MIn the mid-nineties The Boo Radleys were a band everyone liked. All you have to do is start singing 'Wake Up It's A Beautiful Morning' and all will join in, as their breakout hit 'Wake Up Boo' became one of those songs that everyone loved.
After splitting up after the release of their 1998 album Kingsize, Martin Carr went on to form Bravecaptain, a departure from the glorious poppiness of the Boos, with a more experimental edge to the band, but it’s a sound which is equally as exhilarating. About to release their second album, Distractions, Craig Aston chatted with Martin Carr about Bravecaptain, and Carr's time in The Boo Radleys.
Martin: I don't know; in some respects I've gone backwards and in others I'm way ahead. I can't seem to write a song with more than two chords in any more but I can record them much better.
Everything is chaos, I can't keep a group together or find a sound to stick with or a theme to develop. I can't stand still. All of this might sound artistically satisfying but it's led to everyone who was involved at first giving up and letting me get on with it.
G: How does it feel working to your own initiative?
M: Sometimes I love it and sometimes it gets kinda lonesome and I wish there were people who could come up with ideas that I could take the credit for.
G: How does Bravecaptain differ to the Boo Radleys creatively?
M: Only in the recording. During my time in the band I didn't venture too near the desk in case it blew up, I was an ideas man. Now I do just about everything.
G: Is there anyone you haven't collaborated with yet you'd like to?
M: I'd like to do a bit more hip hop, I've done some stuff for Akira the Don and Saul Williams. I'd like to do a track with MF Doom. He rules. I'd also like to get some people who can really sing to sing my songs, people like Kathryn Williams or Ian McCulloch.
G: Looking at the influences on your website, there seems to be a trend of subversive behaviour. Are you a rebellious person by nature?
M: I don't seem to be able to fit in anywhere if that's the same thing.
G: Did you ever consider pursuing an alternative career like some of your peers? (For instance writing / fim making)
M: I write. I 've never written anything that made enough sense to slap a title and do something with it but I'm working on it.
G: What were your thoughts on Electric Soft Parade name-dropping The Boo Radleys as an influence?
M: I like it when bands mention the group. Especially if they are doing well. I met them a few times, good people.
G: Who of your peers impressed you, and who got success and you thought "Them?"
M: I am never surprised when bands get famous because there are so many reasons why it happens. I liked Blur and Oasis at various points. I loved Swervedriver and the Furries. I have never listened to that much rock music, I don't know how we ended up making so much of it. We had the form, the correct shape and we didn't have the vision to break out of it like others did.
G: What do you think about the state of the music industry today?
M: I don't. It has nothing to do with me. I think things like myspace are really good for bands to get themselves about but there is still about 2% good stuff and the rest is the rest. That will never change, what will change is that bands can sell their own stuff instead of record companies ripping the soul out of the whole thing in the name of profit.
G: Do you think you were misunderstood as a band?
M: Not really, I think we're remembered by some solely as the band that did 'wake up boo' but that's not going to bother me. It's better than being forgotten.
G: Are you fond of any new or up and coming bands at the moment?
M: There are a few welsh bands i like; soft hearted scientists, Dead Residents and Richard James' solo stuff. I love Akira the Don and his mates, bashy and mothboy etc I really liked the Why? album last year.
G: Do you still speak to Sice or the other band members?
M: Yeah, me and Sice had a text session today that ended in a laughing fit. I don't know how, after twenty odd years, we still find each other funny. Nobody else does. I speak to Tim occasionally and Bob when he gets in touch.
G: It seems that there a few bands of the mid-nineties that have reformed or are reforming, Would you ever consider reforming the Boo Radleys? Perhaps after the ten-year cycle of Brave Captain?
M: Not unless I was desperate, really desperate. No.
G: Do you see The Boo Radleys as the yardstick that Brave Captain has to surpass?
M: No, it's all the same life to me.
Craig Aston.
Related Link: Bravecaptain's official site.
Related Link: Our review of Bravecaptain's debut album.
Click here to talk about Bravecaptain on the Garbled music forum.
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