Guillemots - Music through glass

I realize this introduction might run long, but I think it's worth it.

Fyfe is really thin, with very pale skin, his hair longer on one side and shorter on the other, and an unkempt but not long beard. He's wearing a sweater with big grey and green stripes. The sweater has holes and bobbles because it's starting to wear thin. He's also wearing a pair of Prince of Wales check trousers, a pair of colorful but mismatched socks, and a pair of white shoes. And throughout the whole interview, he won't sit still for a second: he'll pull his legs up onto the couch, keep shifting position, fiddle with his socks or his hair, and never stop smiling.

What nice shoes!

Thanks! They're... my pimp shoes... that's how I'd describe them. A cross between John Travolta and a pimp.

First of all, I should mention that we'd arranged an interview three months ago, which then fell through, so if some of these questions seem three months old, there's a reason for that.

Fair enough, let's take that leap back in time.

The first thing I'd like to ask you is whether the English press, which has a habit of pigeonholing every single sound, has had trouble pigeonholing you as a band too.

They've tried, but... we think we're a mix of genres. Some have described us as "eccentric", while others try to take us a bit more seriously. I think our mixing of so many genres confuses quite a few people, but those are the people who tend to overanalyse what we do when, really, there's no need to at all.

I wouldn't know how to describe our music: it's very hard. We make "pop". (he says, shrugging)

Does all this amuse you or does it get on your nerves?

It could be frustrating, but you realise it doesn't have to be, and you stop thinking about it because thinking about it doesn't get you anywhere.

Before joining Guillemots, the band's members had played about as many different styles as you can imagine: everything from jazz to heavy metal, by way of classical music and folk. How did you decide to become a band?

I think it was just luck. We found each other.

Having such different backgrounds is always really interesting, because you end up learning a lot from one another.

Do you make a lot of compromises when you're writing a song?

No! There's never been any compromise at all, absolutely not. If anything, we manage to bring out some of our more hidden sides.

So the distinctive sound that sets you apart is something that simply emerges naturally, rather than the result of a deliberate decision?

No, no, no. It's something very instinctive. We never talk about what sound we should have: we just enjoy making music together, and maybe finding sounds you'd never expect to hear.

Is there any current artist or band you particularly like?

Yes, there are a few…

And don't you think the current music scene influences you in some way?

You're influenced by everything. I wouldn't say I'm more influenced by current music than by anything else: if I hear something I like it can have an influence on me, but what you don't like can have just as much of an influence. Especially when it comes to music: something from four years ago can influence you just as much as something from four hundred years ago.

So far, you've: been named to the prestigious “Mojo Honours List”; been “album of the month” for Onda Rock”…

Really?

Yes. But, love, don't interrupt.

Sorry.

…you've won Mojo's “2006 Best Newcomer Award”; been nominated for the “Mercury Prize”; were at No. 5 on BBC News's “Sound of 2006” list.

More than just not bad for a debut band, this is not bad for any band!

And we're very happy about that, but in a way you can't pay too much attention to that kind of thing, because you know that with the next record we could be seen as something outdated.

It's flattering, but it's also part of the nature of the press, and music journalists always tend to exaggerate.

It's exciting to read so many positive reviews, but you can't believe everything you read, otherwise you lose all sense of real perspective.

Mmhh… forgive me, but I'm not sure I can quite agree with you there… You know, if the positive reviews were just a couple and it was only one award…

Yes, but you know, there are so many other bands that have gotten the same treatment, and others that would deserve more attention, and… I'm just saying that all this doesn't really mean that much. There are loads of bands in England that draw a huge amount of attention, get nominated for every award, show up in every poll, get talked about non-stop and manage to land a record in the top 5, but before long nobody's talking about them anymore… That happens because of a social trend or a fashion.

Individual opinions are the ones I pay the most attention to; I find them more trustworthy than what I read in magazines, because they're a genuine response that isn't influenced by the magazine's editorial policy.

It means a lot to me to notice that our audiences are very varied: there are teenagers, and their parents too (smiles). Those are the things I pay the most attention to.

I'm not saying that being nominated for an award doesn't mean anything, I'm just saying that if you read that your record is the best record of the year, that doesn't necessarily mean it actually is: it's just an opinion.

Is there an artist you particularly like at the moment?

Right now I keep listening to Fionn Reagan. I love his record because it's simple and he has great taste. The arrangements are interesting and I think the lyrics are gorgeous.

E avete partecipato a Top of the Pops.

Yes, and it was wonderful, we had a great time. A dream come true! You know, for our generation (Fyfe is 26. I know, I asked him) it's a milestone. It's all live, you know, so it's a bit scary...

Now let me ask you a question for the CD booklet, because, you should know, I'm a bit obsessive about these details.

You took care of that yourselves, right?

You know, with your first record you have so many ideas about everything and we wanted to indulge them all. And then, since it was our first record, we felt the need for it to clearly show who we are, to make it clear right away that no one was telling us what to do. We drew the artwork ourselves and took care of every little detail.

It's definitely not necessary to do that for every record, but for our debut we felt it was.

Maybe you were also less busy back then.

True. Yes... Yes.

Do you already have any ideas for the artwork of your next record?

Yes! I think it should be red!

Are you already working on your next record?

Yes, we're writing it. We'll start recording it next month in the studio we had built for us in London.

You know, you don't have much time to write when you're on tour, but in the last month we had a bit of time to get into a quiet room and write something. We wrote two songs in a couple of days and we'll be playing them during these shows. I think they're really good.

I get the vague impression that you don't get along very well with music videos.

What do you mean?

Well, for the “We're Here” video you used a series of landscapes and didn't want to appear in it, and for the second one you ran a contest on your website. It doesn't seem like you're dying to find yourselves on a film set.

Yes, but that doesn't mean we don't like them. The thing is there are millions… no, more than millions… of videos where you just see the band playing.

The video for “We're Here” was a commercial disaster. In fact a lot of people, including our record label, thought it was rubbish… well, maybe not exactly rubbish… let's say a lot of people thought it was a mistake. …The truth is that song is about how insignificant man is compared to the vastness of nature, not in a depressing sense at all, but if you think about it you realize we're simply part of the landscape, and having a video with extreme close-ups on our faces seemed contradictory to me. To me, the video that ended up being made made a lot more sense.

As for what you thought was the second video, what happened was that we were about to release an EP and wanted a video for every song. That's why we decided to bring other people in.

Some time ago you made a statement I'd like you to comment on: “We could never have afforded to have an orchestra on our record if we weren't on a major. Ethically it might not be exactly ideal, but the question is whether we want to have a music career or not”. That “ethically it might not be exactly ideal” unpleasantly surprised me.

That's a very tough question… If I had to be ethically consistent I wouldn't be part of the music industry at all… For our part, we try to do everything we can to stay true to what we believe in. For this record we insisted that the paper used be recycled, and we know we won't license our music for ads, for example. We've taken stances we intend to stick to.

You know, we record for Universal, which is one of the biggest record labels in the world, but I can't compromise my principles.

I'd rather make music that carries a positive message than give up my principles for a bigger paycheck.

You also learn from the example set by other people, people we respect who record for majors.

There are so many artists and bands we admire who have a deal with a major: think of Sonic Youth or Radiohead, Beck, Jeff Buckley or Bjork — all these people chose to sign with a major, and I don't see why we shouldn't have done the same. We would never have been able to afford an orchestra for our debut record. Maybe, if that had gone well enough, we could have had an orchestra for the chorus of a song on our next record, but having a deal with a major gave us the chance to have it right away.

I never thought being signed to a major was some kind of… great disgrace (smiles), but we did think twice before signing.

It would be stupid to say: “No, I have no intention of releasing my records on a major”, and then go to a supermarket chain to do your shopping or to a big department store to buy a piece of clothing: it's impossible to avoid big companies altogether. All you can do is pay close attention to your own behaviour and be reasonably consistent with what you believe.

Well, our time's almost up. I had two more questions, but we only have time for one. You choose: do you want to talk about the stage name you picked for yourself, or about sex?

Let's go with sex.

Ok. A while back I heard you say you admired Tom Jones because he never hid his sexuality. So, since I'm a very kind woman, I'll now give you the chance to talk about yours.

Go ahead.

(bursts out laughing) No, come on! I definitely wasn't being serious!

Well, girls, I did try to get him talking, I promise you, but then they dragged me off the bus.

(Milan, February 22, 2007)

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