by philipchevron Sat Jun 09, 2007 11:46 am
from the IMRO website:
Pilgrim’s Progress | The Radiators
by Jackie Hayden - 15.05.07
It may have taken 27 years to follow Ghostown, but The Radiators new opus Trouble Pilgrim was well worth the wait. Jackie Hayden talks to Pete Holidai, one of the band’s two main songwriters, about how and why it all came together.
One of the tracks on Trouble Pilgrim, The Radiators’ new album, is a tribute to former Clash mainman Joe Strummer, and it was Strummer who was posthumously responsible for the band reforming for this new album and some occasional live gigs.
As Pete Holidai explains, ”We had actually reformed for a benefit gig in Dublin in 1987 and for two new recordings the year after. But getting together is often difficult because we all have other commitments, and Philip Chevron lives in England most of the time. But in December 2003 we agreed to play two songs at a Joe Strummer tribute gig. The idea of doing a new album came up again and this time we decided to get on with it.”
The band formerly known as The Radiators From Space were one of the most pioneering units to emerge from the punk and power pop end of the ‘70s, and with Ghostown they recorded one of the most lauded Irish albums of all time. Since then, vocalist Steve Rapid went on to work as U2’s main cover designer, Philip Chevron became an integral part of The Pogues and Holidai himself found gainful employment as a record producer with acts of the calibre of Damien Dempsey, Junkster and Engine Alley, while also lecturing about the perils and pitfalls of the recording studio. Which prompts the question, how did The Radiators find it working in the studio after such a long time apart?
As Holidai remembers it, “We were like a divorced couple getting together again and deciding to have another go at it. We really just picked up where we left off. We were still the same people as we were back then, but we had each accumulated a sizeable body of experience over the years, and we had added confidence as well, so it was really just a case of doing it rather than just talking about doing it.”
Having two independent-minded songwriters in the band, especially one as expressive as Philip Chevron of ‘Faithful Departed’ fame, might seem like a Gallagher Brothers-like recipe for endless friction, but Holidai sees it only as a force for the good. “We both tend to bring songs to the band only when they’re more or less finished. There’s a healthy rivalry between me and Philip. I admire his great skill as a lyricist. His song ‘The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs’ is one of my favourite tracks on Trouble Pilgrim. It’s a joy to see him working as the lyrics unfold. He can condense so much into a phrase or a line and I rate him even higher as a songwriter in The Pogues than Shane MacGowan, and Shane is a fine writer too. “
And how does the band then tackle the songs brought to them by either Chevron or Holidai?
“Usually the songwriter has the chords, melody and the lyrics worked out before the rest of the band hears them, but not to the point that they can’t be changed or added to. It’s hard to say if a song is ever really finished anyway. But I learned a long time ago that when you’re making a record you make your decisions based on what serves the song the best. If an idea is going to make the song better, then it’s worth going for, but if it isn’t then it should be disregarded.”
He also has his own ideas on the issue of songwriting in the wake of the recent court row over the royalties for Procol Harum’s ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’. “I think it can get really ridiculous sometimes, like some guy claiming he wrote the drums for this or that song. A song exists in its own right outside any recording of it, so additional pieces of arrangement are not part of the actual song as I see it.”
As regards his own tracks on the album, Pete favours ‘Heaven’ and ‘Second Avenue’. ‘Heaven’ has a charming Beatlish majesty to it, while the latter song reflects many of the band’s roots. Indeed, all through the album, with tracks such as ‘The Concierge’ incorporating the trademark vocal performance from Steve Rapid, you come upon a band paying homage to its diverse influences. You’ll find myriad traces of American punk and garage rock of the early ‘70s, with elements of The Ramones, The Beatles, The Byrds, Lou Reed, The Clash and The Dictators all thrown into the mix, but equally overlaid with that unique Radiators sensbilty that is too subtle to define.
In that sense, some may find that the new album actually bridges the gap between the debut and the second album. Either way, one suspects that Holidai is happy that the ghost of Ghostown has finally been laid to rest. “The need to follow that album has been hanging over us for so long, so it’s great to have escaped it now. But we didn’t let it intimidate us. With Trouble Pilgrim we decided to stick to our usual policy of being understated and avoiding any hype. The production isn’t too decorative and it isn’t too heavy. It lets the songs breathe and the overall sound proves that the old chemistry is still very much there.”
Although it’s not easy to get the full band together for live gigs, Holidai says that performing live is not out of the question whenever the logistics allow it, and as for the next album, he quips, “I hope it comes out sometime before 2034!” So do we.
Trouble Pilgrim is out now on the 625 label distributed by RMG.
from the IMRO website:
Pilgrim’s Progress | The Radiators
by Jackie Hayden - 15.05.07
It may have taken 27 years to follow Ghostown, but The Radiators new opus Trouble Pilgrim was well worth the wait. Jackie Hayden talks to Pete Holidai, one of the band’s two main songwriters, about how and why it all came together.
One of the tracks on Trouble Pilgrim, The Radiators’ new album, is a tribute to former Clash mainman Joe Strummer, and it was Strummer who was posthumously responsible for the band reforming for this new album and some occasional live gigs.
As Pete Holidai explains, ”We had actually reformed for a benefit gig in Dublin in 1987 and for two new recordings the year after. But getting together is often difficult because we all have other commitments, and Philip Chevron lives in England most of the time. But in December 2003 we agreed to play two songs at a Joe Strummer tribute gig. The idea of doing a new album came up again and this time we decided to get on with it.”
The band formerly known as The Radiators From Space were one of the most pioneering units to emerge from the punk and power pop end of the ‘70s, and with Ghostown they recorded one of the most lauded Irish albums of all time. Since then, vocalist Steve Rapid went on to work as U2’s main cover designer, Philip Chevron became an integral part of The Pogues and Holidai himself found gainful employment as a record producer with acts of the calibre of Damien Dempsey, Junkster and Engine Alley, while also lecturing about the perils and pitfalls of the recording studio. Which prompts the question, how did The Radiators find it working in the studio after such a long time apart?
As Holidai remembers it, “We were like a divorced couple getting together again and deciding to have another go at it. We really just picked up where we left off. We were still the same people as we were back then, but we had each accumulated a sizeable body of experience over the years, and we had added confidence as well, so it was really just a case of doing it rather than just talking about doing it.”
Having two independent-minded songwriters in the band, especially one as expressive as Philip Chevron of ‘Faithful Departed’ fame, might seem like a Gallagher Brothers-like recipe for endless friction, but Holidai sees it only as a force for the good. “We both tend to bring songs to the band only when they’re more or less finished. There’s a healthy rivalry between me and Philip. I admire his great skill as a lyricist. His song ‘The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs’ is one of my favourite tracks on Trouble Pilgrim. It’s a joy to see him working as the lyrics unfold. He can condense so much into a phrase or a line and I rate him even higher as a songwriter in The Pogues than Shane MacGowan, and Shane is a fine writer too. “
And how does the band then tackle the songs brought to them by either Chevron or Holidai?
“Usually the songwriter has the chords, melody and the lyrics worked out before the rest of the band hears them, but not to the point that they can’t be changed or added to. It’s hard to say if a song is ever really finished anyway. But I learned a long time ago that when you’re making a record you make your decisions based on what serves the song the best. If an idea is going to make the song better, then it’s worth going for, but if it isn’t then it should be disregarded.”
He also has his own ideas on the issue of songwriting in the wake of the recent court row over the royalties for Procol Harum’s ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’. “I think it can get really ridiculous sometimes, like some guy claiming he wrote the drums for this or that song. A song exists in its own right outside any recording of it, so additional pieces of arrangement are not part of the actual song as I see it.”
As regards his own tracks on the album, Pete favours ‘Heaven’ and ‘Second Avenue’. ‘Heaven’ has a charming Beatlish majesty to it, while the latter song reflects many of the band’s roots. Indeed, all through the album, with tracks such as ‘The Concierge’ incorporating the trademark vocal performance from Steve Rapid, you come upon a band paying homage to its diverse influences. You’ll find myriad traces of American punk and garage rock of the early ‘70s, with elements of The Ramones, The Beatles, The Byrds, Lou Reed, The Clash and The Dictators all thrown into the mix, but equally overlaid with that unique Radiators sensbilty that is too subtle to define.
In that sense, some may find that the new album actually bridges the gap between the debut and the second album. Either way, one suspects that Holidai is happy that the ghost of Ghostown has finally been laid to rest. “The need to follow that album has been hanging over us for so long, so it’s great to have escaped it now. But we didn’t let it intimidate us. With Trouble Pilgrim we decided to stick to our usual policy of being understated and avoiding any hype. The production isn’t too decorative and it isn’t too heavy. It lets the songs breathe and the overall sound proves that the old chemistry is still very much there.”
Although it’s not easy to get the full band together for live gigs, Holidai says that performing live is not out of the question whenever the logistics allow it, and as for the next album, he quips, “I hope it comes out sometime before 2034!” So do we.
Trouble Pilgrim is out now on the 625 label distributed by RMG.
