Sometimes I think that it’s a miracle a group like And Also the Trees
exists and keeps coming up with such delicate and fine romantic music. Every
release has individuality, depth and a unique supernatural element. Doesn’t
everyday life and its un-poetic aspect, affect your songwriting? Don’t any
happy moments find the way to become songs?
Simon Huw Jones: First, thank you for the compliment in the
question, but if you can’t hear any joy or happiness in our music we have
failed you. There has to be light in the darkness. And everyday life is in
there too – a fat man shaving, a girl standing in a garden, walking to a pub in
the rain, the smell of fried fish and beer, answering the telephone – it’s not that poetic is it?. We try to create a
balance… these are the final words from
the second song on the album, I think they sum up what I’m trying to say – “I
came upon a house, somewhere I’d never been before, and in this place of light
and dark I feel my heart sing joyously inside me”.
Nature is an endless source of inspiration for your music. The changing
scenery through the seasons, mirrored on
the still surface of a millpond... But the references to persons are much less
and very different, people are like abstract souls, like an aura. Do you find
depictions of human characters less attractive, or more difficult to be
described?
Simon Huw Jones: I hadn’t realized this before but you’re
right. When I listen to the music,
before I have written a vocal melody and words, it tends to take me to places…
landscapes or rooms, towns, the ocean… whatever. As a lyricist I like to move
into and through theses scenes but also I like to leave a lot of the details,
and characters left open to interpretation.
That said, we could try and create some portraits in
the future… it could be an interesting experiment.
The Millpond Years is
difficult, dark, poetic, angry and haunting. How was the atmosphere during its
recording, or the concerts of this time? So much tension, and creativity leads
sometimes to unexpected situations within the borders of a band.
Simon Huw Jones: The atmosphere was very exciting at that time. It was a time of great
discovery for me. As we all grew up together the atmosphere within the group
was always reasonably stable, this made touring and recording a really
enjoyable experience as we could easily be our selves, we had nothing to prove
to each other.
The
concerts were very intense but they always had been… we were drinking too much
at that point but in general we got away with it. When I listen back to ‘The
millpond years’ I wish I had controlled my emotions more as the vocal sounds
too intense to me now, but it didn’t at the time… not to us anyway. I didn’t realise then that even when I try to
sing without emotion there it is still enough.
French and German
audience accepted your music really well, but your homeland didn’t ever seem to
care a lot. At a glance, it seems rather disappointing. But do you think that
this fact protected you from any popularity pressure and helped you to express
and advance your unique sound much more healthier and easier?
Simon Huw Jones: These things have contributed towards making us the way we are and our music the
way it is yes… but I’m not sure how
healthy it was to live for so long in such isolation. Had we moved somewhere
where our music was better recognised it could have been helpful creatively and
spiritually and our overall conditions as a working band might have been better
too if we’d been in touch with other people who were involved in music or the
arts in some way.
There
was something special about living out in the countryside of course, we drew
inspiration from it, and still do as its now part of our lives.
“Blind Opera” is an
exceptional song, like a theatrical part, the monologue of the doomed. What kind
of pictures emerge when you play this powerful piece of music live?
Simon Huw Jones: I think of the ancient apple trees in the orchard that used to be in front of
the house where we lived and I think of them being cut down… which was a very
disturbing experience for me. All the branches were cut of and the trunks of
the trees stood for a few days, jutting out the earth like tortured figures
under the flat winter sky. I think of the lords of Morton, whoever they were
and I think of the ancient people who were said to be buried beneath that
orchard when it was a grave yard in the medieval period. I think of the trees
when they were covered with blossom in the spring and the birds that flew
between them. ‘Blind opera’ is about the darkest song we ever wrote.
Your live
appearances are very tense, you seem to communicate with the audience though
not in a conventional way. How do you feel when playing live?
Simon Huw Jones: When it’s going well I feel more alive than at
any other time. The point when we communicate best with an audience seems,
strangely, to be when we forget they are there. It takes a special kind of
harmony for that to happen.
Klaxon was said to be a turning point in your sound, like a big step in
time, or a move from the quiet countryside to the noisy nightlife of a city.
What kind of influences led you to compose these specially flavored songs? Are
you afraid of changes in life and how do you deal with them?
Simon Huw Jones: Yes, we
needed to get
away from our
roots before they
trapped us. ‘The klaxon’ was like the beginning of a musical voyage that took us
away from the countryside and out into the world beyond. Justin’s guitar led
the way and the rest of us followed.
I don’t think we are more afraid of changes in life
than the next person.
So we’re in 2008. In a parallel space, four young boys from a small
village decide to form a band. In your days, there was punk. Now, where should
they try to find the musical sparkle which would be able to cause that creative
explosion in their hearts?
Simon Huw Jones: I have no idea, we were lucky to be around when
punk rock came along, it changed everything – I suppose the general rap, house,
hip hop scene did something similar in that it is artistically accessible… by
that I mean that you don’t need any musical training to start making that kind
of music… it’s a good vehicle for raw expression.
So a group in a parallel situation would probably
start by writing hip hop songs with a typically urban feel then realize, after
a while, that they were writing songs about something that was not a part of
their lives… then they would start taking influence from their actual
environment or at least stop trying to be something they were not.
Do you feel that you are always open to musical and lyrical influences,
from the early years till today? Or do you think that you have come to a final
aspect that helps you listen and create music?
Simon Huw Jones: We are always open to influences.
How easy was
for Simon to dress up lyrically the 50’s guitar sounds and the American sound
of Angelfish and Silver Soul? I mean, as far as I know, first comes the music
and then you go on with the lyrics. Did Simon had any difficulty in following
the change of the musical context?
Simon Huw Jones: It wasn’t easy
at all, although I don’t ever find lyric writing easy. It was an alien
landscape to me that conjured up images of Edward Hopper and scenes that
reminded me of passages I’d read in Fitzgerald novels or beat novels. The only
way I felt I could do it was to look upon it as a voyage.
Your latest
album "(Listen for) The Rag and Bone Man" continues in the same vein
as your previous "Further From The Truth", but one might say a little
darker, maybe dreamier. What was the band’s approach towards the new songs
while recording?
Simon Huw Jones: The general opinion, and ours too, is that the
latest album is quite different to the one before it – although I accept that
we don’t all hear things the same way. Apart from the musical and instrumental
differences, ‘(Listen for) the rag and bone man’ has quite a different lyrical
feel to it too, the words certainly came from a different area of my head.
What’s a “Rag
and bone man”?
Simon Huw Jones: Originally rag and bone men went from house to house
collecting rags (pieces of old cloth) which were used as an ingredient to make
paper, and bones - which were used in the making of china. Times changed and
rag and bone men turned to collecting just about anything they thought they
could use or sell.
Why so much
violence in “The Legend Of Mucklow”?
The voice, the lyrics, the sounds, they are scaring. An astonishing, unexpected
murder ballad, for sure, but quite unusual.
Simon Huw Jones: There is an
undercurrent of violence in a lot of our music, although it doesn’t usually
come to the surface. In ‘The legend of Mucklow’ it does, there was something
very menacing about the music and the more I heard it the more my mind was
drawn to this character. I’m not really sure what is going on in this lyric,
the violence is quite abstract and what part Mucklow takes is unclear. He was
actually hung for the theft of livestock (so the legend has it) and his phantasmic
figure does still ride the lanes, but what he is doing in this song I don’t
know. I actually like this ambiguity.
When do you
think that something could be described as “classic”? Is it a matter of time,
quality, popularity, or …
Simon Huw Jones: I suppose it is a combination of all those
things although I’m not sure about ‘popularity’… I consider ‘No more shall we
part’ to be the ‘Classic’ ‘Bad seeds’ album, for example, but I’m not sure it
is his most popular.
Have you ever
felt inspirationally and musically exhausted?
Simon Huw Jones: Yes, many
times.
Which are your
favourite poets? Which poem could sometime stand as lyrics in a song of yours?
Simon Huw Jones: Actually I am not a good reader of poetry… my
favorite are probably collections of Haiku poems.
What was you
opinion of the Greek audience when you first played here in Athens in 2004? It
was a concert that many had been waiting for a long time. Any chance to come
& play again some time soon?
Simon Huw Jones: We had a very good time when we came to Athens, we got on well with every one we met and had a very strong feeling from the audience. We want to come back but of course the traveling is
problematic. We have been talking with our contact about returning sometime
this year though. I really hope so.
Please give us a word or two, (a
characteristic, a name, a person, a feeling…anything!) that occurs to your
mind, when reading the followings. I always liked that little game!
Inkberrow - I now spell it ?nkberrow
Robert Smith - Good guy in a
knackered biker jacket
Slow Pulse Boy - A Belgian
backstreet
England -
home, unrealistic green hills dotted with sheep.
The Fruit Room - jasmine and the
bed with sun light over it. Home.
Romance - An old book I flick though the
pages of but never read
Art - The wonderful Tate gallery
The Young Gods - Good neighbors to
have
Lol Tolhurst - Sun glasses
Stay away from the accordion girl - stars above a vineyard.
And also the trees - Standing outside a
fish and chip shop after doing our first gig - amazed and happy...
where do you take me my little girl - indeed.
