Music > Interviews
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Nick Rayns LCR, UEA
25/08/17
Jim and William Reid have been The Jesus And Mary Chain since 1983. Their surf rock and wall of sound gigs have been hugely influential and well loved ever since. Growing up in East Kilbride, the band has taken them all over the world, through record label difficulties, violence at gigs and a break up. Despite the well publicised tension between the two brothers, they’re still recording together and their latest album Damage and Joy has had rave reviews across the board. After a fantastic gig at the LCR a couple years ago they’re back, this time at the Waterfront, to blow us away once again. I was lucky enough to speak to lead singer Jim about religion, reforming and the nature of rock n roll.
What was the Glaswegian scene like when you first started making music together?
Well it didn’t include the Mary Chain that’s for sure! We couldn’t get a gig in Glasgow in 1983 when we started and it ended up that our first gig was in London while we were still living in Glasgow. It was that bad. There was a music scene but it was very closed, insular and clique-like – the same bunch of musicians in the same bands who had semi made it, if you know what I mean. Unless you sounded like that kind of indie soul music at the time, you couldn’t really get a gig, and we sounded nothing like that.
How did you originally meet Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream? I know he drummed for you for some time, and also was instrumental in you getting signed to Creation Records.
We met him because of a tape. We’d given a tape to try to a guy running a club in Glasgow with some of our demos on it, to try to get a gig. That guy wasn’t interested but he happened to know Bobby and there also happened to be a Syd Barrett compilation on the other side of the tape to our demos. He gave the tape to Bobby because he knew Bobby liked Syd Barrett, and Bobby just happened to listen to our demos on the other side of the tape. He called us up and we talked for ages about the music we were into, we were into the same bands. Then he said he had a mate in London who had a record label and that we should send a tape to him. That mate in London was Alan McGee, and that was that.
It used to be the case that once you were signed to a label you were expected to complete a series of releases and tours for them. That’s not really the case anymore, but there’s more pressure on your first release for a label. As you’re now working with Alan McGee again, signed for the third time to Creation, do you feel any pressure to do well?
No, it’s totally on our own terms. We’re our own bosses and always have been, creatively. When we left Creation Records we went on to Warners but it was just like a game of chess with them. We always said we’ll do what you want but don’t touch the music – just let us make the albums, God, the battles that we had. We’d go in with a new album and they’d explain that it was a piece of shit and nobody would buy it, we’d have to explain that there was a certain type of person who really likes this music. It was the same every time we recorded a new album and it got very tiring. We don’t have that bullshit anymore – we make records when want to if we want to, and we play gigs for the same reason.
Has the historical tension between you and your brother has been both a blessing and a curse, creatively speaking?
It has, it definitely has. It’s what drives the Mary Chain engine along I think. Having said that we’ve been getting along well recently so perhaps the wheels are about to fall off!
What would you say the main differences are, in general between your songs and William’s songs?
William is more natural – he enjoys writing songs whereas if I’m being totally honest I want to have written songs, I don’t want an album to come out where I’m just singing. I can do it, but he’s just more natural.
You have songs called I Hate Rock N Roll and I Love Rock N Roll – how do you feel about it these days?
Well, they were two sides of the same coin. William wrote I Hate Rock n Roll which I loved but I felt it only told half the story. A lot of people thought it was rather negative – well I don’t really agree with that but just to shut people up I thought I’d sing the other side of it. Rock n roll is what gave us our lives really – we were going nowhere in East Kilbride in Scotland, and then suddenly we were in a band travelling all around the world, doing what we dreamt of doing, so it wasn’t all bad is what I was saying. To this day William thinks I wrote that song just to annoy him! He really does, and when I explain to him what I’ve just explained to you he goes ‘BULLSHIT!” Ha ha ha!
What is your relationship with religion? There are many references to it in your name, album covers, song titles and lyrics.
We’re not religious. Religious imagery is kind of interesting to us, but I think William would agree with me that we are anti-religion. It causes so many problems in the world – if I could press a button and stop religion from existing I would press that button in a heartbeat.
Your new album Damage and Joy was produced by Youth, your first time being produced by someone other than you and your brother. How did you find working with him?
It was pretty good. We did the lion’s share of it in his studio in Spain which is in the middle of nowhere in Spain, a lovely location with nothing to do but get on with the work really. Youth was pretty laidback and knew what we were looking for. We were all a bit worried there were going to be fights in the studio between my brother and myself – in fact that was one of the reason why we got a producer was we thought it might be good to have another presence in the studio that may shake us into sense if we started to go down that route, but it turned out it didn’t. It was fun working with Youth.
This new album is beautifully produced and balanced, mature, considered, upbeat but not afraid to get heavy like in songs like Mood Rider. Obviously as you go through life, the subject matter of your songs will change, but are there particular themes that you keep returning to?
It’s all about shining a light inside with the Mary Chain. The most interesting songs are the ones about us in our little confused state, not knowing where we stand in the world I think.
This release is a real achievement, to release another album in your 50’s. What do you still get out of making music?
It’s the same process as it’s always been. Whether you’re right or not, and I’m sure everybody who makes a record feels the same, it’s all about thinking that you’ve made a record better than anyone else. You know, other people will read that and think yeah, dream on pal, but to me it is! William and I think Damage and Joy is the best rock n roll album around now, otherwise there would be no point in releasing it. That’s always been the case with the Mary Chain – we just make the best record we possibly can and that’s still the driving force for us.
Cracking Up is my favourite Jesus and Mary Chain song – There have been months when I’ve just listened to it on repeat. Do you have an all time favourite track?
Oh gosh…hmmm. It changes, it really does. Funnily enough, you and I just talked about I Hate Rock n Roll and we just added that back into the set recently. It sounds great and is great to play, so at the moment I think it’s probably that.
Last time I saw you in Norwich a couple years ago I loved it. UEA is the first night of the new tour in the UK. How are you feeling about the next set of gigs, where I’m assuming a lot of the new album will be played rather than your back catalogue?
Yeah, well there is still the old stuff but with a sprinkling of the new stuff. You’ve got to ease this stuff in, although the new songs fit quite well in the set. We were a bit worried that there would be a dip if we did too much of the new stuff – as it turns out there isn’t. The new songs are getting the same reaction as the back catalogue.
In retrospect, do you regret that the band broke up or do you think it needed to happen at that time?
I don’t regret it. I don’t think it needed to happen, but I don’t think it did us any harm either. It was good for me personally – during those years I became sane again. Being in a band is like being in a bubble and when the bubble burst I had to look at the realities of life. I had children and I just got on with life – I realised I could live without the Mary Chain. I had always thought that being in a band was like being a tightrope walker – if you fall off that’s it, but it wasn’t. Life went on and it wasn’t that bad so if it happens again I can deal with it.
I suppose there are quite a lot of bands who were famous some time ago and are now coming back to it after they’ve lived a normal life for a bit – they’re choosing to return to it rather than because they have to.
A lot of those bands are coming back because they didn’t get what they were due at the time. A lot of people can be quite cynical about bands reforming but it’s because no one paid any fucking attention when we were trying to ram it down your throats 20 years ago, so we’re coming back to get our dues now, you know.
Do you have plans for the band’s future or are you just playing it by ear?
We’re playing it by ear but we’re also thinking about another album. We were so worried that this current one would be impossible to make but the fact that it went so smoothly makes us think another is possible.
The Jesus and Mary Chain play The Waterfront on 19th September supported by Brix & The Extricated. Tickets available from ueatickets.ticketabc.com