Whisperin' & Hollerin' have been huge fans of LUKE HAINES ever since THE AUTEURS released their debut album "New Wave" back in 1993. Ten years on, their former leader now presents "Passionoia" the superb third album from his current outfit BLACK BOX RECORDER, who also feature Mr.John Moore and the honey-voiced Ms.Sarah Nixey. "Passionoia" features ten beautifully observed barbs relating to everyone from Princess Diana to (gasp!) Andrew Ridgley and is another exercise in superbly disturbed songwriting. TIM PEACOCK spoke to LUKE HAINES about fame, artifice and being labelled a "dark misanthropist."
This writer makes no bones about the fact he's always adored Luke Haines' songwriting, whether with The Auteurs, Black Box Recorder or pursuing one of his solo projects. He's never lacking in bile, invention or humour and he's made a number of truly magnificent records. I begin by asking Luke what's been happening since he made his solo album "The Oliver Twist Manifesto"? Did the making of that record influence the sound of "Passionoia" especially?
"Yeah, some of the production ideas especially have influenced "Passionoia", says Luke, who despite his previous 'difficult' reputation, is softly spoken, affable and a real gentleman.
"The "Oliver Twist.." album was the least organic of all the records I'd made previously and that's come through with the new album in that 8/10 of the songs are very studio-based."
"Oliver Twist.." was my least commercially-minded record," he continues. "I was going for that. I was tired of convenional tunes per se and wanted to write songs that were slightly more esoteric. It sounds like a good Fall record, actually (laughs)"
Certainly, anyone who checks out the new album's first single "These Are The Things" will immediately discover there's more of an electro feel going down with the new material. This is indicative of the new album's sound isn't it...
"It is, yeah" confirms Luke.
"The single's probably the most electro-sounding track on there. There's guitars on other things, but "These Are The Things" doesn't sound like you'd imagine Black Box Recorder to sound. It's a fairly posionous love song...probably as close to a love song as we get."
I can't actually see Luke grinning a slightly malicious grin, but can imagine it. I suggest I love the title "Passionoia" and that it certainly seems to fit the subject matter where the new songs are concerned. What's the idea behind writing a song called "The New Diana"?
"Well, it was begging to be written, wasn't it?" Luke notes.
"There hasn't been a song about Diana since Elton John's dreaded "Candle In The Wind" and we thought it was time for a more temporate song about her."
"Actually, it's not the poisonous attack on her you might think," he continues.
"It's actually quite respectful. It's more about celebrity and artifice, themes which run throughout this album. I mean, Sarah sings about "wanting to be the new Diana", but after all the overkill, who is Diana anyway? Maybe we've written a suicide note rather than a song with that."
Over the years, Luke, many of your best songs have concerned fame and/ or being famous. The last BLACK BOX RECORDER actually featured your first Top 20 hit with the brilliant title track. I always remember you writing the song "Future Generation" for THE AUTEURS where you suggest "The future generation will catch my falling star": i.e you'll be heralded as an important infleunce long after the fact. Where do you stand on this now?
"Well, if I think about some people I admire, like Lou Reed for instance, he's only ever had one hit and his influence is enormous, so in many ways who cares," says Luke openly.
"But I did get sick of the press droning on about "this guy Haines has never had a hit record", so when we wrote "The Facts Of Life" that was done in a calculated fashion purely to have a hit single. I mean, it's true that we do deliberately work that way sometimes."
"As for the song "Future Generation" ...well, why not!" he laughs.
"Besides, people miss my humour. I always get labelled as a "dark misanthropist" - that's usually the term or something similar. But then people miss the fact that Leonard Cohen writes hilarious songs as well."
Back to the new album. Why write a song about George Michael's old WHAM! buddy Andrew Ridgley, a man widely renowned as one of the least talented people in pop. What's the attraction?
"That's the theme of artifice again," Luke points out.
"Also, the song "Being No.1", which is one of those does-what-it-says-on-the-tin songs. I mean, we're not admirers of anyone musically and I think that's healthy, so it think a tribute to one of the least talented musical people seemed to fit with that line of thinking. Our stance is ambivalent most of the time anyway. I think it's important to point that out."
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How about the song "Girl's Guide To The Modern Diva"? Is this a comment on the obviously manufactured pop stars we seem to tolerate and dispose of so easily these days?
"I get annoyed when people get so uptight about this," replies Luke.
"One of the beauties of pop is that it's manufactured. I don't think the people who create manufacturted pop are the devil incarnate like people seem to think. They're not devils, they're knobheads, there's a big difference. I mean, even with the whole Britpop thing Oasis pushed expectations to an impossible level. Like with Punk we ended up with a surplus of hopeless bands afterwards..."
How do you feel about playing live these days, Luke? I know you got totally sick of it in Auteurs days (even delibreately breaking both ankles to get off the album/tour treadmill at one stage). Could you tolerate the idea of slogging around the States for months on end at this stage?
"Well, I'm fine about playing live now. I certainly enjoy it with Black Box Recorder. We've got a great back catalogue now, so it's great to play classic songs one after another."
"You have to remember, though" he continues, "that it became more productive for me to make records at one time. There was a time when The Auteurs/ Black Box Recorder and my Baader Meinhof project were all technically in existence and then it became impossible."
"As for the States, though" he laughs, "I don't envisage slogging round there. My records always come out so haphazardly there, anyway, like six months after they're released in Britain."
Talking of which, Luke, while I've always been a devotee of your 'iron fist/ velvet glove' technique with songwiting and I've always thought our best Pop people should be a little subversive, do you personally feel you've shot yourself in the foot a little with this approach commercially?
"Possibly," he muses.
"Certainly people find some of my things too much. The Baader Meinhof record most people found too much to stomach, though it still had pop sounds on it. I actually wanted to be KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND when I made that record, except for the lyrics, of course. "
"It's funny, though. If something's good, I'll always know when I've completed a record if it will sell or not."
Indeed, "Passionoia" finds BLACK BOX RECORDER singed to a new label in One Little Indian. Do you think some record companies are wary of you because of your past reputation, Luke?
"Possibly," he says, "thoug they're wary of everyone at present. Unless you're selling 3/4 million albums, companies just aren't interested, even if bands have some Top 30 singles. I mean, from my point of view, I'm 35 now, so I dunno. Are record companies signing many 35 year-olds? Somehow I doubt it."
Just before we sign off, Luke, would you ever consider releasing any more records with The Auteurs or Baader Meinhof, or are those projects finished for good?
"Well, I've got a new solo record coming out in June," Luke reveals.
"I've been re-doing "New Wave" -era stuff with an orchestra. You'll be glad to hear it's not as horrendous as that sounds. It has new songs on it as well and it's called "Das Kapital." I'm revisiting those songs because since the Britpop era, those songs have largely disappeared from view. I thought I should re-introduce them."
Indeed you should, Luke. To be honest, Whisperin' & Hollerin' can't urge you enough to check out all Luke's work with both Black Box Recorder and The Auteurs and all points in between. "Passionoia" is as good a place as any to start, though. Get stuck into its' sumptuous web of intrigue as soon as you feasibly can.
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