The evening planned at the Good Ship, a relatively new but well established Kilburn haunt, is more than a just a collection of random bands. It’s a display of the best talent at Brainlove Records, brainchild of John Brainlove. The label that professes to taking on the odd, the uncategorised and the downright misfit, is on a UK tour, with the beautifully novel and unorthodox Napoleon IIIrd in tow.
A chat with Mr James Mabbett, the man behind the reel-to-reel, reveals a post modern romantic. With Lyrics spanning such seemingly heavy subjects as urban living, the media, human evolution and existential doubts, he still cuts an innocent and purist form with hope and yearning featuring relentlessly in the songs.
Y: You’re based in the north, but grew up in…
J: I grew up in the Midlands - born in Solihull, my family moved to Worcestershire, and then to Wakefield where I went to Uni at Bretton Hall arts college. I then just decided it was ok to stick around.
Y: No plans to emigrate south as yet?
J: My girlfriend and I will be moving to Holmfirth – the wine country, a pretty tiny town in the Yorkshire Dales. I quite fancy moving to the countryside.
Y: So, not the big city for you?...
J: Not yet, although eventually I want to move to London – when I’ve got some money. Not when I’m skint.
Y: Are you ready for a bit of fame? Things seem to have been going really well for you.
J: Things are going alright. Not sure about ‘fame’. I’ve been doing this for years so it’s probably about time I sold some records.
Y: When did you start playing? Did you have classical training?
J: Yes, I learned classic guitar when I was about 6 and it’s all I ever wanted to do. Which is nice, I’m finally living out my dream.
Y: Did you do the dreaded open mike circuit?
J: No, I never really did that. I never really liked it. It annoyed me, so I avoided it and played gigs. I was in (a band called) Little Japanese Toy and we gigged lots and lots, we’ve put out a couple of records, and I learned what to do from doing that. I’m made all the mistakes in that band, and now I’m trying not to make the mistakes I’ve made before.
Y: Do you prefer working alone?
J: I find it a lot easier, in our band we all had really strong opinions about what we wanted the music to sound like. If I’m making something, I want it to be how I imagined it. If anyone disagrees I take it really to heart, so I work better on my own. I fall out with people less.
Y: From listening to your album the person that came to mind most for me was Robert Wyatt.
J: I’ve started getting into Robert Wyatt recently and I really like him. I don’t know a great deal about him, to be honest, but I feel I need to learn more and more. The more I hear of him the more I like him, really interesting person. One of those people like Tom Waits – the older he gets, the better he gets, which is what I aspire to be really, I want to makes the best records when I’m 80. I want the last record I’m ever to make to be the best one I’ve made. And then die. I hate the idea of making your best record at this age and then the rest of your subsequent records are crap. I’d hate to become Paul McCartney.
Y: On the other hand that would mean quite a lot of money, and legacy…. Women…
J: Yeah, and the Beatles, he’s got that going… I suppose there are worse ways to look at life.
Y: Is there anyone you’d want to work with?
J: Lots of people really… I’d like the idea of doing collaborations. I keep talking to people about doing them. I’ve been trying to talk David Thomas Broughton, who uses a loop pedal and makes all sorts of interesting rock music, into doing one. And I’ve worked with people on recording their EPs, putting ideas forward in the process, so that’s a kind of collaborating. I like the idea of working with people, although I’m not sure how well it works in practice… Maybe Jim O’Rourke would be good?
Y: Are you confident that bands which are not mainstream or with a big label have a place to succeed in the market today?
J:I have to think so. Depends on the meaning of ‘succeed’.
Y: Making a living.
J: Well, yeah, that to me would be succeeding. To be able to carry on doing this for ever. I hope so! Otherwise I’d have to get a job or something…
Y: Do you find that the parameters of success, as you get nearer to them, get wider? Your video has been on MTV every day, now for some people that would be “it” as a goal when they first get started...
J: God yeah, I’ve dreamt of that for a long time, I kind of see it as something that’s supposed to happen. Which is good, I’m not gonna take it for granted, it’s great – I’m still surprised, I keep staying up trying to watch it to see if I can see the video as I haven’t seen it yet, but I keep falling asleep and waking up just as the programme ends... I guess the aspirations get larger. I dunno really, I just wanna keep making music and earn enough to live off it, and that’s all I really want. Nothing too large. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to play Wembley Stadium, but I’m not really too bothered…
Y: Maybe the Royal Albert Hall.
J: That would be alright! I could do that, in a few years down the line.
Y: How do you feel about gigging? Are you comfortable with it?
J: Yeah, I’m fine, I gig all that time so I’m used to it, it doesn’t really faze me at all. My favourite bit of making music is when you’re writing something, when you come up with something that sounds great – that’s the best bit. You can’t beat that excitement, even playing in front of really big crowds. Making something you’ve never heard and that you find exciting to listen to, that’s definitely my favourite thing – writing.
Y: Do you find it translates well from studio to gigs?
J: I hope so, I’ve never seen it from my audience’s perspective. I’ve seen a video but it’s to judge by a small video on youtube taken on a camera phone. I hope it does translate, people seem to like it so I guess it must work on some level.
Y: How about festivals?
J: Those are good, because I have a band with me for those ones. I got some friends together for the ones I’ve played this summer. A friend of mine called Alex, and a guy called Jamie who I used to be in LJT with and I had my friend Kat playing keyboard.
Y: How do you feel about the world – your lyrics, messages and ideas are pretty profound. Are you optimistic about the world at all?
J: I’m a bit of a pessimist. I’d like to think that humanity is ultimately good and we’ll survive and it’ll all be great, but I’m not entirely sure that will happen. Humans in essence are greedy, therefore we don’t have much hope. Because we’re only animals and basically you’re there to survive and procreate, and I think, to get above that level… I’m saying all this, and I have lots of friends who I really adore and people I really admire and people who do really good things and help other people, but I think as a species we’re doomed.
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Y: Is this a tour you’re on?
J: This is the first night of our tour, off to Manchester, then Oxford…
Y: Going into Europe?
J: I’ve played in Europe a couple of times this year – Holland and France, we’ll probably go to Germany in spring and maybe Italy – I love playing Europe, they treat you really well.
Y: Japan?
J: I love Japan, I just want to see it! I’ve read so much about it, I just want to go and see it for myself. Looks like a crazy place, I think I’d love it. It’d scare me!
Y : I think they’d love you.
On his album In Dept To, only just released in October, Napoleon IIIrd’s songs are intense and complex, yet engulf you, quite unexpectedly, in such a way which makes you wish the next song is never the last. But how does it all translate into a live performance?
First on the bill tonight, though, are APPLICANTS, a zombified B52s in a fraternity house, complete with bloody makeup and an energetic front-woman kitted out in PE shorts. Five-second songs, jungle-punk, and a speeded up smooth jazz number which puts in mind an Acapulco cruise loaded with teenagers instead of rich, brightly-tanned seniors. The songs’ main themes seem to revolve around pizza. The vocalist adds all the flavour, whooping, giggling, and dancing around the room, engaging the crowd - although her role, musically speaking, remains redundant. The ever present backing track begs the question - would a karaoke night not be more fun, and with much the same results?
Next up, KEYBOARD CHOIR – a whopping six keyboards are hauled on stage and 50’s archive footage projected onto the wall to accompany the sound. A band leader conducts the group, taking them through prog-rock, sudden Hassidic bursts, and a fair amount of watery ambient. The total effect being that of a youth centre guide, channelling and keeping his unruly charge in check by means of music therapy.
PAGAN WANDERER LU (aka Andy Ragan) is a promising prospect. He’s got an omnichord, amongst other eccentric, as well as conventional, musical warfare tools. And warfare is what we are facing, as PWL takes on the world with an avalanche of sounds. It seems as if he is more determined to fit as many flavours and moods into his act than communicate a clear theme, which can be a little overwhelming. Ragan is clearly a tremendous talent but when transferring the sound to a live setting he disperses in all directions leaving an audience somewhat agog.
Finally, NAPOLEON III takes the stage, located in a pit. The Good Ship is an unusual venue, which despite valiant efforts by its creator/owner to persist with mainly off-beat and creative acts midweek, local demographics dictate that its peak packed time is the weekend. By the time Mabbett is on, the place is very nearly empty – surprising, albeit 11pm, considering this is the opening night of Brainlove Records’ crème de la crème tour… no matter, Mabbett is up there with his reel-to-reel, trumpet and guitar. Like PWL, he is giving a fully rounded display of his abilities using a selection of instruments, both live and pre-recorded. And also similarly to his co-labeller, his songs are quirky and uncompromising in their originality.
How are they different, then? Despite featuring together on a 7’’ single released by Brainlove, both appearing on the cover with their assorted instrumental paraphernalia, what’s behind Napoleon IIIrd’s ability to make you sit up and take notice, a feat not so easily achieved by PWL? Well, as a clever man put it - it’s the songs in their naked form which make the central part of the composition; as with Beck, for example, they can be standalone acoustic numbers - everything around them is a decorative bonus.
A smashing set from Mabbett reverberates through the hearts of those who witness it. Beginning with his superb ode to everyday ennui Hit Schmooze For Me, he carries you through a defiant This Is My Call To Arms, a jerky and conflicting Defibrillator, then a touch of the western guitar with Guys In Bands, a heart wrenching My Superiority Complex, Conformist Takes It All - a call for integrity and against compromise, and One Song Before Bed To 3 4 - a desperate, stubborn insistence on the happy ending we’ve all been promised.
Putting his all into his set, the songs are meticulously and tightly performed. Each of them is fresh, full and charged, yet simple and clear, like a drop of sweat from the brow of an honest and true mind. Each one a surprise. Each one a gem. There really is nothing Napoleon IIIrd is doing wrong, his only possible weak point being his openness and transparency – solo acts must usually beware of straying from a simple and sincere self-indulgence to a full-on repetition. But one is very anxious to hear what next he has to say. May his last album indeed be his best, and how lucky for us all to be allowed on the journey there!
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