Guy Garvey: Elbow frontman opens up about past destructive relationships and current ‘crazy’ family life

Guy Garvey says he looked back to his “rock and roll years” when writing parts of new album Audio Vertigo, drawing from a past of “destructive”, “chaotic” and “toxic” relationships draw inspiration from.

elbow vocalist He told Sky News: “No one wants to hear how proud I am of my second-hand Toyota RAV4. It’s like I have to write about some of the more rock ‘n’ roll years”.

Suffering for art is a well-known trope, and Garvey, who just turned 50 and has been working in the industry for twenty-five years, knows that “it’s much more interesting to hear reflections on mistakes.”

His past efforts have clearly paid off, with their tenth studio record earning HG, British and Ivor Novello The award-winning band – consisting of Garvey, Pete Turner, Craig and Mark Porter – have their fourth official number one album.

It also topped the vinyl charts and was the most purchased physical record in UK independent record stores in the past seven days.

Garvey called their achievement “amazing”, adding: “I’ve never worried about these things before. This feels different. I really want to succeed.”

So how did he unearth what he calls a “celebration of unfortunate events”?

“I’m very, very happy in my marriage,” Garvey explained. “So, I drew from some of my past relationships that were probably more tumultuous.

“There were two songs in particular, ‘The Picture’ and ‘Poker Face,’ that I put together, not just about my relationships, but [also] I’ve been around people who have been in toxic relationships.

“I think it’s a little observation slash allegory, toxic relationships, because I think sometimes two people can be great people and it’s just the chemistry that brings out the worst in each other.

“I think it’s the closest I’ve ever been to a destructive relationship to the edge of madness. Thankfully, it’s been many, many years. But it’s good. It’s fertile ground for songwriting and all of that.”

“This is so crazy”

Garvey is happily married to actress Rachel Sterling, the daughter of an acting icon Diana Rigg – For eight years, the couple had a son, Jack.

Garvey wrote about the “gentle highs and lows of domestic life” in some of his past works, and as anyone who juggles family life and work will admit, it’s almost impossible to prevent the two worlds from colliding at some points. impossible.

An anxious scheduling conflict attests to this, as evidenced by the fact that Sterling’s new play, The Divine Lady S, opens on the same day as Elbow’s record is released.

“It was pretty crazy,” Garvey admitted, adding, “Jack went from pillar to post between the two of us.

“We make sure one of us is home at all times. But, it also depends on how gentlemanly the other guys at the elbow are about it. I’ve been rehearsing quite a bit on the recording”.

With sequin pajamas?

He’s somewhat hesitant about being labeled a celebrity couple (Garvey laughs and shrugs, saying “I’ve never heard anyone describe us as a showbiz family”), saying they’re definitely not the type to wear “matching sequined pajamas.” people.

He also acknowledged that any relationship needs real change when children are added to the mix.

Garvey said, “That was one of the decisions we made when we asked, ‘Are we going to have a family?'” I mean, Rachel said, “Can we have a family?”

“It took some convincing on my part. She was very persuasive.

“But a lot of times it’s like, ‘Well, how’s the job?’ It’s, ‘We’ll make it work,’ you know?

“Of course, the most important thing is the lad’s happiness and well-being. He actually inspired a lot of the work we both do. And he’s seven years old and he’s really proud of both of us.”

One of the songs on the album, “From The River,” he describes as “a love letter to my son” and “our longing for him.”

“Rough, dirty and visceral”

Garvey said the album was a departure from the band’s normal style, deciding not to “reflexively write about the worries of the world” but to offer “something more interesting”.

The album was well received by critics, hailed as a “milestone” (Mojo) and their best album since 2008’s Mercury Prize-winning album The Seldom Seen Kid (NME) – then Garvey read him Your own media?

“Yes, I did, despite my better judgment,” he admitted.

He described the series as “rough, confrontational, a little visceral, a little dirty, in the old sense of the word.”

With streaming now becoming the preferred way to listen to music, has Elbow changed the way they release music in response?

“Streaming is fantastic…the world’s music is in your pocket…but as I said in my testimony to the Select Committee a few years ago on the economics of streaming, the money is not reaching the artists. In hand, this is wrong…

“Currently, it’s too skewed towards the business model; [but] To protect music, business models must change. Spotify is guilty. I’m guilty of having a Spotify account. “

“The album isn’t going anywhere”

Sheryl Crow describes making albums as a “waste of time and money” because people don’t listen to them in their entirety, does Garvey think she might have a point?

“We stubbornly adhere to the fact that we are an album band and have been that way from the beginning,” Garvey said.

“For some clothes, the finished product is a show. For us, it’s an album.”

He continued: “I want change through listening experiences. I want my musicians to be able to hold my hand and lead me album to album, creatively guiding me to where they want to go next. You can’t Do it in playlists and personal songs”.

He said his old family car still had a CD player so he bought all the CD records he owned and played them in the back seat of the car on the school run and was given CD sleeves of the tracks to play on Read on the go.

Garvey insists reports of the album’s demise have been greatly exaggerated: “The album is not going away as an art form. Everyone thought the book was going to go away because of digital technology. But it hasn’t and it won’t. ”t, and neither will the album. “

‘We face a real threat’

As for a recent study finding Lyrics have gotten angrier over the past 40 yearsGarvey was not surprised.

Garvey was never afraid of politicization, explaining: “All art tends to reflect the society in which it is produced. That is also a litmus test of its health. I think we are facing a real threat. The rise of authoritarian governments is frightening. …..

“I can definitely understand why the language would become outraged. It’s very wrong for every issue to become partisan. Opposition to mass murder should not be partisan.

“And if Putin is not stopped, he will give the green light to all the other dictators in the world, and then we are really in trouble.”

Tour and Glastonbury

In May, the band will embark on a major UK arena tour, playing shows in Brighton (sold out), London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham and the new Co-op Live Arena in Manchester.

Garvey’s mother worked at a Co-op supermarket as a child and Garvey said: “Yeah, Shirley was very proud when she found out.”

they have participated in Glastonbury According to Garvey, there were about 10 times, at least four of which came on the coveted Pyramid stage.

He said the band had “no plans as of yet” to play there this year, but added: “If we don’t play this year, hopefully they’ll invite us next year…

“Culturally, this is the best music festival in the world. In terms of our history, [Elbow’s] Timetable is determined by our Glastonbury performance. “

He also said “there’s something very special about this year’s lineup.” For the first time, two women top the list.

In the annual debate over who’s on the list (and who’s not) – perhaps most notably in 2008, when hip-hop star Jay-Z’s performance divided festival fans – Garvey said it “proves” the “popularity” of the event.

He explained: “Two female headliners, it’s great. There’s always new territory. There’s always new things to think about. And I will always believe in the Eavis family [Michael and his daughter Emily who run the Worthy Farm event] Giving us parties that are the envy of the world year after year.”

So, with a number one album under his belt and a wife who will be working nights for the foreseeable future, what are his plans this Easter?

Garvey laughed and said he was visiting friends with his son, where they planned to “go on a massive Easter egg hunt and drink too much wine.”

Just like Glastonbury, Garvey knows how to let loose, have fun and, of course, keep putting out music that will resonate for years to come.