Interview & photography by John Cooper
10th October 2012 - Manchester Apollo
Listen Up Manchester was granted an interview with Newton Faulkner prior to his Manchester show to talk about his new album and tour, music & cheese!
Listen Up Manchester: Hello Newton, welcome back to Manchester, your new tour started 10 days ago, how has it been going so far?
Newton Faulkner: REALLY good..... the new songs work so well live, they're instantly translatable & are very sing along. I'd really like to get the crowd harmonising somehow. This is the first all seated gig so maybe I'll try to get them harmonising tonight.
LUM: You're on tour with your new album - how would you say "write it on your skin" differs from your previous 2 albums?
NF: It's definitely a different animal & writing wise its a big step up, the songs are much bigger. Looking at the whole situation my last album was the most personal album i've done...... most of it was written on tranqualisers, but this album has an overriding positivity, but it's balanced - you cant really have a song saying everything's great, it's not really the time for that, so it has a layer of realism to it.
LUM: In my research I noticed that you started out playing in a Green Day covers band - are you still a big fan?
NF: Yeah, I played bass! I still love to see they are still going now. Whenever they have a new album out....... (he grins and lets out a reminisent) Awwww.
NF: They're massively numerous - there's so many different streams - the singers, writers, players. Eric Roache, Thomas Leeb in terms of playing. Tom Waits, Randy Newman writingwise. And vocally Bobby McFerrin - he just makes everone else look lazy. Recently I've been listening to the Son of Dave album "Shake a Bone" a lot.
LUM: That leads us on to the next question nicely - are there any new bands you've been listening to lately you would recommend we check out?
NF: I'm still catching up on the last 400 years of music. For new stuff I saw Metronomy & AltJ play to about 20 people before they took off. Fiest - which is just increadibly recorded. Grinderman. And Keaton Henson who is beautifully depressing - he's on spotify.
LUM: What would you say are your proudest achievements to date?
NF: Hmmmm........ (after quite a pause Newton gives a baffled smile and says) no idea! (a bit more thought and another grin he comes up with) I haven't had to get a proper job yet!!!...... Oh and my son, he's just great right now and becoming more and more interesting.
LUM: So what is next for you after this tour?
NF: There's a possible Japanese trip and then its Christmas! I'm gonna spend some time at home & writing..... I'm always writing. The lifespan of albums have gone down dramatcally in recent years. You're constantly in demand for new stuff - you can probably survive just on EPs these days, the rules are changing all the time.
LUM: I have to ask.... I noticed your middle name is Battenburg (the previous interviewer had given him a knitted Battenburg Cake as a gift - to which i pointed). Is your middle name in any way cake related?
NF: It's actually my mothers maiden name so probably goes back........ years - i dont know how far, maybe I should look into it.
LUM: Just to finish off with & also on the subject of food, I actually also run a cheese blog, and would love to know, are you a fan of cheese and what is your favourite cheese?
NF: I'm a big fan of cheese, I tend to go extreeme with cheese like a strong blue - I like Roquefort. And you really cant beat bacon with melted brie - possibly the best flavour combination ever!
LUM: Thank you very much for your time Newton.
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