MUSIC BLOG- Tim Burgess Interview

Tim Burgess (frontman for the Charlatans) cannot help but radiate positive-energy and hope during a covid-ridden state, with his lockdown project taking off he has a lot of say about his listening parties. With his listening parties starting in March he feels as if they gave people a lot of enjoyment listening through the Charlatans albums that it quickly expanded. Tim jokes about going through his phone book with special mentions of Bonehead (Oasis), Alex (Franz Ferdinad) and Dave Roundtree (Blur) being some of the guests on the listening parties. With covid sweeping the nation the listening parties were Tim’s way of “helping people feel more connected” through this isolating experience. More and more people were getting back in touch with the art of an album, something Tim feels has disappeared in the wake of playlists.

Burgess shares some of his favourite memories from his younger days being only seventeen when he travelled the country to follow New Order. “Blue Monday was the song that changed it all” for Tim, New Order showed him that it was a “lifestyle as well as the music”. He remembers arriving in London seven hours to see them preform. Even now he still follows the band seeing them two years ago at Electric Picnic! Burgess also loving Iggy Pop performing at a festival with Iggy Pop “who ran up to me and gave me a noogie on the head”!

Before running out of his “phone book” he took to using twitter to get the “young bands” involved and showcasing some of his favourite bands that his followers weren’t aware of. With a whopping 600 bands having appeared on the show his favourites include “New Order, Bonehead (Oasis) and Spandau Ballet”, a surprising entry from Burgess as he admits to never being a fan back in the day.

Tim emphasises how “grateful he is to all the bands” that have helped him create his listening parties and reflects on his roots in Salford. Tim Burgess clearly draws a lot of influence from his surrounding and pours it into his music. He reflects that he named his song 9 Achre Court with the Charlatans on the street where his best friend use to live. Location provides a clear style through Tim’s music as he mentions writing his album ‘I Believe’ (2003) in Los Angeles and wanting to stay in that world, which Tim felt at home in. Compared to his new album ‘I Love The New Sky’ (2020), which was written in the woods near the beach in Norfolk he feels that his new album is a “reflection of him now”, quite contrasting to the old style present in ‘I Believe’.

Releasing ‘I Love The New Sky’ with the Coronavirus outbreak was a very different experience than Burgess has had in the past with an album release. “I expected to promote the album through his live concerts”, which he spent a lot of time arranging a band for. Burgess got to perform only five shows before covid hit, “one of which was a filmed live stream from New York” which provided some exposure online. If Coronavirus hadn’t hit Tim would’ve been performing through to September. Instead the listening parties have made people more aware of his new album, he feels it’s hard to know how things would’ve went without covid, appreciating the “exposure is not the kind he expected”.

Track 8 on ‘I Love the New Sky’ is his self-titled song Timothy in which he talks to himself about the concerns of fame, he found a fun and reflective song to write. Burgess explains how when talking about the song he has realised his perception of himself differs from other people’s opinions. Although it was a cathartic experience for Burgess, he admits the song isn’t a fully authentic reflection confessing he added some fiction to “keep it interesting for his listeners”!

He found lockdown hard when he felt he “couldn’t find inspiration around” until he got more into his groove and found some inspiration in nature and the sea. He also jokes about how he is not a teacher, as he struggled to teach his seven-year-old throughout. He advises artist to keep going because “out of tough situations great music come along with it”, and to “keep believing” despite everything. Believing there will be a “cultural boom” once Coronavirus has passed, with artists needed to get through tough circumstances like this one. Live streaming has becoming a necessity, but Burgess doesn’t doubt it will continue, as for the listening parties he sees them continuing with a less intense scale to what Burgess has produced (three a day, five to eight on the weekend, wow). Although he might still be too busy to take on DJing livestreams at the moment…

“Music has kept me sane” during his lockdown and going back and appreciating albums has been a big part of it for himself, and for all of his listening party listeners! Tim’s favourite releases were ‘Good Songs For Bad People’ by Drab City and a Vienna artist with great song writing- Sofie with her release of ‘Cult Survivor’!