U.S. Rock
January, 1986
An Interview With Robyn Hitchcock
Not unlike Orpheus, Robyn Hitchcock. First, the days of wit and laurels when he charmed critics both on homeland Albion and here with the vangaurd Pop Psychedelia of The Soft Boys. "(I Wanna Be An) Anglepoise Lamp" to "I Wanna Destroy You". A brilliant solo debut with Black Snake Diamond Role. Then the shades of Hades -- the facile bitterness of Groovy Decay, and a two-year retirement broken by the acoustic solemnity of I Often Dream Of Trains. But, now, sunlight again, as an irrepressible live album, Gotta Let This Hen Out! (Relativity), and a more contemplative Slash release, Fegmania!, find the British tunesmith reunited with his core Soft Boys (bassist Andy Metcalfe and drummer Morris Windsor) for some of the most bizarre tales ever to adorn a sweet, twisted Rock beat. Too mythic a trip? We checked with the source:
"Fegmania! is, sort of, coming back to life. Groovy Decay was a very unhappy record, made in unhappy circumstances. There are a lot of miserable songs on it. I was in a fairly poisonous state at that stage. Whoever it was I was addressing at that stage doesn't bother me so much now. It's all probably about coming out of adolescence and being thirty.
"I thought it was time to stop after that. I was being maniupulated by apathy and confusion. People who all meant well, but thinking, 'You'd be great if you were somebody else!' I just shut up for a couple of years. Got everybody out of my system, then made that record [Trains] all by myself to see what I was like undiluted."
"Trains is about being dead, basically. That's why I put Anubis on it -- the (ancient Egyptian) god of the underworld, the black dog. I think Fegmania! sort of accepts itself. Fegmania! has Thoth -- who's the god of libraries -- on the label."
Fegmania! also has The Egyptians -- a continuing Hitchcock theme and the songwriters' first real band since The Soft Boys. An involvement intended to be long-term.
"As long as everybody doesn't crowd each other out and everyone's allowed to take time off and things, the band can go on indefinitely. I think Roger Jackson (keyboards) is a very valuable addition to the very original old lineup, which we still have. I think everyone's a bit more stable. We're all quite old now. We're not liable to go zooming around with lots of other people."
Which destroyed The Soft Boys?
"I don't think the chemistry was ever right with The Soft Boys. I don't think we ever had the right combination of people. We got rid of one guy, got another guy in, another guy left, another bloke came, and by the end of it there was a very odd combination. I couldn't possibly imagine that combination of people playing together at all. Particularly the band with Kimberley [Rew] and Matthew [Seligman] in it. They had nothing in common, apart from the fact that they're both mad."
On that note, we don't ask for a comment on Rew's new hitmaking venture, Katrina And The Waves. We do ask the cult god about fame.
"I've never wanted mass appeal. People keep saying I should. Or why don't I? Or what will I do if I get it? But I'm not really interested in that force-feeding that takes place when you get prime MTV time and your poster is on every wall. There are plenty of people who don't sell millions of records -- people like Richard Thompson, Lou Reed, Captain Beefheart -- who've done brilliant stuff."
Not to mention Hitchocck's ever-present psychedelic specter, Syd Barrett. Although, unlike his predecessor (or his other acknowledged major influece, The Beatles) Hitchcock recently told Musician that he isn't into drugs.
"I have nothing to add to that. It's the truth."
So from where does the madness spring?
"I just walk downstairs, open my mouth, pick up a guitar and off we go. It's very easy -- my mind never stops. People seem to, kind of, walk around me waiting for it to stop so they can come and examine my head, drill holes in it and find out what's in there. I wish they wouldn't."
"It's life filtered in one ear and out through the mouth -- like taking a whole load of ingredients and grinding them up not-very-finely, so when they come out again you can still recognize them. Like, 'Oh look. Here's half a car, and here's a piece of green pepper, and here are two people making love in a fridge.' Something like that."
And humor?
"Humor is as important as blood, practically. People without any humor are people without any blood, and it's terrifying. I can't see any other reason to exist (he said sadly)."
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