‘I’m absolutely not the beacon of truth’
JASON WILLIAMSON TELLS SHARON O’CONNELL HOW SLEAFORD MODS ARE KEEPING THEIR MATERIAL RELEVANT
JASON WILLIAMSON is considering Sleaford Mods’ first headline show in what seems like forever, and admits he feels conflicted. The singer is keen to get back out there and perform the urgent and scabrous, minimalist electronic-punk songs that have delivered them three Top Ten albums, but it’s not quite that simple.
With an honesty that’s central to the duo’s ethos, he says: ‘There are a lot bigger things in play at the moment and I’m struggling with the fact that I’m getting up there to entertain people while the world’s on its arse. But this is the only way I can express myself and I think after about 20 minutes it will channel all that pent-up anger, frustration, indifference and everything else and carry on as it did before.’
Those emotions connect both to Jason’s view of the current sociopolitical landscape and his own life experiences, growing up in Grantham and working in dead-end jobs until music provided a meaningful escape. There’s plenty of both in the Mods’ latest album, Spare Ribs.
However, he’s not convinced that the magnitude of what’s happening in the UK now makes it more important that people hear what he has to say.
‘In a lot of respects it’s just our little corner, isn’t it? It’s our soapbox and it’s really important for us. It’s about rising to the challenge of making it relevant and feel worthy of people’s attention – there’s always that. It’s like an arena,’ adds Jason. ‘You get into it and you and the audience are almost competing against each other, in some regards. You have to work for their attention and respect.’
He’s said before, only half jokingly, that his lyrics are essentially him ‘slagging people off’. It’s true that whether Jason is taking sweary aim at faux working-class musicians or self-serving Tory aides no words are minced, but there’s a feeling of disappointment there, too: if everybody behaved more honestly and decently, maybe life would improve. ‘There are definitely holes in my criticisms and approaches,’ he reckons. ‘I’m absolutely not the beacon of truth here, but I like that; I like exploring my deficiencies, I like exploring my weaknesses as a person – my own envy, jealousy and paranoia – and I like to put this down in songs. A lot of the time, the attacks are not on politicians but on people in my industry who I disagree with – their approach, their ideology, their content. I’m not essentially right, because everyone has their own opinion about things.’
Since Spare Ribs went to Number Four in January, the Mods have been writing new material. In fact, they have ‘about another eight songs’ recorded. ‘They’re just sketches,’ Jason explains, ‘although I’m tempted to just go, “That’s done!”’ He laughs. ‘But they’re still very pandemic influenced. My writing’s changed – I’ve started talking about my own relationships as more of a domestic thing, so we’ll see where it goes. It’s early days. Really, we wanted to kind of take it easy,’ he admits, ‘but there’s no point in releasing songs that have got definite here-and-now lyrics in two years’ time. And I like the idea of constantly throwing songs out and not worrying, “God, what if we can’t write anything else?” We’re that type of band. We keep releasing albums. Some of them will hit and some of them probably won’t, but that’s just the nature of it. You can’t be on top of it all of the time. Sometimes you have to disconnect yourself from what other people want. We love it all.’
Sleaford Mods headline London’s Crystal Palace Bowl tomorrow, as part of the South Facing concert series,
southfacingfestival.com