Tjinder Singh from Cornershop
Cornershop's 9th album, England is a Garden was released last month on Ample Play Records. The Quietus described the L.P as being a "beautiful and well-worked project." Uncut magazine said the band sounded better than ever. And FT raved that the whole record was "a highly satisfying groove." Le Document persuaded Cornershop's singer Tjinder Singh to answer a few questions...
Le Document: St Marie Under Canon makes me want to dance. You make songs that make people want to dance but do you dance yourself? Are you confident on the dance floor?
Tjinder: “St Marie Under Canon does make one want to Lindy Hop, which is why it’s the album opener. It has a Northern Soul abandon about it. Yes, well we certainly were confident in the dance, but nowadays not even confident crossing the road of a night out. We do different songs so the type of dance changes. Whereas No Rock: Save In Roll was built for aceing with thumbs in your belt, Slingshot was there to just stand still and think....how do I cross this road?”
In the past you toured with Oasis as a support act and Noel Gallagher has collaborated with you. What is the best song track Oasis recorded? Have you paid much attention to Noel and Liam's solo careers?
“Live Forever is probably my favourite track. Liam dedicated it to us at Seattle, and it always puts us side of stage when it comes on. Yes of course we listen out. We even sent No Rock: Save In Roll as a proposal for him to do and get away from those USA donkeys he minces about with. Me and Liam talked a lot about song writing, and he went through loads of ideas he had for songs. It was great to talk to him because after 2 minutes you thought he was off his head, after 8 you were sure of it, and after 10 he would summarise and sew up the conversation with one line and you realised he was a genius.”
We love both the groove and the Jazz flute on Slingshot but we can’t understand what you’re singing. Why are the vocals distorted? Did any members of the band want the vocals recorded differently?
“It’s sung in Punjabi, so even if it wasn’t distorted you would not realise. I have always liked loudspeaker vocals, it is what I was brought up with in the Sikh devotional songs and sermons. In fact I would sometimes be in charge of dialing down the feedback on the PAL microphone mixer. The distortion is there to bring over a feeling as well as the lyrics. As we have recorded many vocals like this no band members said anything about re-recording, but hey, less of the Jazz Flute.”
Everywhere That Wog Army Roam is very catchy. It reminds me of Jimmy Cliff (circa Harder They Come). Do you like songs like Sweet & Dandy? And are there many reggae records in your collection?
“We love lots of reggae up to about 1984 when the drum machine came in, and King Yellow retired Fathead. Yes lots of reggae in our collections, in fact Scientist and Lee Perry & Tappa Zukie was what brought me and Ben together.”
If Norman Cook said I want to do a remix of Cash Money and speed it up would you be interested?
“We have had to work harder because of the remix. It has been a long and at times difficult struggle, but as has been attested with our back catalogue we have been given the freedom to exist in our own right. Further to that this last album has allowed the alignment of all previous albums to be seen in the positive light we have always placed them in our own minds. Albums have always been our aim, and that in itself means our road has not been simple.”
I’m a wooden soldier has a Marc Bolan-esque intro. Are you into T-Rex? Is there a bit of Marc in your heart?
“We always keep a little Marc in our heart. We are big Bolan fans. There were 6 months whilst we studied in Preston within which we listened to nothing but Bolan. But to try to copy him is a folly, it can’t be done, so we never do, but I’m sure a little of the love we have for his attitude has rubbed off on us. When I moved to Stoke Newington we had Marc Bolan’s Slider hat in a glass case for all to look at, as he was a local young man. In our local Clissold Park we have white swans, and it’s nice to imagine that he may have taken influence from these in his Ride A White Swan single but it probably isn’t true.”
You run Ample Play records whose roster include lots of great bands like; Gloria, The Soap Opera, and The Young Sinclairs. What are the highs and lows of running a label and (aside from your own records) what's been the best thing Ample Play has put out so far?
“It is a lot of hard work running a label and nowadays, small labels basically work for free, because monetising is extremely hard. The best part of it regardless of money is the enthusiasm of thinking a group is great and deserves support. We see our label as an extension of what we are as people and a group, and are very proud to see all our releases out there. Our best group release on ample play label may well be The Smoking Trees TST album or The Soap Opera...”
Your neighbour, Thurston Moore has a record shop in Stoke Newington called Ecstatic Peace Library, have you been in there and bought anything? Will Cornershop ever have their own cornershop?
We loved this library in Stoke Newington…
“I went in to Ecstatic Peace Library to the drop our album with Eva, and that was a couple of days before they moved off Church Street to go off the main drag, just as C19 isolation measures came in. We did have our own record shop in my basement. It was then billed as the smallest record shop in the world, and Thurston and John Hegley and other local poets came along. Before that it was the smallest book shop in the world, and prior to that the smallest disco in the world.”
Do you see your friends as being like a garden? They should be a source of joy but some need to be plucked out every now and then?
“No, not at all. We are very private, so discerning in the first instance. Some friends come and go naturally, but our friendships have not moved far from the firm oak from which they started.”
Le Document recommend the new album from Cornershop. Click the image below to go to their shop.
