From: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org (oppositeview-digest) To: oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Subject: oppositeview-digest V9 #3 Reply-To: oppositeview@smoe.org Sender: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk oppositeview-digest Sunday, January 21 2007 Volume 09 : Number 003 Today's Subjects: ----------------- OV: Justin Interview From Scottish Daily Record TODAY!! ["Chris Fleming" ] OV: Re: Justin Interview From Scottish Daily Record TODAY!! ["Porl" Subject: OV: Justin Interview From Scottish Daily Record TODAY!! I'M ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW The big interview Justin had to read the Record to find cops were after him Del Amtiri star was banned from driving but it's helped him to focus much more ongetting his solo album Rebound out By Paul English It bore all the hallmarks of a classic tale of rock'n'roll excess from a wild-living frontman... Charismatic singer has arrest warrant issued after missing court date. The crime? Forget the usual rock-god pratfalls of drugs, tax evasion or wife beating. Not from the songwriter as famous for his giant mutton chop sideburns as his meaty back catalogue of hits. When Justin Currie read in the Daily Record that police wanted to arrest him, he was delighted someone had finally bothered to let him know. "It was fortunate in a way that it was in the news because otherwise I wouldn't have known," says the 42-year-old singer, relaxing with a cup of tea in his Bohemian townhouse in Glasgow's West End. "I knew I was going to get banned because I had 12 points and I was quite happy to lose my licence. "The arrest warrant was issued because the original summons was lost in the post - so I never turned up in court because I never knew about the date." Justin was fined #175 and banned from driving for a year - but, as it turns out, the punishment suits his leisurely lifestyle. "In actual fact, I'm really enjoying not using my car," he says. "Someone once said poets should never drive a car so I thought if I'm still attempting to be a lyricist then I should never set foot behind the wheel of my car again. "Not that I'd claim to be a poet but I think it's a case of the mind never being in the present tense. "I do feel a lot better for not driving, I have to say. "There's really something about driving that turns you into a bloke, just a regular very straight man. "Not an artist, not a rock'n'roll star, just a man. God bless Noel Gallagher - he never got a driving licence, he gets driven everywhere. "That's total class." As the man behind classic Del Amitri tracks Nothing Ever Happens, Always The Last To Know, Driving With The Brakes On and Kiss This Thing Goodbye, Justin doesn't fit his own definition of a "regular" man. But as a frequent face in the coffee houses and bars of Glasgow, he's not prone to Gallagher-esque bouts of starry behaviour either. So with Del Amitri in cold storage and their lead singer doodling with various ad-hoc musical projects, just what has Justin being doing with his time? "I play five-a-sides - sometimes with the Belle & Sebastian boys - go hillwalking and watch telly like everyone else. "And I'm a big fan of the pub. "But I've never wanted to be a jobbing songwriter. I want to be someone who's sitting watching TV one day and feels something. "So I suppose I spend most of the time waiting for songs to arrive, rather than deliberately setting out to write them. "Then I'll write three songs and one of them will end up being the one I was thinking of." For the aspiring bedroom songwriter, it's a familiar feeling. But to a man who has played at some of the biggest rock festivals in the world, knocking out a ditty after half an hour of Casualty on a Saturday night was never going to be enough. It's no surprise then, that Justin Currie has - finally - written a solo album. What is surprising is why it's taken him so long. "Guys in bands who make solo albums? Well, the records are usually never anywhere near as good as the stuff they do in bands, that's the general rule," he says. "You're incredibly lucky if you do an album that's anywhere near as good as what you did in your band. "And then there's the ego thing about stepping from the shadows to bask in the solo spotlight. "I never needed to do that because I wrote the majority of the songs in Del Amitri and I was the lead singer, so my ego wasn't really in dire need of stroking. "All the songs I wrote got released, so there's really no sense of me being frustrated." That said, Justin has written and recorded Rebound, an album of slow songs, scheduled for release before the clocks change. Several tracks are already available on Justin's Myspace website, where Dels die-hards are twitching over the prospect of their hero's first 'real' project since the release of the Can You Do Me Good? LP in 2002. And tonight the songs will be given their first official airing, when Justin plays his first true solo gig at Glasgow's ABC for the Celtic Connections festival. "It's an opportunity to do something quite personal," he says. "But I always hated the idea of guys in bands doing solo records. "To me you either start out as a solo artist or you don't. I was always a guy who wrote songs to play and sing in a band. I didn't write songs to be a solo troubadour." Laughing, he adds: "I suppose it's a bit of an ego trip. "I miss it terribly, I miss being on stage. So long as you are there, playing your own stuff and the sound's good... well it's amazing. "It's always been about showing off, really. Whether that's doing keepy-uppy for my dad in the back garden as a kid, or whatever. "I don't think anyone gets on a stage unless they want attention from mum and dad." So why the change? "Well, the songs were there and I wanted to release them. That's my only excuse," he says. "It's not uplifiting or commercial. I've done it because I've written these songs and I wanted to make a sad, serious record. "And I do wonder if it's just total self indulgence. "I don't really know. "There's one particular song on the solo record which is about being a total b*****d. "And it's true. All the people over the years I've treated really shoddily - well, there's no point pretending I haven't. So I might as well be honest about it. "Hopefully I'll have made a record that can move people. "Everything on it is about things that have happened, straight from the heart. "But considering how lucky I've been, well, it would be bullsh*t for me to moan or to write pop songs just to get on the radio. "My songs have been on the radio for more than a decade, and I've been incredibly lucky for that to happen. "The last thing I want to turn into is one of those old whingeing ex-pop stars who try to churn out the kind of songs they wrote in their 20s. I think that's ludicrous. "If I release this and nobody buys it then it's been a vanity project. But I think I'm entitled to at least one vanity project." Having appeared with Blazin' Fiddles, Eddi Reader and Colin McIntyre at Celtic Connections in recent years, Justin's no stranger to the world's biggest winter arts festival. But he wants to get one thing straight - this is no Del Amitri gig. He says: "A solo show is different completely. "It's not really tailor-made for Celtic Connections. "It's more just the start of what I want to do for the rest of the year once the record's out." Justin has a girlfriend - though he doesn't name her - but makes no bones about the fact that he has no intention of starting a family. The songs which made his name have left fans with an impression of the singer as being, well, not exactly husband material. Are they right? "I've known since I was about 15 I never wanted to start a family - and I still feel the same now "I used to say to people that there's a total separation between the guy who sings the songs and me the person," he says. "Folk would say I was this really sensitive guy. "But I'd have to put them straight - I'm a selfish f****er, a brutal b*****d whose entire existence is wrapped up in self expression and getting attention." Tonight, Justin Currie will enjoy both. And once the lights are up and the attention's gone? "I miss being on stage. So long as you are there, playing your own stuff and the sound's good... well it's amazing. It's always been about showing off, really doing keepy-uppy for my dad in the garden as a kid, or whatever' Well, the rejuvenated rocker will likely be walking home... Justin Currie plays Glasgow's ABC tonight. Rebound will be released in the spring. Justin also appears on Glasgow band Green Peppers' album Domino Mornings, out April. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 23:53:57 -0000 From: "Porl" Subject: OV: Re: Justin Interview From Scottish Daily Record TODAY!! Oooh cheers for that. That was good. Ta Went to see Justin on the 17th at the Manchester Academy. At last my long years of wanting to pat him manly on the back and call him "Keith" were over! Was absolutely amazing. The solo stuff is superb. I've heard about 14 of the solo tracks now and every one is stunning. Only thing I'd never heard before was a track called Gold Rush, if anyone has an mp3 of it or anything I'd be very interested in you e-mailing me about it. Derek Meins as support was also brilliant!! Paul ------------------------------ End of oppositeview-digest V9 #3 ********************************