{"id":52865,"date":"2019-08-27T15:30:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T15:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=52865"},"modified":"2020-01-02T18:35:08","modified_gmt":"2020-01-02T18:35:08","slug":"jobsons-choice-the-skids-frontman-discusses-his-life-music-and-upcoming-warts-n-all-evening-with-acoustic-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2019\/08\/jobsons-choice-the-skids-frontman-discusses-his-life-music-and-upcoming-warts-n-all-evening-with-acoustic-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"JOBSON’S CHOICE – The Skids’ Frontman Discusses His Life, Music And Upcoming Warts ‘n’ All ‘Evening With…’ Acoustic Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

If ever there’s a walking embodiment of punk’s have-a-go attitude, it’s Richard Jobson<\/strong>.<\/h4>\n

Exploding out of gang-ridden working class Fife in the late 1970s, The Skids <\/strong>frontman’s sheer exuberance and creative drive knew no bounds.<\/p>\n

Merging raw energy, with abstract imagery and the sparkling guitar lines of co-songwriter\u00a0Stuart Adamson<\/strong>, The Skids were among the most successful and prolific punk bands of their generation, producing four albums between 1977 and 1982.<\/p>\n

But ‘Jobbo’ wasn’t done there, articulate and humorous, with a steely self-confidence, he’s gone on to become a poet, novelist, filmmaker, reviewer and latterly actor – with a part in the new Danny Boyle<\/strong>-backed\u00a0Alan McGee\u00a0<\/strong>biopic Creation Stories<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Having returned to music in earnest, reviving The Skids with a new album Burning Cities<\/strong><\/em> in 2017 – he’s about to bear his soul on an acoustic tour promoting this year’s unplugged album Peaceful Times<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Jobson, who published an autobiography<\/strong><\/a><\/span> in 2018, will tell the story of his life and lyrics, in between playing songs both self-penned and by artists who helped shape his career.<\/p>\n

As he tells\u00a0Matt Catchpole, <\/strong>it’s been a journey of staggering highs and amazing experiences, but with its fair share of failure and tragedy along the way.<\/p>\n

Fast-talking, open and honest, he talks about his relationship with Adamson,\u00a0 his genuine surprise at the success of The Skids and his horror at being accused of gobbing on a Nolan sister.<\/p>\n

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‘Out of our coffins’ – Jobson centre with the re-activated Skids<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Please explain the concept behind tour \u2018evening with\u2019 Autumn tour<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Skids just released their first ever acoustic album, which was kind of a remodelling of all the songs and I think we surprised everybody by making a record that reinterpreted The Skids in a very positive way. We thought we\u2019d go out and just see how it works to play it live with acoustic guitars. But there\u2019s plenty to talk about with these songs. A lot of Skids fans often misinterpret what the lyrics are about. It\u2019s a great opportunity to explain what they\u2019re about. But also the recent Skids journey of getting out of our coffins and getting back out and playing has been a remarkable success. The first gig we did when we started playing again was in a little pub and the last one we did a few weeks ago was The Albert Hall! So, the journey from nothing to that has been extraordinary. Then, in amongst all of that is my own story, which has got many ups and downs, some of the experiences I\u2019ve had in life, from making movies, to writing books, there\u2019s so many people that I\u2019ve worked with. And so many failures, I\u2019m not just there to talk about the glory days, you\u2019ve got to talk about all the times when it didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

And you\u2019ve got the father and son team<\/strong> Bruce and James Watson<\/strong>\u00a0from Big Country working with you <\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah we went and tried it the other day in Forfar and it had a real connection with the audience. It was a very honest, candid, warts \u2018n\u2019 all kind of evening. We played most of the songs from the acoustic album and then we played a couple of Armory Show<\/strong> songs – we did Castles In Spain<\/strong><\/em> acoustically and it was great. We were slightly nervous about the whole project, but now we\u2019re not because people seem to really enjoy the honesty and having a laugh, you know, I\u2019m taking the piss out of myself, but also being very candid about what went right and what went wrong.<\/p>\n

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Circus Games – The Skids in full flight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And The Skids joint headline a home town double header with Big Country in Dunfermline in December – you must be looking forward to that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, we did it last year and we\u2019re doing it again this year. It\u2019s just a nice event where the people in the home town obviously have an affection for both bands – even though Skids’ music and Big Country music are entirely different. I\u2019m actually going out and doing The Armoury Show in October as well. I hadn\u2019t listened to the album since we made it, so I bought myself a copy on Amazon {other outlets are available} and I was actually blown away by how good it was. The people who ask me about it are all these young musicians – and I hadn\u2019t realised there was a kind of cult following. We calling it Armory Show<\/strong>, because that\u2019s what it should\u2019ve been in the first place not The Armoury Show – it was named after an exhibition in New York in 1913. I\u2019ve written a little book to go along with it that\u2019s the story of the exhibition and the story of my relationship with John McGeogh <\/strong>{Magazine<\/strong>, Siouxsie and the Banshees<\/strong>, Public Image Limited<\/strong>}, the legendary guitarist, who\u2019s sadly no longer with us. I\u2019ve got a bit of a legacy of guitar players who are no longer here.<\/p>\n

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The Armoury Show – Jobson’s post-Skids art-rock outfit released just one album ‘Waiting for the Floods’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yes, more about that later\u2026You decided to reactivate The Skids for the 30th<\/sup> anniversary I believe?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, it was just for a bit of fun really. And then my friend Youth<\/strong>, the producer guy from Killing Joke<\/strong>, suggested we write some songs in the style of, or as a homage to, The Skids and I said: \u2018That would be ridiculous!\u2019 but he said: \u2018Let me have a go\u2019 and I let the band hear it and they said: \u2018Oh my God. let\u2019s have a go at this!\u2019 And then there was no stopping us! Youth produced the album and we had a little gem on our hands. We didn\u2019t think it was going to change the world, but it did feel relevant at least and it got us off the hook of just being a nostalgia, heritage trail band.<\/p>\n

Did you feel any kind of responsibility to Stuart when you were making that album?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the sense that I wanted to write good songs, yes. But Stuart left The Skids. We did our fourth album Joy<\/strong><\/em> without him. But I think it\u2019s got the energy, some of the guitar lines might have the ghost of Stuart Adamson in there, but I think it actually feels quite contemporary. We took our energy and Youth gave it a modern sound.<\/p>\n

You clearly enjoyed working with Youth do you think you\u2019ll collaborate again?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think so. He wants us to do a covers album of all our favourite songs, which is a really nice idea. And then maybe go back and do another album. There\u2019s plenty to write about isn\u2019t there?<\/p>\n

Any of those covers that you can reveal?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not yet – they might start emerging through the acoustic tour. I think songs that were pivotal for us – songs by Alex Harvey <\/strong>and David Bowie <\/strong>and some of our favourite, maybe obscure, punk songs – that meant a lot to us.<\/p>\n

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Melancholy Soldiers – the original Skids line-up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Did you always feel you had unfinished business with The Skids?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, it just came out of the blue. Sometimes I\u2019ve been a bit dismissive of the band in the past, but I thought why not just give it a go and see what happens. And it really worked, People in England and Ireland kept asking us to come and it culminated in us playing the Albert Hall, so pretty extraordinary.<\/p>\n

Were you worried about how your voice would hold up?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not really. I mean I wasn\u2019t expecting us to be playing so many gigs, or doing big festivals like Isle of Wigh<\/strong>t or the Rebellion<\/strong> punk festival. But we approached it in a very humble way and we gave it everything we\u2019ve got – all guns blazing – and it worked.<\/p>\n

What inspired you to form a punk band in the first place – how aware were you of the scenes happening in the US and UK?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I was certainly aware of a lot of American bands. I had an older brother who was pretty tuned in to cool music, so I was already an Iggy Pop <\/strong>fan. I was very aware of The Velvet Underground<\/strong> and MC5<\/strong>, Patti Smith <\/strong>– these were all people that were part of my life. So, when the Sex Pistols <\/strong>came along in \u201976 it just made perfect sense. I was only 15 then, still at school, but it was just the kind of music and attitude that made sense to how we were feeling about our lives. And on John Peel<\/strong> you were suddenly hearing other bands like The Buzzcocks<\/strong>, The Banshees<\/strong> and it was amazing. I loved it so much and we formed The Skids very very quickly. And we were very lucky because all the English bands who came up to Scotland – there weren\u2019t really any bands to support them – so we got all of those gigs. We supported everybody – you name it we played with them. And then all of those people were becoming friends of mine. To this day I\u2019m still very close to the ones that are still with us. Paul Cook <\/strong>from the Pistols came up and sang with us at Rebellion the other night – we did a version of Pretty Vacant <\/strong><\/em>– and I shared an apartment with Steve Severin <\/strong>for 10 years or so.<\/p>\n

How did you get on with fellow Scottish punk bands at the time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think there was a kind of rivalry, but at the same time there was a camaraderie, because it was dangerous to be a punk in Scotland at the very beginning, because people don\u2019t like people who look different. And we certainly looked different! And we looked threatening \u2018cos punk had quite an edge to it, it was quite aggressive looking. So people would be out to get us and so I think we tended to just stick together. Some bands were better than other bands, undoubtedly. But in all honesty, I\u2019ve never been competitive in that way. My best friends are all guys and women who were in bands from that era and I never thought of them with jealousy, envy or any disrespect. I just see Viv Albertine <\/strong>{The<\/strong> Slits<\/strong>}, who I worked with, as a pal. Youth\u2019s a pal. Steve Severin\u2019s a friend. Paul Cook\u2019s still one of my best friends.<\/p>\n

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Vanguard’s Crusade – Jobson at the mic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There definitely seems to have been a community aspect to punk, particularly in the early days<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019d find yourself in a hub, like a cinema that played obscure arthouse movies and you\u2019d guarantee that Siouxsie<\/strong> would be there, Jah Wobble <\/strong>would be there, Rusty Egan<\/strong> {one time Skids drummer} might be there – I\u2019m talking about The Gate cinema in Notting Hill. Similarly, in Scotland before I moved to London, you hung out in cinemas and bookshops, or music stores. They were the three things that were inextricably linked.<\/p>\n

Were you surprised when punk suddenly invaded the mainstream and songs were getting into the charts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was surprising. The Radio 1 Dj\u2019s were quite creaky then and had decided to turn their back on punk, if not ban the records. But The Skids were on Top of the Pops<\/strong> really quickly with Into The Valley<\/strong><\/em> and the next day our lives had changed. Suddenly we were getting played on daytime radio. We broke and broke pretty big. It all happened very very quickly. But it was not something we expected. I\u2019m always surprised to see anybody in the audience, let alone a full house!<\/p>\n