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Pages 6 & 7
SKIDS
IS THIS MAN A POSER?
Or is glamour back to stay? Deanne Pearson investigates.
"WE'RE MOVING into gloss pop, glam rock, or whatever you want to call it, again." Richard Jobson, vocalist with The Skids, is giving his view of the current musical climate
and the direction in which The Skids are moving.
"After three years of mundanity, and then the ska thing which is even more mundane and uniform than punk, the kids deserve a bit of glamour, and it's bands like us who are
giving it to them."
He's talking of course about the band's proud glossy image that has led more than a few people to describe them as "a bunch of posers", "pretentious prats", and Richard in
particular as an arrogant, far too over-confident rock 'n' roll star — a term which he hates, but in some strange, perverse way seems intent on living up to.
Richard loves spending money like water (money which he says he hasn't really got — presumably record company advances) on nightclubs and clothes and champagne and dashing
about here, there and everywhere, enjoying himself. Just having a good time and showing his face around.
Coming from a not very wealthy mining background he probably realises that this sort of money and opportunity may not always be around. So take it while you can.
Seeing him in action recently, however, at a low key gig in Paisley — not one of the gentlest areas of greater Glasgow — his style of high society living is nowhere in evidence.
Richard is on exactly the same level, literally, as the 200 or so tough Glaswegians who are wound tightly round the tiny stage, like a live wire around a stick of dynamite.
When they scream and curse he screams and curses, when they spit he spits, and when their shirts come off his does too. It shows just how aware he is, of his position, his
role, and it shows off the talent he has for entertaining and handling an audience:
"And look at the audience at the Hammersmith Palais the week before" (quite a different kettle of fish) he says with justified pride, "I held all of them in the palm of my
hand too."
Which is probably why the rest of the present band are prepared to let him just carry on, creating and representing the image of the whole band, although they appear much more
subdued people.
Richard is convinced that the audience love all the show and glamour and rightly points out that even some of the journalists who don't like it still can't deny that The Skids'
music is good. (Witness our very own David Hepworth who gave their 'Circus Games" the thumbs up a couple of issues back, whilst referring to the band as "a bunch of posers".)
BUT IT'S not just Richard's style of life and dress that provokes such comments, it's his speeches and ideas too, which can be just as ostentatious and startling as the ways
he wears his hair.
He has been mocked and attacked for airing such intellectual names and subjects as Jean Paul Sartre and Brecht, surrealism and existentialism, about which he has sometimes
been shown not to have as deep a knowledge as the impression he first gave by spouting about them so freely and loudly.
"But I choose to touch lightly on many subjects rather than delve deeply into one," Richard protests, "I'm not as intense and one dimensional and extremist as some people."
He was also labelled a neo-Nazi after attempting to explain the lyrics on The Skids last album "Days In Europa", which he admits now he misinterpreted. This came too late,
however, to stop two members of the band leaving — the first drummer Tom Kellichan, and then, at the beginning of this year, bassist Willie Simpson, both of whom were
suspicious of Richard's views and ideas and accused him of megalomania.
Their temporary drummer Rusty Egan left with Willie because both the band and he agreed they weren't suited — Rusty wanting The Skids to be more like Ultravox and Kraftwerk,
which Richard and Stuart did not want.
"And it's Stuart's band," Richard says, somewhat surprisingly. "He's the founder member, he writes all the songs, he could write lyrics just as well, if not better, than me,
and he's a better singer — all he lacks is my talent as a frontman and in handling the audience."
Former Zones bassist Russell Webb and Insect Bites drummer Mike Baillie, who were old friends of Stuart and Richard, joined The Skids not long after. On top of all this
personnel upheaval, the band changed their management as well.
So, after all these trials and tribulations, Richard does not want to try and explain the lyrics on the latest album, "The Absolute Game", which are an obvious talking point
because they are typically obscure.
"My lyrics have always been obscure, which is why there was all the fuss over 'Days In Europa' (an album which was said to glorify war and Nazism). I can't really explain
lyrics, as I proved with 'Days In Europa', they're just left open to one's own translation.
"If you can't understand them you can just look at them and look at them until you do. There's much more fun in that, investigating something rather than being told what it
is. That's what I'd say to anyone who asked me about my lyrics — go and think about it, make what you want of them.
"Like when I explained 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' (off "Days In Europa") I said it was about survival and strength, and suddenly I became some sort of local Goebbels figure and
through that of course we had lots of problems with certain institutions. (Namely the National Front.)
"It's like people are going to say what does 'The Absolute Game' mean? Well, I say it means whatever you want it to mean. Some will say suicide, but that's just the way they
think.
"The absolute game for me is probably a game of cricket — last weekend it was football — for Stuart it might be backgammon, for Russell it's probably taking photographs,
and for Pete, maybe landing on the moon. I dunno, it's how you feel at the time."
ONE TRACK that does stand out on the album, as Richard is quick to point out, is "A Woman In Winter" (inspired by a Rossellini film).
"It's a song about looking for something you don't find, and you don't get, it's a song about women, which I've never ever written about before. It's probably about the most
romantic thing I'll ever write, but I thought, well, there are lots of guys calling me a poof, so let's have a change," he jokes.
The Skids wanted "A Woman In Winter" as the single preceding the album, in place of "Circus Games" (also on the album) but their record company, Virgin, "persuaded" them
otherwise, and "A Woman In Winter" will now, rather aptly, come out as a Christmas single.
Included in the album is a bonus eight track 12" record called "Strength Through Joy".
"And when the critics see that, I'll immediately be accused of continuing the theme of 'Days In Europa', especially as it's got that marching feel and beat to it," Richard
grumbles in gutteral Fife brogue.
"But it's got nothing to do with that, in my opinion. I got the title from a Dirk Bogarde book called "Snakes And Ladders" where he's describing his childhood, and my
childhood. It's a fascinating theme, for me, because I love children. The general theme of the album revolves around kids in fact."
"Strength Through Joy" is totally unlike anything The Skids have done before, Richard goes on to explain.
"We had the opportunity to do anything we wanted, it didn't have to be commercial or typical because it was a freebie already inside a commercial package. So we all swopped
instruments and did whatever we wanted to do.
"I did a nice soft piece melancholy, a lovely piece of music. I mean, I can hardly play the guitar but I still came up with something. It's got beautiful chords, it's got
beautiful structure and it feels nice. And it's easy, and I did it in five minutes. If you don't like it, it doesn't matter because it's free anyway."
This record, like the album, was produced by Mike Glossop - "well, co-produced with Russell," stresses Richard. Mike had engineered a couple of Skids singles in the past,
built up a good understanding with them, and has now taken over from Bill Nelson, who produced The Skids' last album and also played keyboards on "Europa".
Although Richard says the band enjoyed Nelson's approach and attitude, they were "advised" by Virgin not to use him again, but Richard quickly dismisses any suggestions
of a Virgin dictatorship.
"We weren't intending to use him again anyway, we'd spent one period with him and we thought it was time to move on again, try someone else."
ACCORDING TO Richard, the band are reasonably happy with Virgin — to whom The Skids signed when Richard was only 16 and had just left school. (He absolutely insists he is
only 19 now, although he doesn't look a day under 25.)
The one disappointment however, is the lack of international development. The band have never been to Europe in their three years together (apart from a recent one-off gig
in Lisbon) and have no records there or in America. This is what The Skids are pushing for now.
"'The Absolute Game' is a very American-sounding album," Richard reckons, "so it should do well in Europe and America because really there's no such thing as a European
sound. They just like what America likes, something powerful and exciting, hard, fast rock that glitters — and that's what we've got."
Photos by Simon Fowler
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