much to do with the music industry, which
is just as I like it, as well. I've done all of
that – I lived in London for 20 years, and I
don't want to go back. I like the quieter life
these days. And I've got two small children, and they take up a lot of time. Well,
they're not so mall anymore, I suppose –
I've got a soon-to-be eight-year-old, and a
soon-to-be 12-year-old. So I'm always running around and such, trying to entertain
them most days. But generally speaking, I
do as little as humanly possible, and that's
been my mission in life.
Jim
IE What has your sound morphed into
now?
Jim Reid: I can't really tell you that,
because a record kind of takes on its own
The "Mary Chain", circa 1985
IE: What were you thinking when you and
your guitarist brother, William Reid first
put Psychocandy together?
JR: Well, what happens with some people
is, you kind of digest all of the music that's
05•2015
identity, and you've got a rough idea, I
guess. But often we've gone into the studio
to make a blistering feedback record, and
we've come out with something close to
acoustic, you know? It just takes its own
direction. So we'll go in with a bunch of
songs, and then we'll see what those songs
suggest.
IE: Do you get out and see young bands
these days?
JR: I don't really go out to see bands.
Where I live is quite isolated, and rock and
roll doesn't really happen in the southwest
of England, to be honest. I live in a sleepy
little seaside town that doesn't have too
8 illinoisentertainer.com may
2015
coming at you, or it just filters through
you. And if you're any good, you'll kind of
reinvent that music into something
unique. Rock and roll? That's what it is –
it's kind of a recycled art form. The Stones
were just trying to be Chuck Berry, and so
were The Beatles. That's what rock and roll
is all about. And it's more successful when
you try and emulate your heroes but get it
wrong and make something utterly
unique. And the Mary Chain were no different. We were sitting there with our Joy
Division, Sex Pistols, and Velvet
Underground records, and trying to make
something out of it that was our own. And
that's how it works. And I have to say, I
think a lot of young bands kind of miss the
point sometimes. They think that out-andout emulation is good enough – that's their
only objective. But you have to put something of your own in – you have to stamp
your own identity on what you're doing.
Otherwise, it just kind of slides into pastiche.
IE: Was there a moment you knew you'd
created something truly extraordinary?
JR: There's a kind of moment, a point or a
line you cross when you're recording,
when things just start to fall into place.
And you're like, 'This is working. This
going to be pretty special.' Likewise, there
are times when you're recording and you
think “This is not working out.” We've