Post by cw on Jun 14, 2010 6:29:16 GMT 1
The following interview with Jim has cropped up on YT recently. Not the easiest to listen to with the interviewer pouring out a veritable torrent of words but Jim was quite interesting (despite the references to his little hobby horses). Definitely some more "bones" to the talk of a Corrs return, especially with the reference to the record company.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYeoOQ6rDcQ
Lisa from COL made a transcript of the interview which is pprovided below. Thank you again, Lisa.
Interviewer: So Jim, you were crowned, I suppose, unofficially, as the Prince of Irish Pop for a long time, was that ever something that sat well with you or were you ever eager to kind of shrug it off?
Jim: The Prince of Irish Pop? That's the first time I've heard that. (laughs)
Interviewer: I shouldn't think so, I shouldn't think so! I mean you think about the success that you guys had in the 90s and whatever you've done in the mean time, but you know intially, everybody was ____ the boom of The Corrs. And it was worldwide. And you were the man behind it.
Jim: Well, well there's four of us in the band, you know, and it's fair to say that we each contrib - contrib - blah blah blah! Let me start that again. It's fair to say that there's four of us in it, and we each contribute to the band and the direction it takes to the songwriting. And initially when we started off it was more on my shoulders, but the girls turned into wonderful song-writers themselves, and...
Interviewer: ____ (laughs)
Jim: No I'm serious, I'm deadly serious. I mean Caroline and Andrea wrote Runaway.
Interviewer: Okay.
Jim: That was about my baby sis.
Interviewer: Was that a surprise to you? I mean you were in the middle of this formula you have going and suddenly the girls jump up with this? You know, the goods if you like? I mean that must have been a shock. A good shock!
Jim: It was a very pleasant surprise, yeah. Because, probably unknown to me at the time I was feeling a lot of pressure, you know. It was kind of on my shoulders in terms of the writing. And I wouldn't be - I wouldn't be (writing?) at great speed. So yeah it was a very pleasant surprise that the girls would write themselves, as well as they do.
Interviewer: Tell me before that point, I mean you say you'd been writing for a long time and you know I know that you were involved in other bands previous to The Corrs. What kind of stuff were you listening to? What were you turning out and what was it influenced by?
Jim: It was kind of everything and anything. We listened to classical music, celtic(?) music, pop, rock, and even some heavy metal. You know. One of my favourite bands growing up was The Police. So there was a lot of influences in our music and not just of the celtic niche, you know. We listened to The Beatles, we listened to The Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, and many many other bands. So there was an eclectic mix of music within our style but I think we were drawn to the celtic style, which we incorporated into our music.
Interviewer: I mean, people would say that it's cliche, you're an Irish band, you were headed to the world stage, and then suddenly you decide to go back and do an Irish album. But yet it's not cliched. Were you eager to prove yourselves and prove that you could come up with the goods in a non-cliched way, or did you just sort of go for it and then it just became what it was and it spoke for itself?
Jim: Well it wasn't, it wasn't really about trying to prove ourselves. I mean we grew up listening to our parents performing and practising, themselves, so you know that was the environment I grew up in. So a lot of the songs that we did on the last album, which was the Home album, I mean we would have heard them practicing that before and we loved that material. And it wasn't that we were trying to prove ourselves, it was just that we wanted to do something that we loved.
Interviewer: They're beautiful songs(?) though...
Jim: Oh they really are. And you know it's really one of my favourite albums, I still love listening to that album. Which is something, because most bands get really fed up with listening to their own material. Because from the moment of conception to the moment of performing it on stage, you get fed up with them. I haven't got fed up with one song of that whole album.
Interviewer: There's been a bit of a period of time since the last tour, what have you been doing in the interim, have you been recording, have you been writing - taking a rest?
Jim: Primarily we've been - we took a long break. I mean we'd been travelling so excessivly and working so intensively we needed a long break, so we took a long break.
Interviewer: You _____
Jim: We did. I remember one time we did something like four continents in three weeks, it was really crazy. And it was taking its toll on us. It really was. I mean it's a wonderful occupation, and it was wonderful to make an occupation out of what is your hobby, but there was a hell of a lot of work involved in it. So we took a break - we took a pretty long break, but also, some of the girls got married and the babies came along.
Interview: And you became a father didn't you?
Jim: And I became a father as well.
Interviewer: How old is your son now?
Jim: He's four now.
Interviewer: And are you getting him into music? Does he show any...?
Jim: Yeah actually, yeah I've got him playing Three Blind Mice at the moment. And he can find middle C on the piano which is pretty good, so...
Interviewer: He's probably ahead of anybody...?
Jim: Well I don't know!
Interviewer: Are you guys planning on recording again, I know there are some things in the paper about you going back into the studio - where are you with that...?
Jim: Yeah there's a possibility that we'll be back in the studio soon. We would love to do it. We've been asked to do it by the record company so it's a possibility - we're still in negociations, but it's on the cards.
Interviewer: Something else that I want to touch on briefly before we go is your other work as an activist, if you like. ____ What would you call what you're doing?
Jim: Well I suppose it is activism of a sort. I know what I'm doing is bringing out the truth as I see it, to people. I know that I've discovered that a lot of lies have been told in the mainstream media, and I think that people deserve to know what the truth is. So I've been trying to bring the truth to people through my website, and through the interviews that I do.
Interviewer: And you're dealing mostly with the truth around what really happened with 9/11...
Jim: Yes.
Interviewer: And the issues with the Swine Flu vaccination as well. Is there anything on a local level - I mean that seems very out there and far away from us as regular people, but is there any particular issue that would affect everyday people like myself? I'm sure everything does in a way but anything more sort of tangible...
Jim: Well that's the thing, I would hope that people would try and grasp the truth on 9/11, because it is affecting us. Every time we go to an airport with the increased and heightened security. It does affect us. But yeah there's local issues that I get involved in. I mean they're trying to cut - not just cut hospital services, but close hospitals in lots of counties around the country, including in my own hometown of Dundalk, so I'm involved with that. They've just recently said that they're getting rid of anesthetists, so that means surgery's gone. It means it cuts out an awful lot of medical practices that will be gone... So incremently, they're trying to shut the hospital down. And it's terrible. A population of 40,000, who should have their own hospital, who have a wonderful hospital, so that's one of the things I'm involved in as well...
Interviewer: Well it's great that you can use your voice and your persona publicly to support issues like that. I wish you a lot of luck with that and thanks for chatting to us.
Jim: Thank you very much; thank you.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYeoOQ6rDcQ
Lisa from COL made a transcript of the interview which is pprovided below. Thank you again, Lisa.
Interviewer: So Jim, you were crowned, I suppose, unofficially, as the Prince of Irish Pop for a long time, was that ever something that sat well with you or were you ever eager to kind of shrug it off?
Jim: The Prince of Irish Pop? That's the first time I've heard that. (laughs)
Interviewer: I shouldn't think so, I shouldn't think so! I mean you think about the success that you guys had in the 90s and whatever you've done in the mean time, but you know intially, everybody was ____ the boom of The Corrs. And it was worldwide. And you were the man behind it.
Jim: Well, well there's four of us in the band, you know, and it's fair to say that we each contrib - contrib - blah blah blah! Let me start that again. It's fair to say that there's four of us in it, and we each contribute to the band and the direction it takes to the songwriting. And initially when we started off it was more on my shoulders, but the girls turned into wonderful song-writers themselves, and...
Interviewer: ____ (laughs)
Jim: No I'm serious, I'm deadly serious. I mean Caroline and Andrea wrote Runaway.
Interviewer: Okay.
Jim: That was about my baby sis.
Interviewer: Was that a surprise to you? I mean you were in the middle of this formula you have going and suddenly the girls jump up with this? You know, the goods if you like? I mean that must have been a shock. A good shock!
Jim: It was a very pleasant surprise, yeah. Because, probably unknown to me at the time I was feeling a lot of pressure, you know. It was kind of on my shoulders in terms of the writing. And I wouldn't be - I wouldn't be (writing?) at great speed. So yeah it was a very pleasant surprise that the girls would write themselves, as well as they do.
Interviewer: Tell me before that point, I mean you say you'd been writing for a long time and you know I know that you were involved in other bands previous to The Corrs. What kind of stuff were you listening to? What were you turning out and what was it influenced by?
Jim: It was kind of everything and anything. We listened to classical music, celtic(?) music, pop, rock, and even some heavy metal. You know. One of my favourite bands growing up was The Police. So there was a lot of influences in our music and not just of the celtic niche, you know. We listened to The Beatles, we listened to The Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, and many many other bands. So there was an eclectic mix of music within our style but I think we were drawn to the celtic style, which we incorporated into our music.
Interviewer: I mean, people would say that it's cliche, you're an Irish band, you were headed to the world stage, and then suddenly you decide to go back and do an Irish album. But yet it's not cliched. Were you eager to prove yourselves and prove that you could come up with the goods in a non-cliched way, or did you just sort of go for it and then it just became what it was and it spoke for itself?
Jim: Well it wasn't, it wasn't really about trying to prove ourselves. I mean we grew up listening to our parents performing and practising, themselves, so you know that was the environment I grew up in. So a lot of the songs that we did on the last album, which was the Home album, I mean we would have heard them practicing that before and we loved that material. And it wasn't that we were trying to prove ourselves, it was just that we wanted to do something that we loved.
Interviewer: They're beautiful songs(?) though...
Jim: Oh they really are. And you know it's really one of my favourite albums, I still love listening to that album. Which is something, because most bands get really fed up with listening to their own material. Because from the moment of conception to the moment of performing it on stage, you get fed up with them. I haven't got fed up with one song of that whole album.
Interviewer: There's been a bit of a period of time since the last tour, what have you been doing in the interim, have you been recording, have you been writing - taking a rest?
Jim: Primarily we've been - we took a long break. I mean we'd been travelling so excessivly and working so intensively we needed a long break, so we took a long break.
Interviewer: You _____
Jim: We did. I remember one time we did something like four continents in three weeks, it was really crazy. And it was taking its toll on us. It really was. I mean it's a wonderful occupation, and it was wonderful to make an occupation out of what is your hobby, but there was a hell of a lot of work involved in it. So we took a break - we took a pretty long break, but also, some of the girls got married and the babies came along.
Interview: And you became a father didn't you?
Jim: And I became a father as well.
Interviewer: How old is your son now?
Jim: He's four now.
Interviewer: And are you getting him into music? Does he show any...?
Jim: Yeah actually, yeah I've got him playing Three Blind Mice at the moment. And he can find middle C on the piano which is pretty good, so...
Interviewer: He's probably ahead of anybody...?
Jim: Well I don't know!
Interviewer: Are you guys planning on recording again, I know there are some things in the paper about you going back into the studio - where are you with that...?
Jim: Yeah there's a possibility that we'll be back in the studio soon. We would love to do it. We've been asked to do it by the record company so it's a possibility - we're still in negociations, but it's on the cards.
Interviewer: Something else that I want to touch on briefly before we go is your other work as an activist, if you like. ____ What would you call what you're doing?
Jim: Well I suppose it is activism of a sort. I know what I'm doing is bringing out the truth as I see it, to people. I know that I've discovered that a lot of lies have been told in the mainstream media, and I think that people deserve to know what the truth is. So I've been trying to bring the truth to people through my website, and through the interviews that I do.
Interviewer: And you're dealing mostly with the truth around what really happened with 9/11...
Jim: Yes.
Interviewer: And the issues with the Swine Flu vaccination as well. Is there anything on a local level - I mean that seems very out there and far away from us as regular people, but is there any particular issue that would affect everyday people like myself? I'm sure everything does in a way but anything more sort of tangible...
Jim: Well that's the thing, I would hope that people would try and grasp the truth on 9/11, because it is affecting us. Every time we go to an airport with the increased and heightened security. It does affect us. But yeah there's local issues that I get involved in. I mean they're trying to cut - not just cut hospital services, but close hospitals in lots of counties around the country, including in my own hometown of Dundalk, so I'm involved with that. They've just recently said that they're getting rid of anesthetists, so that means surgery's gone. It means it cuts out an awful lot of medical practices that will be gone... So incremently, they're trying to shut the hospital down. And it's terrible. A population of 40,000, who should have their own hospital, who have a wonderful hospital, so that's one of the things I'm involved in as well...
Interviewer: Well it's great that you can use your voice and your persona publicly to support issues like that. I wish you a lot of luck with that and thanks for chatting to us.
Jim: Thank you very much; thank you.