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By Tom Lanham photo by Peter Neill
n Almost Famous , Cameron Crowe ’ s semi-autobiographical film covering his early mid- ‘ 70s music-scribe years , Philip Seymour Hoffman channeling legendary rock critic Lester Bangs - has some sage advice for Patrick Fugit ’ s earnest teen hopeful William Miller . In the cold , cutthroat new world he ’ s entering of publicists , exotic junkets , free booze , and possibly drugs , it ’ s all on offer simply in exchange for a streamlined puff piece on showbiz ’ s latest picked-to-click artist . Artists - and I ’ m paraphrasing here - who aren ’ t contributing anything substantial to their genre . None of these people are your friends , he warns , so it follows that a true rock journalist “ Will never get paid much , but you will get free records from the record company .” But Bangs repeatedly stresses his most crucial caveat to the kid :” You CANNOT make friends with the rock stars !”
And I can personally testify that all of the above is completely , almost heartbreakingly true . After 47 crazy , cash-strapped years following the Cameron Crowe path ( but somehow always missing the book-authoring , script-writing , and moviedirecting off-ramps he found early on , alas ), I got as close to the rock stars as one could possibly get , simply by repeatedly asking only the most genuine , heartfelt and curiosity-inspired questions I could , while doing my best not to hurt with offcolor interview info I might have gleaned . I genuinely cared about every performer I ’ ve spoken to , and I hope they all remember me somewhat fondly if at all I only wanted to help spread the word , words with which I concluded all my chats . And although I ’ ve ended up at this point with quite a few home numbers and emails , I rarely use any , so it ’ s not like I ’ ll be breaking posh-bistro
20 illinoisentertainer . com april 2024
Love & Friendship
bread with any pop idols any time soon . Bangs was right - they are NOT your friends because that kind of chummy communion just won ’ t be in the cards if you want to keep playing a fair , objective game . But I can tell you this much – every once in a while , there ’ s a notable , faith-instilling exception to the rule . And Manchester prog rockers Elbow are that wild card for me . After 23 years of working together , I can ’ t truthfully say that we ’ re thickas-thieves buddies . But we ’ re damned close .
And that ’ s been one of the treasured upsides of this often unrewarding music business - the warm , comfortable familiarity that settles over the proceedings when Guy Garvey ’ s image first flickers on the Zoom-call computer screen this year , and he begins discussing Audio Vertigo , Elbow ’ s adventurous , sonically diverse new album , its tenth . And nothing much has changed since our Night and Day introduction - the man is still sleepy-eyed , droll-witted , and as affably unpretentious as Phil Harris ’ lovable Baloo the bear from Disney ’ s animated classic The Jungle Book . Nothing much seems to faze or anger him , and he has a slew of wry observations prepared for every new track , from the jagged-chorded opener “ Things I ’ ve Been Telling Myself For Years ” through a horn-punctuated , bass-slithery “ Lovers ’ Leap ,” a New Wave-punch anthem dubbed , ironically , “ Balu ,” and a calliope-pneumatic “ Her to the Earth .” A punk heart pounds beneath “ The Picture ,” and shimmering guitarwork from Mark Potter colors “ Good Blood Mexico City ,” and everything leads inexorably to the clattering , Genesis-huge anthem “ From the River ” that closes the disc . And everywhere you look , Garvey is a better man , from his now-gale-force misty wheeze to his visceral choice of words and the Baudelairian way he links them together . He stands momentarily to grab some liquid refreshment - “ A pot of tea !” He announces proudly . “ I ’ m just adhering to the national stereotype !” - and when he returns to his kitchen-table seat , a new side of the chap is revealed : Beneath his right forearm , now visible both shirtsleeves are rolled up , sits a huge , stainedglass-ornate tattoo of a worker bee , the official emblem of the city of Manchester . Our chat bounces along so fast , though , that it ’ s suddenly , abruptly over without touching on anything apian . And later , the more I think about that tattoo , and the more I read up on the worker-bee Mancunian arcana , the more questions begin to present themselves . Why are worker bees , all female ( as opposed to the all-male drones ), prominently featured in the town ’ s art and architecture ? Does Garvey raise bees himself ? And does he believe in the old folklore custom of Telling the bees , informing them of every birth , death , and marriage in your family , lest the hive die off or stop producing honey ? And what is the metaphor for this pre-Industrial Revolution business of making honey now , when climate change is threatening bee colonies all over the world with extinction ? I casually mention my concerns to Garvey ’ s latest publicist , a nice , affable guy who can ’ t promise any replies to my quick series of belated bee-related questions I ask him to forward to Garvey . But he ’ ll try , he swears , and he does . A couple of days later , just under my deadline , I got an actual voicemail response from the Elbow main man , explaining everything you might want to know about the worker bee in elaborate detail .
Yes , in 2015 , Elbow quietly issued an EP dubbed Lost Worker Bee . Garvey and his friend Hannah designed the Roman-arty bee tattoo themselves , and both got one , his on the arm , hers on her ribcage , and it stands for the industrious work ethic of their hometown . “ It also symbolizes unionism and togetherness and planning toward a common goal - all the things that Manchester is good at ,” Garvey notes . “ And in Manchester , the bee logo is on bins , it ’ s on lampposts , and in the Palace Hotel , all the numbers on the clock are actually bees , and it ’ s in the mosaic work on the town hall floor , and Boddington ’ s Bitters uses it , as well . And after the bombing of Manchester Arena at the Ariana Grande concert , which was an absolute fucking tragedy , as a symbol of solidarity , everybody got the bee tattoo , although mine was from a couple of years before that .” In conclusion , the singer says he ’ s never raised bees , nor addressed them in any fashion . But Elbow did once use actual honey bees in a video for their song “ Fallen Angel ,” whose plotline revolved around Garvey gradually murdering every member of his group in twisted ways , like bees . “ And for filming , we were in one unit in this vast warehouse , and in this other unit , there were the bees ,” he recalls . “ And I just remember the assistant director shouting out , “ Yes ! Keep filming the bees ! Keep filming the bees until all the fucking bees are dead !”
And that ’ s possibly one of the best things I can say about my past four-plus decades of trying to ask all the right questions : I actually got a callback , just in the nick of time , from one Guy Garvey , a musician who I ’ ve unselfishly supported since Day One . And that ’ s about as good as it gets ….
IE : You just turned 50 . How and where did you celebrate ? continues on page 22