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IE : Did he talk to you or give you pointers ? Warn you away from anything ? CM : Well , we didn ’ t really have that kind of relationship . I guess he was more … well , he ’ s been around longer in the music business than I had because , obviously , he ’ d been in Take That prior to that whole solo career . But I think he was one of those classic examples where there ’ s nothing more miserable than a pop star at the top of his game . You ’ ve got everything , and any psychological , emotional , or physical weaknesses that you have will be just absolutely heightened to the max . So I think he was really bobbling ' round that time - he probably wasn ’ t sure whether he ’ d be able to do one show to the next .
IE : Like the legendary story of the 18th century , he informs his doctor that he ’ s suicidally depressed and can ’ t see any reason to go on . But after the physician offers him two tickets to see Grimaldi , the most famous clown in all of Europe , and a guaranteed pick-me-up , the man is suddenly reduced to tears . “ Why are you crying ?” He asks the doctor , and the patient replies , “ Doctor , I AM Grimaldi .” CM : Well , look - a good pop star should be some kind of a clown . So I guess that ’ s the difference between a pop star and a musician .
IE : What lessons have you learned in that department to reach this point ? CM : Oh , my God ! How long have you got ? Is it gonna be an article or a tomb ? Look , to be honest , everything is about relationships - everything stands or falls based on your relationships , and you can be having a good time in terms of success and album sales and income , but if you haven ’ t got good relationships , then you ’ re gonna be miserable . And then the hard times can sometimes be the most memorable , the most fulfilling , the most edifying experiences , because you ’ ve got good relationships , you ’ ve got people that mean something to you and make your
Kula Shaker circa 1995
life meaningful . And I guess , ultimately , the most important relationship is the one that you have with yourself . And so from that ? Hey - it ’ s a spiritual thing , man !
IE : How cool was it to have a founding member like Jay Darlington back in the fold ? CM : You know it ’ s easy to underestimate , or easy to take for granted , the kind of subtle chemistry of a real band . And there is a magic there that you just can ’ t quantify , where the sum is greater than the individual parts . We had made a few albums on and off over the years because we were all doing other things and having families - I was making films , Alonza was playing with Johnny Marr and producing . It was just life . But we had asked Jay to come back when we started making records again , and he just had this job with Oasis , which was a really good job , and he was having this whole other adventure . And nobody begrudged him that at all - we absolutely understood . So we found somebody to play organ , and we had a good relationship with him , and we did it for almost 15 years . But it wasn ’ t the same as
Jay , and getting Jay back through the hand of fate and being able to get him made us appreciate the magic of people who earned to play together , and share that , and share a sense of humor , and share a view of the world . And I think that ’ s part of being in a band , being in a gang , is you all kind of get each other , and you understand how it is , your universe , your world . It ’ s this little enclave of your own private sanity against the madness of the world . That ’ s one of the great things about being in a band - you ’ re not alone . I mean , I can remember going on tour with Joan Osborne , and she was a solo artist , and she was having a huge hit with a song called “ What If God Was One of Us .” She was No . 1 all over the world , and touring Australia , the Far East , Europe - she was everywhere . I remember seeing her eating her dinner before shows , and she was looking very lonely and very isolated . I remember thinking at the time , “ It ’ s not the same when you ’ re in a band . Even though I got more pressure as the front man , you ’ re still sharing that change in your reality . IE : Thematically , where are you coming from on the new album and single ? It ’ s some pretty heady stuff . CM : Listen , you find it with filmmakers — and I know , having been a filmmaker and having been around a lot of filmmakers . They ’ re always wrestling with the reality that every time they make a new movie , at some point , they realize they ’ re making the same movie again in terms of style , scenes , and characters . I think you ’ re always trying to work out the same part of the puzzle , the same riddle of your life . So " Natural Magick ," " Rational Man ,” " Bringing it Back Home ”? It ’ s all about integrating the spiritual with the material . Or how to stay sane in a mad world - it ’ s always the same story with us . It doesn ’ t mean that it ’ s gotten boring for us . We ’ re just a bit more aware of our recurring themes .
IE : And the double-A-sided single ? CM : Well , which singles that we pick really don ’ t mean anything unless you play it at the Super Bowl or as a Ford advert . So , for us , making vinyl and creating the double-A-sided single to represent the two sides of the brain ? We ’ re trying to approach singles as a little bit more of a holistic comfort . Because otherwise … there was a band that we met recently , and they just released ten singles - ten singles from one album , and then they threw out the album , which only had two or three more songs on it , so they ’ re not really singles at all - it ’ s just popping up a playlist until it becomes a record so that you can move on to the next one . So these models of singles and albums seem to have gone completely , and I keep going around in the music business , trying to find somebody who knows what the hell is going on , and nobody seems to really know how you do it now , what ’ s the model . And the record companies all own shares in Spotify , so they ’ re all happy with this approach , because they still get a big chunk of it . But the approach to how you reach people ,
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