is imbued with all kinds of political themes and sexual politics. People should be less worried about flogging tons of records and should be a bit more interested in making things that are important and radically new.” A lot of new bands now label themselves as ‘post-punk’. The original post-punk era was very varied and experimental. Is there a danger that the term has been cheapened with a lot of copycat bands? The original post-punk era was varied, as you say, incorporating Gang of Four at one end and Joy Division at the other. Perhap it does sometimes seem as if Gang of Four is taken as a blueprint for how you should go about music now. Even though the way we discover new music has changed there is still that obsessive collectability factor out there and anniversary deluxe editions of classic albums are all the rage. Are there any unreleased gems, or even footage in the archives that may see the light of day in a 40th anniversary edition of Entertainment!? I really haven’t thought about any anniversary edition of Entertainment!, but it sounds like a good idea. I’m up for it! Planes and rockets and everything would go faster and faster and further and further; we had been to the moon and shortly we would be inhabiting other planets. Society would become more liberal and progressive — prejudices would slowly disappear as we understood each other better. Women would be treated equally to men and be paid the same, racism would disappear... We now know that history is not a process by which the world inevitably gets better and better and we were wrong to imagine that that would be the way it would go. The world goes round in circles, or sideways. Things go backwards as much as they go forwards. What were the highlights for you of that early period? I remember the two nights we did at the Hammersmith Palais in the early 80s with Alexi Sale as our support act. Good nights! A few of the standout “interesting” events would be getting thrown off BBC’s Top of the Pops for using the word “rubbers” (a lyric in debut single “At home he feels like a tourist”) and having our single “I Love a Man in a Uniform” banned from the BBC as
British troops went into the Falklands to do battle with the Argentinian troops. It was also a much more lively time politically — Gang of Four was very prominent in rock against racism activities, rock against sexism, and at anti-Nazi league rallies as Britain began to embrace multiculturalism. It’s an important year politically for the UK (and beyond). Do you think there should be more of a focus on politics in modern music? Do you think newer, up-and-coming bands are reluctant to do this? It does seem like new bands are less inclined to be involved with anything to do with politics. I think people are possibly afraid they might end up boring the audience. I sometimes think these things are rather fashion-led, and politics is not “in fashion” It’s different now, and the political agenda has moved on. It’s a less straightforwardly polarised world now than it was in the late 70s early 80s. I really like Sleater- Kinney — obviously not a brand-new band but still comparatively young and their music and approach
www.gangoffour.co.uk 40 www.fourculture.com
So it isn’t something you have considered? Do you prefer to look forwards? Well I do prefer to look forward and to get on with things in the present and the future, but I have also been involved in putting together compilations. For example, the Rhino special retrospective edition which is called 100 Flowers Bloom was put together entirely by me including doing the artwork, helping put the booklet together and sourcing photographs and so on. So what influences you now? How have your musical influences changed since the late 70s (if at all)? I listen to a lot of different music and I am often exploring what other people are doing, and some records get me quite excited. So all of those things feed into what I do when I’m constructing new material. But also other stuff keeps coming into the cultural soup, swirling around me, like reading the books Dead Souls and Moby Dick in the last couple of years and pinching quite a few phrases. Other influences: things you hear on the telly, catchphrases from adverts — all the same kind of things which informed Gang of Four’s writing back in the day.