Interviews ...

Interviews

Bon Iver: “Man, you can take yourself too seriously…”

For this week’s archive feature, we delve back into Uncut’s July 2011 issue (Take 170) – just before the release of Bon Iver’s second album – to find Vernon sunning himself in California, consorting with Kanye and shaping up as “the Neil Young of our generation”. What happened? “For Emma… is the past,” he says. “This is the present, and it’s more colourful and inviting.” Words: Alastair McKay

Van Dyke Parks – Album By Album

Best known for his work on The Beach Boys’ Smile, Parks is a student of serious music, whose flirtation with the counterculture saw him fall in with unlikely company. His first job was arranging “The Bear Necessities” for Disney’s Jungle Book, but his association with Brian Wilson led to him producing debuts by Ry Cooder and Randy Newman, as well as making idiosyncratic solo albums. As he prepares to release his new album, Songs Cycled (reviewed in this month’s Uncut, dated June 2013), we look back to July 2010’s issue, where Parks reflects on a career that’s straddled the worlds of serious music and pop, without fitting in to either. Words: Alastair McKay

The Making Of… The Waterboys’ The Whole Of The Moon

This month’s issue of Uncut (June 2013) features The Waterboys discussing their mammoth new Fisherman’s Box release – here, in this archive feature from Uncut’s July 2008 issue, the band, including Mike Scott and Karl Wallinger, reflect on the creation of their pop masterpiece, The Whole Of The Moon. Expect disagreements, still; arguments about musical contributions, worries over spending life in prison for hitting someone over the head with a guitar… Words: Nick Hasted

Boards Of Canada interviewed: “We’re too busy to give a shit!”

Been meaning to post this piece for a while, since the whole clandestine operation around the new Boards Of Canada album, “Tomorrow’s Harvest”, began. It’s an interview I did with the duo in February 2002, around the release of “Geogaddi”. NME billed it erroneously as “Boards Of Canada’s first ever interview” at the time, which was pushing it a bit…

Jackson Browne – Album By Album

Jackson Browne features heavily in Uncut’s piece on the making of the Eagles’ Desperado – in the new issue, dated June 2013 and out now – and here, in this archive feature, originally from August 2010’s Uncut (Take 159), Browne takes us through the creation of his greatest albums. Interview: Bud Scoppa ____________________

Matthew E White interviewed: “I’m a student, and I learn from the past…”

Seeing as how Matthew E White and his band are on tour in the UK this week (I’m seeing him play in London tomorrow), it seemed a good time to post the feature about my visit to Richmond a couple of months ago. I’ve put a few links to stuff in here, too, so you can get a taste of the really interesting music coming out of the scene that revolves around White. Long read, this one…

Armando Iannucci: “the CIA is just full of people who are a bit disorganised”

For the next issue of Uncut, I've reviewed Season 1 of Veep. In case you're not familiar with the show, it's basically Armando Iannucci's attempt to relocate The Thick Of It to the White House.

Iggy Pop – Album By Album

Iggy & The Stooges’ new album, Ready To Die, is reviewed in the new issue of Uncut, dated May 2013, and out now. In this archive feature from Uncut’s Take 146 issue (July 2006), Iggy talks us through the highlights of his 40-year career – including skiing trips with David Bowie and a cameo from Princess Margaret… Interview: Jaan Uhelszki ____________________

Saying the unsayable: Elvis Costello, ‘Tramp The Dirt Down’ and Margaret Thatcher

“To make true political music,” the great American critic Greil Marcus wrote nearly 25 years ago, “you have to say what decent people don’t want to hear; that’s something that people fit for satellite benefit concerts will never understand, and that Elvis Costello understood before anyone heard his name.”

An Audience With… Graham Nash

Graham Nash discusses the unique exhibition of his photography in the new issue of Uncut, dated May 2013, and out now – in this archive feature from Uncut’s April 2009 issue (Take 143), the silver-throated former Holly tackles some prickly subjects – dissing Dylan, breaking up with Joni and playing peacekeeper in CSNY… Interview: John Lewis ______________________
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