why I picked them. They were all old school guys who understand and play country music better than anyone else in the UK.

Any good studio anecdotes?

MWK: No daring tales of drugs, Jack Daniels and debauchery, I’m afraid. We’re all a little too old for that now. However, there was strong tea, for sure. There were the odd moments of tension and domestic disharmony between Lou and I. And occasionally the band had to be nanny to mine and Lou’s daughter Mabel, when she was present at some of the sessions. But it all went pretty smoothly really.

One of my favourite songs of yours is Going Back To Memphis. Can you tell me more about it? It’s a classic-sounding, country-pop tune. 

MWK: I am a huge fan of Tom T Hall – our song is kind of a nod to his track That’s How I Got To Memphis. A couple of years ago I was driving from Nashville to Memphis, and we were going along Music Highway, passing signs for the Lorretta Lynn theme park.

I just started jotting a few ideas down, I think 24 Hours From Tulsa came on the radio too and it prompted me to think of a guy, who has been out on the road for too long, going back to someone he left behind, settling down etc.

One reviewer said Going Back To Memphis sounded like a lost Glen Campbell song. If only!

Some of your lyrics and your vocals remind me of Elvis Costello at times. Is he a big influence on you?

MWK: Lou and I are both huge fans of Elvis Costello – in fact, it was through him that we met, but that’s another story…  Almost Blue [Elvis Costello album] is what turned me on to country in the first place. His immaculate taste in song choices and songwriters opened up a new world of music for me. From there on it was Harlan Howard, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Gram Parsons all the way.  It took Lou a little longer, as she was still entrenched in more jazz and pop in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but living with me, she had no choice but to listen to country.

LD: Although my family background was steeped in a love of jazz, The Beatles and pop music, I fell in love with Patsy Cline’s voice at an early age. It was like a guilty secret – listening to music that was considered very uncool and rather cheesy, but there was something so pure and beautiful about the way she sang. I had no idea then that I would go on to write and sing country music myself.

I was busy writing and performing within the “serious female singer songwriter” genre. Then, when I heard Costello’s Almost Blue, I realised that there was a whole other world of country music out there that didn’t have to be twee and embarrassing. Having said that, I have come to love the twee and embarrassing stuff quite a lot!

When I met Michael, he was way ahead of me in terms of country music awareness, and, to be honest, I resisted the call for some time. But before I knew it I was hooked, and, as it turns out, writing and performing as My Darling Clementine is proving to be my most artistically inspiring genre. And a lot of fun.

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I think your songs have a timeless, classic quality. What’s your songwriting process like?

MWK: I don’t have one – I’m constantly jotting and scribbling words down, mumbling into my phone, or, like most writers, just banging away on a guitar ’til I get a melody or chord progression I like.  In November last year, I was away on a solo tour of Europe for a month, so I did a lot of writing in the car while driving along the autobahns, singing into my iPhone. Then I fine-tuned the songs in hotel rooms. I have been soaking up country music for years – even more so since My Darling Clementine started. I’m hoping some of that classic stuff will rub off and come through in my new songs.

So, finally, what makes a good country song? 

MWK: The same thing that makes any good song – a strong melody and great lyrics. And where country music is concerned, the sadder the better.

My Darling Clementine’s new single The Gospel According to George is out now. Their second album, The Reconciliation?, will be released in October.