3 albums

[Iberian Red]

Nice 70s/80s choice.
The Slaves have changed their name,haven't they?

[RobTheRover]

Nice 70s/80s choice.
The Slaves have changed their name,haven't they?

Yes, now called Soft Play

[River Don]

Adjudication!

Does a remix album count? Because if it does I'll change my PSB nomination to Disco. Mainly because Paninaro is the best PSB track ever. And it's all generally a great piece of work.

Also are Joy Division and New Order different bands? Because I don't think they or the people at a Factory thought so. I think there's probably a good argument to say New Order /Joy Division is more different after Peter left than Ian did.

And a correction. LFO LFO is a single from the album Frequencies. LFO LFO was the single that Steve Wright in the afternoon said was the worst chart single ever. Which of course is a good part of why it's so good.

[Iberian Red]

RD, you're under investigation for FFP for that!

Joy Division and NO are 2 completely different bands,and don't try in your defence bringing up Ian Astbury fronting The Doors!

In mitigation you have a very strong point regarding Steve Wright,what a kitson.

[RobTheRover]

Adjudication!

Does a remix album count? Because if it does I'll change my PSB nomination to Disco. Mainly because Paninaro is the best PSB track ever. And it's all generally a great piece of work.

Also are Joy Division and New Order different bands? Because I don't think they or the people at a Factory thought so. I think there's probably a good argument to say New Order /Joy Division is more different after Peter left than Ian did.

And a correction. LFO LFO is a single from the album Frequencies. LFO LFO was the single that Steve Wright in the afternoon said was the worst chart single ever. Which of course is a good part of why it's so good.

River Don,

Funnily enough, I'm just reading the excellent Shadowplayers, about the rise and fall of Factory Records.  Straight from the horses mouths, NO were never seen as a continuation of JD by the three remaining members. They drew a line.  They only kept the songs Ceremony and A Lonely Place as tribute to Ian's exceptional lyrics, something Bernard admits to have struggled with on Movement as he tried to write with the same gravity and failed.  Only on PC&L did Bernard realise that the lyrics "could be any old shit" hence the last lines to Your Silent Face which they all agonised over finding something profound until they decided not to even try any more.

Also, Gillian was brought in as she couldn't play an instrument. They wanted her to have the same "making this up as we go along" experience they had.

[RobTheRover]

Oh, and I'll fight anyone who says Disco isn't a proper album. It is utterly brilliant.

[River Don]

Adjudication!

Does a remix album count? Because if it does I'll change my PSB nomination to Disco. Mainly because Paninaro is the best PSB track ever. And it's all generally a great piece of work.

Also are Joy Division and New Order different bands? Because I don't think they or the people at a Factory thought so. I think there's probably a good argument to say New Order /Joy Division is more different after Peter left than Ian did.

And a correction. LFO LFO is a single from the album Frequencies. LFO LFO was the single that Steve Wright in the afternoon said was the worst chart single ever. Which of course is a good part of why it's so good.

River Don,

Funnily enough, I'm just reading the excellent Shadowplayers, about the rise and fall of Factory Records.  Straight from the horses mouths, NO were never seen as a continuation of JD by the three remaining members. They drew a line.  They only kept the songs Ceremony and A Lonely Place as tribute to Ian's exceptional lyrics, something Bernard admits to have struggled with on Movement as he tried to write with the same gravity and failed.  Only on PC&L did Bernard realise that the lyrics "could be any old shit" hence the last lines to Your Silent Face which they all agonised over finding something profound until they decided not to even try any more.

Also, Gillian was brought in as she couldn't play an instrument. They wanted her to have the same "making this up as we go along" experience they had.

Alright,

Is NO better without Peter?

I'm not sure it is. They exist in that tension between rock and dance music. And I'm coming from the side of dance music.

[Iberian Red]

Adjudication!

Does a remix album count? Because if it does I'll change my PSB nomination to Disco. Mainly because Paninaro is the best PSB track ever. And it's all generally a great piece of work.

Also are Joy Division and New Order different bands? Because I don't think they or the people at a Factory thought so. I think there's probably a good argument to say New Order /Joy Division is more different after Peter left than Ian did.

And a correction. LFO LFO is a single from the album Frequencies. LFO LFO was the single that Steve Wright in the afternoon said was the worst chart single ever. Which of course is a good part of why it's so good.

River Don,

Funnily enough, I'm just reading the excellent Shadowplayers, about the rise and fall of Factory Records.  Straight from the horses mouths, NO were never seen as a continuation of JD by the three remaining members. They drew a line.  They only kept the songs Ceremony and A Lonely Place as tribute to Ian's exceptional lyrics, something Bernard admits to have struggled with on Movement as he tried to write with the same gravity and failed.  Only on PC&L did Bernard realise that the lyrics "could be any old shit" hence the last lines to Your Silent Face which they all agonised over finding something profound until they decided not to even try any more.

Also, Gillian was brought in as she couldn't play an instrument. They wanted her to have the same "making this up as we go along" experience they had.

Alright,

Is NO better without Peter?

I'm not sure it is. They exist in that tension between rock and dance music. And I'm coming from the side of dance music.

Definitely missing Peter Hook,and not the same without.
The last decent thing they did was Crystal,and in my opinion one of the best things they ever did.
Great comeback tune,and I' It was ovvioisly influenced by early days(JD) and MDMA proper banger.

[RobTheRover]

That's an interesting take, IR

I've seen New Order many times over the years, with Peter and without. Tom Chapman does a fair job of Peter's role in the band, but clearly isn't Peter. Part of Peter's appeal was the aggression he attacked the instrument with, the low slung stance with the bass almost on his right knee. New Order live now are still excellent if a little safe. I'm seeing them in the O2 in London next month.

I've also seen Peter Hook and the Light many times. I've got to say, Peter's JD sets are utterly brilliant. Far better than the snippets NO do now of JD (usually only Atmosphere and LWTUA in encore). I can't imagine NO doing tracks like Heart and Soul, Isolation or Atrocity Exhibition now. Peter does, and they sound powerful and intense, like they should.

[River Don]

Oh, and I'll fight anyone who says Disco isn't a proper album. It is utterly brilliant.

I'll put it in my list then.

[River Don]

If a remix album counts, does a compilation album?

Not that I would include, Now that's what I call music... But one of the Street Sounds Electro compilations might feature.

[RobTheRover]

VAR pending........

[BillyStubbsTears]

Adjudication!

Does a remix album count? Because if it does I'll change my PSB nomination to Disco. Mainly because Paninaro is the best PSB track ever. And it's all generally a great piece of work.

Also are Joy Division and New Order different bands? Because I don't think they or the people at a Factory thought so. I think there's probably a good argument to say New Order /Joy Division is more different after Peter left than Ian did.

And a correction. LFO LFO is a single from the album Frequencies. LFO LFO was the single that Steve Wright in the afternoon said was the worst chart single ever. Which of course is a good part of why it's so good.

This Steve Wright who got to No40?

https://youtu.be/MUJkOcbMlfo?si=Jr864VoJRzTdqOcS


Or this one that got to No61?

https://youtu.be/oH8e-RVggmI?si=-pagOCSh_s3PHUKw

f**king he'll. They don't make them like that anymore...

[River Don]

That's an interesting take, IR

I've seen New Order many times over the years, with Peter and without. Tom Chapman does a fair job of Peter's role in the band, but clearly isn't Peter. Part of Peter's appeal was the aggression he attacked the instrument with, the low slung stance with the bass almost on his right knee. New Order live now are still excellent if a little safe. I'm seeing them in the O2 in London next month.

I've also seen Peter Hook and the Light many times. I've got to say, Peter's JD sets are utterly brilliant. Far better than the snippets NO do now of JD (usually only Atmosphere and LWTUA in encore). I can't imagine NO doing tracks like Heart and Soul, Isolation or Atrocity Exhibition now. Peter does, and they sound powerful and intense, like they should.

I think it comes through in the song writing too, Peter always wanted a rockier edge, he wanted to get back to Joy Division and didn't like sounding like The Pet Shop Boys.

I do believe he and the other two worked on a new album but when Bernard heard it, he went mad and I think Republic might have come out instead. It would be really interesting if that album were to emerge. Peter said New Order were never the same after Bernard did the Electronic thing with Johnny Marr.

Anyway, I'll try not to hijack this thread with NO talk anymore.

[RobTheRover]

Adjudication!

Does a remix album count? Because if it does I'll change my PSB nomination to Disco. Mainly because Paninaro is the best PSB track ever. And it's all generally a great piece of work.

Also are Joy Division and New Order different bands? Because I don't think they or the people at a Factory thought so. I think there's probably a good argument to say New Order /Joy Division is more different after Peter left than Ian did.

And a correction. LFO LFO is a single from the album Frequencies. LFO LFO was the single that Steve Wright in the afternoon said was the worst chart single ever. Which of course is a good part of why it's so good.

River Don,

Funnily enough, I'm just reading the excellent Shadowplayers, about the rise and fall of Factory Records.  Straight from the horses mouths, NO were never seen as a continuation of JD by the three remaining members. They drew a line.  They only kept the songs Ceremony and A Lonely Place as tribute to Ian's exceptional lyrics, something Bernard admits to have struggled with on Movement as he tried to write with the same gravity and failed.  Only on PC&L did Bernard realise that the lyrics "could be any old shit" hence the last lines to Your Silent Face which they all agonised over finding something profound until they decided not to even try any more.

Also, Gillian was brought in as she couldn't play an instrument. They wanted her to have the same "making this up as we go along" experience they had.

Alright,

Is NO better without Peter?

I'm not sure it is. They exist in that tension between rock and dance music. And I'm coming from the side of dance music.

Definitely missing Peter Hook,and not the same without.
The last decent thing they did was Crystal,and in my opinion one of the best things they ever did.
Great comeback tune,and I' It was ovvioisly influenced by early days(JD) and MDMA proper banger.

Actually, talking about JD and NO and drug use, the book covers their use of LSD. Not enough for full on hallucinations but just enough to change perceptions. They really disapproved of Hannett and his heroin addiction, which led to his increasingly bizarre behavior and ultimately all the Factory bands stepping away from him. Interesting also that Hannett suing the other directors of Factory was over a misheard number that Wilson et al paid Peter Saville for his share of Factory after Saville relocated to London (and his work got later and later to be delivered).  They bought him out for £2k. Hannett heard £20k and went ballistic.

[Iberian Red]

There was a really interesting documentary on BBC2 some years ago(probably about 27!)about Prozac.
Barney and a host of other artists wer interviewed.  In the interview,he said that whilst he was taking it for depression it was the most productive period od his song writing and creative output.
They were all more into party poppers than hard drugs.

[Iberian Red]

Adjudication!

Does a remix album count? Because if it does I'll change my PSB nomination to Disco. Mainly because Paninaro is the best PSB track ever. And it's all generally a great piece of work.

Also are Joy Division and New Order different bands? Because I don't think they or the people at a Factory thought so. I think there's probably a good argument to say New Order /Joy Division is more different after Peter left than Ian did.

And a correction. LFO LFO is a single from the album Frequencies. LFO LFO was the single that Steve Wright in the afternoon said was the worst chart single ever. Which of course is a good part of why it's so good.

VAR has again deliberated and accepted remixes.
After all,the panel had a rerelease in the OP!

[Dutch Uncle]

At a tangent here (don't want to hijack your excellent thread IB) but did anyone else watch a brilliant series on TV (just seen it was in 1995 and 1997) called 'Rock Family Trees' which charted the evolving line-up of many bands and connected bands. Absolutely brilliant and I have seen nothing else like it. The book from the series is brilliant too.


https://omnibuspress.com/blogs/blog/rock-family-trees-returning-to-the-bbc

[Iberian Red]

Yes DU! I saw it

[Iberian Red]

Great interview with Will Sergeant,who mentions his favourite guitar players. Several have been mentioned by posters in this thread.

Will Sergeant Interview: “I don’t want to be nice or neat”
By Banjo . -September 1, 20230
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Will Sergeant Interview
Will Sergeant. Photo by Alex Hurst
Will Sergeant has been the guitarist for Echo and the Bunnymen for an incredible 45 years, providing innovative and influential guitar lines for one of the best and most respected bands to emerge from the chaos of punk. Here he takes us through his life and times, as featured in his latest book, Echoes.

Will Sergeant and his guitar playing have grown up in public and he has come a long way since strumming the chords that made up The Bunnymen’s first single, Pictures On My Wall, released way back in 1979. He has long since been one of the country’s most respected guitarists, always capable of surprise and of finding new or different ways to play his guitar.

Last week saw the publication of his second book, Echoes, focussing on the start of Echo and the Bunnymen’s rise to international fame and acclaim. The book is an essential read for all fans and scholars of both The Bunnymen and post punk music in general – see our full review here.


For this interview, Will and I took a table in his local, a traditional pub set on the picturesque banks of the Leeds – Liverpool canal to look back at his story so far and to see what the future holds in store.

He is an easy conversationalist with an equally easy sense of humour, something that readers of his books may not be expecting.

In your books, the young Will Sergeant comes across as quite shy and introverted, but you aren’t like that these days.
“In the beginning I was pretty shy and hid at the back. I still don’t jump about onstage, I prefer lurking in the shadows.”

So how do you find it talking about yourself so openly and in such detail in your books?
“Maybe it was all just being stored up and now its being released. The Bunnymen brought me out of my shell, the travelling especially, you just become more worldly, seeing different things and being in weird situations. The shy exterior just gets chipped away by all that. When I was at work [Sergeant was a trainee chef], when The Bunnymen started and we were doing gigs in London, the waitresses who used to work there said to me one day ‘God you’ve really come out of your shell’.

To me, London was like this magical land and once you’re going there regularly and you’ve got fans it does bolster you up somehow.

We were kind of arrogant as well, we had that Scouse arrogance going on and that was part of it as well, that shared bravado. But as you get older you get more used to things and become more grown up and you deal with things. “

How did you go about writing the book, did you sit in front of a laptop or did you dictate it?
“On a laptop. What I did was I had a book where I made notes of things that I remembered and I talked to a few people and then I started remembering a few more bit. It may seem like I have a really good memory, but it’s because things happened in a line. Plus there were months in between where we were just dossing around and doing nothing, so it looks like you remember everything but really you only remember key things. There are loads of gigs I don’t remember playing. But I do remember the Madness gig where we were getting bottled off.” [The Bunnymen shared an early gig with Bad Manners and Madness]



That was a strange lineup looking back.
“At the time we didn’t think ‘this is a weird bill’, it seemed to be like anything goes in those days. We were laughing about it when we got back in the dressing room though. Pete [De Freitas], scarpered that night so I didn’t get a chance to see if he was ok. It was his first gig with us.”

That was a hell of a first gig!
“I’ve gone through the dates and I’m sure that was his first gig. I can’t see any other from when he came to see us at Eric’s before Christmas and the London gig.

We just thought he was great. We didn’t really have anything else to compare him to, we didn’t try any other drummers, it wasn’t a case of ‘he’ll do’ it was more like ‘we’ve got a drummer now’. We didn’t audition him, we wouldn’t know if he was a good drummer or a bad drummer really, unless he’d have been really terrible. But we got Pete De Freitas.”

How did that come about?
“Bill Drummond and Dave Balfe went and got him. They’d heard about him and thought we should give him a try. The great thing about Bill is something will be suggested and he’ll just go out and do it, he’s dead good at organising and making things happen. He didn’t think I was going top be happy about getting a drummer, but the drum machine we had was limited. I had to tweak the settings between songs using little marks. It wasn’t a digital thing so if I moved a dial past a mark by about an eight of an inch and it would be dead fast, it was a bit of a nightmare like that.

Pete wanted to be a guitarist really. He played guitar at a couple of our gigs. We did a Scottish tour with Ian Broudie, we played the Outer Hebrides, places like Lewis and Skye and a few other places, island hopping a bit, and I’ve got pictures of Pete playing guitar on stage. Ian Broudie was playing guitar as well and he was also mixing it from the stage. We played tiny places like Portree Gathering Hall and there was one skinhead, one punk, a mod, a greaser, a hippy girl freaking out, there was one of everything in the crowd.”

Was this all part of the post-punk thing of wanting to do things differently?
“Yeah, it was like we were looking for new things, things that weren’t rock n roll. It’s like the way we used to have Pete at the front of the stage, so we were all in a line, we thought ‘that’s crap, having the drummer at the back’.”

In the book you have quite a defined post punk conscience, is that still with you these days?
“Definitely, always trying to avoid what everybody else was doing, like boring chord sequences where you know what the next chord is going to be, that’s what we were trying to avoid. But we didn’t think about it, it was just natural. We didn’t think ‘what can we do to be different’, we just knew we were avoiding all that corny stuff, rock n roll Chuck Berry guitar lines and that kind of stuff.

It was all new at the time. I mean, you can’t imagine Joy Division doing Roll Over Beethoven can you?”

One of the things that amazes me about your story is you Mac and Les all got together to form a group and then you got Pete involved, and it just so happened to turn out that Mac has this incredible voice, and it just so happened that you became this incredibly influential guitarist, Les turned out to be a cool and melodic bass player and it just so happened that Pete De Freitas was one of the world’s best drummers. How does that happen, do the stars all align perfectly and things just happen to turn out like this?
“I’ve got no idea. It just seemed to work out. And it’s still going, we’re off to America in November and we have the orchestral Ocean Rain gigs coming up, we’re playing the Albert Hall and the Liverpool M&S Arena. There’s still loads of people who want to come and see us. It’s great, but I don’t understand how we ended up here.

We weren’t like, say U2, who got massive because they played every little town in America several times and the word got around and they had a real grass roots thing going on, but we didn’t have the patience for that. We weren’t doing it to become the biggest band in the world.

Bill told us that when we played the Lyceum with U2, their manager came up to Bill and said they wanted to change the settings on the mixing desk, and we were headlining so Bill told him no. And he said to Bill “you’re going to regret this Drummond” or something like that. Haha, threatened by U2! Bill said make sure you put that in your book! But I forgot. Maybe it can go in the next one.”

When did you feel that you’d first made it as a band, that you were becoming successful?
“I think probably playing The Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles or the first American tour we did. It was nuts, all of a sudden we were in America. You know, I’d been to Rhyll for three days. That was pretty good. Especially for me as a big Doors fan.”

You got compared to The Doors quite a bit back in the day.
“I was the only one who liked The Doors, none of the others liked them. It was only because I was playing them all the time in the van that they started getting used to it and liking it. The first time I heard The Doors was when my brother had Strange Days. I went to his house in Pinner, on the outskirts of London, and he played Strange days and I thought ‘that’s fantastic!’ and I went up and bought it out of my paper round money and then started getting all The Doors records and I just became obsessed with them. They were by far my favourite band until punk came along. Them and The Velvets.”

By the time we get to the end of book two, at that point are you surprised at how your life is turning out?
“I’m still surprised. Things were just happening, it wasn’t the be all and end all to us, or to me at least, that we became this big band, it was the doing of it. That was the reward. I wasn’t arsed about chart positions or going on Top of the Pops, I hated Top of the Pops.

One time we were due on Top of the Pops doing Sevens Seas and I went to the Lake District and they had to put Jake [Brockman, Bunnymen associate and keyboard player] in disguise on guitar.”



Mac has described Heaven Up Here as being ‘Will’s album’. Would you agree with that?
“It’s all of us on that album. I was a bit of a control freak in the studio with Heaven Up Here, I told Pete not to play cymbals but he just embraced it, went onto the toms and started this whole new vibe. Cymbals just seemed a bit rocky and also they filled up the part of the aural landscape where I wanted to live, that thin, high guitar sound, like Subway Sect and The Fall. So it was kind of a selfish thing, but it turned out alright.

A lot of people in bands love it, I know Flea [Red Hot Chilli Peppers] loves it. He got in touch with me and said ‘you’re in my book, do you want a copy?’ and I already had it so I sent him a picture of me holding it saying ‘what, this rubbish? Do you mind not interrupting when I’m reading!’ Ha ha.”

You’re two quite different bands though.
“Well I think it’s Les’ bass being quite prominent, in that spiky way, and we had elements of funk. I mean we thought it was funk, it was the whitest version of funk you’re going to come across, it was that choppy stuff, which was a bit Velvets, a bit Talking Heads, so we had that element in there and I think that’s what the Chilli Peppers picked up on.””

In the early days, would you ever have described yourself as a punk?
“Yes. We were all punks. But it was more Fall area punk, or Wire. We were definitely punks and we were into the punk thing, the whole attitude of it was great.

It started out, for me, with people like Dr Feelgood, it was more their attitude than the rhythm & blues music they used to play. But we didn’t know there was other stuff going on as well, like I’d never heard of Can then. I’d heard of The Residents. Whatever John Peel was playing, that’s what we’d heard. We didn’t have access to the Internet back then, you had to work hard to find things, a lot of it was just word of mouth.

That’s what was great about Eric’s, you’d hear loads of records you’d never heard before because Norman the DJ was playing loads of stuff. It must have been the same in the 60s with all the psych stuff going on in places like UFO, Middle Earth and those clubs.”

For me, that was the natural progression of punk, from bands like The Pistols and The Clash into the likes of Wire and The Slits and then into Joy Division and The Bunnymen. And to me it was such a shame that it became about The Lurkers and then The Exploited and that kind of thing, that wasn’t the progression that seemed to have started and that you were part of.
“Right. As soon as the first photo was taken for money of a punk with a Mohican on the Kings Road that was the end of punk. When you had gangs of punks waiting for tourists to give them a few bob for a photo. It was more arty than that, with Vivienne Westwood and Jamie Reid, they were instrumental in giving it a whole arty vibe.

The term post punk hadn’t been invented at the time so no one knew what to call us. We were called post-modernist for a while, then long overcoat music, then neo-psychedelia. We had loads of stupid titles. Nowadays, people think we’re goth!”

How would you describe The Bunnymen’s music?
“I don’t know. Interesting rock music maybe.”

I was watching Ian McCulloch on the Classic Songwriters series on Sky Arts, and he had a group of musicians playing Bunnymen music while he sang a few hits. The guitarist was playing your parts note for note, but it didn’t sound the same, it sounded too nice and neat.
“That’s good, I don’t want to be nice or neat.”

Who would you count as your favourite guitarists, then and now?
“At the beginning it would have been Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Robbie Krieger, Phil Manzanera. The Tom Verlaine & Richard Lloyd, that combo, Andy Gill and Barney from New Order/Joy Division. I really like a few other people now, like Gábor Szabó. He’s kind of a jazz guitarist, but he uses an acoustic guitar with a pickup and he gets this rattly horrible feedback, but it’s kind of interesting what he does.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Fairport Convention and Richard Thompson. I’m pretty sure Tom Verlaine mentioned him in an interview a few years ago and when you listen to a lot of Richard Thompson you can spot bits of Tom Verlaine’s sound in there. He definitely has the same intensity as Tom Verlaine and some of the weird timing. He has a song called A Sailor’s Life and it’s very Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine.”



Were any of those a direct influence on the music you’ve made?
“Obviously Wilko Johnson.”

I must admit I don’t hear much Wilko in your music.
“I got a black Telecaster because of Wilko Johnson and I think Crocodiles is the most Wilko-ish one. I can’t play like he does of course.”

How does it feel still playing songs like Rescue these days?
“I have no problem with it, it’s the only time I ever hear them.”

You don’t listen to you own records?
“I played Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here when I was doing the books, trying to remember what were doing in the studio. They sounded good. There is obviously sounds in there that niggle me, but at the time they were really annoying. You know, “why did I do that” or “I wish I’d played that part a bit thicker”, that sort of thing. I used to go away really upset, with butterflies in the stomach, but the bad butterflies that mean you’re worried.

Now I don’t worry about it at all, it is what it is, but there are things that I wish we’d done slightly different. I thin we should have had more of Les’ bass on there, but Les kind of like it twangy.”

What would you say is your favourite Bunnymen album?
“Probably Heaven Up Here or Ocean rain. I’d say my least favourite is Crocodiles of the first four. I still like it better than the Grey Album.”

The Grey Album was kind of a comeback album wasn’t it.
“Yeah, we had a year off. Bill Drummond came up with that one. That was a stupid idea. I remember Roxy Music had a year off and we were really disappointed to hear that they were going away for ma year, but when they came back they were different. They’d gone a bit softer, and so had we. We’ve done some good ones since, Siberia is pretty good and I like Flowers.”



What’s next for Echo and the Bunnymen?
“We’re doing an album and it’s just taking ages. There’s no release date set yet though.”

And what’s next for you, book part three?
“Yeah, I’ve already started cataloguing what I want to write about. I put things in a big long list and get it all in the right order and then hone in on things. People ask me how to write a book, but it’s just things that happened, I don’t think it’s hard.

I’ve been reading Clive James lately, a book called Cultural Amnesia, it takes people out of history and writes a paragraph on them. It’s funny, he’s dead sarky. I’m not like him though, he’s a proper writer.”

You don’t think you’re a proper writer?
“I don’t think I’m a proper anything. I like it when people tell me they’ve read my book. I’ve already had emails from people saying ‘I’ve finished your book already, loved it’ and that kind of thing.”

It is easy to read. I kept thinking ‘just another page and then I’ll put it down’, but it isn’t easy to put down.
“That’s what I wanted, I didn’t want it to be full of technical stuff about the studio. There is a bit of that in, but not loads. I wanted it to be easy to read, why would you read a book that was difficult.”

It doesn’t necessarily follow though that just because someone is a good singer or a good guitarist that they’ll also be good at writing books.
“Well I started writing when there was a label putting out the Bunnymen back catalogue with these really cool covers and they asked me to write the sleeve notes and that’s when I first started thinking that I was able to explain things. I like being descriptive, I like seeing how a curtain falls or whatever and being able to describe it. It’s like painting with words.

In the first book I loved going back to when I was a kid and remembering what it was like, and my mates from school and playing by the canal. All the stuff we used to get up to like breaking greenhouse windows and stuff like that.

The next one is going to be Porcupine and Ocean Rain. Also, me, Les, Jake and Bill Butt went on holiday to Russia, or the Soviet Union as it was back then. That was the best holiday I’ve ever had I think, it was certainly the most memorable one. It was horrible but it was memorable. When we came back we looked like we’d been in a gulag for two weeks, we were a couple of steps away from eating each other’s boots.”

So is it going to be a series of books, each covering a couple of albums?
“I’d like to branch out, maybe write a book on psychedelic bands or… I’ve got a couple of ideas for fiction books. I’ve got a cold war story, I love all those Len Deighton and John Le Carre books, where spies are like shady, grubby little figures, they’re not James Bond. That’s what they are really, they have to blend in and don’t want to be standing out, Like the Rosenbergs in America, they looked like an average couple. Sleepers.

I’ll probably never do it, but I’ve done about half of it. I’ve started a sci-fi novel as well. Actually I started that ages ago, probably before I did the sleeve notes for the Bunnymen albums. I’ve done 17 chapters on that, it’s got a proper story and strange worlds.”

And maybe that’s a good place to draw things to a close, with tales of strange worlds and promises of things to come. Despite his protestations, Will Sergeant is very much a real writer. His two books so far come strongly recommended and the idea of novels is one that we hope is soon realised.

In the meantime, there is plenty for his fans to delve into, both with the Bunnymen and under his own steam.

[wilts rover]

This is the Fairport/Richard Thompson song he mentions (with Sandy Denny on vocals) - nearly 55 years old - frightening!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygi8v7UcNMs

[tommy toes]

I've seen Richard Thompson several times in recent years.
He's a great guitarist, acoustic or electric.

[SydneyRover]

This is the Fairport/Richard Thompson song he mentions (with Sandy Denny on vocals) - nearly 55 years old - frightening!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygi8v7UcNMs

We have friends that have gone to Cropredy, never missed a year I would think.

[Reg of the Rovers]

Sorry I'm late to the party on this amazing thread. Lovely getting to know fellow Rovers better with an insight in to their music tastes! We should do a films and books version as well to round off the psychological profile! I was born 1980 so a glut of stuff for me to choose from 90's and early 00's before life takes over! Thanks for this thread.

Pre-80’s
Velvet Underground – self titled
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
Nick Drake – Bryter Layter

1980:
Pixies – Surfer Rosa
The Fall – Perverted by Language
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation

1990:
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Slint – Spiderland

2000:
Arab Strap – The Red Thread
Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Two Lone Swordsmen – Further Reminders

2010:
Battles – Gloss Drop
Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

2020:
Mogwai – As The Love Continues
Low – Hey What
Sigur Ros - ATTA

[Iberian Red]

Sorry I'm late to the party on this amazing thread. Lovely getting to know fellow Rovers better with an insight in to their music tastes! We should do a films and books version as well to round off the psychological profile! I was born 1980 so a glut of stuff for me to choose from 90's and early 00's before life takes over! Thanks for this thread.

Pre-80’s
Velvet Underground – self titled
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
Nick Drake – Bryter Layter

1980:
Pixies – Surfer Rosa
The Fall – Perverted by Language
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation

1990:
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Slint – Spiderland

2000:
Arab Strap – The Red Thread
Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Two Lone Swordsmen – Further Reminders

2010:
Battles – Gloss Drop
Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

2020:
Mogwai – As The Love Continues
Low – Hey What
Sigur Ros - ATTA

Good call Reg! Your 70s/80s could all have found there way on my list too.
I saw My Bloody Valentine(just watched Creation Stories,very interesting) at around that time at Sheffield Arena on the lollapalooza festival tour. I can't remember many others on the bill(anyone help?), but do remember a very young Blur were bottomed of the bill!
Interesting to see that your 2020s selection are all older bands that have been around for years.
Maybe that's a consequence of spotify killing the traditional album in favour of hit singles for all but alternative/well established artists?
Since some of the great contributions on here,I've probably changed my mind regarding about 60% of my original choice.
 Some are even albums I forgot I owned!

[Iberian Red]

Thinking about the Arena gig,maybe Jesus and Mary Chain,Primal Scream were on the bill too.
If anyone else was there,it would be good to hear.
It was not long after Sheffield hosted the WS games,and the Don Valley had been redeveloped. Unfortunately the Take Two,which was a great little venue(apart from having a column in the middle of it)disappeared with that development.

[Reg of the Rovers]

Sorry I'm late to the party on this amazing thread. Lovely getting to know fellow Rovers better with an insight in to their music tastes! We should do a films and books version as well to round off the psychological profile! I was born 1980 so a glut of stuff for me to choose from 90's and early 00's before life takes over! Thanks for this thread.

Good call Reg! Your 70s/80s could all have found there way on my list too.
I saw My Bloody Valentine(just watched Creation Stories,very interesting) at around that time at Sheffield Arena on the lollapalooza festival tour. I can't remember many others on the bill(anyone help?), but do remember a very young Blur were bottomed of the bill!
Interesting to see that your 2020s selection are all older bands that have been around for years.
Maybe that's a consequence of spotify killing the traditional album in favour of hit singles for all but alternative/well established artists?
Since some of the great contributions on here,I've probably changed my mind regarding about 60% of my original choice.
 Some are even albums I forgot I owned!

Thanks Iberian, I was cheating a bit on the 2020's - sticking the most recent releases from 3 of my fave bands in there! I've seen most of my picks - Nick Drake, JD and MBV excluded so I'm jealous! I saw John Cale playing the VU songs in Liverpool so I'm counting that  Great thread, I'll keep my eye out for the films and books edition coming soon!!

[Iberian Red]

I've got a bit of John Cale in my collection,lucky you getting to see that.
I skipped Lou Reed playing locally for me about 18 years as the tickets were about £80. What a regret.
Edit:
It was Rollercoaster tour.
Also there was no Primal Scream on the bill.
It was 1992,so that's my defence for having a memory lapse.
The full line up was,
Jesus and Mary Chain,
My Bloody Valentine,
Dinosaur Jr,
Blur.
Blur had yet to reinvent their sound at that time,and were nothing like later albums.

[Ye-Aul-Tavern]

Tough one
I was born 64 so the 60’s albums are obviously retrospective
60s
Led zepp
Cream  - Disraeli Gears
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

70s
Powerage - AC/DC
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Van Halen - Van Halen

80s
No Sleep Till Hammersmith - Motorhead
Hysteria - Def Leppard
Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden

90s
Use your Illusion - GNR
Backstreet Symphony - Thunder
Painkiller - Judas Priest

00s
Blackbird - Alter Bridge
The Sound of Madness - Shinedown
Hybrid Theory - Linkin Park

10s
AM - Artic Monkeys
Viscous - Halestorm
13 - Black Sabbath

20s
Death by Rock and Roll - Pretty Reckless
IMPERATIVE - Ghost
Sunrise on Slaughter Beach - Clutch

Good man Roversdude. Another Rocker like myself.

[Iberian Red]

Come on then Ye Auld,let's be having you selection.