The Goo 1
MAR-APR 24 I’d been listening to Violent Femmes a
nd They Might Be Giants and other outfits who took a ‘low-fi’-like approach. You could play live without needing the backline of The Electric Light Orchestra and record on a Tascam 4-Track. Which worked out for The Pale as that’s all we had!” He continues. “With regard to the people I approached for guidance and advice, nobody minded. I called them my ‘Punkles’! You’d see these guys who’d set up on a lorry trailer in a field, run a power line to the nearest corporation house and boom, youve got four or five bands playing in the middle of a housing estate. Afterwards you’d go up for a chat, they’d invite you round for tea. Bring a guitar and an idea and they’d record you. Funnily enough, living as I do now in the centre of Dublin City I’m very involved in what’s happening with new acts here. There’s a lot of interesting stuff about. Because I’m lucky enough to have enough space to house a small personal studio cum rehearsal space I can return the favours once shown to me. I’ve become a ‘Punkle’ myself!” Before we get on to the new solo record, and its predecessor indeed, the sought after, holy grail, majorlabel-deal didn’t last for The Pale. Why was that? “It was a combination of factors. ‘Brit Pop’ happened and we weren’t. I mean, define The Pale in one sentence. I’m in it and I can’t! Also, a larger production facility was fun at first, and educational, but it took us further and further from where we had started. What we were about. We’d produced the first two albums on our todd. At A&M there were a lot more cooks in the kitchen. Three singles off that album charted in quite a few countries. We won awards, which was nice. Suddenly we had a vote in where we’d go next. But they did too! And there were more of them. I’ve never wanted to be ‘Bono’ famous. Neither does Shane or Sean.The artists I most admire didn’t either. People like Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen... You mentioned ‘outsiders’ earlier and I more identify with that sort of concept. Losing the A&M deal didn’t compromise us. Keeping it might have?” Before we (eventually, I promise) get to ‘House Devil’ I ask, reminded by the artists Matthew has just referenced, of his first solo album, and how that came about? “Who’s been telling you stories? ‘Tap, Tap, Tap’ came from two things. I had developed an interest in electronic music. Richard D James from Apxen Twin, Irish passport holder by the way, had intrigued me. Plus, a friend of mine had asked me to help out on nights at his internet cafe which was mainly frequented by Chinese gamers, the foreign strippers from Lappello, homeless people just looking for 15 minutes in a warm place and generally the late night demi-monde, I suppose. Looking out the window, night after night I thought, actually, William Burroughs once said that at the end of the earth somebody will rush to paint the mushroom cloud! Fortunately, there wasn’t a mushroom cloud but there was something unusual. ‘Tap, Tap, Tap’ came about just like that, recorded on a keyboard in my downtime on shifts with a laptop and a microphone... It was a record I wanted to make. It wasn’t a The Pale record. I’m proud of it. Worth pointing out that Sean, Shane and Ger also do great solo work! Not just me! The Pale are still a going concern!” ‘House Devil’ isn’t a The Pale record either. This is another Matthew Devereux? Musicians either love or hate when journalists make comparisons and references. But I will. Waits again, later Scott Walker, solo David Sylvian and a more considered, dare I say more contemplative, almost pastoral, if darker sensibility. Bless him, he beams! “Right and wrong. There’s only one me. But I take your point. Sylvain’s ‘The Boy With The Gun’ is a favourite of mine, well spotted! Look, we all get older, we observe. Indeed we change. As an artist and a singer, my voice has changed. I’ve studied with Frank Merriman at his ‘Bel Canto’ school and even delved into opera. The voice is an instrument, in the end. Working with a band is different to working solo. With a band there’s the inevitable ‘Ying and Yang’ and that’s essential.” Working ‘solo’ can you be more indulgent? He pauses. “Perhaps. But indulgence can be illuminating. Pretension can be informing. David Bowie was pretentious at times. But before we started recording you used the word ‘baroque’ with regard to some of the songs on ‘House Devils’? I don’t think it is? I’ve taken it down as far as I could. How do you create a statue of ‘David’? You take a piece of stone and cut away everything that isn’t ‘David’..” The themes across the record seem to hint at a certain discontent? Is modern life rubbish? “ Absolutely not. Though Social Media has allowed a certain kind of person, usually anonymous, to advocate most vehemently and without question upon things they really haven’t properly considered. But the record is circular and ends on a note of hope, I think? Listen again.” I will. I have. So should you. House Devil by Matthew Devereux is released on April 12th. PAGE 17