I’m probably more proud of that than anything on K, but that’s from a drummer’s point of view. Paul: Day Of Love is one of my favourite songs.
The best thing on Strangefolk was the bonus track and it turned out to be one of the best thing we’ve done, it was this track called Persephone, which is a very romantic pre-Raphaelite number. Then we tried to make a whole album without the record company and the managers and that proved to be quite difficult because we didn’t have sounding boards or any support really. We made a little EP when we started playing music again in 2006/7 and that turned out really good and was a real high. Strangefolk was a very difficult album to make. I have a lot of affection for them for different reasons. Paul Winterhart, Drummer and Songwriter with Kula Shaker (Simon Jay Price)Īre you as happy with the other albums as you now are with K?Ĭrispian: I can appreciate with a bit of hindsight and a bit of objectivity. I don’t think it works as a whole record, but individual tracks…… The second record is quite mad.Ĭrispian: It’s a very rich meal. Paul: Lots of people got into the first record, but the people who got into the second record considered themselves as more hardcore fans, it’s just the general public weren’t that fussed. It solidified this hardcore fan base that stayed with us who were into this total world. They always sounded good live, they’re big tracks that sounded good live and people responded to them.Ĭrispian: Ironically, the less successful of those first albums, Peasants, Pigs and Astronauts, was still a big album by today’s standards, even though it wasn’t multi-platinum like K, it really solidified the fan base. Paul: So was putting out songs in Sanskrit. Mystical Machine Gun was a pretty ridiculous comeback single and that was definitely a conscious decision that we’re not going to play the game. But we made a conscious decision to not do what was expected and I think there was an antagonistic element to that. We wanted to be a pop band so we wanted to be popular we wanted to see how big our audience could be, how much reach we could have. Paul: It wasn’t our decision for K to be successful, so it certainly wasn’t our decision… without wishing to sound overly artistically purist, we just try to make the best records at any time.Ĭrispian: The only conscious decision was to not play the game. You had a number of albums after K that relatively weren’t as successful as K, was that a conscious decision? I think past, present and future all marry at an anniversary rather than it just being about redoing the past. We would all get bored if we just played K.Īn anniversary has a celebratory aspect to it and there is a natural nostalgia that is permissible because of the nature of the time, but you’re also thinking about where you are now, how you got to where you are and where you’re going. Were you not tempted to do an anniversary tour and play K in it’s entirety?Ĭrispian: I haven’t entirely ruled it out, but I think we wanted the focus to be the fact that we wanted to make a new album. For that I have a lot of affection for the album.Ĭrispian Mills, Kula Shaker (Simon Jay Price) I went and did an interview at Radio 1 – back in the day when Radio 1 still played bands – and I went to the loo and I heard it coming out of this tiny little speaker in the ceiling and it sounded great, and I thought, ‘That’s what it’s all about, this record … that was its ultimate medium’.īut I’m proud of the record, with time I really do appreciate how rarely bands come along with real imagination who are driven by ideas and a love of playing and make it into the charts – and it happened for us. John Leckie didn’t seem to be listening to my concerns. I remember thinking Grateful When You’re Dead sounded terrible, nothing like I imagined, and I was like, ‘What happened to the Who at the Isle of White, what do we sound like?’ I wanted it to be much more analogue sounding and it was quite radio friendly. Paul: Because we wanted to be great, right.Ĭrispian: Neurotic and controlling and ultimately we weren’t satisfied with the record.
I remember us being freaked out about being in big studios, and the pressure that that brings.Ĭrispian: We were pretty neurotic, Paul and I especially. Things that used to freak you out – even recording K. Paul: Hopefully you’re armed to accept what life throws at you the older you get. It’s 20 years since K came out, I heard you describe that thought as ‘horrific’, was it that much of a surprise?Ĭrispian: It was a big shock, it didn’t feel like 20 years.
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