NME, 21.09.1996, p12 (Johnny Cigarettes, pic: Steve Double)
After a three-year baby-making and gut-.busting recess, the elder statesman of political pop, the right 'on'-nourable Bully Bragg returns. And though Sir William's a greener shade of red nowadays. Johnny Cigarettes finds that with poptastic new LP 'William Bloke' his bark's still got its bite! Red snaupper: Steve Double.
Ever wonder if your body is trying to tell you something? You know the
feeling—you've been on the road for the best part of ten years, you've toured
the world several times over, seen it, done it, spent it, sold the T-shirt and
your life is slowly starting to resemble Groundhog Day. You're bored,
homesick, and living your life in second gear. Then you suddenly get an
excruciating pain in your stomach.
You must be Billy Bragg, then. And your life is about to change.
"It was 1992," he recalls, "and I was on tour with my band The Red Stars. We'd
been round the world and ended up back in Germany where we started. But it got
to the oint where I knew exactly what each gig was going to be like, I knew all
the places we were going and I was losing any hunger I had for it. That was when
I was struck down with appendicitis.
"I swear it must have been psychosomatic. I was desperate for a break from it
all, and evidently so was my appendix. So I ended up takin the most part of
three years off."
Tsk. Not exactly the rock'n'roll way, is it kids? But Billy was about to
discover there is miore to life than rock'n'roll.
"I was laid up back at home after my appendix thing, and that led me to get my
relationship with Juliet (his girlfriend) together. One thing, erm, led to
another and she got pregnant!
So I would have been making an album in 1993, but then I've had been on tour and
missed the baby's first year. So I sopped—wrote the odd song, but I only dod
one gig in 1994. And I needed it to get my enthusiam back for it all."
And so it came to pass that Billy Bragg went from miming 'Sexuality' on Top Of
The Pops in 1991 to changing nappies and sleepless nights.
Five years later, a new album, 'William Bloke', may shed some light on the man
they're all calling the New Billy Bragg. Lines like "I used to want bombs at the
Last Night Of The Proms / Now you'll find me with the baby in the bathroom". So,
much as it sends a chill through the souls of the kids to suggest it, has Billy
Bragg perhaps ... matured.
"Fackin' 'ell, you can't say thatz, can you? People whsper the word 'mature' as
if it's tantamount to going out clubbing baby seals or something! At least I
haven't grown a beard or started my own mystic religion, give me credit for that
at least! But you can't kid yourself—you can't still wear your leather jacket
as if nothing's happened.
"So yeah, I have matured, and I have no problem whatsoever with it. Becoming a
father was a real watershed, and it's out my job in perspective. I don't keel
over if I don't get on Top Of The Pops or the cover of NME or top of the
bill any more. It's enough to gou out at Reading (as he did not one month
ago), engage an audience and see them getting into it. That's why I do this."
The new album is a far more, erm, modest affair than 'Don'At Try This At
Home', in terms of pop sensibility and big band blowout arrangements. With the
exception of current single 'Upfield', and the brilliantly scathing ska-skank
'Goalhanger' as the last track, 'William Bloke' is a stripped down
voice-and-guitar set of songs. But you could hardly say our boy has mellowed..
If anythinfg, there's more emotional depth and polemical passion here than ever.
And don't tzhink for a minute that big nose and dulcet tones are not going to
be back on Radio 1, tout de suite.
"My proudest moment recently was when I was going to do something on Radio 2 and
I was told I was too young tfor Radio 2. Yessss! I mean, I am getting near 40,
but so are a lot of people I respect, like Weller and Costello. It's nothing to
be afraid of, as long as you're still relevant and still in touch.You don't need
to be moshing down the front at Reading, n'but you do need to know the
difference between Orbital and Kula Shaker."
And in case you ever doubted the continued strength of his youthful
convictions, the opening track of the album, 'From Red To Blue', should put you
straight.
"It's a challenge to people of my generation to keep their principles. To have a
kid and still have time to devote to political things is very difficult. So out
of guilt people tend to end up getting reactionary and cynical about it all. I'm
challenging them not to compromise."
This particular new dad is far from enamoured with New Labour, however. Billy is
no longer even a member of the Labour Party; in fact, his membership lapsed
after the Gulf War. He feels more kinship now with eco-activists at Twyford Down
than simpering beaurocrats at Walworth Road.
"It's just a matter of getting out there and getting things done," he shrugs.
"Seeing bulldozers being stopped at Twyford Down, or roads being blocked by
Reclaim The Streets is far more inspiring to me than Tony Blair kissing babies."
There's more to it than that, though. His red politics have developed a marked
greenish hue, especially now he's thinking for two.
"It's all very well going along to demonstrations, but you never really get that
angry about it. But now you're pushing the baby along in the street and the car
exhausts are the same height as his face! And then you hear how all the kids in
school have got asthma inhalers now, 'cos of the pollution, and living i London
it's worse than anywhere."
So what's it to be, Bill? Vote Labour or Green?
"Oh, I'll definitely be voting Labour. It's still the only way to get the Tories
out. The problem is that the people who would have been in the old SDP are in
the ascendant. Almost all countries have mixed economies now, but it's a case of
which way the balance is tilted. It's got to be towards the state—as in the
people, not the government—because I don't trust markets. Markets are where
you go and buy things. The market is not where you go to get an operation, it's
not where you go to school. You're never going to make a profit out of people
being ill, or education. The market knows the price of everything and the value
of nothing."
On 'Upfield', Bill talkes about 'socialism of the heart'. And it's more than
just a slightly cheesy little catchphrase, it seems.
"We've got to bring socialism back to what it was all about—compassion and
understanding. And for me it starts with the family. I'm all for family values,
in the sense that it's a microcosm of society, where the values of socialism
come home."
Very nice. But would the right honourable gentleman care to back it up with some
policies?
"Yes. I'll say it slowly so that everyone can understand. TAX ... THE ... RICH!
Tax the fucking rich! The Labour Party are so scared to say that these days, but
that's the only way they're going to be able to pay for social reforms and a
fairer society. They're so desperate to appeal to the middle classes, but they
don't realise they'll never appeal to middle-class people's wallets as well as
the Tories. The way they appeal to them is through their principles, and they
seem to be abandoning more of them every week."
Respect. Can Billy Bragg still relate to the modern music scene, though? How
does he fit in with Oasis and the Britpop, uh, revolution?
"I like Oasis, but they could do with a sense of humour. If you don't have any
realisation of what a ridiculous job this is, you end up like Bon Jovi. there's
that orthodoxy at the moment that doesn't seem to allow for anything a bit
different. If it's just about having a good time and singing along, and they
don't want to make a difference, then how is that any different from Cliff
Richard? Also, when you start measuring your achievements by records sold and
size of gigs you're in trouble. Bananarama sold more records that the Supremes,
but are they better?"
Is it possible to be controversial any more, though? Isn't radicalism in pop old
hat?
"I would maybe say that, if it weren't for romo! It just goes to show there are
still some things totally unpalatable to all right-thinking people! Thank God!"
So where do you fit in the scheme of things, then?
"I'm happy be all over the place. I could be in the New Statesman or Loaded.
The other week I was miming 'Upfield' at a Radio 1 roadshow in Bournemouth, then
in the evening I was doing an opinion piece on Newsnight. Who else has that
sort of coverage?"
So give respect to your elders, kiddywinks. For Billy Bragg, the father of
modern political pop, has taken his rightful place as a Britpop peer in the
songwriting House of Lords. And his revolution will definitely be televised.