Martin Ratcliffe talks to Gravedigger, Gravedigger issue 2, Spring 1996
The Mystreated | Ever Questioning Why | (Twist) 1995 | On one of his regular visits down to Salisbury to see us Nuthin people, I coined Martin into coming round to my place on a warm and sunny August, Sunday afternoon so I could ask him a few questions about the new Mystreated LP, ‘Ever Questioning Why’, which was recorded at Toe Rag a little while back.
The afternoon was also the Nuthins rehearsal day, so I had to throw as many questions to him as I could in our half hour break time. As usual in being as unarranged as I am, I ran out of time and had to leave Martin up in my room with his girlfriend Dan, when I returned to practice, I left him with the tape rolling to discuss the LP on his own.
Here are the results:
Gravedigger: I just really want to talk about the new LP and the songs. So how many days did it take to record?
Martin: 3 days.
GD: 3 days?
M: Yeah.
GD: It’s definitely a different style to the last two LPs, the last one hinted at it. But would you say as a band you’ve changed influences, or just progressed or what?
M: No we had high hopes for the last one but it didn’t turn out right. I know a lot of people liked it, but we weren’t satisfied with it.
GD: Yeah, I really liked it myself.
M: Yeah it was alright, but it didn’t quite reach what we were after.
Now, we move onto discussing the LP song by song:
“Don’t Hang Me Up”
GD: Who wrote this song, is it various people, or just a solo effort from you?
M: (Laughs) The Turtles.
GD: Yeah, it definitely sounds like The Turtles, you’ve done a damn fine job too. Did you think to yourself this is the sort of music I like listening to, this song sounds a bit like The Turtles. Why not milk it for all it’s worth.?
M: Yeah.
GD: It’s a good sound, you use different amps now don’t you?
M: Yeah, we use transistor amps.
GD: Right, but they’re not the shitty ones are they, they’re the Vox.
M: Supremes and Proprietors from ’67, but they’re not that good they take a lotta work to get a decent sound out of them.
GD: It’s a cleaner sound, yeah, not sort of thick and heavy like an AC30?
M: Yeah, you can’t overdrive them as you can an AC30.
GD: I feel that’s quite resonant on the sound of this LP, the guitars are a lot more cleaner. You don’t have that fuzzy sound like you used to. Which does basically sound more sixtiesish, I think it’s bloody good. Right now, next track . . .
M: Aren’t you gonna ask me what this ones about?
GD: Shit! Yeah go on tell me what it’s about. It’s not to do with teen angst is it, ’cause you’re 27 today?
M: (Chuckles) I dunno, it’s to do with frustrations and restrictions which are put on you by the system.
GD: Cool, but it’s not a political song . . .
M: Not directly political, no . . .
GD: Not economically political, but more like emotionally political in the way people feel . . .
M: Yeah, it’s just like the way you’re restricted from being yourself by the system and you’re meant to blindly follow it, and most people do. And obviously us and The Mystreated can’t do that and won’t do that.
GD: The true epitome of garage music. I mean you like The Elevators don’t you and The Golden Dawn, those Texas bands. That’s the same sorta lyrical route they take. Not that you’re copying them, but obviously whatever decade in you’ve got the same feelings, of how they would have felt in their society back in the ’60s. It’s like relevant to you living in Folkestone in ’95. It’s not that you’re trying to write a ’60s lyric, it’s totally coming from the heart . . . ?
M: We might play ’60s instruments, ’60s image and play in a ’60s style, but lyrically it’s what I feel, I’m not writing lyrics cause they sound authentic ’60s, I write what comes out . . .
GD: Everyone who listens to it, who haven’t met you or whatever, do hear it as pure 100% ’60s. As you are, one of the most authentic ’60s bands in the world today and it’s good the way it turns out. Next song anyway, I know it’s a bit more of a deeper song.
“Angel Of Light”
GD: The first thing you notice when you hear this is that you’ve got organ in The Mystreated now and that’s you isn’t it. How long have you been playing this now?
M: Before we did this, about 6 months.
GD: What is the organ, Vox?
M: Yeah, a Continental . . .
GD: It’s got a great sound how did you record it?
M: The organ’s put through a little Vox AC10 and it’s on full volume being naturally overdriven.
GD: One thing I like about this song is that it’s got a good structure, I like the harmonies; that’s Sean, yeah?
M: No Sean, didn’t do those backing vocals, it’s Mole and Huw.
GD: And that’s you on lead with your growly gravelly voice, that’s beginning to become recognised as The Mystreated now, it seems to be, not being condescending developing a lot more on this stuff than on the earlier releases where it might have been a bit more quavery, you know it’s now coming together as a distinct voice?
M: Oh, cheers.
GD: So what’s the song about then?
M: This one’s about Dan (Martin looks over to his girlfriend who’s sitting on my bed) and how I had to make a few adjustments in my life.
GD: Nice, so it’s a positive song then?
M: Yeah, yeah it’s a positive song; sure.
“My Place In Your Life”
GD: Right, Sean’s song right.
Martin: Yeah, Sean wrote this one.
GD: So he’s the man to comment on what it’s about, but instantly listening to it, I know from speaking to Sean, how much he’s into The Music Machine isn’t he?
M: We all are.
GD: Well, this could easily be a Music Machine outtake from the first LP.
M: No, I’d say from the second one ‘T.S Bonniwell.’
GD: So evidently this has a late Music Machine sound. The guitar’s got a groovy sound, what’s the set up?
M: Well, I play the organ only, Sean plays an acoustic rhythm and the bits of lead.
GD: What’s the effect on the guitar lead, it sounds tripped out?
M: There is none, it’s just the way Sean plays the guitar.
GD: This was on the Radio 1 session right?
M: Yeah it was, it was a rougher earlier version without the organ.
GD: Don’t chop my head off, I think the organ on this take makes it, but I actually prefer the one from the session, it’s a bit rawer. Nevertheless, it’s still cool. I won’t ask about the lyrics as I know Sean’s a deep guy and it’s bound to be his usual depressing themes, so we’ll go onto the next song.
“Don’t Watch It Burn”
GD: It’s a weird song this one with a clever time change, I can’t really think of a comparison?
M: Yeah, Huw wrote this one, I find it hard to compare it to any band, the lyrics are pretty self explanatory of where Huw is coming from.
GD: Yeah, very psychedelic, this is the most psych thing you’ve done; not this song but the whole LP and it’s grown on me the more I’ve heard it, I love it, but I didn’t to begin with, though that’s what can make a good LP when it takes more time to grow on you.
“Was I Right, Was I Wrong”
GD: Now, this is a beautiful song, this is Sean again.
M: In this he sings about his experiences and why it always go wrong.
GD: I like the piano on this, it sound like The Zombies, that’s you on the piano again, it’s a cool sound. Without getting all musically speccy, what’s the piano you used it’s got a cool sound?
M: It’s an old ’60s Wurlitzer from Toe Rag, again put through the old AC 10. I think it belongs to Bruce Brand.
GD: The harmonies are brilliant, how long did they take are these one take harmonies or what?
M: uhhhhm, I think most of it was done in no more than two takes, the lead vocals on a lot of the songs are done in three parts. Like, the first one for example I went wrong after about two verses and got dropped back in and choruses. But for the backing vocals we really rehearsed a lot before we went into the studio, all of us sang backing vocals.
GD: It sounds really effective, especially on this song.
“A Just Reflection (Pt 2)”
GD: This could possibly be my favourite song on the whole LP.
M: Yeah, it’s my favourite one.
GD: It does sound like a song we all know quite a lot which song is that the immediate listener could compare it to?
M: Uhhm, I dunno really cause like Sean said to me when I played it to him the first time on the acoustic guitar, uhhm; he said this sounds just like a ’65 protest song. You can’t put it down to being one song that it’s from. But I actually wrote it, where was I? . . . I was in Dan’s parents car comin’ home and had the idea for the lyrics and I wrote it within 20 minutes. The chords came from trying to work out ‘Take Me For What I’m Worth’ by P.F. Sloan, I was trying to work it out but I didn’t and I came up with this by accident, then I thought those words I just made up fit and it all came out within 20 minutes. And the songs all about me, it’s how I think; it’s just a song about (edit missing)
GD: It does sound very much in the spirit of all those old protest songs; it could be equally done with just an acoustic guitar as well as a full band couldn’t it?
M: Yeah right, well that’s what all my songs are.
GD: Why’s it called ‘A Just Reflection (Pt 2)‘?
M: Because it’s a reflection of myself and I think it’s quite just.
GD: Fair play
“Doubt I’m Caught Between”
GD: Who wrote this one, what’s the story behind it?
M: Mole wrote this, he had a real shit job for about four years that was making him pretty miserable, pretty down and he had to make a big decision to get out of there and to get on the dole. This was to do with around that time. The song reminds me of The Poets and possibly a bit of The Five Americans.
GD: The acoustic guitars in this track sound really nice?
M: Yes, it’s a nylon stringed Spanish guitar and 12-string rhythm, then Sean comes in with the lead break, doing his Hose bit and Mole’s hitting two crappy bits of wood together and pretending it’s a wood block.
“Let Those Around In”
M: Sean’s on the sitar on this and it’s Mole’s song. This is about not being afraid to ask for help if it’s open to you. With more spiritual overtones in it.
GD: So all the band are pretty much into their heads?
M: Yeah, from different angles. Sean is always more political kinda thing, mine for the want of a better word is on a spiritual level, Mole is in between the two and Huw is, but will argue the point to anything to say that he hasn’t got an opinion.
GD: You’ve got Simon from Vibrasonic on this making a guest appearance, right?
M: He’s making those strange high pitched whiny sounds on an old noise oscillator, which give Vibrasonic their sound.
“Soul Memories”
GD: This must be one of yours?
M: I wrote this in a stone circle at Avebury with my friend Carol who plays in The Nuthins.
GD: Yeah, I think I know her . . .
M: The first verse was written in the Long barrow and the second verse was actually written in the stone circle at Avebury. It’s to do with a lot of past life regression and realisations and the difficulty in relating the new found knowledge to what’s going on on my life. This is also from the Radio 1 session, Mole said to me the other day that he’s glad the song’s full potential has now come out on this newer recording.
“Mental Block”
GD: Now this has got to be the most (so far) Brit sounding Mystreated song, like almost psych-pop; something a few years ago I could never have imagined you doing?
M: Yeah, definitely. A lot of people have said that it sounds like a Sunday morning radio ‘Golden Oldies’ show.
GD: How psychy! I noticed the use of phased drumming?
M: They’re slightly reminiscent of The Small Faces “Itchycoo Park” Don’tcha reckon?
GD: Totally!
GD: It does have a merry little tune, I must say. Although the lyrics sound a lot deeper. This must be a Sean song?
M: Yeah. It’s about his growing frustration, disillusionment with the system and I guess we all write from our experiences, Sean probably very more so, like he says that his experiences have left him cynical. I think in the last ten years he’s had a few bad times; maybe. But, he’s alive, he’s Sean and I’d like to see him very happy and I think he is. He’s probably happier now than I’ve ever seen him, and it’s good to see.
“Take My Words”
M: This was actually written by my friend Wendy who I live with and we came up with it one night. She started playing my guitar and I just plugged the organ in and within 10 minutes, we’d done this. I mean she wrote the words so I just made the organ part up and then suggested to the others and we turned it into this. I’m not entirely sure what it’s about, but she said it’s personal. I’d say this is my second favourite song on the LP.
GD: Even though I wasn’t in the room when Martin was speaking into my tape recorder, I must agree yet again with him on his choice of songs. This is a nice little psychy folker with some of nimble fingered Martin’s cool organ!
“Things Won’t Ever Be The Same”
GD: This is a lot closer in style to your first LP, than the rest of the material. You play that Brian Jones styled harp on here, but you tell me that you’re not happy with it. Why, it sounds fine to my ears?
M: Well, we made a demo of this ages ago and I played the harp a lot better on that than I did on this. I dunno I couldn’t really get this together. But it’s come out ok. This was actually written by Mole at around the time, a couple of weeks after we recorded the first LP, which is why it’s got that old sound but we do it much better now.
“I mean it never used to have the R&B bass line and it never used to have the harp in it and I rewrote the lyrics when I suggested to Mole redoing it. For me this is to do with personal experiences from the beginning of the year in the ending of a friendship with someone who had been quite close to me, a close friend who couldn’t take any more of me. At the time this was redone my life was quite difficult, as again mentioned on the inside sleeve of the LP.
GD: So it looks like everyone should read the inside sleeve when they get this LP to learn the trials and tribulations of The Mystreated.
“They Never Asked”
GD: Now this has got to be the most psychedelic cut on the entire LP?
M: Yeah, it starts with the sort of ‘Sergeant Peppers’ backwards symbol.
GD: The guitar sound reminds me of The Electric Prunes.
M: Yeah and The Easybeats too.
GD: Where do you think Mole got the idea for the drumming form. I can hear a Prunes influence?
M: Well, it’s pretty close to their song ‘Hide Away.’
GD: Sean wrote it?
M: Yeah, the story behind his lyrics are pretty funny. They’re about Sean being caught for having no TV license, which is again disillusionment with the system and people pressurising you into doing things. Like he says in the song; never being asked whether you wanna take part, you just get it rammed down our throat and if you don’t co-operate with the so called powers that be you get in trouble. Which is why we sometimes have difficulties in our lives, because we just refuse to co-operate with what we’re having crammed down our throats. In this song that’s what he’s saying, he’s never signed anything to say that he’s part of it. As we said on the back of the last LP, ‘Freedom Is Illegal In this Democracy!’. This is something Sean feels very strongly about.
GD: So what’s your political advice to the readers?
M: The Mystreated say Rebel against the system. We repeat REBEL AGAINST THE SYSTEM.
“Fly Away Bird”
M: Huw wrote this one.
GD: I must comment on the weird time changes, this is certainly a brain mashing song.
M: I think so too. It’s like the closest we’ve got to a true ’67 San Francisco psych freakout. Which is a sound we’re into. It’s all improvised apart from the vocal. To begin with we had a live one to keep the spontaneity going, but it sounded crap. But other than that it’s all a big jam. We hardly rehearsed it before we recorded to keep it as raw and energetic as possible.
GD: Yeah, a good point to end this third LP on, it’ll certainly surprise people.
Album details:
line-up:
Mole (drums, tambourine, maracas, woodblock, backing vocals)
Martin Ratcliffe (rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, (6 & 12 string), organ, electric piano, harmonica, lead and backing vocals)
Sean Thomas (lead guitar (6 & 12 string), acoustic guitar, sitar, lead and backing vocals)
Huw Walter (bass, backing vocals)
Recorded at Toe Rag Studios, June 1995
Produced by Liam Watson
Leave a Reply