Levellers Interview

Levellers have just completed a 20th anniversary tour and for an ageing band they can still pack an energetic punch live, so much so that they’re packing again to jet off for some summer festivals. Bassist Jeremy spoke to Luke Dennis at their Manchester Apollo gig about kids, the press and dodgy knees.

You’ve been performing for over twenty years now, how do you think your music has evolved since you stated?

“It’s been all over the place, when we were thinking about a set list for today we were listening to some of our old records and there was definitely a fair amount of shit we had to sieve through, but there’s some really good stuff too. At the moment the new stuff we’re doing is more like the very first demos we did; that’s been a reaction to the last album we did which was far too polished and poppy. So the new album sounds much like one of our early live performances. We recorded virtually all of it live and it was mixed by the Smashing Pumpkins producer, so it’s definitely ‘in your face’.”

What’s been your highlight of your musical career?

“When we first started our aim was to sell out our local pub, ‘The Richmond’ in Brighton. After six months we had people trying to climb in through the windows with ladders, so we succeeded with that. Also, our first time playing at Glasto; then headlining Glasto, and Roskilde in Denmark. Our first time playing in the Eastern Bloc just after the revolution is a definite highlight.”

If you could sum up the last twenty years in one word what would that be?

“……Good.”

Considering some of the other band members have kids, has that put a strain on your gigging?

“We don’t usually tell anyone this, but all our gigs are now structured around the school holidays!”

Have you felt yourself becoming more aware of your age?

“Oh yeah, my knees are going, my back’s going; actually my knees have been going since 1993! I’ve been wearing knee braces on stage since then. I look like a mummy underneath my stage clothes. I had to buy these special shoes because I always end up going arse over tit when the stage gets wet!”

What advice would you give a 21 year old graduating from university this year?

“Find yourself something you enjoy doing and do that, unless you’ve got a plan where you can do something which is horrible but you make loads of money and then quit with loads of money and chill out for the rest of your life.
“In terms of being in band, you need to be playing music you wholly believe in, because there’s no guarantee you’re going to get fucking anything from it. Even if you’re the best band in the world, it’s still a matter of being in the right place at the right time, saying the right thing and having the right social conditions around you.
“Personally I went to Art College for five years and when I left I didn’t have a fucking clue what I wanted to do, so I worked in a bakery for a while to save up some money and then went off to Morocco to chill our for three months. When I returned I began to get involved in music and it went from there. Morocco is too fucking hot for me now, I’d just sit there doing fuck all.”

Why has your relationship with the press always been poor?

“Being arty types we wanted everyone to like us but as soon as they stuck the knives in we retaliated, in reality we’ve outlasted all of them anyway. Papers like Student Direct we always get on with; it’s just the mainstream press we have trouble with.”