Super Furry Animals interview, London 19/06/05

I was lucky enough to interview Guto from Super Furry Animals for rockfeedback.com. Here's what we chatted about...

Super Furry Animals bassist Guto is far from super today. Fresh from a drive to London from Cardiff he is struggling with flu. Still he manages to spare a couple of minutes to answer a few questions from rockfeedback before he tries manfully to sweat the illness out at the band’s low key gig at the ICA.

RFB: You’ve just played 4 nights in Cardiff, how did that go? A good reception from your home crowd I imagine?

SFA: Absolutely. That’s why we did the gigs really. We haven’t played together since August so we wanted a receptive audience to play to. And we were playing in a club I drink in every weekend so that was brilliant – walking to work every day and then walking home again was nice!

RFB: And now you’re back in London, known for its somewhat cold crowds – is that something you’ve found playing here over the years?

SFA: At the start definitely. Any capital city in the world you will get that really. Generally they’ve been alright though. Once you can fill a venue with your fans its great and you don’t see that anymore – playing places like Brixton Academy have been fantastic experiences for us. Though we’ve never played here [the ICA] before so this is a new experience.

RFB: This is also a warm up show for Glastonbury and you’re playing End Of The Road Festival – with so many festivals around these days is it still special playing Glastonbury?

SFA: Yeah, it means you get a ticket! I’ve always been one of these people that just go to Glastonbury anyway, so playing is a bonus really. There’s some terrible bands that play as well as some good ones so I tend to be found watching someone in a circus field rather than watching up and coming bands. I’d much rather stumble across something I’d not normally go and see. I haven’t been to Glastonbury for the weekend for probably about ten years so I hope it hasn’t changed too much – I think the clientele might be different. To get a ticket now you need an internet connection and a credit card, the people I used to go with didn’t even have a home you know? But less scallies and yardies has got to be a good thing – there were shootings last time I went!

RFB: So is it good to be back together playing some shows after your various solo projects – you still get on well after all these years?

SFA: Yeah it’s great. Of course we all still get on!

RFB: Is this part of releasing a new record still exciting for you – playing the songs live for people for the first time and seeing what people think to them?

SFA: Oh yeah. I wish we could bring out more records quicker, that’s the only downside. You finish a record and you have 6 months of all the other stuff that goes with it before it comes out. It would be nice just put it out and move on. With playing new songs live it’s a fine line. We’d love to play a set of obscure b-sides and brand new songs just to keep ourselves happy but I don’t think the crowd would appreciate that too much, apart from the real hardcore fan base.

RFB: So lets talk about the new album ‘Hey Venus!’. How’s it sounding?

SFA: Yep it’s sounding good, we’re really pleased with it.

RFB: As a band you tend not to do the same thing twice, especially consecutively, is it a departure from ‘Love Kraft’?

SFA: Yeah. Love Kraft was more mellow, Hey Venus is more of an in your face pop/rock album. It’s 11 songs, 37 minutes, none of the songs are over 4 minutes. They’re all straight to the point…

RFB: I heard a rumour that it might have started life as a concept album about a girl called Venus? Is this true?

SFA: Err no. It kind of became apparent that there was a thread running through the songs but concept album is a horrible word because it immediately puts a constraint on the songs and you have to stick to one idea. And that’s just not he way we are as a band. But there is definitely a thread…

RFB: When you went into the studio did you already have the songs in mind that went on to the record?

SFA: We did know the songs this time yes. In the past we have gone into the studio with maybe 20 songs and whittled it down but this time we went to a house in the countryside and rehearsed it. We chose the songs that were going to make the album there, before we went into the studio, so we had a pretty good idea. There’s always a couple of wild cards that come up though.

RFB: You say that ‘Hey Venus!’ is a bit more in your face than the last album. Was this a conscious decision to make an album? Do you tend to know what sound you’re going for before you make an album or is it more of an organic process?

SFA: No I wouldn’t say it was a conscious decision, I think we just chose the more upbeat, shorter songs. It’s not a ‘brash’ record. It’s not a death metal record by any means! It’s just a bit more upbeat!

RFB: ‘Love Kraft’ was recorded in Spain and Brazil, this one was recorded in the south of France. Does the place you’re recording have any bearing on how the record turns out.

SFA: No, not at all. We did a record in Brazil but the last thing we wanted to do was make a Brazilian record. There’s a lot of Brazilians doing Brazilian music very well already. I don’t want to be like Paul Simon and go to Africa and do an African record! We just went to Brazil because it’s a nice place to go. We went to France for this album because it was on a vineyard and it was during the harvest so we got to see the whole wine-making process at the same time as making an album.

RFB: Has that found its way on to ‘Hey Venus!’? Any lyrics about stamping on grapes?

SFA: No, but the wine from the vineyard won a gold medal as a champion wine so it was good quality wine! We got involved in that quite heavily…

RFB: We’re here at the ICA where there’s the first itunes festival coming up. Is the revolution/evolution the music industry is undergoing something you take interest as a band? You are known, for example, for being one of the first band’s to put out a record on DVD – does the impact of new technology interest you?

SFA: Definitely, because it’s the consumer’s choice at the end of the day. The internet came about not through the record companies forcing it on the public for a change. This time the record companies have had to adapt to what the public are doing.

RFB: Ash have just said that they’re not going to release any more albums, just singles on download. Would Super Furry Animals ever consider something like that?

SFA: I’d be gutted if we don’t have a record on vinyl, just because I like listening to vinyl. You can roll a joint on an album – you can’t roll a joint on an mp3! Mp3s are compressed to fuck too so they don’t sound as good. But at the end of the day, if people want to listen to songs like that through their headphones it’s their choice.

RFB: You’re not necessarily a political band but there’s always an undercurrent of political or cultural commentary running through your records – could you see any of the band doing a Dave Rowntree and going into politics?

SFA: I’d say we’re more political people in a band than a political band. But I doubt it. I can’t really see any of us joining a political party for a start.

RFB: Journalists have a knack of pigeonholing bands and using unnecessary adjectives to describe them, which is probably quite hard to do with Super Furry Animals. Have you ever seen or read the band described as something particularly funny or that you really didn’t agree with?

SFA: Well we’ve outlived a lot of things. In Europe when were on Sony they plugged us as a Britpop band and that’s been a big weight around our necks. Where we come from doesn’t make us any better as a band – and the whole Britpop thing was pretty horrible and dated anyway. But when we were pushed as that we’ve had to live up to it which was never ideal.

RFB: Last question – are Cardiff City going to get promoted next year?

SFA: No. I’d love it, but no. I’ll still get my season ticket though.

First published on rockfeedback.com. See it here.