December 2008

What's this year been like? How would you sum up the 20th year of The Levellers?
It's been pretty hectic, same as most years really! We did a few special shows earlier in the year, one at Brixton Academy and then we did one at the Royal Albert Hall in September, an accoustic show. But apart from doing those, which were kind of a celebration, we haven't really thought about it that much.

Your new album's been very well received, your best chart position in 10 years...out of all of the albums you've done over the last 20 years, how do you rate this one?
I reckon it's the best one we've done since the early '90s. My favourite one is still the first album, but that's just 'cause I have good memories of it. Levelling the Land is the biggest selling one...

You've written quite a few of the lyrics on this one. How does that work when you're thinking about the album artwork? Do you start thinking about the artwork early on, based on the songs you're writing?
With this one, I had the cover and the title all ready before we started recording even, which is unusual, usually I do it as we go along, but because with this one, I wrote most of the lyrics, I found it pretty easy, I kind of knew what I wanted.

It's good seeing vinyl back in the shops now, it has so much more impact on the shelves than CD's
And it sounds so much better as well. It was all vinyl and cassettes when we started, getting your first record was a really big deal. when I was doing the artwork for the band, it was always better having a bigger thing to work on, so I was quite sad when the vinyl went.

In that time as well, the music business has changed enormously. It almost seems to be trying to play catch up with the kind of business model that you guys have got.
yes, well the funny thing is, that we've always been quite a bit ahead in that sense, only because we're so attached to our fan base, and they let us know what they want. Because of the circles we move in, everyone's into free communication, so we were quite in on the internet really early.

You weren't afraid of doing it, whereas from the corporate standpoint, they're all terrified of that kind of thing.
Well, they're worried about the money, but with us it was never about that.

Going back to the album, the tracks sound like you've been playing them for years. Did you write them very much from a live standpoint?
Oh yeah. That was the brief for this record really. We wanted to make a record that we could just play live in the studio and record in a couple of weeks. So we would write the songs, then go out and play them live and see how they were going down with the audiences, so when we did come to record it it was fairly painless.

And Sean Lakeman produced the album didn't he?
Yeah, he was brilliant.

Was that the first time you'd worked with him?
Yes, although we've been friends with him and Seth for a long time.

I must ask you, on the track 'Eyes Wide', is that a sample of Thatcher on there?
Yeah! And Tony Benn on there, Margaret Thatcher,Tony Benn, lots of different people.

You've done a lot of touring this year, lots of festivals, various stately homes, what's been your favourite venues out of all the venues you've done this year
Probably Brixton Academy, it just has good memories for us. My other favourite venue is Glasgow Barrowlands but we didn't do that this year...

Next year, are you going to have a rest or carry on at the same pace?
We're in Europe early next year, and then festivals being booked at the moment, and I'm not really sure after that!

All the times I've seen you this year, it's really struck me that you seem on top of your form at the moment, the old material sounds every bit as fresh as it did...
That's good. we try and rotate the songs to keep ourselves interested in them as well.

And you have a big enough back-catalogue where you can do that quite easily! I haven't heard you play 'World Freak Show' much now...
We were thinking about doing that one again actually, but there's a bit in the middle, not a rap, but a bit with him singing, half the band wanted to re-write that bit because it refers to events in the late 80s, early 90s and the other half thinks we should just sing it, because it is what is is, of its time, so basically we couldn't make up our minds about it...

Musically, how's it changed for you over that time?
It changes over every album, in the mid '90s we were using loads of samples and drum machines, all into raving, by the end of that we came out wanting to be completely live and lo-fi, so we did 'Hello pig', which was recorded with 4 microphones, and most people hated that but we really liked it! And after that, we made a couple of albums which could have been better I think, and that kind of leads up to the new one which is kind of a return to form...

With the European leg, do you get a really different crowd in Europe?
It depends. It's not really different people, we have quite a broad fan base anyway. In Europe, the only thing that is noticeable is that in some countries the audience is older and in others it's younger...

I guess after 20 years, you're going to have a hell of a range of ages in the audience aren't you!
Hopefully! The new album is quite fast and noisy, which has brought in a lot of new kids which is great for us because them jumping up and down at the front gives us the energy to play it!

Although at the Albert Hall, you were all sitting down 'cause John had bust his foot?
Yes, he'd broken his leg in 2 places! And then I got pneumonia after that...we were all falling apart!

Well I hope there's another 20 years left in you! Thanks for that...

Iain Hazlewood

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