Interview - Andrew Weatherall in Paris: Part I

Interview - Andrew Weatherall in Paris: Part I

5 August, 2008 | 5.23PM

• Written by: Amanda Connon-Unda
• Filed under: Music News: andrew weatherall, two lone swordsmen

“For some people it’s second nature to get up in the morning and go to the computer. Apart from music, I am rarely at a computer.

“And a lot of time I work with an engineer who does it all anyway.”

So how does one pioneering veteran of electronic music explain his fortuitous and hard-earned success and reputation?

Weatherall explained in Paris before his gig at the Rex club, saying, “I wasn’t asked to go in the studio to produce music because I as savvy with computers, but I was asked to go in the studio because I was savvy with music and I had good ideas. 

“I knew how to arrange music and how I wanted it to sound.

“The first time I went to the studio to do a remix for Primal Scream or Happy Mondays it was because they had heard me DJing and wanted to inject my sound into their music.

“I was in clubs every weekend and that is the knowledge they wanted.”

“They didn’t care if I could use a computer or not.”

When I asked Weatherall about how his approach clearly stands in sharp contrast to many producers today who get heavily into the technical aspects of electronic music production, he commented, “It seems that the people making it are more interested in the process than they are the end result.

“To a lot of people the software and computer side of it is more interesting than the end product, which is why I find a lot of electronic music extremely boring and hardly listen to it.”

Weatherall is an interesting subject to interview, because he’s honest and he has well seasoned and informed opinions.

He explained, “I love electronic music for dancing to, because it’s functional.

“You have to think about people dancing to it. I am not anti-electronic music.

“If I didn’t like it I wouldn’t be playing it, and I would have stopped years ago.

“I need music that is more visceral than soundscapes - it has to get me in the guts.”

He’s contended previously that humour influences his working perspective.

When asked to clarify, Weatherall explained, “[Music] is my job. It’s not a career.

“I don’t worry about the next rung on the ladder and having to kiss ass or worry about offending people.

“If you want to get psychoanalytical about it…When I was young I always wanted to dress up and look weird, and I was bullied by people.

“When I was 13 with blue hair and tartan trousers, I would put myself into the position of the person who was going to bully me.

“I would have a snappy comeback and I would diffuse the situation instead of getting my head kicked in.

“So from my early teenage years humour was a defense mechanism to avoid violence.

“Now I use humour to avoid mental injury, by not getting too sucked in.

“I take music seriously, but I don’t take the music business seriously.”
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For the part II of this 3-part interview with Andrew Weatherall, check back soon on Beatportal.com

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