S@P Presents :: Josh Weller

by pmaxwell, 2 September 2008

Interview with Rob Wood, Music Concierge. Around the World II CD available at Phillips de Pury & Company.
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If Josh Weller wasn’t gong to be a singer, you’d have to hazard a guess that he would be a comedian. Not because of his zany looks – his Elvis Costello-with-220-Volts-running-through-his-hair image is far too endearing for that – more because a stinging wit is to be found in the tail to every line of his songs.

Josh Weller, 2008, Photo by Rankin

Usually dressed in dapper suit, bow tie and horn-rimmed glasses, it’s hard not to be impressed by this clever and charismatic singer when he takes to the stage. His performances are as entertaining as singles such as ‘Pretty Girls’ are smart and catchy. He freely admits that it is the fine line between what’s funny and what’s sad that interests him as an artist.

Such lyrical investigations have earnt him a place at Saturday@Phillips, as part of the new focus on championing emerging musical talent. His song 'What Will My Girlfriend Say?' can be heard on the Saturdays@Phillips CD and he will perform live at the auction launch.

As Josh reveals, this means he finally gets the black balloons he’s always wanted…

There’s a cutting wit running through your lyrics, often to do with the opposite sex, is that out of heart-felt experience, or just a desire to make musical comedy?
“I try to write about the things that people do in life that I find weirdly amusing, but it's normally funny because it's so tragic. People are weird. I don't feel like an adult yet, and adults look like a pretty rubbish thing to have to become. Like in that Woody Allen film 'Melinda & Melinda', where the two playwrights are arguing over which is the most effective form of theatre; comedy or tragedy. I'm not sure whether my songs are funny or tragic. Maybe a little bit of both.”

Your lyrics are incredibly powerful. They seem to be as sharp and honest as the words of Tom Waits, Billy Bragg or Mike Skinner. Are your songs, your weapons?
“My songs are a loaded gun with a flag in the barrel.”

Are you an ambitious artist reaching for the top, or are you content to be a creative menace on the sidelines of the pop music industry?
“The idea of doing a big musicals-esque performance in a theatre seems much more fun to me than an arena. But who knows, it's a long way away. Unless I get on a phone advert.”

You’ve said you love musicals. Is it true you are writing one?
“I love the aesthetic and the colour and escape of musicals. Musicals are what life should be, gay and bright! When those Jehovah Witness people give you those pamphlets about a spiritual utopia, where the lions are cuddling the humans and every race is eating wholegrain bread together, that's how musicals make me feel. Mine's a secret though. I'll tell you after I make my first album I promise.”

When does pop, stop being art, and become a commodity instead?
“About 50 years ago, just after it was invented!”

Forget “what goes on tour, stays on tour” – just how rock & roll have your gigs been so far?
For the stage I'm at, there's no rock n' roll debauchery anywhere… For starters, there's absolutely nothing even remotely sexy about the phrase, "wanna come back to the Travelodge with me? The rest of the band can wait in the hallway for 15 minutes." The first tour I did was in a rented Toyota Yaris, the back stage rooms are generally sticky and full of fat men talking about hard drives and guitar strings. At one gig once we got some free hummus... that was a good day....ha ha. Seriously the gigs are getting better and me and the guys are starting to get looked after, but I'm a fair few years away from my bowl full of brown M & M's and putting Robert Downey Jr on the rider.”

Josh Weller, Lot 273, "Strumming", 2008, Photo by Rankin

Your visual identity as an artist is very strong. You’ve been described as a ‘tweedy troubadour’. Is that deliberate or are you just being yourself?
“I always liked dressing up when I was little, and nothing's really changed. I'm just wearing what I want to wear. Living in south-east London it can sometimes be a test though. It's amazing how offended people can get by other people's clothes.”

What does it feel like to have Saturday@Phillips championing your music?
“It's like getting on a ski-lift and being given a cocktail for the journey. It's so flattering that they've asked me and Cibelle to do it, especially for the first one. There's so many amazing acts in London; The Golden Silvers, Mumford And Sons, Naked And The Boys, Beans On Toast, the list is endless. I'm very nervous about the gig. It was the first time in my life I did my 'I demand a smoke machine, a black back-drop and black balloons' joke, and people went, ‘yep, we can do that’."

Have you ever been to a contemporary art auction and made a bid?
Nope. But I'm going to spend my entire fee for this gig bidding on a print of me. I saw the butterfly thing by Damien Hirst sell at an auction, it scared the shit out of me. The auction man was upping the bid in hundreds of thousands. I was sat at the back thinking, "I ate boiled vegetables for lunch. I am definitely in the wrong business.'

As a musician you have a strong identity in terms of your record sleeves and website. Who does your artwork?
“My friend Alice Lindsay did the artwork for my first single. People like her and photographers like Socrates Mitsios really get me. Music is art, but performance is entertainment, and the idea of being an entertainer or a chanteuse gets me super excited... So I think finding the posse that makes the show entertaining when there's no music playing is important. Just look at Chet Baker or Edith Piaf, they had it down!”

Which artists mean the most to you?
“I always really liked Jean-Michel Basquiat. I think he managed to make everything happy and sad all at once.”

Rob Wood
Music Concierge
www.musicconcierge.co.uk