The following interview was conducted on 6 November 1997 by Erica Yamashita. Portions of it appeared in the January 1998 issue of Rockin'On. Here, it is reproduced in its entirety. Thanks to Erica (and thanks, of course, to Mike and Ian).

Interview With Mike Scott & Ian McNabb in Japan on Scott's Tour, Nov. '97.

"It was like I had a new friend from nowhere. Fantastic!"

----Mike Scott

"Mike is the Bob Dylan of '90s. He is the great songwriter of our generation"

----Ian McNabb

This is destiny. That's how I had to put it on my Japanese liner notes for Still Burning. That's how thrilled I felt to find that Mike Scott would make a second trip to Japan after only 20 months, and furthermore, that Ian McNabb will be there too! I'd better go back and witness it at all costs...... how excited I was following all four of their shows across Japan. Would I be called a groupie in rock'n'roll terms? Well call me if you like. I'm here to watch the two musicians I love and admire more than any other musicians in the world, under the strange spell, stand side by side on a stage. "Now we stand in a special place/ what will you do here?/What show of soul are we gonna get from you?" As was sung in the encore number "Don't Bang the Drum," I just wanted to experience every bit of it. And the experience was the first evening at Osaka where it was further freer and stronger than any shows by them that I had seen in London, the second at Nagoya finding themselves enjoying it to the full in front of a handful of loyals, and the two shows at Tokyo, where people arrived one after another until the very minute the shows started and stirred the nights up together with the band. Especially the final Tokyo show was, as everybody there mentioned later, "a night where the magical chemistry happened". Thirty- something boys who are madly in love with the guitar ran about like crazy on stage, kicking up the sonic footballs, which we audience caught and kicked back to them. This band truly feels representing Still Burning, what Scott is about now, probably still better than how his record of the same name sounded. As much as Scott rocking out like he hasn't done for years, there are also other moments to behold. "Rare, Precious, and Gone" with the brilliant jazzy feeling, "Love Anyway" of the superb pop tenderness, "Something That Is Gone" in its first ever cocktail-lounge style. And McNabb running forever recklessly holding a bass guitar, occasionally adding exquisite choruses to the singing. Even when the crew started tidying up the stage, none of us moved an inch and kept demanding the second encore. Eventually Mike appeared by himself, singing to us "How Long Will I Love You?" on his acoustic guitar. This was certainly a special event. I was just happy to be there as a member of their Japanese audience. Coming outside grinning widely, I found a surprisingly large number of people waiting for Mike Scott and his band, just to say "hi" and to tell them how exciting the whole evening was. These interviews in two parts were given after such a small frenzy, when the band finally came back to the hotel. When everything was over, it was well around one o'clock in the morning.

Part 1: Mike Scott

---First of all, thanks a lot for agreeing to do this interview. I know you are exhausted, you wanted to talk longer with your fans, and more than anything this is your final evening in Japan.

" [Big grin] I'm not tired. The better the show was, the more energy I have after the show. I love to come here. I love my audience here, I love my fans in Japan. I love my connection with them. And I like the country very much. I'm only just getting to know it. I got to know a lot more than the first time, which was two years ago. There is something about the Japanese way that I really love. People are so gracious. Totally different from England. To my fresh eyes, it's very magical. And very abundant culture. I like the traditional Japanese way seems to be in evidence too, the shrines and temples and all those things."

---Through this Japanese tour, we have already seen that the small audience can work wonders. You are a well established artist by now; generally speaking, does the size of the audience affect you?

"Of course it does, but maybe not in the way one would imagine. When there is a small audience like Nagoya....in Nagoya it had an affect on me, I was very relaxed with the size of the audience. I felt it was very good for the music. I don't know why."

---For the two smaller shows, i.e. Osaka and Nagoya, it seemed to me that you had a lot of space for the improvisation.

"Yes, absolutely. I like that, it's very healthy."

---You have often introduced your current band as the best band you've ever had. Do you still feel that way?

"More at the start. More at the first bunch of shows. When it was of a novelty to me. I'm used to it now. Hahaha!"

---Oh my. About time you kicked them out! Jokings apart, how would you describe the character of the band you have now, compared to the others? You have had many different bands by now.

"It's very different. A lot of the journalist have asked me in Japan how different this band is compared to the Waterboys. There is a difference. The fact that there are two electric guitars immediately makes it totally different musically. It's different personally as well, because of the personalities of the people. Because they are not the Waterboys, they have different role within the band and the different relationship to me. I find that they are all very strong personalities, four of them, and I value that."

---Can it be difficult sometimes, or are you all adult enough to swim through it?

"Very, very much adult enough. We get on very well, we're all friends. It's definitely having Ian in the band as well, because he is a band leader in his own right. It is very unusual of me to have a band leader in my band."

---Yes, and can it be difficult? It is the first thing that came to my mind as soon as I found out about him joining your band.

"I had imagined it might be. In the event it hasn't at all. And I admire him very much that he can take this new role as the side man. A bass player! Which he'd never done before. He's an absolutely brilliant guy to have in a band, and I get a lot of support from him. I'm sure you can tell, when I'm on stage and play guitar solo, he's out there and go wooarh...! He's really revving me up. It's fantastic."

---So he's not only there to make you laugh. "Well, there is that as well. But a lot more than that. He's a very soulful guy. Very soulful."

---Very often, fans of your music here are fans of Ian McNabb's music. So it was a great occasion for us to see you two play together. How would you describe the similarities in what you two do?

"Well.... ummm. That's difficult."

---As for myself, I've dared use three adjectives, that is, spiritual, anthemic and romantic.

"Anthemic being a segment? OK. Yeah, I would agree with that. We are both only children as well. And we both had bands and then gone solos. Quite similar careers."

---And both of you lost your fathers very early in life.

"Yes. In very different ways, though."

---True. Is that about it? These are all I know.

"We like a lot of the same music. I find him very funny. The sense of humour is very similar. Ian sort of handed it to me on a plate, I feel. I got this letter from a guy in Liverpool in 1994, saying Ian McNabb wants to play with me at Glastonbury festival. I'd met Ian once in my life in 1986. In a hotel after the gig. Ian McCulloch [from Echo And The Bunnymen] and a bunch of others were there as well. That was the only time I've met Ian, and I liked him, but never have seen him again, never spoken on the phone or anything. And suddenly I got this letter saying 'Ian wants you to play.' So I went down to play with them at Glastonbury, and he just treated me so great it was like suddenly I had a new friend from nowhere! Fantstic."

---So the whole thing was a total surprise to you.

"Yeah, and I never dreamed that he was a fan of my music. It was really great."

---I was there at Glastonbury back in '94. I've always felt it all started from there.

"Yes, this relationship started there, on stage at Glastonbury. We didn't do any rehersals because I arrived and they were already on stage!"

---It was very early, I remember.

"It was very early [laughs]. Very early in the day and we played rock'n'roll."

---Now, here comes our favourite thing called "ten songs". I go through the ten songs from the vast repertoir, and you respond to them.

"OK. Or can I choose them?"

---Sure. Make sure it covers your career, though.

"Oh, you knew I was going to stick to the new album?"

---Good thing I made a point, didn't I.

"Hahahaha! No, 'Savage Earth Heart' from the first album. Great favorite of mine, used to love playing it live. I like that it's open-ended, where we just used to do different improvisations. I also love those chords F-Em-Am. I used it again in 'The Pan Within' and 'Return of the Pan.' Did in 'Bring Them All In' as well in a slightly different configuration. They are also in 'The Girl In The Swing' and 'Three Day Man.' My favorite chords that I used time and time again. They are also in 'Late Train To Heaven,' which is another B side. But 'Savage Earth Heart,' that's a sort of mothership of all those songs. ....Can I just keep going?
Second album--- 'Pagan Place.' Two chords symphony. Great favourite of mine. I always remember on 'The Roots' bootleg of John Lennon, there was a version of 'Be My Baby' on it, where he's using Phil Specter wall of sound. It was produced by Phil Specter and the instruments come in one by one. It starts off with the wall of acoustic guitars and the bass comes like boon, boon, boon, and the piano comes in, then the reverb electric guitar comes in and the drums comes in and the horns come in and....so you hear the construction of the wall of sound. On 'Pagan Place,' I did my own version of it. So I love it. Also it's in too high a key the same way as 'Big Music.' I'm bloody straining [laughs]."

---Next album is hard to choose from. This Is The Sea.

"'Don't Bang The Drum.' Really love that one. I love the trumpet intro. That's me and Roddy Lorimar in the studio. I wrote the lyrics and gave it to Karl Wallinger to put it to music. He did a version which I still have it on tape, which is slightly different, some different chords. And I rewrote it myself--sculpted it and changed around. That's the version that came out. The song is not particularly favourite lyrically, more of a musical one to me. Whereas 'Pagan Place,' I love lyrically. It came very automatically. No thought imvolved. Immediately I knew what each next line was."

---Do you want to stay with the album?

"Yeah, I love most of that album. In fact I love all of them. But I go for 'This Is The Sea.' There are three versions of this song. 'That Was The River' one is a Tamla-Motown type of version with Tom Verlaine. And 'Behold The Sea,' which is a different lyric, and I really love this different lyric. Some songs always stay the same but there are others that rend themselves to change them around. I always like to hear Bruce Springsteen would do totally different versions of his songs. For example, with 'Thunder Road' he could do it like on the album with the band, and then he could do it just on piano. I've always loved that. I used do that more with my own songs, I don't do it very much now. But I might get back into that. That's four now. Let's move on to Fisherman's Blues album. 'We Will Not Be Lovers.' I had the lyric and bones of the tune, but the band had never heard it. And we were in the studio, with Bob Johnson producing it. It was a very chaotic day and there was a very frantic, awkward atmosphere in the studio. And somehow I plugged into that atmosphere. I knew that this song 'We Will Not Be Lovers,' which I had from a few month before, was the right song for that weird atmosphere. I started playing it and the band just came in, and that's the way we hear it on the record. No rehearsal, nothing. It just emerged fully-arranged. That happened a lot with that band. It was a very intuitive band with Steve [Wickham] and Anto [Thistlethwaite]. That could never happen with the early Waterboys, but when there were those two guys I could write a song on the spot in the studio, and they were so intuitively linked to me that they could play the finished arrangement first time. Fanatstic! There is a lot of unreleased stuff from that album, which might come out one day, where we were doing that. Songs like 'Tenderfoot' is one, 'Saints and Angels' is another. They emerged like complete eggs first time. 'We Will Not Be Lovers" was definitely like that."

---Do you want to move on to Room To Roam?

"No, I stay with Fisherman's Blues and choose 'When You Go Away.' We had three fiddlers in the studio and they all did different fiddle solos. Steve Wickham was one. Frankie Gavin, who is a very famous Irish fiddler. And Charlie Leonard was the third. They did all very different solos and I chose between them. I chose Charlie Leonard's, that was the one that fitted. Steve's was very subsonic and sound-affecting. The other guy's was very rigid and traditional. But Charlie's one had a very lilting, rural atmosphere. Now we go to Room To Roam album.'Bigger Picture.' I like the lyrics very much. And the firy, celtic line. That's a very simple, short song. The whole album is the miniatures. That was what I was into then."

---That is very true. Whereas, most of your stuff before Ireland were more like long epics.

"Yeah, and even Fisherman's Blues. On that album there were four songs that are longer than 7 minutes. Room To Roam album was like 1:26, 1:40.... . Now, how many is that?"

---Seven. Gee, go on and choose as many as you like.

"From Dream Harder album, 'Good News.' Which I really like. I think it was an overlooked song. It should have been a single. And I've never been able to play it live. If I'd toured with Dream Harder I would have done it. We kind of missed the boat. I think 'Good News' is one of the few songs that I consider a perfect recording. The vocals, performance, arrangement, everything's very fit. There are not many of mine that I think of like that. Oh, and 'Wonders of Lewis". I really like that as well. Just one take, myself and the guitar player. That's nine already!"

---You'd better promote your new album.

"But I love all the ones on the new album! And they are sort of fresh."

---Well then, finish it up with something from Bring 'Em All In. "'Long Way To The Light.' My favourite one there."

---Is it because it's a very personal, honest song?

"Well, that song particularly, I really love the music and the lyric and that it's telling a tale. I'm so grateful that I managed to get down that part of my life in writing. Because for me it was an absolutely amazing time. The most amazing time I've ever had in my life. And I'm glad that I was able to write it down and get it on the record. I'll never make a record like that again. I don't need to, I've done it. But I'm very, very thrilled with the whole record. 'Iona Song' is another big favorite. 'Sensitive Children.' 'Bring 'Em All In.' 'I Know She's In The Building.' 'Learning to Love Him.' 'Wonderful Disguise Reprise.' ...[laughs]."

---I'll give you one last chance. Any particular song to choose from Still Burning?

"As a recording, 'My Dark Side.' 'Ever Lasting Arms" is probably my favorite song. Maybe 'Sunrise.' 'Questions.' Stop me there!!"

---I was interested to find out that Still Burning is a half-and-half combination of newly-written and old, stocked materials. Why did it come out like that?

"I recorded this album quite quickly, for me, after the previous one. Usually when I make a record I have a period off the road, and a lot of writing happens there. This time I didn't. I came straight off the tour and went into the studio. If I'd waited for six months, I'd have had more songs and probably lost interest in the older ones. The new ones would have been favored. But I really wanted to make a record quickly. So I went right back in, when I'd had half a dozen new ones, and went back to some of the old ones. I'm glad I did it this way because I feel the old ones are deserving. I've got lot of more old ones! So I'm at a point now where I've got a choice. I could wait a little while to record, to wait and write a little more new ones, or I could do the same again. And I don't know which way to take it."

---What do you think are your strong points as songwriter?

" I'm definitely the wrong person to ask that to. Well......I couldn't say. I truly don't know, I'm not trying to 'legal out' the question. One thing I can say is that I'm very disciplined about my writing. If a piece of writing is coming, I drop whatever I'm doing. I wake up in the middle of the night with a tune in my head, which happens now and then. 'Questions' and 'Personal' were like that. I get up and go to the tape recorder and take the guitar out. It's a discipline. Because I might write a song that's going to be on my album. If I'm too lazy and stay in bed, I wouldn't have written 'Questions.' So I learned to put it first. I think that's a strong point.

---I actually remember talking to Karl Wallinger years ago, and he mentioned your discipline about songwriting.

"Yeah. Mental discipline. Also for my concerts I'm very disciplined. I marshal my energy through the day, and I won't do anything that would take my energy for the concert. And I got an intuitive feeling, like a leading, of any activity. Maybe I wanna go shopping, or something. And I get the intuitive sense of whether it's gonna cost me for the performance. Just experience, nothing mystical about it. So, if it's gonna cost me my performance, I won't do it. I've learned. For too many shows, when I was twenty-four, I went shopping and I was tired onstage. Not anymore. I want to go to the concert. I'm hungry for the experience of a great show. I'll sacrifice other things for that."

---Finally, which song of yours means most to you for today?

"For today. I'm glad you added that. Probably something that I played tonight....probably 'Something That is Gone.' I'm hot for that one. I'd never played live before like that, with a real piano player and me just singing."

---You'd make a really good cocktail singer.

"Thank you. Yeah. I loved to play it that way. And I'm quite into 'Don't Bang The Drum.' That endless ending."

---Now, are you going back to London and have some time off?

"Two weeks, yes. I'm probably going to Scotland, and then I start the European tour. But having two weeks off is fantastic. I'm off to Findhorn [a spiritual community in Scotland which seems to have influenced Scott a lot in recent years]."

---With Jeanette [Scott's partner who he met there originally]?

"Yes! [gives a whole-hearted smile]. Very quiet. Lovely. Nature and silence."

---Good. That's all, thank you.

"Thank you too. Wait here, I'll fetch Ian. Grill him!"

Part 2: Ian McNabb (with Gavin "Fingers" Ralston)

"Here I am to be grilled."

---Don't bring a friend if you are! (Somehow Gavin Ralston, the guitarist from Mike Scott band, attends McNabb, both of them with a glass of sake in hand.)

Gavin: "I'll go soon."

"No! Stay!! "

---Haha... yes, you are staying, Gavin. Now Ian, I read somewhere that it was actually you who initiated the friendship between you and Mike.

"Well, kind of. He did an album called Dream Harder, when I was ready to do something like that. A lot of people that were into Mike's music didn't like Dream Harder because they were used to him doing raggle-taggle type of thing. But it was the right thing for me to hear at that time in my life, and it really inspired me. He had a few songs there with positivity and spirituality with rock thing to them. It hit me at that time. And it kind of made me think 'Yeah, I'm gonna rock out!' Now there was a phrase Crazy Horse mentioned in 'Glastonbury Song,' one of the songs from that album. I knew he meant American Indian there, but it stuck with me and made me think about asking the band Crazy Horse to play with me. I wrote some songs, and did the Crazy Horse thing. The next thing I knew was that Crazy Horse would come over and do the Glastonbury. It seemed logical to me that Mike should be a part of it...I knew his life had been a bit weird since Dream Harder, and I just wanted to give him a big musical hug. So, through a friend of mine, who had contacted Mike, I said to Mike 'How do you feel about joining me at Glastonbury and playing with Crazy Horse?' And Mike was like, 'F*ck, what?' 'You bet! You know?' Anyway he came and we did this thing together, and he didn't forget that. That meant a lot to him. So we were connected. Then when he started doing Still Burning, he asked me to sing on them--do some harmonies and stuff, which I did gladly. And it went on and now he was looking for a bass player. He couldn't find one, he had a band but he didn't have a bass player, so he asked me to come along and mime to the bass in the video until he'd find somebody. We had a jam before we did the video and it was...magic. It just happened, just happened. Everyone was going like 'you are the man!' 'You are a fantastic bass player!,' and I was like 'Really!?' Jeremy Stacy, the drummer, kept saying 'you are the great bass player'--but I'm not a bass player, you know. Anyway the whole band went 'McNabb's the bass player in our band!!' And I was still like 'I'm not a bass player,' but then thought 'Well, this is cool.' It gave me confidence. I'm such a fan of Mike's music and he wants me to be a bass player! So that's what I did."

---You've been known as versatile and eclectic in your career, but you had never been called a bass player, have you.

"No! [laughs]. When somebody sees something in you that you didn't know was there, it encourages you, inspires you. And it came at the right time as well. Because I'd been through with a few problems with the record company--it was basically folded. So I wasn't partcularly in a hurry to make another record. So I just lapped on when Mike asked me to do this."

---Mike was actually talking about planning some future recordings with the current band.

"Great!"

Gavin: "We're in!"

"I guess the natural conclusion to this is that we do a record. We think, maybe a bit big-headedly, that we play better than what sounds on the album [Still Burning]. "

Gavin: "We became sounding more European, more British than American. The album is a great album, don't get me wrong, I'm huge fan of the album. But it's very American."

"Yeah, slick is the word. The thing is, for example Gavin can't really express himself fully because he plays the lines off the album. He does express himself in the live shows, but when we play tracks from the album he kind of plays what somebody else played. Well, you know more than we do on that score, we don't know what Mike's doing next. If we get to do some new tracks, that would be fun. But I don't actually believe that would happen; I'm sure he'll get somebody else ... hahaha!"

Gavin: "Can I interject you? I have to say that when Ian came in to play, we'd already tried at least 10 bass players before that."

"Ten!?"

Gavin: "There was ten before you. Mike had tried solo, trying another 15 before that. But with the band there was 10. Everyone could play really well but none of them had the musical touch, the know-how, what the song needs, as a musician. Now, when Ian came for the video, Mike said 'Listen, a friend of mine is coming in to do the video as a favor.' As a favor. He wasn't even paid."

"Mmm."

Gavin: "So Ian came in, we had a jam, and suddenly it sounded brilliant."

"Yeah, the vibe was there."

Gavin: "After that we tried another 10 bass players. Great players. One of them was a friend of mine from Dublin. But it wasn't the same as Ian, because he knew--I'm blowing your trampet here--he knew exactlly what the song needed. Didn't play too much, played enough, had a right move...."

"Well, I listen to the words. I think a lot of bass players would go and work out the chords and everything, and do all this beautiful stuff, but a lot of them don't listen to the words. Because I'm a songwriter I go quiet when I'm listening to them, and when there's no word I get loud, and drop down again. I think that's what Mike got. I wasn't even thinking about it, but that's just my experience of doing it. Still I was amazed when he asked me play bass."

Gavin: "We demanded. It wasn't even Mike. Myself, Jeremy and James went 'We want him, we want him.'"

"Well, Mike wasn't sure. Mike thought, 'Yeah, he's great, but...' Also Mike's manager said to me that it took a lot of time for Mike to prick up the courage to ask me to play, because first of all he thought I might be a bit offended to get asked to be a bass player, and also I might charge a load of money...."

Gavin: "Hahahaha...."

"So I said, 'No, just pay me whatever everyone else is on. Don't pay me any more or any less.' That was another thing. And also he was concerned that I should be making a record myself and didn't want to interrupt it. No, he was really cool and said, 'Now, if you didn't want to...' I said to him, 'I don't think you realize how big a fan I am.' And I've learned a lot in this as well. If you are doing something where you are learning, it's good. If you were doing something where it's a drag and you are thinking of money at the end of the day, it's horrible. I really do sincerely think that Mike is the Bob Dylan of 1990s."

---As opposed to you being Neil Young of '90s.

"Well, that's what everyone's been saying. I can live with that. But, really, I do think he is the great writer of this generation. And if I get to play with the Dylan of this generation, that's really cool. That's not gonna me do any harm. I'm inspired."

---Had you actually wondered if it might be difficult to work with someone who is also a front person?

"Well, we have problems. Mike and I have problems. Most of the time it works great, but... Mike's worry was that, because I used to be a frontman myself, we'd step on eacy other's toes. And he had a lot of problems with Karl Wallinger, who is also a frontman. That was his big worry. So I said to him I'm able to step back as well. I can do that". And he wasn't worried any more. Well, I got more used to it now; it was difficult for me originally walking out on stage and looking at everyone see looking at this guy standing next to me. 'Cause I'm used to standing on stage and everybody looking at me. That may sound silly but it is actually quite....even tonight, I'm standing there and I look out and everyone's just looking at this guy standing next to me. And you get the odd person kind of going...(gives a quick glance sideways). But it's Mike's gig, he is the man. It took me a while, things like this."

---Is it one of the things you said about learning?

"Yeah, it's a challenge. I don't see it as going down, I challenge myself to step back and look around as one of the players on stage. I can do that now. When I go back to do my thing, I'll bring something new to that picture. Also, Mike's very different to me. He's much less tolerent than I am. I've realized that I can absorb some of this. 'Cause I'm like, 'well, whatever.' But Mike doesn't put up with anything that is not absolutely perfect. I put up with stuff. But now I'm like...[bursts into laughter, realizing Scott has been hiding behind a pillar in the bar, pricking up his ears, for the last 3 minuites.] Well, so. And he's older than me--well, he's not much older than me, about a year and half. So there is this George/Paul thing. I feel I'm in the fifth form and he's in the sixth form. He has something to show me and I pick that up."

Gavin: "A lot of the times you've said that, playing the bass, you could sit back and enjoy the music, as opposed to the pressure of performance. Just take one step back, you are still on stage performing---"

"But you are not carrying it. Exactly. Which has been nice. I couldn't do it for ever, but...it's something different. Because it gets boring doing the same thing all the time. And if I did this for a long time, it would get boring. But we are having so much fun at the moment. I'm sure you can see that at the gigs."

---Yes, like tonight, it was such an amazing sight really. Everyone smiling and laughing, both the band and the audience. And the sheer energy as well.

"Yeah, it's just a great fun."

---Anything else that you are learning from this experience?

"Well, apart from learning about being a part of the rhythm section as opposed to being at the front, I'm observing everything that I couldn't observe if I were at the front. You watch everything. When you are the frontman, it's very difficult to see that. It's hard to pin down stuff, I think I'll only really find out when I actually start playing again, doing my stuff. It was really great going out and playing in front of the Japanese audience. Well, Osaka and Nagoya were a bit funny because there weren't enough people, but Tokyo, it's just been....[whistles in amazement]. Especially tonight. And you come out and people waiting for me with a vinyl copy of Merseybeast and so on..."

---Ah, that was a friend of mine.

"Also someone telling me '"May You Always" has changed my life' and....you know, it's weird to think that I'm so far away and the records are still getting here, however small it may be. Thanks to people like yourself. No, not people like yourself, thanks to you! Hahaha."

---Shall I remember that?

"People are getting it, it gave me a little electric shock. I've got to come back here with my stuff, I'm more determined. I demand I've got to come here, instead of....you know what I mean. Because the audience is there."

---Good. We expect that is happening. Not before another 11 years, though! Coming back to your relationship with Mike, how would you describe it yourself?

"We're opposite numbers. We're similar but we're very different. Almost like...is he still there? [turns back to see Scott's gone.] There is tension between us. We don't get on all the time. Because he is doing the same as I do but I'm taking this role, and in the band I'm not the main guy. There is a tension, not a tension. We're friends but more of musical friends. We're completely different. I can't think of anybody that's more different to me than Mike Scott. But at the same time I can't think of anybody that's more similar in a musical way, songwriting-wise, and in what we write about."

Gavin: "I think the tension between you and Mike is working very well. Mike would come up with an idea or direction independently and he'd say 'I was thinking about this.' Mike would always go straight to Ian for a musical suggestion. 'Ian, what would you think?' Ian would say 'Well, I think it's a bit....it's missing the point.' And Mike would go 'Yes, I've been thinking of the same thing.'"

"If he was interested in what kind of guitar riffs we should have, that sort of musical direction, he would speak to Gavin or James or Jeff. But I've said to him that I'm like fan on his stage, so he asks me stuff that he wouldn't ask the other guys, like 'What do you think about me doing that, Ian?.' And I'd go 'Yeah! F*cking right, man!. "Don't Bang The Drum," you've got to do that song!' and so on. I was the one who demanded us doing it with that trumpet intro. I'm here first as his cultural adviser. Because I tell him --if I went to see him, I would want to see certain things and that's what he askes me about. It's not perfect, we've got a lot of arguments. But the best music, or the best concerts, are not necessarily arrived at the most harmonious situations. On this tour we've had a lot of disagreements. Not only me and Mike, we all have had disagreements. But we go on stage and we just want to be great. Tonight it really worked. Last night was kind of all right, I thought. Actually it was a bigger crowd last night so it made us feel better but tonight the magic was there. The magic happened tonight. Also, as it was the last night of Japan tour, we wanted it to be great."

---And they wanted it to be great, too.

"Yes, they wanted it to be great. Everybody worked together ."

Gavin: "But it's just amazing, musically and lyrically the two of you are really a lot together. And work together."

"Oh yeah, the same influence. Beatles, Dylan..."

Gavin: "Personally you are very different, totaly different people. Mike doesn't drink and me and Ian often go for a pint...."

"Well, even apart from that, even if Mike did drink, we are so different. But musically we are in the same...even the title of his album Still Burning. The original title for my album Head Like A Rock was Still Got The Fever. And it's all about 'still got this f*cking firey thing.' Very similar."

---And the fans. I don't know if it's a particular thing about Japan but it seems to me that the fans of Mike Scott are basically fans of Ian McNabb.

"Yeah, it seems to be."

---On the basis of what I've always talked about with your fans here, I chose the three words to capture the similarity in what you two do ---- spritual, anthemic, romantic.

"Well done! Great. And a lot of humor as well. It's like, we wanna rock but we don't sing about motorbikes and girls. We sing about love, we wanna boogie, we wanna sing about God, spirituality, that sort of things. And I can't think of anybody else doing that now apart from Mike."

---Do you think you have been more influenced by what Mike does since you got solo, as you yourself getting older?

"More so. Because that's the way I am now. Truth and Beauty, Head Like A Rock and Merseybeast have all got the same thing to them. Deliberately so. The next thing I do is not going to have any of that stuff. Those three albums belong together, and the new stuff is not really like that, thematically and lyrically. Musically it might be quite similar, but I've done that now. Mike likes that kind of thing a lot. And people laugh at it. Look at a lot of reviews that I've got. He's been treated the same way. People are not really interested in people who are knocking on 40. This late thirty-something thing, singing about life and spirituality, doesn' fill into the rock'n'roll market. It's not really cool for the general public."

---So what's your next move, then?

"I'm gonna write loads of songs over Christmas. Because it's a quite boring time."

Gavin: "Hahahaha! Christmas is the perfect time to write songs!"

"It is, isn't it? I've got this guitar that I just bought, and it's got a speaker in it. So I'm going to sit in my house and write. I wrote 20 songs last year, and obviously I've made a record this year [sarcastic tone], so I decided I'm going to write 20 more when I get home. We've got 2 weeks off and then we'll have 10 days, finishing off 10th of December. So I'm gonna write through Christmas and January. And then I'll see what I can do about them."

---Mike has had a lot of helpful suggestions from Alan McGee (The label boss for Creation Records, home to Oasis and Primal Scream among others) on his record. Can you imagine having someone like that around yourself?

"Well, Mike's lucky that Alan McGee has been talking about him and saying all those nice things about him. I haven't got anybody in that position to do that for me. I met Alan McGee at our London show, and he's a big fan of my music. But he's not gonna start making quotes about me as he has done with Mike. It's always a lot harder for me. I don't get those free write-ups. But that doesn't help Mike much. Because Mike doesn't fit the same way I don't fit. It doesn't mean you are not good. You just don't fit with what's going on. Band like Cast can sell an enormous amount of records, whereas Mike sells a very small percentage of what they'd sell. Because Cast are what's happening. We're not happening."

---But you are always there.

"We're just there. We were there before and we'll be there after. I've seen so many others come and go. You could say 'yeah, but they will sell loads of records and you haven't sold any.' And it's like, 'yeah, but I am still here.' I'm still making records. That's very similar to Mike."

Then we had a talk about which three songs of Mike Scott are each of our favorites for today. The argument went on for quite a while, in spite of all of us starving and them being obviously tired. Ian first went for 'Something That's Gone' and 'How Long Will I Love You,' on the basis of Scott's rendition of these two songs tonight. Then he changed his mind to announce that his all-time Mike Scott's numbers are 'Whole of the Moon,' 'This Is The Sea' and 'Preparing To Fly" ("the lyrics of this song just did it for me at that particular time"). Gavin, after a "too many to choose" struggle, decided on 'Don't Bang The Drum,' 'Medicine Bow" (they've been doing a very, very long version of it on the tour) and 'Rare, Precious, and Gone.' With a very notable comment from McNabb that This Is The Sea album is the Astral Weeks of the '80s, we finally called it a day.

Copyright © 1997, 1998 Erica Yamashita/Rockin'On. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission.
The right of Erica Yamashita to be identified as author of the contents of this page has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Posted 1 May 1998. Minor editing 17 November 1998. HTML editing and link added 11 March 2002.