Inspiral Carpets: So Farfisa, So Good
By Fred Spanner
Before Britpop slapped on its Union Jack and started acting clever, Inspiral Carpets were hosting the party. They were the psychedelic punks with bowl cuts, Farfisa organs, and more garage grit than a Stockport car park. Born in the sweaty basements of Oldham and raised on fuzz pedals and northern defiance, these lads helped soundtrack a generation of lager-fuelled nights and sticky dancefloors.
While everyone else was chasing the next big London trend, the Inspirals were busy doing their own thing: weird, wonderful, and unmistakably working class. They’ve outlasted scenes, trends, and personal storms. The loss of their drummer, Craig Gill, in 2016 was deeply felt by fans and fellow musicians alike. His energy, humour, and love for the scene have left a lasting impact
We caught up with Stephen Holt and Clint Boon to talk punk roots, Madchester madness, and what it’s like to still be kicking out the cosmic jams decades later. So stick the kettle on, whack on Saturn 5, and settle in, because this one’s a belter.
I’ve just been watching some clips of your recent gig, the party doesn’t stop for Inspirals, does it?
Clint: “We’re on fire at the moment. We’re playing better than ever, and I think we’re appreciating it more, too, especially after losing Craig. It’s brilliant that we’re still here doing it. We thought it was all over, but it’s like he’s still with us. We’re playing big venues, making new music, and we’re actually making money, as well! I mean, it’s not easy to make it pay these days, but we’re doing alright.”
You got a mention in Loaded recently, Clint. Weren’t you hanging around with Thom Rylance of The Lottery Winners?
Clint: “He’s a top man. He’s best mates with Robbie Williams. They’re very similar characters. But what Thom’s doing with The Lottery Winners isn’t just guitar music, it’s entertainment. He takes it to another level. They’re a great guitar band, they write great songs, but it’s even better than that. It’s like us, it’s all vaudeville, isn’t it? It’s what Robbie’s good at, and it’s why The Lottery Winners are so great. They’re doing something new, I think.
“Thom says I was the first person to play them on the radio. That was 12 or 13 years ago. They’re part of the family, now, as far as we’re concerned.”
You’ve always written great dance tunes, but the songs have always had an interesting backstory to them, too.
Clint: “Yeah, Stephen and I started the band in the early 80s, and I think the original stuff we were writing about was very much about what was happening around us. That’s why the album was called Life. It was Craig who came up with the name for it. All the songs were about fucking life, so he said, “Let’s just call it Life.”
“Songs like Joe, for example. He was a homeless person I knew. I guess they were called ‘tramps’ in those days. He used to come round collecting scrap metal from the factory I worked in before the Inspirals. The songs were all very much pictures of people we knew, or streets we knew. Sackville, for instance, was a song about the prostitutes on the street where we had our office. It was a very empathetic photograph of the world.
“Other Manchester bands like The Stone Roses were writing about how they were feeling. They wanted to be adored. Who doesn’t want to be adored, haha? But that was the vibe in the city at the time. We were just writing about places we knew. Then, the success of the first album saw us travelling around the world, and songs on The Beast Inside were more of a worldview. Sleep Well Tonight was about two anti-nuclear protestors who dedicated their lives to sleeping in a tent outside the Whitehouse.
“If I’d been stuck in Oldham, I wouldn’t have met those people in Washington, DC that night. There are references to the Holocaust in there from one of our trips to Dachau. So the whole album was more of a world-view.”
I’ve only discovered that in the story being told on This Is How It Feels, the first and second verses are connected.
Clint: “It’s very much a kitchen sink drama. It’s a story of a family where the mother’s done something she’s feeling incredibly guilty about, and in the second verse, we find out why; she’s had an affair with a young lad from the top estate. He’s taken his own life as he can’t be with her, because she’s a family woman.
“It’s something I wrote because of a feeling I had, rather than a family that I knew. It was the same family that was in Song For A Family. A very odd, working-class family who were going about their business.
“When I wrote This Is How It Feels, I didn’t realise it was going to still be around 40 years on, to the extent that tens of thousands of football fans would be singing it every week. And it's not just United fans, it’s City fans, it’s Leeds, and the Glasgow teams. I find it fascinating that you write a little song like that, for you and your mates to play in clubs around Oldham, and it’s opening a lot of doors for us.
“The great thing about music is that, because it’s art, you don’t know what kind of lifespan it’s going to have.”
What’s it like to see folk of all ages, still going crazy and dancing like teenagers at your live gigs?
Stephen: “I think it's a privilege. When we started the band, it was just me and Graham initially, then we brought in Clint. When we were doing gigs, back in the day, in small clubs, I don’t think we ever thought it was going to take off so much that we’d be playing gigs in huge stadiums. I don’t think anyone ever thought we’d still be doing it today. And it’s brilliant to see the dads there with their sons and daughters, they know all the words, they’ve got the hats and t-shirts on, and honestly, it’s the best job in the world.”
Clint: “It’s amazing to see how the average age of the audience has dropped in recent years. It’s 80% teenagers in the front row. Yes, the mums and dads are there at the back, but everyone's having a great time. And it's not just us.
“There’s a huge love for other Madchester, and Britpop bands and involved in that scene. A few years ago, our audience was just fat middle-aged men with not much hair left. Now it’s just these beautiful, young people who love the music and get what it’s about. They understand the heritage of bands like ours and Happy Mondays. We toured with them and Stereo MCs last year, and it was a reaffirmation of what we’ve created over the years, and I think it’s going to get even bigger, and always be a part of the British culture.”
It’s timeless. Even back in the early days, I could see immediately where your influences came from.
Clint: “I think bands back in the 80s didn’t tend to use 1960s electric organs as their lead instrument. Bands like The Doors had them. I played the Farfisa, and it’s the same instrument used on the early Pink Floyd albums. It was pre-synthesisers. It had these cool, replica sounds of other instruments. The sound on Move is the same as you’ll hear on See Emily Play.”
Didn’t Noel Gallagher borrow your Farfisa once?
Clint: “Yes, he did for the last Oasis album. The lead instrument on Shock Of The Lightning is my Farfisa organ. It’s the same instrument that Noel used to set up for us for twenty quid a night back in the old days.
“Noel Gallagher used to smuggle drugs across borders in Eastern Europe in my keyboard. Before we crossed the border, he’d unscrew it and put his stash in there. He knew it was the one thing customs wouldn't check.
“He forgot to pick up one of my old Farfisas from Top Of The Pops once, and we always said it’ll pop up on Doctor Who one day as some kind of futuristic console. Top Of The Pops was a measure of success back in those days. It was the ultimate calling card. It was good for us, too, especially growing up in working-class families. Your mum and dad would be like, “When are you going to get a proper job?” and once we’d been on there, we didn’t have to explain to them anymore.”
Stephen: “The thing is, it was on in every house. It was THE big music show to watch, and it was a family show. As big as X Factor.”
How was Mark E Smith to work with?
“When we did the collab with him, we spent a few days together. We did a day of press, a day of recording, and Top Of The Pops. I’d got to know him pretty well over the years, so when I put the call in to do the collaboration, he jumped at it. We were one of the few Madchester bands he liked.
“When it came to doing TOTP, he was off his cake, as usual. When we were walking to do the filming, he stopped me on the staircase going down. He said, “Look at me, look at me, look at me,” and he slapped me across the face. I slapped him back, and he took his cigarette and stubbed it out on the nice Harley-Davidson shirt I was wearing. We just ended up slapping each other, and the rest of the band were trying to drag us apart, and telling us to grow up.
“The thing is, he was one of my big icons, like Elvis. So, to be slapping your big musical icon in the Top Of The Pops studio was a bit surreal. By the time we got down to filming it, he was jovial and funny. He did ad lib a bit on the vocals, and I’m sure he said something about me slapping him across the face. It was probably one of the most important moments in British TV history. It was the only time that man appeared on the show, and it was by invitation of our band.”
What does your backstage rider look like these days?
Stephen: “There are a lot fewer drugs on there. More salad and fruit. Some red wine. We had a thing a while ago, where we used to have a baby Guinness. We went off that after a while, so there’s usually loads of Kahlúa left over that gets thrown back on the tour bus after a gig.”
Clint: “I like a bit of Baileys, but I guess it’s one of the most fattening things you can ingest. There’s a lot of cream in there. It’s worth mentioning that Stephen and I are the only drinkers in the band these days, so there’s always more for me and Stephen.
“I did Screen Test on Channel 4, back in the day, where a computer fires questions at you. I was drinking gin in a teacup all the way through it.”
There was also a rumour, back in the day, that an Inspiral Carpets cartoon series might be made. Was it true?
Clint: “There was talk of it. I think it might have been an idea by the BBC or Granada Television. We did the theme tune to the kids' TV show, 8.15 From Manchester. We couldn’t be arsed writing a new song, so we just changed the lyrics to Find Out Why. I think the activity behind all that was where the cartoon idea sprang from. We were all up for it, it looked good in the press, anyway. It never got to the animation stage, sadly.
“It would’ve worked great, cos we had such an unusual bunch of characters in the band. We were Manchester’s Spice Girls.”
You have your winter tour coming up later this year. Which venues are you really looking forward to playing?
Stephen: “I think the Albert Hall is a special one. We played it for the first time a couple of years ago, and it was amazing. It was off the scale. Such a brilliant night. It was a special night, too, because we brought out Craig’s son, Levon, to play on one of the songs. The gig was special, but the reaction from the crowd blew the roof off. When he came out, it was a hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck moment; it just erupted.”
Clint: “We had a video tribute to Craig playing in the background, too. It was a beautiful moment.
“I think now we’re older, we like going back to the older venues. They create a bit more excitement for us. Places that used to be circuses in the 1800s, and stuff. The Corn Exchange in Cambridge has a huge history, and there’s a fire station in Bournemouth that still has the original fireman's pole. We get more excitement from these things than we do about if there are any drugs on the rider, these days.”
No more crazy antics on the road, then?
Clint: “Well, I wouldn’t say that. We were at a signing session recently, and our guitarist, Graham Lambert, picked up someone’s dog to have a photograph taken with it, and accidentally put his finger up its arse.”
Stephen: “Well, he says 'accidentally', haha.”
I’ll know who to call next time my Cavapoo needs his glands sorted.
The party’s still going. Join in, ‘cause life’s too short not to.
Check out Inspiralcarpets.com
