Hot Press talks to The Pop Group's Mark Stewart

“I’m basically still that 13 year-old kid who was queuing up to see Lou Reed’s Rock and Roll Animal Tour and The New York Dolls so I don’t really think of myself as being in a band to tell you the truth,” states Mark Stewart.
The Pop Group frontman is chatting to Hot Press in advance of the band’s first Irish sojourn (Whelan’s on May 4) and is sparkling form, especially considering the success of Citizen Zombie, the outfit’s first long-player in 35 years. He chats at breakneck speed and frequently veers off on several tangents, making for quite the unique interview experience.
“I’m shocked!” he exclaims on the subject of the album’s success. “I know The Pop Group is a bit of a cult thing and obviously other musicians from Bjork, to Massive Attack to Nine Inch Nails go on about us… but still!”
The enduring interest in Stewart and co is also evident in the impressive number of gig goers who have turned up at their recent batch of dates.
“We have just been to The States, Australia and New Zealand and people are still coming to the shows! We still seem to be very much flying the freak flag and it’s an honour to represent the alternative at the moment,” he says.
“Actually, it’s quite strange, I was just down in Kent campaigning against Nigel Farage, it’s pretty weird times,” Stewart says. “But in terms of us representing an alternative, I think it’s important for people of what I think is a good nature to just stand up and unite, you know?”
Always socially aware and politically charged, the bands latest aural missive addresses a series of wrongs. So how has the world changed since The Pop Group first started out on its quest in the late 70s?
“Well, I’ve gotten worse,” he deadpans. “I’ve become more sort of idealistically immature in a weird way. But the power structures have mutated and now they’re trying to make us into digital slaves. People think they’re free just because cause they can flip about on the web, you know what I mean? A lot of the things which people think are being helpful are in fact locking us into cages. So the whole point of Citizen Zombie is to wake up!”
For the current opus the band worked with revered polymath Paul Epworth.
“Paul is basically the best producer in the world,” states Mark. “U2 were in the studio with him the week before us and Florence and the Machine were there recently. He has the most amazing studio with three control rooms - it was like Star Trek! He has some really bizarre equipment too, like noise generators from the '50s New Zealand Air Force.”
“Paul has been a fan of ours since he was 15, at heart he is this really experimental abstract hip-hop kid. He was just amazing to have because making a record is a bit like a doctor doing brain surgery and I’ve always tried to work with the best technicians I could possibly have.”
And the creativity didn’t end with the album session, Stewart explains there is more in the pipeline.
“Yes, we’ve been working on stuff, The Pop Group is going to be an on-going process, it’s not just a one-off thing,” he affirms. “We’ve got a five-year plan. There will be more re-issues. There’s a whole album virtually ready to go!”
So how does Mark feel when he reads laudatory statements from the likes of Nick Cave and Thurston Moore who cite him as a key influence?
“It makes me feel... That I can’t do anything crap (laughs)! We are meeting all sorts of people out on the road that are telling us they’re fans and it’s not just your Nick Cave types, Hank Shocklee from Public Enemy came to one of our shows and we’re meeting all these techno guys who are into it. A lot of the people who are into us are making amazing stuff themselves like Viet Cong and Factory Floor.”
“I remember years ago standing beside the likes of Sun-Ra and Joe Strummer and them knowing my music,” he adds. “I’m this 14 year-old kid thinking, ‘how come these people from my record collection are standing next to me and know my stuff!’”

The Pop Group play Whelan’s, Dublin, on May 4