The Gospel According to the Reverend

Jon McClure is a man of many, many, many words, but sometimes just one is enough. “Messy!” He’s whooping about a five-night slot supporting his favourite sibling music makers in Wembley stadium. “Oasis gave us all a watch as like a ‘Nice One’ for doing the tour, and then we went out and got absolutely mashed off our faces!”
I wonder what kind of luxury timepiece it must take to win the fair Reverend. After all, his is the greatest live band in the world. According to, er... himself.
“We are brilliant live. I’m not just being arrogant. We are, genuinely.”
Since we last spoke to McClure, he’s made a film, an album with Babyshambles/Arctic Monkeys/Poisonous Pets cocktail band Mongrel, and organised a trip to Venezuela to meet Hugo Chavez. He’s also now one of the most active minds behind Instigate Debate, a project that invites members of the public to conduct impromptu interviews with public figures.
“The music industry now is like the Wild West, your best bet is just to do loads of stuff,” he reasons.
If Reverend And The Makers’ debut The State Of Things was a platform for airing his views on the state of the nation, follow up A French Kiss In The Chaos is more a reflection on the politics of McClure’s own life, which last year was consumed by his on-off relationship with bandmate Laura Manuel (to whom he is now engaged) and death threats after performing at a series of anti-British National Party gigs.
“It were quite a turbulent time. I got really down in the dumps and went a bit mental, truth be told.”
French Kiss... lead single ‘Silence Is Talking’ borrows a riff from a 1975 War classic and its lyrics from a backwards transmission of a Beatles track.
“I’d been in this club in Sheffield called Club 60, and I’d heard ‘Low Rider’ by War and I’d also heard ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ by The Beatles and I’d taken ecstasy, right? And by the time I’d got home, those two songs had kind of become one song in my head.”
Perhaps I'm aurally hallucinating myself, but has he chucked in the Marmite ad as well?
“Correct,” he nods. “Everybody knows that riff.
I’m like Marmite – you either love me or you hate me. At least you can fucking know you’ve had me!”
It’s taken me two days' worth of phone calls to track the man down (on Wednesday he was in a “shit mood”, on Thursday he needed a haircut), so now that I finally have him, what does he have to say for himself?
“Don’t believe what the music press tell you.” he answers bluntly. “What you’re told is being innovative in today’s society isn’t necessarily the Klaxons, who really amount to a load of sweaty 30-odd-year-olds in Oxford. We have to break out of this Londoncentric thing that affects not only the British music scene but also the Irish music scene. Because it’s not relevant to someone in Glasgow or Dublin or Newcastle or anywhere. When someone goes for a drink with someone from the Mighty Boosh in Oxford, it doesn’t matter! It’s not relevant!”
Thankfully, he assures me, the times they are a-changing, as groups like Reverend And The Makers, Mongrel, Mancunian reggae rappers Dirty North and 45-strong hip hop outfit The People’s Army continue to use their music to debate as well as entertain.
“It’s really exciting things like Twitter... people suddenly don’t have to go back to a Specials record to articulate feelings that they might have because someone’s actually saying it. And not six months or a day after, but two hours after.”
I should defend my profession and explain the harsh practicalities of the publishing world, but McClure’s heart is too much in the right place.
While we’ve got him on the other end of the blower, what does the Rev reckon of Ireland’s new blasphemy law?
“I really have one word to comment on that; Bullshit! Bullshit! Believe what you want, right, but don’t quell other people’s freedom of speech!”
Any parting words for Hot Press readers?
“Eh...No. Just to you – be strong and be brave! I think everyone has to look at themselves and say, ‘What am I doing to further what’s right and further the people that wanna push music forward?’”
Thanks for the advice, Rev.