Teenage Fanclub hit it big in 1991, beating out Nirvana's Nevermind and R.E.M.'s Out of Time with Bandwagonesque, Spin Magazine's Album of the Year. Over the next decade, the songwriting trio of Norman Blake, Gerard Love and Raymond McGinley produced four albums, which brought them critical acclaim and thousands of Big Star comparisons, if little in the way of notoriety. After being released two years ago in the United Kingdom, Teenage Fanclub's latest, Howdy!, came out stateside this month on Thirsty Ear records. The Daily Cardinal caught up with lead singer Norman Blake at his home in Scotland in the midst of some domestic duties.
Hi, Norman ... what's going on?
I'm just cleaning up some dishes here ... Getting ready to eat some dinner. I've got the phone tucked between my ear and my shoulder. Should be fine.
So you're at home?
We're actually leaving tomorrow to Liverpool, to a studio there to do some recording.
Is that for another album?
For April or May or thereabouts, we're going to bring out a compilation of the last 10 years or so, I guess it's just the way it goes now that you've got to have some new tracks on there. Even Bob Dylan's last compilation had a new song, so I guess if Bob Dylan has to do it, mere mortals have to do it too.
This interview coincides with the release of Howdy! in the States. It didn't come out before because of Creation Records going under, right?
Well, I think it didn't come out because Sony in America didn't really want to do it ... it's their muff. We were signed to Creation for a worldwide deal, and halfway through making this album, Creation folded. At that point, we weren't really sure what would happen. But at that point, [Creation Records President Alan] Magee came along to the studio and said 'everything will be fine, just go ahead and finish the album,' which we did. At that point, Sony basically had the album for the United Kingdom and decided they wanted to do the album, and if they did, they would have to fulfill the contract, which was a two-album contract, the other album being this compilation. [In the United States] we ended up on Thirsty Ear, which is great.
Any chance of touring in the States anytime soon?
We'd like to. We did some dates in August, a couple shows in New York and Chicago. That was really good fun, it was pretty short, really because we hadn't been for a while. I think the last time we'd been over was supporting Radiohead [on the OK Computer tour].
I saw that tour in Washington, D.C.
That tour was a lot of fun. They were pretty nice guys; had a good time with them. It was pretty difficult then opening for them ... because, well, because Radiohead fans aren't really interested in seeing opening acts. We kind of expected that. It wasn't really a good way for us to tour America because all the people that like to see us didn't get to.
I read the other day that you opened for Nirvana on the Nevermind tour. Were the audiences receptive to you then?
Yeah, they actually were. We'd sort of known those guys before when they were playing over here. They were good fun. Soundwise then, we were a bit more ... guitars more upfront. We weren't a million miles away from them. And Nirvana made melodic music, which is important.
How would you say the band's sound has progressed from Bandwagonesque until now?
Some would say that it hasn't changed at all; I would argue that it has. I mean, we haven't radically changed the way we approach writing songs when it comes to the structure of them, they still have verses and choruses. When you listen to the earlier records, the arrangements are less intricate, or less thought out. On our more recent records, we've spent a lot of time thinking about the instrumentation and working a lot more on the arrangements and as far as vocals ... hang on, I've got a kid here who's looking for something. What? That's vegetable fat, you wouldn't eat that. Want some juice? No? You're OK? Just have a look. Sorry about that, where were we?
We were talking about writing songs. Would you say that when you write songs you have an album in mind, or do you write them as they come?
I think we write them as they come. There's three of us writing in the band, so it's not as if we ever have a concept when we go into the studio'we just get together with our songs and will record 15 or 16 of them and decide which will go on the album. More recently, what we've done is write four songs each and alternate. Basically, the band is just a vehicle for the songwriters, and we're happy with the way it works.
Could you say a few words about your upcoming album with Jad Fair?
Three years ago he was over, and we were having dinner one night, and we were talking about how it would be a good idea to do some recording. A few days later, we had a band rehearsal, Jad came down and at this point we started making a record. It just kind of happened really ... we had the rehearsal space and we would improvise music and Jad would try to think of something that fit with the songs. And [record company Alternative Tentacles] really liked it, so they're gonna bring it out in the U.S. [The album, entitled Words of Wisdom and Hope, will hit the shelves January 29th.]
