Stranglers - The Saga of the Men in Black

Fifty-five years old and you'd never know it. Jean Jacques Burnel is a walking manual of physical and mental integrity: chiseled chest, steel abs, just a few faint wrinkles around his pensive eyes, ready to light up whenever the conversation turns to matters close to his heart. Starting with his old friend Jet, and the almost paternal admiration he holds for young Barnard, who's standing in for him in the band.

With the detachment of a middle-aged man who's well aware he's still just a kid at heart.

As soon as we settle onto the sofa, Jean-Jacques Burnel asks if we'd like something to drink, and while handing us our beers, he wraps up a conversation he'd started with someone else about motorcycles. Naturally, we couldn't resist jumping in…

Jean-Jacques, is it true you were part of the Hell's Angels?

I was, when I was very young. I was 17 and the youngest Hell's Angel in London.

Before we officially start the interview, can we ask how Jet Black is doing? Is he okay?

No, he's not doing well, which is why he's not on tour with us. He was rushed to hospital a couple of weeks ago. They diagnosed him with a lung infection, but it took a week of continuous tests to figure out what it actually was, and because of that delay the infection ended up affecting his heart too. You know, Jet is 68 and he's still incredible!

We've actually joked about it more than once, you know — dying on stage!

For this tour, we've brought on Jet's technician, Ian Barnard: he's only 23, but he's been with us since he was 17. He's basically spent hundreds of shows assisting Jet and following his every instruction, so he knows every single drumbeat inside out.

We wanted to say congratulations on the show: it was truly fantastic.

Thank you. We play because it's what we love to do.

You're exceptional musicians, but today you proved that being exceptional musicians alone isn't enough to put on a show as engaging as yours. Do you have a secret?

(smiles) No! We have fun on stage and playing never feels like a burden. Besides, we're on a mission from God! (laughs)

The truth is, every show gives us a huge amount of energy back: it's better than going to the gym.

These days we've also happened to play some semi-acoustic dates with arrangements that lean a bit more jazz and melodic.

Obviously you've recorded all of it and you'll soon be releasing records of these shows, right?

We're giving it some thought…

We've always been really fascinated by your gothic and electronic phase, particularly records like "The Raven" and "Meninblack".

We were considered heretics! The punks branded us as heretics because we used technology, the moog and various synthesizers.

Jean-Jacques, bear with us, but we've never really managed to consider the Stranglers a proper punk band. And you? Have you ever thought of the Stranglers as a punk band?

No, no. I've always considered myself a punk-rocker, but the Stranglers were never a punk band, rather an eclectic one.

Anyway, we were talking about those sinister men dressed in black who claimed to be here not to destroy but to improve the world. Would you like to tell us a bit about them?

It's one of the many theories on the origin of man. This one holds that humans descend from alien races who colonized Earth. Another theory, the Christian one, claims that man was created by God, and that woman was created from man's rib. Nowadays, science can prove things that were once unthinkable, and all of this has become a topic of debate and an excuse to argue over the existence of God.

The idea of the men in black is the presentation of something possible: maybe we really were created by aliens, or we descend from who knows what else. Why accept a story simply because it's written in the Bible?

Think also of all the pagan religions, which tell of Gods mating with human beings: they went from being "divine" to being "scientists". It's a hypothesis like any other, really.

Towards the end of the '70s, at the height of your success, you caused all sorts of trouble around Europe. Over-the-top interviews, run-ins with the police, and so on... Can you share a juicy anecdote or two from those years?

(Jean-Jacques shakes his head thoughtfully) There are too many! (keeps thinking). Look, there was this journalist in France who was… he was a bit like haemorrhoids: he just wouldn't stop busting my balls the whole time, so me, the other guys in the band and a couple of roadies took him up to the first level of the Eiffel Tower, stripped him and threw his clothes down below. The funny thing is that he then became a very famous journalist in France: he had his own radio and TV shows, and became the editor of a major magazine. He stayed so angry about that episode that for many years - I'd say 25 - he never played a single Stranglers track or talked about us, as if we didn't exist at all. Can you tell what kind of sense of humour that guy had?

This somehow brings me to my next question, which is actually three questions: which artists influenced the Stranglers' music, which artists on today's music scene do you think have been most influenced by the Stranglers, and which artists on today's music scene do you listen to?

Up until a couple of weeks ago I was producing an English band, Teasing Lulu, and at one point I blurted out: "We could be back in 1977!" They were happy about that statement, but then I explained: "You shouldn't be happy about it: we're talking thirty years ago, and it seems like there hasn't been much of an evolution." You know, if you think about what happened in 1947, that is thirty years before 1977, the difference is huge.

In recent years a lot of bands have come out with really skilled musicians who seem to be top of the class: they play very well, but they don't bring anything original to the table.

I think the Kaiser Chiefs were influenced a lot by the Stranglers and... Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

You've sold a ton of records in Europe over all these years…

Roughly thirty million.

… how do you explain the fact that you never managed to achieve major success in the United States?

And that's fine by us! We've always stayed a bit under the radar, and I actually prefer it that way. We've had songs that became huge hits, but then we'd put out very uncommercial tracks, just to balance things out.

So it's all down to the fact that…

Look, I honestly couldn't care less. Last year we were offered three separate US tours, and we turned them all down: why should I go off to America for three months when I've got much better things to do with my life?

Take U2, the Clash or the Police: they were absolutely determined to make it big in America, and they'd go on these tours that lasted nine months. We tried it too, but after six weeks we told everyone to fuck off and went home: we were playing to crowds of 5000 a night, and the only thing we'd achieved was a single at number one on the college radio charts. It had all started well enough, but there's just too much work involved, and it wasn't healthy for us at all.

Do you mind if we ask you some questions about a few former members of the band?

There are quite a few of them now.

What can you tell me about Hugh Cornwell?

What do you want me to tell you about Hugh Cornwell? That's really ancient history.

Got it. Paul Roberts?

About Paul, I can tell you that the time had simply come for him to leave the band and pursue all the other things he wanted to do. …And then I wanted to sing my own songs. You know, after sixteen years that urge comes over you.

(Milan, March 15, 2007)

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