MW

Since your last tour of Australia two years ago you've released three CDs – ‘England Half English’, the Riff Raff collection and the live bootleg of the last Australian tour - and you have a three CD ‘Best Of’ collection coming out in early October. The strange thing is that on those six CDs every song was written more than two years ago.

BB

Is that true ? Yeah, I suppose the stuff that I've written post September 11th has been quite political, isn't it ? ‘The Price Of Oil’ and ‘The Wolf Covers Its Tracks’.

MW

Are you going to put them on something at some point ?

BB

At some point. On downloads and things. I think when I get time to make a new album I will fit them somewhere on that.

MW

You're halfway towards an EP.

BB

Yeah. There's some other stuff floating around that I haven't finished but which I may well finish in time for the American trip. There's all this stuff about but until you need to get it into the set I never really feel in desperate need of finishing it. I'm a bit lazy like that. Peel Sessions used to bring me up to speed or making an album every year.

MW

‘The Price Of Oil’ - most people got that by download. Are you going to put more songs to download on your website ?

BB

I think so, yeah. I think that's a good way of disseminating sounds and ideas. Maybe not everything but certainly some more things. We were very pleased with the response to that.

MW

The new CD coming out - a ‘Best Of’ collection - that's a pretty big career thing.

BB

It is !

MW

Are you going to do much to promote it ? Are you doing a tour ?

BB

I'll do some in-stores. I don't think the tour that goes with that will happen until the new year - the UK and European tour.

MW

I thought you'd be going for the Christmas market ?

BB

I suppose October is getting towards the Christmas market but I'll be promoting it with in-stores and radio and shit like that.

MW

In November you've got a USA tour with Steve Earle ?

BB

And Tom Morello (from Rage Against The Machine).

MW

How has that taken shape ?

BB

Well, I'd already committed to doing a tour with the America labour unions based around media ownership, and I was talking to Steve about it and he fancied a bit of it, and someone else reached out to Tom Morello and he fancied a bit as well.

MW

So did this come about during the Landmines concerts ?

BB

Yeah, at Landmines. We were just discussing politics and what we were going to do and how we were going to do it.

MW

Do you think you'll get involved in more Landmines concerts ?

BB

If they want me, yeah. Apparently the ones we did were some of the best they've done. The vibe was really good they were good fun. They usually do a week rather than  just two so I think they may call us up again for another go.

MW

What's it like sitting next to Emmylou Harris ?

BB

Well, I didn't actually sit next to her. I sat between Joan Baez and Chrissie Hynde which was exciting in itself ! And I got to sing Sin City with Emmylou. You can't beat that can you ?

MW

I wanted to ask you about your possible alternative careers and I was reminded of this when somebody told me that after leaving the gig last night they went to a local pub and saw written in large letters in the ladies' toilet "Billy Bragg For PM" (Billy laughs).

Now I know you say on stage that you're not interested in a career in politics but how do you really feel about it ?

BB

That's true - I believe that. One of the things that Juliet said to me about doing all this stuff with the House Of Lords was to promise I wouldn't accept a seat in The House Of Lords if it was offered, not that I would anyway. My family is more important to me than that and I think I have much more of a platform doing what I do instead of being a toe-the-line MP.

MW

You're happy to sit to one side agitating ?

BB

You've got to keep engaged. The important thing is to be engaged.

MW

On other alternative careers, we heard earlier this year that you were taking time off to write. How did that go ?

BB

I think I'm really going to get a chance to get down and get to grips with it next year. Last year I was writing stuff and seeing if I could form some ideas. Basically the Englishness stuff hasn't gone away. Making ‘England Half English’ hasn't dealt with it so I've got to get it out of my system another way so I don't just make ‘England Half English’ again. I really don't think I should - I think I've made my point in that. So I've got to find another way to expand on that and writing, whether it's articles or pamphlets or a book seem to be the best way to do that.

MW

What would you feel about other kinds of writing ? Maybe some fiction ?

BB

I don't read a lot of fiction. It's a strange thing. I was thinking about this the other day. I suppose I put the fiction into songs.

MW

You're a storyteller.

BB

True. That's absolutely true.

MW

And the raps between the songs.

BB

Yeah. I know what you're saying. I don't know if I think of it like that though. I think of it all as kind of just being a sort of musichall entertainment.

MW

I was wondering if you'd thought of collecting together and publishing some of those raps ?

BB

I think that's your job, Mark. A Top Ten of raps ! Number One would be the wallpaper rap from the German Tour of 1988. That's my favourite.

MW

It's already there on the website ! Now while we are still talking about alternative careers there's movies. Several people have told me that if you go to the Internet Movie Database and do a search on Billy Bragg you find a credit for the movie ‘Down By Law’ directed Jim Jarmusch and which Joe Strummer was involved with. The official credit for "available lighting" is for Billy Bragg.

BB

Must be another Billy Bragg, that's all I can say.

MW

I thought it might be a comic credit...as Strummer was involved.

BB

It might be...(laughs)...how weird !

MW

Also, on movies, somebody told me that back in the early 90s, when you were taking a break from music, somebody was trying to get up a movie in America with a part for you.

BB

That's true. It was about the strikes in Massachusetts...the name of the place escapes me. It involved women workers and I think they might have been garment workers. Basically, Charles Dickens came to visit them during the strike and they wanted me to be Charles Dickens.

MW

With the goatee beard ?

BB

I'm afraid so ! All I would have to do would be what we call a "Lady Di", you know.

MW

A cameo appearance.

BB

That's it. I got fitted for the wig but the film fell through, sadly.

MW

Any inclination to make more movie appearances ?

BB

No, I don't think so. I like standing out there in the dark with the people. I enjoy that.

MW

I'll test your memory now !

BB

Oh God !

MW

1986. You did a tour of Italy and met up with a band called The Gang.

BB

Yeah. I saw them last time I was out there as well.

MW

Somebody sent me a bootleg of them in concert in 1986 and they reckon that you played guitar on it. Is that true ?

BB

Yes, I did do several gigs with them. This one might possibly be a gig in Rome. A famous gig in Rome where I had two bowls of potato gnocchi before I went on stage and about halfway through I felt like I was going to collapse. I was so tired and so full of gnocchi. Like a barrel on legs. It was one of those Festival L'Unita things.

MW

I know that you recorded a couple of songs with The Gang as well, and they did a version of ‘To Have And To Have Not’.

BB

They were very Clash influenced. They were the Italian Clash.

MW

On a totally unrelated topic - I was asked to ask you about the Greenbelt Festival and Martyn Joseph and your involvement with that this year.

BB

Well, they've been trying to get me for ages to play at Greenbelt and finally I ended up saying yes because they were doing a Christian Aid thing and that was specifically political. So I thought, yeah I'll do that. It seemed like a good thing.

MW

So are you closely involved with Martyn Joseph ?

BB

Not hugely. I bump into him from time to time. He's invited me to come back and play again. Not every year but I will do it again.

At this point Billy's throat had dried out and he had to seek out his special "Throat Coat" tea..."to wet my whistle - if there's any cups left"

BB

This is the most horrible tea, I think, ever. At least it's wet and warm.

MW

Is that the Throat Coat ?

BB

No, no - they packed them away. It's Mango and Strawberry......I've just pushed it to far today with the jetlag and everything.

MW

A question or two about the new ‘Best Of’ collection ‘Must I Paint You A Picture’. A couple of weeks ago Amazon.co.uk were listing it as a double CD with a bonus DVD. They quickly corrected that but it did stir up some interest. Have you thought of releasing a DVD ?

BB

The videos...maybe we should think of putting together a compilation and releasing that. Yeah, we should make all the videos available. They're pretty good - I haven't seen them for yonks.

MW

A lot of artists are releasing bonus DVDs. For example Neil Young's latest studio album ‘Greendale’ comes with a live concert DVD of him playing the whole album.

BB

Wow, that's a scary prospect isn't it, doing the gig of the album. I nearly did that at Glastonbury  - not this year but the year before. I plugged the guitar in and it made this really weird noise and I thought "I know that sound. That's the sound of ‘Life's A Riot’". So I played the whole of ‘Life's A Riot’ and then as much of ‘Brewing Up’ as I could remember. It was good fun.

MW

That was a brilliant concert. You remember Nolan ?

BB

Of course !

MW

Well, he did a good job of recording it.

BB

He did ! And this year all the Saddoes (the hard core Bragg fans) were on the front of Red Pepper. Did you see that ?

MW

It was Sarah dancing around.

BB

Yeah, Sarah with not much clothes on. She only had her bra on !

MW

I heard it made you choke on your cornflakes.

BB

Yeah. Did it. I didn't really click at first and then I looked at it a couple of times and then I thought "Oh my Christ ! I know that lot !"

MW

Getting back to the Best Of collection. What do you think of putting the entire history of Billy Bragg together ? Does that bring up any emotions ?

BB

Yeah, of course it does. It brings up a lot of emotions.

MW

So how do you feel about the older songs ? Some of those songs are more than twenty years old.

BB

Tell me about it. But people still seem to like 'em. They are part of me and I make sure they're represented and not doing what Weller does which is just saying "I don't play that shit any more". I don't think that's fair.

MW

You do a good cover of ‘That's Entertainment’.

BB

That's true ! It's a while since I've done that though. ‘Boy About Town’ as well - didn't we do that once at Hackney ? Thanks for these, by the way. I'll enjoy listening to them.

(Billy is holding some live bootleg CDs of Joe Strummer that I have given him).

MW

I was reading an interview the other day it mentioned that you like to pick up a few bootlegs when you're on tour. That one of Strummer in Japan is a really nice recording. It's probably one of the best quality bootlegs I've heard for a while. The Japanese are good at doing bootlegs.

BB

They are aren't they. It's their technological precision.

MW

They have quiet audiences as well.

BB

They do - very quiet. The only time I had trouble there was when a guy jumped out of the audience during ‘A New England’. He took the mic off me and began singing "I don't want to change the world, I just want to go to England". The security guys pounced on him and punched him out. It transpired that he'd been in a train crash on the way to the gig, so...

MW

Did you know there's a guy called Steve Towson following you around Australia on this tour and he's busking outside every gig ?

BB

Yeah, I got given his CD.

MW

I told him about the Porta-stack and he's keen to get the design off you.

BB

That damn thing !

MW

Is that what did your back in ?

BB

No. Just being old. I'm getting old, mate. I'm middle-aged now, it said so this morning in The Sun-Herald, "Billy Bragg is one of those refreshing artists who have not mellowed as they have approached middle-age".

MW

I thought you'd embraced middle age ?

BB

I have actually. I'm not going to start dyeing my hair. I am what I am.

Mark Warner - September 2003