Interview Tim Burgess: From Salford To LA And Back

Touring a new Charlatans record, producing up-and-coming bands and fighting to keep the Salford Lads’ Club up and running are just a few things that Tim ‘Busy Bee’ Burgess is doing at the moment. That is against a background of one of the most testing times for a band who should be celebrating their 20th anniversary following the diagnosis of drummer Jon Brookes with a brain tumour. On his ‘day off’, we catch up with the lovely Mr Burgess at The Ruby Lounge for a sit down for a chat about his musical memories with The Charlatans, tales of TFI Friday, Robbie Williams and other loo-related activities.

The fundraiser you’re doing for the Salford Lads’ Club (which is struggling financially to stay open) is a very cool thing. What motivated you to put this together and what special memories does the venue hold for you?

The first time I actually heard of it was on The Smiths’ cover [inside The Queen Is Dead], as obviously that’s what made it famous, but I was born in Salford, so that’s where it all comes from. I didn’t realise that they needed money, so that’s why I put it together.

For those who didn’t get tickets, could you tell us what’s happening with the show?

Well, I have Stephen Morris to DJ, which is great because New Order are one of my favourite bands. I really wanted Factory Floor to play as they’re my favourite up-and-coming band and Hatcham Social, who I’ve worked with before. I actually produced their new album, so I thought it’d be good to get them on the Bill too.

Is The Charlatans’ tour continuing?

Yes, this gig is on my day off. I don’t like days off really… I get bored!

And you’re touring the new record on your 20th Anniversary year as well! You’re technically veterans of the scene, but at the same time, you seem to embrace the new music revolution, like when you gave your album away free with XFM. Do you ever miss the days of TFI Friday performances and CD1 and CD2 singles?

I DO miss TFI Friday performances! There aren’t that many TV shows to do really.

There’s only really ‘Jools’, isn’t there?

And they only film at certain times of year, so we actually don’t have a day to do it. I’m not sure we’ll get a chance to go on TV until next year because we’re on tour. I miss those days (!), but I don’t crave them. I just kinda think… those were good days! TFI Friday, and we did TFI Friday for each single from Telling Stories, so it was a huge era. Now it’s just a different way of operating. It’s a bit like the 1977 of now: when David Lynch released Eraserhead, The Sex Pistols released God Save The Queen, etc.

Yes, and more recently, you had one of the biggest pop stars, Robbie Williams, in the world cover one of your songs ‘The Only One I Know’! What did you make of that?

Well, Mark Ronson asked if he could do it. We met Mark after it had come out. We played at a festival in Scotland and we picked him up at the airport on The Charlatans’ bus. He apologised for the terrible reworking of the song, which I didn’t think was that bad. It’s my song, so I’m protective of it, but he covered my song, so I’m not going to say anything bad about it!

He might’ve thought you had something against trumpets…

I don’t know what it was! But Robbie Williams actually suggested to Mark to do it.

I hear he’s a huge fan of yours. One of my friends met him at your gig in LA a few years back.

Yeah, my solo gig… I remember that! I met him in the toilets! It was the second time I’d met him and there were only two cubicles and we were standing next to each other.

Awesome!

A bit more information than you needed really! [Laughs]

Is that the biggest tribute a fan has paid you?

Yes, come to think of it! Mark said to me that when he was 13 years old, he broke out of his mum’s apartment in New York and came to The Charlatans’ show. How he got in, I have no idea! But I think he said to the man at the door that he was writing a fanzine or a paper on the band and they let him in, but obviously he couldn’t drink. I don’t think anyone drinks at 13 [laughs]. Then later he makes an album and covers that song. So that’s a pretty good tribute.

Noel Gallagher, another Manchester alumni, said that had he been born in Italy, he’d probably be riding around on a Vespa with a bird, but as he was born in Manchester, he became a rockstar because there’s nothing going on in the city! If you were from LA, which is where you’re living now, would you still have been a musician?

I think I would’ve found it a lot harder, unless you’re living in the same apartment. Some of the members of The Charlatans are from the Midlands, so I remember having to drive down to them for rehearsals, so if I didn’t have a car or if I wasn’t so determined, I suppose I wouldn’t have done it. Because I’m so determined I would’ve probably done it somehow, but it’s a lot easier to do it in Britain. LA’s a really flaky place - because of the sunshine and that there are so many great things to do, so people always say ‘Yeah, I’ll be there’ and never show up! When I was 7 years old, my mum said that I told her I was going to do stuff in music, but I can’t really remember. I didn’t think about it all because you don’t at that age really.

Some people like to air guitar in the mirror though.

Yeah, I used to do that a bit to the Buzzcocks’ first album!

Now, as a musician, you collaborate with a lot of people - from Joaquin Phoenix to The Chemical Brothers. Have you got anything interesting coming up?

I’ve been doing a lot of production work - for a band called Electricity In Our Homes and for Hatcham Social. Also for a band called Blue on Blue, who are really great. There should be a video coming out for a song I did with The Crookers, who are Italian ghetto-tech, where I am chained to a concrete floor. It was on quite a big Hollywood budget, which was pretty cool!

Is the Joaquin Phoenix thing going to come out?

I’m really not sure. His film ‘I’m Not There’ is genius, and Joaquin is a genius. The whole recording was with a fellow called Anthony Langdon who’s in the film as well. Joaquin was producing and I was doing backing vocals, but the record hasn’t come out. I heard it got scrapped. He was going to put my vocals on his hip hop record, but I really don’t know because after he produced the record, he went into hiding for a bit and then started to work on the ‘I’m Not There’ project.

Another project you worked on recently was with Freebass. Is all well in the Freebass camp after the recent bust-up between Hooky and Mani?

I’ve no idea. The way I understood it was that they were going to get vocalists on every track and I contributed vocals to it. I am such a big fan of New Order that was happy to get involved.

At the moment, it’s obviously tough times in The Charlatans because of your drummer John’s illness. How is he doing at the moment?

He’s not on tour with us. He has brain cancer and he’s going through radiotherapy. But he hopes to be back to play Hogmanay in Edinburgh. It would be nice, but obviously, I hope he will be healthy first off.

With the 20th anniversary year being this year, what would you say have been your personal highlights of your career?

It changes everyday. When we first started out, all I wanted to do was to go on tour and do a single. That’s all I wanted to do. That was the dream. Then, we recorded our single, and that goes into the Top 10! So it was like ‘Oh My God!’ Then we do an album and that goes to Number 1, so all my dreams came true really on the first record. Then, things like meeting John McEnroe in New York was quite exciting, or having to write a letter to Robert De Niro to clear a sample we wanted to use, which was really interesting. Meeting my wife in a club in Los Angeles! We’ve had distant success. People like us but we’re not always in the Top 10. Like, our fourth album went back to Number 1 after what some people considered a ‘wilderness’ time, which is wasn’t, but some people expected us to go in at Number 1 all the time, like The Beatles! Chart positions don’t matter anymore anyway, but back when they did, we had four number ones in the 90s. A recent one is that I’ve just recorded a really great single with Electricity In Our Homes called Apple Tree, and it’s really beautiful and better than anything I’ve heard in ages.

The fact that you’re still going strong is a highlight, especially after making a move to LA.

Definitely. I met a great girl and we went to live in Los Angeles together - and it’s 12 years now. It was also a really important thing for the band at the time because it made the rest of the band think seriously about what was happening with us. With John being sick at the moment also, you do the same, though obviously they’re two very different things.

Well, we send our best wishes to rest of the band and wish you luck with the Salford Lads’ Club Fundraiser as well! To end on a bit of a light note then, can you tell us what is the best thing to come out of Salford, except you?

My dad! John Cooper-Clarke, Bernard Sumner, New Order and Tony Wilson.

Salford Lads Club are curating Topman CTRL during October 2010.