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TIM BOOTH INTERVIEW PART ONE On June 13, 2004 Tim Booth spoke exclusively and at length to this website. So what have you done in the time since you left James? I’ve had an amazing time, a lot of time with my family which was really beautiful. The thing about having been the singer in James is that it was like an identity and it had a whole mindset and series of responsibilities with it, mainly to other band members. And it meant I’d taken time out to do things I’d wanted to do but nothing like the amount I’d wanted to do and each time I’d done, say, Booth and the Bad Angel or the play in Bolton, the band had been so supportive but there had been a sense, particularly with Booth and the Bad Angel, that I’d really messed up timing for James and we’d lost some crucial momentum. But at that stage, didn’t Bernard Butler ask you to go off and form a band with him? He did after we worked on Booth and the Bad Angel and yeah he wanted it like a contract really, to commit to three albums. And I loved Bernard Butler, he’s amazing, the best guitar player after Larry and Larry had left. But I felt that I owed it to James quite frankly because they’d given me time out to do Booth and the Bad Angel and I wanted to go and work with James again. I knew we had a lot of great songs left in us. So it just wasn’t the right time So did it feel different when you left then? Was it not just a case of saying “I want to take two years out to do this and then come back”? No, because all of the time I’m doing Booth and the Bad Angel, all the time I’m doing Bolton, I’m still feeling a little guilty, a little pressured and not enough time to do the stuff I want to do. So I felt I wanted a really clean break. I wanted to let go of that character and that responsibility and that way of thinking completely. Do you feel that you have? Yeah Does it not frustrate you that when you talk to people the first thing they do is to refer back to James? No, not at all. It just feels like a part of my life that was there that I’m really happy with but is not longer there and of course they’ll ask me about it. It’s probably why I’m getting any attention now. The media’s hard enough now, and if James hadn’t given me some I wouldn’t be getting any now. It’s like it’s so hard to get seen. Do you feel that you’re getting much attention for the new record? Not much. It really varies. I knew that the press would be virtually impossible because James never got good press for years. That’s why I stopped reading it. In 20 years of James, we probably got about four years of good press. So I knew the press would be an absolute nightmare. Lee keeps trying to get me to read stuff and he’s really angry I don’t, but he reads it and takes it so seriously and to heart, but most of the time I don’t read it unless I open the paper and see it. Talking of Lee and the rest of the band, how did you meet them? Lee was in a café in Brighton and hearing him talking about music basically. Inside Out it’s called, the café. We started talking and I really loved what he had to say and we got on brilliantly for about an hour and a half and arranged to meet up. Lisa was going out with Arte (from The loveGods) who was living with us at the time and Arte played me some of her songs and I thought “Wow, what a voice, what a beautiful voice” and he said that she played piano. The loveGods are probably to blame for quite a lot of this, because they were doing these slots at the Sussex Arts Centre and they said “Come along and do a little acoustic set, noone will know you, come and play four or five songs” and so Lee and I trundled down and we really loved it, it went down really well and they were very encouraging. And so for the next one, I was driving Lisa somewhere and I asked her if she was interested in coming and playing with me and Lee and joining us and singing and playing piano. And I thought she’d played piano on stage and I don’t think she ever had played piano on stage. She said “yes” and I don’t think she realized what she was saying yes to. And so she did the next few and they were really beautiful. After about four or five, it was like we wanted to do more of it so we thought we should start to look for a band. I had been doing these acting classes in London with Milo and the minute I’d seen Milo I thought “he’s really interesting, I like him". I think we went out for a meal after the second or third class and actors don’t do that, they’re really shy with each other and we got on great. I don’t think he knew at all who I was, I’m always happy with that. So we just got on, every time we went for an acting class we’d go and eat. And I’d been saying to Lee that I wanted a drummer, a really flamboyant one. I’d been thinking of Gavan quite a lot. I said to Lee “I’d like a drummer that stands up who doesn’t just sit down all the time”. And I remember about three days later I was with Milo and he suddenly told me he drummed in this covers band. He said “It was really weird the other day. My drumstool broke and I had to drum standing up” and it was just one of those things that clicked. I remember thinking I’m going to ask this question and if he answers right, we’ll give him an audition. Obviously the level of drumming I’m looking for is really high. With Dave Baynton-Power we had to go through about 106 drummers to find him and this was the first drummer we’d even considered. We were having this casual conversation and I thought I’d really give it to him and I went “So Milo, are you a fucking great drummer then?” and really looked him in the eye and he realized this was a really big question and looked me straight back and said “Yes, I’m a fucking great drummer”. I said “I’m really glad you answered it like that, would you like to come and audition with us next week” This isn’t to denigrate Lee because his musical tastes are awesome, but when I brought Lisa along, he was like “what are you doing? Where’s she going to fit? This isn’t right, you just can’t do it like this” When I came back and said that I’d asked an acting friend to drum with us, he said “have you seen him drum?” and I said “no”. He just thought I was completely mad. Within four days of working with Lisa, he thought she was great and he was the same with Milo, the minute Milo walked in, Lisa was at the rehearsal as well, and within twenty minutes we were thinking “fucking hell, he’s good”. And what’s more he hadn’t shown us half of what he could do, he played it very tight that day. And over the next few days started to show us what a beast he could be. There’s a lot more to come, we see it in rehearsal. He’s amazing. And Robin? Robin was this person Lee had kept going on about. He’d seen the favourite band he’d ever seen – Bone Muffin – and there was this amazing bass and guitar player from that band and Robin was someone he’d always wanted to work with in Brighton. He was the great multi-instrumentalist who he’d never worked with and Robin was in loads of bands. He’d asked Robin a few times and it seemed like he was really busy and eventually Lee just phoned him up and told him to “get your arse down here”. And Robin got his arse down. Robin was a bit diffident for the first few rehearsals. Immediately after the first gig, he thought something was going on and at the second gig he was a completely different person. He realized he was really enjoying it and enjoying everyone else in the band. I mean we get on awesomely Does that take the pressure off? It doesn’t take the pressure off, but I wouldn’t tour without it. But it makes it enjoyable. I was very alone in James and totally my part in that as well. There was noone in the band who was my best mate and now I’ve got quite a few in this band who are really close friends who I love to hang out with. So when we go up to Birmingham for a radio session and it’s six or seven hours travelling, I have a great time rather than thinking it’s six or seven hours away from my baby and my family. It’s now like I’m hanging out with my friends, doing a great radio session and then coming back. It’s such a different thing. It’s one of the reasons I wouldn’t do long tours with James. My son has moved in with me and he really didn’t want me to be away. That was one of the reasons. And I’d really smashed up my neck, I was really disabled for two years and in a lot of pain. And another was loneliness on tour. James would get pretty wrecked on tour, Lollapolooza was the tour from hell for us. James getting wrecked on tour wasn’t a problem but then if I’m not getting wrecked on tour then I’ve got noone to talk to so therefore I felt quite isolated. That was the problem with that for me, I’m not anti-drugs or drink but that’s not my lifestyle, partly because my liver won’t do it. I always want to be clear on that, I have no bone with that. Pardon the pun Pardon the plug. |