Interview originally posted at Foreverdelayed.com
[translated by Pretty In Pink from Finland]
What have you been listening to lately?
Iīve been listening to Röyksopp, Idlewild and the new War Child compilation, that we were also involved in. I was interested to hear what songs others had chosen. I particularly liked Prodigyīs version of Ghost Town, Faithless and Dido and Killer by Sugababes.
Are there any current bands, that have the same spirit that you have now or the same spirit that you had when you started the band?
I can see small parts of us in many bands; I could mention e.g. The Vines for their enthusiastic attitude. Lyrically, however, there isnīt anyone brave enough to deal with similar subjects as Nick does these days. Musically Idlewild could be a kindred spirit. I donīt know if I want to mention a band like The Strokes - I think that itīs a bit like the age before punk, the times of New York Dolls: long hair, posing, drinking and drugs. I think we will hear lots of forgettable albums.
What would 22 year old Sean Moore have thought about the FD compilation?
When we were young we always bought greatest hits from bands we listened to, like Big Country, Simple Minds and The Clash. We also bought punk-compilations and loved making our own compilation tapes. By releasing a compilation we are making it easier to get to know the band. People donīt have to go through all the album tracks. Regardless of what some people think... Youīve probably read the NME-review by Mark Beaumont?
No, I havenīt.
The headline was "Generation Traitors" and it claimed that we would have hated the compilation if we had heard it when we were young. Actually we donīt have to care about rubbish like that, because we really believe in ourselves.
Are there any personal favourites of yours that didnīt fit on the album?
I would have probably replaced Tsunami with Roses in the Hospital. I would have also wanted Let Robeson Sing to be there, and both versions of You Love Us.
What moment of your career are you most proud of?
I donīt want to sound pretentious, but I would say that in general Iīm proud that we can make a new album. Every album is an achievement. We have been together for ten years and regardless of all the rubbish that the British papers have wrote about us, we still believe in what we do and who we are. After six albums we feel the same things we felt in the beginning and we still have things to say.
Nicky and James have told that the next album will be like Nebraska and the lyrics will be about different cities.
Maybe. We choose a theme for every album and thatīs one of the possible themes.
Do you know what was Nickyīs inspiration for the religious references in the lyrics of TBTGOG and Unstoppable Salvation?
Probably watching the God Channel. Thereīs nothing else left to watch for us, now that sports have become a money making machine like pop.
Where you pleased with the chart position of TBTGOG in Britain?
We would always like to succeed better, but realistically thinking that was the best possible position. The new single by U2 was only one step higher when it came out. We donīt keep U2 as a parallel, but they are really popular worldwide.
During the last two albums you played really high profile gigs like the millennium gig and the gig in Cuba. Why did you decide to play smaller gigs this time?
Maybe we wanted to start over. This tour isnīt the actual tour anyway, itīs a warm up for the UK tour in December. In January we go to Japan, and after that we will hopefully return to Europe to play bigger gigs.
The everlasting rumour that the next album is your last has returned.
Well, The Holy Bible was supposed to be our last album and then Everything Must Go was supposed to be the last one. Then people said This Is My Truth would be the last one. Itīs as if some people would want us to give up. Naturally weīve had our moments of doubt, but when we started we decided that weīll stop when we donīt know what to write about. When we were making Know Your Enemy, we set an enormous goal for ourselves, because we had made so many songs for that album. It was the same situation as with Generation Terrorists, which however was a failure. With Know Your Enemy we almost achieved our goal. Now that we have made new songs we have once again found new things and noticed that we still have things to say.
What did you think about the world championships in football last summer?
Really boring, not interesting at all. Holding the championships in two cities didnīt work. I was also bored with the British press writing about how England should have won, although the team was quite average. England beating Argentina with a penalty kick only proved that Argentina is not what it used to be.
Pretty In Pink also says: By the way, when the band was promoting KYE Sean did at least three interviews here. At the same time Nicky was doing a tv-interview:
Interviewer: "You and James are both doing interviews here in Finland..."
Nicky: "Sean is doing some as well! Amazing: Sean is speaking!"