by DzM Fri Dec 03, 2004 7:36 pm
Shamelessly lifted from the Paddy Rolling Stone site. Posted December 12 by Mr. Chevron:<blockquote><blockquote type=cite>Oh dear. it appears I have inadvertently opened a can of worms here, so let me make it as plain as possible: a lot of people made a lot of money from The Pogues in the 80s and 90s. The Pogues themselves were not necessarily among that number.
Andy, the business hasn't won. These days, we cooperate only if they're paying top dollar and if most of that is going into our pockets. That's the way it works now - they steal your creativity from the outset, for as fast a buck as possible, but if you can outsmart them by surviving for long enough, you get to call the shots after all.
Mr MacGowan, on the Frank Skinner show last week, attributed his "longevity" to the fact that his imminent demise has been confidently predicted for 20 years. Don't think for a moment he was kidding - payback is a strong motive!
Now, none of that would matter a damn if we didn't actually still enjoy playing together, if we didn't actually look forward to the opportunities when they arise. Personally, I like the work better now than I ever did first time around. The point is, we are on nobody's rollercoaster, we are nobody else's career plan.
Again, none of this would matter if we were not blessed with loyal and smart supporters. The reality seems to be that most of those are to be found in the UK and Ireland, so at the moment it makes more economic sense to do our shows there.
A lot of the work we do is year-round and behind the scenes, whether it's Spider and Jem taking personal responsibility for the quality of the t-shirts or myself and Darryl supervising the sound of the reissues (and making sure, incidentally, that these new definitive editions are as low-priced as possible). Nobody is more respectful of the Pogues' legacy, or of the fans' part in that legacy, than the Pogues themselves. This is why we unequivocally renounce such shabby cash-ins as the "Streams Of Whiskey" album and the recent "Town And Country" DVD.
If what we are doing these days seems like a cynical nostalgia-fest to any of our fans, they are right to vote with their feet and boycott us. I only know that, to me, performing "The Old Main Drag" or "A Pair Of Brown Eyes" in 2004 is a uniquely different experience to playing them in 1985. These songs grow and resonate in new ways as they - and we - gather their own baggage. </blockquote></blockquote>
Shamelessly lifted from the Paddy Rolling Stone site. Posted December 12 by Mr. Chevron:<blockquote><blockquote type=cite>Oh dear. it appears I have inadvertently opened a can of worms here, so let me make it as plain as possible: a lot of people made a lot of money from The Pogues in the 80s and 90s. The Pogues themselves were not necessarily among that number.
Andy, the business hasn't won. These days, we cooperate only if they're paying top dollar and if most of that is going into our pockets. That's the way it works now - they steal your creativity from the outset, for as fast a buck as possible, but if you can outsmart them by surviving for long enough, you get to call the shots after all.
Mr MacGowan, on the Frank Skinner show last week, attributed his "longevity" to the fact that his imminent demise has been confidently predicted for 20 years. Don't think for a moment he was kidding - payback is a strong motive!
Now, none of that would matter a damn if we didn't actually still enjoy playing together, if we didn't actually look forward to the opportunities when they arise. Personally, I like the work better now than I ever did first time around. The point is, we are on nobody's rollercoaster, we are nobody else's career plan.
Again, none of this would matter if we were not blessed with loyal and smart supporters. The reality seems to be that most of those are to be found in the UK and Ireland, so at the moment it makes more economic sense to do our shows there.
A lot of the work we do is year-round and behind the scenes, whether it's Spider and Jem taking personal responsibility for the quality of the t-shirts or myself and Darryl supervising the sound of the reissues (and making sure, incidentally, that these new definitive editions are as low-priced as possible). Nobody is more respectful of the Pogues' legacy, or of the fans' part in that legacy, than the Pogues themselves. This is why we unequivocally renounce such shabby cash-ins as the "Streams Of Whiskey" album and the recent "Town And Country" DVD.
If what we are doing these days seems like a cynical nostalgia-fest to any of our fans, they are right to vote with their feet and boycott us. I only know that, to me, performing "The Old Main Drag" or "A Pair Of Brown Eyes" in 2004 is a uniquely different experience to playing them in 1985. These songs grow and resonate in new ways as they - and we - gather their own baggage. </blockquote></blockquote>
