“To be honest, Pop was never a career,” former Creation boss Alan McGee told me once in an interview. “Maybe it was for people who manage,” he continued, “or the record company people--but for musicians it’s a moment that you burn brightly and you’re a star and you get to fuck supermodels and you become rich for five minutes.” Although that may be true in some cases, for London‘s The Bluetones, not only was music their first choice for a career, there wasn’t another one lined up in case things didn’t work out. In other words, as singer Mark Morriss says, “Thinking back to when we started (in 1994), I left university, we quit our jobs--there was no Plan B. We gave up everything to be in the band.”
With fifteen years behind them, consistently impressive record sales, a fervent live following and fans all over the world, it turns out they didn’t need a backup plan. On their new self-titled long player (and fifth overall) The Bluetones’ deeply melodic compositions (“My Neighbor’s House”) and probing lyrics (“The King Of Outer Space”) demonstrate why they’ve had so much staying power while their contemporaries have all but disappeared. After the release of their last album Luxembourg, word started circulating that The Bluetones were indeed about to disappear and that the album would be their last. An ensuing hiatus did nothing but fuel those rumors, until the band re-emerged with an EP in 2005. But Morriss, speaking from a studio in England, says the band’s imminent demise was greatly exaggerated. “There was never any danger of that,” he says, explaining that the band was merely taking a break. “There was always the intention of getting together again,” he adds. But while on hiatus, just to keep his chops up, Morriss says, “I went out and played acoustic shows just to keep my hand in it.”
The Bluetones is the band’s most realized work yet, a churning and elegant song cycle that tackles promiscuity (“Baby, Back Up”), the resonance of an argument (“Wasn’t I Right About You?”) and matrimonial capitulation (“Surrendered”) while somehow remaining continually catchy. However, the album’s piece de resistance is the fiery pop bombast of the aforementioned “My Neighbour’s House” which is a surging meditation on morality that urges one to have a sense of responsibility towards their fellow man. “It’s inspired from an old quote I read by the Greek philosopher Horace who lived in 11 BC,” Morriss says, explaining the inspiration for the song’s sentiment. Keeping that in mind, when Morriss sings: “My neighbor’s house is burning down/And soon will mine be too,” the notion seems to be that if we don’t help each other, we’re not really helping ourselves. “Whether it’s the war in Iraq or the desperate situation of Darfur, Morris says, “these are our neighbors even though they live miles away.”
Although the musical landscape has changed since the band’s inception in the early nineties, and all four members are now in their mid-thirties, Morriss says that being the elder statesmen of Britpop isn’t a pressing concern. “We don’t think about it that much,” he says, “and because it’s such a natural thing for us to get up and play together, in my head it doesn’t even feel like that much time has passed.”
While Morriss claims his most satisfying professional moment with the Bluetones was looking out the window of a plane as he was flying into Japan in 1995 (“I thought ‘Wow, we’ve made it’”) and one of his most dispiriting was finding his band’s albums in the garbage behind his old record company, he has managed in his music to keep a level balance between optimism and a creeping misanthropy. For example, in “Fade In/Fade Out,” Morriss sings: “Wave upon wave/breaking into your face/but it won’t drive you back,” yet in “Hope and Jump” he addresses an “emptiness that can never be filled.” This ability to straddle the line between hope and despair is one of The Bluetones’ many charms. As for being a bit of a misanthrope himself, Morriss says, “From time to time we all have that capacity to feel ashamed or disappointed in ourselves. Anyone who gives serious thought to the things that happen in the world can’t help but feel that way sometimes. It’s only natural.” It’s also only natural, Morriss says, to have a healthy sense of optimism. “Otherwise how would we go on?” he asks, laughing. And it’s that optimism that has kept The Bluetones as one of the most vital and enduring bands around--a feat that Morriss knows, within the ephemeral world of pop music, is quite an achievement. “I’m constantly surprised,” he says, of his band’s staying power, “I feel very privileged.” As for the secret to survival, he cuts to the quick: “You’ve just got to keep your head down and crack on.”
~Alex Green
photo: Paul Heartfield
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http://www.bluetones.info
http://www.cookingvinyl.com
THE BLUETONES' SELF-TITLED ablum will be released 02/13/07 on Cooking Vinyl Records.
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