This album contains the best song of this year so far.
Listen to Idyllwild and be amazed!


Interview with Bobby Wratten of Trembling Blue Stars


1. It seems as if one can not expect Trembling Blue Stars to play live again in a near future. (or ever again) Can you please tell us a bit about the reasons behind this decision?

I've always had a strange relationship with playing live. A lot of the things connected with it (soundchecks, the waiting around, the lack of control over sound) I dislike.
Refusing to play live seems to suit the private nature of the band and I don't want to play live just because it's what bands are supposed to do; a strange ritual that you have to put up with. Also, when you finish a record I can't think of anything more dull than having to repeat it for the next year or eighteen months. It doesn't seem a very creative process. I've always been much more of a fan of records than gigs and I feel the record should be enough......why do an inferior version of it? Finally there is also the question of age. At a certain point it seems undignified to get up on a stage! :-)


2. The new Trembling Blue Stars album was released the 14th of May. Is there anything in particular from the recording process that you would like to share with us?

Every time you record hopefully you combine new approaches with all that you've learned so far.So, a lot of it was familiar to us (recording with Ian Catt, deciding how to arranged songs written on an acoustic guitar in an interesting fashion) and some of it was new ground. We carried over the idea of incorporating field recordings from The Occasional Keepers album that Beth and I were involved in. So we were up at five am to record the dawn on the Romney Marsh in Kent and we recorded footsteps on shingles to use as a rhythm track along with footsteps on crackling dry branches. We asked Dani from the band Malory to record the phrase "Schnee Gletscher Glas"(after a Modernist painting) for us. John from the band Aberdeen recorded some guitars in LA and sent them to us. We used Hugh McDowell (ELO) once more to provide the strings. Basically, we're always looking for a balance between songs and an avant-garde approach. We like to incorporate ideas from our leftfield listening habits.


3. What would you say is the best thing that could happen to the band and have you made any future plans?

We aren't ambitious at all. It would be nice to just always be in the position where we can make another record and for that record to be exactly the one we want to make. We've been doing this too long to compromise! Luckily for us that's the position we are in with Elefant right now. They give us complete freedom. For instance, we didn't want to release a single from the album and they just said fine. The single will be a non album track that will follow the album.


4. What do you think of the musicscene in England these days and is there any bands in particular you listen to?

The last thing I want to do is bemoan the state of music in England.....there is always good stuff around. Sometimes you just have to look harder. The thing I would say though is that very little of the new music I listen to is English rather American or German or Swedish or Scottish or whatever. This isn't by design just the way it is. About 50% of what I listen to is reggae or reggae related ie dub, dancehall etc. I do buy lots of records and I am aware of new releases but if I think about the English albums I've bought this year they are all by very established artists (The Fall, Tracey Thorn and Throbbing Gristle). Most of the popular new English bands don't interest me except for The Artic Monkeys who I do like and I will be buying their new album!
My favourites so far this year are the albums by Bright Eyes and Laub.


My favorite:

song I have ever written: Maybe "If I Handle You With Care" or "Ammunition"

film: Lost In Translation/ Before Sunset/
Last Life In The Universe/ Valerie and her Week of Wonders.

city: Berlin/Glasgow/LA

season: Winter

album: Laughing Stock by Talk Talk


Record label Elefant

Trembling Blue Stars Homepage

Official MySpace