The Charlatans had a bit of an eventful gig at Warwick, what with the fire alarm going off and everything. It was a good job Dave and Andy talked to Martin (bass) and Jon (drums) first.
You had a number one album, but apart from that you seem to have quite a low-key public image. Why is that?
J: I think that's what keeps our appeal with people - we're not trying to get in everybody's faces all the time.
Is it deliberate?
J: Yeah, I think it is.
You've stayed with Beggar's Banquet, you haven't been tempted by a major label - is that part of the same thing?
J: We're happy with the situation with Beggars.
M: If we're working with someone, we're working with them, give them 100%, but... the record industry's really boring anyway, y'know what I mean?
You were quoted as saying you didn't think you had another album in you after this one. What are you doing now, after touring?
M: Erm... do another LP?
So you've found a fifth album, then?
M: Yeah, I think we've come of age, y'know.
Someone said that whenever you do write new stuff, you always do it in Tim's flat. Why's that?
M: It's cheap. And there's a pretty good vibe there. It's actually there and Mark's flat, most of the writing's done in London and Manchester.
D'you think you're better off having built up over four albums, rather than having a big marketing push like, say, Menswear?
J: I dunno... with Menswear... I think once someone gets the ball they like to run with it, don't they? And it's the editors of the magazines, they've got to have something... even though they're misinformed a lot of the time.
A lot of the songs you do have a mellow vibe to them, they're quite easy going - does anything get you angry?
J: I think there's a lot of things that piss us off and get us angry, but I always have this thing of not going out on stage and patronising an audience.
M: We've been playing gigs for quite a few years now, and it's hard to make sure you don't turn them into shows, a gig's a gig, y'know. We've always found that a lot of people who shout a lot, they're not angry, they're just going through the motions, stamping their feet a bit. A bit like Carter... they were looked on as quite overtly political, but...
J: They ain't any more.
Tim is quoted as saying that "Up to our hips", your third album, wasn't very good.
M: That was a flippant choice of wording on his behalf. That was the turning point, that LP, that was the crossroads. But he got phoned up in the morning by some bloke with "Press" stamped on 'is head, he was being flippant on the phone, and he took it as being literal. So they just blew that up.
J: I think it didn't all come out that time, it nearly did this time, and it definitely will next time, you know what I mean?
You've had four albums now with the organ sound - can that be limiting? Some bands, for example the Inspirals, have quite a definitive sound.
M: Nah, I don't think so. Yeah, we've got the Hammond in still, and that's what made us different at the start, but we've used a lot of other keyboards, and the guitar has come on a lot.
J: It's the man himself, innit, that plays the keyboards, like - how many different variations of a guitar sound can you have, y'know what I mean? I think any instrument can have expression. I think to a certain point a keyboard can have more expression than a guitar.
M: I think a lot of people like something a bit different as well.
Which is more important - the musicianship of songs, or enjoying playing them?
M: I thinks the songs.
J: Yeah, the songs, more than anything.
How is working with Steve Hillage & Dave Charles? You've worked with them for a while.
M: I think, for the last two records, it's made sense not to rock the boat, 'cos we knew what we were doing was right. But Dave is basically an engineer, which is quite different. Producers tend to be a bit more philosophical in their explanations, and you think "oh, I'll have to try and get on his wavelength here", whereas Dave'll say "It sounds shit 'cos it's the wrong mic".
J: Steve'll be "It's shit because you got up late today".
You're supported by Northern Uproar on this tour, they're from a newer British scene - what do you think of them?
M: Ain't seen them. I'm going to watch 'em tonight. I've talked to the singer a couple of times and he seems to be very... er... polite.
D'you reckon bands like that'll take over from you lot?
J: Nah. Watch this space this year, there'll be some things happenin'.
M: We don't want to go into it right now, but you'll be surprised. And impressed.
The Charlatans were talking to Dave and Andy, in November 1995.
Find Eirik Gudmunsen's Charlatans home page, BackRoom Window, at http://www.ifi.uio.no/~eirikg/Charlatans.html.