111 for 30 #006.5 - Catatonia - Interview 1998
A transcription of an archive interview I did with Cerys & Paul from Catatonia in Llandudno on April 18th 1998.
<INTRO> REVELATION COMES IN THE STRANGEST PLACES, THE BACK SEAT OF A FRIEND'S CAR WHEN YOU'RE SIXTEEN; BEHIND THE BIKE-SHEDS AT SCHOOL; IN RAMSHACKLE TEMPLES CLINGING TO MOUNTAIN SIDES IN TIBET; ON THE TERRACES OF YOUR FAVOURITE FOOTBALL TEAM; OR, MOST BIZARRELY, IN A GLORIFIED LEISURE CENTRE IN LLANDUDNO... FOR, I HAD A MOMENT OF DAMASCAN REVELATION IN JUST SUCH A PLACE ON SATURDAY NIGHT... IN A BLINDING FLASH IT CAME TO ME THAT WALES, THIS LITTLE, FREQUENTLY DERIDED COUNTRY OF OURS HAS PRODUCED ONE OF THE FINEST BANDS TO GRACE THE FACE OF ROCK 'N' ROLL. CATATONIA ON SATURDAY NIGHT WERE ABSOLUTELY AWESOME... I'VE BEEN TOO O.T.T. WITH MY PRAISE IN THE PAST SO THIS WILL PROBABLY RING A LITTLE HOLLOW WITH THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE HEARD IT ALL BEFORE, BUT BELIEVE ME, THEY WERE SO MUCH BETTER THAN ANY CACK-HANDED SENTENCE THAT I COULD STRING TOGETHER! THEY SOUNDED IMMENSE AND YET INTIMATE AT THE SAME TIME. THEY SOUNDED LIKE THE BEST POP BAND IN THE WORLD, WITH A SPECIAL BRAND OF POP THAT COULD EXPLODE AND EFFERVESCE ALL OVER STADIUMS WITHOUT HAVING TO RESORT TO BOMBAST OR WHITE FLAGS TO FILL THE SPACE. THEIR NEW SINGLE 'ROAD RAGE' IS OUT TODAY, AND THE DATE I SAW WAS THE FIRST OF THEIR 'RIDE THE TIGER' TOUR, AND IF YOU'VE GOT ANY SENSE AND LOTS OF MONEY, YOU'LL BE QUEUING UP FROM NEWCASTLE TO BRISTOL TO CATCH A BAND AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR POWERS. PRIOR TO THE LLANDUDNO SHOW, MORE OR LESS A HOMETOWN GIG FOR GUITARIST MARK AND BASS PLAYER PAUL (BOTH FROM LLANRWST), I WAS USHERED IN TO THE BACKSTAGE TO TALK TO CERYS AND PAUL...
CERYS: Good evening, thank you very much Adam.
PAUL: Good evening!
YOU'VE JUST GOT BACK FROM EUROPE AND THIS IS ALMOST A HOMECOMING GIG FOR YOU, PAUL; ALTHOUGH IF YOU DID HOMECOMING GIGS FOR EVERYONE IN THE BAND YOU'D BE VISITING ALL FOUR CORNERS OF WALES!
PAUL: That's it! We'd have to play here and in Cardiff... it's a shame that we can't play in Llanrwst really.
CERYS: And we could do one in Llanelli for Aled, and if we were going to be really fussy we'd have to do one in Pembrokeshire as well!
DO YOU GET MUCH OF A SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT BEING ABLE TO COME BACK TO THIS AREA, PAUL, AND PLAY HERE?
PAUL: Yeah, it's great. It's a shame that there isn't a venue over in Llanrwst because it would be nice to play there, you know? It would be good to do a proper, big gig there.
THERE'S GWYDIR CASTLE!
PAUL: Yeah, I suppose! I don't know what that's like these days; it's changed a lot I think.
THERE'S A LOT OF EXPECTATION SURROUNDING THE BAND, ARE YOU TAKING IT ALL WITH LEVEL HEADS?
CERYS: Well to be honest, we toured at the end of last year, we toured at Christmas and we haven't really had much time to think about it or to go back home and get back to normal lives. We went to Europe and had one-ish day off, well half and afternoon! And now we're starting this, so it's pretty mad. What's nice about it now is that it's the first time that we've had things a little bit bigger with lighting, people like that helping you out... this tour is going to be interesting from that technical point of view, but apart from that it's just like doing festivals, innit?
HAVE THE HOTELS GOT ANY BETTER, BECAUSE THE LAST TIME I SPOKE TO YOU CERYS WAS ON THE PHONE, AND YOU WERE DESCRIBING THE HOTEL ROOM YOU WERE IN AND IT SOUNDED A BIT HORRENDOUS?
CERYS: I remember that! We stayed in a gorgeous hotel in Berlin, a Four Seasons or something and, you know, the room was bigger than my house in Cardiff. The bathroom, wow... it was superb; a walk-in shower and everything! Everywhere you go they vary, but you don't see much of them anyway.
YOU MUST HAVE BUSY SCHEDULES WHEN YOU GO ABROAD, WITH ALL THE PROMOTIONAL WORK THAT YOU DO AS WELL AS THE GIGS THEMSELVES... DO YOU EVER GET A CHANCE TO SEE ANY OF THE PLACES THAT YOU'VE VISITING?
PAUL: You don't really... after the gig, if you hook up with a couple of locals you might get to go to a few bars but you don't really see much of the cities unless you have a day off... which very rarely happens, you know? I saw Berlin by night for about three hours and that was it! It was good fun, though.
I KNOW THAT YOU WERE A LITTLE WORRIED THAT 'MULDER AND SCULLY' MIGHT HAVE BEEN REGARDED AS A NOVELTY HIT, BUT THAT'S BEEN DISPROVEN SO FAR, HASN'T IT?
CERYS: Excuse me Adam, nice question... but that's a nicer ring (points to ring on my finger) I'm into rings at the moment! Back to the question, the way we think is that it's very early days still and, you know, we want to do this for a long time. Our main thing has always been doing songs, so that's never changed and will never change... but it's still very nice to have the support and everybody's goodwill... all the airplay on the radio. If you start thinking that's it, the end, then you're finished.
WHEN YOU THINK OF ALL THE GREAT BANDS OF THE LAST TEN OR FIFTEEN YEARS, THEY WERE NEVER COMMERCIALLY MINDED... IT TOOK THEM TWO OR THREE ALBUMS TO GET TO THE STAGE WHERE THEY WERE PLAYING STADIUMS, DO YOU THINK 'MULDER AND SCULLY' IS A BRIDGING POINT TO THAT KIND OF SUCCESS?
PAUL: Maybe, I don't know, we'll be able to answer that in a couple of years time! You think of a band like REM, they had Shiny Happy People which was their really big commercial hit and it sounded commcercial and good on the radio. I'm not suggesting that they went out of their way to do that, we certainly didn't with Mulder and Scully did we? (CERYS agrees) It was just an idea for a song that sort of fitted in with the idea of Mulder and Scully.Every body has picked up on it because it's an unusual subject and they are cultural icons, as we're being told by every magazine and paper now! Anyway, it was a cracking song and if some people have bought it because of the gimmick aspect of it then fair enough, I just hope they like it and they buy the album as well, you know? (laughs)
CERYS: The album has just gone gold! Where did we hear about it? In Gothenburg... or was it Hamburg????! Hamburg... and that was lovely!
THINGS LIKE THAT GET YOU EXCITED THEN?
CERYS: Of course they do because I don't like silver, I only like gold! (laughs) It's amazing when something like that happens, because you start thinking of your heroes and how many records they sold, people like The Velvet Underground, and it just puts it all into perspective.
IT MUST BE STRANGE TO THINK THAT 'INTERNATIONAL VELVET' HAS SOLD AS MANY COPIES IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS THAN THE VELVET UNDERGROUND DID DURING THEIR ENTIRE LIFESPAN?
CERYS: It's different these days, it's a much bigger business I'm afraid. It's still exciting, though.
IT'S AN EXCITING TIME, AT THE MOMENT, TO BE WELSH. THE ASSEMBLY, THE SUCCESS OF YOURSELVES AND THE OTHER BANDS, DO YOU THINK WE CAN MAINTAIN THIS POSITION?
PAUL: From our point of view we've not done it just to fly the flag of Wales, we're doing this for ourselves, AND we're Welsh! We're very much part of what's happening in Wales but I think if everybody just tries to do what they want to do, whether that's in the arts or politics, and they have those aspirations, then that is the best way to go forward.
DID YOU WORRY THAT INTERNATIONAL VELVET MIGHT HAVE BEEN TAKEN THE WRONG WAY, RATHER LIKE THE WAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S 'BORN IN THE USA' WAS MISAPPROPRIATED?
CERYS: It was meant to be a bit of a double-edged sword, it makes me feel good. I feel really good singing it... I feel really good singing it in Sheffield or Wigan and seeing people trying to sing along to it in Welsh! You know it's just knowledge and learning and positive thinking, that's what we try and get across.
DO THE PEOPLE ABROAD TRY AND SINGLE ALONG TO THE WELSH LYRICS TOO?
CERYS: Yes, abroad as well!
PAUL: People in Scandinavia singing along with 'I thank the Lord I'm Welsh', and that's great!