From: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org (oppositeview-digest) To: oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Subject: oppositeview-digest V7 #2 Reply-To: oppositeview@smoe.org Sender: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk oppositeview-digest Wednesday, January 12 2005 Volume 07 : Number 002 Today's Subjects: ----------------- OV: Del News ["Chris Fleming" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 20:53:22 -0000 From: "Chris Fleming" Subject: OV: Del News Taken From Scottish Daily Record COVER STORY: ON THE PHONE WITH.. JUSTIN CURRIE Jan 8 2005 The Del Amitri frontman talks about the future of the band and his Celtic Connections Paul English This is an unusual gig for the singer in a rock 'n' roll band. How did it come about? I know one of the guys from Blazin' Fiddles, who asked me if I would be interested in singing some songs in a kind of hybrid pop-folk thing. I was interested because they have quite a rock 'n' roll attitude for a folky band. So I said yes and it's turned into this show for Celtic Connections, as well as a few other shows in Aberdeen Music Hall and Edinburgh's Usher Hall. I'd never done any stuff for Celtic Connections before because I'd never really wanted to be seen as a sort of folky person. So will it be Del Amitri songs with different touch? Yes, we've rearranged some of the old stuff. I'll definitely do Nothing Ever Happens, because I kind of feel obliged to do that. It's nice the way we've rearranged it. I'll be doing a song called This Side of The Morning, which is from our first album and is really folky anyway. I'll also be doing some new stuff and a song called Sleep Instead Of Teardrops, another old Dels song. I chose Dels songs that stand up with decent melodies with interesting lyrics that would work in a sit-down venue. I think it will be quite serious, really, more of a concert than a gig. After the last Del Amitri album, there were rumours the band had split up. What's happening? Well, our last album Can You Do Me Good,did pretty badly and we lost our record deal after it. The phone wasn't exactly ringing off the hook with offers to tour or anything. So we've just taken time off to do various things. We never really broke up, but we just didn't see the point in doing a British tour every year and playing a lot of old songs. That didn't really fill us with much inspiration. You do still get a buzz out of playing the old songs, but it gets a bit sad if you're just doing that without any new stuff to play. Unless you have a new record out, there's no point in doing anything. We're not doing anything as a band other than writing. Iain and I are still writing songs, but whether that'll be under the name of Del Amitri is another matter. But we've not officially broken up. Would you consider going solo? I don't really want to. If I had to I would. But I'm fairly dubious about people who have been in bands all their lives doing the solo thing. It never seems to work and I've never really considered myself a solo artist. I've been a singer in a band since I was 15. But we're not really thinking about making a Del Amitri record at the moment. But if the question is 'what do you do when the money runs out?', the answer is probably work in a pub. The royalties will eventually run out and don't have any ambitions other than writing songs and singing them. You're playing under the moniker No Strings Attached with Colin MacIntyre and Eddi Reader also doing their thing with Blazin' Fiddles. Will you sing together? I think Blazin' Fiddles will do an instrumental segment and then the three of us will come on separately and I'm going to try to persuade them to sing backing vocals with me. I'll do about five songs, but two of them are very long. Who knows, it might bore people to tears, but I'm doing it all the same. # Justin Currie plays with Eddi Reader, Colin MacIntyre and Blazin' Fiddles at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on January 20 ------------------------------ End of oppositeview-digest V7 #2 ********************************