STILL HANGING AROUND
The Stranglers have been taking it Nice ‘n’ Sleazy since the days of punk rock. MARION McMULLEN looks at the group as they celebrate their 50th anniversary
GOLDEN BROWN was one of The Stranglers’ biggest hits, but their record company thought it was destined to be a flop.
Bassist JJ Burnel says of the 1982 release: “Who would have thought of bringing in a harpsichord to a recording studio and doing a 13/4 (time signature) piece of music and insisting that it should be released despite the record company saying ‘Oh, no, you can’t dance to it. It doesn’t sound funky. It’s horrible.’
“So you invoke clauses in your contract and force them to release something.
“They released it just before Christmas thinking it’ll drown in the tsunami of releases and lo and behold it just developed legs.
“And then, at the end of the whole process of the success of that particular song, they said, ‘Oh, can we have the same thing again? Something similar’”.
The group behind hits including No More Heroes, Hanging Around and Nice ‘n’ Sleazy first formed 50 years ago in Guildford, Surrey, in 1974.
They were embraced by the punk movement, but differed from many of the New Wave bands that emerged at the time because they could actually play their instruments and their musicianship and skill transcended the genre.
They created their own sound and achieved more than 25 top 40 singles and 18 top 40 albums.
They made their mark early on releasing four albums in the 1970s – Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes, Black and White and The Raven.
JJ recalls: “I think it was three albums in just over a year and four in two years. It was all that pentup frustration, struggling to try and do a demo, let alone getting a record deal.
“We built up a whole lot of material and were experimenting. I think that was quite classic, and a lot of bands would wait in those days for a record deal, whereas today, people don’t need to wait for a record deal. They just make their own record.
“We’d built up loads of material, and the first two albums were recorded in one session.”
Over the years the band’s line-up has changed with singer Hugh Cornwell leaving in 1990 and Baz Warne taking over vocal and guitar duties in 2000.
Drummer Jet Black and keyboard player Dave Greenfield have now both sadly passed away, but their musical legacy lives on.
Martial arts black belt JJ, who turns 72 this month, says the band’s style evolved out of their different musical tastes.
“Much of it came from the divisional backgrounds of the four original members,” he says. “So you put that into a blender and come out with a hybrid, which is what we did. And you know, if you like music, which we all did, and it’s not one particular style of music, you come from different directions.
“It’s a synthesis of all these other influences.
“Young bands were always much more pronounced with their influences. Yet, as you become more confident you refine your own voice, it becomes less noticeable.
“So in the very early days our influences were quite obvious, such as The Doors, Velvet Underground and all these kinds of things. Then as time goes by you develop your own identity.”
JJ says being seen as outsiders worked to their advantage.
“We were lucky to be ostracised by our peer group in the very early days, so we developed without many influences from them and because we had artistic freedom.
“We didn’t have a record company telling us what to do, you’d just do anything.
“Sometimes, we experimented and fell flat on our faces. Other times, it was hugely successful.”
The Stranglers are celebrating their 50th anniversary by going on tour and JJ admits he has fallen out of and then back in love with some of the group’s hits over the last five decades.
“For years, we didn’t play songs like Peaches or Something Better Change,” he says.
“Golden Brown we’ve dropped a few times. There’s no point playing these things to just go through the motions. You’ve got to feel them.
“And usually, when we do play them, we play them differently every night anyway.
“You don’t want to be a karaoke band or a cabaret because there’s enough to choose from.”
The milestone 50th anniversary tour will offer two sets featuring songs from the band’s beginning through to the present day.
“We’re going to do stuff that we haven’t ever played live,” says JJ, “and we’re also going to do two sets as opposed to the normal one.
“So it will be very different for us and a bit more challenging musically.”
The Stranglers 50th anniversary tour starts on March 8. Visit thestranglers.co.uk for concert dates and ticket bookings