INTERVIEW WITH A FODDER #2: ALIG FODDER
In celebration of the new hit album ‘Variety’ and 30+ years of fantastic music, I present to you the second in a series of Family Fodder interviews… introducing the legendary Alig Fodder!
Family Fodder Website: http://familyfodder.co.uk/
Family Fodder (Unofficial) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/familyfodder
Family Fodder's "Variety" on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FamilyFodderTV
10th of October, 2013:
In the early days of Family Fodder, who did you feel your contemporaries were?
Do you mean contemporary influences? More or less of the same age? That would rule out earlier influences (Beatles, Kinks, Zappa, Velvets, Syd, Tamla), This Heat were an important influence - but by concentrating on 'pop' songs we were a bit different from them. We all liked Brian Eno, Talking Heads, The Pop Group, The Slits, Flying Lizards, 23 Skidoo and so on. In a less obvious way, The Eurythmics and Siouxsie and the Banshees were also contemporaries. Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich, Lee Perry and Ennio Morricone were also big influences. Strangely enough, last night I dreamed that Lou Reed came round my house - I made him a toasted sandwich with falafel, melted cheese and salad; he really enjoyed it.
Of your early work, which songs/albums most represent what you were trying to achieve?
Nearly all of the singles! Also 'Monkey Banana Kitchen' and 'Schizophrenia Party'. I loved singles at a time when musicians were into albums. I wanted to do something as good as 'Strawberry Fields', 'Good Vibrations', 'Heard it through the Grapevine', 'I am the Walrus'. Still do.
Your work has taken in a number of musical styles. Do some songs start as genre exercises for you or do you just tend to follow your nose?
When we did do genre exercises, they were usually tongue-in-cheek - and seriously inaccurate. But by now it has become normal to be eclectic. We all have access to a huge resource of styles, cultural memes, and historical artefacts - and it just keeps growing. Most recorded music is, and most people are, hybrid - we are all postmodern mongrels from a vast gene pool.
Indulge me briefly with tales of the writing/recording of 'Film Music' please? It's my favorite song.
Actually, I wrote that song for Hermine Demoriane - weird cabaret singer. For one reason or another, we never got round to doing it. Anyway the song was clearly FF - rather than cabaret. We recorded it in London with the 'Schizophrenia Party' band: Grahame Painting (guitar, perc. backing vox), and Bazz Smith, (drums) with Dominique Levillain on lead vocals. I played the synth and overdubbed guitar and backing vox. I wrote the song on the piano at Dominique's house; it started with the lyric "Film Music is empty - it pleases me - come and see". Later I developed the verses - which are kinda surreal contradictory vignettes about a female film star in various exotic locations. Bazz and I recorded the backing to a click track - which was kinda weird, because there are quite a few time signature changes. Ian Hill does the vocal adlibs on the fadeout.
I have to confess to a bit of a blind spot regarding your work from the late 80s through the early millennium. Where should one start investigating this period and what should be expected?
I became a professional busker (piano accordion) and lived in Europe - Italy, Switzerland and France. I never stopped recording, but FF was deeply unfashionable in that period. I think there were 15 years that I couldn't get a release. In the mid 80s I was touring with a band called 'Lo Yo Yo' that I started with Mick Hobbs (ex FF, The Work).
As a music fan, what do you most enjoy listening to that doesn't necessarily show up as an influence in your music?
A lot of African, Arabic and Indian music. Those guys are streets ahead!
Congratulations on 'Variety.' It's a fantastic record. What interested you about re-recording/re-framing some of your more recent (and not so recent) work on this album?
Thank you. 'Variety' came about by accident; it was a kinda elaboration of the idea of a band (Family Fodder) that has more 'Greatest Hits' albums than official releases. This one was going to be called 'Latest Hits'. Last year we did six download singles - one every month: this album collected (different versions of) those - in a traditional Tin Pan Alley way. I wrote a couple of new tunes and also remastered some material from that 'lost' period you referred to (1986-1999). There were originally quite a few instrumentals, but later it became clear that it was a record about songwriting and lyrics. The title alludes to an earlier, not entirely serious, album: 'All Styles' - but also to the rather antique kind of show business variety performances: a ventriloquist followed by a singer, a dance troupe, a comedian and acrobatic poodles.
How do you decide who sings a Fodder song? How do you choose your collaborators?
In the early days Dominique was the main singer; I wrote a lot of lyrics from 'her' point of view - like other lyricists I am often expressing an imaginary narrator as well as more direct, sincere, first-person situations. Many songs don't work for my voice, so I often looked for collaborators. Recently I've worked with Darlini Singh-Kaul (daughter of Dominique) and Mae Karthauser - both excellent singers/musicians with their own styles and material. I choose collaborators for their good humour and dedication - I don't believe they are in it for the money! On 'Variety' there are wonderful contributions from Professor Zoom and Bill Brand. Other FF vocalists have included Ian Hill, Lyn Alice and Felix Fiedorowicz.
What does the future hold for you musically, Fodder or otherwise?
Keeping on keeping on: Playing, learning, revisiting, composing, experimenting, celebrating, dreaming ................
There will certainly be some busking - weather permitting!
We hope to get the live band back together for touring soon - but we need more serious gig offers - they tend to come in ones and twos instead of the tens or twelves that we need. Everyone is older - with families and stuff- so it takes a bit more organisation than thirty years ago!
Bravo, Alig!