interview
TC&I
Four songs in an ep called Gre-
at Aspirations: this is the (first?)
work by TC&I, where TC is drum-
mer Terry Chambers, and “I” is
Colin Moulding: they played to-
gether in one of the most brilliant
British band ever, XTC.
First of all, how did it come
about that you have once again
started to work with Terry? And
what do you think about all the
rumors that have been aroused
aroused in this relation (“XTC
are almost back!”)?
Purely by accident really—he had
come over to England for a wed-
ding and we met up for a drink
—-he had been in Australia for
34 years. So... long time no see….
it was then that he explained that
he had personal problems and that
he was coming back to England …
and I asked him purely out of the
blue, that I had some songs and
would he like to give it a go… Al-
most back?…well almost no…they
say you should never build the ex-
tension bigger than the house…so
8
I don’t think so.
Are the songs of the ep the re-
sult of long work done in years
past or are they based on recent
ideas and recordings?
No, most of them were recent, all
except Comrades… Scatter me was
written within one week of its re-
cording so pretty up to date I’d say.
Why did you choose to introdu-
ce your ep with a a fatalist, yet
happy mood in “Scatter me”?
Because I thought it was the best
song… and one should never hide
ones gems under a bushel (sorry
for the mixed metaphors)—-best
foot forward and all
that…plus we had to
have a video for promo-
tion and stuff, and this
one seemed the best candi-
date.
Churchill, Hitchcock, Spielberg,
Gershwin and McCartney. The
people you cited in “Greatness”
are all indisputably great, but
with some spin of craziness in-
side. What do you love in them?
And why Paul and not John?
There must have been hundreds
of people I could have used but it
mainly became a case of what