Fairewell: I am the person behind Fairewell. But there's no point trying to deny it: my real name's Johnny.
I really enjoyed the gig I went to of yours last week. How did you think it went?
We were a bit pressed for time. Mainly because setting up laptops and stuff in front of a crowd makes it like doing it underwater, speed-wise. I think it went pretty good though for a first gig. Do you feel under more pressure setting up laptops in front of the crowd or does it kind of become like a fun performance?
It's like trying to run in a dream. I was very happy when we actually started playing. Next gig will be better. You’ve got a strong, heavy sound live. Heavier than the album… Why is that?
I don't know really. I suppose because heaviness is something you can "do" live, it's somewhere you can take the songs. Also I like heavy music. I don't know. I keep trying to elaborate as if there's a reason why, but I don't know why. It is heavier then the album though. Amen.
Your album Poor Poor Grendel has just come out. How come Grendel is poor? He's a dark Saxon monster who tried to kill Beowulf.
Grendel is a good guy in my opinion.
How come he's a good guy?
Grendel just appealed to me in the cartoon because of how he screamed and then I really like the John Gardner novel Grendel and I just felt a kind of affinity with him. I don't know why really.
Do you connect your music to Beowulf in the way that some bands connect their stuff to Norse sagas or Russian folk tales or whatever?
Not really, it's not a concept album. Someone did do a concept album called Grendel, some prog band, I think. But actually I'm struggling to think of a concept album that I like. One of The Streets' albums was a concept album, the second one, that's a good one. Actually The Roots released a concept album the same day as my album came out. And Korn released a dubstep album. Funny how things turn out. I saw The Times gave you four stars and Korn two stars. Did you feel a sweet sense of satisfaction there?
It did feel odd actually. Korn occupy this odd place in my mind, I was really excited by the "Blind" video a million years ago or whenever it came out, and I still can't get it into my head that they are terrible. I read an interview with Jonathan Davis where he recently declared that Korn were "dubstep before dubstep". That's a top claim! I wonder if Korn read The Times review and all bought my album based on the fact that it was two stars superior to theirs. Also I feel weirdly sorry for Jonathan Davis, I don't know why, he inspires a really patronising sympathy in me… I wish he wouldn't do that thing where he plays bagpipes, it makes me feel terrible for him.
When you're not listening to Korn who do you listen to?
I was listening to Locrian on the bus. Also I enjoy the music of Fairport Convention as well as other unassailable groups such as The Feelies. Actually I was about to put on a John Wesley Coleman record a minute ago. My flatmate is big into Goner records stuff so I hear a lot of that around that house. I don't really listen to a wide selection of stuff to be honest. At the moment my top tip is the Riverbottom Nightmare Band. I went for the Christmas theme, especially as it's quite niche Christmas viewing, and I stayed for the excellent rock music. There is an element of repetition and slight variation in your music and in some of the music you just mentioned. Is that something you are particularly interested in?
Yes. It's what interests me most in a way. In instrumental music anyway… I don't know why really, I never quite got over the discovery that you can just repeat something over and over. For the record this piece is of music by Simeon Ten Holt is my favourite piece of music. Which is perfect for me because it's minimalism but with really cool romantic harmony and doesn't have that kind of retro-future atmosphere that a lot of it can have.
There's no sax solos over choral harmonies, a la Jan Garbarek (who I like, actually).
Indeed! I find it hard to take saxophones seriously. I don't know why, I think I saw a programme when I was a kid where they said that the saxophone was considered the "sexiest" instrument, and then there was a soft focus video of a couple dancing while a man in a black shirt played the saxophone. This may have tarnished them forever. I like Jan Garbarek too though. The sax is kind of bad in that way. Essentially it suffered from sounding like “sex”.
True. If you're doing it right anyway. Away from music, and Beowulf, what influences you?
Everything. That sounds facetious/evasive but it's true. Just everything. Someone asked me on this interview for a blog whether I was influenced by books and films or whether "the modern world was enough", as if there are all these different eras of "world" that we can choose to experience. So everything goes into Fairewell, which may turn out to be a curse, because if I change my thinking then the songs no longer seem good anymore. Does that happen a lot? You change your thinking about something, or you decide you weren't into something as much as you thought, and then the stuff it has inspired seems worse?
Sometimes. I worry about not ever feeling satisfied with what I've done. But it doesn't really matter very much. It's not that I go off things, I just feel different over time. It's more that the songs don't feel like they have anything to do with me after a certain point in time, so even if they're good, it feels like someone else made them. Maybe I should take this problem to my GP. If you get some sleep and take this Paracetamol you'll be fine.
Actually, I just bought some herbal sleeping pills. Have you ever taken Kalms (the ones that say "sleep” on them, not the "daytime" ones)?
No but I have got some good codeine pills. Also, my Dad used to give me his prescription Valium.
Doctors never give you Valium if they can tell you want it. You have to play hard to get: "You know what I don't want? Valium. As long as you DON'T prescribe me Valium, we'll remain great friends!" Then a hearty slap on the back for the doctor and I'm out of there like a bat out of hell. That's how I see my next trip to the doctor playing out. I'm going to go in there wearing sunglasses so he can't see what I'm thinking.
Haha. You've said that everything influences you. Is there anything specific worth mentioning? Something the Fairewell fans can read about and get into because of your recommendation?
The film Manhunter and ghost stories by MR James.
How much of the music is made up of samples?
What, samples like of other peoples’ stuff? Well, the drums in “Honey Street” are made of US military test explosions. I found a CD that was music for lifts or something called "Forces and Atmospheres", I think I took some synths off of it but I can't really remember where they ended up. The bass line for "So May We All" is from this song. That was a fully conscious theft
How much room for thievery is there in music?
Loads. In fact, someone pointed out that my version of “In The Bleak Midwinter” contains a bit of whatever that music from the Hovis advert is. Who is your hero?
Good question. I don't know. I do have heroes; they've just all hidden behind the other thoughts in my head.
In an ideal world, which band would you go on tour with? Would it be Hayseed Dixie?
Yes. Haha. I'm going to sound mean here but hey… No bands. Touring is unnatural and weird. Sitting in venues that smell like food for four hours in the afternoon etc. Weird power struggles that are played out through banter in the back of a van… Sorry, I mean "banter" in inverted commas. I really can't think. Either No Bands or All The Bands. You sometimes play in the punk band Hygiene. How does that compare to what you do as Fairewell?
Well, I'm an official unofficial member of Hygiene. In fact, I wrote their Christmas single, which is (hopefully) going to come out in time for Christmas. That's the only real recommendation I have actually. Hygiene – Public Sector, it's the best album maybe ever. And that's coming from a close friend and official unofficial extra member, so you know you can trust it implicitly.
Who do you think is history's greatest monster?
Simon Schama.Natch. Thanks! Fairewell’s album Poor Poor Grendel is out now on Sonic Cathedral@oscarrickettnow