12-1991 / New Musical Express / We can’t dance, by Simon Dudfield

" … At school I didn’t really feel part of anything but I really liked a lot of music. When I left school, pretty much right away, I wanted to be in a band. I met up with this person, Brian (Supestar), who was a bit older than me. I knew he could play guitar ‘cos I’d read about him in fanzines. So I asked him if he would join the band. " (…) " I met Aggi pretty soon after. There was this band we both liked, The Swell Maps, and they kinda put us in touch with each other. Parallel to The Pastels we started a fanzine called Juniper Beri Beri. " (…) " The whole ‘C86’ thing was completely sexless. Likewise a whole lot of independant music is so asexual. Like the label Sarah, it just seems like it’s run by a load of paranoid virgins. I don’t really care for that too much. It’s really nauseating. The Pastels never wanted to be part of that. " (…) " Our group split up. It was quite a dramatic two years. We were quite good friends, but we couldn’t make records with the people who were in the band, ‘cos our ideas were no longer compatible. That took a lot out of us. " (…) " We’re not interested in strategies. We had these songs and they weren’t enough for an album. The whole ‘Speeding Motorcycle’ ep is a real theme. It’s a real kind of power trip. ‘Thru Your Heart’ is a much gentler record. It’s a really warm feeling record. If we’d just brought out ‘Speeding Motorcycle’ people would think ‘oh they’ve done another single, they’ll just go away again’. But I really like the totality of all the songs. It shows some of what we can do. " (…) About Speeding Motorcycle : " We really related to that whole song. We just heard it and thought we’ve got to do this. " (…) " That’s always been my feeling. I really love music. I feel more passionate about music than any other kind of object apart from people. When you start making music it’s quite naive, ‘cos you don’t really understand exactly what you’re doing. Each time you plug in your guitar you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen. I’ve always believed in that kind of primitive excitement, kind of adventurism, if you like. Music’s got to be passionate or it isn’t worth making. If you don’t feel passionate – don’t make music, y’know. " (…) " It’s a horrible business, we’re trying to be naive about it, but at the same time I’m so aware of what the music business i like, I know we’ve got to be removed from it. We’ve never wanted to be in a position where we had to make records that we didn’t want to. The way the music business works is very competitive and you’re always judged against other bands, whether or not you judge yourself. So we’re seen in a marketplace competing with Teenage Fanclub and Primal Scream. While I do believe we can make records as good as those bands – better in our own terms – it’s hard because they devote all their energy into what they do and we can’t. It’s just a kind of unfortunate contradiction. " (…) " I think thinking’s important. It’s not rock’n’roll parties that make great records. The records come first and then maybe there are parties or something. I think every great record has an intelligence. For me, unintelligent music is like a lot of moronic dance records that have just got a really dumb sample off some other record, maybe a female vocal with some token amount of sex appeal. I can’t think of any unintelligent record I like. I don’t see music as this pyramid with Pet Sounds at the top, then you make your way down the variuos music strands. I just see it as all these mad wires just really going off. " (…) " I just want to forge ahead, I want to embrace everything. I think it’s good to be aware of what’s going on around you at any point in time, but I feel it’s got to the point where we’ve really got to deliver an incredible album. " Katrina : " Stephen doesn’t mind the cuties. But I’d like to punch some of them in the face. There was this one girl doing all this… (Katrina tugs on her fringe, casts her eyes downwards and coyly mumbles)… It makes you want to puke… "