Re: BluePlanes Digest, Vol 110, Issue 2

[Chris Sharp <chris.sharp4@vi...net>]

AGMP are promoting the tour and they will generally liaise with each venue 
to choose supports so we don’t really have any involvement. As far as 
requests go - good luck with that! Gerard hardly ever takes requests from 
his own band members let alone the audience!! We’ll be playing a 90 min 
set on this tour so expect most, if not all, of the new album plus some of 
the usual old favourites and maybe one or two surprises!

Also just a heads up - make sure you get a copy of The Guardian Guide this 
Saturday. That’s all I’m allowed to say for now!

> On 4 Jan 2017, at 11:42, Mike <mike@ma...plus.com> wrote:
> 
> I'll second that request about supports - nothing announced for Glasgow 
> or
> Edinburgh yet but given that the supports announced for other dates on 
> the
> tour are all different, I'm assuming that they're all local-ish.
> 
> Did mean to punt Life Model for the Glasgow show - not just because of 
> the
> name but because they're a smart, young dream-pop band.
> 
> Mike M
> http://manicpopthril;s.wordpress.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
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> Sent: 03 January 2017 12:00
> To: blueplanes@bl...org
> Subject: BluePlanes Digest, Vol 110, Issue 2
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> Today's Topics:
> 
>   1. Re: Gerard interview #2 (Andrew Keulemans)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2017 11:59:45 +0000
> From: Andrew Keulemans <keulies@gm...com>
> To: GORDON WILHELMI <gordon.wilhelmi192@bt...com>,  A Discussion
>       list for The Blue Aeroplanes <blueplanes@bl...org>
> Subject: Re: [BluePlanes] Gerard interview #2
> Message-ID:
>       
> <CACBzWQf0GzztNMKC_CBt+r+_BsM-HziU0AL=4-bFQCKwTqLH=A@ma...gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> Whilst acknowledging that it could unleash a torrent of similar requests,
> but on the basis that the voodoo rooms is the first time the band has 
> been a
> mere bus ride away from me since Cardiff university back in the eighties,
> can misfiring, pony boy or up in a down world elbow their way into the 
> set?
> Who is the support, BTW?
> AK
> 
> On 30 Dec 2016 3:11 a.m., "GORDON WILHELMI" <
> gordon.wilhelmi192@bt...com> wrote:
> 
>> At one point, many of the faithful began calling for standards.
>> 
>> 'Colour Me'
>> 'Weightless'
>> 
>> Gerard pointed at his watch.
>> 
>> 'Have you seen the time ?'
>> 
>> G
>> 
>> ----Original message----
>> From : keulies@gm...com
>> Date : 29/12/2016 - 23:47 (GMTST)
>> To : blueplanes@bl...org, nickw@bl...co.uk Subject : 
>> Re: [BluePlanes] Gerard interview #2
>> 
>> Thanks nick, great stuff
>> AK
>> 
>> On 29 Dec 2016 3:41 p.m., "Nick Walters" <nickw@bl...co.uk> wrote:
>> 
>>> I've cut and pasted my interview below as Virgin email is being wank 
>>> about emailing hyperlinks.
>>> 
>>> NW2
>>> 
>>> ----------------
>>> Interview: The Blue Aeroplanes? Gerard Langley
>>> 
>>> *?  The cult indie band?s frontman talks to We Are Cult about the new 
>>> album and what 2017 may hold for the Blue Aeroplanes.*
>>> 
>>> I?ve been following the trajectory of the Blue Aeroplanes for nigh on 
>>> thirty years, and so I was honoured to have the opportunity to talk 
>>> to Aeroplanes frontman Gerard Langley before the band?s traditional 
>>> Christmas gig at the Fleece (which they own) on Friday 16 December. 
>>> An instantly recognisable figure, in his ray-bans, black garb and 
>>> tousled black hair, Gerard looks every inch the rock?n?roll beat poet 
>>> that he is. A man with an encyclopaedic knowledge of music and vast 
>>> experience in the music business, Gerard is Head of Songwriting and 
>>> Music Business Tutor at the Bristol branch of the British and Irish 
>>> Modern Music Institute. Gerard lives in the same part of Bristol as 
>>> me, so I have encountered him quite a few times in shops or out and 
>>> around the area (he once walked past my kitchen window as I was doing 
>>> the washing-up), and conversed with him before and after gigs, but 
>>> this is the first time I have actually formally interviewed him. As 
>>> my experience of interviewing rock stars is zero (I drunkenly 
>>> interviewed indie band The Wood Children at Wolves Poly in 1988), I 
>>> was quite nervous, but I shouldn?t have been, as Gerard is an affable 
>>> dude, clearly proud of his band, and excited about the new album and 
>>> what
> 2017 may hold for the Blue Aeroplanes.
>>> 
>>> We talked in the attic-like dressing room in the Fleece whilst other 
>>> band members such as Chris Sharp (bass), Bec Jevons and Mike Youe 
>>> (guitars) came and went. I made a lame joke about Christmas not being 
>>> Christmas without a Blue Aeroplanes gig. ?Not in Bristol, anyway!? 
>>> said Gerard. I started the interview proper by drawing a comparison 
>>> between the Blue Aeroplanes and The Fall.
>>> 
>>> *NW:** It strikes me that the Blue Aeroplanes are a lot like The Fall ?
>>> both bands have been around for a long time and seen many line-up
> changes.
>>> However, the current line up of both bands is quite stable; with the 
>>> Fall it?s ten years, with the Aeroplanes, it?s..?*
>>> 
>>> *GL:* Four and a half years. The main difference between the 
>>> Aeroplanes and The Fall is that we?ve had a lot of members, but they 
>>> tend to be line-ups that stick around for a bit, make a couple of 
>>> albums, then it all changes. It?s not people constantly drifting. But 
>>> we haven?t had a stable line-up really since, probably, 
>>> Swagger/Beatsongs [1990-91]. People stick around for a long time but 
>>> they never overlap a record, so I was always putting out a record 
>>> with one line-up and touring it with another. So this is the first 
>>> time really since the early albums that we?ve had a line-up that?s 
>>> written the stuff, recorded it, and is now playing it live. The other
> difference is, of course, I get on with former band members!
>>> 
>>> *NW:** I know you see yourself as a national band first, and 
>>> international band second, but you are synonymous with the Bristol 
>>> music scene, you own the Fleece, and Bristol often turns up in your 
>>> songs. Does it bother you that when articles appear about the Bristol 
>>> music scene, you are seldom mentioned?*
>>> 
>>> *GL:* Well, Bristol decided it was gonna go trip-hop and not guitar 
>>> bands! We can?t do anything about it. Apparently we?re included in 
>>> RyanAir?s guide to Bristol, alongside Bananarama!
>>> 
>>> *NW:* *The new album is extremely poppy and accessible, in direct 
>>> contrast to ?Anti-Gravity? [the band?s previous album, released in 
>>> 2011] Was this deliberate?*
>>> 
>>> *GL:* To an extent, yeah. ?Anti-Gravity? was done a lot around jams 
>>> with various different musicians, but ?Welcome, Stranger!? was fairly 
>>> stable. It was basically, initially, me and Bec and Mike, working on 
>>> loads of material on stage at the Fleece. And the material we came up 
>>> with was so immediate and really strong. It?s a long time since 
>>> Anti-Gravity, so I had a lot of words, and I was picking up all the 
>>> best ideas from those to make it quite hooky and strong. And then we 
>>> thought, well, we?ve got all these really good songs now, so we?d 
>>> better record them properly. So we actually went into a really good 
>>> studio with a really good engineer, and thought, right, we?re going to
> record this to a major label standard, just a lot quicker.
>>> 
>>> *NW:* *The production is absolutely beautiful, very sharp and clean, 
>>> it really brings the songs to life.*
>>> 
>>> *GL*: But it?s still basically the all band playing live ? two or 
>>> three takes, max.
>>> 
>>> *NW:* *There?s a very sixties, psychedelic sound to the album.*
>>> 
>>> *GL:* Sixties but punkier.
>>> 
>>> *MY [Mike Youe, Aeroplanes guitarist]:* It was recorded at Vale 
>>> *[Worcestershire recording studio situated in a Georgian manor house 
>>> renowned for its retro
>>> equipment]* using a vintage Neve console, and ?classic? microphones, 
>>> so that might contribute to it.
>>> 
>>> *NW*: *The production on ?Swagger?, your most acclaimed album, in 
>>> comparison, at least to these ears, sounds awfully flat and 
>>> uninspired. It seems to smother the songs.*
>>> 
>>> *GL:* To be honest this is one of the first albums we?ve ever done, 
>>> apart from ?Bop Art? *[the band?s first album released in 1984]*, 
>>> where I actually really like the production. I always thought the 
>>> production on our albums sounded a bit tame ? it should have sounded 
>>> louder, on things like Swagger.
>>> 
>>> *NW:** I like the cover, it somehow reflects the playful mood of the
>>> album.*
>>> 
>>> *GL:* Yeah ? I was trying to get people to do artwork based on 
>>> retro-friendly aliens and rockets, but it nothing seemed to work so I 
>>> just bought a rocket myself!
>>> 
>>> *NW:* *The guitar riffs in Sweet Like Chocolate, and in other places 
>>> on the album sound remarkably like the distinctive style of Angelo 
>>> Bruschini [former Aeroplanes member and legendary guitarist who 
>>> featured on Massive Attack?s Mezzanine album]. Was this a deliberate 
>>> attempt to sound like the ?planes of old or was it? how can I put 
>>> this? alchemy?*
>>> 
>>> *GL:* Well whilst we were jamming, I played Bec *[Bec Jevons, 
>>> Aeroplanes
>>> guitarist]* some early Aeroplanes?
>>> 
>>> *BJ:* And I said, Wow, this is just like the stuff my band is doing! 
>>> I?d not really properly listened to the Aeroplanes before, but it 
>>> just came out that way, kind of semi-accidentally.
>>> 
>>> *GL:* With Mike* [Youe, Aeroplanes guitarist]*, there?s a mutual 
>>> influence, in the shape of Richard Thompson, who played modally. So 
>>> did Angelo, and so does Mike ? so they?re going to sound similar 
>>> because they?re coming from the same place.
>>> 
>>> *NW:* *Is the album, and the upcoming tour, a conscious decision to 
>>> try to get new fans on board? To ?welcome strangers?, as it were?*
>>> 
>>> *GL:* Let?s put it this way. This Christmas gig used to do all right, 
>>> but never used to sell out. Three years ago, it sold out on a 
>>> walk-up, so on the night. Last year, it sold out a few days in 
>>> advance. This year, it sold out six weeks in advance. So, there?s a 
>>> curve, and if I can get that curve into other cities and promoters go 
>>> with it? Because normally, if a band who?s been going a quite a long 
>>> time like us, like Theatre of Hate, draw 250, then that?s their 
>>> audience ? 250 people. But we?re actually growing an audience here, 
>>> and in London, places where we play regularly, we?re building an 
>>> audience as if the Blue Aeroplanes was a new band. We?ve got a 
>>> promoter on board with that, and if we can get the venues on board 
>>> with that, and give it a go, like a new band, say right we?ll play 
>>> 150 in Liverpool then 300 next time, we?ll see where it goes. At the
> moment we?re literally just writing the songs.
>>> 
>>> *NW:* *After the forthcoming tour, are you planning further dates 
>>> later in the year?*
>>> 
>>> *GL:* One of the reasons for this tour in January, apart from that?s 
>>> when the album?s coming out is, I don?t know if I can manage it, but 
>>> I want to have a go, is to get two albums out in a year. I can?t 
>>> guarantee it, because the quality?s got to be there, but if I can, 
>>> I?ll get another out in October/November.
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> The Blue Aeroplanes mailing list
>>> BluePlanes@bl...org
>>> http://www.blueaeroplanes.org/
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
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