Interview: Primal Scream

“I must get a surfboard with Pet Sounds on it so,” Bobby Gillespie cackles on hearing Sea Sessions is a surfing and music festival. “I’ll be on the Brian Wilson one that never leaves the sand.” 

While it is virtually impossible to picture Gillespie’s whippet-thin frame perched on a surfboard, his Scream Team will be headlining the Sea Sessions festivities on the back of their eleventh album Chaosmosis, which is already a contender for most unusual title of 2016. 
“I came across the word and the concept from reading Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi’s 2015 book Heroes,” Gillespie explains. “His books help me make sense of the modern world. He references Felix Guattari and his book Chaosmosis: An Ethico-Aesthetic Paradigm. I felt it was a really good way of describing the creative process, which is basically you cannot hope to decode or decipher the bombardment of words and sounds and pictures we’re constantly confronted with in modern life.”

While Chaosmosis isn’t as explicitly political as the Scream’s turn of the millennium masterpiece XTRMNTR, its lyric do reference depression, suicide, hopelessness and despair in the modern world. However, it also offers a defiant optimism, particularly on the track ‘When The Light Gets In’. 

“Rather than allowing this stuff to make you feel negative and powerless, you can absorb it into making a good artwork, which can be used against the onslaught of images, sound, propaganda and pressure,” Gillespie says. “You can use chaos as a weapon to protect and inspire you. Everyone feels impotent and powerless in the face of financial capitalism. I know I do. I’m just the singer in a rock and roll band. Singing about it doesn’t really make a difference. Rock and roll has the power to make people feel good, and maybe that’s enough.” 

The last time Primal Scream played in Ireland, they managed to make an Olympia audience feel good on a sad day for music, as Lou Reed had just died. Of course, Reed’s ‘Satellite of Love’ backing vocalist David Bowie passed away in January. A lifelong fan, Gillespie has very fond memories of meeting the Thin White Duke. 

“We played with Bowie in Belgium,” he reveals. “He was amazing. He looked beautiful and was an extremely stylish and kind man. You could chat to him for ages. He was dead nice. Me and my friends still talk about it today. We never expected to meet him. He just suddenly appeared in the dressing room and said, ‘Hey Bobby, how’s it going?’ I’ve been a fan of his since I was 11.
“We’d travelled overnight on the ferry to Belgium. On the way over, we watched a documentary about Vince Taylor. We told him we’d watched this film and he said, ‘Do you know I based Ziggy on Vince?’ Before Bowie got famous, he’d bump into Vince Taylor walking around coffee bars in Soho in London, telling people where the aliens where going to land.”

Speaking of formative influences, Gillespie recently cited the Sex Pistols as the spark of inspiration that changed his life. The 40th anniversary of punk this November has already become a bone of contention, as Malcolm McClaren’s son Joe Corré made headlines claiming he plans to burn £5 million worth of punk memorabilia, in a protest reminiscent of a KLF stunt.

“I know Joe and although I haven’t spoken to him about it or seen him in a few months, I’m sure he is very sincere about it and treasures legacy of his Dad and the Pistols,” Gillespie says. “I understand why he is doing it as a grand gesture against the commodification of punk. Without punk, I wouldn’t be speaking to you right now. What I took from it is to question authority, but also to be always questioning yourself. Are you going to sit around and be bored, or are you going to do something about it? Are you going to create something beautiful out of the ugliness of your life and the environment around you, or are just going to sit there and wallow in shit and misery and be defeated? I chose the former rather than the latter.”

Another important life choice Gillespie took was to quit drink and drugs after years of being one of rock and roll’s most notorious hedonists. The sole non-drinker in Primal Scream, Nick Cave once hilariously said, ”I did a kind of Christ-like sacrifice for the health of the Bad Seeds. I stopped drinking, so they could continue.” 

“That’s an amazing quote,” Gillespie laughs. “Well, our band is a little bit older now and no one parties like they used to. When I began my journey, Mani and me gave up around the same time in 2007. The rest of the band still have a drink after the gig, but I don’t obviously. I make music, write songs, talk to guys like you and go on tour. I’m not putting myself into a bad place or into any positions of danger anymore. I can walk in the world without any fear.”

What would Bobby say to anyone struggling with addiction? “To be honest, you can’t really advise anyone deep in the throes of addiction about what they should or shouldn’t do, because the last thing they want to hear is somebody lecturing them,” he answers. “They have to go to you and say, ‘I’m fucked’. Then you can say, ‘OK, I’ll help you.’ If you say you know what is best for them, they’ll just say, ‘Go and fuck yourself.’ I was like that for years. You think you’re God and invincible and indestructible, so you don’t realise you’re leaving a trail of destruction and poisoning anyone who comes into contact with you. 

“An addict has to hit the wall and come looking for help. I can’t give anyone advice. There is always the chance I’d relapse tomorrow. I’m not out of the woods. Ultimately, neither is it any of my fucking business. Even if they’re my friend, it is their life. I’m all for people doing what they want to do. It is up to them and I’d never judge them either way.”

Unlike so many of their contemporaries of the late ’80s or early ’90s reuniting for a lucrative lap of honour, Primal Scream have managed to respect their legacy and stay relevant with new material. “We’ve always been serious about being a good band and always had a strong work ethic,” Gillespie maintains. “We never split up or reformed. I don’t want to be one of these pussy bands putting out an album every five years. I completely understand why people reform. They probably never made any money back in the day and it is nice to patch things up with people they may have fallen out with it. Whatever the circumstances – that’s cool. We’re just doing our thing and good luck to everyone else.” 

If it all was to end tomorrow, what would Bobby like Primal Scream to be remembered for? “A great rock and roll band,” he replies without hesitation. “That’s all. I think we’re a good band who has made a lot of great records. If people come to see us, I hope we can show them how just how great rock and roll can be.”

Primal Scream give Chaosmosis a live airing at Sea Sessions, Bundoran June 24-26