'I'm just a punk rocker with an electric organ.'
Clint Boon, the man responsible
for the distinctive organ sound of the Inspiral Carpets
was born in Oldham, Lancashire in 1959. 'It was a nice place to
grow up through the 1960s and 1970s. Quite a 'warm' town in its
character back then. I remember it being a friendly, typically Northern
English working class town. The fact that it welcomed thousands
of people from overseas during the cotton boom was always one of
my favourite things about the town. Still is. Very symbolic of the
warm nature of its townfolk.'
Like many kids in the 1960s, Boon grew up on a diet
of Radio Luxembourg and Radio 1. He would also regularly dip into
a box of 7" singles on the counter of his parents' corner shop
in Higginshaw. 'They sold all sorts of groceries and stuff. They
had a box of 45rpm singles on the counter. The first single I bought
with my own money was 'ABC' by the Jackson 5. I bought it from Ma
Dobson's on Oldham Market. My first album was Rock Around The
Clock by Bill Haley & The Comets from Woolworths in Shaw.
It was a re-issue. Bought it around 1970/71'.
'It's all been a very happy accident really,' says
Boon of his embracing the Farfisa organ without which the Inspirals
just wouldn't have been the same. 'After being inspired by the punk
rock scene in 1976 / 77, I started collecting bits and pieces of
instruments and recording equipment. The Farfisa organ which became
the trademark Inspirals sound was one of many things I got hold
of – this would have been around 1984 – without actually
having any idea of where I was going with it all. I never set out
to be a keyboard player and have never tried to learn how to play.
I'm just a punk rocker with an electric organ.'
'Through the early 1980s, Oldham had an amazing
live music scene which I totally embraced. Hanging out with, and
working with, the many brilliant bands of that period led directly
to me entering the music industry.'
Boon set up a small rehearsal and recording studio
in Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, and one of the bands
that booked time to record a demo was a band from Oldham. That band
was Inspiral Carpets. 'They were unknown at the time. I recorded
a couple of demos, fell in love with their sound and joined soon
after. They were quite punky. I thought that my Farfisa would make
them into a great psychedelic garage band.' After some personnel
changes, the end result of the classic Inspirals line-up was a hugely
original sound, with catchy hooks courtesy of Boon's organ, distinctly
intelligent vocals from Tom Hingley, grinding bass
rhythms from Martyn Walsh (allegedly the band's
thirteenth bass player), pounding drums from Craig Gill
and snarling punk-friendly guitars from Graham Lambert.
'I realised at the time that we were one of the
'big three' bands,' says Boon of the Inspiral Carpets' association
with the late-80s Madchester movement. 'Us, Happy Mondays, The Stone
Roses. That's the way it was for a while. James and the Charlatans
gained their success sometime after the initial 'explosion'. I enjoyed
being part of it all even though I knew at the time we were quite
different. We weren't party animals and we didn’t celebrate
or subscribe to drug culture. We gained a reputation for being great
songwriters and great businessmen.'
'They're my favourite British record label,' is
how Boon describes Daniel Miller's Mute
Records, who the band signed with in time for the release
of their debut album, 1990's Life, after some initial releases
on Playtime and the band's own Cow imprint. 'All the major labels
at the time were desperate to sign us. We could have gone anywhere
and demanded anything. We signed with Mute because they were entirely
independent and had a very eclectic roster, from Diamanda
Galas to Depeche Mode. Weird German stuff,
Erasure, Mark Stewart, Wire.
We believed they'd never try and mess with our chemistry and we
were right. Signing to Mute gave us years and years to develop at
our own pace. To this day, we have no legal ties to Mute Records
but it’s still the label we turn to when we want to release
records.'
'That's the hardest question I ever get asked. It's
like asking a father of forty kids to pick his favourite kid,' is
how Boon, father to a comparatively small five kids, responds to
me asking about his favourite song from the Inspirals back catalogue.
'Of the ones I wrote, 'Sackville', 'This is How It Feels', 'Joe',
'Saturn 5', 'Plutoman', 'Just Wednesday'. All beautiful children
who've never let me down.'
I explain to Boon that, for me, 1994's Devil
Hopping is a brilliant, if dark, album and that I recalled
reading a quote from one of the band at the time that Mute thought
it was 'too dark'. The record would prove to be their last album.
'As far as I remember, the band, the producer [Pascal
Gabriel] and Mute were all very satisfied with Devil
Hopping and its reception,' Boon explains. 'The demos for what
would have been our fifth studio album didn't set the world alight.
My memory of the band at the time was… probably fatigued and
lacking any real creative direction. We should have took a break
sooner. Daniel Miller heard the demos and pretty much declared that
he thought he and the label had taken us as far as they could. There
was absolutely no animosity between the Inspirals and Mute. We decided
to split the band, very amicably, soon after. May 1995 I think.'
Following the Inspirals splitting, Boon went on
to form The Clint Boon Experience, releasing two
acclaimed albums, The Compact Guide To Pop Music And Space Travel
in 1999 and Life In Transition in 2000. The ever-busy Boon
also made a brief cameo in Twenty-Four Hour Party People,
set up a record label (Booney Tunes, of course), provided voice-overs
for kid's TV cartoon Enjie Benjy and now presents the Drivetime
show on Xfm.
Before the interview concludes I remember reading
in the NME that Boon had once electrocuted himself while playing
his Farfisa. It seemed like too good an opportunity to not ask him
about it. 'It was during a rehearsal. I think it was a loose wire.
I felt slight tingles as I touched the keyboard, my bar stool and
my microphone stand. When I touched my lips on the mic and held
onto the stool at the same time, the lights went out. I woke up
on the floor screaming obscenities. I was the girl in The Exorcist
for five minutes.'
Still cool as fuck.
|
