THE STRANGLERS have released their first studio album for six years.

'Giants' (earMUSIC/Edel) is the band's first since 2006's 'Suite XVI' and the 17th album of their career so far.

Bass player-vocalist JJ BURNEL talks to radio Tangra Mega Rock.

an interview conducted by Nasso Ruskov - LISTEN

SO, WHAT'S UP WITH THE STRANGLERS NOWADAYS?

Well, we've just started a tour in the UK, which is a sell out tour. the Roundhouse was sold out about 3-4 months ago.

We've got an album which is getting the best reviews of the Stranglers career. So things are pretty cool at the moment, I'd say.

I'D SAY THAT LISTENING TO THE NEW ALBUM - 'GIANTS', I PERSONALLY FIND IT TO BE QUITE AN INTERESTING ONE. I CAN HEAR VARIOUS ELEMENTS THROUGHOUT THE ALBUM THAT REMIND ME OF, SAY THE ATMOSPHERICS OF 'FELINE' AT TIMES, BITS OF 'THE RAVEN', THE SORT OF SINISTER FUN FROM STUFF LIKE 'Bear Cage' AND THE 'MENINBLACK' ALBUM, STUFF LIKE THAT...

Well I suppose it's from the same source, isn't it! It's the same bunch of people, relatively.

OK, ARE YOU HAPPY WITH HOW IT'S TURNED OUT, CAUSE THESE DAYS YOU SEEM TO BE TAKING MORE TIME WITH EACH ALBUM?

Well, it might seem like that. It's six years since the last one. But actually a lot of things have happened, because with the success of the last two albums we were offered touring possibilities all over the world and we fulfilled quite a few of those, so that took up a couple of years already.

And then we've only worked on this album about two years on and off, with other things, you know...I go to Japan every year for a few months. And also personal things, like last year my mum got poorly, then died and I was spending an awful lot of time in France, sorting the old in and out.

So things get in the way and it seems like a long time between albums. Also we're not machines and we really don't want to plagiarize ourselves and repeat ourselves, we try to do stuff which is as original as we can make it. 



photo credits: Stuart Steele

I THINK IT'S WELL WORTH THE WAIT, DON'T GET ME WRONG. ALSO, THE ALBUM STARTS WITH AN INSTRUMENTAL, WHICH YOU MAY NOT HAVE DONE SINCE THE 'STRANGLERS IN THE NIGHT' ALBUM IF I RECALL CORRECTLY.

That's right, yeah.

AND SINCE ALL YOUR INSTRUMENTALS HAVE BEEN REALLY GREAT, HAVE YOU ACTUALLY EVER THOUGHT OF A STRANGLERS ALBUM OF JUST INSTRUMENTALS?

Hah! No, we haven't. But that actually came about less by design, more by accident because there was actually gonna be a vocal on that track.

It was about a lady who...you might even know the story.

About 5-6 years ago some woman was at Euston station and got mugged by a couple of professionals who do it on a regular basis. And she chased after one of them, who was running into a ready car and she jumped over the bonnet and they drove back and then drove over her and killed her.

And for them it was just another day at the office, they were a couple of junkies from Camden. I just found it pretty fucking shocking really.

So there was a storyline over it, but when I heard Baz and Dave's instrumentation over it, I just thought it sums it up for me.





PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF THE UK HAVE GOT THIS ROMANTIC NOTION OF CAMDEN. PERSONALLY, I QUITE LIKE IT, I'VE PLAYED THERE MANY TIMES WITH MY BAND, AT THE UNDERWORLD....

Yeah, of course I know the Underworld.

IF SOMEONE WAS AN OUTSIDER, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE CAMDEN TO THEM? WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM TO WATCH OUT FOR?

Well, yeah, exactly. it's funky, it's tribal, it's great, it's colourful. But it's got an undercurrent. There are a lot of junkies there. And junkies need money, so they'll take it off you - it's as simple as that! I'm sure every big city's got stuff like that, but that's an actual specific story, that one.

I THINK I REMEMBER THAT ONE. THERE'S SO MANY THINGS HAPPENING, ESPECIALLY IN A BIG CITY LIKE LONDON. YOU'D BE SURPRISED AT THE KIND OF STUFF THAT HAPPENS OVER HERE IN REMOTE LITTLE VILLAGES...

I'm sure, I'm sure, yeah...

PEOPLE GOING MENTAL WITH AXES AND STUFF...

Hahah, yeah, all over the bloody shop.





GOING BACK TO THE UK PUNK DAYS, THE PUNK CLIQUE, AT LEAST IN PUBLIC, CONSIDERED YOU GUYS TO BE UNCOOL. YOU WERE ALWAYS THE OUTSIDERS IN TERMS OF CREDIBILITY WITH THE PRESS...

Yeah.

BUT LOOK WHERE ALL THOSE "COOL" PUNK BANDS ARE NOW, WHILE THE STRANGLERS ARE STILL GOING STRONG, SELLING OUT EVERY POSSIBLE TOUR AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, RELEASING CRACKING NEW MATERIAL!

There's one easy story behind all that. It's because all those bands, the Clash and the Pistols were coming to see us before they'd formed their bands.

And I remember distinctly one night Joe Strummer crying on my shoulder going: "I wish I had a band like you guys".

And then we had a big falling out in 1976 when the Stranglers, above all the other bands, were called in to represent London, the Ramones were representing New York, it was the American bi-centenary.

A lot of the other bands noses were out of joint, but we were the ones who were chosen. So there was a big punch-up and of course the press took the side of the Pistols and the Clash cause they had trendy clothes and everything.

But they only had a limited shelf-life because they didn't have so much to say in fact and couldn't get on well with each other, whereas we've got on with each other famously for years and we've got something to say. That's my angle on it anyway.

You know, they're all dead and we're not. Even the journalists who were slagging us off are dead, or their papers are dead now, whereas the young journalists coming through now, the 16-17 years old think we're just "it". So who got the last laugh in the end?


 


photo credits: David Boni

AFTER YOUR DIFFICULT PATCH IN THE 90S, AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY EVERYONE'S SAYING YOU'RE A NATIONAL TREASURE AND THE STRANGLERS ARE ACTUALLY FUCKING LEGENDARY NOW...I REMEMBER YOU WERE EVEN BACK ON TOP OF THE POPS WHEN 'NORFOLK COAST' CAME OUT...

Yeah, well it's a bit like the French Resistance. Suddenly everyone was in the French Resistance! If that was the case, France would have been freed much sooner.

As soon as it's cool to say so, they do. It's a bit like with the Stranglers. "Oh yeah, I've always liked the Stranglers, since the beginning!"

YEAH, IT'S A BIT LIKE ALL THOSE CHELSEA FANS SAYING THEY USED TO GO WHEN THEY GOT GATES OF 15,000 - A MILLION OF THEM WENT BACK THEN, APPARENTLY...

Yeah, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

SPEAKING OF GOING STRONG, CAN YOU GIVE US AT LEAST A GLIMMER OF HOPE THAT THIS TOUR AND THE COMING SUMMER FESTIVALS WON'T BE THE LAST EVER STRANGLERS SHOWS?

Well, I hope not. For the last 6-7-8 years I've always been concerned it might be, because of health problems, especially with Jet.

You know, Jet's never been a healthy guy and he's getting old, but he's the oldest swinger in town. It is a concern, but you know, sometimes, I mean we've had to use six different drummers over the course of the Stranglers history, 30 odd years.

Because he hasn't always been the fittest guy. I mean, he's Mr. Rock'n'Roll, he abused his body so badly - you can take it whatever way you want, hahah! He has done it all and in great quantities. So, unfortunately, there's a price to pay. It's rarer for him to go abroad with us nowadays. 

 

photo credits: David Boni

SPEAKING OF GIGS, YOU WERE ANNOUNCED AS THE HEADLINERS OF THE BIGGEST BEACH FESTIVAL IN BULGARIA ABOUT A YEAR OR SO AGO. IT WAS CONFIRMED, THEN GOT CANCELLED. CAN YOU TELL US WHAT HAPPENED?
What we heard was that the council had revoked licences. And we were seriously looking forward to that show.

At this stage in our game it's great for us to find new experiences, we're always open to new experiences. Having never been to Bulgaria before, we were really looking forward to it.

HMM...CAUSE WHAT WE GOT HERE FROM CERTAIN "SOURCES" WAS THAT "JJ HAS THIS GOOD FRIEND OF HIS WHO'S GETTING MARRIED ON THAT PARTICULAR DAY IN FRANCE, SO HE'S JUST SAID HE CAN'T DO THE GIG...WHICH I THOUGH WAS A LOAD OF BOLLOCKS, WEREN'T IT?
It WAS a complete and utter load of bollocks! I haven't been to a wedding for...well...a few years now. Certainly not in France. And no, that's bollocks.

Anyway, if it was a choice between going to a mate's wedding and going to Bulgaria for the first time, my mate would understand. So it's bollocks!




photo credits: David Boni

I KNEW IT!
IT'S ALSO GOOD TO HEAR DAVE GREENFIELD BACK TO THE FORE OVER THE LAST THREE ALBUMS. I THOUGHT HE SOUNDED A BIT SUBDUED ON THOSE MORE STRIPPED-DOWN 90S RECORDS. IS DAVE ONE OF THE STRANGEST PEOPLE IN ROCK MUSIC?

Well, if he was diagnosed with how he is now, I think he'd be "high-functioning aspergers on the autistic spectrum". Since he's from a generation where they didn't diagnose that kind of problem, they just said he's eccentric.

AND THE MOUSTACHE HELPED.

Well, the moustache, and the pipes and everything. He's just a weird geezer. I've known him for 38 years and I just don't know him. I know how he's gonna react however, in any given situation, he's just odd.

WE'LL BE DOING A STRANGLERS WEEK SOON...
Hopefully that inspires someone to bring us to Bulgaria.

COULD YOU DO A SHIORT SUMMARY OF EACH DECADE FOR US - 70S, 80S, 90S, 21ST CENTURY ETC....

Well, the 1970s was establishing us as a credible unit musically and learning our trade if you like, in the bars and pubs. Learning to flaunt stuff and developing our own identity.

80s was a time of excess, we had huge success and by the end of the 80s we were kind of not enjoying each other's company so much and we kind of lost the plot a bit.

90s - Hugh had left, I lost confidence in myself and in my singing and writing ability, let others take control of it, then come the late 90s I suddenly got a second wind, got rid of Ellis, got Baz in, and then eventually Paul left and it was back to a foursome and that's how really the Stranglers should be, I think.

And at the moment we're all really functioning on all cylinders and it's a sort of second lease of life really and what's interesting is that all the fuck-ups, all the wrong commercial moves, all the bannings, imprisonments, everything, is now seen as a badge of honour, because it's the X-Factor generation now - a place so safe, and what we wrote about is seen as a throwback to a more honest, innocent time.

Also, technically, we've improved.

WELL, I HAVEN'T SEEN A BAD STRANGLERS SHOW, BUT I'VE ONLY SEEN 10. I KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO'VE SEEN ABOUT 2,000...

Hahahahaha!

OK, YOU'RE AN ARSENAL FAN, ME TOO, WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF OUR CHANCES FOR TOP 4 THIS SEASON?

Oh, the Gunners. It's looking a bit precarious. What they do need, I think, is less fanciness and older heads at the back. Like the glorious days of the "Invincibles" with Tony Adams and Lee Dixon and Martin Keown.

We need a bit of British backbone at the back, you know. Some more mature heads at the back.

LISTEN

rights Tangra Mega Rock




photo credits: John McMurtrie