Interview subject: Jamie Sutherland, Broken Records
Date: April 16, 2008
Time: 19.00
Location: The Bongo Club, Edinburgh
Background info: Broken Records are a seven-strong multi-instrumental band based in Edinburgh. They released their debut single If The News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It as a one-off release on the Young Turks (XL) label last month but, as the most coveted unsigned band in Scotland, they can effectively pick and choose how they want to shape their own futures.
A year from now, as the rest of the world is scrambling to get a piece of them, The Pop Cop will look back and marvel at the fact we got an interview with the leader of BROKEN RECORDS. Rarely have we come across a band so destined for, and deserving of, starry-eyed success. Thankfully, singer Jamie Sutherland is a thoroughly likable young man with his head firmly screwed on. As an ambassador for not just his own band, but Edinburgh and Scotland too, we couldn't do much better.
THE POP COP: Given Glasgow's musical heritage, is there extra satisfaction in proving that an up-and-coming Edinburgh band can make a name for themselves?
JAMIE: I like a lot of Glasgow bands and I think it’s a great city but coming from Edinburgh you do get it rammed down your throat that Glasgow’s miles better and all that shite. We get looks of amazement when we tell people from the west coast where we’re from - they just about turn their nose up and say "fuck you". Now that we're getting a few plaudits we get quite proud of the fact we're from Edinburgh. We do like to - in a very nice, polite Edinburgh way - stick two fingers up to all the people in Glasgow who think they’re amazing.
In a weird way we get competitive. If we’re supporting a band, we have a desire to get up there and really try to rip the arse out of our show to make it as difficult as possible for folk to follow us. Okkervil River, Idewild, Sons And Daughters or anyone we’ve supported, we’ve always gone into it with the same mentality. If you don’t think you’re either as good as or better than the bands you’re playing with then there’s no point in doing it. If you limit yourself to just wanting to be good in Edinburgh that’s not going to take very much.
THE POP COP: What are your ambitions for Broken Records?
This band has a fiercely independent ethic. We want to pay for everything ourselves so we can own the copyright and nobody can tell us to do this or do that, or that we need a single. But at the same time we want to be heard by the most amount of people possible because we all have dreams of headlining Glastonbury on a Saturday night. We want to have control of everything we do to a certain extent, which is why it is strange speaking to labels at the moment and realising what sacrifices and compromises you might have to make.
THE POP COP: What sort of compromises are you worried about?
Because of the strings and everything we’re really aware that if given a big, lush production you could have this big fucking sheen over everything that would make us sound like Snow Patrol. I love epic music but it can become awfully contrived and cheesy. A song like Slow Parade, for example - you could put a big production on that and I’m so aware it would sound like one of those ‘big’ songs. They become soulless. It’s very easy to sound like sellouts if you write big songs. The whole point is to make them effective rather than just big for the sake of being bombastic.
THE POP COP: Are you worried that a record label might push you as the next Arcade Fire?
Yeah. That’s the one thing we’re terrified of and the one thing we try to fight against quite a lot. We’re really keen to avoid just being labelled the British alternative to them or the "celtic Arcade Fire" [shakes his head in disgust]. Not because we don’t like them - they’re a great band, as good as there has been in the last 10 years - but we don’t want to be seen as riding on the coattails of anyone.
We’re adamant about that because we’ve had this blueprint for what we’ve wanted to do since listening to Spiritualized and Mercury Rev records. Arcade Fire weren’t the first people to write big songs with different arrangements: The Waterboys, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, The Pogues - all these bands have done this before.
THE POP COP: Where does the inspiration for your lyrics come from?
I’ve always admired the Nick Cave way of writing songs. I read a lecture of his and he used the phrase “like a saudade”, which is Portuguese for an irrepressible longing or something like that. That describes how a love song should sound. Every song should have its full measure of pain or it’s not a proper love song.
Eilert Lovborg was a reaction to hearing songs like Arctic Monkeys'. Do I really need to know in intimate detail what a Saturday night is like in a small town? I can see it for myself and I don’t need to have it thrown back at me. It doesn’t stretch the imagination at all. No matter whether that guy is a great lyricist, it doesn’t interest me. Why not write a love song about a fictional character of 200 years ago? Just anything that gets you thinking outside of your own space is what I like most about music.
THE POP COP: Are the best songs always influenced by mental anguish or painful experiences in some way?
I don’t think it necessarily has to be bad but new experiences are the meat and drink of the creative industry. I got together with my girlfriend about nine months ago and since then, having become noticeably happier, the inspiration has actually dried up a little bit [laughs]. So you look for different experiences. I read more now. I was in Dublin recently and even just being in a different city, there are already five or six different ideas shooting around. You just need to change your space and be open to new adventures. That tends to get the creative juices flowing.
THE POP COP: The likes of If The News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It touches on political themes - is that an important area of your songwriting?
I wouldn’t say I was totally left-wing but until recently I was fairly staunchly Labour and having listened to a lot of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan songs there’s always going to be a certain lyrical bent. I don’t feel I know enough to be openly political. I think you leave yourself open to being a) misinterpreted and b) branded a fool.
THE POP COP: Does being in Broken Records pay the bills yet?
We’ve all quit our jobs to do this and we don’t make any money from it. I have a diet of soup and stale bread at the moment. I have issues with going on the dole because I am capable of working so there’s no reason why I should sponge off anybody. All of us except Ian [Turnbull, guitarist] are unemployed. It’s really difficult to find a job that will allow us to be as flexible as we need to be. I’m 25 and have done my time in bands that have been a bit half-arsed. I'm never going to have a better chance to really make it than in this band.
4 Broken Records - If Eilert Lovborg Wrote A Song, It Would Sound Like This
4 Broken Records - A Good Reason
b May 21, Raigmore, Inverness w/ Sons And Daughters (tickets)
b May 22, Moshulu, Aberdeen w/ Sons And Daughters (tickets)
b May 27, Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
b May 29, Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh (acoustic) (tickets)
b June 6, Fat Sams, Dundee
b June 7, RockNess Festival, Dores (tickets)
b July 25, Wickerman Festival, Dumfries & Galloway (tickets)
This poor man has been camping out all night to be first in line for a Coldplay ticket
As you can see, tickets for both gigs (one of which is officially sold out) can now be readily purchased for less than half of their face value. And these aren't freak occurences. Hundreds of tickets for RockNess and The Verve's show at the SECC last winter, to name but two, were widely available on eBay for far less than their initial purchase price. So who is actually gaining from touting here? That's right - you, the ordinary music fan.
