Hi James, your new release Shadows and Dreams appears to be a passion project that you’ve wanted to release for some time. When you emerged with The Prisoners were you already listening to classical music?
I was into J S Bach as a teenager. I learned a few bits but not to any high level. It’s always been a love of mine and a back drop to my music career. Just now it feels okay to reveal this part of my musical life to the public.
Are you a classically trained player or have you learnt to play these pieces through your own work?
I’ve been practising like mad and I go to piano recitals regularly at the Wigmore hall. My favourite player is Pavel Kolesnikov. A Russian genius living in London. I have a fantastic teacher from the royal academy and she is very strict and very patient. She’s helped me so much.
Does it take a lot more concentration to play a classical piece of music than an all out acid jazz work out?
It’s hard to get this sort of thing to sound any good. I recorded myself over and over until I got them to sound okay. Now on vinyl it’s come up really nice. Plus I was so happy that Billy Childish loved it and painted a sleeve for me.
What is it about classical pieces of music that appeals to you?
I’m thinking the best thing about a life in music is in fact the music itself. Pure and uncontaminated. It feels like the world needs to get into the mindset of the first half of 20th century when families all had a piano and made their own music as a matter of course. So empowering. Just felt that dipping into this kind of quality composition by the old masters is more relevant now than ever. Hoping to inspire others I guess. The world is in such a strange place. Sometimes it’s good to revisit the foundations and the original fathers.
Are the choices you have selected for the album some of your all time favourite pieces of classical music?
It’s just the pieces that I can play to a reasonable standard. I can play the hardest Beethoven Sonatas but I can’t make them sound very good. These pieces I’ve got sounding sort of okay! I love the pieces very much and I’ve worked on them for many years. I never dreamed I’d be able to release them. So happy that, of all labels, it was my old friends at Acid Jazz that found the music beautiful and were up for releasing it.
Were you afraid of releasing music like this, thinking it might alienate your JTQ followers?
I keep presenting wide range of music and the punters are incredible. Open minded and into it. They come with us and enjoy the new directions. So no, I’m not afraid of that, but I’m aware the classical music world can be elitist and I’m not into that. This is a record for other working-class kids like me who maybe don’t realise how amazing this music is. Or that they may relate to it. It’s kind of been cordoned off by the English class system. Time to reclaim the people’s music.
Can you directly link any pieces of classical music that have influenced your work with The Prisoners and JTQ?
They all influence it in terms of structure and approach. But yes for example ‘The Green Meteor’ on the recent Prisoners album is structurally linked to Rachmaninov third piano sonata. Very closely actually!!
Do you have any plans to play this music in a live setting?
Bloody hell I’d love to. I’d need a very long run up so I can get myself sorted and ready. Very scary. But the few things I’ve done like this have been so wonderful.
I’m touched that you have been open to this project given that you were into our punky record. But I see the young people so open and into a wide range of things.
Matt Mead
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