Lush

by Jeff Jolley

On a cozy day, Lush and RAD spent the afternoon and evening. First, we enjoyed the very pleasant company of Philip and Miki for a much longer-than-expected interview about 4AD's move to L.A. during the recording of their latest album, "Split." The interview was good (very interesting for any 4AD fans out there), the album "Split" is great, but the show is simply the best show (music and lights) put on the small stage this year. We hope you like the conversation added from the original Rational Alternative Release of this interview.

RAD: How do you like being on 4AD?
Miki: It's alright.
phiL: Pretty laid back.
Miki: You can't say any label is better than most labels, it depends on what you want. If you want a lot of money, then go on another label.
phiL: If you want more control over what you do...
Miki: then you want the support of an indie label.
RAD: How do you feel about 4AD moving to L.A?
phiL: It's not the whole lot...
Miki: just Ivo's moved to L.A. It's a bit difficult in some ways, because 4AD IS Ivo, really, and it always has been in this little office. And if you have a problem, you can phone him there. It's good in a way, because obviously...
phiL: there's more exposure....
Miki: Now that 4AD's got a license with Warner Brothers, or Reprise, there's a lot less communication goes on. And don't expect them to call. We weren't expecting when we were making this album that Ivo was fuckin' nowhere to be found. He wasn't around and he didn't come to the studio and I think that's wrong. That's exactly the way it's changing. He got married, and it's fine. It's a transitional period and I wasn't exactly pleased that our record was caught in that transitional period. But what is there, you know, it's not like we're not going to leave 4AD.
RAD: How was the Thirteen Year Itch last year?
Miki: It was alright. A bit weird, because you're just playing to 4AD fans. You're not playing to Lush fans, it's not Breeder fans--it's 4-A-D fans.
phiL: They bought tickets for this block book every night.
RAD: Did you mingle a lot with the fans there?
Miki: It was weird because it just wasn't really a fan thing. It wasn't like "Oh, God! you're in Lush...Oh we love you!" It was all 4AD...there was no individual band exposed.
RAD: But there were some of your fans there.
phiL: We were sort of like a mystery guest...they never knew what night we were playing...
Miki: ...and so we didn't play a sort of set that we would to a bunch of fans. We played all new stuff that hadn't been recorded yet.
RAD: Who did you produce this last album with?
Miki: Mike Finters.
RAD: How did that go?
Miki: Fine...
phiL: ...it went fine...
Miki: Actually, we spent a long time trying to find a producer. A lot were unavailable. And we didn't say what we were looking for in a producer. Bob Mould, we wanted, for obvious reasons, you know, for that specific sound he could get. And when he couldn't do it, it was like well...we didn't wan't anybody with a specific sound, we just wanted someone who would bring out our sound. And Mike Finters was more of a engineer than a producer, and he likes to co-produce. And so all he did was loyally record what we played. And the problems came in when we did the mixing, because that IS a producers real job, in the mix--their sound or whatever. And it didn't really work out.
phiL: He just sort of lost interest at that point.
Miki: We only mixed the whole album and all the b-sides and everything and then go, "it's not working". It took a long time. We spent like a month mixing them, and then took a couple of weeks off and then came back and remixed the whole album and b-sides with Alan Moulder, and he was great.
phiL: He was a bit more dynamic...things just jumped up. Because on the original mix, everything was quite flat on it.
RAD: How do you find making videos?
phiL: Usually they're quite tedious, but the last one, Hypocrite, was really good fun, actually.
Miki: I didn't mind the first ones, actually. Because it was all new. They were really low budget, it was kinda like this little company. And he wasn't really involving the band and it was really low-key, and sort of "indie." And what happened is when we put them out, that's when it became this American thing and we got lisenced to Sire/Reprise. And then it was like, "Oh, you've got to get a video on MTV," you know. "It's not enough to get on '120 Minutes,' we've got to get on buzz bin. So you're not making a video of what a bunch of funkin' english people who know nothing about MTV think is going to get shown on MTV." Which is utter bullshit. So what you end up with is nothing natural. You spend a fortune to some Cunt to come along and basically film me and Emma looking really gorgeous with loads of make-up on and all this white light. And he funckin' edited it like such a piece of shit. It's all I ever think. And we get "Oh, they just made a video for Pet Shop Boys, so we'll get them in...."
phiL: "...And so they'll make a video for us. It's just a low budget video." But still it's 20 or 30,000 pounds, and for them it's low-budget. And one day's filming is probably what the whole album cost. It didn't cost much more than that.
Miki: And it's a bit daunting. When these people suddenly got brought in, they really think they're big shots doing this little band some sort of crappy little favor...and they're not. And our manager will be sitting there saying, "you've got to come up with ideas...You've got to come up with ideas." And when we say anything to them, they go, "well I might consider that."
RAD: So they come in with these pre-concieved notions about what they want to do?
phiL: It's like this last video for Hipocrite, we got a few synopsis of ideas from some directors. And they're so fucked. They must give the same idea to everyone. There was one that could have been a Helmet video, or Ministry...just so unsuitible for us. They must send out the same treatment to everybody, it seems like.
Miki: I think to a lot of these directors think the bands actually aren't that important. What's important is them....
phiL: ...It's just a vehicle for thier ideas....
Miki: ...Exactly. And they want you to fit in with everything they think, regardless of what your image is...
phiL: ...and we're paying all that money....
Miki: I think most of them are overpaid bastards, really. But obviously there are some nice people who are willing to work with you. I think a lot of these people don't even like the music! I've met photographers like that, as well, who photograph bands. They know nothing about bands--really they do fashion stuff--but they suddenly discover that it can be quite lucritive to do bands, so my gosh, they do that as well. But they know nothing of music or bands or anything. I know we did a photo shoot with some bloke who was a fashion photographer and he had this stylist who was putting all these false fingernails on there. And I was like, "Why?" And she was like, "Well, because you bite your nails and it looks a bit funny." And I'm like, "I'm not going to get people reading the 'N.M.E.' going, 'Ooh, look!'"
RAD: What do think about having fans over computer networks and the future of having interviews with multiple people at once via computers?
Miki: I think it has its place. There are some things that I think would be quite good about that. Just being able to tap into what is going on with a certain band and find out from someone who saw us in Chicago. But I hear about people just sitting around all day reading letters from people who have absolutely fuck-all to say. Why don't you go out and make some friends instead of sitting there all day. Sometimes I think it becomes a bit much. These people actually need a social life....The old-fashioned version of that is pen-pals. People would write to each other from all corners of the globe.
phiL: I can see people doing that from like rural areas.
Miki: To a point. And then you go beyond that, and it's detrimental, if you ask me.
RAD: Who are some of the bands that you listen to?
phiL: Nick Cave
Miki: Blur, Suede. It's a sad thing about Suede.
phiL: Some band that has sold about 3,000 albums.
Miki: I'm glad that never happened to us. Lush U.K.
phiL: London Lush.