Madchester Rave On exclusive interview with Jim Melly, singer and songwriter of MY JEALOUS GOD - early 90's indie/baggy band from London.
01. When did MJG start and what were your musical influences ?
MJG started in the 1980s, though it wasn’t named until 1989. Musical influences? Everything. Chet Baker. The Faces. Stone Roses. Public Enemy. The Beatles. Robert Johnson. The Smiths. The Pixies. Small Faces. John Lee Hooker. The Beach Boys. Stevie Wonder. Rolling Stones. Bowie. Sly and the Family Stone. The Clash. The Jam. In fact the whole 1970s Punk/ New Wave thing. The Velvet Underground. The Who. Burt Bacharach. Chic. Smokey Robinson. Martha and the Vandellas. Scott Walker. I could go on all day. So everything, really. Except Abba. I fucking hate Abba.
02. Were you involved in any bands before MJG ?
A couple of bands. Just as a strummer of chords.
03. Who were the members of MJG and how did they join the band ?
MJG was me and Chris O’Donnell. Danny Burke joined on guitar and Andrew Berkley was our drummer. Danny was a friend of a friend and we held auditions to recruit Andrew.
I didn’t think about it very much. The Stone Roses were pivotal for everyone – ‘Fool’s Gold’ was a thing of beauty. As far as I knew the ‘baggy’ thing was invented by the media. We vaguely knew other bands simply because we were on the same circuit.
05. Some of the press at the time was quite negative towards MJG, partly because they came from London. Did you think this was unfair and did it bother you ?
It never occurred to me that it might be ‘unfair’. It was what it was.
06. Do you think if MJG released records a few years later when Britpop was happening that the band would have been appreciated more ?
I’ve never thought about it. I don’t think it would have made any difference.
07. How did you sign to Rough Trade and what was it like working there ?
I phoned Geoff Travis and went to see him. He was great and so was Jenny Lee. Working with Rough Trade was brilliant.
08. Did MJG play live often and did you enjoy playing gigs ?
We did tour early on, around Britain and in France and Germany. We didn’t play many gigs later on because I wanted to concentrate on making the best records we could.
I think some people were confused by it. The Indie scene in the 1980s was based around the Smiths and The Jesus and Mary Chain. To have an Indie record you could dance to was weird
10. I have read about an LP called ‘Foetal’ being released by Rough Trade. What was going to be on this LP and why was it never released ?
It was an LP of demos, singles, B-sides and stuff. It wasn’t released because Rough Trade closed down. I have no idea where it is now. There were two great unreleased tracks on it, though.
11. What part did Dave Haslam (Hacienda DJ) play in the band. Was he your manager ?
He signed us to his record label, ‘Playhard’, at the end of 1989. Then he closed the label and became our manager until sometime in 1991 (I think).
12. How did you leave Rough Trade and sign for Fontana ? Were many labels interested in the band ?
Rough Trade closed down and we had to find another label. We signed with Fontana because they offered us money, an advance. We could’ve signed with other labels but I had rent to pay. It was as simple as that.
I genuinely don’t know.
14. Some of your singles have been remixed. Were you involved in these remixes and what did you think of the results ?
I was involved in some of them. The ‘Guy Called Gerald’ thing I wasn’t involved with, but I thought it was brilliant. Some of the rest were of dubious value in my opinion.
15. What did you think of the dance scene at the time and how much were you involved ?
For me it was a peripheral thing. The Beatles and the Stones were dance bands in 1964. I saw an interview with Ray Davies of the Kinks recently where he said that when ‘You Really Got Me’ was released, he was happy that people were dancing to it. That’s how I saw MJG
16. I have read that both ‘Petrol Bomb’ and ‘Watching’ were to be released as singles. Is this the case ?
If that is true no-one told me. When I was told that ‘Afraid’ was being considered as a single I laughed my head off.
My relationship with Phonogram (who owned Fontana) was fraught. And that was largely my fault. I wouldn’t play the game and the relationship between the band and the record company collapsed. At the same time Phonogram were cutting back. So between us we parted company and the album wasn’t released.
18. What do you think of downloading and sharing music, especially unreleased tracks like ‘Idiot’s Ball’ ? This is a great LP which people are very positive about and this is currently the only way to hear it.
The problem with downloading stuff and ‘sharing’ it is this: musicians need to eat and live. Eating and living costs money. For musicians or songwriters (or authors or game developers or whatever), the song/ recording is the only thing that they have to sell. The romantic notion that music should be free is rubbish. You wouldn’t expect a lawyer to practice for free, or a sculptor to give their sculptures away for free. Why, then, is music any different? Songwriters don’t wake up one morning able to play or write. It takes years – at least three years from a standing start, usually much longer – to reach a decent standard. You obviously want as many people to hear your work as is possible, but you have to eat as well. Its a great job, but it is a job. It takes up all your time. So you need to get paid.
19. You have mentioned trying to release ‘Idiot’s Ball’ officially. Would this be just the LP or will you include other tracks ? Have you had much interest in releasing the LP ?
At the moment we’re just looking to get a release for the album. Other stuff may be released later. There is interest but I can’t really talk about it because its ongoing. Hopefully it will be available later in the year.
There are a few. Its something I come back to every now and again.
21. You formed Vaudeville after MJG. Did they record anything or play live ?
I didn’t do anything quickly enough with Vaudeville and someone else used the name. I’m quite happy with My Jealous God.
22. Are you still involved or interested in music ?
I mostly write and teach now, but I poke a toe in every now and again.
23. Are you still in contact with other members of MJG and are they involved in music ?
My Jealous God – such as it is - is just me and Chris. I lost touch with Danny and Andrew some time ago. It has been twenty years after all!
24. How much interest have MJG had from outside the UK ? Both when you were playing and also since then ?
A lot more than I would’ve expected!
25. Would you play live again to promote ‘Idiot’s Ball’ ?
Of course. We only played the album live once. It would be good to do it again.
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