BSP (2008)

INTERVIEWING BRITISH SEA POWER (By Sarah Nicholls)

Journeywoman Sarah Nicholls recently caught up with British Sea Power’s Martin Noble at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Interviewed in the total darkness of the dungeons beneath the Heart of Midlothian on Edinburgh’s historic Royal Mile, the Brighton based Lord of Rock muses on life, death and Sussex cask ale.

Welcome to Edinburgh. Tell us about ‘A Trip Out’ - your forthcoming performance at the film festival.

We are performing old and new instrumental music to Robert J Flaherty’s 1934 film ‘Man of Aran’, documenting life on the Aran Islands off Ireland’s western coast. I’ve seen the film five times but fell asleep twice. If you are going along later, take some Temazapin.

What band names did you reject before you decided on British Sea Power?

In the early days we performed under the banner ‘British Air Power’. We decided on the change because the sea is more mysterious than the air. The change was appropriate at a time when we were embarking on a journey into the unknown. We also rejected ‘Maris Piper’, ‘Option 4’ and ‘Industrial Brush Cleaners’.

You have referenced classic Czech literature, welcomed eastern European immigration and are performing at summer festivals in Latvia, Poland and the Czech Republic. What attracts British Sea Power to Slavic culture?

We applaud people who smile in the face of adversity. Wood found inspiration from Rebecca West’s book ‘Black Lamb and Grey Falcon’, which chronicles her journey through Yugoslavia in the 1930s. As violence erupted across the Balkans, West feared the country would be overrun either by Communism or Nazi Germany, which would destroy its character and blot out its inheritance from Byzantium. For people who have been so oppressed the Slavs are immensely resilient. And they know how to party. Some people in the west are hostile to immigration but do they appreciate the effects of diluting border controls on eastern European culture? ‘Café Europa’ by Slavenka Drakulic provides a fascinating insight into the effects of the emergence of political Europe from an eastern European perspective.

Cynthia Plastercaster is recruiting. Are you interested?

Yes. I intend to use the mould to manufacture organ shaped rock and sell it at our merchandise stand. Are you interested?

Your live performance is critically acclaimed: decoy birds, wicker deer, band members infiltrating the audience and crowd members invading the stage all form part of the experience. What was British Sea Power’s best gig and why?

My favourite gigs have been those in more remote areas, where people have less opportunity to enjoy live performing arts. When we have played in places like the Scilly Isles, Thetford Forest, Carnglaze Caverns near Liskeard and Grasmere it means a great deal to people living in and around those smaller communities – it’s as though it gives them a sense of pride. There’s also a right assortment of miscreants who attend a lot of our gigs. Some of the more psychologically unhinged ones claim to thrive on the ‘challenge’ of making the effort to get to these difficult to reach locations. All of this combines to generate an incredibly highly charged atmosphere.

Speaking of remote places, do you have any future plans to perform off the beaten track?

Hamilton’s quite a fan of the 1960’s series ‘The Prisoner’ and we would like to perform in the village at Portmeirion. Other plans include the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall as well as reintroducing ‘Camp Sea Power’ style gatherings in 2009 - we are negotiating with the National Trust to play at Lindisfarne Castle. We also hope to set up camp and perform at Kirkwall on the Orkneys – after the breeding season of course.

You and Yan are both known to have worn ‘shirts’ on stage with buttons on the left hand side. In what other ways do members of British Sea Power express their less masculine inner selves?

Masculinity and femininity are not absolute concepts. Sexually, most – if not all – people are somewhere on a continuum between the two extremes of masculine and feminine. British Sea Power are about 80 per cent masculine.

Who would you like to play you in 'British Sea Power: The Movie'?

Sean Connery – with a supporting cast of… (laughs) Stan Laurel, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Herve Villechaize.

What song would you love to cover but would never do it?

Amazing Grace – on Peruvian pan pipes.

Do you feel that - on record – British Sea Power have never truly nailed the essence of the band, musically? In fact, would you want to?

The visual perspective to our live performance is very clearly evident, whereas that dimension is missing on record. The first two albums were in some ways developmental - like the cornerstone on which the third album was constructed. Recording ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’ in three diverse locations – Montreal, the Czech Republic and Tregantle Fort in Cornwall - contributed towards a finished product that we feel mostly represents the real essence of British Sea Power.

Harvey’s Armada Ale or Black Sheep Best Bitter?

Both are excellent winter beers. Our current (summertime) flavours of the month include Addleston’s Cloudy Cider and Batham’s Best – a straw coloured bitter that has evolved over five generations, brewed by a family in the Black Country.

If you wanted to take a change of direction with your music, one that you totally believed in, but knew it would alienate most of your lifelong fans, would you do it?

We have complete conviction in our product and aim to produce music that holds artistic appeal to us as a unit. If it pleases others too, that’s a bonus. Obviously, sales are important but we believe that a turnover of fans can be quite healthy. It’s inevitable really. We also feel that some turnover of fans indicates progress – I hope that makes sense. Who wants to stand still? We’ve already lost a few along the way but there are those who have remained on board more or less since day one.

Any recommendations for bands to look out for at this year’s festival – apart from British Sea Power of course?

I love to look around the smaller stages. There are some good up and coming attractions away from the main stage – people could do worse than check out ‘Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong’, ‘Holy Fuck’ and ‘Make Model’.

How would you spend your last day on Earth?

If I knew death was imminent, I’d have no desire to prolong the experience. Ideally, an assisted suicide in a beautiful setting amongst friends and family, preferably in England in more enlightened times when it would be legal. I couldn’t see myself doing anything dramatic like leaping off Beachy Head.

How will your epitaph read?

Nothing too profound - something like ‘Martin Noble has left the room’ would suffice.

Visit the official BSP website at www.britishseapower.co.uk