Guy Garvey
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Guy Garvey

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“People listen to songs, not albums,” says Garvey. “Even if they do listen to albums, they don’t pay for them. And bands have to release more material to excuse going on tour just to survive as a band, otherwise they have to get a full-time job. And together writing music becomes so impractical that they don’t pursue it.

“We need to work out a new business model to protect the music that we’re losing. We’re losing a generation of it. All the music that’s getting through – and I hate to say this, because it’s not that it’s bad music – but the only music that gets through is from people whose parents can bankroll them. So The Jam wouldn’t happen, The Clash wouldn’t happen, the fucking Beatles wouldn’t happen in this climate.”

It might seem a pessimistic view to take at the outset of a solo career, but the unflappably humble Garvey knows he’s in a privileged position thanks to a long and successful time at the front of one of Britain’s most respected alternative rock bands. Elbow’s latest full-length release, 2014’s The Take Off And Landing Of Everything, was their first to top the UK charts, arriving three years after the platinum-accredited Build A Rocket Boys! and six years after The Seldom Seen Kid, which won the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. Going solo remained an ambition of Garvey’s, and the process behind Courting The Squall was a refreshing one.

“At one point I had seven amazing musicians playing things at my bidding, at two o’clock in the morning in a beautiful studio in Wiltshire – Peter Gabriel’s place,” he says. “And the minute I realised I didn’t like what we’d all been playing for a couple of hours, I went, ‘Stop. That’ll do. See you in the morning.’ And you can’t do that in a band. You know, you’ve got to see something through to the bitter end. If you’re not feeling a song but somebody else in the band is, you sit back and you wait to be asked to perform, but you let the process go – you let whoever’s favouring the song rule the ball, so to speak. And quite often you’re very pleasantly surprised by something you didn’t think you’d like turn into something you love. But it’s a lot quicker, moving on your own.”

The opportunity to craft an album under his own name saw Garvey indulge some influences that will perhaps surprise Elbow fans. “There’s not many genres of music that I haven’t found something in that I’ve really liked,” he says. “Even the odd club classic. I listen to all sorts of music. I really loved early hip hop, particularly when I was a kid.”

In true Garvey style, the singer’s solo record is a musically and lyrically detailed examination of highs and lows, triumphs and tribulations. Before he departs, Garvey is eager to assure Elbow devotees that he’s got no intention of leaving behind his friends in the group to go it alone permanently.

“They’ve been popping into the studio this week while I’ve been rehearsing for my solo tour. [There’s] no need to worry – as soon as I’ve had my little fling I’ll be back in the studio with them boys, and all they’ll hear for the next six months is me saying, ‘Well, I didn’t do that on mine’.”

BY CHRIS MARTIN