INDEX MAGAZINE vol 8, #3
(Feb/Mar 2004)
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Hookend Manor Recording Studios
(2004), photography by Wolfgang Tillmans
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Hookend Manor Recording Studios
(2004), photography by Wolfgang Tillmans
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Hookend Manor Recording Studios
(2004), photography by Wolfgang Tillmans
|
Hookend Manor Recording Studios
(2004), photography by Wolfgang Tillmans
|
Hookend Manor Recording Studios
(2004), photography by Wolfgang Tillmans
|
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INDEX MAGAZINE vol 8, #3 (Feb/Mar 2004)
$5.95
www.indexmagazine.com
"Morrissey" (8 pgs)
writer:
photo:
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Tim Goldsworthy/James Murphy
Wolfgang Tillmans
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Transcribed by Vu.
Interviewers James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy are the cofounders of the New York record label DFA. Their bass-heavy disco-rock sound has attracted such bands as the Rapture and the Juan Maclean to their young, yet increasingly acclaimed label. Late last year, James and Tim made a pilgrimage to the Elizabethan manor house-turned-recordings studio in the Oxfordshire countryside where the master was working on a new album.
JAMES: What made you want to make music rather than listen to it?
MORRISSEY: Well, I was always obsessed by pop music. Not rock or progressive or any other kind of music, only pop. I was a very quiet, shy teenager, and I never knew people who performed. So it was confusing, because although I loved music, I couldn't really see myself playing it.
JAMES: Did you have any role models?
MORRISSEY: Not really. I was simply obsessed with the singing voice, and fascinated by singers who stood alone with their microphone on their stage, just belting it out. When you open your mouth and sing on stage, it's so intense - to dress up, to look into people's eyes and say words that hopefully help. But most successful singers in pop music can't sing.
JAMES: There are technically good people - the Christina Aguileras - but they oversing.
MORRISSEY: They make a meal of every note - they chew it to pieces. That's not singing.
JAMES: The first time you sang in front of people did it feel strange?
MORRISSEY: well, the first time I ever sang I was auditioning for two groups in Manchester, both of whom refused to accept me. I'm happy they didn't, because it wasn't meant to be. But the first time I sang in front of an audience, it felt absolutely right. Even though my voice isn't technically brilliant, I just feel so good when I sing live.
JAMES: Better than in the studio?
MORRISEY: Yes, because singing on stage is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. You can't say to the audience, "Oh, I'm sorry, let's try that again."
TIM: Do you ever need to get away from music?
MORRISSEY: No, I listen to music all the time. In the car, in the bath - which is the best place to listen to music - before I go to bed. I never stop listening to random bits and pieces very obscure collections.
TIM: What have you been listening to lately?
MORRISSEY: Right now, I'm just obsessed with Jobriath. He was a singer who released two glam rock albums in '73 and '74, recorded in New York. At the time, the press either ridiculed him or didn't bother to write about him at all. He died in obscurity in the '80s. I've been through all his archives, and I've just compiled a best-of, which is being released by Rhino Handmade.
[ Read more Index Magazine (Feb/Mar 2004) ]
