Interview taken from HermAphrodite #4?

N.B. ‘The Beekeepers’ have since split, and from the ashes there rises… Lucas J.

Jamie’s still singing too, you know.

Today is Tuesday. Beekeepers. Woohoo.

As part of the blackmail deal instigated by my flat (mates) towards me, Claire has agreed to be put on the guest-list for tonight’s gig in Middlesborough, if I go with her to the Xmas Ball - she says she doesn’t mind if I go wearing my pink wig, so’s long as I’m there - and so pay £17.50 for a ticket.

This all means that this evening, I’m pondering the justness of life, and she’s my Honorary Pen-Holder ( even though I um, have a dictaphone... ) And so is of greater import than Lynsey and Nick, whom I have also dragged along - their role is mainly to look interested and attentive all night, and then be enthusiastic when we’ve left.

( A task which they performed admirably. )

That Tuesday was their first introduction to The Beekeepers. Heh-heh.

“Beekeepers must lose it occasionally, you know you’re there with the netting, and two thousand bees ( does deep bass buzzing noises, mimes swarms about face ) and essentially you’re trying to steal honey...” ( Izzard )

( Photo by Andy Wilsher )

Jamie, centre ( vocals ). He has custody rights over a Tickle-Me-Elmo.

Tree, far right ( drums ). He’s been giving the rest of the band line-dancing lessons. Apparently.

Julian, far left ( guitar, vocals ). He came back from a night out with an iguana once.

Gaz, right ( lead guitar, vocals ). He called one of his cats Tucker (Grange Hill). And the other ‘Miaow’. Seriously.

Mark, left ( bass, vocals ). He is damn elusive.

“ And they [ bees ] are always just behind you as well... If Beekeepers get together and go on a general outing are they in a van going (mimes looking frantically out of back window) ‘Faster faster, put your foot down...’ ” ( Izzard )

So then. Haven’t seen these folks since the summer. What’ve The Beekeepers been up to since...?

Jamie ( slips into band-member role... ) - “ Well we’ve finished the mini-album...”

me - “ How many tracks ?”

Jamie - “ We’re not sure yet - we did twelve...”

me - “ That’s not very mini...”

Jamie - “ Well we did about fourteen for a full album, then it got cut down to twelve cos we didn’t like some of the songs. And then we finished it all off and listened to it. But there’s some songs on there that we’ve been doing for about two and a half years, and we don’t really want to go out and tour all that lot again, so we cut out some of the older ones like ‘Window Shopper’. So it’s going to be a mini-album which makes it cheaper as well. And that’s all done and dusted and it should be coming out in February.”

me - “ Is that with Marco Pirroni [ ex ‘Adam and the Ants’ ] as well ?”

Jamie - “ Yeah, he’s done ‘Killer Cure’ and also ‘Eyeballed’.”

me - “ So why didn’t you stick with just the one producer ?”

Jamie - “ That was the original intention. But then, there’s some songs that you wanna do that aren’t necessarily the songs that producers wanna do, their particular sound. We just used who we wanted really... ( grins elvishly ) Because we can.”

me - “ Was there a choice ?”

Jamie - “ Yeah: when we first got signed, it was like ‘well, who do you wanna work with producer-wise ?’, and first choice was Gil Norton who we got for ‘Do You Behave...?’ and that was wicked, cos he’s worked with the Pixies... But he was just too expensive for the whole album. Plus he’d just started working on the Foo Fighters album... You do get given choices, but it’s not just a case of a band choosing a producer - if the producer’s not into what you’re doing then they ain’t gonna get in for love nor money...”

me - “ And you wouldn’t wanna do it yourselves ?”

Jamie - “ Oh, you can’t... For the album we’ve just done we didn’t have the time, or the knowledge. And it’s always good to get different people’s opinions, have an outside person coming in telling you if it sounds good, if that persons got experience in what works and what doesn’t... But in the future, yeah. We’ve done all our own B-sides and stuff...”

me - “ When Gaz does the songs, does he write them with you singing them in mind, would they be the same if he was writing them for himself ?

Jamie - “ Probably not, cos Gaz can sing a lot higher than I can.”

me - “ But are you his mouthpiece ? Would they be different if he was singing them, would he make them less personal ?”

Jamie - “ It’s difficult sometimes to sing a song which someone’s penned that means so much to them - particularly if it’s about a topic that they feel strongly about. I mean, I don’t know, cos I sing everything, so it makes no difference to me. The ones that I get to write, I know exactly how to sing, and the ones that I get given I sing how I want anyway. But it must be hard, cos they’re like your little babies, the songs are, specially when you know you’ve got a really good one... I think Noel Gallagher has a bit of a problem like that, cos he always saves the ones that he likes for himself.”

me - “ So which ones are yours then?”

Jamie - “ I was going to have 2 and a half on the album, cos I co-wrote one, and wrote and wrote two. But ‘Window-Shopper’s not on there anymore, cos it’s the first song I wrote, and I’m sick to fucking death of it. And it’s already been a B-side. All the lyrics are like where I was when I was nineteen, and I’m twenty-three now. It’s about shagging around and being a tart, and I can’t be arsed to do that anymore. But I wrote one on there called ‘Eyeballed’, which I think is one of the best songs I’ve ever written...”

me - “ How personal are they to you? The ones that you’ve written...”

Jamie - “ I can’t... Gaz finds it a lot easier to write in the third party, whereas mine are always very very direct. They’re plainly obvious to me what they’re about. But that’s the whole point ( puts on vague luvvie voice ) to exorcise those demons.”

It’s like he’s conscious of that being a cliché but still half-believing in it at the same time. It’ll be one of the many things that he’s about. I would think. ( Does that make sense? )

And then a bloke comes in with more of their rider. Jamie shows us over their drink selection. Some of the bottles seem to be glowing.

Jamie - “ It’s really good of them to give us all these cool Tangos and not give us a bottle opener...”

Part 2

Last revised: 26/07/01