source
honk magazine
dated
october 2002
part 1 of 1
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martin carr
sits down for a quiet pint with andy parsons, and talks
about his new album, politics and electronica.
im quite nervous about this,
i havent done an interview in two years,
admits martin carr, otherwise known as bravecaptain
whose solo self reinvention after the demise of the
boo radleys and creation records has seen the singer
relocate to cardiff and rediscover his songwriting form.
its good to be back though, he adds
ive been so bored the last few months, waiting
for the record to be released. i miss touring and i
miss interviews and im not very good at filling
my time if im not recording. ive found grand
theft auto 3 and dub records pass the time quite nicely
though.
advertisements for myself is a very self-assured record,
a bold statement put forward by a man getting his confidence
back after the demise of his former band. it also sees
martin make more use of electronics on this album, interludes
of breakbeats, electro ambience and techno bleeps intersperse
the more traditional songs and also augment them, a
sign of martins current musical taste as well
as the direction he wants to take the project. when
i came back as bravecaptain, i just wanted to do what
i knew i could do write songs, but over the last
two singles, corporation man and the one i did for fierce
panda with mc mabon, i got my confidence back to do
what i wanted to do. i dont really listen to guitar
bands anymore. there is more electronic stuff on there
but [this album] still sounds like what i do, its
not tokenistic at all. the next single ive just
done, for the boobytrap electronic project, is a lot
more out there.
ive been listening to a lot of kid606 and
knifehandchop recently, though im more inspired
by their music rather than trying to sound like them.
ive always been a fan of squarepusher, but now
i think hes gone over the top of genius; that
track red hot car and the do you know squarepusher 12,
they just take it all up a notch. i asked dj scud to
do a track on my album and unfortunately he couldnt,
so i worked with kris jenkins from bench instead, a
bit of drum and bass.
surprisingly, though, given the albums sound,
most of it was recorded live rather than on laptops
like so many others. i kept it basic, because
ive got the equipment, but still dont know
how to use it. martin jokes. i bought pro-tools
two years ago and its still in its box. i used
fruity loops for some of the instrumental tracks i recorded
after the rest of the album, and between then and now
ive actually taught myself how to programme some
of the more complex music packages. a strong sign
that future bravecaptain material will continue in this
vein.
politics has always played a part in martins music
and the new album is no exception. whilst titles like
the blair bush project (i was going to use that
as a side project name, then thought, nah, ill
use it on the album.) may gently poke fun at the
current status quo, the lyrics of tracks like stand
up and fight and i was a teenage death squad are a much
more open attack on governments attitudes. i
try not to sermonise, he explains ive
got no real political grounding, all i know is how i
see things and what i feel. there are a couple of things
on the album that i think are put a bit clumsily but
its better than having nothing at all. i used
to be quite forward about stuff when i was with the
boos, and creation was as well, but we kind of
went our ways over the whole new labour thing, we werent
enamoured by that.
martin speaks very fondly about his time on creation,
i used to have a picture of alan mcgee on my wall
when i was a kid, all the records i loved were on creation,
then we were signed there which was very weird.
and says he misses the other members of the boo radleys
a lot. i dont really get to see them, i
saw sice the other day, but that was the first time
in a year or so. theyre all doing well. bob was
going to play with me at the gig were doing on
12 october, but hes broken his foot and couldnt
make the rehearsals.
the biggest legacy of his time with his old band is,
of course, the massive radio hit of wake up boo. but
martin doesnt consider it an albatross: ive
no regrets at all, he says. i regret the
choices of the next couple of singles, which were not
right at all and thats where we lost it. i keep
on having to turn down release forms for it to be used
on tv, but liverpool fc want to use it as part of a
documentary about the club, so i said double yes for
that. i dont mind it being on kids programs either.
but i hate advertising. ninety-five percent of the stuff
thats advertised we dont need and these
advertising executives would do anything to get you
to buy their product.
a good guess then, martins dislike of adverts
is the reason behind the title for his new album, but
even if the tracks are just for his own self promotion
rather than anyone elses, theyll do his
reputation no harm at all.
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