Cdnow.com
April, 2001
The Soft Boys Revive The Obscure Sounds That Influenced R.E.M., The Replacements, And Many More
by Pat Berkery
Ah, the life of a cult artist. Just as Robyn Hitchcock is about to settle in for an interview before the third date of The Soft Boys' Underwater Moonlight reunion tour, a venue representative approaches him, thinking he's the road manager. It seems advance ticket sales for tonight's 1,000-seat venue were a bit sluggish (the room fills up nicely by show time), so she informs Hitchcock that the band needs to purge some items off their backstage rider. Hitchcock peruses the list of amenities, which includes Jim Beam, beer, wine, fruit, water, and champagne, and says, "Oh, let's just lose the champagne, I suppose."
Just like the old line about the Velvet Underground, not many people purchased Soft Boys records -- such as their 1980 out-of-print masterpiece Underwater Moonlight (the recent Matador Records reissue is called Underwater Moonlight ...And How It Got There, and includes a second disc of rehearsal sessions). But nearly everyone who did, like unabashed fans R.E.M., Guided by Voices' Robert Pollard, and Evan Dando, went on to form bands.
Twenty-one years on, Underwater Moonlight's vibrancy and strangeness remains dutifully intact. Hitchcock's yarns about everything from prawns to destruction are still wonderfully opaque. And his bandmates' (guitarist Kimberley Rew, who was a member of Katrina And The Waves and penned "Walking On Sunshine"; drummer Morris Windsor; and bassist Matthew Seligman) lean instrumental attack, which meshed Postpunk, whimsical English Pop, and a wink to '60s Psychedelia, lurches and grabs like a randy old uncle.
How did the reissue project and reunion tour come about?
Robyn Hitchcock: I think everybody felt like playing, really. Kimberley and I have been doing quite a lot over the last three or four years: he was on my last album, last time I toured in The States he was in the band, and I was on his last record. And Matthew's been a lawyer for 10 years, but he's quite keen to get back into the business. If not the business, actually, he's keen to get back into playing. He'd be very happy to stay out of the business. Although, now he's had legal training he's something to contend with. We have a fully operational lawyer in the group now. Morris will always, sort of, come along if he's free -- although he, sort of, runs his wife's family business now. So he hasn't got an enormous amount of time. It became due to put the record out, because it was out of print. So that was really the excuse.
What kind of contact had you maintained with the other Soft Boys?
Fairly constant with Morris, because even after The Egyptians [Hitchcock's post-Soft Boys group] stopped, which would have been seven years ago now, he'd always come and play if there was a party (or something). He was good at that. He'd always come down for parties. I haven't seen much of Matthew since the mid-'80s. He's the one I've been most out of touch with. But I think we all met at my birthday party about three years ago, and Matthew said we should make a new Soft Boys album. And we said, "Yeah, we should," and then didn't. We all went our separate ways. I think it just, sort of, feels like now is sort of a good time to do something like this.
The Soft Boys are the quintessential cult band: you've influenced a lot of important artists, your records are out of print, etc.. What type of audience are you expecting to attract with the reissue and tour?
We still are a cult band. You can see: they've taken the champagne off the rider. I think it's what you'd call..."music lovers" is the old expression. Whether they're young or old, they're probably going to be people who really like their Rock 'n' Roll. We seem to represent all sorts of different things to different people. Some people get no further than my lyrics. They either, sort of, like them or detest them. That seems to grind them to a halt.
Other people like harmonies, other people like the kind of songs I write and the way we play. I think it's going to be musicians and people who like music and record collectors. What it won't be is people who come along because it's fashionable. I had a bit of that in the '80s. But it just seems to be one of those things that either you know all about it or you know nothing about it.
What prompted the split of The Soft Boys?
We just, kind of, dissolved. Maybe it was because we moved from Cambridge. Notice that after we moved from Cambridge, I didn't write any songs that seemed to work for The Soft Boys. I was making my own solo record. Kimberley was starting to write. He'd actually been writing all along. He was bringing in songs he wanted to perform and it wouldn't have fitted with The Soft Boys. Certainly Matthew, Kim, and I all had things we wanted to do. But it wasn't like the Soft Boys was making so much money or was such a great living or such a hedonistic lifestyle or wonderful trip in some way. It wasn't very hard to walk away from at the time.
Was there anything you found particularly interesting while you were going over Underwater Moonlight and the rehearsal tapes for the reissue?
The rehearsal tapes (which I probably haven't listened to for 20 years), I was really impressed. I thought, "This is a great, two-guitar, bass, and drum combo." I, sort of, left a few excerpts and just jams, and little grooves starting, which I had no recollection of playing on. I think it's really, good two-guitar, bass, and drums meanderings. I put it on to do the dishes and things, which is the only time I ever listen to music now.
Has there been any thought to doing a proper new Soft Boys record?
Definitely. We've recorded probably about half an album. In fact, what we've spent most of the time doing in rehearsals is arranging new material. Which means we've done virtually nothing about the old stuff. So we're still making mistakes on the old songs.
We've got to survive this tour and see how it affects us all. But there is potentially a new Soft Boys album. But I don't think we'd ever do The Soft Boys full time again, unless life made us an offer we really couldn't refuse.
Does that make the business of The Soft Boys more fun since you know you're not getting back on the album-tour rigmarole?
It does, but you tend to forget pretty quickly what you're doing, whether there's any end in sight or not. Any time I'm in a tour, I feel utterly submerged. I can't wait for it to be over. And then the last couple of days..I just tell everybody, "Okay, look, let's come out again." I ring my agent and say, "Look, I'd like to do the East Coast in the spring." It should be much easier, yeah.
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