Interview: Fyfe Dangerfield

In the middle of his UK tour to support his solo album Fly Yellow Moon. I caught up with Guillemots’ lead singer Fyfe Dangerfield to talk about the new Guillemots album and false honeycomb beliefs…

So you’ve just finished recording some new Guillemots material…

Yeah, well we’ve laid down the foundations. We’re now having a few weeks away from it, and then there’ll be y’know, another week, another ten days or so of mixing and then hopefully we’ll be there. I’m really excited about it. Really excited.

What can we expect from it?

I’m always terrible at these kind of descriptions… we’re calling it psychedelic Righteous Brothers music [laughs]. It feels very… we’ve had a year to write it, and that makes a lot of difference really. We wrote tons of songs and then chose the ones that fit together. It feels, I dunno… it very much comes [together] with the playing of the live band.

Your solo material displayed a toned down aspect of what we’ve seen in Guillemots. Do you prefer working with the group or by yourself and how do the dynamics affect your creative process?

I like them both. Working with the band is wonderful because there’s something about the way the four of us gel together which just concocts this kind of thing that you wouldn’t be able to get with any other combination of people. Something about when the four of us get together, I love it. But then it’s great working by myself as well. I need to do things where I completely call 100% of the shots. I love working with all kinds of different people, but by myself as well. I just like making music, basically in any way possible!

How would you like to think that your music affects the listener?

Um… Good question! I’d like to think that it can make people feel really uplifted, and also I’d like to think that some people sit there with headphones and drift away to it, certainly with the Guillemots stuff.  So I’d like to think it can do both of those things. You know I’ll be having a shit day and music has really taken me out of it. Thinking that maybe you could do that to other people… hopefully that happens sometimes.

How did you feel when you were approached to have your song used in the John Lewis ad?

Well it didn’t quite happen like that, because I got asked if I wanted to do it, there were various people trying for it, and although I’ve turned down things like that before, I thought in this instance, it’s a decent, ethical company and a song I like, so I just had a go at it. I never thought it’d become what it did; there are a lot of people now that know of me. It wasn’t something I did in a creative way at all; they wanted a very similar version. It just opened it up so so many more people heard the record, which is great really and I’ve found a way of singing the song live now that I really enjoy.

Who was your musical hero when you were growing up and how did they influence your early days in music?

Very much when I was growing up it was all about The Beatles, and nothing else really. When I was about three, I remember my oldest brother took me off to his room and played me loads of Beatles records and I was hooked. They were all I listened to really, I just loved them and they really fed my sense of what music was, I think. I knew after that that I just wanted to be in a band.

Do they influence your actual style at all?

Yeah, yeah, completely. I think what you hear as a kid really stays with you. It’s weird with them because any other music, I can sort of remember when I first heard it, and not knowing it, and then knowing it. With The Beatles, I can’t remember not knowing their music; they’re as early a memory as I have. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I’d never heard their records and someone said to me now, ‘have you heard this?’ It’s like they’re part of my blood.

Who’s influencing you at the minute? Are there more contemporary artists?

I think the two bands that have influenced me most recently are Dirty Projectors and Animal Collective, they’re both just really phenomenally inventive and I find them really inspiring. The thing about Animal Collective is it’s just a brilliant record. I mean I know it’s probably quite a hip name to drop, but I just cannot think of what it sounds like and that’s where my head’s at at the minute with the Guillemots record to be honest, it just sounds really original hopefully.  I wasn’t so fussed about that on my solo record, for that I just wanted to do some songs and record them pretty simply.

What’s the most heroic thing you’ve ever done?

The most heroic thing?!

Yeah!

[Laughs] Um… Oh man. Well I don’t think I’m much of a hero really. I remember when I was a kid there was a beetle on the ground and I tried to save it but I ended up killing it by mistake. Which wouldn’t help my hero credentials. I do remember once years ago an ex-girlfriend of mine, when we lived on opposite sides of London, she phoned me and it was about midnight or something and she’d been mugged. I just ran out the house and tried to make it over there, and somehow I got from Dalston to Brixton in about twenty minutes; I’m not quite sure how! She was quite impressed with that… but I don’t know, I don’t think that can be classed as heroic.

What’s your favourite Cadbury hero?

Cadbury?!

Yeah, you know, the Cadbury’s Heroes.

Cadbury? As in, the chocolate?

Yes!

What, are there hero chocolate characters that I don’t know about?

No, you know, the boxes filled with the miniature versions of all their chocolates. Have you never had them?

Oh no, ok! I dunno… do they still do caramels? That’s a good one. Crunchie, maybe.

Crunchie is a good one.

Do you know, this is really embarrassing and gives an indication to my lack of any general knowledge or common sense. I said something to someone about a Crunchie a year or so ago and I was going ‘yeah, you know, it’s healthy too because it’s honeycomb.’ And they pointed out that it wasn’t real honeycomb. Up until that point I always thought it was real honeycomb inside Crunchies rather than something that was made from sugar! That is the kind of intelligent guy you’re talking to.

Is this the point where you say you think that Crème Eggs are actual eggs?

Er, no. I’ve never thought that.

Ok, good! And final question, what are three songs you wish you’d written?

Oh man, so many! When I heard ‘Fuel Up’ by Stornoway, I thought I’d have been perfectly happy writing that. That’s just a recent one that comes to mind. Oh God! It’s the kind of thing I think about all the time, but when I’m asked about them I just kind of clam up and cannot think. ‘Send In The Clowns’ is an amazing song, there’s a Frank Sinatra version and it’s just the most perfect example of song and singer and arrangement. I think I’ll say ‘Walking On Sunshine’, too.

This interview was originally published on www.culturedeluxe.com