Part 2: The Charlatans front man Tim Burgess on self publishing, big decisions and being rescued by Ice T.

SUBvert magazine photoshoot at The Charlatans recording studio, photo by Nickie McGowan

How much influence does the record company have over the decision making?

It’s a relationship, so its give and take. They’ll suggest what they want and you’ll suggest what you want. You can never get your own way all the time. However, now we’re not tied to a label we’re just in a relationship with ourselves so we make all, the decisions. It;s great!

SUBvert magazine photoshoot at The Charlatans recording studio, photo by Nickie McGowan

Let’s talk about your gigs, can you remember your first performance?

Yes it was in the corner of a room in a local club, but it was a good experience, we managed to get a projector with visuals. I was into a lot of the stuff from Manchester, it was quite psychedelic, I was really into early Pink Floyd and Jimmy Hendricks. So we had a screen and some weird psychedelic stuff going on in the background, we carried that theme on for quite a while, that separated us from everyone else.

Illustration by Toby Whitebread

What about on a larger scale, do you remember your first festival?

Yes I do, Ian Astbury from The Cult had started this thing called “A Gathering of the Tribes” this was pre “Lollapalooza”. We’d never been to America before and our first two gigs were held at the Shoreline Amphitheater San Francisco and the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa.

We’d probably only done twenty gigs in our lives. Ian Astbury was on the Beggars Banquet label and The Cult were massive in America, so they put on these two gigs with them headlining and we were on with Ice T, Iggy Pop, The Cramps, Soundgarden, Queen Latifah and Public Enemy.

Ice T and The Cult on the same bill it was like the first multi-cultural concert in America. We just wanted people to hear our music. We had a forty minute slot and we were going over minute by minute, because we had a long song at the end. I remember John getting dragged off his stool and the whole fucking security getting really heavy on us, right then Ice T stepped in and said if you get anymore shit I’ll have my people take care of it, we must have looked like some sweet innocent kids, it was really crazy.

Illustration by Toby Whitebread

Maybe Ice T should have renamed his band Bodyguard instead of Body Count? :) Despite being sweet and innocent looking, you must have attracted some attention playing to such big crowds, how long did it take before The Charlatans became really successful in your eyes?

Success is a really weird thing really, it’s difficult to tell, I mean I only think we’re in a successful period right now, because it feels good. As far as selling records and playing to big crowds we’ve done all that, but then there’s also been stages of ups and downs, it’s been kinda like a roller coaster ride.

What have you been most proud of?

I’m really proud of what what we did with XFM (Radio Station) where we allowed people to download our music for free. We keep getting mentioned in the same breath as Radiohead, most people might expect it from Radiohead because they are like a maverick group, but for it to come from us was surprising.

Illustration by Toby Whitebread

So you’re a fan of the Internet and open to where the music industry is heading?

We are really into new technology, we did 40 podcasts from one of our tours, I think we got to number two in the podcast chart. I did them with The Charlatans security guy Jim, we did an interview every night, then sent them off and people all over the world listened to them.

I know you’ve done previous projects involving mobile phones, tell us about that?

Yeh, I walked into one of our gigs and I got “You Cross My Path” on my ring tone so I had my very own song on my phone I was also very proud of that.

So were you one of the first bands to do that type of thing?

On a blue tooth box I believe we were the first band to do that at a live event, especially giving it away for free. I want to continue doing this type of thing where people can get free artwork, wallpaper, ring tones on their mobiles at our gigs, maybe have our whole back catalog available.

Do you see the music industry continuing to grow online?

I hope so, I like to live my life online, power to the people and to the artists that’s what I’m all about.

Illustration by Toby Whitebread

Links

www.myspace.com/timburgess
The Charlatans
www.myspace.com/thecharlatans

Interview by Angel Greenham
Editing by Paul Magee

Photography Jimmy James
Nicky McGowan
Illustration by Toby Whitebread