Features
"Did you ever see a man coming out of Dublin City with a frog in his hand?"
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Gavin Friday, performance artist, avant garde Glam rocker, art terrorist and about a million other pigeon hole media labels that neither appear to describe the man his music or his art. Yet he is all of these things and more. From the days of THE VIRGIN PRUNES, as confrontational a conundrum of avant gardisms as you are likely to find, all sexual ambiguity and lipgloss transvestite rock n’ roll. He's never been afraid to go "out there" wherever that may be. He has worked with such luminaries as THE FALL, COIL AND MARIA MCKEE, as well as collaborating with SINEAD O'CONNOR and some chap by the name of BONO on the soundtrack of “IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER”. Gavin’s long time friendship with BONO is well documented and is at best not much more than a side issue. A personal private thing that seemed to Intentionally or not avoid any artistic collaboration until fairly recently. Gavin Friday has an almost mythical status. An Influence more far reaching than he's likely to be given credit for. Blurring the boundaries of music and art (he had his first exhibition in 1987). As well as everything else, he opened THE BLUE JAYSUS, a 24-hr. cabaret cafe/club in Dublin. Are you starting to get the picture? We met in Glasgow on a cold December night. I drank the Guinness, he drank the lager. The following is but a tiny snippet of what ensued: |
THERE SEEMS TO BE QUITE A STRONG 70's INFLUENCE IN SOME OF YOUR WORK. IS THAT A PARTICULARLY STRONG TIME FOR YOU? "Well yeah. In 1972 I was twelve, then it's your teens, you only have them once and that's an Important time when you learn about Independence from your parents, about sexuality. At that time the first record I ever bought was a T-REX record. At that age you can get it all wrong, the first time you kiss someone or fuck someone you never forget that. The thing with BOLAN, he died young so he could never fuck the myth the way BOWIE did. BOWIE was a genius, but he definitely fucked that myth. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF BOWIE'S NEW STUFF? "I think what BOWIE did between 70 and 80 was so incredible, but I keep waiting for him to make a great record. I think on paper the new stuff was gonna be great but It doesn't have the edge. “OUTSIDE” for me has too much Information and not enough good tunes. I really liked the single “HEART’S FILTHY LESSON”. I just think he's trying too hard. JAMES DEAN died JIMI HENDRIX died. With BOLAN who knows what he might have done if he was still around." WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO DO A VERSION OF BOLAN'S 'THE SLIDER? "THE SLIDER” was just a jam in the studio on a really down day when we were just mucking around. We thought Let’s do T-REX, but let’s bring him into the science fiction fucked up nineties, It’s an unusual one. I just really loved the lyrics; I like the ambiguity of his words. What is he singing about? Is it about snorting coke? or wanking? My two favourite albums are “THE SLIDER” and “ELECTRIC WARRIOR”. I even put a line from “NEW YORK CITY” in there at the end. WHO OR WHAT OTHER THINGS WOULD YOU SAY HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR WORK? "When I was a teenager it was BOLAN, BOWIE and ROXY MUSIC and then I got into punk. I idolized JOHNNY LYDON but I got bored with all that so I formed my own band. I've always liked a lot of mad stuff like the POP GROUP I always liked literature, LEONARD COHEN I think he is just the best lyricist there's so much dignity there. I think that's the difference between a lot of the musicians today they don't actually act their age. I like a lot of heads that have died JAQUES BREL. I jump right across the whole spectrum". THE “SHAG TOBACCO” ALBUM IS A BIT LIKE THAT, A VERY ECLECTIC MIX OF INFLUENCES, SLEAZY CABARET, LUSH SEXY POP MUSIC, IT’S ALL THROWN IN. "On “SHAG TOBACCO” I'm sampling opera from 1910, there's a track called “DOLLS”, It’s like a camp disco beat with Berlin from the thirties, punk from the 70's. I'm taking things from the past reinventing them and throwing them in to the future rather than just be retro about it. The track “ANGEL” if you strip it back its the French writer Eric Satie, who created these beautiful Instrumental piano things. We were improvising and we thought, yeah, we love that, lets keep going. Then I thought, hey what would it be like if Eric Satie took E? So that one and “THE SLIDER” were the two things that just happened by accident. THERE'S A LOT OF CLEVER CROSS-REFERENCING OF STYLES AND SOUNDS ON THE RECORD. THERE'S A LINE IN CARUSO," A MILLIONAIRE WITH CURLY HAIR," BOLAN AGAIN? "Well yeah it’s a tribute that's very true of another album. I actually wrote about BOLAN, ME and ELVIS. Its called “KING OF TRASH”. I never managed to see him live though. Obviously being a BOLAN head yourself, saying you like the version of “THE SLIDER” is just fine. We just took it, I Have to make It today not just pastiche. You got to get the string vibes, the nuances and the camp. But at the same time it’s in your fucking face. That's what I was trying to Imagine, him now." THERE'S AN ECLETISM IN WHAT YOU DO. HAS THAT WORKED FOR OR AGAINST YOU IN ANY WAY? "Oh totally yeah, we just came back from London. We sold out all the shows and Europe too. But London is so big. Sometimes no one knows who I am. Is he jazz? Is he cabaret? Is he punk? Is it pop? Well it’s all of those things. I'm not afraid to be doing something that's aggressive or as out there as Caruso or World War Three, but people like things to be ABC If it means you want to sell a million records and be on the cover of Smash Hits, its a problem, but I don't come from there. Ultimately it isn’t a problem. I think what’s happening in music now; It’s become so generic. The final straw for me is when THE BEATLES start reselling themselves. WOULDN'T YOU AGREE THAT WITH ANY MUSIC THERE HAS TO BE HONESTY AND A TRUTH TO IT? "I love the idea of making a record in 1995 that's related to 1985 or to the year 2005.I hate this sell by date attitude that's going around now." ROCK ‘N’ ROLL IS THE MARKETING MANS DREAM. HASN'T IT ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THAT THOUGH? "I think it has but what’s happening now, everything’s' gone into catapulting and panic. BOLAN was marketed. THE BEATLES were marketed. ELVIS was marketed. The big thing when we were around, talking about the 70's. WE were twelve buying records it was certain people. Today you've got 8 year olds buying records, screaming at their ma, get me that record and then you've got 64 year olds buying PHIL COLLINS and THE BEATLES. So like 25 years ago it was 12-35 year old, now everyone has got a C.D. player. Listen to those wankers from “Soldier Soldier”. We shouldn't even be talking about these people. That's the difference now, music Is such a big thing where before It was like a private fan club. That's why I like things like TRICKY and THE TINDERSTICKS they're looking at other areas rather than copying THE BEATLES or the SEX PISTOLS or THE BUZZCOCKS. They are looking at Influences from all other areas of music. I like PORTISHEAD you go with the beat and its like being in Paris in the 40's. There's strains of SINEAD in there, SADE, a few other things too, old blues and cabaret. I love all that, put on an old BILLIE HOLLIDAY or an EDITH PIAF, it'll blow your mind." MUSIC IS SO CLINICAL NOW MARKETING MEN HAVE SOLD US A LIE ABOUT C.D. WITH VINYL ITS A WHOLE PACKAGE WITH C.D. THE ROMANCE IS LOST. A WHOLE GENERATION IS MISSING OUT ON THAT. 'Yeah with the vinyl the sound is there. I've always had a record player along with a C.D. player. If you really love records buy the vinyl version. You're right in that people are too lazy. People don't give out even in the packaging they don't give anymore". At that point the tape machine packs up and we retire to the Cathouse. It’s obvious in conversation with Gavin Friday that he doesn't play by the rules. He just makes up his own. Who else would open up a 24hr-cabaret club? Closed at the moment but hopefully opening again sometime in 1996. A place where if you fancy a couple of transvestites and a vodka with your pie and mash at 6.00am it wouldn't be a Problem. I'm seriously considering it myself. I'm sure they could find a quiet corner for a mad bloke in a funny hat reading poetry. If you ever see him there buy the guy a drink, he'll probably look a bit like me. Perhaps you've had a dream about playing pornographic scrabble with GAVIN FRIDAY, ELVIS and MARC BOLAN while sharing a drink with a couple of drag queens, I know I have. GAVIN FRIDAY still in rock n roll, still giving, as he says himself "You're not going to get rid of me that easy Let’s hope not. See you in Dublin, Cheers!
GRAHAM TILER |