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| Interview |
19.08.00 |
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MIDGE URE INTERVIEW CD
Track 1: I’ve put a lot more of me into this record than I did the previous one. I mean it’s a lot more guitar-oriented. I’ve gone back and grabbed my synthesisers with great gay abandon again and I’ve started making all those lovely noise and atmospheres. It’s very different to Breathe but it’s still very much a Midge Ure record. The melodies are there; the lyrics are there. You know the Midge Ure stamp is still on it although it’s wearing different clothes as it were. The songs are still the important part. Track 2: I still write about things
that affect me - you know things that go on in my life, things
that affect me from books, from watching television, from seeing
the news. You know there’s a real wide range of subjects
on the record. Track 3: Being back in control again, you’ve got to care, ‘cause there’s no one else around to do it for you. You’ve got to be on board and make sure you’re doing it right, but you know I’ve done it plenty of the times in the past, you know produced my own things, I was very confident this time around, because I was very keen on using a lot of new technology and getting on board and see how I can make it sound different to what I’ve done before. I think I have achieved that. Track 4: Move Me is about moving you physically, moving you spiritually, moving you sensationally that’s the whole idea of it. If you can’t write and record something that doesn’t touch someone’s heart there’s no point in doing it. So the song - the title track - is about that. It’s about different things that come into your life that really leave a quite deep affect on you.
Track 5: The Internet has been absolutely amazing and I’ve got my site up there and I get e-mails from people all over the world who’ve never been able to come directly in contact with you. So I get people telling me of amazing things that have happened in their lives because of something that I’ve written which completely - I’m gobsmacked at that - anything that I’ve ever done that’s actually touched someone’s life is quite incredible. So you know people have not only conceived their children to things that I’ve written but you know they’ve had babies born, been married to things that I’ve written, they’ve buried people to things that I’ve written, and that stuff is just absolutely amazing. Track 6: There’s many people
out there who I think are just so prolific it’s ridiculous,
you know - they just seem to go to the loo for 5 minutes and
come back with half an album. I can’t do that. I’ve
got to really sit down and work at it because I’m not just
trying to make a song that’s maybe more interesting than
somebody else’s song. I’ve got to make it more interesting
than what I’ve written in the past. It’s got to equal
it or better it. And that’s my guideline. So it just means
an awful lot of work. Track 7: Absolutely. Songwriting is a great way of getting it out of your system. You know whatever is eating away at you, whatever is really messing up your head, you know whatever is playing around inside your head at the time .. you can sit there and you can exorcise those ghosts by writing it all down and the great thing is because a lot of it’s real, a lot of it’s genuine, it’s things that do upset you and do worry you or do make you happy, or do make you really ecstatic and you write it down and it’s real, people pick up on that, people write back to you and go “that’s how I feel, that’s got me through a really sticky horrible situation” - that song, that positivity, or that train of thought has done that and it’s just a great way of pouring it all out.
Track 8: It’s just feeling sorry for yourself. And then it ends up by saying it turns itself around. ‘Cause I’m not alone. I have a partner and I’ve got friends, whatever. But the end of the chorus says “nothing comes from nothing and that’s exactly what I am. Alone” So, if you’re alone, there’s nothing there. You’ve got to have other people around you. So it’s just a “feeling sorry for yourself” song. Track 9: It’s like no man’s an island, you know. We all need somebody. We all need somebody, as I’ve said in the song, “someone to lay your head on”. You know, you just need somebody to give you a cuddle and a hug and tell you everything is all right. When you’re babbling on about whatever you need someone there to kind of back you up when you’re not 100% confidant of what you’re doing. And we all need that. “Somebody” is a favourite as well and I like it because it’s such a different kind of laid back feel for me. I’ve never done something that’s got that kind of laid back casualness about it. And it’s got all those lovely gospel singers on it as well and it’s just… there’s something really nice about the way that builds each time the chorus comes in - their voices get louder and bigger and it’s just so relaxed and so.. it’s a very unusual thing for me to do. I just love the track for that. It’s something new for me. It’s got something quite magical about it. Track 10: Well you look at most [Steven] Spielberg movies and he’s got huge, kind of you know threatening, you know, it’s big, it’s panoramic. You know, it’s in just about every movie he’s ever had had huge, what I call a Spielberg Sky. It’s my term that I use making videos. I say “Alright, OK- that shot, we need the Spielberg Sky” so it’s got to be brilliant, you know, beams of light, shafts of light coming down. You know, God’s made this image, that kind of thing. It’s about war actually. The whole thing, about how it’s all changed. How we sit and we watch a war on television now and it becomes kind of less real and you get kind of like action replays of satellites, of missiles you know hitting the target and you think this is…watching this is like a computer game or it’s like watching a video. So I thought “Hold on a second, when the end of the world comes we’ll be watching it on television.” And it’ll be directed by Steven Spielberg or something like that. It’ll be like watching a movie. ‘Cause it’s become so kind of soul-less and detached and I just thought this is…that’s what’s gonna happen. You know, when the morning comes up and you open up your eyes and see it disappear forever beneath a Spielberg Sky.
Track 11: I started thinking about how powerful words are. How a book can make you cry or smile or feel good or feel bad. How a book can educate you. And I started thinking about songwriting - and that’s what it does, it tells people a story. It gives them a feeling. You know, a movement. You know it gives them - some kind of emotion is provoked because of a song. And I started thinking about words and I just started writing. You know, “the words that touch, the words that heal” Words that move you. Do things to you. And that’s what the song was all about.
Track 12: I did a series of concerts for Kosovo last year and I met some of the refugees, some of the kids, and that leaves a real strong impression so I went off and wrote the “Refugee Song” about what would happen if a situation like what’s happened in Yugoslavia happened here. I put myself in those positions and just think what would I feel as a father being separated from my family, not knowing what’s happening to them. And then when you meet them again, and if you ever meet them again, what language will they be speaking.
Track 13: About being weak (laughs). It’s about men and how men can be so incredibly weak for the most ridiculous reasons. We’re all human but the sexes are incredibly different and I wrote this thing about men not being particularly strong you know, in certain instances. So it was just an interesting angle for me I think.
Track 14: I was doing some music for a television series about women in prison and I just thought of this amazing, this bizarre guitar riff and I started messing around with this very strange hybrid, it’s kind of a cross between Led Zeppelin and Fatboy Slim. I mean if they all got together that’s probably what the track would sound like. And I started doing this piece of music and I ended up loving it so much I didn’t do it for the television thing. I just ended up just doing it as this piece of music. I’ve always dabbled with instrumental music and I’ve always loved it. And people love it live, we’ve done it 3 or 4 times now in front of people and it’s just, they go crazy about it, they just love it. Power. Track 15: I’ve got to say my
kids because they’re wonderful. You know, I’ve got
4 daughters and they’re just lovely. You know, it’s
great. That stuff you can’t help - it’s life changing
stuff, you know it’s big grown up stuff. You have a baby
and all of a sudden you feel this unconditional love that you’ve
never felt before in your life. So that stuff is a huge curve
- you know it’s tiring, but it’s incredibly rewarding
at the same time. Track 16: Track “Four” is about the children. You know, one can sing and dance, and one can make you happy, and one…you know. That’s just about fun ‘cause it’s nice when they’re grown up to think “Oh, that was written about me and you know, I was the one who was doing the dancing.” And what ever. It’s just a nice thing to, a nice angle on it really you know calling it “Four”.
Track 17: I’m down in the supermarket, you know. I came off stage in front of 10,000 people the other night, got back here, and then went out shopping. That’s what you do, you know. And the funny thing is people just tend to pass you and think you look a bit like Midge Ure, and by the time they’ve actually clicked you’ve gone. It doesn’t matter - all of that stuff. It’s real life, it’s quality of life you’ve got to have. I don’t want to be locked up in a castle somewhere. And I don’t want to go to raves at 5 o’clock in the morning and stuff. I’ve got my life. I’ve got what’s important to me going. I think it’s probably got to do with a fairly early sensible Glasgow background.
Track 18: I don’t deny anything I have done in my past, be it good or bad because if I hadn’t done it, it wouldn’t have taken me on to whatever the next step was. The 80’s were a fantastic time to be in a band. It was brilliant - we were a bunch of lads travelling the world, doing what lads do, and just having an absolute ball, you know and being paid for it, which is just ridiculous. So yeah I can’t deny any of that stuff. What I do deny is going back to it. I can’t go back. You know, I’ve moved on in my own funny little way. I’ve gone off on various tangents and discovered new things. Track 19: I think the Band Aid thing has got to be one of the main things. I really was like a fish out of water there. Both Bob [Geldof] and I realised we had gotten ourselves embroiled in something that was just absolutely huge and when it came to sitting down at Band Aid meetings talking about buying trucks, renting ships, ocean liners to take all the stuff across there, and I’m thinking “God what am I doing, I don’t know anything about sorghum, about soya and high protein biscuits” and it really did feel like it was enormous this thing, which it was. So that was bit of a highlight, you know actually getting through the initial six months from the making of the Band Aid record right through to when we were about to do Live Aid. And then of course the evening of Live Aid, it was just magnificent, the whole thing. You know standing on stage in front of that sea of people and playing those songs, and then sitting in the audience afterwards and watching U2 and Queen and all these guys doing such an amazing job. It was just brilliant to be there, to be part of it. I mean it was history in the making you know just being there in the audience people will be talking about it forever, but I was there making history, and you know not realising it at all. So that was just huge, it’s just ridiculous. Track 20: I could never think of “Vienna” as anything but what is was. It was an interesting piece of music that became immensely successful commercially, and I’ve got to thank it for that, cause I don’t think I’d be here doing this today if it wasn’t for that. Because it turned Ultravox from a small kind of college, hardly known electronic pop band/rock band into this huge world wide known act, and that is just amazing, you know how the strength of one record can change you, can elevate you to a stature way above anything you thought you’d ever achieve. Track 21: I’ve been asked many times would we reform Ultravox, ‘cause there is a whole lot of people who never managed to get to see Ultravox and they want to see it now cause they have latched on to the music. I just don’t see that it works. I think things work for a reason. You can’t just go back and do it. More often than not the reason to go back and do it is not the right reason. You are doing it for finances rather than for the love of the music. You know, and I still love the music. I love what I’m doing now. And I want to do that and that’s more interesting than kind of doing this retro thing so I am steering well clear of the whole 80’s package thing. Track 22: I’ve been incredibly lucky to be able to work with my heroes. You know as an inspiring young guitarist, Eric Clapton was God to me. I had that written on my jacket you know “Clapton is God” and to work with some one like that was great. But also working with someone like Kate Bush, who I seriously admire, she is just brilliant at what she does. You know I’ve worked live with Peter Gabriel, you know all of these people I really respect and admire for what they do, they’re brilliant. I’ve worked with great musicians like Mark King from Level 42, was probably one of the best bass players in the world. George Martin, Sir George Martin, I mean the most amazing character, I worked with him last week at the big orchestral event. How can you go through life thinking, “I know George personally”. He sends me a Christmas card every year. You know he is one of the most famous men in musical history. All of those people are just amazing. The interesting collaborations are the ones that come about because the artists admire each other, they admire each other’s work. Track 23: Not really, you learn from
your mistakes. The thing that’s worrying right now about
the state of the industry I think is a lot of the bands aren’t
actually bands, they’re not real. They haven’t gone
out and played all the sleazy clubs with all the graffiti on
the walls and no toilet backstage and all of that stuff. You’ve
got to go out and do that because that’s how you learn how
it works.
Track 24: Music is incredibly evocative. You know you hear something on the radio you haven’t heard for ages, and you go “Oh my God”. And I remember who I was going out with or who I fancied at that moment in time. And you know you remember what year it was, and what you were wearing, and who you were hanging out with, and that stuff is great. Music is brilliant for that. Track 25: The last one we bought I think might have been Macy Gray. ‘Cause that’s real. That’s great. You know, it’s like really interesting stuff. Great voice, smoky, you know. There was that. Travis -good straight forward pop. Radiohead - good kind of hippie-head music, you know. There’s lots of good stuff. Lots of good stuff around out there right now. Track 26: Sure, I think everyone and his brother has got a web site now, cause it’s the big thing. When we were doing midgeure.com, we looked into quite seriously to see what everyone else was doing, and we wanted to find the mistakes they were doing, not only the good things, but the bad things. So we looked into it and we found that a lot of the problems were things like slow access, you know it took ages to download anything, it took ages for the main screen to come up. Between Berenice, who is my tour manager and sound engineer, and Cerise, who runs the fanzine, we all kind of sat there and figured out what to do, how it should look, you know get it up and running as quickly as possible. And I constantly update, I can answer emails and stuff on it, which is great, so people ask questions I can actually talk to them direct. And we put footage up everytime we’re away doing anything. We’ve got some footage up just now I think of the band performing in Spain at a Womad concert, 100,000 people you know it’s a great atmosphere and stuff. And its such a great thing to have because - for the first time ever I have instant access to people who write to me, they’ve got instant access to me as opposed to writing to the record company or writing to the management office, and a lot of that stuff never gets through to you, or if it does get through you never have time to read it all. So when I go out on tour or do anything, I take my lap top, I can sit there and I can access the site and pull down all the emails, and all that stuff. So it’s a great fantastic facility to have, and people know what you’re up to instantly, they don’t have to go chasing around. midgeure.com, all the information is there - it’s great.
Track 27: It was the funniest band I’ve ever been with. They were just…it was not just great musically doing that, but just being in their company all the time was just brilliant. And it’s going to be very difficult to top that. Because Troy who was an Uilleann pipe player/multi-instrumentalist is just the funniest man in the world. And we had such a great time touring and it was a great thing to do. I mean, the record being successful and going to Italy and seeing not just the hard core fans who’ve always been there but an entire new audience. Young people who’d gone out and bought the record simply because they liked the music which was the great thing about it. Track 28: I’ve got a whole new band this time around because the music calls for a different type of musician. So I’ve got a whole new band, all new guys, young guys that I found all around here (just outside Bath) and it’s excellent. Track 29: Yeah definitely. We have been looking at dates in Europe, and possibly doing some proper dates in the UK, which I haven’t done for a long time, you know maybe start out with four or five up and down the country just to show the new band in action. So we’re looking to coming to Germany, I think it’s in November, a few weeks after the release of the new album. Track 30: I think it’s always worrying putting anything out because the press can be incredibly harsh and scathing and that’s always difficult. I never like reading reviews - be they good or bad. But I think the hardcore fans are the ones you kind of gauge it from, and from what I can glimpse off everyone's very happy with what it's all starting to sound like. We've put little snippets of it up on the web so people can actually go and access it and listen to like 30 seconds of a track and a bit of this and a bit of that and the response we’re getting is very, very good. So I'm feeling quite confident about it. It’s successful to me now because musically it’s successful, but commercially successful - I can’t do anything about it. I can’t make it work. You know someone else has got to decide that. |
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