Interview: Elbow

4:03pm Friday 21st March 2008

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Rock stars can generally be split into two categories.

There are those that are so far detached from everyday life that interviews are laborious affairs where answers are contrived to within an inch of their life.

And then there are those who are still very much the Everyman, the ones you wouldn't mind having a pint down the pub with.

As a massive Elbow fan tasked with interviewing guitarist Mark Potter about the band's fantastic new album The Seldom Seen Kid, I am relieved to find that he is firmly in the latter.

In fact it is refreshing to hear the chaos erupting in the background as he juggles with the twin responsibilities of looking after his two children whilst talking to your humble hack on his mobile.

With said children now either happily asleep or happily playing with a less noisy toy (one of each!), Mark gets down to the business of describing the reasons behind the band's - singer Guy Garvey, bassist Pete Turner, drummer Richard Jupp and Mark's brother Craig on keyboards - long hiatus.

"Our record label at the time, V2, did nothing to promote our last album (2005's Leaders of the Free World) so we basically down tools and spent time bascially in the studio writing this album whilst trying to negotiate our way away from V2.

"We had Elbow fans who didn't even know that we had an album out and we knew that V2 was sinking. Already the new label Fiction has been a lot more pro-active with The Seldom Seen Kid and we have had TV exposure and there are billboards across London and Manchester."

The added exposure seems to be working. Already the album has received rave reviews from all quarters of the press.

"The reviews have been really good apart from one in The Mirror where I don't that the reviewer quite got us. He was obviously into his pop music, which is fine but other than that the reviews have been excellent. We are the first band to get four successive 9 out of 10's from the NME."

The title The Seldom Seen Kid - like much of the album - is a tribute to Manchester singer-songwriter, and friend of the band, Brian Glancy who passed away in 2006.

Mark said: "The album is about him and his death did influence Guy's lyrics and it is our little tribute to him. The recording of this album was different to what we have done before because we were in our own space. It almost has that back room conspiracy feel to it which is a great way of working.

"It is also the first album where we have done the production ourselves. We had dabbled on the previous album but never felt confident enough to mix it ourselves but this time Craig has taken over the production and we are really happy with the results."

The results are outstanding and if there is any justice left in this world, it will finally elevate the band to big league.

Lead single, Grounds For Divorce, is a snarling Led Zep-esque blues stomp which Mark says was written by Guy in the aftermath of Brian's death.

He said: "When Brian died there were a lot of his friends just spending their time in the bars in the city, just drinking and that song was written by Guy as a response to that. It was a way of him saying he wanted to get away from that."

The album as a whole feels almost like a re-awakening, and I put it to Mark that the transition from the dreary winter months into spring and eventually summer is the perfect time to release it.

"Yeah I definitely think it is the perfect time. We have been in the studio for a long time and now it feels like we have come out of the other side."

Pick of the tracks are undoubtedly Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver, Day Like This and the opener Starlings, all of which really are epic festival anthems-in-waiting.

Mark said: "We didn't set out to make festival songs but some tracks will sound really good at the summer festivals. I think we are playing most of them in Europe and of course Glastonbury so it is a good chance to get instant feedback on the record and the new material."

Moving onto the forthcoming tour, which calls in Manchester on April 13, Mark says the live shows will be well worth savouring.

"We realised that bands will soon make their money from playing live and so we have put a lot of effort into the live shows.

We aren't really fans of backing tracks so we are taking a string section out with us so it is going to be amazing."

Never a band to rest on the laurels, it will come as no surprise to fans that work on the next album is already well afoot.

"We may be out on the road but we are already working on new material and the next album. It is just great now to be on a label where we know things will happen."

The Seldom Seen Kid is out now on Fiction Records, Elbow play Manchester Academy on April 13.