IE: Talk about a few of the Mystery Glue
songs- and how they came about please…
GP: Quite a few of the songs on Mystery
Glue have a swing groove happening, a
bit reminiscent of Howlin' Wind, I suppose. I wasn't thinking about that when I
wrote them, but maybe being back with
The Rumour was a subconscious influence. We had that groove happening on
old songs like "White Honey" and "Heat
Treatment." And the lyrics to these new
tunes like "Going There" and "Swing
State" are playful in the same way.
IE: Are there songs on Mystery Glue that
are really special and important to you?
GP: As far as the new album I really love
"Venus In Transit". I think the fact that we
could create a song like that is really special. Things like "Pub Crawl" - we didn't
really take seriously and we were not
sure it was even going to be on the
album, but when the label heard it - they
loved it and they said you have to put
this on the record.
IE: What has changed in the sound of
06•2015
There's deeper stuff, too, like " Flying
Into London" and "Transit Of Venus,"
which is the best melody I've ever come
up with.
IE: What was it like working with The
Rumour again - what was different and
what remained the same between the
two of you?
GP: The main difference to me is that the
band members accept that I've been
around the block a few times and have a
firm idea of what I'm after. To me musicians should represent the song first, and
themselves second, and that's what they
do now at the same time bringing all
their creative powers into play. It's the
best of both worlds. What remained the
same is that magic thing that you can't
replicate. I call it Mystery Glue!
10 illinoisentertainer.com june 2015
your music since the classic Howlin'
Wind years? Is your voice different now?
GP: People say I sound exactly the same
now as I did back in the '70s, and while I
take it as a compliment I know it is not
true. My voice is different. I take care of it
now. Back then, I got a record deal very
quickly and I never did any of those
things with your voice that I was supposed to. I was working all the time and
we played in clubs that were loaded with
smoke. And we would be smoking like
mad ourselves. When I started playing
acoustically that is when I changed my
voice.
IE: In the beginning you were thrown
into the British punk movement, even
though your music was mostly very
accessible. Did that bother you?
June 2
Barenaked Ladies – Silverball
Kail Baxl ^H8