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Music interview: The Stranglers
The Stranglers are marking four decades of music-making with a definitive retrospective compilation and a 16-date UK tour.
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"No compilations are ever complete," says bassist and founder member Jean Jacques Burnel, "but this is quite a good one.
"It's a retrospective of our whole career rather than a hits
collection."
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Released on Monday, the 35-track two-CD set, called Decades Apart, features not just the hits, but some of the band's album tracks.
What's more, it gathers together tracks from every part of The Stranglers' 36-year career, and for good measure, two brand new tracks.
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The new songs, recently recorded, are Retro Rockets and I Don't See The World Like You Do which bookend the collection.
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Retro Rockets is also the new single – available to download.
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"You could say that it's a celebration of six decades, really," quips JJ. "After all, some of our songs are 60s covers."
The band formed in 1974, and by 1975 the now familiar line-up of JJ, Dave Greenfield on keyboards, drummer Jet Black and guitarist and singer Hugh Cornwell were making a name for themselves on the pub-rock scene.
The hit run began with the punk revolution and The Stranglers racked up hit after hit, including Peaches, Something Better Change and No More Heroes.
JJ, speaking to me during a break in rehearsals for the tour told me that there had been "loads" of stand-out events in the band's history.
"But one has to be when we'd been written off by everybody and we went against the advice from our record company and insisted on releasing Golden Brown."
The song, with a waltz tempo and with lyrics allegedly about drugs became the band's biggest hit.
"Also, there was the time in the 80s when we played the Rock In Athens festival in front of 80,000 people. I had to drive through the riot outside," he remembers.
Throughout the whole of the group's time, it's the fans that have been essential to their survival.
"There's nothing like the feedback from an audience – and our fans aren't fickle," he says.
"Kids have no loyalty these days," he continues. "They download tracks and don't seem bothered who it's by.
"You get the fans you deserve, and ours appreciate our music and the fact that we change things a bit."
Over the years, there have been some changes; for instance, Cornwell left and was replaced by Paul Roberts and John Ellis, when they left and the band reverted to a four-piece with Baz Warne.
But JJ has some ideas about the good – and the bad – changes that have taken place.
"For the best… we've mellowed a bit and have got better as a band. The band is fresher now than it ever was and we don't have anything to prove.
"The main challenges now are songwriting and staying relevant.
"On the bad side, it's just that we're getting older and we're not as prolific. Also, I find that songwriting is as difficult as ever, if not more difficult; I have to try and not plagarise anything – including
myself!"
In recent years, the band has started to cut back a bit, as JJ explains.
"We are slowing down a bit and we have to take Jet into consideration. He's in his seventies now and his health is really important so we pace
it more."
But JJ is pretty upbeat about things in the band.
"Things are as good as they could be," he says. "The healthy thing about The Stranglers is that we're still fresh and not world-weary and jaded.
"We're also," he adds proudly, "pretty much unbeatable as a live band."
For the forthcoming tour, there are some surprises planned.
"We always move on and although you have to play stuff that turns the audience on, we also have to keep ourselves stimulated.
"So, we may be playing one or two pieces that we haven't done in 12 years or so."
And after the tour?
"We'll be playing some festivals this year, one of which we've never been allowed to play before (Glastonbury, on June 25]."
After that, JJ has one ambition in mind for The Stranglers. "Carrying on until we die, and trying to be the greatest band to come out of
these islands."
They're certainly up there amongst the best.
* The Stranglers will be appearing at the O2 Academy, Leeds on Thursday, March 11. Tickets, priced 23, are available from the box office on 0844 477 2000 or online from.ticketmaster.co.uk.
www.stranglers.net
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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