Melody Maker – THE BELLES! THE BELLES!
02nd August 1997
Interview

Keyboard player Chris Geddes and drummer Richard Colburn on life in “The New Smiths”

Singer Stuart Murdoch often refuses to do interviews. Why?
Chris: “Stuart doesn’t like being pinned down. When a songwriter is asked to provide a definite interpretation, it can spoil it. That said, I’m not that keen on ambiguity. I think the deliberate air of evasiveness around us had led to some annoying misrepresentations of what we’re like as people. The Sunday Times said it was great to find a band that don’t like football. But we do. We’re human beings, not sensitivity machines.”
B&S have been compared to The Smiths, in terms of inspiring passion. Do you see any similarities?
Chris: “Yeah. Maybe not in the music — though I know Stuart and Isobel really like them, Stuart especially because he’s a fair bit older – but in some of the ways we go about things. Like the way we want our gigs to be. The places we play in and everything. lt’s a bit different to normal. I went through a phase of listening to The Smiths at college but now I think they’re one of the most objectionable bands on earth.”
You played with the Tindersticks last year. Are they important to you?
Chris: “I hadn’t listened to the Tindersticks that much before we played with them. But I was totally, totally blown away. It’s a total illustration of how far we’ve got to go. Not so much the music and style but the emotional impact of it. It’s like the first time you go to a Northern Soul club. you think, ‘That’s what music ought to sound like.'”

Do you get bizarre fan mail?
Richard: “Stuart David [bass] gets that stuff because he runs the web page. There’s a couple in New York who’ve named their kids after us.”

David Hemmingway

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