Elbow - Manchester, UK - Winter 2005
By: Hannah Bayfield
New World Order
The unexpected period of sunshine is over, Manchester is
grey again. Elbow must be home. Deep in the unfathomable warren that is backstage at the Apollo, drummer Jupp is musing over this autumn's tour and the reception to third album, 'Leaders of the Free World'.
'It's been great,' he announces, 'we took most of October off because Craig (Potter, keyboards) was having a baby. Well, no,' he adds, 'his girlfriend was. That'd be horrible.'
The break for family time (three of the five members have young kids) enabled audiences to get to know the album more, 'get their heads around it. It's been great, proper singalongs, everybody clapping and dancing - which is not kind of an Elbow gig thing.'
And with 'Leaders...' the band have really found their feet. It's evident from the off that the recording process was a lot easier than previous foray into aural fiddling, 'Cast Of Thousands', 'basically because we did the work beforehand; with 'Casts', we were kind
of writing in the studio - it wasn't a good thing.'
As well as the album, long-term Elbow collaborators the Soup Collective filmed the whole recording process.
'It was just a chance to document what we were doing and how we put a record together,' says Jupp. 'As much for ourselves as anything else.'
And one key defiant moment surrounding the band's latest body of work is recent single, the politicised title-track of the album. According to Pete (Turner, bass) (who has just arrived - Jupp says he was 'doing his hair') the track 'is just saying this is where we stand' with relation to the current political climate; but isn't Guy (Garvey, vocals) as overly political as people make out?
Jupp begins: 'He is obviously more political than the rest...' before being interrupted by Pete: 'He's just opinionated!' This seems to be a view that's echoed by his bandmate. 'Sometimes we have to rein him in a bit.'
Guy's mouthing off aside, what goes into an Elbow track is largely a collaborative prospect. 'Everything's edited by the five of us, isn't it, as much as a drum pattern is, a vocal pattern is ... it's just a beautiful democracy.' Words of wisdom from Pete Turner... This democracy is not what's on the boys' minds, though. Food, however, is. More specifically the sandwiches they ate whilst recording Leaders. 'Oh y'know,' enthuses Jupp, 'it was just five lads together. Discussing sandwich fillings.'
Pete continues, 'we'd get there at 11; 11 wouldn't be 11, actually, it'd be kinda like about 12; and a girl called Claire, who used to deliver the sandwiches, would come around about 1, so we'd be sitting around discussing what we were going to have that day, and then she'd come and we'd spend probably the next half hour discussing, and eating, the sandwiches.'
The reminiscing is starting to put ideas in Jupp's head; 'that's probably what we're going to go into after this dies off; a mobile eatery sandwich lunch kind of thing.'
And now Pete's on the bandwagon too; 'we can bring to the
sandwich world what we've brought to the music world. It'd be five ideas for fillings, all working together. We've got to keep some of it secret, obviously. We can't tell you the fillings yet.'
We're tiring, seemingly. So, finally, how do they feel, after having built a reputation over five years (and existing for ten prior to that), about new bands that go straight to the top? Jupp is being diplomatic: 'That's what they do. As long as we keep progressing and growing, then it's fine. We always said that what we wanted to do was fly. Well, we have flown in under the radar; it's been a very slow progression.'
The Mercury nomination for debut album 'Asleep In The Back' must have helped, though? Pete is quick to praise the merits of the Mercurys, saying 'I wouldn't have heard of Antony and the Johnsons (if it weren't for the Mercurys), but I've got that album and I absolutely love it, it's absolutely awesome.'
It seems to be safer to build success over time, as Jupp puts it, 'we haven't had any kind of proper shit reviews, they've all been pretty good.' 'Pretty good' doesn't come anywhere close to describing Elbow, however (just too flannel-y), and tonight's show proves that. The set is completely watertight; they really are all working together. From opener 'Station Approach' ('Coming home I feel that I designed the buildings I walked by') it's gapingly apparent (and warming) how comfortable and content the band are to be home.
'We're in the best venue in the best city in the world!' exclaims Garvey, and not for the last time tonight.
Though the aural clamour can be described, largely, as melancholy, the atmosphere is nothing of the sort. From joking about the walking stick he's leaning on, to getting the crowd to cheer the other band members ('Ladies and Gentlemen, Pete Turner on the bass!') Garvey is a fantastic showman, and the rest of the band provides the perfect backing. By the time the final lines of closer 'Forget Myself' are through, we're not just falling in love with every single song, but everything Elbow have to offer. As time's proving, that's a lot.
Artists in this article: Elbow