WEBVTT - PJ Harvey & John Parish 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:23.196 Pushkin. Polly Jeene Harvey, better known as PJ Harvey, is 0:00:23.236 --> 0:00:26.316 without question one of my favorite songwriters of all time. 0:00:27.036 --> 0:00:29.556 Her debut album Dry came out in ninety three. It 0:00:29.596 --> 0:00:32.676 is what the La Times called a near instant classic. 0:00:33.276 --> 0:00:35.436 The same with her sophomore release, rid of Me, which 0:00:35.436 --> 0:00:39.556 became an inspiration for Navana's last album, in Utero. Ten 0:00:39.596 --> 0:00:42.276 albums later, and Polly continues to be not only a 0:00:42.316 --> 0:00:45.236 remarkable songwriter on her new album Eye inside the old 0:00:45.276 --> 0:00:49.196 You're Dying, but maybe more impressively, continues to find new 0:00:49.316 --> 0:00:53.116 musical territory and new voices to write from, keeping her 0:00:53.116 --> 0:00:55.756 songs and artistry as interesting as they were when she 0:00:55.836 --> 0:00:59.396 first put out music over thirty years ago. John Parrish, 0:00:59.396 --> 0:01:02.196 who's been a frequent collaborator of Polly since the eighties, 0:01:02.556 --> 0:01:05.676 produced the new album along with Flood, and joins me 0:01:05.716 --> 0:01:08.756 in conversation with Polly to discuss their process of working together, 0:01:09.116 --> 0:01:12.196 beauty of Polly's last few albums, and how they bonded 0:01:12.276 --> 0:01:18.276 a long time ago over Captain b Fire. This is 0:01:18.356 --> 0:01:22.156 broken record liner notes for the digital age. I'm justin Richmond. 0:01:22.916 --> 0:01:27.876 Here's my conversation with PJ Harvey and John Parrish. I'm 0:01:27.996 --> 0:01:30.396 very excited to be able to talk to both of you. 0:01:30.636 --> 0:01:33.316 I don't always think about you guys in Unison, so 0:01:33.356 --> 0:01:35.836 it was fun to sort of think about how you 0:01:35.876 --> 0:01:38.396 guys worked together on these things. But you guys met 0:01:38.436 --> 0:01:41.076 in the eighties, which I didn't realize was the case. 0:01:41.556 --> 0:01:42.036 That's right. 0:01:42.116 --> 0:01:46.636 We met in the in nineteen eighty seven, I believe. 0:01:47.196 --> 0:01:49.956 And it was through your band, John. 0:01:51.436 --> 0:01:54.356 Yes, yeah, it was. It was the guitar player in 0:01:54.396 --> 0:01:57.476 my band, Jeremy Hogg, had met Polly at a party 0:01:57.556 --> 0:02:00.276 and she'd been singing some songs and he was really 0:02:00.316 --> 0:02:03.676 impressed with the only mentioned he mentioned her to May 0:02:03.836 --> 0:02:06.876 and then she came to a couple of gigs of 0:02:07.076 --> 0:02:10.276 the band and gave me some tapes songs she was. 0:02:10.716 --> 0:02:13.356 She was a teenager and her voice already sounded really 0:02:13.396 --> 0:02:15.836 great to me back at that time, so I asked 0:02:15.836 --> 0:02:18.476 if she wanted to join the band when she left school. 0:02:21.916 --> 0:02:24.916 I think you did it audition me, sort of sort 0:02:24.916 --> 0:02:26.276 of auditioned me first. 0:02:26.716 --> 0:02:30.436 It was it was a sham audition because you're definitely what. 0:02:33.796 --> 0:02:36.036 I came up to Bristol, didn't I. And we just 0:02:36.236 --> 0:02:40.476 we played through some of your band automatic the Meani's 0:02:40.716 --> 0:02:42.996 main riffs. I think you were just listening to see 0:02:42.996 --> 0:02:45.956 if I could play the riff with feel or not, 0:02:46.076 --> 0:02:50.036 because I wasn't a very adept guitar player at that point. 0:02:50.236 --> 0:02:54.076 I could play chords, but I wasn't very adept at 0:02:54.076 --> 0:02:57.796 anything else, and a lot of John's music was based 0:02:57.836 --> 0:03:01.756 more around melodies than chord structures. So I remember playing 0:03:01.796 --> 0:03:04.436 through some melodies on the guitar with you. John. I 0:03:04.516 --> 0:03:06.396 think you were just trying to see if I could 0:03:06.436 --> 0:03:09.036 play with feel or not. In fact, I often talked 0:03:09.156 --> 0:03:11.996 about feel, you know, just when I'm talking about music, 0:03:11.996 --> 0:03:15.276 because I think the feel that I play with is 0:03:15.316 --> 0:03:19.556 what I learned from John, because we often recognize how 0:03:19.596 --> 0:03:22.796 similar we'd play. If I've written a part on the 0:03:22.836 --> 0:03:25.676 guitar and I'm asking John to play it for live performance, 0:03:26.196 --> 0:03:28.196 he plays it just like me. But that's because I 0:03:28.316 --> 0:03:34.676 play like him, because he play finding a circle like that. 0:03:34.836 --> 0:03:36.756 So you don't think before that audition or that time 0:03:36.796 --> 0:03:39.836 you started playing with automatic meaning that you played, your 0:03:39.836 --> 0:03:42.556 playing was different before then you think, well, I. 0:03:42.596 --> 0:03:45.876 Was just I hadn't been playing guitar for very long, 0:03:45.916 --> 0:03:48.636 and so all I could play was chords on the guitar. 0:03:48.916 --> 0:03:52.236 I could play saxophone quite well, and I think I'd 0:03:52.276 --> 0:03:56.716 got to grade seven on saxophone, but I'd only just 0:03:56.756 --> 0:03:59.716 started playing the guitar, and all I knew was chords 0:03:59.716 --> 0:04:03.036 that I learned from songbook, and I didn't really pick 0:04:03.036 --> 0:04:05.916 out melodies. But then when I met John, I started 0:04:05.996 --> 0:04:12.196 learning about fingerpicking melodies, and then I practice with records 0:04:12.196 --> 0:04:14.636 at home a lot of those with things that John 0:04:14.636 --> 0:04:17.956 had introduced me to, like Captain Beefhart, things like that. 0:04:18.716 --> 0:04:22.756 Damn, wow, you were put Captain bee Far. 0:04:22.796 --> 0:04:24.996 It's a lot to ask of like a sixteen, seventeen, 0:04:25.076 --> 0:04:28.436 eighteen year old that I'm still trying to crack. Like 0:04:28.476 --> 0:04:31.436 I got seen as milk, I can get it as milk, 0:04:31.476 --> 0:04:34.276 and then it goes behind that and still breaks my brain. 0:04:35.196 --> 0:04:38.596 Yeah, I had had high expectations, which which she which 0:04:38.636 --> 0:04:40.636 she she always met, So it was. 0:04:42.116 --> 0:04:43.556 So that must have been the kind of stuff John 0:04:43.556 --> 0:04:45.476 that you were Really you're kind of like go to. 0:04:46.676 --> 0:04:50.156 I guess Captain beef stuff has been for years and years, 0:04:50.196 --> 0:04:53.676 you know, the years obviously an absolute one off in 0:04:53.796 --> 0:04:56.996 what he's done, and it's very difficult to get tired 0:04:57.516 --> 0:05:00.236 of listening to him because you're always finding something new. 0:05:00.276 --> 0:05:02.796 You know, I've been listening to those records for forty 0:05:02.876 --> 0:05:05.716 years and there's still ill still think, oh, I suddenly 0:05:05.756 --> 0:05:07.796 see how that works. Because a lot of it to 0:05:07.836 --> 0:05:10.556 me was just like a a weird puzzle. That was 0:05:10.556 --> 0:05:12.596 how I got interested in the first place, because I 0:05:12.596 --> 0:05:15.356 didn't understand it, and I thought I understood music. And 0:05:15.396 --> 0:05:18.036 when I first said kept in b fhar, I thought, 0:05:18.116 --> 0:05:20.276 I don't know what's going on here. I can't figure 0:05:20.276 --> 0:05:23.476 out who's saying, why they're doing it. Nothing made sense. 0:05:24.316 --> 0:05:26.516 But I was kind of interested enough to keep listening 0:05:26.596 --> 0:05:28.716 because I realized it had a physical effect on me, 0:05:29.316 --> 0:05:31.036 and I had a physical effect on other people that 0:05:31.036 --> 0:05:32.036 were listening to it as well. 0:05:32.116 --> 0:05:34.516 So it wasn't just that it was like bizarre that 0:05:34.596 --> 0:05:36.596 it was that you didn't understand it, but you could 0:05:36.596 --> 0:05:37.236 feel it still. 0:05:37.396 --> 0:05:39.396 I felt that there was something there. It was like 0:05:39.476 --> 0:05:42.276 hearing a foreign language and you're not not knowing what's 0:05:42.276 --> 0:05:44.276 going on, and then you listen to it enough times 0:05:44.276 --> 0:05:46.516 and gradually, like there's some words, you think, oh, I 0:05:46.556 --> 0:05:49.356 know what that word is, and you know you can 0:05:49.396 --> 0:05:51.876 put a couple of sentences together. And it was really 0:05:51.996 --> 0:05:54.556 like that. I gradually got to understand it in a 0:05:54.596 --> 0:05:57.036 way just by listening to it. And there are still 0:05:57.036 --> 0:06:01.156 things that I'm discovering now, So absolutely still go to 0:06:01.476 --> 0:06:02.076 May for sure. 0:06:02.116 --> 0:06:06.556 That's great. So before trout Mask Replica Parli, like, what 0:06:06.676 --> 0:06:11.756 was before that awakening? What was would have been the 0:06:11.836 --> 0:06:13.716 things that you were really loving to listen to at 0:06:13.756 --> 0:06:14.196 that time. 0:06:15.356 --> 0:06:18.876 Oh, I remember loving the Pogues at that time and 0:06:18.916 --> 0:06:21.236 the little band that I had, which was only a 0:06:21.236 --> 0:06:24.116 three tiny, three piece band. It was me on an 0:06:24.156 --> 0:06:26.636 acoustic guitar, a girl on a flute and a penny 0:06:26.636 --> 0:06:29.316 whistle friend of mine called Catherine, and this guy called 0:06:29.356 --> 0:06:31.556 Gus on the bass, and we used to do a 0:06:31.596 --> 0:06:33.876 lot of folk covers. I think when John came to 0:06:33.916 --> 0:06:36.316 see me, that's what I was doing in the local pub. 0:06:36.756 --> 0:06:38.716 But so I loved things like the Post because I 0:06:38.716 --> 0:06:42.196 could hear that it was folk music, which I loved, 0:06:42.236 --> 0:06:46.716 but it also had rebellion and spirit and punk. And 0:06:46.796 --> 0:06:49.476 then I fell in love with the Pixies as well, 0:06:50.076 --> 0:06:52.956 and they were a huge influence on me. I think 0:06:53.036 --> 0:06:55.476 John knew. I think you introduced me to Nick Cave 0:06:55.556 --> 0:06:59.156 in the Bad Seas because I remember you playing Cabin Fever. 0:06:59.716 --> 0:07:02.316 You know what you were just describing about chout Mass Replica. 0:07:02.356 --> 0:07:04.716 I remember listening to that going, I don't know what 0:07:04.756 --> 0:07:07.916 this is and it made me feel seasick. I just 0:07:07.956 --> 0:07:10.636 didn't know what I was listening too. And you played 0:07:10.636 --> 0:07:13.756 me from Her to Eternity as well, and then I 0:07:13.876 --> 0:07:17.516 really got into Nick Cave in the Bad Seats and 0:07:17.636 --> 0:07:20.516 Tom Waits. I don't think I knew weights, and then 0:07:20.596 --> 0:07:23.116 John introduced me to that and that was a massive 0:07:23.636 --> 0:07:25.876 influence on me. So I had this sort of mixture 0:07:25.956 --> 0:07:29.836 of Tom Waits, Nick Cave, the Pixies, Captain b Phart, 0:07:29.876 --> 0:07:33.196 and then my mum and dad's collection of records, which 0:07:33.596 --> 0:07:36.636 was brilliant, mostly Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. It's 0:07:36.676 --> 0:07:37.756 all sort of off sot with that. 0:07:38.396 --> 0:07:40.156 I love it. I can. I can hear that feel 0:07:40.196 --> 0:07:43.116 and you're playing that there's some stones in there, some 0:07:43.236 --> 0:07:47.396 stones in the Pies. You mentioned your sax plane when 0:07:47.396 --> 0:07:50.996 you're growing up playing sax in Endorset, like, is it 0:07:51.076 --> 0:07:54.316 a jazz ensemble or is it more as part of 0:07:54.356 --> 0:07:57.116 like a like a brass ensemble in the classical sense. 0:07:57.236 --> 0:08:00.276 Well, my mum and my dad were always very into music, 0:08:00.916 --> 0:08:03.556 so much so that they had a group of friends 0:08:04.076 --> 0:08:08.156 that were London based that started introducing them to rhythm 0:08:08.156 --> 0:08:13.996 and blues bands from London that my mom started then 0:08:14.356 --> 0:08:17.236 bringing those bands down to play in the local village 0:08:17.236 --> 0:08:21.156 tools in our village areas. So we'd end up with 0:08:21.236 --> 0:08:24.636 these rhythm and blues and boogie woogie bands staying with 0:08:24.716 --> 0:08:27.956 us nearly every weekend and some great players. And that's 0:08:27.996 --> 0:08:30.316 when I thought, oh, I really loved saxophone. And then 0:08:30.636 --> 0:08:33.996 they'd start giving me ad hoc lessons on the saxophone 0:08:34.036 --> 0:08:37.076 when they're staying and I started learning at school, so 0:08:37.116 --> 0:08:39.956 that's how that happened. And then I joined the local 0:08:40.276 --> 0:08:43.276 big band. So I was second tenor in a big 0:08:43.316 --> 0:08:45.956 band for quite a few years, which I love because 0:08:45.996 --> 0:08:49.836 you play all those big band standards Wow Wellington and 0:08:49.916 --> 0:08:52.956 you know, played some amazing songs and I learned a 0:08:52.956 --> 0:08:58.076 lot about structure and parts and being one of a 0:08:58.116 --> 0:09:00.036 whole from doing the big band work. 0:09:00.476 --> 0:09:02.956 Were you interested in big band music? 0:09:03.236 --> 0:09:07.156 Not really, No, I wasn't much more into track mass replica, 0:09:07.356 --> 0:09:12.876 but playing in a big band because I guess you know, 0:09:13.196 --> 0:09:16.756 in the way that I love playing in the current 0:09:16.796 --> 0:09:19.676 band we're in. You just learn about listening. You learn 0:09:19.716 --> 0:09:22.956 about listening to each other and you learn about playing 0:09:22.996 --> 0:09:25.956 off of the feel that you're all creating. Then that 0:09:26.116 --> 0:09:28.556 changes all the time. That's what makes it so exciting. 0:09:29.156 --> 0:09:31.556 I was listening to I think you're on it too, John, 0:09:31.596 --> 0:09:34.756 But you did a Ian Stewart tribute. You guys did 0:09:34.956 --> 0:09:35.876 a Lonely Avenue. 0:09:36.596 --> 0:09:39.916 John wasn't on. I was. I did that with my cousin. 0:09:40.716 --> 0:09:42.316 You and your cousin that John might have been on. 0:09:42.796 --> 0:09:44.676 You said, it's so natural doing that. 0:09:45.236 --> 0:09:50.516 So my mum's brother's son, my cousin Ben Waters, he's 0:09:50.516 --> 0:09:54.156 a boogie with pianist, and he became a boogie we 0:09:54.316 --> 0:09:58.356 be peers because he loved seeing Ian Stewart play. 0:09:58.476 --> 0:09:58.596 Now. 0:09:58.636 --> 0:10:01.796 Ian Stewart was often known as the fifth rolling Stone 0:10:02.556 --> 0:10:06.476 or sixth sixth rolling Stone, and well he was. He 0:10:06.516 --> 0:10:09.036 was always in the background. I mean, rumor has it 0:10:09.196 --> 0:10:11.036 that he wasn't in the Stones because he didn't look 0:10:11.156 --> 0:10:13.596 right right. But he was always with the Stones and 0:10:13.636 --> 0:10:15.836 he ended up being their road manager and he played 0:10:15.876 --> 0:10:18.876 on stage with them a lot. You'll often see him 0:10:18.916 --> 0:10:21.196 in the background now. He was a great friend of 0:10:21.236 --> 0:10:24.516 mom and dads. He influenced my cousin to want to 0:10:24.556 --> 0:10:28.836 play boogy boogy piano So now my cousin Ben Waters 0:10:28.916 --> 0:10:32.516 is a professional boogie boogie pianist and he put together 0:10:32.556 --> 0:10:36.516 this tribute to Ian Stewart and that's how that happened. 0:10:37.076 --> 0:10:40.036 So was Ian Stewart around then? Like was he one 0:10:40.036 --> 0:10:40.876 of the exactly? 0:10:41.876 --> 0:10:43.556 You know? I said, my mom and dad had a 0:10:43.556 --> 0:10:47.756 group of friends from London. I'll try and keep it simple, 0:10:47.836 --> 0:10:50.556 but so down here in Dorset where we live, it's 0:10:50.596 --> 0:10:54.796 a very very beautiful part of the countryside with rolling 0:10:54.876 --> 0:10:58.676 hills and an incredible coastline that's now become like a 0:10:58.756 --> 0:11:03.076 World Heritage site. It's called the Jurassic Coast. So people 0:11:03.156 --> 0:11:06.956 from London would just come here every weekend. One of 0:11:06.996 --> 0:11:11.516 them had a flat in this little cove and all 0:11:11.516 --> 0:11:13.196 of the people from London will come here just because 0:11:13.196 --> 0:11:15.676 it was so beautiful to escape London. And mom and dad, 0:11:16.316 --> 0:11:19.316 who lived down here already met those people. One of 0:11:19.356 --> 0:11:21.316 those people that used to come down every weekend was 0:11:21.356 --> 0:11:24.836 Ian Stewart. He was the one that introduced mum and 0:11:24.916 --> 0:11:28.156 dad to all of these bands from London that ended 0:11:28.236 --> 0:11:31.236 up coming down to play. And one of all bands 0:11:31.356 --> 0:11:33.716 was Ian's band, which was called Rocket eighty eight. 0:11:34.036 --> 0:11:36.396 Right right, which would I guess would have been based 0:11:36.436 --> 0:11:39.436 on that. I turned it song from way back when 0:11:39.796 --> 0:11:41.756 growing when you've seen him, did you know he's part 0:11:41.796 --> 0:11:44.236 of the Rolling Stone and maybe the founder of the 0:11:44.276 --> 0:11:44.876 Stones too. 0:11:45.076 --> 0:11:47.716 Yeah, yeah we did, and me and my brother and 0:11:47.756 --> 0:11:51.476 because Charlie Watts came down and Charlie played in Rocket 0:11:51.476 --> 0:11:55.036 eighty eight, you see, So Charlie Charlie ended up coming 0:11:55.036 --> 0:11:57.916 and staying in our house. And I remember my brother 0:11:57.956 --> 0:11:59.876 and I following him around because we knew that he 0:11:59.956 --> 0:12:02.716 was famous, so we just followed him around the house 0:12:02.756 --> 0:12:09.436 the entire time, followed Garden, followed him every where. 0:12:09.996 --> 0:12:12.916 Did you ever talk to him after following him? 0:12:12.716 --> 0:12:15.116 I h I think maybe a little bit. We were 0:12:15.156 --> 0:12:17.076 a bit shy because we were quite young. Then. 0:12:17.676 --> 0:12:22.556 Yeah, that is a crazy experience. I love Charlie Watts. 0:12:22.756 --> 0:12:24.756 I was trying to figure out. I feel like the 0:12:24.836 --> 0:12:29.996 last decade or so has been a really fruitful I 0:12:29.996 --> 0:12:32.396 seem to have read that it was a little difficult maybe, 0:12:32.396 --> 0:12:35.196 but a really fruitful run of records from like Let 0:12:35.276 --> 0:12:37.996 England Shake to Eye Inside the Old Year of Dying. 0:12:38.036 --> 0:12:40.116 I mean, just the three records that have come out 0:12:40.116 --> 0:12:43.476 in that time have just been really moving and interesting. 0:12:44.076 --> 0:12:47.796 But I was thinking about you guys' earliest work compared 0:12:47.836 --> 0:12:51.076 to this, and I mean, how does your guys' creative 0:12:51.076 --> 0:12:55.476 relationship work this well over time? I mean, it's just 0:12:55.516 --> 0:12:58.316 insane that you guys are sort of still seemingly, to 0:12:58.396 --> 0:13:01.276 the listener's point of view, like in lockstep creatively. 0:13:02.396 --> 0:13:06.476 Yeah, I mean, I think that that's quite rare to 0:13:06.556 --> 0:13:11.876 be a good creative relationship for that many years. I 0:13:11.876 --> 0:13:15.956 think we're both really appreciative of that. I mean, it's 0:13:15.996 --> 0:13:17.996 not something that you can make happen. It's either there 0:13:18.396 --> 0:13:22.676 or it's not. And I think that we've been lucky 0:13:22.756 --> 0:13:27.396 that we've, for whatever reason, creatively developed along similar lines 0:13:27.476 --> 0:13:30.076 or parallel lines for a long time. But we've always 0:13:30.196 --> 0:13:32.996 kind of understood what each other's doing, and we know 0:13:33.036 --> 0:13:36.036 each other's parameters really well. So it's very easy to 0:13:36.356 --> 0:13:39.716 judge things you know for each other and accept judgment 0:13:39.756 --> 0:13:43.516 from each other because we understand the parameters. We also 0:13:44.476 --> 0:13:47.396 trust each other implicitly, and that's again, it's not something 0:13:47.436 --> 0:13:51.076 that you can make happen. It's either there or it's not. 0:13:51.276 --> 0:13:54.636 And again, we're really appreciative that we have that because 0:13:55.236 --> 0:13:59.396 it just feels like when we're working together in the studio, 0:13:59.836 --> 0:14:02.596 and particularly when we're working with Flood as well. He's 0:14:02.636 --> 0:14:04.996 obviously been a part of all of those records. It 0:14:04.996 --> 0:14:10.036 feels like a very an incredibly strong creative unit. It 0:14:10.076 --> 0:14:12.676 creates a situation where people are not afraid to take 0:14:12.796 --> 0:14:15.796 chances and not afraid to take risks, and we know 0:14:15.916 --> 0:14:19.756 that there will always be somebody there to either support 0:14:19.796 --> 0:14:23.556 it or to say, actually that's not working, but maybe 0:14:23.676 --> 0:14:26.676 it's a route to something else. And it is afraid. 0:14:27.036 --> 0:14:30.036 You know, we're not worried about trying something and not 0:14:30.156 --> 0:14:33.956 working and then somebody thinking then they're not really very good. 0:14:33.996 --> 0:14:37.116 You know. We know that we have great respect for 0:14:37.156 --> 0:14:41.196 each other, the terrific trust, and that's been absolutely foundational 0:14:41.476 --> 0:14:43.956 to the work. I think, yeah, I. 0:14:43.876 --> 0:14:47.516 Mean I completely agree with John. I think it's having 0:14:47.556 --> 0:14:49.916 that level of trust because we've known each other for 0:14:49.956 --> 0:14:52.756 a long time and we've been through a lot together, myself, 0:14:52.836 --> 0:14:57.156 John arm Flood, and so then you can just be 0:14:57.236 --> 0:15:00.236 so open, you can be so risk taking and come 0:15:00.316 --> 0:15:02.516 up with crazy ideas and we'll have a go at 0:15:02.516 --> 0:15:04.516 them anyway, and then a lot of them fall down 0:15:04.516 --> 0:15:06.596 and theyre rubbish and we just laugh about it because 0:15:06.676 --> 0:15:08.716 and the other thing is We do laugh a lot. 0:15:09.156 --> 0:15:10.956 We have a similar sense of humors. We spend a 0:15:10.996 --> 0:15:13.876 lot of time laughing and that really helps. And we 0:15:13.916 --> 0:15:16.476 don't have egos in the sense of needing to hold 0:15:16.516 --> 0:15:19.076 on to some precious idea. We just let it go 0:15:19.196 --> 0:15:21.836 and we try something else. So it makes for a 0:15:21.996 --> 0:15:29.236 really wonderful inspirational collaboration. You're just constantly firing ideas off 0:15:29.236 --> 0:15:29.676 each other. 0:15:31.276 --> 0:15:32.956 After this break, we'll be back with more of our 0:15:32.996 --> 0:15:36.676 conversation with John Parrish and the One and Only PJ. Harvey. 0:15:40.956 --> 0:15:43.996 We're back with more from John Parrish and PJ. Harvey. 0:15:44.916 --> 0:15:49.276 Speaking of like being open to ideas, the demos to 0:15:49.316 --> 0:15:51.956 Let England Shape were really fascinating. There's a lot of 0:15:52.836 --> 0:15:56.436 you singing, not even singing, but you writing songs over 0:15:56.916 --> 0:16:01.836 samples of things. Yeah, which is a really wild idea. 0:16:01.836 --> 0:16:05.156 I've never heard demos that sound that way. How did 0:16:05.196 --> 0:16:07.956 you start demoing songs that way for that record? 0:16:08.636 --> 0:16:12.116 Yeah, that was the first time I'd done that. It 0:16:12.196 --> 0:16:16.236 was going back to feel. It was some pieces of 0:16:16.316 --> 0:16:18.956 music I loved the feel of, but also the words 0:16:19.076 --> 0:16:22.596 were absolutely right for the words and the lyrics I 0:16:22.676 --> 0:16:26.436 was creating, so I only used loops of things that 0:16:26.676 --> 0:16:30.796 resonated with the subject matter of the song, so that 0:16:30.956 --> 0:16:35.316 made for a really strong combination. And then some of 0:16:35.356 --> 0:16:38.356 those loops we did use in the eventual recording, and 0:16:38.436 --> 0:16:39.836 some of them we didn't, or some of them we 0:16:39.956 --> 0:16:43.396 just referenced, but we used parts of on So it 0:16:43.476 --> 0:16:46.836 was just a good launching pad for me as I 0:16:46.876 --> 0:16:49.516 was trying to find my way into what I was writing. 0:16:49.916 --> 0:16:51.716 And you can also hear on the demos I was 0:16:51.756 --> 0:16:54.356 mapping out vocal ideas as well, because I knew I 0:16:54.436 --> 0:16:59.636 wanted lots of additional singers. But it's very interesting to hear. 0:16:59.676 --> 0:17:03.596 How then those demos then moved into the final recordings 0:17:03.636 --> 0:17:05.596 and that changed quite a bit. John, I don't know 0:17:05.596 --> 0:17:07.916 if you want to say about I think our environment 0:17:08.036 --> 0:17:10.076 just being in each church had a big impact. 0:17:10.596 --> 0:17:13.156 Yeah, yeah, it did. It was a great session. The 0:17:13.196 --> 0:17:16.996 demos were really interesting. We didn't want to use like 0:17:17.116 --> 0:17:20.796 whole loops going through all the tracks, you know, and 0:17:20.956 --> 0:17:25.476 so we approach in different ways, either sometimes replaying some things, 0:17:25.756 --> 0:17:30.516 replaying little bits and pieces of them, or using sort 0:17:30.556 --> 0:17:34.516 of segments instead. But it was such a strong body 0:17:34.516 --> 0:17:38.196 of songs and lyrically, it was a big departure for Polly. 0:17:38.436 --> 0:17:40.396 Well, and how do you view that as someone who's 0:17:40.436 --> 0:17:41.996 worked alongside her for so long? 0:17:42.076 --> 0:17:44.436 You know, I have to say when Police first said 0:17:44.596 --> 0:17:48.836 that she was writing an album of songs loosely about war, 0:17:49.316 --> 0:17:52.036 I was a little bit nervous as to how she 0:17:52.156 --> 0:17:53.796 was going to pull that off, because I think that's 0:17:53.836 --> 0:17:59.356 act an incredibly difficult thing to do in an artistically 0:17:59.396 --> 0:18:02.436 successful way. As soon as I heard the first three 0:18:02.476 --> 0:18:04.676 or four demos, I was like, Okay, these are great. 0:18:05.196 --> 0:18:07.876 She's totally going to do it. And it tears a 0:18:08.076 --> 0:18:11.316 tremendously press his piece of writing. All the songs on 0:18:11.316 --> 0:18:15.196 that record. When we came to record them, it was 0:18:15.236 --> 0:18:18.836 the most open that Polly had been in a recording situation. 0:18:19.516 --> 0:18:22.036 And I don't know whether that was just the time 0:18:22.036 --> 0:18:25.916 of the development as an artist, the development of Polly's 0:18:25.956 --> 0:18:28.596 a human being, or the fact that the songs were 0:18:28.716 --> 0:18:32.076 very much the third person up until that time. You 0:18:32.076 --> 0:18:35.236 could say there was a degree. Well, certainly people would 0:18:35.276 --> 0:18:38.636 interpret most of the songs before that as being Polly 0:18:38.636 --> 0:18:41.876 writing the first person, even if they weren't, whereas this 0:18:41.956 --> 0:18:45.276 group of songs you do absolutely couldn't. I suppose you 0:18:45.316 --> 0:18:47.716 could try and glean some kind of idea what she 0:18:47.796 --> 0:18:51.356 might think about historical events or current events, and how 0:18:51.396 --> 0:18:54.716 she was timed the two together. But for whatever reason, 0:18:55.596 --> 0:19:01.116 in that session, Polly was incredibly open to the process. 0:19:01.276 --> 0:19:03.556 Maybe it was also to do with being very confident 0:19:03.596 --> 0:19:06.676 in the material. The songs came together very very quickly 0:19:07.116 --> 0:19:09.996 in a beautiful space. It was a big open space 0:19:10.596 --> 0:19:12.996 church where we could all play at the same time, 0:19:13.836 --> 0:19:16.196 and literally every day we would start a new song 0:19:16.316 --> 0:19:19.516 and we wouldn't really know how it was going to 0:19:19.676 --> 0:19:21.916 work out. We wouldn't even know who was going to 0:19:21.956 --> 0:19:25.396 play what instrument, you know, whether Mick would be playing 0:19:25.436 --> 0:19:27.476 drums or whether I would be playing drums, and then 0:19:27.796 --> 0:19:29.956 the other one of us would be playing either guitar 0:19:30.036 --> 0:19:32.956 or keepers or Poly might be playing guitar or auto harp. 0:19:33.036 --> 0:19:35.836 It was really, this is the song. It's a great song, 0:19:35.876 --> 0:19:37.796 let's see where we can take it. And by the 0:19:37.876 --> 0:19:40.796 end of each day pretty much the song had really 0:19:40.836 --> 0:19:45.076 found its own direction. It was a really tremendous session. 0:19:45.516 --> 0:19:47.636 Does that feel true to you probably in terms of 0:19:47.636 --> 0:19:50.956 this feeling like this writing being a little bit different 0:19:50.996 --> 0:19:52.436 than your other writing before it. 0:19:52.836 --> 0:19:59.636 Yeah, definitely. I remember after White Chalk I just knew 0:19:59.836 --> 0:20:05.196 I needed to find a completely vibrant and exciting new 0:20:05.276 --> 0:20:08.196 path for myself, and I didn't know what that was, 0:20:08.236 --> 0:20:11.116 and it took quite a lot time to find it. 0:20:12.076 --> 0:20:15.996 And anything I write about, I've got to feel very 0:20:16.036 --> 0:20:19.156 deeply emotionally connected to it or very moved by it. 0:20:19.196 --> 0:20:22.076 And I can remember at that time that England was 0:20:22.116 --> 0:20:26.676 involved in the Afghan War and the Iraq War, and 0:20:26.716 --> 0:20:29.796 I think I was just watching a program, a documentary 0:20:30.436 --> 0:20:34.916 about one soldier who'd been wounded in the war in Afghanistan, 0:20:34.956 --> 0:20:37.836 and I just found it so incredibly upsetting. I just 0:20:37.876 --> 0:20:41.596 remember this whole night feeling so upset, and I thought, 0:20:42.516 --> 0:20:45.156 you should write about that if you're feeling this upset. 0:20:45.396 --> 0:20:48.196 I think I was crying, you know, right like that, 0:20:48.596 --> 0:20:50.796 right about that, And that's how I thought, how can 0:20:50.836 --> 0:20:53.156 I write about that? And that's how it began. How 0:20:53.596 --> 0:20:56.876 how do you do that? So that was the starting point, 0:20:57.276 --> 0:20:59.436 and I think I learned a lot from that moment, 0:20:59.476 --> 0:21:03.996 because I think every album I've done since then, I 0:21:04.196 --> 0:21:07.316 have really thought the area that I'm trying to explore 0:21:07.396 --> 0:21:09.156 has to have a lot of meaning for me and 0:21:09.236 --> 0:21:12.956 has to really move me in order to really write 0:21:13.036 --> 0:21:13.596 good work. 0:21:14.636 --> 0:21:17.276 That moving from this is what I should write about? 0:21:17.356 --> 0:21:21.196 To how do I write about it? To actually then 0:21:21.276 --> 0:21:25.236 having written about it before you got anything you felt 0:21:25.916 --> 0:21:28.396 was good? Were there are like a lot of failed 0:21:28.396 --> 0:21:30.876 attempts to write well. 0:21:30.996 --> 0:21:33.796 LANGL and Shake Again was the first time that I 0:21:33.876 --> 0:21:38.236 wrote words firstly alone on a page with no music. 0:21:38.596 --> 0:21:41.876 Prior to that, I'd always created songs in tandem, music 0:21:41.956 --> 0:21:45.676 and lyrics together. They'd grow with each other, and sometimes 0:21:45.756 --> 0:21:49.876 words would grow out of just chanting rhythmically on top 0:21:49.916 --> 0:21:51.956 of a riff that I had on the piano or guitar. 0:21:52.676 --> 0:21:55.676 But this time, because of what John said, like how 0:21:55.956 --> 0:21:59.876 you know it's such a difficult subject, how on earth 0:21:59.876 --> 0:22:02.836 you're going to approach that, I knew I had to 0:22:03.156 --> 0:22:05.956