Ruarri, I saw you supporting 'Show of Hands' at the Cambridge Junction, Steve Knightley said that you had been getting a great response, and had been selling lots of CD's...
We had a really good tour, I can't complain about that at all...
Was it just the two of you, yourself and the guitarist?
It was yes, Chris came with me just so I wasn't alone on the road like I normally am. Yeah, I really enjoyed it, I think we sold about 800 records on the tour. The good thing is it has funded the release of the album.
Your career seems to be in reverse, you started out with Atlantic. It's a bit unusual, but it seems to be working well for you...
It certainly seems that way! There is a lot less comfort in certain things, like the tour support that you get from a label so you can take a whole band on tour and not have to worry, and have a hotel and everything. Now, you just have to use your imagination, and sleep in cars and vans, but that's just fine! And it's so much more satifying doing it this way too. I always felt it was a bit extravagant when they gave me a tour bus on this little tour I did, because there were only 6 of us, and we had this massive bus, and hotels, and it was crazy. So the last two I did with Atlantic I did in my car and drove around myself. I always felt that if I was going to get to that tour bus stage I'd have to earn it first.
I guess there is much more satisfaction in arriving somewhere on your own terms, you probably feel much more of a connection with the audience...
Yes, and there's much more of a sense of pride, not just making the records myself, or having my friends do the artwork, but being the one who says yes or no to stuff, all that is really important, otherwise the artist gets lost in amongst the label. Some artists are really suited to that kind of thing, but I never felt that I was.
Your second album 'Both Sides of the Coin' is out now, having seen you live you seem to manage to give your songs an extra dimension on stage...
Well that's always been something that I've really liked about live performances, one of the worst gigs I've ever been to was 'The strokes', I could have just stayed at home and turned the record up really loud, it was exactly the same and they didn't budge. Then I saw Tom Waits in Amsterdam, and the interpretations of his songs were mindblowing. And Dylan I've seen twice, and he's another person who does the song, but it's not quite the song if you know what I mean. I haven't quite got that far yet, but I think it's good to give a different flavour of the song in the live performance.
I think that's the difference between just touring something you've recorded and actually being an artist...
Yeah, definitely.
You've also got your own record label, Pip, so you're going to control the whole business side of it as well?
Yes, It's me and a guy called Thomas, who actually signed me to Atlantic but who also left Atlantic at about the same time I did. We became friends when we were there, and we thought we'd have a go at doing something on our own. I couldn't really do it without him, he's quite well connected in the industry which is always helpful. It's a good team because I stop him from being too businessy and he stops me from being too arty.
And it must be useful to have someone who's got their eye on the business side of it. So did you rope in friends to help with the recording?
Chris came and played guitar on one of the tracks, and somebody played drums on another one of the tracks, but no, I ended up playing most of it myself. It just ended up being easier to organise myself. I would like to do more of a community based album next time round though.
You've just had a little tour through early February haven't you? Was that with a band?
That was with the band yes. Kind of a South-West based tour.
We sold out the Princess Pavillion in Falmouth which was amazing. That was our kind of big challenge, we thought if we could do that then it's worth moving further afield. So in April we've got another tour which is from Bristol upwards basically. It was a really good tour for us to do, and we're quite new as a band, we haven't played in front of a big audience so it was really good for us I think to test the new material. I'm well happy, can't believe the turnout across the whole tour, a real confidence boost.
Well it must be quite daunting actually to go out there and play that new material for the first time?
Yeah, it definitely is. All this is new stuff,and it's a totally different feeling, and it felt much more grown up, and much more mature.
With the songwriting, your source material often ends up being very personal doesn't it?
Yeah, definitely. Although I try not to sound personal in the songs. If it's about a certain person or a certain subject, I'll quite often try and generalise it a bit. I don't want people to think I'm a moaner!
You have atour in April, and you mentioned festivals in the summer?
Yes, we just confirmed the Beautiful Days Festival, which is my favourite festival, I love doing that one. I think we'll be doing other ones too.
You've now done that whole grassroots thing, you've done lots of stuff live, people see you and follow you up afterwards, do you find that improves your stagecraft?
I think you're more convincing the more you're out there doing it, and that kind of translates into the audience. And I've always hated that kind of barrier between the artist and the audience.
I would assume this year you won't be doing many support slots...
Yes. I wouldn't say no to a few supports here and there but I think this year's going to be very different to last year.
It'll be interesting...you've built that reputaion up, to now see it carry on.
Yes, things are definitely moving in the right direction! It's a long time coming! And it's all that experience beforehand that makes you able to handle it, so I feel fortunate that I'm a bit older and I take it in my stride now.
And it's great that it can be done like that. Thanks for talking to us Ruarri.
Iain Hazlewood
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