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Luke Haines is a rock and roll animal. He’s punched out window panes, shot at a roadie with a flare gun and brawled with Matt Johnson of The The. But that’s all in the past. Now, all grown up and very much a family man, Haines (previously of The Servants, The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder) is releasing his latest album Rock N Roll Animals described as a “psychedelic fairy story for children and adults”. Casting Jimmy Pursey of punk rock 1970s band Sham 69 fame as a fox, songwriter and producer Nick Lowe as a badger and rockabilly icon Gene Vincent as a cool cat, the story concerns the animal friends fighting a holy rock ‘n’ roll war against the Angel of the North.
Actress Julia Davis narrates the action from the sidelines while Haines conjures a sprawling, drum-light landscape of gently plucked acoustic guitars, chimes and recorders. Glass caught up with Luke to find out more about his “folk pastiche”. As it happens, it’s deeply rooted in his own past as well as sounding like what string quartet fan and one-time Pink Floyd critic Hans Keller might have called “a regression to childhood”. But after all, why not?
Hi Luke. Congratulations on the fantastically mad album. It reminded me in places of the sort of music you’d find on children’s shows like Ivor the Engine, The Clangers and The Herbs. Was that a conscious influence?
Yeah I suppose … but I was actually listening to a lot of cult chanting. I’d dug out some old tapes I’d had of some American Christian fundamentalist cults, hippie cults, that sort of thing. So I was trying to combine that with some basic folk ideas. I’d never really dabbled in a “ ”folk pastiche“ ” before and this album is a folk pastiche, in a way. It’s not trying to be genuine folk music, though I don’t know if you can be genuine about anything. Everything is pretty artificial but that’s OK. I’m alright with artifice!
I was also reminded of The Simpsons, in the sense that references to the likes of Jimmy Pursey and so on might go over the heads of younger listeners but older people might get it. Is this why this is as a story for all ages?
The original idea was the connection between Jimmy Pursey, Nick Lowe and Gene Vincent. They all dwelt in the Surrey town of Walton-on-Thames, where I’m from, at some point. So I wanted to write something about these three characters and extend my southern mythology that I’m rather obsessed with. But it occurred to me if instead of writing about these real people, if I kind of turned them into rock ‘n roll animals I could take it a lot further. The obvious thing was to make it a sort of children’s story.
But at the same time I didn’t want to be bogged down in just making it a kids’ thing. It is a pretty psychedelic thing, you could just sit down with this one and put the headphones on. You can kind of lose yourself in this strange world, get stoned or whatever. I think if you’re not listening to this album with the kids of course, then it’s definitely a good album to take drugs to.
Musically it’s similar to Piper at the Gates of Dawn-era Pink Floyd with cuckoo clock noises and this childish whimsy.
I’m slightly obsessed with the differences between English and American psychedelia. With English psychedelia it’s all about going back to the womb and with American psychedelia it’s about going to the moon! Anyway, yeah, I was very aware of that and I like all that stuff. I think it’s about the freeing up of the imagination.
The songs are pretty light on drums and percussion which adds to the dreamlike quality.
There are drums on there, but I’ve consciously not used a full drum kit on the last three albums. Just to get away from all that clutter. Cymbals splishing away in the background and taking up all the space … There’s more space to lose yourself in.
Can you talk a bit more about your southern mythology? You’ve said in the past that the north of England has been well catered for, so was this the reason for casting Angel of the North as the villain?
The thing is I’m not really that down on the north. But I do think it’s funny that people are unquestioning about the northern mythology in rock ‘n’ roll. We don’t doubt that for some reason fantastic music comes out of Manchester and Liverpool. Of course at times it has. But when say the Rolling Stones are written about, it’s never as if they’re a southern band. They’re just the Stones. The Rolling Stones are from Dartford. It doesn’t get much more southern than that. I was just playing around with this idea and I’ve tried to crystallise everything by setting it all in Walton-on-Thames.
I liked the idea of this great battle of righteousness between the Angel of the North and the animals taking place somewhere in a Surrey garden. The Angel of the North is a piece of public art and it seems to me to be a symbol of everything that is unrighteous. Righteousness doesn’t come from design by committee. If there were an Angel of the South, it’d be that statue of [Dr Feelgood singer] Lee Brilleaux that they’re proposing in Southend… I’ve never been that impressed by the Angel of the North. Every time I’ve gone past it on the train, which seems to happen quite frequently these days … I’m not a big Antony Gormley fan, so it seemed like a good thing to act as a nemesis for the forces of good.
Speaking of art, who created the cover for Rock ‘N’ Roll Animals?
My wife Sian [Pattenden, children’s author] did the front cover. Coming back to the kids’ story, I wanted to have that look so you immediately got some kind of idea of what to expect. It’s got more of a storybook feel to it rather than it being a cartoon. From the moment the whole idea of the album was conceived, I’d decided on that look. There is an actual story here and the whole look of the album was meant to reflect that. In a weird sense, it’s almost been the most conceptual thing I’ve done.
The story is partially narrated throughout by Julia Davis. How did she get on board?
I’ve known her for a while. Initially, I did all of the narration myself but it just sounded too menacing. I had this voice in my head that would have been perfect and it suddenly occurred to me that it was Julia’s voice. As I knew her a little I thought I’d cheekily ask her if she’d do it and I really thought she wouldn’t. She surprised me by saying yes immediately, which was great. That tied it all together and that’s pretty much how it came about.
Why is Jimmy Pursey a fox? Why did you pick these specific animals?
Jimmy Pursey had to be a fox. There was always this idea of him and he’s had a rough time in the ways he’s perceived. Maybe that’s deserved and maybe it isn’t, but I always had this idea of him from when I was about 11 or 12 and Sham (69) were having pop hits, this guy just seemed so unbelievably earnest, like “yeah I really mean it, man” kind of guy. That and he also had this cheeky chappy element to him. He seemed like a force of righteousness, even if it’s maybe a wrong-headed kind. Nick Lowe had to be a badger because he’s solid and dependable. Even when new wave was kicking off he was a veteran, he’d been around a long time. And Gene Vincent had to be a cat.
Sorry for the rather obvious question but if Luke Haines was rock ‘n’ roll animal, what animal would he be?
[Brief pause] I am a rock and roll animal.
by Thomas Newton
Rock ‘N’ Roll Animals is available from July 29 on Cherry Red Records on CD, vinyl and digital. Luke Haines plays at the Borderline, London on July 30.
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