Tue 20 May
IPO Festival
The Cavern Club, Liverpool
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Alun Parry Blog
Extended Alun Parry Interview by Sandra Gibson
An abridged version of this interview was published recently by the NERVE magazine website. Here is the full interview, by North West writer and biographer Sandra Gibson.
Interview with Alun Parry
By Sandra Gibson.
Alun Parry is acknowledged as one of Liverpool's leading acoustic based performers and songwriters. His albums Corridors of Stone and Liverpool 800 and his work to promote live music have received widespread critical acclaim. In this abridged version of a recent interview Parry speaks about the values that underpin his work.
'True Love of Mine.'
The title song on your latest album is a passionate love song to the city. What does it mean to love Liverpool?
I was born in Liverpool as were both my parents although there is some Welsh ancestry (railway men somewhere along the line!) But I was named Alun spelt with a 'u' for another reason: after a Liverpool centre-forward called Alun Evans.
Liverpool feels like home; I can only go on holiday for four days and I get homesick; I want to be tethered back to here. It might be more to do with me than the city but I do get homesick. Things don't feel atomised here - there's a village feel about it. It's simple - it feels like a good place to be and I like the sense of solidarity.
Liverpool people have long been associated with this - we help one another out; we stick together; we're politically bloody-minded. In the Thatcherite mid Eighties - a time of economic disaster for the city - Liverpool and Everton were playing in the F.A. Cup Final at Wembley. But it was the call of "Merseyside!" that went round the stadium. Any partisan feelings about individual teams were subsumed in the defiant roar of being from Liverpool.
We have a deep sense of pride and we defend our reputation. I remember people being concerned about Carla Lane's Bread - did it show Liverpudlians in a poor light?
I remember this ambassadorial imperative from a very early age. Family holidays were taken in Blackpool. "Behave. You're not in Liverpool but you're from Liverpool," my mother would say.
The Eighties was a bad time for the city - it was torn apart by the demise of industry; unemployment was plotted on a sort of weather map that showed how many jobs were lost. This was documented by Alan Bleasdale's Boys from the Blackstuff, of course, which showed the effects of it on individual working people with great compassion and some humour. [Incidentally, Alan Bleasdale's brother fixed my boiler - how about that for a song title?]
I'm proud of Liverpool because my heart and the heart of the city seem to beat to the same rhythm. I have a strong value system and a certain positivity in adversity, which I feel Liverpool broadly shares.
At the same time I would want to distance myself from ideas of superiority or any sense of 'Scouse nationalism'. The grotesqueness of self superiority, coupled with the idea that birthplace and 'heritage' are the issue of overwhelming importance, is a credo I find revulsion for.
In actual fact, some of my favourite 'Scousers' were not born here. For instance, I have a framed photograph of Bill Shankly on my living room wall. He was born in Glenbuck, but you couldn't find a more prototype Scouser if you scoured every inch of Liverpool!!
In a Liverpool Echo feature [August 23rd 2007] you were listed number 26 in '100 Reasons Why Liverpool is Great.' Just as you embrace Liverpool, do you think Liverpool has embraced you?
I was delighted about it but it's not something I'd talk about much. I'm pretty modest and self deprecating and I would never muse that Liverpool has embraced me. I have to report it on my website because it's important that people take me seriously as a musician, even though I hate all that stuff! But yes I was made up to see my name in that list I'll admit it!!
'Read the buildings and you'll see.'
With the recent opening of the new Liverpool International Slavery Museum in the year that marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery there has been a lot of publicity about this part of Liverpool's history and one of the songs on the new CD addresses the issue. What are your thoughts and how do Liverpool people in general deal with this?
Eric Lynch, a black man in his seventies does tours of the waterfront - I've been a few times (www.slaveryhistorytours.com). I didn't know 95% of what he told me about slavery. 'Read the buildings and you'll see,' he says and when you look at the carvings on the buildings you start to understand, and there are similar carvings in other places associated with the slave trade such as Bristol.
I think most Liverpudlians are not pleased that this is part of the city's history. I am ashamed of the involvement with slavery but most people don't think about it too specifically. That's why Eric's tours and the Slavery Museum are important: they keep the issue visible. Some people want the 'grotesque' carvings of the manacled slaves that my song refers to removed. I don't agree with this; people need to see what happened.
Do you think slavery arose out of the mentality that categorises people so that in extreme cases human beings become cargo?
I'd say it goes deeper than that. It's not so much that we have a mentality to categorise. After all, we had that before slavery. I'd say that in analysing any society one has to look at its economic make up. Ideas do not come from nowhere. They come from material reality. They come from economic reality. The prevailing ideology is the ideology of those who own society in my view. They create ideologies which justify those things that maintain their power. Slavery was justified by creating ideologies of racial superiority just as the ludicrous idea of a king's divine right to rule was an ideology created to justify what kept the king in power.
In turn the ideas of meritocracy that ultimately overthrew divine right resulted from the economic power that the merchants were beginning to accumulate. The economically powerful sought political power to go with it. So racism did not come from a mere urge to categorise, in my view; it arose from the prevailing economic imperatives and from greed.
The song Under Neptune's Hand was written as a result of seeing the carving of two naked black children manacled back to back with Neptune pushing them down. It's my way of keeping it visible.
Incidentally the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine arose out of the desire of the slave traders to protect and conserve their 'property'. Knowledge and expertise in the treatment of such diseases was developed not out of a sense of compassion so much as economic self interest.
'For I see a world that is owned by the few.'
Some of your songs have a strong political content, dealing as they do with the work conditions of ordinary working people[My Granddad was a Docker] and more contemporary issues of immigration and asylum seeking [I Want Rosa to Stay]. Could you say something about this?
I used to be in the Labour Party; you could say I was on the 'soft left' of the party. I believed you had to go through the political machinery to get in power and then you could effect changes. I don't believe that anymore and left the Labour Party in 1995.
I would call myself extra-parliamentary. I believe the biggest power we have is social power. They can frame a law but if ordinary people won't go along with it they're powerless. Changing things is a ponderous parliamentary process; there are simpler means; there are more direct means.
When the issue of BNP flyers being delivered with the post at election time arose there was a call to change the law. But all that was needed was for the postal workers to refuse to deliver them. People have enormous social power to say no and I believe in the power of ordinary people to affect change. I don't believe this in a romantic sense; I 'm speaking practicalities. This is the best way of effecting change. This belief in the power and ability of people is a recurring theme in my work, my music, my politics, and my approach to DIY music.
In terms of a value system I would say that Liverpool is of the left. But I resonate with that. If you talk of certain issues in Liverpool you'll be understood. There's a long history of working class struggle in Liverpool and the song about my granddad celebrates that. People like him built the city just as surely as anybody else did. 'With hand and brain together he helped to build this town'.
To what extent do you walk your talk?
I don't just sing about political issues. My politics has been active too, particularly in the immigration issue. The Labour government began imprisoning asylum seekers in local jails a couple of years ago. This was before they built their horrible detention centres and many of them were in my local prison: HMP Walton.
I founded, along with some colleagues, an action group called Merseyside Against Detention which campaigned against this, holding several demos at the prison, getting a double page spread in the Liverpool Echo, and ensuring it was the front page story in the Independent on Sunday. In addition, we used to go into the prison regularly and campaign on behalf of the detainees held there.
This is some of the background to my motivation for writing I Want Rosa to Stay. The song celebrates those positive attributes that immigrants have to offer at the same time that it challenges the dodgy economic arguments against their presence: 'Rich men in mansions say that's why I'm poor/But I don't remember being wealthy before,' and the cynical deflection of attention away from the inadequacies of the status quo onto a scapegoat.
I'd have to add that my time to devote to politics is oddly much less now I'm a full-time musician. I know it seems like there's no work involved but I typically do 12 to 14 hour days given that I do everything myself. So there's less time for direct involvement in politics.
However, I'd say that my political motivations are directed at the industry that I'm in now in terms of my anti-establishment approach, plus I'm always happy to play for free for any cause I broadly agree with e.g. the recent peace festival, or anti fascist gigs, or organising gigs in favour of campaign groups such as the National Coalition of Anti Deportation Campaign' etc and in defence of trades unionists on strike.
But I would maintain that the lack of deference to authority which imbues my songs is there in the people of Liverpool and is a positive attribute. Authority has to be justified and challenging it arises from and also feeds a cultural and political vibrancy in the people. Independently minded people are likely to be open-minded people, less easily manipulated. Many people, including myself have accused the Culture Company of trying to impose culture from above. It just doesn't work: to be alive it has to come from the roots up.
'Don't just sign the petition.'
I notice from your blogs that you have a direct, concise, journalistic style.
I have some tenuous connection with political journalism in that I used to work as a volunteer on Labournet - a site that arose as a result of the dockers' dispute. We used the net to disseminate information on a global scale: looking at media coverage from a worker's point of view.
I am a qualified computer programmer. If I wasn't doing music I'd be either teaching or writing the back end of web sites. So I already had those skills, which is why I stepped in to help run the site and I used to do reports of meetings and demos myself.
It was the sort of stuff that doesn't otherwise get an airing and it was immediate - the photos and reports were all up there the same day. It was bottom-up reporting - ordinary people telling their stories without relying on Murdoch or the BBC. Labournet remains a vital resource for labour movement news.
'The listener decides.'
It appears you have some radical views with regard to the economics of the music business: Buskernomics and Performer-Friendly Venues to mention just a couple.
My campaign to highlight music friendly venues has the support of Echo music writer Jade Wright who is publicising it on her blog. Information will be collated and there will be a free on-line directory of such venues. I hope to encourage a self-reliant method of getting gigs, showing, for example, where musicians can stage their own gigs without unfair room hire charges.
I'm also encouraging people to let me know which venues actually pay something for the services of musicians even if it's only a percentage of the bar tab to keep it risk free for them. I've never understood why, if I'm bringing in a load of fans to listen to my music and spend money over the bar I'm also expected to pay a lot of money to hire a room that would otherwise be empty.
I don't mind if there is a good P.A. and an in-house engineer; I can see what it is I'm paying for then. But if I'm providing the P.A. and the engineer and doing the promotion and booking the support bands and bringing in lots of trade for their bars I don't see why I should be charged.
I'm also unimpressed by the allure of the big venue in and of itself. My approach to what I do is to start at the bottom and build up from that. I don't seek approval from anybody and I'm not interested in performing at prestigious venues just for the kudos. There has to be other reasons. The performer still has to do all the promoting after all; the fans have to pay prices that reflect the status of the venue and they've come to see you, not the venue. If they're fans they'll come to see you whatever the venue. Yet performers queue up to play the famous places.
There's nothing wrong with playing a major venue of course, and they have a lot of expertise in terms of sound quality etc, but I would encourage musicians to think about whether they could get a better deal by staging the night themselves somewhere less prestigious rather than automatically following the standard route.
I like to have more power over where I play; I like to negotiate the deals personally; I like to select the support acts carefully. If I have this control I get a better deal and the people I perform with benefit as well. My aim is to fill a room with an audience and a stage with good musicians. If you have four acts, say, you give some variety and then there's the possibility of cross-fertilisation and networking - musical and social.
Buskernomics is an idea that evolved from my experiences as a busker - I am a former Merseyside Busker of the Year and during my time busking I learnt a lot about music and people. For example, if they like your music they'll let you know, either by nodding or smiling or by putting money into the hat. I didn't stand in a sound proof box and charge people to enter and hear my music. The music was out there and freely available. The key thing is that people are free to decide; if they want to pay anything they can. And they did.
I'm not a busker any more but I have applied this philosophy to my present circumstances. My albums are conventionally available in the shops with a price marked on them. But on my site I'm doing things differently: I'm making my music freely available there, just as I did on Bold Street.
People can download all my music completely free from my site. At the same time, there is an option to pay as well; people can still put money into my 'busker's hat' and they can decide how much. It's a revolutionary new philosophy and it goes against the trend of trying to sue kids for downloading music off the internet. Vive la revolution!
You've talked about DIY music promotion. How did you develop it?
You can't get much more DIY than my musical origins- I wrote songs as a kid then became a busker! I had to borrow my uncle's classical guitar but I soon bought my own out of the proceeds. I was probably terrible - I'd taught myself out of a book. It gave me a taste of self-reliance and showed me how to read an audience. When I was at University reading politics I got myself a few gigs through my political activities.
I've had my ups and downs and I actually lost my bottle for a while. I was performing at the Playhouse - one of a variety of acts. 'Snowy' out of Boys from the Black Stuff was also on as part of a dramatic duo. He was throwing up because of nerves (at least I think it was because of nerves!). This must have resonated with some of the feelings I was having and I thought to myself - it doesn't get any easier then! The 'before' bit of any performance could be awful and I lost some of my inclination.
I am happily nerveless these days (though this was something I was to encounter again when I went into lecturing). However, I felt rather miserable not to be performing so I gradually got back into it in a very unstructured way - playing at open mic. venues and so on. I realised that there was such thing as an 'important' make or break gig and this helped. After all, I've done radio shows and raised my musical profile often to find that it makes little change to my CD sales which remain steady either way. Fans are won one by one in my view.
Artistically speaking I prefer to perform my own songs. I don't like doing covers, but excusing the crudity of the language, I think every artist has to be part artist and part whore. I could never imagine me doing covers full time but as an aside now and then to make the wages up - then it can be fun. Like I say - it's a lot better than going down the mine isn't it?
Things became less haphazard when I met Sharon Dobson. She had an aptitude for sales and a love of music. She also had a contact with a Manchester venue. So, in seeking to combine these three elements she found me and promoted me.
I did three or four gigs at this restaurant/bar but it was really soul-destroying trying to pitch it. People were either out with friends and family wanting to eat and talk with music playing in the background, not too obtrusively, or they were drinking and loud at the bar. The only thing that raised my spirits was when a demented old man came and danced and responded - this had a bit of a knock-on effect energy-wise. But it had no future as a venue for me.
It wasn't so much the lack of control; it was that I knew I wanted to be performing my own music because I had some faith in the idea that people may enjoy it and I also believe that failure is better than not trying because at least failure gives a definitive answer to the question: what if?
But I had invested in equipment and decided to get the use out of it. I was offered a room once a month at The Pilgrim - just by Hardman Street and I took charge of things. I wanted the room full of people performing and an audience whom I didn't charge.
I organised everything myself: four acts (including myself) for exposure, networking and musical cross-fertilization. I called it Second Tuesday then we changed it to Friday. It worked.
The Pilgrim was replaced by The Casa as my monthly venue. It was bigger; it was associated with the dockers and to that extent my decision was also a political one. The Casa, 29 Hope Street, is part of the Initiative Factory charitable trust set up by sacked dockers to further the aspirations of those involved in the industrial dispute that ended in 1998. It had lasted 850 days and gained support from workers all over the world who upheld the view that you don't cross a picket line.
Corridors of Stone was sponsored by The Casa Bar. I recently held an alternative Liverpool 800th Birthday party at the Casa to launch my latest CD and to celebrate some of the best local acoustic talent.
My self confidence can be a bit yes and no and there were moments as I was putting my band together when I wondered why anyone would want to play music with me.
I was more confident in my singer-songwriter role. I felt I had more control and never hesitated to throw songs away if they weren't good enough. I remember receiving an e-mail from someone in New Zealand who asked me if I was the Alun Parry who had played in a pub in Pilgrim Street and sung about a rainbow and a crock of gold. It was me! But I'd binned the song he had mentioned; it wasn't good enough.
I actually love being in a band, but the reason I do music is to get my songs out there so the band is not a traditional 'lets find our sound band.' I have my sound from my days as a solo artist i.e. up to November 2006. I now want people to add to that sound rather than create a new one.
If I have to do other people's music I may as well do covers again and get paid for it. I've tried being in the 'typical' type of band and it just doesn't work for me because I stop getting from performing what I want to get from it. Then I just go back to being solo again, I suppose.
I don't want to be in a band where we all collaborate on the writing. I would hate to have to argue about other people's work not being up to scratch, and not coming up to the standards I'd demand of myself. So I don't do that. This way works best.
What's happening now?
My latest venture is to try to set up a similar arrangement in other cities and towns. I've taken Manchester, Preston, Liverpool, Birmingham, Derby and Leeds and the idea is to do an acoustic night in each of these once every two months at which my band would perform. In addition I search the internet for three acts local to the area I'm in. They have to be acts I like; I'm a big believer in quality control so I never just go on recommendations. I'm also very careful about venues; I don't want someone's night out parking itself at my event!
Out of town musicians are not always too receptive so that has been my main difficulty. There is some wariness from those musicians to this project. By that I mean that people don't seem too keen sharing the bill on a DIY project with an out of town band. I don't know why this is.
I did wonder if Manchester musicians may be failing to respond to a Liverpool musician due to the rivalry between the cities, but then again I've had the same in Preston, and being honest, the petty rivalries that exist between Liverpool and Manchester don't really get in the way of music usually so I doubt if that's the reason anyhow.
Maybe people think "you're just a musician - who are you to offer gigs to someone?"
Apart from that I have a stack load more songs I want to record, so I'll be hoping to bring out a third album sometime in the Summer.
12:57 PM | Permalink
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