Macon News, July 26, 1979

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Rock musician finds producing 'dull'


Lynn Van Matre / Chicago Tribune

"Producing records? It's the dullest way to make any money. Probably bolting wheels on Fords would be marginally more interesting."

The speaker is Nick Lowe, formerly of early-to-mid-'70s British pubrock band Brinsley Schwarz, currently with rock group Rockpile, and most currently promoting his second solo album, Labour of Lust.

Nevertheless, for someone so put off by producing, the singer, songwriter, and bass player does a lot of it —Elvis Costello's first single on Stiff Records and his three albums for Columbia, punk-rock band the Damned's Damned Damned Damned album, a Richard Hell single, and Graham Parker's debut album and one side of Pink Parker, among other efforts, mostly in the "new wave" camp.

"But I could never produce as a full-time thing," Lowe maintained. "Besides, there just aren't that many people around now who are interesting enough to produce. A lot of people have asked me to produce them; they're trying to be Elvis Costello or Graham Parker or Ian Dury, so they think, 'Oh, let's get Nick Lowe, the new wave geezer, to produce.' I'm not interested in producing people that sound like retreads of someone else.

"If there's one talent I have, it's that I have an eye for style and originality, and for getting that excitement down on records. Some of the early records I produced for Stiff might have sounded like crap, but the excitement was there, and the artists had style. If you've got that, you don't have to be a great musician.

"Take Elvis. As a musician he's not very good technically, but he has a great awareness of music and style. Everything's already been played, anyway. It's just the attitude with which you put it across.

"I've been accused of stealing things all the time," the chatty Lowe confessed cheerfully. "Well, everyone else does, too. It's just that I admit it."

A year ago, Lowe (who continues to produce and play with Rockpile) stepped out front with Pure Pop for Now People, his debut album, which racked up more critical hails than sales. This time around, with Labour of Lust, he has traded the Puckish pop stance that characterized Pure Pop (which included, for instance, a song that was supposed to be a sendup of the Bay City Rollers) for a more straight ahead ("normal," he puts it) rock approach.

"And this one," he pointed out, "was recorded like a proper album. The first one was never realty done with any intention of being an album. I'd just go in and cut another track whenever I had some spare time, using whatever musicians I could get. This one was recorded with Rockpile."

"The rest of this year, we're touring pretty steadily," said Lowe of Rockpile, which he has been a part of off and on since 1976 and which he thinks "could conquer the U.S., maybe, though I don't think I ever could as a solo performer. I don't have the right attitude. I don't take myself seriously enough. I'm just a cowboy. I make my albums because I enjoy making them, and if and when they sell it's great," continued Lowe, who at the moment is known to a respectable number of followers of the British rock scene but hardly a household word. "I don't lose any sleep over the fact that I'm not a pop star.

"Most people in rock take themselves terribly seriously," he complained. "The punk thing started out not taking itself seriously, but it ended up doing it. It's very depressing. I used to like the Sex Pistols; when I first saw them, I thought they were the worst group ever, but I liked their record and I liked a lot of things that Johnny Rotten said in interviews in the papers. But when it came right down to it, they were just the same as any other bloody group. They were just the same as Boston or Foreigner. Just guys trying to make a buck. Now the whole punk thing is boring and useless. It's passe. The excitement is gone Of course," he added, "you still have all these idiot groups imitating the Pistols. Talk about being late for the boat."

On Lowe's less-than-lengthy list of folks that have something original going for them are, not surprisingly, Costello and Parker.

"And I like the Rickie Lee Jones stuff I've heard on the radio. It's that wimpy California sound — pseudo jazz, but still the same old Linda Ronstadt bag, I know. I like it, though. And there's a group in England I like called Squeeze, but there's not much else. Dire Straits? Get out of here. I mean, Mark Knopfler's a really good guitarist, but they're about as exciting as a row of potatoes."

Currently, Lowe's future plans call for more touring with Rockpile, "probably" producing the next Elvis Costello album, and "just making music that gets my mates off. I don't think of myself as a musician, really," he insisted. "It's just how I make a living. I could be a plumber or a journalist or whatever, but I'm not."

Off the road and out of the studio, Lowe lives "on my own" in west London. His interests outside of music? "Just betting on horses," came the reply. "It's pathetic, I know, but that's it. I love horses, I'm scared to death of them, but when they're going around the old track, I love it. I just go down to the betting shop and bet like anyone else. Doubles is what I normally do. I won 50 quid ($200) a few weeks ago. That was a very good week."


Tags: Nick LoweBrinsley SchwarzLabour Of LustRockpilePub rockLess Than Zero (single)Stiff RecordsMy Aim Is TrueThis Year's ModelArmed ForcesColumbia RecordsThe DamnedRichard HellGraham ParkerIan DuryPure Pop For Now PeopleThe Sex PistolsJohnny RottenLinda RonstadtSqueezeDire Straits

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The Macon News, July 26, 1979


Lynn Van Matre interviews Nick Lowe.

Images

1979-07-26 Macon News page 7B clipping 01.jpg
Clipping.

Page scan.
1979-07-26 Macon News page 7B.jpg

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