Freeheat is Jim Reid and Ben Lurie’s post Jesus And Mary Chain band - rounded out with Nick Sanderson (Earl Brutus) and Romi Mori (the Gun Club). With the The Jesus And Mary Chain back in the news - their Coachella Festival appearance on April 27th as well as Sister Vanilla’s “Little Pop Rock” (Chemikal Underground) release on April 2 - You may have missed Freeheat’s 17 track Live/Studio LP “Back On The Water.”(Planting Seeds) - Ben Lurie discusses the past, JAMC, Freeheat, SV, and the future…
How old were you when you starting playing guitar? Was it the first instrument you learned to play?
10 years old, possibly nine, but I’m thinking 10. Previous to the guitar I had an earlier flirtation with the recorder but it just didn’t do it for me and I soon lost interest having only mastered one tune, the timeless classic Mary Had A Little Lamb.
What artists or albums were most influential while you were learning?
Well my favourite band was The Police but I was a little too fumble-fingered in my early guitar days to tackle that stuff (but thrilled to discover a couple of years later that most of their songs only had a couple of chords, albeit sometimes a couple of jazzy ones).
What events led to your joining the Reid brothers and replacing Dave Evans in the Jesus And Mary Chain?
I had moved to London and was working at Rough Trade Records whose owner Geoff Travis also ran the Blanco y Negro label to who the Mary Chain were signed. Geoff’s assistant Jeannette knew that I was wanting to join a band and told me that the JAMC were auditioning. I went along, behaved in a completely uncool manner, told them I thought Nick Cave was funny (come on, he is), and that my favourite bands were The Police and The Smiths. Somehow I got the job, one tour led to another, and they eventually asked me to make records with them.
What is your fondest memory of your time spent with the band?
Every time I conjure up some good memory I suddenly remember some incident to cloud it. There were certainly a lot of ups and downs. This might not be the fondest but it’s a good one: Being taken to Dan Tanna’s in LA back in 1994. We apparently just missed Keith Richard’s but James Woods was there. Also on that trip Johnny Depp joined us in our booth at his club The Viper Room and gave us a tray of mini chocolate donuts which Hope (from Mazzy Star) later conjected were symbolic of assholes. Ahh, merry times.
If you were asked to introduce someone who was unfamiliar with JAMC, what album would suggest?! What three songs?
This is a tough one, even nearly a decade later I feel like I’m too close to it to make a balanced choice. However, I have just conferred with my wife and she picked Munki which is what I was going to pick (honest), so Munki it is. I think on this album we had mastered the art of recording, we were in control in the studio and we had a kick- ass band, specifically having Nick Sanderson on drums made this album rock. Dick Meaney who had engineered most of Stoned & Dethroned was fantastic at getting sounds down on tape. And I love the songs. If I had to pick three at the moment I’d choose “Cracking Up”, “Virtually Unreal” and “Man on the Moon”.
If you were asking for three songs across all albums to introduce someone to the band I’d pick “Everything Is Alright When You’re Down”, “Sugar Ray” and “April Skies”.
And of course 21 Singles would be kind of a good introduction but I thought it would be a bit of a cheat to choose a compilation.
What should our readers know about Freeheat?
All they really need to know is where to get there hot little hands on what has been described in certain circles as the most amazing record of 2006, Back On The Water. A quick trip to the Planting Seeds site will sort them out (and a side trip to the Freeheat website might also be informative).
Tell us about your involvement with Sister Vanilla.
Back in about 1998 Jim told me that he and William had had an idea to record some tunes for Linda to sing after her track on Munki, “Mo Tucker”, had turned out so well. Jim asked if I’d like to help which of course I did, also being friends with Linda. As it panned out the whole process took years. Jim and I recorded some stuff with Linda in London, William moved to LA and did most if his songs there, sometimes with Jim joining him, I recorded one of William’s songs in my bedroom in London one Christmas. A lot of stuff happened over a long period and eventually there was an album there. More recently I’ve done the artwork for the project, which leads us to the next question…..
What does the future hold for Ben Lurie? This is your cue to plug something, Ben…use it wisely.
The future holds greatness in the world of graphic design. Somewhere down the line I’d like to make another record but this might just be a pipe dream. Meanwhile I’m really enjoying a change of career. Lots of people have music as a hobby and wish they could make a living from it. Well I’ve taken my design hobby and turned it into a career.
Check the top of our playlist to hear Freeheat’s “Down” and Sister Vanilla’s “Two Of Us”. You can also visit the Freeheat MySpace to hear more songs, including their version of “Two Of Us”.
March 26th, 2007 at 9:08 am
nice
i <3 Ben Lurie and his friends
:P
April 11th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Thanks!