Slowdive: The Full Interview with Rachel Goswell Words By Nick Hyman

Slowdive are the lost deciples of the shoegaze movement. Their legacy lives on today in the more atmospheric parts of bands like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Interpol, but their own back catalogue remains a cluttered mess of import-only albums and out of print singles. Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell moved on to greener pastures with the country-tinged rock of Mojave 3 after Slowdive broke up. In a rare interview, Rachel Goswell gives us a few minutes of her time to discuss the whole lot.

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Nick Hyman (N): Let’s talk about Spoon and Rafter (now potentially called
Swoon and Pasta), the new Mojave 3 record, does it differ from the last three
albums?

Rachel Goswell (R): Yeah, it does. There are elements that are traditionally linked to Mojave like the pedal steel and things like that. It’s different, it’s got a bit more sounds on it, quite a lot of moog and things. It’s a bit of a departure, it’s different than anything we’ve done before. But, it’s good though. There’s about three eight-minute songs on there.

N: Is it closer to a Slowdive sound? Neil’s solo record went for a more ambitious sound mix than the Mojave records. Does that bleed over into this record?

R: Yeah, but there are different things on this. There are things on there that we have not really done before. I think you always need to be moving on from your last record and it taken about two years to record. Although, it’s been intensive since September of last year but it’s actually being cut today at Abbey Road. I think it will be coming out in August, maybe. It depends on what Beggars Banquet wants to do in America and that will dictate when we tour I suppose.

N: What’s the extent of your input on the record? Your input seems a bit diminished on the Mojave 3 records. The Slowdive material featured much more of your vocal material.

R: My input’s there. I suppose I have more of a presence on the new record than the last one.

N: You had a great song (“Bringin’ Me Home”) on Excuses For Travellers.

R: Thank you. I’ve actually just finished recording a solo record. That was finished last week at the same time as the Mojave record. Mine’s gonna have to wait. The priority is to get the Mojave record out, my record will be out in January of next year. My friend Dave Naughton, who did engineering on Out Of Tune, this Scottish guy, moved down to London about three years ago and this is kind of his first production thing. It’s really good. It couldn’t be further apart from the Mojave record, which is kinda funny, it’s totally different. Mine is a lot more folky. In Mojave I really don’t write the songs, Neil does. With my record I’ve written them and I’ve co-written some with my partner Joe. It’s a good mix. I’m looking forward to touring that. Should be touring in the autumn. We’re hoping to come to America for about six weeks in September, but it depends on the release. We’re hoping to do a lot more for this record than we did for Excuses touring wise.

N: You could use the momentum of Neil’s solo record (Sleeping On Roads) and parlay that into the next venture.

R: Neil’s record helped keep up the profile of Mojave in a way and in fact outsold the last Mojave record in America by quite a lot (laughter).

N: When was the first time that you realized that you wanted to play music?

R: From a very young age. From about, I was playing guitar at seven. My dad used to play banjo in a jazz band. He would encourage me with music and I would go to the club with him and my mom when I was younger. I started off playing folky type songs, then I learned classical guitar until I was like fourteen, did piano and all that kind of stuff. Then I stopped doing my lessons and exams when I was fifteen. That’s when Neil and I started playing and was really the start of Slowdive when we were both at school. It’s always been very much a part of my life. It’s the only thing I ever wanted to do was to be in a band. When they would have career advice at school I said that I wanted to be a singer. But even my dad would say that I had to get a proper job because even though he would encourage me, he was quite worried about me pursuing it. As it turned out, it was all right.

N: What music have you listened to throughout the years?

R: My earliest music that I got into heavily is Grace Jones. I was into her for a couple of years at about thirteen. Then I went into a completely different direction with The Smiths very heavily. I’m very obsessive about my music. I was a huge Smiths fan for years. Then I went through my dodgy goth phase. I suppose Siouxsie and the Banshees were a staple and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I loved Siouxsie Sioux’s and her voice and at that point she was my inspiration to sing. I think the only band from my teenage years that stuck with me was Nick Cave because they still make records and I love what they do. The Smiths are still great but are not a band I really listen to these days. Still have my records.

N: How did Slowdive come together?

R: It kind of started with me and Neil at school messing about in bands. For a couple of years really. We started when were sixteen. Slowdive started to come together when were about seventeen and about to go to college. When we first started with it, Neil was heavily into The Primitives and really indie music and we used to do a lot of stuff like that. It formed over the course of two years really. We wanted a female guitarist and we put an ad in a London paper and Christian was the only person who replied and said he would wear a dress if he had to. I can’t remember how Nick, the bass player, got involved in it. He might have been a friend of our first drummer Adrian. I think he was on the first Slowdive EP, that was Adrian drumming on that. When we got offered the deal by Creation, Adrian wanted to go off to University and didn’t want to be in a band and Alan McGee thought he was mad.

N: What label do you prefer, 4AD or Creation? R: I actually prefer 4AD. It’s different eras. I’m much older now then when we were first signed. Creation was a really cool label and a really cool label to be on. We were absolutely ecstatic when we got signed to them and that they were interested because they had the Valentines and Ride and it was like wow they want us. It was a really exciting time to be on the label. With a lot a people there, the enthusiasm wasn’t really there for what we were doing. By the time we had finished Souvlaki the enthusiasm had kind of dried up a bit and the label was in such a mess and Alan was so up and down that it was really hard to see who was running it. With 4AD it’s more label. We’ve been on them coming up on eight years now. They’ve always been very supportive and enthusiastic. They had a personnel change a few years ago and Ivo sold out his share to Beggars Banquet and we were concerned a bit because we thought ‘here we go again,’ like when Sony got involved with Creation that was the beginning of the end really with the big corporate label. The people that are in place at 4AD are very nice. We get our creative freedom and at the end of the day the single most important thing as a musician is that you get to do what you want to do and they don’t interfere. They’re just good people and being older and having a bit more experience of it kind of calms things down really, you’re not so starstruck by being signed by a label. It’s good. I like 4AD, we work well with them. It’s a lot more stable, we know were we stand with them. Creation was so many people coming in and out of that label that it was confusing, I like to know what’s going on. I like honesty and I think they give us that.

N: What do you think of the term “shoegazing”?

R: What does any band think of the term shoegazing? I think at this point it’s like water off a duck’s back. I’m so used to hearing it. At the time it was really annoying, a press label. Our excuse was, is that we have so many effects pedals that we have to look down. A majority of the bands that were tacked in with that had the same amount of effects pedals, it was very much the sound. Now I really don’t mind, whatever. Mojave don’t obviously fit into that type, we’ve moved on from it.

N: Do you think there was a discernible scene at the time?

R: There were so many bands that were lumped in with it. You had bands like Swervedriver and The Telescopes and then us and Ride and Lush. It’s hard because the music is so different band to band. A band like Swervedriver sounded nothing like Slowdive. It’s kind of the ethereal sound with the pedals and the effects, and I think that’s it musically. It ended up being a lazy journalism tag really. It’s like with any music, you get lumped in with a particular scene. Recently there’s been the new acoustic movement, which is bollocks. It’s annoying. We knew Ride, we did an English and American tour with them and got along well. We were from kind of the same area, about forty miles apart between Reading and Oxford. The first tour we ever did was a week with Swervedriver and a week with The Telescopes and that was mad and was really fun. You got to know people through it. It was a press thing at the time and I think the bands hated it because we were lumped in together.

N: As soon as the term hit America it seemed that many of the bands fell apart or changed their sound? Did you notice this change?

R: I don’t know, possibly. Personally speaking with Slowdive, with every record we did naturally evolved and signaled different tastes of music we were into. I’m sure everyone wanted to get away from the tag. I think in America, even now, the attitude was different than it was in Britain. The British press are very harsh. They have a tendency to build bands up and when they get to a certain level they start slaying them and that’s what happened to a lot of band and that’s what happened with us. You learn to accept it. In America, I get the impression it’s different over there. There’s still a lot of enthusiasm for Slowdive. I still get a lot of people talking about it now and you’re calling. There was a tribute album, Blue Skied An’ Clear (Morr Music), that was released last year. That was so weird and bizarre to be in that situation where there’s a tribute album of something you’ve been in. It made me feel really old. There seems to be a lot of respect for Slowdive, which is nice.

N: Most of your material is incredibly hard to track down in America. You should release a compilation of all of your EP’s and singles.

R: I think the problem with those is that Sony owns the back catalog to everything when they bought Creation. They rereleased Just For A Day in England as a “Nice Price” discount. We have been on about getting the rights to Pygmalion and getting released it over there because it never had a domestic release. But, really it’s like we kind of want to leave it in the past and not bring it up and go through all of it. You have to get on Sony Records and write them a letter.

N: What do you think of the shoegaze revival that’s happening? R: Well, I think it’s really standard for most musical genres to have a ten-year cycle to when they’ll come back in. That’s the way it is. I don’t keep up with the newer music scene, particularly myself, I’m stuck in the seventies with my taste. I do hear new bands, but I don’t read the press here and I haven’t for years. That’s a result of being in a band for years and just hating the way that they write. If I hear a piece of music that I like, I’ll go out and buy it and not read someone's opinion of it. In Britain, you have your NME and I just don’t like them. I’ve got many friends in North America that tell me that I have to check out certain things and they keep me up to date.

N: What are you listening to now?

R: I really like Coldplay. They’re massive now. I just like really good songs and I like good singers. I’ve always been a fan more of singers I suppose. Tracy Chapman actually, I really love. I’ve liked her for years, but the album she put out last year, Let It Rain, was really good. She’s got such a lovely voice, it’s really warm, but I think she’s a great writer and musically there’s a lot of space in it. I got it because she was on Jools Holland last year and she was great. It’s my favorite record that I’ve heard in the last year. My partner goes and buys new seven-inch singles on Monday’s, all the new releases so we have stuff in the house. Since November of last year, I’ve been so absorbed in making my record that I haven’t heard much else. I’ve consciously not listened to much else because I didn’t want to be influenced by anything. I wanted it to come from the heart, which it’s done really. Some of it is a bit mad, really. I’ve been in a cocoon. It’s been very good for me. The last Nick Cave album, Nocturama, that’s great. I think I kind of just go by my staples that I’ve been buying records from for years.

N: Can you describe the creative process of Slowdive? What was writing like?

R: It varied album to album. With Slowdive there were quite a few songs that came out of playing together in a room. Just For A Day was written in the studio as we went along. I think we said to Creation at the time, ‘yeah we’ve got an album’s worth of material’ and we didn’t. Neil would four-track songs at the time and play them to us and we’d play them until we were happy with them. That was the way it was up until Pygmalion which was completely different. With Souvlaki we rehearsed for a couple of months before we put anything down. That was Neil coming in and strumming his guitar and we would come in and work things out from there. Songs like “Souvlaki Space Station” kind of came out of a stoned haze in the studio, which was fun. There were a few rare bits of music that would be recorded, like “Avalyn” and “Losing Today,” that was kind of more of an ad lib thing I suppose in terms of vocal. A lot of it was jammed out, experimenting with different pedals and getting different sounds. Christian would use two Fender twins linked up. It’s really about experimenting with different noises.

N: The experimentation extended itself to drug use? R: Always! (laughter) I think certain drugs can be very creative and certain drugs can be very damaging. N: Did you waver between both factions? R: I think not everyone in the band. Certainly myself and Neil dabbled in most things. Experimented I would say but not to the extent to where it was damaging. The staple really has been smoking dope and that’s it, and that’s still the thing. That’s all I do these days, I don’t do anything else. That and a beer, outside.

N: What do you think is the strongest Slowdive song?

R: Strongest song? Oh my god, that’s a really tough question to answer. I can give you a strongest album for me which would be Souvlaki. I don’t know, there’s so many good songs in my humble opinion. Obviously “Souvlaki Space Station” will always be one of my favorite songs. I think that’s partly to do with writing part of it. It was a really fun thing to do in the studio. Just messing about with it really stoned listening to it loud and getting all the drum repeats and different things. It was a good experience. You go back to the first two, “Slowdive” and “Avalyn” which were eight-track. We went, before we were signed, to this guy’s house/studio and did those songs with some others. When “Avalyn” was finished, Christian was playing it over and over again talking about how good it was. That was the most exciting thing we’d done at that point. When we got to that stage, that’s what we wanted to sound like. We spent a while doing more indie type stuff because the Valentines were really influential.

N: What other bands were influential to Slowdive?

R: Jesus and Mary Chain. My Bloody Valentine. Those were the main two. House of Love. We really like them as well. Neil was a huge fan of them actually. Primal Scream are always cool. Still rocking.

N: What was your favorite song to play live?

R: I’m trying to remember. I think “She Calls” is a good favorite because that was a mass of noise at the end. “Avalyn” was really good. I have to go back and look at the records, which is quite sad really. The noisiest songs were the best to play because you’ d just plug the guitar in and just get lost in it. It was quite difficult to hear on stage, especially what you were singing with the guitar and drums. I always ended up right in front of the drum kit, which hasn’t done my hearing very good I think on reflection. It was just a laugh and quite scary, good fun.

N: How would you describe the music world now?

R: Hard to say really, I don’t keep myself in the loop. The only person that keeps himself in the scene is Ian, and Neil to a certain extent. I just notice the different musical trends. Bands that remind me of Iggy and the Stooges. I suppose it’s just the way it goes. Younger people are playing in bands and that’s what they’re into. I listen to the radio and hear Iggy Pop and I love Iggy. I suppose there are aspects of my life that are totally outside of music.

N: Why did Slowdive break up when they did?

R: When we were doing Pygmalion, Simon Scott left the band during that period because he thought he was being replaced by a drum machine. Then Ian joined. We were actually rehearsing songs from Pygmalion to tour when Creation pulled the plug on us. I suppose inter band relationships weren’t that great. There was me and Neil and Nick and Christian. Nick and Christian didn’t have much to do with the recording of Pygmalion, they weren’t very interested. We basically got that record done and waited a year for it to be released by Creation. There was a conscious decision during recording that Creation probably wouldn’t understand the record. We wanted to be off the label because it had gone to pot with Sony being involved. They just weren't interested anymore really. They didn’t pick up the option to do a forth record. At that point, Neil said he had some other songs and we were still signed to EMI Publishing and we made demos that would become most of the first Mojave record. We just decided we didn’t want to carry on without Nick and Christian. Nick had got married, he wasn’t into it. It was such a difficult process with Pygmalion. Christian suddenly showed interest in the band when we were dropped and we wondered where he was during the last two years. I speak with Nick and Christian now and we get on all right. It wasn’t a sour departure, it was a natural end to that period. We did these songs at EMI and sent them to Ivo and within four weeks 4AD said they wanted to put the record out. It was really easy and it was a good change. Creation making that decision was a relief. There wasn’t much of band left at the end of it. It had run its course. It was time to move on. Christian is doing his Monster Movie band and I might do a bit of singing for them, I don’t know. Nick is into extreme sports. He’s out of music completely. He was always a bit different anyway. They’re both doing all right and they’re happy.

N: What do you do outside of the music world?

R: I’ve got a part time job, I work in a children’s nursery. I do administrative work, I don’t actually work with the kids. I’ve been doing that for three and a half years. I got the job through a temp agency because I needed to pay rent. I’ve only signed on to the Dole once. There were a couple of periods during Slowdive that I worked. The Dole wasn’t really for me, I just can’t sit around and do nothing. Even when Slowdive was doing all right, I would go into charity shops and do work when we had months of not doing anything. I couldn’t stand being inactive. It was healthy, mentally. It’s been really good. It’s a very ethnically diverse place and I’ve learned a lot about people and children with which I had no knowledge of before I started there. My first days were terrifying with all of the little people. I finish at three o’clock and I have plenty of time to do music afterwards.

N: What do your coworkers think of your musical life? R: They don’t really understand it to be honest. The women there are quite a lot older than me and are from different cultures. They know that I sing, but they like Whitney Houston and stuff like that. I prefer not to talk about it. It’s like I lead a double life. I do lead a double life! When we did the last American tour, I took five or six weeks off. We got home on a Friday and I had to go to work on a Monday and it was tough. It couldn’t be more opposite. It’s grounding and it’s a good laugh. I like being around kids, they’re little characters. I may be leaving later in the year. I don’t know. I’m planning on devoting the next two years to music and doing the most that I can. With Mojave, between each album there are two or three years. It’s good to keep busy in other ways. I love gardening as well, I’m a keen gardener. That’s where I find my peace, where I’m most relaxed.

N: Where did you grow up?

R: In a village outside Reading. I grew up in the country. I was born in England, but from the age of seven I lived in Wales in a little bungalow next to a farm. I’ve got really great memories of that, although my parents would beg to differ. I’ve got an idyllic view because of being next to farm with the fields and blue bells, and an apple orchid. I remember being really happy. I had a very thick Welsh accent and when I moved over I got bullied my first couple of years at primary school. I lived in Reading for a number of years and I’ve lived in London for nearly eight years now. I’m yearning to go back to the country, I’ve had enough of city life.

N: What’s Mark Van Hoen like to work with?

R: He’s cool. He’s a good guy. Neil and Mark have known each other for ten years now. He’s done a lot on this record. He’s very calm and methodical. He’s just become a dad. His wife had a baby girl called Nico and she was born at the end of February. We’re finishing the album at this house and we feel kind of bad with the baby being there. It’s very laid back. I think he might be working with Sing-Sing.