WWW.TYMONDOGG.NET: A two-part question:
I) To begin with, I was wondering if you might be able to share with us what the latest was with regards to recent word of a possible release of two new full-length albums this year. I understand one record will consist of new material (recorded at GrabaGrabaHey! studios in Las Negras, Spain), while the other will consist of older tunes penned circa the 70s.
TYMON DOGG: "I was in the Las Negras studios with Richard Dudanski and we recorded a lot of my songs from the 70s that had never been recorded before. It was part of the song writing journey from the 60s to the 70s, the realisation that singer-songwriters could have a massive impact on society. I remember sitting in the audience applauding 'Tom Thumb Blues' by Bob Dylan in Liverpool and hearing people boo having paid large amounts of money and Dylan just saying he wanted to go home...the impact of that true creative force was starting to be hemmed in by the 70s, certainly by 74, people wanted to get back to 'product' but I had a grand piano at the top of 23 Chippenham Rd and I reckoned I had everything I could possibly have had if I had sold out so I was happy and we had a fantastic community and the only television we had was acting as my piano stool. One of the guys living in the house was David Bowie's cleaner but the only question we ever asked was is his house untidy. He'd come in and put on Ziggy Stardust and we'd all leave the room and think Colin's got it bad. The recordings I did in Las Negras are many of the songs that were written at that piano between Spring 73 and 77. It got difficult for me after 77 because some new neighbours moved in and started complaining about the noise - cos I used to play the piano all night. But as I was first in the house, everyone that came in afterwards knew that someone would be writing songs on a grand piano through the night upstairs and that was part of the deal."
II) Any word on a track listing for either album?
TYMON: "Cochon, Child of War, You Got That I Don't Care You Can't Catch Me I'm Home and Dry You Wait And See Look in Your Eye, Appearances; Confessions of an English Tea Drinker, which I wrote in 1974 after being up all night sitting in the Elgin Café where it wasn't safe to have more than a cup of tea [because it was so unhygeinic]. It has a line in it 'everyone works in the gap for the empty consumer'."
TD.NET: Do you have any early ideas for gigs or festivals that you would like to play NEXT year - both solo and with The Quikening - or perhaps a possible tour of some sort?
TYMON: "I have two or three recording projects in the pipeline, the first might be released in autumn 2009 so a tour and festivals will depend on timing and response to those."
TD.NET: About supporting Pete Doherty recently...
TYMON: "I was actually quite astonished to get a call a few hours before Pete Doherty's gig to see if I could get over there to support him. I found his audience really open minded and there was an innocence from the time I walked on stage and they seemed to accept that I was an individual and I sang songs like 'Cold Wind Blows'. It was a relatively vulnerable set and they responded to it and the feedback was great. I felt optimitic about the future of music. Then Doherty's manager said that usually his support acts are treated restlessly whereas they really made me feel like I was connecting."
TD.NET: Your classic song "Lose This Skin", recorded with The Clash in 1980 and penned as early as 1977, has been used or acted as an influence on a number of things in last few years, such as (to name a few):
I) Author Jerry Sykes used the title for his 2007 novel of the same.
II) The song was chosen in 2007 as the title for Episode 10, Series One of the Canadian television program Instant Star.
III) In the DVD 'Extras' section of the recent 2008 Joe Strummer documentary, Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten, renowned filmmaker Martin Scorsese talks about his first meeting with The Clash via this song:
"They (The Clash) came to visit me - I was living in an apartment across the street here. I think it was the first time I met them. I forget what year it was - 1980… I was finishing Raging Bull. I was editing up there with Thelma Schoonmaker and I had a big stereo system and they came in and… outside it was a beautiful view of the city in that building - windows all around, and you could look all the way down Park Avenue, whatever. The sky was getting darker and darker and darker and darker. They came in and said hello, suddenly said, "Where's you unit", I said, "over there". They took something, a tape, threw it in, turned it on, blasted it, and that point it was "Lose This Skin", and that that point, thunder and lighting erupted all over the city! That was our hello to each other! (Laughter). The lightning and thunder - it was just one those great moments. Just to redo it now digitally would be really, er… (Laughs). But it is one of those things. It was all the forces came right down into that room. It was quite something."
*Martin Scorsese, being the fan that he was of both the Clash and "Lose This Skin", also included the song in an early cut/work print of his 2002 film, Gangs of New York, as 'temp' music played during the scene where Liam Neeson's character, 'Priest' Vallon, dies.
IV) In 1999, New York City ska band, Stubborn All-Stars, recorded a cover of the tune for the 1999 NYC Ska Mob and Friends music compilation. Then, in 2007, US singer/songwriter Jim Allen contributed a cover of the song to Jimmy Gutterman's 2007 The Clash tribute album, The Sandinista Project. And finally, in 2008, British Indie musician, Christopher Van Epps, recorded a cover for his non-profit Downloadable B-sides compilation, Side Effects.
- I was therefore wondering what your thoughts were on both such uses and influences that "Lose This Skin" has been apart of throughout this last decade of so?
TYMON: "When I recorded the song with The Clash there was a feeling that we could do anything so long as we meant it. It was a surprise to me to find The Clash at that point so determined to be honest, original and creative. Martin Scorsese heard it just after it had been recorded, I wasn't present but a car arrived in Harlem, where I was staying, the next day, to get me back in the studio. But many things happen beyond your control and that makes them even better."
TD.NET: Regarding music you have been listening to in 2009, I was wondering whether there were any standouts you might care to recommend from last year? And also, what particular songs, bands/groups, or pieces of music are among your personal favourites of all time, and of any era?
TYMON: "I hear a lot of new bands and I wish I had a notebook to write down the names of the bands which are played once. Mark Lamaar's show is amazing - a mixture of old and new stuff, I hear lots I like there. There are lots of good young bands and the Internet means you can listen to what you like and freed up the listening public from the stranglehold of the A&R man... From the past, song writing always intrigues me and I always check new albums by Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, and of course, Bob Dylan. Two weeks ago Susan and I stayed in our camper van in the Auvergne for three nights because we were intrigued by the place that the songs of the Auvergne had come from."
TD.NET: A political question: With Barack Obama now the President of the United States, I was wondering what your thoughts were on his policies regarding the proposed shutdown plan this year of the US detention center/military prison, Guantanamo Bay, (Tymon's 2006 single/EP, Guantanamo, was a heartfelt cry and damnation against this dehumanizing detainment facility)?
TYMON: "It seems strange that one person in a country of 300 million can say something that was good yesterday is bad today. Seems a very flimsy way of going around our commitment to justice and democracy."
TD.NET: Still on the topic of unreleased music, would you ever consider recording/re-recording (or even reworking) and releasing any of the following original tunes you penned in previous years:
TYMON: "YES to most of them!"
TD.NET: Was there ever a cassette version/release of your 1982 album, Battle Of Wills? Rumour has it that this version features a slightly different mix.
TYMON: "There was a slightly different mix on the song 'Sirens'. Somebody wrote to me about it from the US and that really impressed me that there are such alert people around!"
TD.NET: Regarding the whole 'Godfather' of this and that genre of music, what are your thoughts on being - in many ways - the first genuine 'Godfather of Anti-Folk', at least with regards to the early English brand of anti-folk (circa 1972 - 1975)?
TYMON: "I don't really have an opinion on these titles but there was certainly a thing in the folk world from about 1973 on where we wanted as much attention to try and remind the '70s Acoustic people how vital the '60s songwriters had been."
TD.NET: I understand the country of India and its influences/spirituality was something that was once a big part of your life (circa the '80s), both as an influence on your music and also on your own spiritual beliefs during this period. Do such influences remain as strongly today, in both music and personal spiritual beliefs?
TYMON: "Yes, the aspirations that many of the presevered doctrines of India inspired in many people - from 1967 (when The Beatles introduced Maharaji Yogi to the world and were openly discussing the fund of knowledge they had discovered in India, particularly George Harrison and John Lennon) onwards. In the early '70s it was Rock 'n' Roll, spirituality was street culture from 1970 - 1974. I have found that many of the things I was fortunate enough to be influenced by have remained important - as truths are truths and have been so for millenia."
TD.NET: A final question: Along with India and its influences, the land of Spain (in particular; Andalucía) and its culture seem to hold a special place in your heart, and I was curious as to its importance on both your music and world view? I find it intriguing that you yourself, and friends such as Richard Dudanski and the late Joe Strummer, were so inspired by this particular part of the world.
TYMON: "Without Spain and Andalucia Europe would be a bit of an old expensive vase. Thank God for Spain because they don't seem to have been tamed the same way the rest of Europe has. We've been spending a lot of time in Flamenco Penas and with Flamenco artists and their music has much more in common with Inidian and Eastern music than anything in Western Europe. Very inspiring!"
