Rencontre donc avec cet Anglais qui va bientôt venir jouer en France.
Songs For Walter
Comment c’est déroulé l’enregistrement de ton album ?
Discographie
Songs For WalterSongs for Walter : Ça a été une expérience étrange, enrichissante et frustrante. Il m’a fallu beaucoup de temps pour terminer, beaucoup plus longtemps que ce que j’avais prévu. Mes morceaux sont donc très courts. Je voulais enregistrer beaucoup plus de chansons mais ça a pris une éternité de tout compiler, d’enregistrer ces chansons tout en faisant d’autres projets à coté.
Certaines de mes morceaux ont été enregistrés quatre ou cinq fois. Nous avons passé beaucoup de temps à enregistrer des parties que nous avons modifiées ensuite. Espérons que ça le fasse.
Il y a combien de chansons dessus ? On retrouve des titres de ton E.P ?
Songs for Walter : Il y a seize chansons au total. Et on retrouve toutes les chansons de l’E.P !
Qui produit l’album ?
Songs for Walter : Edward Hulme (mon cousin) produit presque tous les titres. Il a été impliqué dès le premier jour. Je vois Songs For Walter comme un duo : Ed et moi-même. C’est devenu quelque chose de solo par commodité quand Ed est parti voyager. Il a transformé beaucoup de mes idées brutes dans les chansons, surtout dans les premiers jours.
Tu te sens comment avant la sortie de ton disque ?
Songs for Walter : Très excité car c’est finalement terminé. Et j’ai hâte que tout le monde écoute mon travail.
Tu es de Manchester. Ça veut dire quelque chose pour toi ?
Songs for Walter : Je viens d’une petite ville appelée Garstang à environ une heure de Manchester. Manchester a toujours été la grande ville la plus proche, la plus lumineuse là où j’allais voir des concerts avec des amis. J’y vis depuis 2007 et j’ai mis du temps à m’habituer à cette ville. Ça va de mieux en mieux.
Quelle est l’histoire de Meet Me At The Empire ?
Songs for Walter : Beaucoup de chansons sur mon album sont inspirées par la vie de mon grand-père Walter. Je souhaitais dans un premier temps faire de mon album un disque qui raconte la vie de mon grand-père. Ce n’est pas le cas tout le temps mais la plupart des chansons lui font référence en quelque sorte. Meet Me At The Empire évoque le premier rendez-vous amoureux de mes grands-parents. Ils avaient participé à une course « à trois jambes » lors de la fête de leur entreprise et avaient gagné. Le prix était une date au théâtre Empire à Liverpool. Ma grand-mère ne pensait pas que sa mère allait lui donner l’autorisation de sortir car elle était très stricte, mais Walter avait convenu d’attendre à l’extérieur du théâtre juste au cas où elle a aurait obtenu la permission. Contre toute attente, elle a réussi à venir et après cette soirée ils se sont mis en couple pour 75 ans.
Songs for Walter – Meet Me at the Empire
Quels artistes t’ont donné envie d’écrire des chansons ?
Songs for Walter : Alors les artistes qui m’ont inspiré et qui m’inspirent toujours sont Nick Drake, Bill Callahan (surtout Smog) Sebadoh, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Neil Young, Will Oldham, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Minutemen, Smashing Pumpkins, Guided By Voices et mon ami et percussionniste Tekla.
Comment as-tu croisé la route du site Microcultures ?
Songs for Walter : Grâce à mon label américain Bleeding Or. Jean Charles, qui dirige Microcultures, est venu me voir jouer quand je jouais à L’Âne Chic à Paris en avril dernier. C’est un vrai soutien depuis quelques années maintenant.
TOP 10
1) Le meilleur disque de 2014 ?
Songs for Walter : Définitivement More Than Any Other Day du groupe Ought. Ils ressemblent beaucoup aux Talking Heads, mais cet album me rappelle vraiment les deux premiers Mission of Burma (deux de mes disques préférés).
Leur coté post punk est excellent. J’aime l’alliance des claviers et de la guitare. Il y a quelques lignes de basse fantastiques aussi. Leur EP est également très bon. J’ai écrit mon top 10 des albums de 2014 sur mon blog.
2) Le pire disque de 2014 ?
Songs for Walter : Je préfère ne pas répondre à cette question.
Il y a tellement de bonne musique… Je ne veux pas perdre une seconde en parlant de mauvaise musique.
3) Le producteur de tes rêves ?
Songs for Walter : C’est un cliché, mais j’ai toujours rêvé de faire un enregistrement avec Steve Albini ; il a enregistré un grand nombre de mes disques préférés. J’ai une bande de potes qui a travaillé avec lui et qui a discuté avec lui. Je ne pense pas que cela fonctionnerait aussi bien avec Songs For Walter, mais mon autre projet Seatoller, un groupe un peu plus lourd, est le groupe parfait pour ce type.
Il est vraiment pas cher pour un « producteur » (enfin il déteste ce mot) de son niveau.
Sinon j’ai vraiment été impressionné par la production de John Congleton sur l’album d’Angel Olsen qui est sorti cette année alors peut-être que dans un monde idéal, j’aimerais peut-être faire le deuxième album de Songs For Walter avec lui.
4) La meilleure salle pour jouer un concert ?
Songs for Walter : A Manchester, je choisirais probablement le Deaf Institute. Le son y est magnifique ainsi que l’ambiance.
5) La meilleure salle pour voir un concert ?
Songs for Walter : A Manchester c’est l’Albert Hall. C’est une vieille église avec son orgue. J’y ai vu Slint, les Neutral Milk Hotel et les Manic Street Preachers. Il y a toujours des concerts sensationnels.
6) Liverpool ou Manchester ?
Songs for Walter : J’aime vraiment Liverpool mais bien sûr, je me dois de dire Manchester. Je dirais que Liverpool est une ville plus frappante et sympathique au début, mais Manchester offre plus de possibilités que les autres villes. Tu y as ta chance.
8) The Pale Fountains ou Shack ?
Songs for Walter : Shack – HMS Fable est le premier disque que j’ai acheté.
9) Ton artiste français préféré ?
Songs for Walter : Je vais dire Lætitia Sadier. Je suis un grand fan de Stereolab et j’ai eu l’occasion de la rencontrer. C’est un amour. Une de mes meilleures amies l’a décrite comme une des personnes les plus sérieuses qu’elle ait jamais rencontrée : elle avait raison !
10) Le refrain ultime ?
Songs for Walter : Une question vraiment très difficile pour moi… Je te donne mes préférés :
- Tractor Rape Chain – Guided By Voices
- Mission Of Burma – That’s When I Reach For My Revolver
- Iggy & The Stooges – Gimme Danger
- Pavement – In The Mouth Desert
- Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round
- The Cars – Just What I Needed
- Funkadelic – Can You Get To That
- Teenage Fanclub – Every picture I Paint
- Weezer – El Scorchio
- Wire – Dot Dash
- Natalie Imbruglia – Torn
Songs For Walter sera en concert le 19 février 2015 au Pop In et le 20 février avec l’association Off Kultur à Nancy.
English text
1) How was the recording of the album?
It has been a strange, rewarding and frustrating experience. It’s taken me a long time to finish – a lot longer than I had envisaged. Since my tracks are very short I wanted he record to have quite a lot of songs on it and it took ages to get them all right, fitting recording them around work and other musical commitments. Some of the songs were re recorded four or five times, often we’d spend time recording parts which we removed later on. Hopefully it was worth it!
2) It includes how many songs? We will found songs of your E.P?
There’s 16 songs on there. All the songs from the EP should be on there.
3) Who is the producer?
Edward Hulme (my cousin) produced nearly all the tunes. He was involved right from day one. I actually see SFW as duo – Ed and myself. It just became more of solo thing out of convenience when Ed went travelling. He transformed a lot of my rough ideas into the songs, especially in the early days.
4) How do you feel before the release of this album?
Really excited that it’s finally finished! I can’t wait for everyone to hear it.
5) You are from Manchester? It means something to you?
I’m from a small town called Garstang about an hour away. Manchester was always the nearest big bright lit city where myself and friends would go to see bands we liked. I’ve lived there since 2007 and it took a long time for it to sink in that I was living there. It just gets better and better.
6) Could tell us the story of Meet Me At The Empire?
Many of the songs on my album are inspired by my Grandfather Walter’s life. I originally indented the whole record to be a biographical account of his life, it hasn’t quite turned out that way but most of the songs reference him in some way. MMATE is about my Grandparent’s first date. The pair had won a three legged race at their employers’ annual sportsday. The prize was a date to the Empire theatre in Liverpool. My Grandmother didn’t think her super-strict mother would allow her to go but Walter agreed to wait outside the Empire just in case she was granted permission. Against the odds she did show up and after that night they were a couple for the following 75 years!
7) Which artists made you want to write songs?
The artists that have inspired and continue to inspire me the most are Nick Drake, Bill Callahan (especially his earlier Smog era,) Sebadoh, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Neil Young, Will Oldham, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Minutemen, Smashing Pumpkins, Guided By Voices and my good friend/backing vocalist & percussionist Tekla.
8) How did you meet people of Microcultures?
Through my American label Bleeding Gold. Jean Charles who runs Microcultures kindly came to see me play when I played at L’Âne Chic in Paris last April. He’s been really supportive for a several years now.
1) The best album of 2014?
Defiantly ‘Ought’s More Than Any Other Day.’ They sound a lot like Talking Heads but this album really reminds me of the first two Mission Of Burma albums (two of my favourite records.) I think that arty post punk at its best is as good as it gets. I Love the synth/guitar interplay and there’s some fantastic bass lines too. Their EP is also great. I’ve written about my top 10 albums of this year on my music blog – http://tunesofthemonth.blogspot.co.uk/
2) The worst disc of 2014?
I’d rather not answer that. There’s so much great music out there I don’t want to waste a second discussing awful music.
3) The producer of your dreams?
It’s a cliché but I’ve always dreamt of doing a record with Steve Albini, he’s recorded so many of my favourite records. I have a couple of mates who’ve worked with him who’ve said mixed thing about the process. I don’t think it would work too well with SFW but my other, heavier band ‘Seatoller’ is the right kind of band to record with him. He’s still really cheap for a ‘producer’ (apparently he hates that word!) of his size.
I was really impressed with John Congleton’s production on the Angel Olsen album that came out this year so maybe in an ideal world I’d maybe do the second SFW album with him.
4) The best venue to play a gig?
In Manchester i’d probably still say the Deaf Institute. It has a brilliant sound and atmosphere.
5) The best venue to watch a gig?
In Manchester it’s definitely The Albert Hall. It’s an old church, complete with organ. I’ve seen Slint, Neutral Milk Hotel and The Manic Street Preachers there and they’ve all been incredible shows.
7) Liverpool or Manchester?
I really love Liverpool but of course I have to say Manchester. I’d say Liverpool is a more striking and likeable city at first but Manchester maybe has the edge when it comes to the sheer amount of opportunities and experiences you can have in either city.
8) The Pale Fountains or Shack?
Shack – HMS Fable was one of the first albums I ever bought.
9) Your favorite french artist?
I’d have to say Lætitia Sadier. I’m a big Stereolab fan and I had the honour of meeting her this year. She was lovely. One of my best friends described her as the most earnest people she’d ever met – she was right!
10) The ultimate chorus?
Such a hard question but i’ll give you some of my favourites…
Tractor Rape Chain – Guided By Voices
Mission Of Burma – That’s When I Reach For My Revolver
Iggy & The Stooges – Gimme Danger
Pavement – In The Mouth Desert
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round
The Cars – Just What I Needed
Funkadelic – Can You Get To That
Teenage Fanclub – Every picture I Paint
Weezer – El Scorchio
Wire – Dot Dash
Natalie Imbruglia – Torn ;)
Shake Shake Go : Polly wants a success
Public Service Broadcasting, astro-notes anglais
Answers in English –
1) How was the recording of the album?
It has been a strange, rewarding and frustrating experience. It’s taken me a long time to finish – a lot longer than I had envisaged. Since my tracks are very short I wanted he record to have quite a lot of songs on it and it took ages to get them all right, fitting recording them around work and other musical commitments. Some of the songs were re recorded four or five times, often we’d spend time recording parts which we removed later on. Hopefully it was worth it!
2) It includes how many songs? We will found songs of your E.P?
There’s 16 songs on there. All the songs from the EP should be on there.
3) Who is the producer?
Edward Hulme (my cousin) produced nearly all the tunes. He was involved right from day one. I actually see SFW as duo – Ed and myself. It just became more of solo thing out of convenience when Ed went travelling. He transformed a lot of my rough ideas into the songs, especially in the early days.
4) How do you feel before the release of this album?
Really excited that it’s finally finished! I can’t wait for everyone to hear it.
5) You are from Manchester? It means something to you?
I’m from a small town called Garstang about an hour away. Manchester was always the nearest big bright lit city where myself and friends would go to see bands we liked. I’ve lived there since 2007 and it took a long time for it to sink in that I was living there. It just gets better and better.
6) Could tell us the story of Meet Me At The Empire?
Many of the songs on my album are inspired by my Grandfather Walter’s life. I originally indented the whole record to be a biographical account of his life, it hasn’t quite turned out that way but most of the songs reference him in some way. MMATE is about my Grandparent’s first date. The pair had won a three legged race at their employers’ annual sportsday. The prize was a date to the Empire theatre in Liverpool. My Grandmother didn’t think her super-strict mother would allow her to go but Walter agreed to wait outside the Empire just in case she was granted permission. Against the odds she did show up and after that night they were a couple for the following 75 years!
7) Which artists made you want to write songs?
The artists that have inspired and continue to inspire me the most are Nick Drake, Bill Callahan (especially his earlier Smog era,) Sebadoh, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Neil Young, Will Oldham, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Minutemen, Smashing Pumpkins, Guided By Voices and my good friend/backing vocalist & percussionist Tekla.
8) How did you meet people of Microcultures?
Through my American label Bleeding Gold. Jean Charles who runs Microcultures kindly came to see me play when I played at L’Âne Chic in Paris last April. He’s been really supportive for a several years now.
1) The best album of 2014?
Defiantly ‘Ought’s More Than Any Other Day.’ They sound a lot like Talking Heads but this album really reminds me of the first two Mission Of Burma albums (two of my favourite records.) I think that arty post punk at its best is as good as it gets. I Love the synth/guitar interplay and there’s some fantastic bass lines too. Their EP is also great. I’ve written about my top 10 albums of this year on my music blog – http://tunesofthemonth.blogspot.co.uk/
2) The worst disc of 2014?
I’d rather not answer that. There’s so much great music out there I don’t want to waste a second discussing awful music.
3) The producer of your dreams?
It’s a cliché but I’ve always dreamt of doing a record with Steve Albini, he’s recorded so many of my favourite records. I have a couple of mates who’ve worked with him who’ve said mixed thing about the process. I don’t think it would work too well with SFW but my other, heavier band ‘Seatoller’ is the right kind of band to record with him. He’s still really cheap for a ‘producer’ (apparently he hates that word!) of his size.
I was really impressed with John Congleton’s production on the Angel Olsen album that came out this year so maybe in an ideal world I’d maybe do the second SFW album with him.
4) The best venue to play a gig?
In Manchester i’d probably still say the Deaf Institute. It has a brilliant sound and atmosphere.
5) The best venue to watch a gig?
In Manchester it’s definitely The Albert Hall. It’s an old church, complete with organ. I’ve seen Slint, Neutral Milk Hotel and The Manic Street Preachers there and they’ve all been incredible shows.
7) Liverpool or Manchester?
I really love Liverpool but of course I have to say Manchester. I’d say Liverpool is a more striking and likeable city at first but Manchester maybe has the edge when it comes to the sheer amount of opportunities and experiences you can have in either city.
8) The Pale Fountains or Shack?
Shack – HMS Fable was one of the first albums I ever bought.
9) Your favorite french artist?
I’d have to say Lætitia Sadier. I’m a big Stereolab fan and I had the honour of meeting her this year. She was lovely. One of my best friends described her as the most earnest people she’d ever met – she was right!
10) The ultimate chorus?
Such a hard question but i’ll give you some of my favourites…
Tractor Rape Chain – Guided By Voices
Mission Of Burma – That’s When I Reach For My Revolver
Iggy & The Stooges – Gimme Danger
Pavement – In The Mouth Desert
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round
The Cars – Just What I Needed
Funkadelic – Can You Get To That
Teenage Fanclub – Every picture I Paint
Weezer – El Scorchio
Wire – Dot Dash
Natalie Imbruglia – Torn ;)