Slow Club come with a certain reputation.
The buoyancy of the duo’s debut album led many to believe that Charles and Rebecca were perma-happy types, bouncing along to rockabilly rhythms. However a cursory glance at Slow Club’s lyrics sheets revealed material that was weighed down with heartbreak, teenage angst and outright anger.
Returning with their new album ‘Two Cousins’ the pair sound subdued. Revealing itself over the course of several listens, it is less immediate than its processor but nonetheless displays a real artistic growth.
A more mature but no less energetic return, Slow Club have learned from their mistakes. Tracking down the Moshi Moshi duo, ClashMusic spoke to Charles Watson about the band’s literary tastes.
– – –
What is your favourite book?
I would probably say ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Love’ by Raymond Carver. It’s just a load of short stories but I really love the way that a lot of his short stories are really quite pointless and they don’t really come to any conclusion. It’s all about the descriptions of the people and the way that he writes rather than it being a huge plotline. I really like that it’s more about his method than anything grander than that. A lot of it is about alcoholics, people cheating on their wives – it’s quite dark stuff, really. A lot of it was written in the late 50s, 60s and 70s in Middle America but from what I understand about his life a lot of it was autobiographical so he writes a lot about his own experiences and puts them into stories. They’re just really beautifully written.
What other authors do you like?
I really love George Orwell. I read a book of his on holiday – I think it was ‘1984’ or ‘Animal Farm’ – and then I just go sucked into him. I really like audio tapes, when people read the books. I spent quite a lot of time on tour last year just buying those books – because I’m quite a slow reader. I went through like three or four massive books in one week when we were in Japan. It was really nice to have them read to you. It’s quite a relaxing thing, it sends you off to sleep as well.
What draws you to certain books?
Probably my attention span – I’ve got quite a short attention span. I really like the sense of finishing something but I really hate the feeling of knowing that I’ve got loads of books with bookmarks in them all over my house. Going on train journeys and thinking ‘right, I’m going to nail that book this time!’ I think that’s one of the main reasons I like short stories. There’s a really great book from Hurakami called ‘After The Quake’ which is about the earthquake in the early 90s. He’s got quite a similar style to Raymond Carver, I didn’t read Hurakami’s stuff until quite late on but he reminded me of him. They’ve got quite a no bullshit approach, with some awkward moments.
Have you ever stumbled across a real lost classic?
I found a graphic novel in New York and bought it to my girlfriend called ‘Greendale’. Neil Young wrote an album, and these people did a graphic novel about this concept album. It’s really weird. The illustrations in it are beautiful. The story isn’t really about the songs so it’s a weird translation but I love what they did with that.
Do your literary influences make an impact on your lyrics?
Maybe not so much on the first album but definitely on the second. I’ve definitely read more on this album than I did before just because we were travelling so much. I find it quite difficult to read if I’m sat at home, I like to do it while I’m moving. Definitely. Just the way things are phrased, I think other songwriters, growing up and seeing their point of view, everyone writes in different ways. No matter how much someone sounds like someone else they’ve always got something of themselves in there.
Where does that bitter / sweet relationship in your music come from?
I don’t know really. I think most of our songs are born out of sadness towards something or other. It’s very rare that we write a song thinking ‘you know what? I fucking LOVE this thing!’ It’s not the feeling that makes you want to write – well the feeling that makes me charged and raring to go is more like being totally bummed out about something. That’s normally my kind of feeling. Sometimes it feels like your chest’s just been turned into lead and you wake up and you don’t feel like doing anything. If you can find a place in the day when it’s amazing to stand in one spot just singing the same song over and over, that’s what I really love.
Can you remember the first book you read?
Do you know what? I didn’t really read that much as a child at all. I hardly read at all, so I can’t really remember. I remember reading a lot of football books. My mum used to try and get me to read so she would buy me these books about football, and they had these wicked watercolour paintings of people scoring these fantastic goals. But I wasn’t really into football either! I think it was just an attempt by my mum to make me read. I think the first big book I read was ‘The Short History Of Nearly Everything’ by Bill Bryson. It’s just loaded with facts – I love that shit!
So do you and Rebecca swap useless facts?
I’m just full of shit, basically. No one really listens to what I say. I just spout out facts that I can’t really remember and aren’t completely accurate!
Are you good in a pub quiz?
Sometimes, yeah. It depends. I’m not very good at pop song culture, I seem to have missed a lot of that. I’m quite good at history. I studied history so I’ve got an amazing knowledge of German history from 1933 to 1939. Ask me anything about that!
Have you ever read a book and completely identified with the central character?
I don’t know, really. That’s the beauty of reading. You’re almost transported to someone else’s character. That’s what I love about it – you’re almost transported into them for as long as the book lasts. There are a couple of people in those Raymond Carver stories but those are universal themes so I think that’s why it could be so easy to tap into it.
Do you read one book at a time?
I think I intend to read lots of things but I have to say that I always put them down for one reason or another. I just bought one book on tour. I remember I took five on the last tour thinking ‘I’m going to nail this, this’ll be brilliant’ and then got nowhere. I just brought Patti Smith’s new book ‘Just Kids’. I’m pretty happy about that.
Is there a writer you would like to work with?
I’d really like to work with Aidan Moffat. He’s done a Slow Club cover. I am awe of that guy – Becky is as well – and I’m sure she’d agree that he’s the one modern writer we’d love to work with. I don’t know really. He kind of did that with the cover he did, he basically spoke it. I had mumps at the time and I got the email with the mp3 when I was feeling like shit and my face was massive. I was like, shit it’s Aidan Moffat reading our words! I think we’re going out for a pint with him next week, to say thanks. We’re in Glasgow this weekend. I don’t know, I’d be quite scared to ask him to be honest. We were going to do a split seven as well, but I think he just wanted to do one song. I’ve never met him, although I have spoken to him over email. He’s got that touch – you know when you read someone’s stuff and it just fits in your brain straight away? It’s very precise and there’s no kind of filler in it, it’s all just really beautiful writing.
– – –
‘Two Cousins’ is out now.
