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.”