Interview with Euros Childs

Jesus, I think. What is this man up to? It’s generally acknowledged that Euros Childs is some kind of acid pop legend, but his last group- Gorkys Zygotic Mynci- broke up less than a year ago and already he’s presenting three solo albums to a sold out ICA? Surely this has to have taken a toll. Surely when I meet Euros he’ll be sporting a long beard, and possibly a dressing gown that will betray his artistic fatigue.

EUROS CHILDS: Hello! Shall we go backstage then?

What the…?! Completely beardless. And instead he’s bouncing around like a space hopper, emitting the kind of energy that’s usually reserved for Frosties adverts. Maybe this should come as no surprise to your Artrocker correspondent. This is a man who, after tonight’s encore, will leap off the stage and be sat behind a desk, selling his album to the crowd before they’ve even put their jackets on. But where does he come from? And how does he do it? There’s only one way to find out…

PART ONE: WAKING UP TO BORE DA

AR: Let’s start with the new album ‘Bore Da’. What inspired the positive and upbeat nature of the album?

EUROS CHILDS: We’ve been playing live a lot with members of Radio Luxembourg and more songs appeared really, in that vein. This new energy came from somewhere and ended up as a record!

AR: On the record there’s a song called ‘Warrior’ which follows the story of a boy who gets lost in a forest. The boy encounters a baby eating monster that is composed of half man- half cockerel, and the monster is called ‘Warrior’. Assuming this is not a true story, where did the idea for the song come from?

EC: It was jammed to start with, and it was quite a strange sounding song- just an instrumental with half written lyrics for a while. I just had to match the music really, and the story evolved to fit it naturally.

AR: At what stage did the screaming come into it?

EC: The screaming? Right at the end of the session actually because I could scream before then- my voice was shot and I nearly threw up actually! But not quite. No retakes was needed for that one.

AR: A lot of your songs display affection for the countryside, for example ‘Ar Lan Y Mor’ and ‘Only the Sea Makes Sense’. Do you have a perception of the countryside as being quite a magical place?

EC: That’s where I was brought up, so it’s where I feel at home I suppose. I don’t live there all the time, I live mostly in the city, in Cardiff, so when I go back there it’s always a good place to be. I could spend weeks on the beach and do nothing except eat and swim, but you can’t do that all the time, not with this weather anyway!

AR: You started releasing records when you were very young, but even now there’s a sense of innocence to your music. Is that something that you’re aware of?

EC: I’m hopefully aware of what pop music is, I don’t think I’m writing better words or better words or melodies than when I was 15 or 16, I don’t think I’m better than a kid doing it really. I think there’s something intrinsically innocent about pop music itself, but I’m not going to start making very smooth polished adult orientated rock about divorces and all that… maybe one day but not at the moment!

AR: Your mum wrote the harmonica riff on ‘Ar Lan Y Mor’. Is she a very musical person?

EC: Er… She has a try I think. She can play the piano a bit and she plays the violin although I’ve never heard her playing it. She sings… not much. Never heard her sing. So she is musical, but secretive musical I think is the word! She keeps it well hidden.

AR: According to rumour you’re releasing two, maybe three albums this year including ‘Bore Da’. How true is this and what can you tell us about the other music?

EC: I am releasing two albums this year. I can’t manage three! Next one will hopefully be out before the end of the summer, I’ve just finished it today actually, just finished the mastering.

AR: Do you find that it’s easier to work quickly as a solo artist, and that there’s something exciting in that method?

EC: Gorkys did do their fair share of fast recordings and then now and again we did albums that took a fair while. I think with the way I’m working at the moment it’s not a band, so people come and go. For example Pete plays drums on both records, and he’ll have taken 6 days off work for example, so we know that in those 6 days all the backing tracks and all the drums have to be done. So that made the whole process that much faster than a band that could take as much time as they wanted to.

PART TWO: MYNCI BUSINESS

AR: The earlier Gorkys Zygotic Mynci albums were very psychedelic, but also very pop. What kind of environment did, for example ‘Barafundle’ come out of?

EC: With ‘Barafundle’ we were recording songs that had been written in a different time, that we’d sometimes demoed two years before! It was the first major label I think, our first experience of not many experiences with a major label. It took a long time in the studio to do, it’s a very polished record.

AR: What’s your happiest memory of working in Gorkys?

EC: I think one of the best ones was hearing a tune on the `radio for the first time. That was the weirdest one and also the most elated you felt. The gigs as well, touring abroad, seeing places like Japan and seeing that your fan base was all over the shop.

AR: It seemed like you were on the New Band stage at Glastonbury a lot!

EC: Weird that! Ah yes that’s the John Peel stage now isn’t it? We played it twice I think.

AR: Can you see Gorkys being reunited on stage again?

EC: Probably not reunited in that sense, but there’s nothing stopping us playing together- I’ve played a gig with Rich for example. We haven’t fallen out or anything like that.

AR: Do you remember what The Game Of Eyes is?

EC: Ooooh. The Game Of Eyes is a game played, er, between two people… I can’t remember the words now!

PART THREE: THE FOLK BACK HOME

AR: There’s always been a sort of parallel history between Gorkys and the Super Furry Animals work, with for example Gorwel Owen producing Gruff Rhys latest LP. Would you say there’s a musical community of Welsh language bands of your generation?

EC: We’ve known Gruff for years now, and we’re a big fan of the Furries and his solo work. There are things that link Gorkys and Furries… Gorwel being one of them. I’m not sure it’s anything to do with Wales itself, it’s probably happened in a lot of different cities in Britain. But there’s a good close network, yeah.

AR: How did you come to know SFA?

EC: Originally we met them as Ffa Cowfi Pawb (pre SFA group) when we were 15 or 16 and they were ancient, probably in their early 20s! For everyone in Gorkys at that period of time, Ffa Cowfi Pawb as a band were amazing. They were a big influence on us.

AR: The Green Man Festival (in the Brecon Beacons) is growing in popularity, how did you find last year and would you like to go back?

EC: The Green man is great yeah, I’m not sure if I’m playing there this year, but last year I had this sort of bug thing, my voice had gone. I’d told everyone the night before that if I drank my voice wouldn’t be there. And unfortunately I had put one of the most rowdy songs early in the set and forgot that my voice was a bit fragile. So the rest of the set I was coughing away there.

AR: Are there any new Welsh language bands you’re excited about at the moment?

EC: There are oddly enough, there’s one we’re playing with tonight, Radio Luxembourg who are amazing. Cowbois Rhos Botwnog are great too, they’re a country trio, only 15 years old. Gwyneth Glynn is also quite country, she’s a solo singer. It all seems to be in a healthy state at the moment.

AR: In the past people have superficially associated Welsh bands with, erm, pointy hats, and indeed I’ve seen a photo of you wearing one! Is that because there’s a lot of witchcraft folklore in Wales?

EC: As in proper black magic? I don’t know more than anyone else I don’t think! Ah. The whole thing was, it’s been a bit blurred. We were taking the mick a bit doing that. It was all a bit tongue in cheek. Then people started coming up to us and… we’ve only got ourselves to blame I think for dressing up like that! It was the height of Britpop so it was a bit of a reaction against that, but eh... it was a joke really.

AR: I was going to take the photo with me and say “explain this!”

EC: It’s on the bloody inside sleeve of a gatefold! So it’s there for prosperity! Ha ha! But no, we stand by it, we stand by it.

‘BORE DA’ IS OUT NOW ON WITCHITA

HEAR IT AT: WWW.MYSPACE.COM/EUROSCHILDS

Illustration by Matt Perrin. Read Matt's blog here: www.mattperrin.blogspot.com