The Jesus And Mary Chain’s William and Jim Reid go easy on the hooch,
Jim Reid talks liquor’ing, bickering and the first JAMC album in 19 years...
“FOR MOST OF THE MIXING I WAS VERY VERY DRUNK INDEED.”
In March, the first new Jesus And Mary Chain album since 1998’s Munki will be released. “It’s a real relief,” says singer and guitarist Jim Reid down the line from his West Country bolt hole. “We’ve been talking about doing it for, Christ, about 10 years.” Driven by the combustible sibling dynamic of Reid and his elder brother, guitarist William, the Mary Chain gained feedback immortality with 1985’s Psychocandy and made five more truculent, quality albums before splitting at the end of the ’90s. They resumed touring in 2007 and were soon talking about a new album, but as Jim explains, “We couldn’t agree how to record it, where to record it – just the usual brothers bickering, non-stop. Eventually we realised that it was only going to happen if we got somebody else in, to kind of police the situation, and that was Youth.” In summer 2015, the storied producer and Killing Joke member assembled the group at his Wandsworth studio. With regular drummer Brian Young, guitar (on one track) from Phil King and Youth playing bass, recording was completed at his facility in Spain, with mixing following spasmodically and internationally. “I’d been worried about whether we were gonna be screaming at each other within 10 minutes… which of course we were,” says Jim. “But y’know, it wasn’t too bad. We had our little hissy fits and just got on with the job, really. It was relatively painless – the actual amount of time spent in the studio, if you added it all together, you’re talking two, maybe three months.” Reid won’t reveal titles or themes, but says as well as new songs, the LP will feature re-recordings of “[Jim’s band] Freeheat stuff and some stuff of William’s that he’s played live on occasions. We’ve never had a producer before, so to me it sounds like the Mary Chain but with a new input. It’s hard to describe without making it sound awful… but it’s Mary Chain middle-aged.” Have they gone back to feedback? “There’s loud guitars. But if you’re looking for Psychocandy 2017, no, it’s not that.” For a group who once enjoyed a drink, it’s significant that varying levels of sobriety applied this time. “Quite recently William’s stopped drinking, and that kind of makes a hell of a difference with him,” says Jim. “When he stops going for it he becomes much easier to deal with. And I myself gave up drinking about six weeks ago, after falling off the wagon at the end of April and having a five-month blow out of constant drinking, like whisky for breakfast… but I have to admit that it’s more conducive to creativity when you get fucked up. For most of the mixing I was very very drunk indeed, writing the songs I think we were all pretty fucked up, but for the recording I was quite sober, and that’s the most important part.” After clearing this psychological hurdle, he admits they intend to make more records, sooner. “That’s definitely the plan,” says Reid. “This record wasn’t as terrifying to do as we’d thought, and it does seem a shame to hang up your spurs… though it probably is time, ha ha!”