Lick Magazine catches up with alt-folk wonder boy Beer Jacket before his headline gig at Nice ’n’ Sleazys to talk shop about the Scottish music scene, having famous friends, and the perils of the modern music industry.
So you’ve secured a fair few support slots with big acts over the last few years, haven’t you?Yeah, I mean the tendency is to ask solo people to support solo people, or for bands to support bands, but I’ve been lucky. I’ve not been limited to supporting solo musicians so I’ve been turning that on its head.
We saw you support Rilo Kiley two years ago, how was that?They were incredible; they're seriously one of my favourite bands. I've never been so nervous before a concert or since, and I've played with a lot of people I've really loved. Actually I tell a lie, I also played with Arab Strap and I’ve always been a really big fan of them. That was amazing, especially because I was the only support that night, I remember just feeling so ridiculously privileged, and I really like Aidan and Malcolm as people too. In the past I always felt really left out of the Glasgow scene because I played in bands that were on a different quest from all the bands that we looked up to, we were never really trying to get signed or anything like that. There was something really sordid about being in that mindset where being signed was the most important element of your existence, and I always was a bit embarrassed at that to be honest, when coming into contact with these people.
The thing about Malcolm Middleton and Arab Strap is they just seem to do their own thing and don't really seem to bother themselves with mass popularity. Do you share that same ethos?
Absolutely, I've been playing music as a means to an end since I was about thirteen. But I had basically decided I was going to stop doing this, playing music, because I felt like I didn't have anything particularly to offer. I basically decided that I was going to do one more concert on my own and I was going to write and record for it, play it all in a row, then sell 5 copies and quit playing music altogether.
What changed?Well basically, all the CDs disappeared... and it wasn't necessarily because of the money in my pocket. It was just nice to think you'd done something for an honourable reason, just something that is an end in itself and isn't trying to get anywhere.
Do you think you'll ever take your music to a professional, more full time level?
I think if anyone plays music just purely because they love music then it's more than a job, even if it takes up less of your time, physically playing music. I mean I think about music constantly, and not in a mathematical way. Everything that I do in my life somehow relates to music. I cant shift it from my head, whether it's something I’m thinking of writing or even if it's just something I’m singing along to, and it's the same with everybody... I mean I'm not unique in that sense. I just think that if somebody is occupied by music or preoccupied with music, then that's better than having music as your occupation. I think it can become really really tired.
You're supporting Jeniferever soon, right?Yeah, I met them maybe a year or so ago, and since then we've built a mutual appreciation of each other's music. And we just like hanging about. They're really lovely people and great musicians.
Do you ever tour?I think if I was to do the amount of touring that any sort of grass roots musician has to do at the beginning of their career, then I would've played to probably half the people I've had the privilege of playing to within Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, because I've been playing to massive audiences and not having to work as hard as these folk who have to trawl up and down the country. Again it's just another privilege of the situation I find myself in.
You played Belladrum last August. What was that like for you? Is it scary playing in a place where people don’t know your songs?Yes aye, it is scary because you don't have a sound check and you just go up. Fair enough it's easier for me because I’m on my own, so there's a tiny number of things that can go wrong. I mean you can be bad for a start. Something could break and leave you pretty defenceless, but i mean, it is easier for me. But yeah, the idea of still having no sound check and just going up in front of people who have never heard you before or don't know who you are, they don't get the idea of not using your name. They say "What are you calling yourself Beerjacket for? There's only one person on the stage."
We heard that the name is a metaphor for the way that alcohol keeps you warm when you’re cold. Is that true?
Yeah that’s true. It followed me a wee bit because the first set of songs that I wrote just happened to mention certain references to drunkenness, but I wrote them really quickly. It must have just been an idea that I had. It's not like all the songs are about alcohol.
So it's not a big theme for you then? No, I'm not an alcoholic… that'd be quite a good song name though! But yeah, I guess I was just trying to come up with an idea that covers things up. One of the main reasons why I didn't use my own name is that I like the idea of having a certain amount of anonymity even though you're on your own on the stage.
Did you want to distance yourself from the male singer songwriter cliché?Yeah, I hate that idea, but I still don't want to have a band. Not because I don’t like other people or because I think my ideas are better or anything like that, but just because it just takes so much discussion and arguing, which results in ideas becoming diluted. I think that whether my idea is great or not, it's going to be the pure idea and it's going to be what I intended from beginning to end.
What's the snobbiest thing you've got in your record collection?To be honest I'm really proud of my record collection, maybe because it's not snobby. For example I've got Slint... but I’ve also got Christina Aguilera.
How do you feel about people who shun pop music altogether, and only like "underground" music?Well I mean what happens when that music goes over ground? It's ridiculous. I think people confuse my mentality of doing this without having a record deal, of not being involved in that mobile circus night after night, with the idea of me being somehow against mainstream or commercial music. And it's not that, I just think that the music industry has had its day, and people who are obsessed with the division between mainstream and underground are probably lying to themselves about the music industry anyway.
What do you think of the MySpace phenomenon? Do you think that technology distances people from really experiencing music?No, I think it brings people so much closer. For example, I played with Sean Lennon. I’d never have come into contact with him under any circumstances. It's ludicrous that I played a concert with him. And not because he's a celebrity or whatever, or not because of who his parents are or anything like that, but just because the guy is in his own right such a ridiculously artistic individual.
Are you surprised at how encouraging a lot of bigger acts have been towards your music?It's interesting. People in bands that I like tend to be sceptical that I’m just another singer songwriter at first, but I’ve just been lucky that that fact of my existence hasn't held me back from making bonds with these people. I'm not going to say "contacts" because I think a lot of people look at musicians really cynically as vehicles for their own success. And a lot of them aren’t even like that. I mean, Guillemots are the perfect archetype of a hardworking band. They do so much more than they need to do, and yet even more amazing than that they make time to help out humble musicians like myself, and it just blows me away.
So let’s talk a bit about your own music. You recorded your first two releases at home, what process did you go through whilst recording “The Slow Lane Is Faster”?They kind of technically were all home recorded. The first one was just a wee scabby demo. It was sort of like when you don your maths homework and you're supposed to leave all the working in. That's what it was sort of like. I did it in pencil I suppose, if you want me to put my bad production into a metaphor. The second one had slightly more colourful arrangements.
Do you like recording or do you prefer just playing songs live and letting people hear them? Do you think there's a certain craft in recording?There's definitely a craft in recording. I wouldn't necessarily claim that I’ve got it though, because I’m definitely from the school of home recording… you know... making mistakes, leaving them in, and then noticing them every time i play the CD - which isn't very often. If I leave the mistakes in I think it leaves more room for honesty. In the studio there's more of an emphasis on getting things right and I think that it’s difficult to recreate any kind of intimacy. The other week I recorded a song in the living room of my in laws' house when they were out. And it was really good. There was like rain outside and stuff… and that sounds really clichéd, god it sounds clichéd!
Want us to leave it out?
No, no, no, leave it in... leave in the honesty and rawness of my cliché ridden stupid mouth. But yeah, there's a much more clinical approach to the studio, whereas if you do it by yourself it's ugly in the right ways. You know what i mean?
Aye Pete, we certainly do.
Beer Jacket’s most excellent latest release, The Slow Lane Is Faster, is available now.www.myspace.com/beerjacket
Nice 'n' Sleazy
