Fifer threw a loo seat at us
‘Indie Rod Stewart’ talks about his Scottish roots, memorable gigs and his new album
FUSING punk with samples and sequenced bass in the late 80s and early 90s, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine were the UK’s most exciting band.
With clever indie-style lyrics and pounding rhythms in songs like Sheriff Fatman, The Only Living Boy in New Cross and Do Re Me So Far So Good, the live shows put on by Jim Bob and Fruitbat were a heaving, sweaty mass of fun.
Britpop’s dadrock burst the good-time bubble and the duo split, reunited a couple of times and quit.
Frontman James Morrison, known as Jim Bob, carries the torch with Pop Up – his most Carter USM album to date.
With a surname like Morrison, do you have any Scottish roots?
My dad was from Edinburgh. His dad was born at Bressay Lighthouse, where my dad’s grandfather was lighthouse keeper. My mum’s dad is Scottish. I used to refer to myself as the indie Rod Stewart because I always thought of myself as Scottish, even though I appear to be so English.
Do you remember your first Scottish gig?
It was May 31, 1988, at Fury Murrys in Glasgow, supporting
Pauline Murray. For some reason I can vividly picture the venue and the stage, but I have no idea if it was a good or bad gig. I do remember somebody threw a toilet seat at us in Dunfermline. We did our Back in Bed live gig DVD at the Barrowland in Glasgow. I played a wedding singer and a ghost in a musical at the Edinburgh Fringe for six weeks in 2010. I should have played a gig at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe before Covid but am back, hopefully, in December for a date at the Bongo Club.
Tell us about Carter’s Sealed with a Glasgow Kiss. Were you guys attacked or is it just a good phrase?
Our tour manager and merch man were brothers from Glasgow. I put a lot of things that Mad Dog (merch man) used to say into songs. Not sure about Glasgow Kiss. Someone once “affectionately” headbutted me in Dundee.
In the late 80s and early 90s you were the bee’s knees. Did Britpop kill you off?
I don’t know what happened there. I wonder if the younger writers in the music press didn’t like us early 90s bands and so killed us off.
It’s been seven years since your last solo album. Why so long?
I spent quite a long time writing the two novels and the Jim Bob from Carter book and I was also doing a lot of acoustic gigs where I played mostly Carter songs, so I didn’t miss not having any new songs to play.
And time sort of passed by without me writing any new songs. I did try a few times but struggled with lyrics. I don’t think there was anything I wanted to write about and I convinced myself that I shouldn’t write songs unless I really felt the need.
When did you write the album? Thinking of your song 2020 WTF, was that a late edition or did you write a lot of Pop Up in lockdown?
I wrote it at the end of 2019. I had a feeling that all the negativity in the world wouldn’t be fixed by 2020. I had no idea it would actually be worse though.
Pop Up reached No26 – your first top 30 album since Carter USM. Chuffed?
I was extremely chuffed. I was hopeful of No38 or thereabouts, so No26 was amazing. It was great how the Jim Bob massive really got behind it. I had a glass of
Prosecco and my first takeaway (pizza) since March.
So, Carter USM – will you ever get back? This album certainly sounds like a Carter album?
I don’t think we will now. We do get offers every year but we haven’t been tempted. To be honest, if Carter made a new album it might sound less like Carter than my latest solo effort, if that makes sense.
Are you still pals with Les “Fruitbat” Carter?
I am. Because of lockdown, I’ve technically seen (Zoom calls) more of him than I had before. We’ve had weekly or fortnightly quizzes. There are six of us who take part and either me or Fruitbat have come last or second to last in every single quiz.
Pop Up is out now.