Firstly, a big thank you to Simon and Justin for their in-depth discussion from these questions. This is the full, unedited interview transcript from my interview with the brothers.Established in the rolling hills of Worchestershire in 1979, And Also the Trees have forged a career spanning three decades. From the pastoral, electric folk of early releases, the 50s cocktail beat and Fitzgerald affectations, to the near-classical, Spanish influence at present, this is a band one could truly define as 'original'. Against a backdrop of galleries, museums and music halls, it is hard to imagine their modest, underground beginnings from their position as a high-brow cult outfit. Talking to brothers Justin [guitar] and Simon-Huw Jones [vocals] today, I was keen to learn more about this unique, progressive and quintessentially English group.
I guess I'll start from the beginning...
1. Growing up in a village such as Inkberrow - an upbringing I wholly
empathise with - how did you become interested in music, and later, how
easy was it to book shows as a fledgling band?
Justin - We had older brothers and sisters who were I suppose pretty much the first generation of teenagers, that is to say they were exposed to youth culture that hadn't really existed before in history. These were people who were listening to bands of the 60's as they happened, so we came along in the second wave. We just happened to be around and interested in music that bridged that interesting period between the late 60s and the late 70s. I suppose it was an important time in music, lots happened in a decade and being a teenager whilst the New Wave happened was tremendously exciting. Even if you were stuck at the bottom of a hill in the middle of the English countryside.
Simon and I thought it would be a good idea to start making music when I was about 13 and he was a bit older. You didn't need to be able to play instruments with any proficiency in 1978, or at least that is what we understood. So we started a band with our friends who were also brothers. We were terrible of course, but I suppose coming at everything from a different angle and that is what must have ultimately shaped the way AATT turned out. We were outsiders, people treated us with suspicion in the village, they always did. We were known as [adopts old worcester accent] "them Jones brothers down the 'ill, them's weird them are thems only eats rice".
Not many people played guitars back then, just old heavy rock bands here and there. We played pubs in villages and towns with our own home made amplifiers, speaker cabs and a chip board PA that we made. We didn't have the money to buy decent gear and frankly wouldn't have known a quality amp or guitar if it spoke to us. I still have the same guitar I had then. Can't find a better sounding one. Its probably superstitious but I think I will always use it, I found out it was made the same year as me, only in Germany.
2. Between Simon and yourself, you have wonderfully unique approaches to your respective instruments - your guitar-playing has at times evoked Pentangle's Bert Jansch for me. Simon's lyrics whispering Samuel Coleridge - what inspired your particular styles?
simon - Well, not the romantic poets at all actually - I'd say I was inspired most of all by the combination of Justin's music and my surroundings. Dylan Thomas' poetry and prose moves me and has done for a long time... I am influenced by most books that I read and films that I see, and I suppose I've been influenced by certain artists and artistic movements. The bands singers that I have never tired of are - The doors, Bowie (up to a point), early Roxy music, Tom Waits, Scott Walker. From that period when AATT I'd say my favorites are Joy division. Who out of that lot has influenced my style is hard to say.
Justin - Don't know much about Bert Jansch. I will look him up.
To be honest I don't really know where influences came from. I don't have any particular guitar favourites. Possibly Pete Townsend, he had a lovely way of moving from major to minor and telling stories with music, so did Arthur Lee's Love. I think musically soundtrack composers from the 1960's had the most effect on me. I think a lot of it is to do with dynamics and tension builds and release with oddities , lots of oddities.
3. Your initial relationship with the Cure, so I'm told, came from sending
Robert a home demo tape. Was this on whim, or had you had prior contact?
What connections did this relationship afford you?
Justin - No that was just a naive idea that this was the way the industry worked, you send a tape to someone, they like it and then you play live together. Oddly that's the way it worked out.
I'm still in touch with Smith, going to see his band next week funnily enough.
We toured England/Scotland together a couple of times (maybe 3 times) in 1980-1984. It helped us a bit in the UK but not enough to get a record deal at that time and so its difficult to gauge what real effect it had especially in mainland europe where we work more than anywhere.
We always got on well with them (the Cure) I think they liked us being outsiders and in some ways living a parallel existence of obscurity. They wrote great pop songs, we certainly didn't, we had something in common though as I say, maybe just that we are in the 'black lodge', and they have been stars.
4. Obviously, being 21 means I never got to 'grow up' with the band, but I could argue that you 'found your sound' (apologies for the cliche) with 'A Room Lives in Lucy', continuing through to 'The Millpond Years'. Was there a collective sense that the EP and subsequent albums were particularly special?
simon: What was special about it, looking back, was probably the feeling that we'd developed our own musical personality... we felt alone, like outsiders, and in its own way that was quite exciting... as well as being a hinderance and a bit of a burden.
5. American, and in particular, European audiences seemed to share a deep connection with the music; why do you think this was?
simon: We have talked a length, often, about why we are more popular in certain places than others and have never come up with a satisfactory conclusion. It is certainly affected by media exposure and how frequently we play in places, but there is probably more to it than that.
6. Your 90s releases such as 'the Klaxon' and 'Angelfish' saw a slight shift in direction for the band's sound. Was this a natural development or something that you were keen to try out?
Justin - It was by and large a conscious decision to take a different road, we felt we had explored that particular direction enough and got interested in a group of different influences through Art, Music and Film we thought we would go on a different journey. It was good to do it at the time, although we alienated the majority of our audience who didn’t understand what the hell we were doing. Typically AATT business suicide.
7. The five year break between 1998 and the release of 'Further From the Truth' seemed to fuel rumours of the bands demise. After nearly two decades of hard work, was it simply the desire to take a much-needed rest? What did you do to keep occupied during this period?
Justin - Well we moved away from our nerve centre and no longer lived in the same country, let alone county. It was impossible (or so we thought) to continue as we had been. I remember thinking after a couple of years of living in London, away from everyone, that it would be interesting to resume the journey. We never dissolved or split or anything like that, just paused. If there was a will there would be a way.
8. How much of an affirmation is it to you that in a medium as ephemeral as 'the music world' people still hold your music with such regard and that younger people like myself can get such joy out it?
simon: It helps a great deal. The music business is a strange and unwieldy entity - you never know if you will be there from one day to the next; it's good to be appreciated.
9. 'When the Rains Come' and the subsequent acoustic tour displayed a new side to the band. What were your motivations behind reinventing the sound in this way?
simon: It happen almost by mistake as we were kind of pushed into playing a live acoustic show on a Parisienne rooftop by a great bloke called Damien who was organizing acoustic gigs on his terrace. He knew our music well and was very persuasive and together. So we played one night on a night off on tour and it went very well. We'd never done anything like it before, particularly Justin and I, and we felt a great feeling of liberation in the knowledge that we could actually perform anywhere we liked - with no electricity if necessary, and there was a closeness about the performances that was very special too. A closeness within the band and also with the audiences. And then the reworking of the songs was very enjoyable and rewarding too.
10. With a new album on the way, what does the future hold for the band? Do you still have the feelings and motivations about making music now as you did in the 1980s?
Justin - Actually it seems a bit harder to create something of worth. Strangely having members drop out of the band in some ways has made a potentially negative situation bring about unexpected results. You work in a new way as we did on the last (electric) record, that has been pleasing. But knowing you already made 11 or how ever many albums we have made now, makes me aware that I have perhaps already done everything I could have done.
I still don’t think we have ever made a really ‘good’ record, we are better live.
Not having been able to ever ‘pin down’ a record makes it strangely elusive, attractive, and sort of addictive.
