Spin
December 6, 2000
Robyn Hitchcock Talks Soft Boys
The fine folks at Matador Records announced this week the label will be reissuing a remastered version of The Soft Boys' 1980 classic, Underwater Moonlight on March 13, marking the second time the record has been re-released. All three Soft Boys LPs have been out of print since 1992, after an initial reissue on Rykodisc. But to coincide with the resurfacing of Underwater Moonlight, the original Soft Boys lineup of Robyn Hitchcock, guitarist Kimberley Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman, and drummer Morris Windsor have announced plans to head out on a reunion tour, marking the first time the band in its entirety will perform together in 20 years. Our dear friend Robyn Hitchcock took a minute to speak with us this week about Underwater Moonlight, young boys, and The Soft Boys' reunion tour/planned live album. Hitchcock says he decided to re-release Underwater Moonlight a second time after realizing that the Ryko release of the record was out of print and out of stock. "Of all The Soft Boys records, it's the one that's in demand," says Hitchcock. "It's become a pretty well-respected record, so I was selling copies through my website for a while and then we thought we'd better get it out again." Hitchcock says he approached Matador Records, both in the states and the U.K., after a friend suggested the label. "I'd been aware of them, but I, sort of, thought, 'Well if I was never on Matador and I'm not on Matador now, then I probably never will be,'" says Hitchcock. But obviously he was wrong. On March 13, Matador will release Underwater Moonlight, which will include bonus tracks (like the previously unreleased "He's A Reptile") and a bonus disc of never-before-released rehearsal recordings from sessions that took place in 1979-80. Hitchcock says he has no plans to reissue The Soft Boys' other two discs, explaining that, "This is specifically about Underwater Moonlight and celebrating that record."
The Soft Boys will kick off its North American reunion tour March 16th during the South By Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. The original trio has worked together in various configurations over the years. Rew toured with Robyn on his last American tour, and Morris played with The Egyptians. But this outing will mark the first instance of the band's full, original lineup in nearly 20 years. "It all coincided really neatly. All the crossroads came to the same junction," Robyn colorfully explains. "It's like digging up a body, and then rushing right into the operating phase to see if it's alive or not. It's definitely a feeling of exhuming something, because you feel the weight of time. I think the music's great and that we've reconnected very well. The presence brings us back. Basically we're going to get up there and play all these old songs, and I think it's going be really good." Robyn says The Soft Boys have been rehearsing together since July, even playing a party once where people were dancing. "And people never used to dance at Soft Boys shows." Well, times change. And so do faces. But Robyn has a solution for that. "We're definitely alive, but we sound better than we look. That's why I like to tour with younger men -- then I sort of look better. We'll probably take a bus load of young men with us and they can stand behind us while we play." Sounds good to me. Hitchcock also revealed that The Soft Boys planned to record its Detroit gig for the making of a live album. "We're just going to get up there and record it, and if it sounds good, we'll put it out," he says. "There's just something about the Detroit atmosphere that's magic, even though the MC5 and Iggy are all gone from that area. Plus, The Soft Boys is probably now more of a Rock 'n' Roll band than it ever was." When asked about the possibility of The Soft Boys recording a studio LP of new material, Hitchcock said he wouldn't rule it out, but that the band is taking things slow. "It's like pulling a diver up from the deep: you don't want to get the bends. Can't really do it too fast. Let's see how this goes," he says. "Plus we're still trying to get the old material right." He did say, however, that the band would be playing some more recent material on the upcoming tour. "Certainly things that we've never played before, but I would hesitate to describe what it is," and that some of this mystery music would certainly appear on the Detroit live album. In related news, Hitchcock has just wrapped up a North American tour with Grant-Lee Phillips. Hitchcock's latest solo disc, Jewels For Sophia, was released last year, and the B-sides collection, A Star For Bram, is available now via his website, www.robynhitchcock.com.
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