{"id":36463,"date":"2018-06-08T09:43:56","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T08:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=36463"},"modified":"2018-06-08T09:43:56","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T08:43:56","slug":"getting-metaphysical-shriekbacks-barry-andrews-talks-philosophy-xtc-and-new-album-why-anything-why-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2018\/06\/getting-metaphysical-shriekbacks-barry-andrews-talks-philosophy-xtc-and-new-album-why-anything-why-this\/","title":{"rendered":"GETTING METAPHYSICAL – Shriekback’s Barry Andrews Talks Philosophy, XTC And New Album ‘Why Anything? Why This?’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Picture by Howard Davidson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Something of an alternative supergroup, Shriekback came into being – at least as Barry Andrews tells it<\/a>\u00a0– after he was doggedly pursued by bassist\u00a0Dave Allen.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Allen, looking to form a new band after the demise of\u00a0Gang of Four<\/strong>, was keen to hook up with the keyboard player who’d quit\u00a0XTC, after losing a power struggle with\u00a0<\/strong>Andy Partridge.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Initially reluctant, Andrews came on board and the pair became a trio with the arrival of guitarist\u00a0Carl Marsh<\/strong>, latterly of\u00a0Out On Blue Six<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Drummer\u00a0Martyn Barker<\/strong>\u00a0(Billy Bragg\/King Swamp<\/strong>) arrived in 1983, shortly before the release of perhaps their best known album\u00a0Oil and Gold<\/strong><\/em>, which spawned the single Nemesis<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Numerous highly original albums followed, with Andrews the only constant in a changing roster of musicians.<\/p>\n

Now restored to a core trio of Andrews, Barker and Marsh – with contributions from\u00a0PiL <\/strong>bassist\u00a0Scott Firth <\/strong>and\u00a0regular collaborators\u00a0Wendy and Sarah Partridge –<\/strong> Shriekback are back with\u00a0Why Anything? Why This?<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0their best received album in decades.<\/p>\n

In his own inimitable style, Andrews tells\u00a0Matt Catchpole <\/strong>about the making of the album and shares his thoughts on philosophy, metaphysics, XTC, synaesthesia and a whole lot more.<\/p>\n

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Iguana tell you a story – Barry Andrews and friend<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why Anything? Why This?<\/em> is your 14th<\/sup> album \u2013 and many say it\u2019s the best since 1985\u2019s Oil and Gold<\/em> \u2013 you must be pleased by the reviews, why do you think it\u2019s been so well received?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Seems to have gone down well so far – which is obviously pleasing. Personally, I\u2019m not quite over the post-mixing resentment that I feel for all of our albums. The bit where you just have to listen to it ad nauseam in a totally unnatural way – almost so it ceases to be music. And you bore the tits off all those around you. It\u2019s horrible but it will pass and I\u2019m sure I will see it in all its glory again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What are you driving at with the title of the record?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why Anything? Why This?<\/em> is a pretty fundamental philosophical question. \u2018Why does anything exist? And, since it does, why does it take the shape of all the multifarious phenomena we see around us?\u2019 I like reading about philosophy- particularly metaphysics – mainly, I think, to give myself a weird vertiginous thrill, unobtainable in any other way.<\/p>\n

Are there any songs you\u2019re particularly proud of?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am well pleased with And the Rain<\/em><\/strong> and 37<\/em><\/strong>. I think the songwriting is very clear and unfussy there and the production is a focussed and effective delivery system. It\u2019s almost as though, after all these years, we knew what we were doing. The bigger question remains, some might say:\u00a0why\u00a0are we doing it?<\/p>\n

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There seem to be more guitars on the record this time \u2013 was that a conscious decision?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, that\u2019s because I\u2019ve been playing them as well as Carl. I only started learning a year or so ago, but I\u2019m getting really into it. I\u2019m very basic indeed, but it does save you having to get in a real guitarist to do the bog standard parts. That has tended to expand though as I get more into the tech and, slowly, loosen up what Elvis Costello<\/strong> called\u00a0\u2018the little hands of concrete\u2019.\u00a0Also, I found, rather touchingly, that it\u2019s possible to get quite affectionate towards guitars in a way you can\u2019t at all with midi keyboards, laptops or plug-in software instruments. I have a lovely \u201963 Jaguar which Finn brought back from the States for me which drenches you in Mojo every time you play it.<\/p>\n

Martyn has taken in bigger role in the songwriting on the album \u2013 is that why there are more live drums?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, Martyn has tended to bemoan his role sometimes, not so much as in the classic \u2018I\u2019m just the drummer\u2019 ‘plaint but, more annoyingly, the drummer who sometimes doesn\u2019t get to play drums, because a bloody machine has beaten him to it. We all thought it might be good to let him out to gallop wild and free round the paddock this time. He\u2019s good innee?<\/p>\n

You have a very original sound, I think quite different to what you\u2019d all produced in your previous bands \u2013 was that a deliberate move, or did the music evolve over time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s always been a prime directive for the group – sonic richness, texture, pushing the old envelope, innit. I think its development has been along two vectors: 1) thinking of stuff that might be a good idea (\u2018I wonder what happens if\u2026?) And then 2) whether any of that stuff actually worked (and if it did, maybe do it again better). Natural Selection without all the killing and squelching. Ideal.<\/p>\n

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Did your brief collaboration with Robert Fripp as League of Gentleman influence your move into electronica?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, I can say definitely that Fripp did not influence my relationship with electronic music. As I recall, he even thought me using an electronic tuner on the organ was kinda cheating. My work with him was purposefully Lo Tech. We were a \u2018dance band\u2019, apparently. All the Frippertronics happened somewhere else.<\/p>\n

You also played with Iggy Pop and David Bowie on Iggy\u2019s 1980s album Soldier<\/em> \u2013 what was it like working with those two?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A very interesting time. Working with some of my heroes. Simple Minds<\/strong> shitting in someone\u2019s car. Mariella Frostrup<\/strong> being teenage. James Williamson<\/strong> the producer getting hammered. Henry the roadie killing a bat. All human life was there.\u00a0Will blog about it at some point.<\/p>\n

The recent XTC documentary\u00a0This is Pop<\/em>\u00a0portrayed you and Andy Partridge as being in a battle for the leadership of the band \u2013 was that what it felt like at the time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, I\u2019d joined Andy\u2019s band and then gotten into an unedifying power struggle with him to get my songs performed. What I needed to realise was that I was the keyboard player and just get on with making some nice noises on Andy and Colins\u2019 tunes. However, I was 21-years-old with a blazing ego torch up my arse.\u00a0Although I did the decent thing and creatively sacked myself, so it was alright ultimately.<\/p>\n

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