Jim Corr

Jim Corr: Our attitude was go it alone, see how far we get, but of course be very open to getting somebody else in if it s not right. And basically that was the approach. We got Mitchell Froom to come in at the very end, for about a 12-day period, to tidy up. There are some songs that he didn t touch, that he felt were good enough. We are to a large extent, self-sufficient, but we re also aware of the fact that you can get cocooned, and not see the bigger picture as somebody outside the whole scenario would.
So in terms of this record, what are its strengths?
I think we all can feel there has been a development in our songwriting skills. I think we are getting that little bit deeper. We re not afraid to explore different avenues, sonically, so some of the songs have a slightly rockier feel. I think there s more soul in some of the songs. As a group, I think we re getting more prolific, and we re getting better at it.
How does it feel to be the big brother and the senior musician?
Senior in age! (laughs) We re all equally talented musician-wise, that s for sure. I dunno. I have to make myself stand back, and allow all the ideas to bear fruit, because I m very aware that in earlier days, I was probably a bit too quick to criticise. But there is one thing about this band, a lot of these songs are a pool of all our talents. That s what makes The Corrs. We re very much a team. I don t feel there is any additional responsibility on me. I do love production, I d like to do that down the line. But we all produce, we all arrange, we all songwrite. That s our strength.
As the big brother, do you feel you have to keep an eye out for the others?
I do. I am very aware that they re three strong girls, and they are capable of looking after themselves, but I find myself getting more and more protective, because as our status has risen, you can get increasingly worried that something could go horribly wrong. We happen to be in the public eye, what we do might be slightly different in that sense, but essentially we re ordinary people. But some of the public, a small minority, don t see us as that. They idolise us, and that can bring all sorts of distortions in terms of people s perception, and that worries me a little bit.
Are you thinking there of the media or the fans?
I m thinking of eccentric fans, I m thinking crazed fans, you know, doing something stupid.
It s happened that people arrive in Dublin and try to find individuals, and that sort of thing.
Indeed it has. It certainly wasn t helped by a journalist in the Sunday Independent printing the addresses of my sisters. That was something that was unforgivable. With the advent of the Internet, once anything is printed anywhere, it s just out there. Anybody who has got a computer basically has it. So from that point of view it is worrying. I think we are very lucky with the music we play, because the type of fans that we meet are so respectful, so special. But there can always be the one mad person that decides to try something.
It must be strange being there and seeing your sisters with guys all over the world adoring them. Does that kind of aspect of it ever get to you, that there is a kind of predatorial thing around them?
Obviously I don t see my sisters in the same light that another guy would, but I would understand it. I will not pass judgement on this, unless it crosses a particular line. When we were shooting the video in Times Square for Irresistible Andrea did get accosted by a group of Italian guys. I was watching and I could see that she was starting to get distressed, so I had to go over and had to start pushing them away, and shouting at them. As soon as they calmed down, it was OK, but I did get a bit worried about it.
One of the great strengths of the group is that it is a family, and things happen in a musical sense which are particular to that, and are special as a result of that. But it must also be a constraining factor that you re with people that you grew up with as kids, and that there s all sorts of internal dynamics that have to be dealt with.
There is that, definitely. You can get away with being blunt with family members, in a way that would never be accepted among strangers. And it s not always acceptable either, it doesn t excuse it, but it is just the way it is among siblings. There is a history as well, within each individual s mind, that s kinda in the house. But the thing is, if you handle a situation like this correctly, it can be an excellent accelerator of personal growth. Because you show your vulnerabilities, much quicker, and sometimes the vulnerabilities that you have can simply be down to insecurity, and once you start to see the insecurity in yourself, and you start to work on that, it can bring out fantastic results. You get to know yourself better, get to like yourself an awful lot more.
Is there a bully in the family?
I think when I was younger I might have been a bit of a bully, but, certainly not now. I think I get bullied, the three girls bully me! (laughs) No they don t, we get on extremely well. It wasn t always the case. When I was young, I was a bit of a nasty brat. (laughs)
So what is the wildest thing you ve done?
The wildest thing I have done? Well, I don t know if it s wild, but I don t know if you can do anything more extreme than allowing yourself to confront death, and I kinda did that when I did a bungee jump. That was the most terrifying thing I have ever done. I don t think I could do that again. Because I was literally confronting death. I think if I had kids of my own there s no way I would have done it, because the thrill comes from the fact that there is a possibility that you might die doing this. And what a rush it was. It was a helluva rush.
The Corrs have been depicted in a lot of places as a squeaky clean band.
We re anything but, anything but.
I was going to say, that the truth is, that Jim Corr is a bit of a party animal.
Well that was up to recently. When I come home, having been out on the road, I can tend to party to extreme. I absolutely love socialising, I love going out with my friends, I love meeting new people, and it is a big release for me. You are working so intensively within The Corrs, whether it s promo, or live touring, that you want to run from it. That s why we try and get breaks as often as we can. Even just three or four days at the end of two months, at least it s a break, and it s removed from The Corrs. So when I go home I tend to burn the candle literally at both ends.
Is there a risk that when you don t have that intensity, that you need to fill that space which is how the infatuation that people in showbusiness or have with booze and drugs is often explained.
I think it s probably that, if anybody is attracted to the spotlight, attracted to the adulation, they re trying to satisfy the vacuum within themselves. Depending on how deep their own insecurities go. Of course you realise after a while that that will only fill that vacuum temporarily. It doesn t last. The most important thing is that one works on themselves, on the growth of their character, a sort of spiritual thing. I am not going to say that I don t enjoy it. I do enjoy the fact that it is easier for me to get into nice restaurants. Like I can phone up on a Saturday night and I generally get a table quickly. That s a nice thing. You kinda do appreciate the little perks. But at the same time, I have not gone into the music business for adulation, no way. I did not get into the music business to get put up on a pedestal because I am not comfortable with that. I don t think at the end of the day that there is anything different between me and anybody else on the planet.
What might you have been otherwise?
When I was a kid, about 9 or 10, I wanted to be a traindriver, because we were right beside this railway line, and I love trains. I went through the whole notion of being a helicopter pilot, and I sort of dabbled a little bit in electronics. I was interested in that. But nothing would have steered me away from music. Even when I d lapse, or hate getting piano lessons, I d always love the music itself. It was pretty evident that I was going to have a career in music. I just didn t know doing what, until I was 21 and I decided to join a band and tour. And we toured around Germany, and all the army bases, not the greatest of gigs, but it was a great experience. It was at that point that I decided to turn professional.
Where do you think you ll be in 10 years time?
In our situation it is very hard to tell. I m in a band with three girls, and they are women who are going to want to settle down, to a certain extent, and want to have kids. And that is going to impede the direction that the band will go in, to a certain extent. That is not to say that we are going to stop, but it could slow down the operation considerably. We could become a studio band. Just write, stay at home, go into the studio, record. It s kinda like a drug in a sense, being on the road, it really does get into your veins, into your system. It s something that you crave when you re away from it. I find that when I ve been at home for three weeks, it s like I ve explored partying, I ve done all of that, I kinda get itchy feet, and think, My God, maybe I ll travel, go to Galway, or the west of Ireland. I m always drawn to get back on the road, and I know the girls are the same, so it s really hard to tell. So in ten years time I hope we ll be making music and still successful together as a four or five-piece unit, and I hope that I have a chance to explore a bit, in terms of producing other bands as well.
What about relationships that must be a lot harder for somebody who is going out on the road?
It is extremely hard. First of all you think it s great. You think, the way males think from my perspective, it does make it a lot easier to get women. But the problem that you eventually see is that women can be attracted to you for the wrong reasons. And that becomes a complete fucking pain in the arse. And also I find I hold back so much more. If I see somebody that I like, I ve definitely got the confidence to go up to somebody and say I like you, I d like to take you out. Will you come out for dinner? But I ve been scared by things that happened in the past, and I just stand back for ages, before I d actually make a move on somebody. The reason for that is, I suppose I overestimated some girls that I went out with. And the very fact that I asked them out, or that we went out on one date, or whatever, they went around and told other people about it in a way that I know was just trying to elevate themselves. It s ridiculous.
Isn t it the thing that Bob Geldof, or any number of pop stars, read about themselves when somebody they slept with does a kiss and tell job in a newspaper?
Thankfully that hasn t happened to me that must be horrendous. And when that does happen, you know, I think we are all human at the end of the day, of course we are. And we all have the capacity to make mistakes not that every making love episode might be a mistake but you ve just got to be very careful. I stand way back, it takes me a long time now.
That must be a bit of a restriction!
It s terrible, because I m only home for such a small period of time. You know, I think life would be a bit easier if I suffered from infantilism, do you know what I mean? Like certain rock stars do? Like certain Formula One people do? I ve urges like every single other guy has on the planet, in terms of wanting to make love to women, but my brain is certainly not ruled by my penis.
Do you look at it and think that the prospect of building a life with somebody is at risk for you?
Absolutely. I mean that s what I m aiming for. I m not afraid to say that. I would love to find somebody that I gel with on every level, intellectually, emotionally, chemically, physically, and I m kinda hoping that it will hit me right between the eyes when I do come across that person. I m no saint I m not afraid to have fun in the meantime, it s not to say that I don t. I do. But I m very, very careful. You have to be, because of what I was explaining to you earlier.
So your trust was abused?
I wouldn t say that. I wouldn t say that my trust was abused. I think I was guilty of overestimating certain people.
That s very enigmatic!
It s true! The blame can only be put on me. It is so easy to be blinded by superficial looks, or superficial beauty in a girl, that s what I find. It s so easy to let the brain switch off and to dive in. I don t mean literally, but just throwing caution to the wind.
That is an interesting aspect of being a star, and living in the slightly strange world.Is it possible to step out of that into what people think of as normal?
When viewed from the outside, what we do can be seen as an abnormal world. And adulation is very difficult for people to deal with. I understand why a lot of young people, when they are subjected to the adulation, go completely off the rails. But we ve surrounded ourselves with people who are essentially themselves, very normal, intelligent, caring, compassionate people. Grounded people. And I know that we re grounded ourselves. I ve remained friends with my old buddies who always see me as the way I am.
That bollocks Jim!
That bollocks Jim! Whatever way they see me, it s never as the Jim Corr I ve become in other people s eyes. The thing is we haven t changed, but people s perceptions of us are different. Even when I go to the supermarket it is very hard for me to adjust and this is just a personal thing to people staring when I walk past them. I understand a lot of people out there would really like that. It would do something for them, but it doesn t for me. When I m offstage, at home, in Dublin I really do want to be treated as normal.
Abba had two blokes and two women, and there was a certain sort of gestalt involved in that. But for you it s different, because as the bloke in The Corrs, you re kind of the odd one out which is something people joke about.
We should all be able to laugh at ourselves and not take ourselves too seriously, and so you know, when I hear things like that, I generally get a good laugh out of it. The sketch that French & Saunders did, it s great. It had me in amongst the girls, jumping up behind them trying to get attention saying Look at me! We showed it before the concerts in Wembley on the last tour and it was very funny.
Right. You have time to give me your recipe. What s your speciality, cooking at home?
Oh God. I used to be able to cook a fantastic Indian dish and it was called Mattar Paneer it s basically Indian cottage cheese, with peas. It took a lot of work, but I was able to make this dish extremely authentically. I love Indian food, but I prefer to have it as a novelty when I go out. As a really simple dish, I cook an excellent steak and chips.
What do you do? Just whack it on the pan?
I ve got a grill pan so you get the pan as hot as possible, fire the steak on to it. Give it about 40 seconds each side. Then take the steak off, keep it hot. Put the onions on, give them a minute, then put some red wine in, reduce that, add some cream, then salt and black pepper and that s it. Serve it with chips and peas!

In the hotpress Annual, published on December 15th, the fifth member of The Corrs, manager John Hughes gives his own unique insights into the success of the group. Plus, words from the backroom boys, Anto Drennan and Keith Duffy.