Luke Owain Boult speaks with The Libertines drummer Gary Powell about reuniting and the road ahead.
How does it feel to be playing music as The Libertines again?
GP: It feels great, more importantly I’m back with my buddies. Back in the day, we started off a little doo-hicky outfit with absolutely nothing and I look at them now and say, they’re still my guys, back in 2002, 2001 when, you know, we were outside of the public eye, they’re still the same people that they always were, which is more important than the fact that we are now kind of labelled as The Libertines. You know, Pete as far as I’m concerned is Pete, Carl is Carl. John is John. I don’t look at those guys any differently then I would have done back in the day.
It’s more important that we’ve renewed our friendship and relationships
LOB: Of course.
GP: One of the things that our label said to us when we were recording the first album was if our album was picked up, don’t lose the relationships that we have because everything we do is based on a relationship. It’s all based on a relationship and if it works, it’s because it’s based on the relationship that we have. It’s more important to actually focus on the fact that we came together as an ensemble and hopefully created something that captured people’s imagination. I’m glad to be back with those guys.
LOB: What do you think it is about your music that’s touched so many people?
GP: I think it’s kind of… it’s quite weird, actually… it’s definitely something to do with the emotive content as delivered by Pete and Carl, but I also think it’s the fact that when you actually listen to the music, you can actually tell that it’s each individual member delivering something that is emotionally dynamic as well. You know, you listen to certain genres of music and it’ll leave you nostalgic if you’re coming from one particular viewpoint, or it’ll be a viewpoint that has been misconstrued and changed into something else, one that somebody else has an opinion as to how it should actually sound and it doesn’t sound free and organic. I think that’s the one thing that can be said about it – everything that we do is kind of free and organic. I didn’t realise that until we played with Dirty Pretty Things. When we played with DPT we started working with a big-time producer and all they did was try to change everything that we did. So I do kind of feel sorry for artists who are placed in that position where they can’t actually express themselves 100% how they would like to. It’s hard to work with producers coming to an agreement as to how things should go.
I’m like, “Nah, sorry, I’m the drummer, if you think you’re better than me pick up a pair of sticks and we’ll have a drum-off!”
LOB: Who influenced you as a drummer?
GP: I listen to so many different sounds of music that it’s really, really difficult for me to put my finger on one particular drummer.
I guess I was always looking at drumming as a way of expressing myself in a way that wasn’t just laid down in a groove in the background. I guess a little bit like Ringo did. There’s always been a running joke that Ringo was easily the best drummer in The Beatles. There’s nobody, I think, that could deliver the groove that Ringo delivered apart from Ringo. That is what people identify with when they listen to The Beatles – part of that is The Beatles’ groove and you know, it’s very, very expressive and probably less rudimentary and more expressive than people actually give him credit for.
LOB: Yes, he’s very underrated. He gets a bad rap really.
GP: Yeah, he gets a really bad rap. There are a lot of different musicians who have helped me develop the style that I have. I can’t actually put it in any other way. Sometimes I’m looking at it from the point of view of adding colours as opposed to laying down an actual groove. You know, I’m looking at it from the point of view of actually helping the vocalist express himself or giving the guitar a bit more room. It’s not just about laying down a groove.
LOB: So are you still working on The Invasion Of?
GP: I’d like to get back into that, actually. I was doing it, then I had a child and had to put it on the back burner for a while. But actually I’ve been doing a bunch of writing. I’ve been constantly writing in the background anyway because I’ve been writing for different commercials, fashion designers and so on. I’ve been doing lots of different writing in the background and working with different artists as well on their own individual projects, so I’ve got a huge backpack of work it’s just a question of actually putting that band together that will help me kind of deliver it in a way that, again, is organic. I don’t want to be the guy that says, “right, I’ve written the whole song”. That’s kind of what I did with The Invasion Of – I wrote everything and then I let everyone express it in the way that they wanted.
LOB: So it’s important not to let one person overshadowing another.
GP: Yeah, you know I’m constantly thinking about doing it again. I’ve never had the opportunity… it was heading in the right direction, but then I went and got my missus pregnant didn’t I? Silly boy.
LOB: I’d love to hear some more stuff like that in the future. Just a really different sound. It’s really, really good.
GP: I guess it just comes from the habit of just listening to so many different things. It wasn’t necessarily stereotypical in any genre of music. I wanted to just lay myself on the line and really push my own kind of creative ability with writing and producing.
LOB: Any messages for your fans in Wales?
GP: Keep on supporting new music.
LOB: They will do – I’ll tell them that.
GP: Just keep on supporting new music – I can’t think of anything else. Buy me whisky, I like whisky.
LOB: I’m guessing Welsh whisky. Have you had Penderyn?
GP: No, I don’t think so… I’ll have to give it a try…
L: If you’re nearby go to Brecon. There’s a place called the Penderyn Distillery. It’s Welsh whisky. It’s quite nice.
GP: Penderyn? Yeah, well, I’m a lover of whisky, so hey I ought to get it. Brecon, Penderyn Distillery, got it.
LOB: So what have the highlights of the reunion been so far?
GP: One of the highlights has been sat around a table in Camden drinking with the guys playing guitar, sitting there all night… that was a definite highlight. Followed by Hyde Park, which was a smashing highlight – I’ll never forget that. Glastonbury was a highlight, but to be fair, that was three days before it actually happened we were told we couldn’t actually hire a car, any car, to be picked up. We had to work that out, what was actually happening, so we had to make our own way to Bristol to rehearse.
We all got on a train. Unfortunately all of us had to go through Paddington Station, where everybody who was going to Glastonbury was. That was quite funny trying to explain what the heck we were doing there.