UNKLE are coming to our country on Friday at Principal (Thessaloniki) and on Saturday at VOX (Athens). We speaked with James Lavelle a few days ago and he told us about their new cooperation with Nick Cave, their new EP "Only the Lonely", which is offered from their site, Vangelis and of course the shows in Greece.
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- I was really wondering when you would cooperate with Nick Cave. In my opinion, his voice is so close to your music. I think I figured out it in "Money and Run". Please tell us a few things about your new EP "Only the Lonely".It’s 5 new tracks recorded at the begging of this year and includes collaborations with Nick Cave, Liela Moss, Gavin Clark and Rachel Fanna (ex Sleepy Sun)
- Where did the night fall really? Very good album indeed. Are you satisfied with it? What is the feedback you get from fans in your shows?
Im very satisfied with it. The feedback is very positive. With our albums you always gain a few fans and lose a few fans too but you always have to keep moving with you do.
- The cover of this album is excellent, as all your covers! The video for "Runaway" is super!!! Do you believe that music is not only the songs and albums you create, but also the image, the cover of your albums, your web site etc?
Yes, I think for us it’s very important to have a whole package visually and musically but it’s always been important for music and visuals to go hand in hand in my opinion.
- "Never", "War", "Night", "End"... Things in all over the world are awful nowadays. This is why it's difficult to create songs for "Peace", for a "start", for the "day"?No, i think there’s a lot of positives in the world, some of which are closest to you like your family. Through times like this is important to focus on the people who inspire you and we’re lucky to have what we have. That being said I think it’s an interesting time to raise questions and think about where we all are.
- You cooperated with so many artists for your albums. You create the songs at first and then you pick the appropriate singer or the opposite?
Depends on the artist and the track, each collaboration works in a different way.
- "End Titles... Stories for Film" could be a soundtrack of a film. Would you like to create a soundtrack for a movie?
We’d love to, the ultimate example is being able to do something like what Vangelis did with blade runner.
- Warner Music is on sale. So many changes in Record Labels during this decade... Some people say that Labels will be absorbed by big Telecommunication Companies. Some artists give their albums only via their sites and some other cooperate with Record Labels only for the distribution of their CDs and nothing more. What's the next step?Good question if I had the answers I’d be a very rich man! For us it’s important to try and exist in our own environment and stay as independent as possible but if you’re Robbie Williams it’s a different scenario.
- Radiohead's new album lasts about 39 minutes and has 8 songs. The Strokes did the same thing with "Angles" (34 minutes - 10 songs). Are we going "in a state", where the bands will create albums with fewer songs and smaller duration?
No, i think it just depends on the artist.
- You have been in Greece so many times. Last year you were the last act in Ejekt Festival. Do you want to share with us a story from one of your concerts in our country?I always just have a great time, i don’t have any particular anecdote apart from it’s a place I love coming, the crowd is particularly good to us. The more I can comeback the better. I did spend my childhood in Greece as my father studied greek classics at oxford so i’ve always had a special relationship with Greece
- You are coming in Thessaloniki and Athens in April (8 and 9/4). What to expect from your shows? (Classic question, I know...)
Similar to what we’ve done before but with new songs and new visuals. The shows are in smaller environments so hopefully the crowd will have more intimate experiences.
Thank you very much for your time James!
UNKLE - Official Site
UNKLE - The Runaway from UNKLE on Vimeo.
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