Music > Interviews

James

26/04/16

James formed way back in 1982, believe it or not. Since then they’ve created waves on the UK’s music scene. With massive 90’s anthems like Sit Down, Laid and Come Home, supporting huge names like The Smiths, New Order and David Bowie on tour,  they’ve never really taken any time out to rest on their laurels. Their latest and 14th studio album  Girls At The End Of The World came out in March and has been getting rave reviews. I asked Jim Glennie, bassist for the band, about Manchester, Alton Towers and why they chose to name the band after him.

You’re the band’s longest serving member- the band’s been together for over 30 years now. How has your sound developed over that time?

I suppose it’s massively developed from record to record. If you listen back to the early days of James those songs sound quite small and a little bit spindly – I don’t think we really knew what we were doing in the studio and we had a naïve approach to playing the songs. As you spend more time doing that you just develop a way of making the records sound different, more interesting, and you realise you can’t just play a song the way you might do live. You’ve got to deconstruct it and make it work in that environment. Yeah it’s changed massively; if you look at the records from the 90’s and the big anthemic sing-alongs, and then introducing technology, which was perhaps one of our biggest shifts, right through to where we are now. The last record we did, La Petite Mort, moved us on sonically. The guy we worked with on it, Max Dingel, helped us to give a power to the record which we’ve struggled to do in the past. Live there’s a lot of power there but it’s difficult to translate that onto record. Max did a wonderful job, those songs sound huge, hence why we worked with him on our new album too.

So the band is named after you! How did that happen?

It’s funny cos there wasn’t a huge debate on what we were going to call ourselves as no one knew who we were so it didn’t seem important. We wanted something that didn’t sound like a band, and we also didn’t want people to judge our music on the name of the band. We liked the idea of using someone’s name and also that the character of the band would be this person. We instantly looked at the names of the people in the band and collectively decided they’d use my name. No one ever calls me James, I was Jimmy when I was young and everyone calls me Jim now, so even though technically they’ve used my name it’s never really felt like my name. It’s odd, because people sometimes say to me “Oh you’re Jim from James’, and the two seem very different to me, Jim’s my name and James is the band I’m in!

When you were first together you played the Hacienda and released a couple EP’s on Factory Records. Did you feel like you were a part of the Madchester scene?

We weren’t really part of that obvious Factory sound but the good people there heard something that they liked. We didn’t fit their mould but they wanted to work with us – Tony Wilson was a massive supporter of the band. We were so difficult to work with back in those days, we were a right pain! We managed to get two records out with them but I wish we’d done an album with them, it’s a real regret of mine. We didn’t trust anybody, though, and we saw them as being The Business, which we were worried about, but in fact they were so far removed from that. It’s only looking back with experience that we can see they were just really huge music fans and it would have been a fantastic part of our legacy to have done an album with them.

You’re from Manchester – how has the city affected your resulting music?

Manchester’s had a huge influence on our music, and bands like the Fall were a massive part of my upbringing in music. I mean we toured with The Smiths, we toured with New Order, those things impact on your sound. During our early days we struggled in the music industry as any band does, it’s hard to find a place and doors to open for you, and Manchester supported us. We played, people came to shows and we got bigger and bigger and it’s all based around Manchester, it was where we got our foothold and were able to build a career on it. We were playing two nights to 10,000 people at Manchester G-MEX before anyone really knew about us, and before we’d had any hit records out. We were called Manchester’s best kept secret, and that then gave us the chance to jettison out across the UK and then worldwide, but it all started from playing to 200 people in Manchester. And even though we’ve moved away from there now we will always be a Manchester band, it’s just part and parcel of who we are.

Are you bored sick of playing Sit Down?

We don’t always play it. We’ve got a tonne of songs and the nature of James is that we don’t always do what people expect from us. That’s kind of what we’ve become; we’re not the easiest band for people to follow in that respect but we’re there at every gig and if you end up playing things you don’t want to play you’re just going to get jaded and fed up. We rest songs, like we didn’t play Sit Down for a year, or won’t play Laid. We don’t want to get bored with them, and sometimes when what you’re doing becomes dictated by other people’s expectations it’s a slippery slope. We need to be sparked and enjoying what we’re doing.

Can you remember the first time everyone sat down for that song?

It was in Paris at La Locomotive, a club. It was spontaneous and we had no idea what was going on. Then people started sitting down in nightclubs all over the world, on the beer stained floors. It became a beast that was outside of us!

How did your reformation come about, and was it meant to be a one off tour that just grew into a proper ‘getting back together’?

It’s funny ‘cos the tour was secondary to the fact that we were writing songs together. Myself and Larry the guitar player were jamming together and Larry called Tim and asked him if he fancied trying some stuff out with us, he agreed and loads of songs started appearing from those jam sessions. We wanted to turn them into an album but we didn’t think further than that really. It’s all about the new music to us, not to sound too arty but we’re creative beings. It’s a bit like an author stopping writing and just going around doing book signings. We love the buzz and challenge of making something which didn’t exist previously.

So your new album Girl At The End Of The World came out in March, and it’s a belter, really electronic and strong. How did you come up with that title and how does it sum up the album’s themes?

It’s based on Tim’s personal experience of living in California. He lives near a lake in a foresty bit near LA and the roads are really windy. Cars often overtake in really stupid places and end up going off the side into the gorge, and he was wondering what might go through your mind as you come round a bend and there’s a car coming towards you on your side of the road..those last few seconds. The song Girl At The End Of The World is about appreciating everything that was of value to you and the people that you loved.  The ‘girl’ represents your loved one, the person waiting for you at the end of your life. We loved it as a title and loved the imagery. It’s a great simple tune with a big sing along chorus and it’s the song at the end of the album!

Do you have a favourite line from a James song?

There’s a song called Strong which has never been released; it was a good tune for us but we could never make it work when we tried to record it for an album. “It’s not the defeat that shows up the weak, it’s how you respond when you’re down”. It’s about a boxer but obviously there’s an analogy with life. I just thought that it was amazing. We all fail, we all cock up, and it’s not the lack of those that makes you strong, it’s how you react when you have those disasters. If I was going to get a tattoo I’d probably get that one. When I’m drunk one night maybe!

How do you feel James fit in with the current UK music scene in 2016, and to what extent can you hear James’ influence in music today?

It’s difficult to say..I could probably list bands that I like or records that we listen to but we have quite a diverse taste in the band. I don’t really know how we fit into the current scene, every time we release a new record we get a whole new bunch of people coming along which is really exciting. It’s nice to see new young faces coming to see us for the first time after hearing one of our songs or seeing a video. I find that really refreshing. I think it’s great that with the Internet music no longer has to go through the machinations of the industry, stuff can just have a life of its own. You don’t get pigeonholed by the industry as much, they used to love doing that, who are you, who do we aim you at, that sort of thing. But the general public just hear a song and decide they like it, they don’t analyse it any more than that.

What’s been your most memorable gig to date?

Wow, there have been so many! I was remembering playing with Bowie at Maine Road in Manchester, and thinking that that was an amazing thing to have done. We played Alton Towers, we had a special James Day with 30,000 fans; you bought a ticket to go to Alton Towers and we played that night. Mental! We played the second Woodstock in the States with 300,000 people there. When I was a kid and I used to go see bands I used to go to the Manchester Apollo. I remember seeing The Jam there and it said “The Jam: Sold Out”. I looked up and it and I remember saying I want to be stood under this sign one day with the name of my band saying sold out..and that happened, so that was a special one for me. It was one of those amazing moments, a connection with the 15 year old me!

If you could see one act at a festival this summer who would you see?

I love The Flaming Lips. They’re an amazing live band and I’ve seen them play I don’t know how many times. They’re wonderful; their songs are uplifting and positive and great but they always do summat mad, fun and entertaining that engages the audience.

James play UEA on 9th May. This gig is sold out.