Music / Writing Prompt

You Say You Are Into Music, Round 2

Favourite Band / Artist Edition: More Questions That Want Answers

A month ago, I published an article on The Riff that gently suggested that if you say you are into music, when I ask you, “Oh really, what do you like?” you can’t just answer, “A bit of everything.”

It’s my firm conviction, loosely held, that you need to have an opinion. Especially when we are talking about music.

As it turns out, many do have an opinion that they were happy to share. The article itself did well, generating many responses and motivating many who read it to answer the prompt questions in article form as well.

Since it’s never too late, here is that article, should you like to join in the fun.

I definitely enjoyed reading them all, and by all means, tag me in it if you do that one or the one that follows here.

With that in mind, if you would be so good as to indulge me again, we will go a bit deeper and focus the camera lens on the one artist or band in particular that you call your favourite.

It might be a new favourite, an old one you are returning to, or a lifetime number one that has never left you. This is the voice, lyrics, and music that — when you hear them — it all just makes sense to you.

Right. Without further ado…

What / who is your favourite band or artist?

James. That’s it. Just one word, a man’s name. Simple. There’s no one called James in the band. There is a Jim, however. And a Tim.

Why is that your favourite band or artist?

They have seen me through the ups and downs and everything in between of life for the past three decades. Their music speaks to me: the lyrics, the sound, the vibe, the unbridled energy, the love, the soaring passion, the quiet moments, the ones that move you to dance, the ones that have you playing air drums, the ones that you light candles for while sitting by yourself in the winter darkness.

How have they been involved in your life? How long? How did you get into them?

As I said, since the early 90s, at least. Their sound was an antidote to the minor key, plaid-shirted, white man impotent rage of Grunge music. It was lighter but far deeper, it was quiet but didn’t let you mope, it was joyous and made you feel it. This intelligent band wasn’t yelling at you, but wrapping its arms around you.

I think it might have been the “Alternative Hour” on Much Music — Canada’s version of MTV — where I heard them first. But it might have also been on a Vancouver radio station called Coast 1040 that, for three glorious years played Catherine Wheel, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Ride, and Morrissey, all the time. James was part of that. Nobody else was doing that at the time or has since.

Where do they come from? How does that inform their music?

They are from Manchester, England, and formed in the mid-80s. However, they wouldn’t be included as contemporaries of fellow Mancunians such as the Smiths or New Order. At the same time, they pre-dated the Manchester Explosion that happened when the 80s became the 90s, and the Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, Happy Mondays, and the Charlatans were the overnight favourites.

They were a part of all that, though, but seemed separate from the drug-addled laddishness of it all.

Maybe for that reason, they, along with the Charlatans, are the only survivors of that scene that are still going and have been making records and touring continuously since then, aside from a hiatus from 2001–2008.

How many albums have they made? At which point did you come into them? What’s their biggest album? What’s their best one?

James has made 17 studio albums, the latest being a double album collection of reworked favourites with orchestra backing called Be Opened by the Wonderful.

I became a fan in 1993, with their fifth album, Laid, the title track of which is perhaps their best — and maybe only — known song in North America. They really haven’t sold much here, but that’s probably their best seller. For my money, their most complete album is Millionaires in 1999. But I change my mind on that weekly.

If you were explaining them to someone who’s never heard of them, what is the one song you’d put on that tells you everything you need to know about them?

From Millionaires, I would put forth “We’re Going to Miss You” as the song that explains everything that is missing in their life to someone who’s never heard it.

Why that song?

Naturally, I wrote an article about it a while ago. Here it is:

Have you seen them live? Where? How many times? What’s the most you’ve paid for a ticket? What’s the most you would pay?

I have seen them four times. 1993 at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, BC (with Texas opening), 1997 at the Rage in Vancouver, BC (with Third Eye Blind opening), 2010, and again in 2012 at the Commodore Ballroom both times. None of these shows were in front of more than 800 people. They were selling soundcheck passes on the last tour, and I could not pass that up. About fifty people had the same idea, treating ourselves to three extra live songs.

Tickets were cheap in those days, maybe around $40–50 a ticket. I’d happily fork over a couple hundred if they returned here.

Do they have any shows coming up that you are looking forward to? Would you travel to see them? Have you?

They are playing in the UK and Europe this summer, but I had no plans to travel there. I’ve traveled to many places to see many bands, and I would definitely do that if they were touring North America again but did not schedule a Vancouver date. In fact, if there were a Vancouver show, I’d go to that and then also go to see them somewhere else.

The Last Word

You know those bands that burn brightly for a minute and then break up in the hail of bullets known as “creative differences”? Or worse, those bands whose members can barely tolerate each other but drag it on and on for years of declining quality? I’ve always wondered how these groups and artists deal with playing the same songs night after night with any passion or conviction.

Often, they don’t.

James is the opposite. There have probably been 12 members over the years, with a continuous core of about four or five. All are artists on their own instruments, and it is clear when you listen to the albums and even more so when you see the live show, the love they have for one another. It shines through everything forty years into their little project.

I really do hope that you like what you have just read. If you want unlimited access to thousands of writers, consider a subscription to Medium. It will set you back $5 a month, and if you use the link below, then I get a slice of that. Oh, you think you’re so pretty.