hange is good. Whether it is. in l'act. actually as good as a rest or helps you turn to face the strange. as Bowie once tenuotIsly claimed. remains unconlirmed. In the IR months since we last sat down and conversed with ldlewild a lot has changed. This. on the whole. is a good thing.
Things happen. the world turns. people change. There's always something slightly suspect about bands of musicians who never grow up. With the notable exception ol’ the Ramones —- who were never built to evolve in the lirst place — every musician on the planet needs to grow to survive.
()n my first encounter with Roddy Woomble in 2()()l he was perched awkwardly on a battered Stirling l'niversity student union pleather couch. where he tried. in vain. to expand on the ideas behind the band‘s then new record [00 Broken Him/oil's. .\ly interview technique was as much to blame as any sheepish evasion by \Voomble. but there weren‘t many new and innovative journalistic shapes cut from that conversation.
liour years and several hundred interviews (for both ol‘ us) later we are seated in a comfy. upmarket cale in lidinburgh. sipping unsurprisingly expensive col'l'ee. ldlewild have made a new record. a damn line one at that. One which will either divide their loyal following or unite them and up the band to a whole new audience. liither way. \Voomble is chatted with it. .-\nd it shows. Maybe it's his avid globe roaming ol~ late — he moved from lidinburgh to London and now resides in New York —~ but
mostly it appears to be his renewed sense ol‘
purpose in the band. Throughout our conversation he is more animated. explicit and emphatic than I have ever encountered him. More than just a change ol~ scenery. presumably. The emotional range of music is huge. From the adrenalised rush ol~ the finest crushineg heavy rock to the fragile weeping of the saddest country song you ever heard. music‘s innate ability to monkey around with inner workings of listeners
On a prom
Mark Robertson goes in search of IDLEWILD, only to find them like a new band. Quite literally.
is pretty impressive. ldlewild have always been conscious ol this. and while they never went overtly tor the emotional jugular throughout their seven year recording career. they‘ve been always been the most human and emotive of bands. Woomble‘s obttrse lyrical collages and a barrage ol‘ l'eedback kept a barrier between player and listener at times. And it's a barrier which. with the release ol' llill‘tllhlI‘QN/PH)HIl.\'(‘.\. is scheduled to lie torn down.
liew bands get to grow up in public quite the way ldlewild have. It was their early power—punk
tendencies in the late 90s that solidil'ied their
reputation as one of the countt'.‘"‘ ““N “Citing
live bands. Their records were a muted. il~
charming. suggestion ol'just what they could do on stage. Hope is Important. their debut long player. was a bi-polar mash ol' unabated energy
‘IT'S SUCH A DEBUT ALBUM CULTURE THAT FEW BANDS GET TO GROW UP THE WAY WE HAVE'
peppered with easy. melancholic melody. '.\lessy' and directionless.‘ Woomble concedes. ‘But it did have a kind of spirit about it‘.
It took until 2()()() lor the band to truly capitalise on that latent live energy in the studio with l()() Broken Him/oil's. a more t'ocussed and vitriolic collection with guitarist Rod Jones making lull Lise of his plethora ol‘ distortion pedals without clouding out the inherent melodies. Skip to 2002 with an album that was epic in ambition it not in linal proportions. The initial el'l‘ect of The Remote l’urt was overwhelming and it enjoyed plenty of critical praise. Over time. cracks in the record become
apparent; some songs l‘cel less well honed. Conversely. in ‘.-\merican linglish'. ‘Tell Me 'l'cn Words’. ‘ln Remote Part and others it contained some their linest work yet.
'\\'e were listening to a lot ol' \ltlll like Badlinger. Bruce Springsteen and l'leetwood Mac at the time.' \‘v'oomble explains. ‘\\'e didn't want to copy them. but to try and do something as big. a bold statement ol' intent. and I think we managed to do tltill. lt was essentially Rod and l writing that record and I didn't like the idea ol' it
just being two people. I like tltc idea ol
collaboration. but when the whole thing blew tip with Bob. it turned out to be a messy period tor the band.‘
This messy period came to a head when bassist Bob liairl'oull took a swing at \Voomble in an argument backstage during the tour to support The Remote l’urt. He missed and laid one on guitar tech Alex (irant. a decidedly more robustly built gentlemen than the wiry .\lr \Voomble. l-‘airl‘oull lel't and joined lidinburgh‘s l)egr'assi and. ironically enough. (irant was dral‘ted in to cover bass duties tor the remainder ol' the tour. Debonair Irishman (iavin l-‘ox was recruited as replacement and the band were bolstered by the addition ol' Allan Stewart as second guitarist. Things had changed. but not
just with the line-up.
'When (lay and Allan joined in the start ol' 3003. it really could l'eel like a kind ol rebirth. I know that‘s a cliche to say that but it really did. musically and lot" the spirit ol' the group as well. We started writing songs straight away. We went on tour tor a year so we suddenly became really tight — it l‘elt like the most solid band I'd ever been in.‘
\Voomble is clearly energised by this new chapter in ldlewild‘s relatively short me. Never has he seemed quite so emphatic about the group. but also he. more than ever. seems to know not just what he is doing. but why.
Homings/I’romt'sev is a departure. a recording by a band comllrrtable in their own skin with input coming from all corners. liox brings more
" VII-LU: '.'5:' 27,", 15