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Sky Ferreira
SS: So do you think that in the current climate it feels like people might be ready for some songs with a little more directness lyrically? JW: I just think that there are things that need to be told, and that’s important. I think it’s pretentious and I would hate to write a song and think ‘Ohh I want everyone to ‘get’ this’. Like if you listen to Coldplay’s lyrics – it’s a bit like when you read your horoscope and you think ‘oh yeah that is happening to me at the moment!’ It’s says something like “you will have romance problems” and you think “yeah! I could totally relate to that.” If you listen to Randy Newman, one of my favourite songwriters, his songs are straightforward. He wrote that song ‘You can leave your hat on’ which is about a guy who takes a prostitute back to his house and he just wants to dance, he doesn’t want to have sex with her... If there is something worth writing about then I think you should just write about it. Don’t cover it up and wonder if everyone’s going to get it. If you listen to ‘God only knows’ by the Beach Boys, which is like the perfect pop song in many respects, it’s so good because the words are so simple – it’s just about missing someone – straight to the point. SS: Do you think music has lost touch with this essence of directness in favour of stylistic indulgence? JW: Maybe. I think I make the kind of music that either people really like or they don’t, because of that directness. When I played at the Cannes film festival I got invited to sit with Tim Robins, Edward Norton and Goldie Hawn afterwards(!) and Tim said “Can I give you some advice from director to director?” I was like “Er I’m not a director “ Then he said “Look you need to sing more metaphors maaaan. I mean if I had an affair people don’t wanna hear that shit.” I disagree. It’s better to be marmite that margarine! SS: So tell us about your background – it’s rather multicultural isn’t it? JW: My mum’s Mauritian and my dad is from London. I was born in London and moved to South East Asia when I was 5. And then I moved back here when I was
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9 or 10. That’s why I started listening to music because I didn’t speak the language. I was in a Muslim country and I just remember hearing the prayer calls every day. My dad played in a folk band and stuff but I wasn’t really that into it then – I thought it was awful! My mum is really into glam rock like T Rex. My dad has quite a broad taste – Elton John and Elvis Costello, Elvis Presley, etc. And my sister was into Kylie Minogue and New Kids on the Block. I actually wrote a letter to Jim’ll Fix It when I was about 6 asking if I could meet the New Kids. SS: So I take it your dream didn’t come true? JW: No! I think at that point that maybe the show had finished. But I didn’t know cos I lived in Brunei and we were 5 years behind! I remember I drew a picture of him as well, but I never heard anything back. Jordan was my favourite one – he had a really high voice. SS: NKOTB had a big comeback recently didn’t they? JW: Yes I saw the footage on You Tube. It was kind of weird seeing these late 30s guys doing synchronised dance moves. And all their fans now are mums – it’s weird, a bit depressing. SS: Take That have made that transition really well. They embraced the fact that they are now a manband and no longer a boyband!! What do you think of them? JW: They’ve done it amazingly! It’s so funny how Barlow’s had the last laugh. Unless Robbie Williams has this big comeback. Cos when it started the whole band was assembled around Gary Barlow’s talent – he was 15 and he sent this demo off to a manager who called up and went “these songs are great, who wrote them?” And he was like... “me!”... so they made a band just for him! SS: You seem to be knowledgeable about mainstream pop – how do you define your taste in music? JW: I just think if it’s a good song, it’s a good song. Because behind every popstar with good songs there is a great team of songwriters and the only thing that changes is how it is delivered and marketed. Katy Perry recently had a great song that was marketed via her cleavage. I’m a big fan of old musicals – show tunes. Fred Astaire and Cole Porter, old jazz guys. It’s fun and the music is incredibly catchy but it isn’t moronic. And there is a really warm quality to the way all those songs were recorded. I think there’s a difference between comedy songwriting which can be quite awful, and bridging the gap between what’s funny and what’s tragic. SS: Sometimes credible musicians sign with majors and end up forgetting
everything that made them brilliant in the first place. You’re currently unsigned – what’s your stance on that side of things? JW: I don’t have a record deal but I quite like that. All the stuff that I’ve released has been on an indie label. I’ve played enough and toured enough to secure a nice fan base – it’s not huge but it’s loyal, and when I release my album my fans would probably buy it even if I had no press because they follow what I do. It’s nice to do it the DIY way. If I’d done a demo and sent it off to a label and been signed then I guess I would have had my rent paid for a couple of years but then again it could have all been taken away from me just as quickly. I have a lot more control working my way up slowly. Not just in regards to songwriting but also in terms of the people who are involved with your career – finding the right manager etc. This way you can assemble a team of people that you trust. A career is 30-40 years as far as I’m concerned! SS: You are an impeccably dressed gentlemen who looks like he knows about good clothes? Are you a fashion man? JW: I didn’t really know what fashion was til I was like 15. At 12 I went to the school disco in a shell suit. I thought I was fucking cool but because I’d grown up in south east Asia I was really unaware of trends – like I’d be watching Ghostbusters and I didn’t know it was 20 years old! It was the same with clothes – I was confused. You only live once and I think you might as well look exactly how you want to look. If my music had clothes, these would be them. Whenever you watch an old Fred Astaire film there’s just something so fly about the way he looks and it’s so effortless – just an undone bowtie, some well cut trousers and some shiny shoes. I’m just kind of copying him really. SS: Obama is dapper and and effective communicator – what’s your take on the new President? JW: Politics is still entertainment because politicians become celebrities. George Bush is famous. Tony Blair is famous and everything you do whether you are a musician or a politician or an actor or you are in the Big Brother house – everything you do as a public person is like a PR exercise. And I can’t figure out whether Obama has just discovered the best PR angle ever. When his daughter was photographing him just on her own, I was thinking ‘has she been told to do that?’ I don’t want to feel like I’ve been completely fooled by it, but equally it could well be that that it’s just this immense fear of hope. And that’s maybe what’s cool – there’s that fear. What I find really amazing is that I’ve never known England to care so much about American politics. It’s good to see so many people so politically enthused.
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Photography by Lisa Boyle
SUPERSUPER: Hello Josh! We love your song ‘Circus’, and ‘Pretty Girls’ is up there too. We also love the fact you don’t beat around the bush lyrically. Are the days of the meandering metaphor over? JOSH WELLER: Well I think I’m about storytelling and I hate when you listen to some really great songs and you don’t know what they are talking about. I guess you could say that’s what makes them great, but sometimes there are so many horrible metaphors in music that it’s kind of shit. Why not just explain it to people?
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