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Damon Gough is almost invisible as he wanders
onto the stage at the Theatre of Living Arts
in Philadelphia on a warm October night. Shuffling in
from the wings, he walks to centre stage with the nonchalance
of a roadie. There isn’t a hint of bombast in his movements.
No exploding fireworks. No emcees pumping the crowd.
Perhaps it is the lingering effect of punk’s aesthetic
minimalism, which deposits on him on the stage nearly
unnoticed, or maybe it is just the effect of quaffing
too many beers in the nations’ capitol the night before.
Whatever the reason, on this particular occasion, Gough,
a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy, takes the stage like a ninja
and skilfully disarms the crowd with arresting charm.
He singles out a girl from the audience and serenades
her. He tells jokes. He offers to pass around photographs
of his children. He drinks like a fish and smokes like
a chimney, and through it all he commands his band with
the agility of a seasoned conductor while holding court
with the composed serenity of a guru.
But things haven’t always gone so smoothly for the bright-eyed
boy from Bolton. In fact, sometimes they still don’t.
“I used to piss quite a few people off,” Gough admits
between drags on a Marlboro Light. “But I’m not shambolic
anymore. Now, I play a set with 35 songs.” Despite the
obvious discipline required to deliver 35-song performances,
reports of Gough’s drunk and disorderliness persist.
One night he’s radiant, the next incoherent. But either
way, the magic of Gough’s music comes across much better
in recordings anyway.
For fans of beatific love songs, Gough’s debut The
Hour of the Bewilderbeast and his newest release
Have You Fed The Fish? offer them in spades.
Dressed in the finest sonic fabrics and accessorized
with an array of musical jewels, Gough’s songs blend
Paul McCartney’s sense of elegance, sans the schmaltz,
with a modern melange of Burt Bacharach, Phil Spector
and Brill Building et al. It is no surprise, then, that
HYFTF? was largely recorded in the same studio as the
Beach Boys Pet Sounds. And like Brain Wilson and the
Beatles, Gough is perfectly at home behind the mixing
desk, outfitting his creations in all manner of acoustic
frippery. Ah, but there’s the rub. How does an artist
recreate the depth of a studio recording on stage?
“It’s almost impossible to recreate some of the songs
live,” concedes Gough. “On “You Were Right,” for instance,
I was aiming for a wall of sound in the studio, but
live I only have five guys up there so I try to jam
like the first time I ever played it with a drummer.”
But it is not just the lack instrumentation that sabotages
Gough’s live performances. It is also the fact that
his band, the seventh by his count, lacks the verve
that comes with accruing to something more than a group
of hired hands. And there is also that hobgoblin of
little minds: consistency. Gough has a knack for getting
knackered and its shows in his live performances. While
it is charming to watch him develop a sincere rapport
with an audience, it is maddening to watch a guy drunker
than you are start and stop the same song five times
in a row, especially if you have paid for a ticket.
But even if Gough did rally a full-blown band to his
aid, one he could trust and and immerse himself in its
esprit de corps, you have to wonder if it would last.
“I do find myself occasionally missing the band ethos,”
grants the 33-year-old singer/songwriter. “But I enjoy
being the boss, the purveyor of my own destiny, and
I always predict problems with a band, like everyone
will want their say too much. You never know, though,
it could work.”
For all his faults as an uneven performer, Gough is
a wizard in the studio. Progressing from recording directly
into a four-track in his bedroom to professional studios
around the world, Gough’s current album was produced
by the veteran L.A. producer Tom Rothrock. Well
known for producing such solo artists as Beck, Jay
Farrar and Elliott Smith, Gough says Rothrock understands
how to push solo performers to give their best and deserves
a large measure of credit for the inspired performances
contained in the album. Add a crew of top session men
like Joey Waronker, Pete Thomas and John Brion, and
it is easy to see why it would be difficult to replicate
the album’s effervescent energy. Or, maybe it is the
safety and control that studio recording offers. Given
that Gough has reservations about the dynamics of ceding
some of his control to a band--and that he likes to
tipple a few before taking the stage--his scattershot
live performances are probably here to stay. Nevertheless,
his tattered style has earned him a Mercury Music
Prize, several world tours and presented him with
the opportunity to rub elbows with his heroes. None
of which provides much impetus to change. And, combined
with the birth of his son, Oscar, in March, his sudden
inclusion in the firmament of the elite has contributed
heavily to the autobiographical nature of his new album.
Inspired by the surrealism of his new existence as a
“minor celebrity,” Gough says he used the songs on his
new album as a means to sort out the ramifications of
life as a rock star. So when he sings, “I just had a
dream the other night/I was married to the queen/And
Madonna lived next door” in “You Were Right,” it is
clear that he has the feeling that the last few years
have been a bit of a fairy tale. However, in between
flights of fancy HYFTF? is deeply romantic and shows
signs of Gough’s maturation as an artist and a father.
Using metaphors to express how fame and parenthood have
changed his outlook, Gough sings, “Maybe there’s a reason
why I’m born again/ There’s something rare going on
under my skies.” Developing the theme further in “All
Possibilities,” Gough says he used the phrase “modern
innocents” to refer to his children, suggesting that
he sees the world anew through their eyes.
Of course, before you conceive children you must have
sex. So, if Bewilderbeast is a perfect romantic record
for wooing a new beloved, then Have You Fed the Fish?
is a perfect record for cozying up with your betrothed,
and there is plenty to get the party started. “Using
Our Feet” burns with bi-polar fission and danceable
passion while “Born Again” rocks with the anticipation
of Friday night’s promise and “40 Days, 40 Fights” rolls
into Saturday afternoon, painting love in shades of
American Gothic. But the party does not end there. “You
Were Right” is ecstatically euphoric and slips listeners
an aural mickey with the potently aphrodisiacal line
“And I turned Madonna down.” Naturally, sex and comfort
are linked, so it is interesting to note that the word
eiderdown is mentioned twice during the album, which
could possibly indicate Gough’s desire for something
emotionally soft and comfy to curl up with. Though the
thread which stitches its way through his creative and
personal life is also the thread which holds his new
record together, namely his new topsy-turvy life, Gough
says he did not set out for the record to be so specific.
“It was after I established the title track and I set
the parameters that I realized what the album was about,”
he explains. “Have You Fed the Fish? became the best
title because it represents so many different things.
It could be a metaphor for feeding the kids or attention
to detail. It’s about perspective and the details of
ordinary situations.”
While HYFTF? may deal with ordinary situations, what
is not ordinary is the way Gough toys with the record’s
conceptual continuity by repeating phrases in different
contexts to subtly shift their meanings. “I wanted to
cross-reference some of the songs by using the same
line to see how the music being different affected them,”
elucidates Gough. However, the results are mixed. The
first example of repetition appears in “You Were Right”
where he recites the line “get you tickets to what you
need.” Unfortunately, the line comes off as a bit of
a non-sequitor. When the line appears again in “Tickets
To What You Need” it benefits from the set up in the
first song, however it is still anaemic. “How” and “The
Further I Slide” use the technique as well, repeating
variations of the line “What if after all this there
is nothing else for us.” Again the payoff is negligible.
Gough says his goal was to enable the lyrics to stand
alone as singular phrases or slogans and that he tried
to enhance those qualities by leaving the lyrics off
the CD insert, but it is hard to imagine a banner reading
“I need a new eiderdown” having much meaning to anyone
outside the context of the album.
Still, Gough gets points for trying, and criticisms
aside, HYFTF? is a well-rounded record. But considering
Gough did not land a major/minor deal until he was nearly
30, it makes one wonder how many other great talents
are left undiscovered. “I was 26 or 27 when my first
EP came out, but I didn’t really see that it would ever
happen. I didn’t think it happened to people like me,”
ruminates Gough. “I thought it was another kind of person
who did music. I could easily be sitting here at 33
saying, ‘I’m better than all these people. I can do
this.’ But you’ve got to direct your fate. If you don’t
go out the door, it’s never going to happen.”
Sipping a rum and coke in an Irish bar in the heart
of Philadelphia’s tourist area, Gough sums up his fate:
“Success is just a combination of luck and persistence.
The difference between me and somebody else who doesn’t
make it is that I stuck it out. You can’t be discouraged
by failure - that alone weeds a lot of people out. They
may be talented, but if they haven’t the heart to endure
some knocks they’ll never make it.”
Relevant sites:
Badly
Drawn Boy - Official Site
Twisted
Nerve
Tom
Rothrock
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