- By Fred Spanner
This month: Echobelly
“ There was this massive, albino guy with long white hair and a black coat wearing a Stetson just standing there. He said, “I am Satan. I am your coke dealer.” ”
Britpop wasn’t just about boozy lads and blokey anthems. Echobelly stormed in to shake things up for the better. Sonya Madan’s hypnotic vocals wrapped around those razor-sharp riffs proved the scene had more to offer than swagger and sideburns. Britpop had just gotten an upgrade.
Fast forward three decades, and they’re still standing. With no nostalgia cash-ins. Just pure staying power. With a 30th-anniversary tour on the horizon, Loaded sat down with Sonya and Glenn for a proper catch-up.
When did you feel that the band had really taken off?
Sonya: “I don’t think we ever did, if that makes sense. It was more like riding a wave. We got caught up in the Britpop flow, and it was so easy; it was farcical. When you see people struggling personally, you start struggling with other things. Other times, you get this natural flow and get carried along with it. It’s like a Gestalt wave that’s larger than the sum of its parts.
“I think Britpop was like that. If you ticked all the boxes, you were in. It was very exclusive in that respect. If you had the wrong haircut or didn’t fit certain categories, you were very much not included.”
Were you happy to be classified as Britpop?
Sonya: “Echobelly was Britpop, but we were a bit outside of it in the sense that we weren’t all white, male and laddish, with a few posturing women. We had a black lesbian, an Asian frontwoman, and a Viking.”
I remember the first time I heard Insomniac on the radio. I stopped what I was doing and asked, “Who is this?” Unfortunately, what I was doing was saying goodbye to a date, and I was mid-snog. I didn’t get a second date with her. I’m convinced she was ‘The One”, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to blame you for completely screwing up my life. But seriously, what makes a good song?
Sonya: “If I had to sum it up in two words, I’d say authenticity and resonance. Something that resonates with what you’re looking for or you’re tuned in to. Even if you’re not aware of it, like the story you just told us, which was charming. It captures your attention and resonates on various levels.
“Also, I think people have got a bullshit-ometer. If they sense that it’s real and not manufactured, that’s great, but if they sense that they’re great musicians, but they’ve just got nothing to say, people can switch off. If they sense that you mean it, and it comes from the heart, or soul, they’re yours for life.”
Insomniac was featured in the Jim Carrey film, Dumb and Dumber. How did that feel?
Glenn: “It was weird. I think we were in America at the time, and our management told us that they wanted to use the song. We didn’t know anything about the film, but we knew of Jim Carrey. We went to the premiere in London, and I remember sitting, waiting for the credits to come up to see our name. It seemed like it took forever, but then finally there it was.
“I loved the film, I just thought it was a bit of a weird scene to put the song in; a diner, in the desert, it didn’t really make sense.”
Can you describe the Top Of The Pops experience?
Sonya: “It was quite funny. You grew up watching the show, and then suddenly you’re on it. It was very BBC-ish. You had the canteen ladies who’d been there forever making you tea and calling you “Love.” We were sitting down, eating burnt toast with Bryan Adams.
“Oasis were on with us once. Because we were both funded by Sony, we did a lot together. I remember Noel phoned me once, and we had a bit of banter. After the conversation had finished, he accidentally left the phone off the hook. I could hear someone doing a mock Indian accent, like “Oh, goodness, gracious me.” I thought, “You bastards, and you fucking morons, too cos you’ve left the phone off the hook.” I stormed into their room, shouting and screaming, but in the humour of it, because it was just laddish. They didn’t mean any harm; they were just idiots.
“You’d get cancelled for less these days, but they were all blaming each other.”
Glenn: “We did one with Madonna as well, and she had a massive entourage: guards, personal trainers, the lot.”
Sonya: “Yes, she tried to sign us for her Maverick label, but we’d already gone with Sony.”
You had a few celebrity fans, including Morrissey. Did you ever bump into him?
Glenn: “Yes, he came to see us a few times, and he came round to our flat once.”
Sonya: “We had a one-bedroom flat just off Hyde Park. There were four of us living there, plus a dog and two cats. One of the cats was a bit feral and completely mad. You couldn’t touch him, or he’d scratch you. I asked Glenn to name him, and he decided on ‘Morrissey’.
“One day, I heard the doorbell ring, and all I could see outside was a set of jeans and baseball boots. I thought I wouldn’t answer the door as I didn’t know who they were. They rang again, I looked outside, and then I realised it was Morrissey.
“So, I let him in, offered him a cup of tea, and I didn’t really know what to say. Then he told us he really loved our music and wanted us to support him on his American tour. This was all very surreal, as I was in the middle of cleaning my flat.
“Then Morrissey the cat goes up to Morrissey the person and starts rubbing his leg, and being friendly. I mean, you couldn’t touch that cat. Then, Morrissey the human asked what the cat’s name was, and I just died of embarrassment. I said, “Ermm…Moss…as in black Moss.” He just looked at me as if I was mad, and we changed the subject quickly. It was all a bit surreal.
“On an artist-to-artist level, he did say some really nice things about our songwriting, which, coming from the 'Poet of the Century' to many people, that’s very dear; that level of appreciation, from one writer to another.”
Glenn: “It’s weird when you bump into people you grew up listening to. David Bowie, for instance. We played at a festival in Lisbon with him, and we had a trailer next door to his. We had a long conversation. I think it was about drummers or something, but it didn’t really feel like, “Oh wow! That’s David Bowie.” I was a bit blasé towards it. It just seemed like the most normal thing.
“It’s only in retrospect; you look back and think of what you should have said. You’re so wrapped up in everything, you just don’t care.”
Sonya: “I remember being at a private party, and I couldn’t get my belt off to go to the bathroom. I had Martin Gore of Depeche Mode on his knees, trying to get it off. I remember Ian Dury once opening a door for me. I wanted to say so much to him, but all I could say was, “Thank you.” ”
There are a number of bands reforming at the moment. Is there any band in particular you’d like to see get back together?
Sonya: “I think, REM. But I don’t see that happening.”
Glenn: “I wouldn’t be surprised.”
What’s the craziest thing that ever happened to you on tour?
Sonya: “I was in my hotel, the Sunset Riot House, and there was a knock on the door. It was Little Richard, and he wanted my room! Apparently, he lived at that hotel, and he changed rooms frequently. He had his own reasons for being in certain rooms at certain times. He really wanted the room, so I packed my bags and off I went.”
What’s touring like now compared to the old days?
Sonya: “It’s a world apart. The 90s was the last era of debauchery being standard and Rock and Roll being the norm. Nowadays, it’s shocking how vanilla it all is. Everyone plays really well now. They’re straight out of college and technically very proficient. It’s mostly love songs, and it’s all very different from what it used to be. There are moments of it, but it’s a totally different ball game now.
“Nowadays, you have to rebel against the 'right' things. If you rebel against the ‘wrong’ things, you’re canceled. It’s not true rebellion. True rebellion comes from the heart and not the head. It’s a “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me,” regardless.
“Music can only go by what’s in the air at the time. The 60s revolution could only have happened in the 60s. Right now, I think people are desperate for comfort and a warm blanket of nostalgia. It’s remembering a time in your life when you were happier and safer, like the 90s.”
Glenn: “But you have to remember there were a lot of drugs going around in the 90s. We were in Chicago on a tour bus, heading to our next destination. When we arrived at the venue, the door flung open. There was this massive, albino guy with long white hair and a black coat wearing a Stetson just standing there. He said, “I am Satan. I’m your coke dealer.” And I’m like, “Hi Mr Satan.” ”
Let’s talk about the 30th Anniversary tour of your classic On album. There are so many great tracks, but can we talk about my personal favourite, Dark Therapy?
Sonya: “It was inspired by a very good friend of ours who ended up hanging himself because he couldn’t get off heroin. He was one of the guys who lived with us at Gloucester Terrace. He took me into the bathroom once and showed me how to inject. He was explaining that if you get even a tiny bit of the cotton wool into the injection point, you end up getting a fever. Then, off he went on his heroin trip.
“There were a lot of people back then claiming to be on heroin, but they were just inhaling it. Literally the wussy way of doing it. You know the kind of people I mean. “Oh, darling, I’ve just taken heroin.”
“He’d taken everything, and dealt everything, and coming from a strict Asian background, and been thrown into this other world of London in the 90s, it was an eye-opener. The song is about the light and the dark, the good and the evil, and the third verse is very much one version, followed by the other version.”
There have been rumours of a new album. Any news on that?
Sonya: “Yes, there has been some movement on it. It’s moving forward slowly, but it’s all in the hands of lawyers. The ownership needs to be transferred from the record company, but we hope to get it sorted for a release early in the new year.”
Does it have a title? Can we have a Loaded exclusive?
Sonya: It’ll be called Eye-Magi-Nation.
There you go. You heard it here first. I don’t have a time machine to take you back to the good old days, but you don’t need one. Go check out Echobelly on tour, and the good times will come flooding back.
Check out the latest tour dates and news at echobelly.com
