Rock Overdose's Fotis Prassas talked with Tim Booth, frontman of english rockers JAMES. The band will visit Greece at Wednesday the 27th of June for the Eject Festival that will placed in Athens, along with KASABIAN, MILES KANE, BAND OF SKULLS, CUSTOMS and WHEATMAN. Tim was very chatty and he seem to know well the situation in Greece, so he talked for everything and everyone, and for the new direction that he is thinking to give to James's music, also for his desire to record a live show in our country,
Enjoy the interview below...
Rockoverdose.gr: Greetings from Greece! How are you?
Tim Booth: I'm great, how are you?
Rockoverdose.gr: Fine, thanks. Shall I call you Tim or Mr. Booth?
Tim: Tim.
Rockoverdose.gr: Alright, thank you very much. You're very kind. I have a few questions for you. You will play at the Ejekt Festival in Athens on Wednesday, the 27th of June. Tell us a bit about this festival.
Tim: Well, it's going to be a week or two after your big vote, so I can imagine there's going to be rather a lot of turmoil going on in Athens, and we will come in and see what we can do, and play. We know your country's going through Hell at the moment, and also in huge indecision, and so, good luck with that. I think anything we do is going to be dwarfed by the situation everyone's in, so I know. I have a lot of friends in Greece and I know the turmoil, pain and confusion that lots of people are going through right now. We'll come and we'll do the best concert we can to uplift and hopefully direct and inspire people, and Give people temporary relief.
Rockoverdose.gr: Your latest concerts in Greece have been sold out, even in Thessaloniki and Athens. How do you feel about that?
Tim: Greece was a late surprise for us. The first time we came was in about '99 or 2000, and we had an amazing concert. Ever since then, it's just been one of the most beautiful places for us to come and play. We love coming to Greece. Literally, it's probably my favorite country. I've even talked about living in Greece. But with the current turmoil, I don't think that's going to be the case. Our Greek fans are incredible. Last time we came to Thessaloniki we played a free concert in the daytime, because we realize that people haven't got a lot of money to spend right now, and we'll be looking at doing something similar, just turning and busking somewhere. It's just a great place to come, and we love coming, and we really connect with the audiences that come to us. I did my solo record the last time I came to Greece; I had a great time with that too. It's just one of our favorite countries in the world , really. I've been coming to Greece since I was 17.
Rockoverdose.gr: You provided your last song free of charge on your website, "Not so Strong." In the future, will you do the same?
Tim: I think we've got to do one or two more like that, because that's important to do now and again, but at the moment we haven't written any new songs. We're about to start writing a new album, so we're going to be working on that quite soon.
Rockoverdose.gr: I saw the "Gathering Sound" on your website. What is that?
Tim: It's a box set of all James' work, from 30 years. It's everything we've released, I think, and lots of extras, lots of extra tracks that have never been released.
Rockoverdose.gr: What is James' next step?
Tim: The next step of James is coming up and starting to write new songs together and looking for something fresh. Last year we did an amazing tour, with and orchestra and a choir. It was really magical. We chose songs we don't usually play live, and it was a very different atmosphere. One of our big dreams is come to Greece, perform it and film it in amphitheatre, and then release it. So hopefully that's going to happen, probably next year. Also, that whole tour with the orchestra and choir has affected our music very strongly. So I'm looking forward to seeing the next songs we write, because I'm hoping we'll go off in a new direction because of that tour.
Rockoverdose.gr: What would you say to someone who wants to start a career in music now?
Tim: Forget it. Make apps instead.
Rockoverdose.gr: It's very difficult at the moment.
Tim: It's very difficult. There's a few pop acts that will get a big push from a record company, and they might last a year, it might last two, because the record companies are only picking up very immediate acts; acts that are very superficial or that get you straight away. And in my experience, if an act gets you straight away, it doesn't necessarily last. In a year's time you're bored of them. The most interesting music is music that makes you work a bit harder. There are a few great acts coming through; I love Beach House, I think they're fantastic. And Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are great, and I hope they can sustain it, and not just get caught in being a pop act. For most bands, you can have great music going out there, and it's hard to find; people don't find it. And when they do find it, they don't buy it, because they think it's for free, because people have got into the habit of thinking music is for free now. So, it's a very difficult time to be in a band right now, I think, unless you're going into it just to make great music and know that you aren't going to make much money, or make enough money to live off.
Rockoverdose.gr: What's your opinion on the Greek economic crisis?
Tim: What I see is that the younger generation I know- I see many people in their 20s and 30s are really hard-working, very intelligent people who want to work. And I have a feeling, because of the way the system was 10-15 years ago, you know, everyone has always told me when I've been coming to Greece, all the young people would say, the system is corrupt. It's all about who you know. You get a job from favors, from friends in the government. And then there isn't much work; they actually hire too many people. So, I've known about what was going on in Greece for a long time, and I think a whole generation has got used to a corrupt system. To change from that system is very difficult, because you have people who obviously don't want to lose their jobs, don't want to lose their pensions, or lose all the perks that they've had set up from the past. That structure was set up from borrowed money, and it clearly can't last. It means the younger generations and then the older generations, probably the really older generations who never really had the advantage of that, they're the ones who are being really screwed. The ones who were able to profit from that corrupt system, the ones who got the jobs that were passed on by friends, and didn't really have to work very hard, they profit from it, and they obviously don't want to let go of the situation. But I feel very sorry for the younger ones coming through who are going, "we're being punished for something we never took advantage of." I think the older generations will feel the same thing, and the poor people of Greece, who never were able to take advantage of these benefits, this money that was essentially borrowed. So now you've got the situation where the whole thing is collapsing, and it must be terrifying. I know some of the young people now who are trying to move abroad from Greece. It just looks like a disaster, really. The impositions the Germans in Europe are putting on Greece, it's too tough, austerity without some kind of package of support won't work. It didn't work in the Great Depression. If you look at the American Great Depression, you have to have cuts, but you also have to have large standing on the public, and a drive to help people get jobs. You have to combine the two. The trouble is, I guess the Germans see that the infrastructure in Greece is that if they put lots of money into helping people get jobs, that the money will go into the corrupt pockets that it's always gone into in Greece. So, it's just a mess , and I'm not a politician so I don't have solutions to it, but people are hurting . The ones I'm going to feel real sorry for are the people who never benefitted from the financial corruption that took place, really; the borrowing. It looks like you're going to have to default. And if you go back to the drachma, and the country becomes very cheap again, I think tourists will flood to your country again, if the country can remain stable. Then money will start coming back into the country. But at the moment, there's just no answers. If you write down what I just said, please be very careful to put it all down, because I'd hate for you to put down a couple of slogans of what I just said, because any of it could sound bad out of context. Do you understand?
Rockoverdose.gr: First of all, I'd like to thank you because you're aware of the situation here. I'm very happy about that. I'll tell you that this conversation is going to be played on air on the radio station of Energy FM. Tim, thanks for your time.
Tim: Just to let you know, I have studied the situation, I have read a lot of books around the situation, because I have a lot of friends in Greece who have been hurting, and I wanted to understand what's been going on. You know, there's a lot of information out there, and according to my friends in Greece, the Greek people aren't getting all the information. I recommend books, and they go, "we don't know about this. We don't know this is what happened. We know there's been corruption, but we don't know the details." There are some great books out there that really spell out what has happened. It's like, the only thing I can do is come along and try and uplift and inspire and we know what's going on. It could lead to everybody being in the same position anyway, so you may see that the rest of Europe comes and joins you quite soon. You're on the firing line at the moment, and it's very scary, and my heart goes out to you.
Rockoverdose.gr: Thank you very much for that, and thank you for your time, Tim. I wish you all the best. Bless you and your family.
Tim: You too, and I hope some leaders can arise from this mess in Greece, who can actually change things, and who can actually talk the truth and know how to communicate it to both Europe and to the Greek people.
Rockoverdose.gr: I hope so. Thanks a lot! Take care.
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Fotis Prassas
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