Robert Forster photo by Stephen Booth
Even though sales may not have matched the critical acclaim, Robert Forster’s career is enviable. Over 45 years since The Go-Betweens’s debut single and nearly 20 years after the tragic early death of Grant McLennan with whom he shared one of the great songwriting partnerships, he has been enjoying a prolific, late period surge and adding a number of gems to what was already a special body of work. After 2023’s reflective ‘The Candle and The Flame’ comes this year’s full band ‘Strawberries’ which combines his traditional high quality songwriting with a more sonically adventurous approach. Add in the autobiography, ‘Grant & I’; a published collection of his music criticism, ‘The 10 Rules of Rock and Roll’; a recently performed play; ongoing work on a forthcoming novel; and even the launch of a breakfast cereal for a enviable programme of cultural activity.
In anticipation of Robert’s show at Manchester Band on the Wall on 13 October, promoter Hey Manchester offered me the opportunity to interview him. I will confess that I feared a Zoom or phone conversation would result in the unedifying spectacle of a gushing superfan hyperventilating and embarrassing himself in front of his hero. Robert saved my blushes by agreeing to an email Q&A, the outcome of which is set out below.
Did you take a different approach on ‘Strawberries’ compared to recent albums? Were the songs fully worked out prior to recording or was there more scope for improvisation and input from your Swedish band? It feels much more of a full band sound and there is a bigger variety of song stories compared to ‘The Candle and The Flame’.
It was a different approach. I was working with a band I had played a few shows with before. So, I knew their sound and capabilities. All the songs were written in advance. There was little ‘improvisation’ – but plenty of room for the musicians to do what they wished to do.
How did working with a respected songwriter, Peter Morén, impact on the record?
Enormously. Peter understands the nature of songs completely and is a very talented musician. So, he can play what he hears, things that a song may need. And he has a great understanding of drums, bass and keyboards. He can weave a sound.
One of the standout tracks on the album is ‘Breakfast on the Train.’ Could you tell us about the genesis and development of that song. It is unusually long by your standards yet flows really easily. I appreciate this is probably a consequence of your songwriting craft but it sounds like one of those songs that arrives fully formed. Was it easier or harder to write than other songs on the record?
I wrote the music for the song and I was very excited by it. It sounded classic and was long. So I knew it needed a strong lyric concept to go with the melody, probably, a story in the song. I was on tour for The Candle And The Flame, travelling between shows by train, and the idea of the song lyric came to me, and I started writing. Some of it is set in Edinburgh, which is where I was on tour. The lyric took a couple of weeks to complete, as it had to hold up, and keep the attention of the listener.
I love that the videos to both ‘Tender Years’ and ‘Strawberries’ are recorded in a kitchen. It makes them feel very personal. How did the idea come about and is it your kitchen?
It is our kitchen. I like the idea of using things that are nearby and everyday. And I feel comfortable in my kitchen – which is helpful when you have to do a performance. Which is what videos are all about. And I like the idea of shooting the videos for songs that were written in our house.
How will be travelling on this tour? I have enjoyed your recent tour diaries on social media where you have been travelling by train but thought with the full band set up that you would probably be going by van this time. Do your travels provide inspiration for songs, for example observing people and then imagining scenarios for them?
You’re right. No trains this time, I shall be in a van with a band. And that’s good. It is time to do a band tour and ‘Strawberries’ is perfect for that. As for inspiration, I get from touring – because I am playing music almost every day on the road, it does make me want to keep writing songs.
What are the plans for the tour? Do you have a rigid setlist or have the band developed a sufficient repertoire to be able to perform a range of songs from your back catalogue? I thought there could be less flexibility than when you have toured on your own like the last time I saw you in Birmingham in 2019.
I think the setlist will vary a little. There are many songs I’d love to play, yet I must keep it to 20. The band is flexible and up for changes, so we shall see. A setlist I never find restrictive, It is how you play the songs that matters.
When I have seen you over the past decade, I was struck by how ‘Surfing Magazines’ has become a live favourite yet when it was released on ‘The Friends of Rachel Worth’, I thought it was a relatively slight song. Have there been any songs that you have been surprised that have developed legs when performed live and, conversely, others where you have disappointed that they haven’t worked live as well as you envisaged?
‘Surfing Magazines’ is a special case. I knew it was a great song and that we needed to play it live to improve on the album version. It had the potential. Sometimes you don’t quite catch something in a studio, although I do like the album version – it has its charm. I can’t remember a song that has disappointed me on its reception in concert. Audiences have good judgement. That’s when the truth of a song comes out.
Did the process of curating the ‘G is for Go-Betweens’ boxsets give you any surprises and were there any songs that you haven’t played in recent years that you thought you would like to revisit in a live setting.
‘’Erotic Sunshine’ from Volume 3 I would like to play at some time. It’s a very good rock song, and I dig the lyric. There are songs I would like to play from the recent and deep past – it’s a question of how far I can push a show beyond the two-hour limit. And if people have the capacity to listen that long.
I have read on Facebook that you were due to have a play performed. Could you tell me about it and how the performance has been?
It was called ‘Night Thoughts Of An Artist’. It was tremendous to hear and watch an actor express my words. It is something I’ve always wished to do – write dialogue and have it performed. I watched the rehearsals to the play carefully, it was a learning experience. A new world. I would love to return there.
For quite some time, you have been engaged in writing a novel. How close is it to completion and being published? What can you tell us about the novel and the process of writing it?
The novel is coming along well. I have been working on it on and off since early 2017, and it’s always been a labour of love. A work I was happy to return to, which I take as a good sign. I was doing two things at once – learning to write a novel and writing a novel. That’s why it has taken so long. The book is set in 1991 and belongs to the musical world. The book is a story. Hopefully it is entertaining and has depth.
Can you tell us about the ‘Spring Grain’ cereal, how the idea came about and how it came to fruition.
It was the genius idea of author, broadcaster and DJ Pete Paphides. He came up with the title of the product. I came up the recipe. We are a team.
After late September / early October dates in Sweden, Denmark, Austria and German, Robert Forster will be coming to the UK with his Swedish band to play the following shows:
9th October – UK Brighton St George’s
10th October – UK Cardiff The Gate
11th October – UK London Union Chapel
13th October – UK Manchester Band on the Wall
15th October – UK Dublin National Concert Hall
17th October – UK Edinburgh Pleasance Theatre
18th October – UK Glasgow St Luke’s
19th October – UK Leicester Y Theatre
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
