It’s a busy time in the world of the self-appointed, semi-legendary indie stalwarts and masters of heartbreak, The Wedding Present. This year sees them celebrating their 40th anniversary with the recent release of career-spanning (but definitively not a ‘Greatest Hits’) box set entitled 40 and a massive UK tour, which they are midway through when we caught up with founder, frontman and only original member present for all four decades, David Gedge.
Hi David, how’s the tour going? And how has touring changed over the last 40 years?
DG: “Very well, not bad, it’s Newcastle tonight. In a word, I’d say technology, I would say that that’s what most musicians would say these days because back when we used to tour in the early days, there were no mobile phones, never mind smart phones or laptops or GPS or anything like that it. It was a case of looking at the A-Z with a torch, trying to work out where we are and then trying to find a phone box and then find enough coins to call the promoter!”
So, It’s a bit easier now, but is there anything you don’t like about it?
“Yeah, a lot easier, but it’s now quite tiring. I don’t think you realise sometimes, you just kind of think it’s great, but with playing a show every night and then all the travelling and you’re not always sleeping very well, not eating that well, it can weigh you down so there’s been tours where I’ve gone home after a week or so and I’ve not noticed it, but I’m absolutely exhausted for the next couple of days. I think it’s especially when you have to travel abroad and you’ve got jet lag from all the flying, but you know it’s a small grumble really because obviously I love like travelling around. I’m always flattered that people will pay money for me to come and play Newcastle or Japan or wherever.
I mean we’re bigger in the UK then we are in other places so the concerts are kind of big, but it’s kind of my downfall in a way because it means that we’re always busy, because if somebody says, “Oh come and play in the Philippines”, you know I’m not gonna say no if someone wants to fly you out there.”
Is there anywhere you’d like to play, that you haven’t already played?
“The only place that I think we could’ve played that we haven’t is South America. Apparently, there’s a lot of bands of our kind of level and genre that play there as there’s quite a big indie scene there and I don’t know if it’s Brazil or Argentina, but we get asked to come, to which I say “Well, organise a concert and I’ll come!”
So, with this UK tour, it’s an unusual set list in that it goes back to front from new material to older songs, was that your choice? Has the set gone through any changes since the tour began?
“I knew I wanted to cover all the 40 years and then I was trying to think how would I do that? And then a friend said ‘Why don’t you do it in reverse chronological order?’ and I thought that was a brilliant idea and makes sense because you start with a new song and then end with the first single and it’s a very Wedding Present of doing it! I obviously also had to work it out as a set with a beginning and an end with fast and slow, loud and quiet so I structured it around, and people really like it.
The only change we have had to make is to drop ‘You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends’ which was the second to last song. I just felt like the set was just a little bit too long, we normally do around 90 minutes, which I think is that for a band of our size is a good length, whereas this this current set is much longer than that. We do three songs from George Best at the very end and then we do the final single and artistically it seems to make sense to finish with the debut album songs and then do the first single and putting that song in the middle of that it didn’t really add anything really. It’s a great song and we will play it again, but sometimes you’ve got to sacrifice something to make the set stronger.”
Do you have any favourite songs to play?
“Well, this time around actually, I picked the set so it’s all stuff I love doing. Through the years different people in the band have taken on the role of choosing it, which I was thankful for because it is a thankless task, as whatever you pick out the 300 songs we have, someone’s gonna say ‘Oh why didn’t you play that one?’ Aiso, I used to think that I was too close to it all sometimes, but I’ve been choosing it for the last year or so and I’ve really gotten into it to be honest, I’ve got a little spreadsheet going with what we’ve played.
We did a North American tour this year and we’re gonna go back next year so I wanted to make sure that we didn’t play anything that we played last time so it’s things like that and I’ve got ones that I think are a really good set with a beginning and end, so I picked all of my favourite tracks for this one.”
And are there any songs that you think you’ll never play again?
“There’s a few odd ones that I wouldn’t want to name them in case people think they’re great, but there’s some that don’t really work as well live as you’d hope, but it’s quite rare as we are essentially a live band at the end of the day. I think most of the records are us playing live in the studio but then occasionally there’s one that just doesn’t feel right and maybe because it’s a certain line-up playing it and then I’ll try it again years later with if a different line-up and it works, but yeah there’s a handful I wouldn’t play again.”
To stay on the touring theme, what’s on The Wedding Present rider these days?
“I’ve tried to make it quite healthy for the last few years, because you can get into some bad habits, so I try to have fruit and vegetables and the like, but I have noticed over the last year that there’s been some kind of bad stuff creeping back in! People will be like, “Can we have some normal crisps please instead of these baked vegetable ones, and can we have some Ribena?” I have to make sure I’m on top of that really because you know there’s a couple of hours waiting around in between the soundcheck and the gig, where you can think ‘I’ll just have to eat this bit of chocolate’, but then if you do it all the time, suddenly you’re feeling like I’m not really eating healthy, and it’s my job and you’ve got to keep focused, which is why I can never drink on tour because I can’t risk my immune levels going down, because of feeling a bit rough and then getting a cold and then not being able to sing so I do try and keep healthy, but I’ve always done that, it’s just a matter of cutting out the temptation.”
You have Mozart Estate supporting you, they are not your typical Wedding Present warm-up act, how did that happen?
“Not typical at all, but I think they’re amazing. I was familiar with Lawrence from both Felt and Denim and then when we were putting the tour together, somebody from the O2 Academy suggested Mozart Estate, so I checked them out and thought i was really different and I think a lot of those present, if they don’t know the music, will be intrigued by it, it’s really cool. Very quirky to say the least!”
With regards to the new box-set, how did that come about?
“At first I thought it would be a double LP and then when I started putting tracks on like ‘Take Me’, which is nine minutes long and some of the other longer tracks, it was so that four songs were taking up one side, so then I thought that it could be a triple album and then someone at the record label said ‘why don’t you just do four LPs, with 40 tracks for 40 years? and that made some kind of mathematical sense to me. So, I put everything on there that I wanted to really, it’s not just the Greatest Hits, there are some B-sides on there, an acoustic version of ‘Give My Love To Kevin’ and something from the Ukrainian album because you want to make it a proper album, not just a list of songs.”
Over the last 40 years, are there any of your records that you thought deserved to have more recognition?
“Well, all of them really! (laughs), you spend time writing and recording them so obviously, you want people to hear it, and I think we’ve made a lot of good records which have probably gone under the radar a little bit sometimes because of what’s in fashion or whatever.”
Do you a favourite album or era?
“No, but I’ve got a least favourite album, which is George Best, ironically because that’s probably our most popular one, but I thought we got better after that, improving as, songwriter, musician and a recording artist. It’s hard to compare them, as they are very different from each other and they feel like different groups like because of all the line-up changes, people come in and they bring their ideas and sounds.
Comparing something like Seamonsters with Watusi, they are such different records, but I quite like that even though it’s probably not the most commercial way of doing stuff, when I think back, Seamonsters is now hailed as a classic but at the time…”
People wondered where the singles were?
“Exactly! But I don’t mind, that’s just the way we’ve always done it.”
Do you wish you’d done anything differently at any point?
“No, I don’t. There are decisions I could’ve made in order to be bigger commercially bigger, people telling you that you should get this producer or stylist to make the record a bit more radio friendly, or move to London but I’ve never done any of that. Who knows, I might have had a yacht in Monte Carlo by now, but on the other hand, would I have as been as happy with my back catalogue? Probably not. So, as far as i’m concerned, I’ve been happy.”
And after so long, what still drives you on?
“I think it’s an obsession, it’s like a mental illness. I just have to do it all the time. It’s not that I don’t really enjoy it, it’s more like I need to do it. I feel quite fortunate, as I like the three distinct parts of what I do.
The writing of the songs, which I really love, but then after a while it can’t get a bit boring, so you can spend a long time over it, then it’s time to go in the studio. I love making records as it’s very exciting, but then you can get a bit kind of cabin fever after a while, but then you know once you’ve done all that, you’re off travelling the world playing concerts, and even though I said earlier that it can be quite tiring, but after some rest post-tour it all starts again. It really works well for me, and I’ve never felt like stopping, I’ve never felt like doing anything else so I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been successful enough to not ever have to.”
Have you ever thought about writing a completely different type of record? One about broader topics, the state of the world rather than matters of the heart?
“Well, I’ve been tempted, but I’ve never gone through with it because, whenever I try to do something which is outside my normal style, which is basically writing about relationships and the way people talk to each other, I’m never quite happy with it. I always think that when it concerns something different it’s never quite as good, and I’m actually quite good writing what I write about.
People think that it’s quite a small subject that you limit yourself to, but I’ve never felt that, there’s all sort of relationships and how people relate to each other, it’s a massive subject, with so many angles, stories and different ways of observing and describing things. I’ve never felt short of inspiration so I’ll just do what I know, and what I can do best.”
So, what’s next after the tour?
“I’ve got a 6 track mini LP entitled Maxi coming out on December 6th.”
Is it a companion piece to Mini (their 1996 car-based mini-album)?
“Well, we released Going Going a couple of years ago as double LP, then we did 24 Songs and that was a triple LP, and the new one is a quadruple so I was thinking ‘where’s this going, it’s just getting bigger and bigger’ so I want to slim it back down. At first, I thought just a single, but then I realised it was the 30th anniversary of Mini next year, so as I’ve always liked those 10 inch records, why not do a six-track 10-inch mini LP? So when I had that idea, I thought I’ll call it Maxi and I started writing songs based on that theme again, so it’s kind of a relation, but different, as I think Mini was more the indie- pop side of The Wedding Present where this will be more the darker rock side of it.”
Finally, you always introduce yourselves onstage as “the semi-legendary” Wedding Present, is this ironic or is this how you think you should be regarded?
“I meant it ironically, but I don’t know. With The Wedding Present, we’ve had a brief period In the late 80’s when we were fashionable and there’s always been certain bands (such as The Fall) who have kind of existed outside of the mainstream and the fashion. And I don’t know whether it counts as legendary, but I think we are part of that club.”
