As the frontman and founder of legendary band Primal Scream, Robert Bernard ‘Bobby’ Gillespie has continued to release albums that break the mould, rock the house in no uncertain terms and sell in their millions.
A man who never compromised, kowtowed or danced to any tune other than his own, Gillespie is a one-off. He was born and raised in Mount Florida on the south side of the Scottish city of Glasgow while his dad Bob was a trade union official who stood for election as a member of the UK parliament in 1988.
Gillespie began his career in music as a roadie for Altered Images before playing drums for Jesus and Mary Chain in 1984 where he exhibited a minimal style of drumming – his kit ,which he played standing up, consisted of only a snare drum and a floor tom.
Chris Sullivan caught up with this unique man of music.
Even after all these years I still think Primal Scream is an odd name for a band. Where did it come from?
I don’t know. I had it in my mind years before the band started and didn’t even know the John Lennon connection until very recently [Lennon had ‘Primal Therapy’, a form of psychotherapy based on relieving tension caused by childhood neuroses and based on the book Primal Scream by Arthur Janov, in vogue in the 1970s]. I think it just appealed to me. When we started, guitarist Jim Beattie and I couldn’t play, and it was pretty basic – dustbin lids instead of drums and one chord on the guitar – so the name sort of described what we were up to.
'We released Screamadelica 20 years ago, but we’ve never played live in its entirety'
How would you describe what you do musically?
High-energy psychedelic rock ’n’ roll.
What’s going on at the moment?
Well, Andrew Innes and little Barry from Primal Scream and I have got this little thing going called The Silver Machine, with Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols on bass and Zak Starkey from The Who on drums, and we just did the 1,2,3,4 Festival in Shoreditch [a trendy quarter of UK capital London] last Saturday. We played sort of psychedelic freak beat high-energy garage rock ’n’ roll songs from the 1960s such as Teenage Head [Flamin' Groovies], I Wish You Would [The Yardbirds], I Want You [The Troggs], I Can Only Give You Everything [Them] and Sister Ann [MC5]. Now Primal Scream are rehearsing a few shows we have coming up in Olympia [also in London] this year on November 27 and 28, where we’re doing the whole Screamadelica album. We released it 20 years ago, but we’ve never played live in its entirety.
How did the 1,2,3,4, go?
I loved it.
When you began with the Primals, what five tracks inspired you?
A lot of punk rock stuff like The Clash’s [eponymous] first album – the PiL [ie Public Image Ltd] Metal Box album was another big one – Forever Changes by Love, Count Five by Psychotic Reaction and a lot of early psychedelic rock, all of which we tried to take somewhere else.
Well, it must be said that with Primal Scream have created your own genre…
I like to think so.
What do you think of the current music scene?
I can’t comment because I’m just into my own band and live in my own world, and those that I respect tend to have been around for along time.
How about Pop Idol and this new wave of manufactured pop?
I don’t even think about all that – it doesn’t even enter my world.
You’re a bit of a style icon, but is there anyone who has always influenced you?
Johnny Thunders [American artist of the ’70s who inspired many a punk-rocker] is the man for me.
How have Primal Scream progressed over the years?
I think we’ve just got better and better. Some people get worse as they go on, but I don’t think we have. I think because we’ve managed to maintain our enthusiasm and love what we do and never get tired of it at all. I am always thinking about how I can do something new, which is a good ethic I think.
The last time I saw you live, there were people in the audience aged from 16 to 60. How do you do accomplish that?
I think it’s the energy. I don’t really know.
'People always become more focused when times are tough and that might be good for art and music'
What advice would you give to a young musician?
I’m not very good at giving advice…
Lemmy from Motörhead told me just be your own man, do what you think is right and do unto others as you’d like to be treated yourself…
I don’t think you can get better advice than that.
Do you think there will ever be a new punk rock?
Not in the same way, because things never repeat themselves in the same way. A similar thing might exist, but not in the same way. With this new coalition government [Bobby is referring to the recently formed centre-right coalition government in the UK – the first there for 80 years] you might get a backlash like in the 1970s, but I don’t know. People always become more focused when times are tough and that might be good for art and music. Let’s hope.
Is it time for insurrection?
I always think that.
For more info on the band, go to www.theprimalscream.com
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