Neil
Halstead doesn’t live the typical rock star lifestyle.
Instead of being escorted around in limos, he spent most
of the day trying to rent a car. To tell you the truth,
I don’t think he’d have it any other way. Neil
is in town promoting Sleeping on Roads, his first solo
record, while moonlighting from his band Mojave 3. The
title is apt. Everything about this phase in his career
seems to be pretty low rent and, more importantly, low
key.
“I can’t really afford a band. It’s very different, kinda stripped
down,”says Neil while getting his bearings in the green room above the
Largo dinner theater. When talking about Mojave 3, Neil says that “none
of us really make a decent living out of Mojave, so we all have to do different
things.” This seems strange coming from a guy who has been playing music
in recognizable bands for so long. But he ain’t lying. His only help is
from slide guitarist, Raymond Richards and opening act Sid Hillman of the Sid
Hillman Quartet who, ironically, is without his own Quartet. This is unfortunate
because his new album is the most sonically adventurous he’s been since
fronting shoegaze pioneers Slowdive. “Mojave tends to work with more organic
instruments, so it was fun to work with my friend Nick Holton (of the band Coley
Park) and his collection of crappy sounding keyboards.” So much for the
fabled rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.
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It’s not just funky keyboard sounds that make the record so great. The
liner notes have a laundry list of people who helped make the record special.
One of those people is Locust main-man Mark Van Hoen, who produced Mojave 3’s
Excuses For Travelers. He is also Neil’s ex-flatmate, and no doubt pushed
him in the right direction during the making of that album. “I kind of
used the down time to do my own tracks, which didn’t fit on that record.” Neil
explains why there was so much free time: “I split up with my girlfriend
and ended up homeless and having to sleep in the studio for two months. I tried
to make an EP and ended up with more tracks and went to 4AD and they gave us
money. Even though Ian (McCutcheon from Mojave 3) was involved with the making
of the record, it has a different sensibility. Mojave 3 is a democracy; it doesn’t
matter who writes the song, the way it sounds is down to five or six people playing
it. This time I could say ‘this is how it’s going to be.’”
Many singer-songwriters talk extensively about how torturous
writing a song can be. Neil is quite humble and down to
earth about how he goes about his
craft. “I
go through periods of not writing songs, and I go through periods of writing
songs. And I think I actually get inspired by being in different places and meeting
different people. I don’t really have a writing routine. Most of my songs
come from sitting around and playing the guitar; and you’ll get an idea
for a lyric and go from there.” This seems to explain Neil’s fascination
with travel, which is a motif that has run through his music for years. In fact,
Neil resides in Cornwall, England. “It’s about as far south and west
as you can go in England. It’s right on the coast. It’s very beautiful.
I live in a little town there.” You probably wouldn’t guess it,
but Neil is an avid surfer; and the surf is great in Cornwall.
“A different sensibility” seems to be a key phrase when talking to
Neil. Speaking of which, I, being a huge Slowdive fan, wondered why Mojave 3,
who are mostly made up of ex-Slowdive members, were reluctant to play any of
their old songs while on tour. “We played ‘Dagger’ a couple
of times, and it seemed weird. We never seriously contemplated doing it, though ‘Allison’ would
be good because it’s kind of a pop song.” Talking about Slowdive
seems to be a slightly touchy subject. It’s sad hearing Neil say that “Slowdive
is still owned by Sony.” What a loaded sentence! But Sony bought Creation
Records (original home to Slowdive) and now have control of all that great material.
Talk of reissues led us to talking about the recent releases from another seminal
shoegazing band, Ride. “I talked to Andy (Bell) from Ride, and they wanted
their music to be in the shops.” Seems like Neil would also like his
material to be out there, but until the rights have expired, there is nothing
he can do
about it. One can only hope that a rash of reissues, like the excellent Ride
ones last year, will become available sooner rather than later.
I mean geez, trying to track down Slowdive’s early singles is an expensive
and time intensive process. The only solution, with my empty pockets, was to
download them off of the Internet. I asked Neil what he thought of the whole
file-sharing dilemma. “I think it’s great. In some ways, record companies
are ruining it for themselves, charging way too much for records and CD’s
for so long. It was inevitable that, after a while, people were going to get
their music for free. I think there are certain issues about artists getting
paid, but as a music fan I’m completely in favor of it.
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It’s
pretty obvious from listening to Sleeping on Roads that Neil
is influenced by Nick Drake and Tim Buckley among others.
What is Neil digging lately you ask? “There’s
a Studio One compilation of Reggae music that is great; the
Beachwood Sparks record is fantastic; the new Gorky’s
Zygotic Mynci record is superb; and the new Super Furry Animals
is very good.” Neil also has much respect for Sub Pop
artist Damien Jurado. So much so that he actually took his
song “Ohio” and reworked it into one of Sleeping’s
best tracks, “I Dream I Saw Soldiers.” Before
we get into anymore weird rights issues, Neil assures us, “I
sent him an e-mail, and he was very nice about it.” |
Neil’s
future looks bright. After a brief four-city stint, he will come
back in April for a more respectable engagement at larger venues. Mojave
3 are currently working on their fourth album, and Neil assures
me that there is no
bitterness about him doing his own thing. The sales of his album have
been rivaling Mojave 3’s, so it looks like he won’t
have to sleep on many roads from now on. Looks like another solo
record might also be in the future. “It’s
been really good doing something on my own, I want to do it again.” After
delivering some of the year’s best material, my ears can’t
wait.
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