Cruel To Be Kind (The Life & Music of Nick Lowe) by Will Birch
To celebrate Cruel To Be Kind coming out in paperback there was a special evening on the 20th August at London’s 7 Dials Club where we got to enjoy the legendary Nick "Jesus of Cool" Lowe and musician turned author Will Birch being quizzed by Duncan Steer. Cruel To Be Kind is Birch's third book. I've read all three and thoroughly enjoyed them. I guess the 3 main reasons his books are special is that 1)Will has a way with words, 2) the people he writes about tend to be very witty, interesting characters that you don't meet every day, and 3) he was there when it all happened and recalls events with great accuracy and honesty. Birch interviewed dozens of people and the book is crammed with funny little stories. For example - In 1990 Lowe began dating the TV presenter Tracey MacLeod. Birch gets her to talk about how at the beginning of their courtship she got him to cut down on the tabs, and go to art galleries rather than pubs. Tracey talks of how she remembers their first weekend away and being with him at a hotel in the New Forest. It suddenly dawned on her that she was with the man who'd not only had a few hit singles but had also produced the first English punk records, written great songs for Johnny Cash, done amazing live shows with Dave Edmonds, and collaborated with Elvis Costello. MacLeod reveals: "I was with this person that I'd known about since I was a teenager, and really admired. There we were, in the hotel room, and he was sitting at a desk, furrowed brow, over a piece of paper, and he was writing, writing, writing, and I thought, "God, he's writing a song! Maybe he's writing a song about me!" When he went to the bathroom, I crept over to the desk and found he'd been doing the Daily Mail easy crossword."
An edited version of Duncan Steers chat with Lowe and Birch will be available as a free podcast from October 1st. Until then we hope you enjoy reading this little Q & A Will Birch did for Le Doc...
Harry Pye (HP): Before writing books you wrote lyrics (and played drums) for both The Kursaal Flyers and The Records. Can you tell me what the highest highs of being a member of those two bands were? And which songs are you most proud of?
Will Birch by Tessa Hallmann
Will Birch (WB): The ‘highest high’ of being in the Kursaals was when we landed our earliest dates on the London pub rock circuit, late 1974 through early 1975. After several years trying our luck in numerous semi-pro groups to no avail, we were at last ‘in demand’. The Feelgoods kindly gave us a leg up and we soon met with our future manager Paul Conroy, and then Jonathan King signed us to UK Records. It was very exciting, trumped only by securing a support slot on a six-week Euro tour with our idols, the Flying Burrito Brothers. Thrilling. Highs for me with The Records were our first visit to New York in 1978 with the Be Stiff tour, recording Starry Eyes, touring the UK with the Jam, our 1979 US tour where we opened for The Cars in Central Park and appeared on their Midnight Special TV show, and our 1980 US tour with Jude Cole on guitar.
Songs I have co-written that seem to have worked well are Speedway, Pocket Money, Little Does She Know, and A Former Tour De Force Is Forced To Tour as recorded by the Kursaal Flyers; Starry Eyes, Rumour Sets The Woods Alight, and Hearts In Her Eyes for The Records; A1 On The Jukebox with Dave Edmunds; The Man Who Invented Jazz with Bobby Valentino; Down By The Jetty Blues with Dr Feelgood, and most recently, Sincerely Hoping with Danny George Wilson on his forthcoming album Another Place.
HP: After The Records you collaborated on a song with Dave Edmunds – would you have like to have worked with him more, are you still in contact with him and do you know if he’s read your three books?
WB: Actually, before The Records I had made a home demo of A1 On The Jukebox which Nick Lowe kindly passed to Dave on my behalf. Dave cranked up the melody and cut it on his 1978 album Trax On Wax. It was also released on 45. Some further co-writing with Dave occurred around the time Rockpile were calling it a day, but nothing else was recorded. When I was researching my Nick book, Dave kindly granted me an interview. I got the train to Newport, Wales, and he picked me up at the station. We spent several hours chatting and I transcribed the interview. Various quotes were inserted into the text for my ‘Nick Lowe biography’ and I sent the relevant pages to Dave to seek approval, which he granted. But just as the final text was going to press, Dave asked me to remove all of his direct quotes, with which I complied.
HP: I remember reading the big MOJO article you wrote about the Live Stiff tour. Nick Lowe says he felt he couldn’t compete with either Elvis Costello & The Attractions or Ian Dury & The Blockheads. Do you think Edmonds and Lowe’s band ‘Rockpile’ were ever as exciting as The Attractions or The Blockheads (at the peak of their powers)? Do you think Ian Dury is slightly more special than Elvis Costello?
WB: What you have here are three distinctly different musical combos – Rockpile, the full on, guitar-driven roots rock ninety-miles-an-hour joy ride; Elvis Costello and the Attractions, a more sensitive but highly adept unit designed to showcase Costello’s songwriting mastery, and The Blockheads, arguably the funkiest band ever to come out of Britain who seemed quite pleased to help showcase Ian’s lyrical genius. For so much talent to have found a launchpad in and around Stiff Records at the same time was incredible. I think both Ian and Elvis (and Nick) are special as songwriters and entertainers.
HP: Speaking as a drummer who do you think was the best out of all the players connected to Pub Rock? Or, which drummer impressed you most?
Will Birch and Nick Lowe Q&A. photo by Ed Kaz
WB: Further to the previous answer, some of the finest, most-swinging and hard-hitting drummers all emerged from more or less that same scene – Terry Williams, Charlie Charles, Pete Thomas, The Big Figure, Steve Goulding, Bobby Irwin … all of these drummers were very good.
HP: My fave Nick Lowe album is The Old Magic which came out in 2011. Do you think he peaked in the late 70s or do you rate the later work? Is it conceivable his masterpiece is just around the corner?
WB: I think it has to be looked at as two separate catalogues, pre-Impossible Bird and everything that followed, due to Nick’s much-publicised desire to re-evaluate his songwriting and recording processes. There are already a few masterpieces and hopefully more to come.
HP: When writing the book on Nick did he ever tell you not to interview someone or to leave anything out? Were there any chapters of life you life you wanted to ignore?
WB: Nick never made any such requests. He read some of the passages and suggested a few edits, which I appreciated. And there were one or two slightly dubious episodes that had to be toned down a bit, but Nick didn’t seek to exert any control.
HP: You and Lowe both have a way with words and have written very witty lyrics. Do you have any fave Lowe lyrics that always make you smile?
WB: Quite a few of Nick’s songs make me smile. Favourites include Marie Provost, Lately I’ve Let Things Slide, 12-Step Program, Indian Queens, You Inspire Me, I Trained Her To Love Me, All Men Are Liars, I Was Born In Bethlehem, Blue On Blue, to name just a few.
Nick Lowe by Harry Pye
HP: Q magazine folded not so long ago. Do you think Uncut and MOJO can last out? Can you list some of your music journalist heroes or big up some of the good guys in the music journalism world?
WB: When I go into a store that offers a good selection of magazines I’m always amazed at how many popular music titles there are on the shelf, not just Uncut and Mojo, Record Collector, Vive Le Rock and Shindig, but also many slightly more esoteric or niche titles. Some may have modest circulations, but they seem to survive year in year out. I guess they enjoy a very loyal readership and their overheads are tightly controlled in order to survive, whereas with the better-known titles these are with big publishing houses who I guess are always looking at the bottom line, so ironically the small titles may outlast some of the bigger names, after all Q went last year. But of course, I hope Uncut and Mojo live to see their third decades and beyond. I ‘take’ them and try to read as much as possible. Music writers whose work I enjoy include Pat Gilbert, Terry Staunton, Charles Shaar Murray, Sylvie Simmons, Richard Williams, Allan Jones, Chris Salewicz, Barney Hoskyns and many others.
HP: The in-house sleeve designer at STIFF records was Barney Bubbles. Did you ever meet him and were you a fan of his work?
WB: Actually, there were one or two other graphic designers at Stiff but yes, Barney was probably the most well-known. I met with Barney on quite a few occasions – he did some sleeve designs for The Records and the Kursaals, and also kindly gifted me a painted bass drum ‘skin’ for a fictitious group called ‘The Blue Genes’. The writer Paul Gorman has done a good book on Barney and I think he looks after the Bubbles archive. Barney’s death was tragic.
HP: What’s next for Will Birch? Am I right in thinking No Sleep Till Canvey Island is going to be updated and re-issued?
WB: I’ve been working on a screenplay which I hope to pitch soon, although I know from experience the chances are slim, and I would like to see No Sleep Till Canvey Island re-published as it has been out of print – other than a Kindle version I’ve put out – since about 2005. It would be my intention to add some essays, topics to probably include Dr Feelgood and Graham Parker and the Rumour.
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