When did you first become
interested in Country
music?Jon
Langford: Heard Merle
Haggard and George Jones
in 1983 on a casette tape
given to us by a Chicago
college dj called Terry
Nelson and it blew our
minds... classic '60s
honky-tonk is just punk
rock for old people - I
was 26 at the time and my
life revolved around the
same things as Merle and
George... drinking &
cheatin'!
You
are regarded as a central
figure in
alt.country/roots music.
Has the outsider status
of being an immigrant
made it easier for you to
take on the sacred cow of
American Country music?
Jon
Langford: Everyone's
an immigrant here - I did
my trial by fire out at
the Sundowners Ranch
playing with a real
country band to real mean
drunk rednecks so those
alt-country twerps never
scared me - I did a gig
at the Rock'n'Roll Hall
of Fame last November and
was introduced by Robert
Plant (!) who having
forgotten his bi-focals,
mis-read the auto-cue,
and described me as the
root of all American
music... true. I just
always felt comfortable
with 3 chord country
songs and while some
people hate my guts for
it, being American they
tend to be too polite to
mention it to my face.
On
your first solo album,
the excellent Skull
Orchard 1998,
you harked back to
Newport and Wales for
inspiration - why was
that?
Jon
Langford: The eyes of
the exile - a lot of time
spent on my own - weird
songs about Newport just
started popping out. I
missed Newport, I missed
the stinkin' muddy river
and the transporter
bridge and the sea and
the docks and my dad and
my happy childhood
running amok up the Gaer
and getting underage
pints in the pubs down
Pill. I hated what
Thatcher did to South
Wales. Now I have my
Goldie Lookin' Chain cds
so when I get maudlin I
just crank 'em up and I'm
fine in a jiffy!
Jon,
you are Mr Side Project -
Waco Brothers, Pine
Valley Cosmonauts, Jon
Langford and his Sadies
etc (and I'm only just
scratching the surface
here). What's the
reasoning behind all this
artistic schizophrenia?
Jon
Langford: My career
is a buffet not a main
course - I get bored
quick and I work fast and
I have loads of people
here to collaborate with
and the older I get the
more urgent it all
gets... do it now!
In
2002 you put together an
anti-death penalty album
entitled The
Executioner's Last Songs.
You've always been a
political artist (I
remember you doing gigs
for the striking miners
in the '80s) but why has
the capital punishment
issue particularly
engaged you over there?
Jon
Langford: Mainly 'cos
it was so strange to me
to be somewhere where
something that barbaric
still went on - just
after I moved here they
executed John Wayne Gacy
- a revolting serial
killer - but there was no
debate - the protestors
outside the prison were
filmed in slow-motion and
their faces weren't shown
- it was bizarre and I
realised I was one of
those faceless fringe
loonies! Met Steve Earle
and did some shows with
him to help support the
campaign for a moratorium
on executions in Illinois
and was really impressed
with the people I met who
were defending death row
inmates and in an amazing
16 cases getting them out
of jail. I thought I have
kids now and they're
Americans and I should be
doing everything I can to
civilize this sorry
place... raising money
thru the music seemed the
obvious way to go.
On
that particular record
you performed Judgement
Day with the
wonderful Johnny Dowd.
How was it for you?
Jon
Langford: He just
sent me a tape with his
vocal panned to one side
and a drum machine synth
track on the other so I
had to put that whole
crazy arrangement
together with a bunch of
serious musicians who
thought I might have gone
a bit mental... it worked
out great and when Johnny
did it on his album it
had turned into salsa! He
opened for the Mekons on
tours of the States in
2000 and 2004 and we had
a lot of fun. I've been
playing guitar with him a
bit too...
Can
you tell us a bit about Great
Pop Things: The Real
History of Rock and Roll
from Elvis to Oasis
(1999) your subversive
collaboration with
cartoonist and fellow
Welsh person Carlton B
Morgan?
Jon
Langford: He lived
across the road from my
grandmother up in
Croesyceiliog and we met
on the bus one day (I was
asleep and he kept
dropping things to try
and make me wake up) - I
produced an album called The
Devil's Music for
him back in 1981 and we
sat in a lot of pubs
together and found the
ways of the pop star
split our sides. Record
Mirror asked me to
do some cartoons in the
late '80s and it sort of
emerged with Carlton
sending me long stream of
consciousness rants and
fake history and puns etc
which I had to condense
down into little amusing
black & white
nuggets. At its peak it
ran in about 5 papers at
the same time but after
10 years and 2 books we
got a bit bored and kept
missing our deadlines and
fizzled to zilch... the
better version of the
book is still available
from Verse Chorus Press
in Portland, Oregon -
Carlton is one of the
funniest people I have
ever met and a hugely
under-rated songwriter
and performer. He also
emits sexy rays.
In
recent art works you have
been depicting Country
greats like Johnny Cash,
Patsy Cline, Hank
Williams etc. Is this
straightforward
iconography or are you
having a satirical dig at
today's Nashville?
Jon
Langford: I started
getting obsessed with
classic country and
western imagery in the
mid-80s when I went to
Nashville and saw how
they'd paved over their
past... the paintings are
part tribute part futile
bitter attacks on the
corporate music row
monolith... they are
mostly based on songs and
usually include lyrics
and now the singers have
become anonymous and
usually carry guns and
wear blindfolds or have
skulls for heads... I
have a love-hate
relationship with America
- love George Jones and
George Clinton - hate
George Bush.
Not
content with being an
artist and musician,
you're now on the
wireless! How are you
enjoying your burgeoning
radio career?
Jon
Langford: WXRT asked
me to do a show about 3
years ago and it finally
came about - it's a big
corporate rock station
with pretty rigid
parameters so it was
great to be told I could
play anything I like - I
have tested this out and
they are as good as their
word - as long as I don't
cuss it's cool - I've
also had really great
guests (Robyn Hitchcock,
Greil Marcus, John Doe,
Graham Parker, Jon King)
and we just play records
and talk bollocks and
everyone seems to love it
so I'll keep doing it
'til I am told to stop -
dj is best job in the
world. I liked the idea
that it was 10-12 on a
Monday nite... the old
John Peel slot - I think
about him a lot while I'm
putting the shows
together - what would
John Peel do?.
Finally,
is it true that you once
met William Burroughs?
What happened?
Jon
Langford: Me and
Goulding and Alan went
down to a big Burroughs
weekend in Lawrence,
Kansas in 1997 with
Kathy. We played on the
Saturday night and the
next day we were invited
to go round to his house.
I knocked on the door and
frail old Bill opens up
saying he's expecting
visitors and he can't
talk to us right now so
almost relieved we start
backing away down the
drive then he shouts
"Langford. Are you
Langford?" We were
the visitors. We go in
and it's like a weird
dream. Ginsberg is eating
grits and eggs in the
front room and jumps up
to make us all a cup of
tea. We are lost for
words but Alan's wife
Pony (r.i.p.) starts
chatting away with the 2
old Beat codgers about
her dad exterminating
cockroaches and Burroughs
wants to know if they use
powder or paste. Later he
takes my wife Helen on a
tour of the house - I
have a great photo of me
and Burroughs in the
backyard where he's
gesturing with his hands
like he's clutching some
invisible orb and I'm
looking at him
incredulously as if he's
telling me the secret of
the universe but in
reality I've just asked
him if his fishpond froze
in the winter and he's
telling me that a
goldfish can survive for
months frozen in a block
of ice: "I have
never seen it but I
believe it to be
true!" amazing
day...
Great
stuff. Thanks for taking
time out to answer my
questions.
You
can keep tabs on Jon's
latest musical projects
at www.bloodshotrecords.com
or pick up some of his
excellent paintings here:
www.sitemason.com/page/gvkARG
ŠAnthony
Brockway 2005
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