Ian Brown : Interview

Ian Brown – former Stone Roses frontman, NME Godlike Genius and Q Legend is set to return with his 6th studio album aptly titled ‘My Way’ this week, coming almost 2 years to the day after his last full-length record, ‘The World is Yours’ became available.

In the lead up to the hotly anticipated album and after hearing a taster of the brilliance to come from what many have tipped as Brown’s most personal recordings to date, we can bring you an in-depth interview with the man himself as he gears up for the inevitable period of heightened Ian Brown mania to add to his already brimming history as a recording artist.

Holly Wild recently spoke to Ian to question him about the writing of his 6th solo LP, his many collaborations and his former career as part of the legendary Stone Roses and here is what he had to say…

You’re just about to release your 6th studio album My Way, which everyone involved is really excited about…how do you feel about it?

I feel it’s my best work, yeah, I certainly put the hours in. I started writing it about this time last year, not constantly, but on and off. We worked right through the winter, started recording it in early spring and finished it on July 7th, so we’ve gone through all seasons.

It’s quite a personal album, so what made you decide to primarily make it an autobiographical record?

Well the first song we wrote was 'Vanity Kills' and Dave McCracken who co-wrote it, who I also co-wrote 'Dolphins Were Monkeys' with, was signed by Roc Nation and was asked to write a song for Kanye West. Amanda Ghost wrote the melody, Dave wrote the music and they wanted me to write some lyrics for what had to be a sort of autobiographical song for Kanye. So we had a few pow wows and Amanda told me about him and then texted him while I was there saying “Kanye, I’ve got Ian Brown to do the lyrics” and I was made up 'cos he texted straight back and said “Ian Brown-Stone Roses, hell yes”.  So we wrote him a song but we were a bit late with sending it in, so as Amanda had said it’s got to be like a “My Way” for Kanye, I took that and thought, right, I’m gonna keep it for myself because I really liked it. 

Then me and Dave were also asked to write a song for Rihanna ('Stellify') but after finishing it I thought I’m gonna keep this as well even though she could probably sing it better, so I did.  That set us off so we thought, right it’s gonna be a “My Way” album - I’m going to write about my life in music. I’m gonna write about coming off the dole, going into music and what happened along the way, so that became my brief.

You’ve previously said you’re anti-nostalgia so how does that work with singing about those themes?

It’s not nostalgia to me, it’s my life and all things come around. There’s a point to everything and everything comes around in a circle eventually. By nostalgia I mean repackaging, remastering, reselling, squeezing a lemon. That made me think about the Roses, as I’ve never addressed them in songs before.

Was that difficult for you, or did you feel like it was the right time to think about the Stone Roses?

It was easy - I feel great about the Roses, I don’t feel bad about it. 

There’s a couple of mentions of them throughout the album - did it just happen or did you think, right I’m going to sing about them now?

Oh yeah, everything’s deliberate.

You’ve mentioned Dave McCracken who worked on most of the tracks with you, but was there anyone else you worked with who you haven’t before?

I worked with a Japanese guy called Naoto and he’s in a band called Orange Range, he’s a superstar in Japan who has sold like millions of records. He’s a friend of a friend of mine, Kazuki Kuraishi, who designed the album sleeve. [Kazuki Kuraishi] is a clothes designer and all the clothes you’ve seen me in over the last ten or eleven years have been designed by him. He introduced me to his friend Naoto who offered me his studio on the island of Okinawa. Then we met up again the next day and it turned out Naoto was a guitar player and he was alright. He said “I’d like to work with you” so I said “send us something” and the guitar part of 'Always Remember Me' is what he sent me. So we added some keyboards, added some drums, I did a melody and some lyrics, then sent it over to him and he e-mailed back and said we sat with tears in our eyes listening to it! So we both loved it and that was it.

Do you get many requests from people to work with them? You mentioned Kanye and Rihanna…

If I like the music, then I’ll do it. At the moment I’m working with a band called Sohodolls who I me on the M6 about 2 months ago. I told them I was a bit busy with my own album but to give it a couple of months and we’ll get it on. I’ve just written some songs for a Muslim singer called Sami Yusuf who sings in Arabic and is really big in the Middle East. He wants to write an album in English, so he’s written the music and the melodies and I’ve just got to do the lyrics. 

I’m always happy to collaborate. I’m supposed to have done something with Scratch Perverts for the last five years, but they’ve not got it together yet. Coldcut are supposed to be sending me a song and Unkle have asked me to come and do something on their next album. So if someone’s got talent and some sort of work and they’re a little bit different, I’m there.

You’ve included a cover on this album, what made you choose 'In the Year 2525'?

I wanted to write a song about global warming cos I’ve not heard anyone sing a proper song about it or the effect that it’s going to have eventually. So I had to come up with a song that’s better than 'In The Year 2525'. Them lyrics were written 40 years ago but they still resonate as powerfully today as they would have done then. I couldn’t manage it and didn’t come up with a tune that was better than that, so I thought “Well, you know what? I’ve got a Mariachi sound sometimes anyway, so if I got a trumpet on it I could make it sound like one of my own songs anyway”. And I was lucky because Dave [McCracken] worked on the last Mr Hudson single so I got Mr Hudson playing guitar on it as well. He came down and put flamenco guitar on it. So it’s my tune now.

You said you were aiming to make an album of singles, so with so many tracks to choose from how did you pick 'Stellify' as the lead single?

'Stellify' was like the benchmark for the album cos it was the first tune we wrote. As we played it I thought wow this is the first tune I’ve got since 'FEAR' that’s up there with it. I end every show with 'FEAR' but now I’ve got a track that I can come on with after it. 'Stellify' was always the benchmark, but it was also the trickiest to mix and we had to do it about seven times to get it right. I’d been laughing at stories about Kanye West mixing his last tune thirty times, but I’m starting to understand how that happens so you can get it exactly how you want it. That was the benchmark so it was always really going to be the first single.

Was it your idea to film the video for 'Stellify' in Manchester?

No I had a different idea, but Colin O’Toole who’s done my last four videos came up with Manchester. He’s from Manchester and wanted to keep it really simple and had found a marching band who wear a star on their chests as part of their uniform which goes with 'Stellify'. So I was like, that’s great let’s go with that.

For my first four albums I either made the video, co-made the video or came up with the idea for the video, but I realised I wasn’t getting any joy out of making film like I was with the music. It was a bit laborious and didn’t excite me like the music. So I was pretty lucky really when I met Colin originally for the 'All Ablaze' song, which was a great experience. Obviously with 'All Ablaze' he said let’s get fire and made lines of flamethrowers.  Being a lad I’m attracted to fire so that was great and it kind of took the pressure off me cos I didn’t have to come up with the ideas myself, or make it, or even spend days editing it.  So I was lucky to meet Colin and he’s made my last four films.

To move on to the live side of things, you played Reading & Leeds recently - is it good to be back on the stage?

At Leeds I looked out at the crowd and there was hardly anyone of my generation there - it was all 16 year olds and up to about 25 and I thought I’m old enough to be their Dad and I’m on the main stage, it’s great! 

Your next live date is the Dubai Sound City launch party, which will be your first time playing in the Middle East?

Yeah it is. I’ve had two offers before but they fell through. I’ve played Tel Aviv in Israel but this will be my first time in the Middle East. 

The Sound City organisers want to have a Middle East focused debate during the conference - thinking about the anti-war message in your last album, do you think it’s important for music and politics to crossover?

I think solidarity of every kind is important, however that comes, be it music and politics. I think that no matter where you live in the world we’ve got governments above us who control us, who we can’t control. We’re no different to the people in Iran or Israel and so it’s important that we all link up and share everything and music’s the best space for doing that. It crosses all borders, all languages, all genders, all race and religion. 

After that you’re going to be doing a pretty extensive UK tour - are there any cities that you’re particularly looking forward to playing?

Manchester most definitely and it’s going to be my fourteenth appearance at Brixton Academy, which is big news for me.

But anywhere really, it’s great to go and meet people anywhere.  I’m looking forward to all of them.

Do you have any stand out gigs from past tours?

Glastonbury ’05 was probably my favourite show because it was the biggest crowd I’ve ever played to. It was pretty emotional and everyone was singing along. There were thousands of people bobbing up and down and we played really well that night.

Usually I do a show, I feel great about it and the next day I’ve forgotten it. But one day, if I make it, when I’m 90 and I’m sat out in the back chair with my Filipino nurse putting a blanket over me, maybe I’ll think about when I played Nottingham Rock City on my birthday, or my first Brixton Academy, but Glastonbury’s the show that I think about every few weeks and think “Wow, that was ace”.

Other than Manchester do you have links to any of the places you’re playing?

I love Liverpool and Glasgow. Liverpool’s probably the best place to play. Crowd and atmosphere wise it’s definitely been the best show on the last few tours. Maybe I shouldn’t say that in case the Mancunians don’t buy tickets! 

Also it’s amazing to play Dublin, it’s beautiful. You’d think Dublin was a thousand miles away from England from how different people are over there - so warm spirited and friendly. Plus Glasgow is probably one of the best places to play in the world. So Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Dublin are the best places to play. There’s something very similar about all those places.

Have you got anything special planned for the gigs? The Manchester date is the last night of the tour and just before Christmas…

That’s right, it’s only the week before Christmas so that will be a big party, yeah. 

I’ve got no plans for fire-eaters or jugglers or anything. I’m just gonna get a lot of new songs out cos I think a lot of these new songs sound great live and mix it up with the best of what I’ve got.

Do you always take the same band out with you?

I used to change it up every tour to keep it fresh with different line-ups, but the last five and a half years I’ve had the same line-up and they never let me down. The Drummer’s never dropped a beat and the guitarist has never hit the wrong note - they’re super reliable and great, great players and we gel really well so I’ve got no reason to change it at the moment. These guys still sound fresh.

To finish on a slightly different note, the big news at the moment is Noel leaving Oasis - do you think this is really the end for them?

Yeah I think it probably is, which is a bit of a shame really. I think it’s been coming for quite a while hasn’t it? Their very first NME feature they were scrapping and their last one they were scrapping, so they came in scrapping and they’ve gone out scrapping. Bit of a shame but no surprise really. I’d heard a few rumours myself this year and I think it’s finally run its course.

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