Chris Helme - Shows their is life after the Seahorses

Chris Helme chats to Jon Cooper on his tour of the UK!

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Chris Helme is probably best known for being the front man of the Seahorses in the late nighties with John Squire. While the latter may have been getting a lot of coverage for some tour dates he is doing Chris is currently taking his impressive new material on the road. Jon Cooper caught up with him and asked him a few questions about what makes him tick and what he liked and disliked over the years.

Music Trespass: You’ve been on quite a musical journey, what are the highlights?

Chris Helme: From the beginning the Seahorses was great, a lot of luck, right place at the right time and touring the world. Then it was good to get away with The Yards and make the music I wanted to make rather than what I was told.

Music Trespass: Any lowlights?

Chris Helme: The end of the Seahorses, people change.

Music Trespass: Where does the title ‘The Rookery’ come from?

Chris Helme: The Rookery is the studio we recorded it in. The original title was going to beBook of Lies but it turned out to be an Aleister Crowley book. We just went with the idea everything is bulls**t and nobody is going to listen to it. Only three of the twelve original songs were recorded, the rest we wrote up there.

Music Trespass: Was it recorded in nine days?

Chris Helme: It was rewritten in nine days, a collection of songs crafted in hotel rooms. It was a bit risky. It was a nice way to write, not feeling there was anybody else to please and worth giving it a try. We were all really pleased with the outcome.

Music Trespass: What are you hoping to get across in your solo material?

Chris Helme: I come up with a tune and start umming and arring over the top of it. My subconscious creeps into the songs and a month after I realise what it means, it all comes out in songs. I don’t want to shatter any dreams or illusions about what people think the songs might be about though.

Music Trespass: What do you think about the Indie Folk scene?

Chris Helme: I don’t read the press, it’s just a tool at the end of the day. I don’t really see this or that as a ‘scene’ just the way a band sounds, they just go out and do what they do. I went to see Jack White, what would you call what he plays. He sounds like Jack White. I had no idea I was meant to be indie folk.

Music Trespass: What do you make of all these reunions, including the Stone Roses?

Chris Helme: I think it’s good, there are a lot of people who are cynical who think they just do it for the money. If people are interested enough, I guess one band makes a success of it and other think they should do it. I just wish they would do a new album too, but it always seems too much like hard work.

Music Trespass: Has the prevalence in online media made the musician’s job easier or harder?

Chris Helme: People expect music to be free and it’s worrying. The band have to spend money to make the music and can’t give it away. The bands that say pay what you can have generally already made it. You would not go to a restaurant and expect it for free. Eventually it would all dry up and the world will be a dull place, it beggars belief.

Music Trespass: Apart from yourself how is currently worth listening to?

Chris Helme: Scott Matthews he’s amazing, totally love his tune and voice. There’s a great scene in York at the moment. Mark Quinn really good, like a cross between Keith Richard’s and Bob Dylan’s love child, it’s beats with monologues over the top, John Cooper Clarke style.

Music Trespass: What do you make of the US election?

Chris Helme: Great news, really pleased Romney didn’t get in. he seemed to be on an evangelical mission to the end of the world. He wants to build a flotilla of warships, why would you do it unless you want to invade somebody?

Interview and Questions by Jon Cooper

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