Ever since they formed in the early 90s, Tindersticks have always been a bit of an obsession for the initiated. Here at Sunspel we’ve been aware of them and their dark, addictive music ever since they used our boxers for some unusual tour merchandise.
Earlier this year, when Tindersticks released their eighth album, Falling Down A Mountain, to widespread critical acclaim, the BBC said it was ‘the sound of a band rediscovering themselves’. And that’s exactly how Stuart Staples, the band’s lead singer, sounded when we spoke to him at his home in France.
Sunspel has always done things with traditional craftsmanship. Is it the same for you – would you always prefer to use an acoustic or an electric instrument rather than electronic instruments?
Well we do use electronic instruments, but I don’t like the idea of using off the peg samples that everybody has access to. I think in recording it’s important to create your own sounds. It needs to have an integrity to it. I don’t think sampled sounds have. For me I need to start from scratch. It’s like finding raw material, the sound that satisfies your ears.
How did you first come across Sunspel?
It’s so long ago I don’t think I can remember. I just saw a white t-shirt and I thought, ‘I’ll try this.’ Now I don’t like wearing anything else. It’s got something to do with the fineness of the cotton. It’s a become a bit of a joke – I wear them every day so I’ve got a line of v-neck t-shirts when my washing goes out, which our neighbour thinks is hilarious. There’s just something about them that’s just right.
You’re about to go off and do tons of dates, aren’t you?
We’re going to be playing on and off most of this year. The diary is pretty full till September so it’s a big year of being on a bus and comfort second.
Does that make your heart sink or are you looking forward to it?
I’m looking forward to it. At face value, you might think, well the band have been together 18 years and it must get you down. But we ground to a halt around 2003 and took a break for five years. We didn’t mean to but it’s what happened. And ever since getting back together there’s been a new energy and excitement.
In the past touring did get me down. But if you can use it as time together and time to move forward it can become really exciting. And that’s what happened when we went on tour after the last album. There were new ideas coming, people were talking about it, pushing things along in dressing rooms. We finished the tour and went straight into the studio and made Falling Down A Mountain.
There are one or two tracks on the new album driven by a strong groove. Have grooves and rhythms become more important to you?
They’ve always been important. When we made this album in 1999 called Simple Pleasure at the time it was a real departure for us. Trying to write songs in a different way, which were, for want of a better term, groove-based, not melody or chord led. The vibe in the studio was ‘Just be loose!’ – with this tremendous amount of pressure to be loose!
Rigidly loose…
And now we’re at this point where that desire is just inside us. It’s a lot to do with Earl and Dan who now play drums and bass in the band respectively – it’s just effortless to them. You never need to use the L word to them. Whereas for us 10 years ago it was Loose! You’ve got to be Loose!
Falling Down A Mountain, the song, starts with beautiful jazzy stuff on the drums and percussion – it sounds fantastic.
It was great to be in the room while that was happening. That song came from an idea of a bassline, and this criss cross melody. We had a rehearsal session, got everybody together in the studio, and it was just an idea tossed into the band, and a couple of hours later it sounded like that and we recorded it. Then we all sat back and listened to it and went, Yeah that’s pretty cool. We never wanted to touch it after that.
The song Harmony Around My Table was a bit of a happening in here as well. We actually had to edit the song down, it was just too excessive. But once you get into that kind of groove, when everybody’s singing together, it’s hard to stop it! It’s a new thing, a new kind of feeling within what we do. It’s not like trying to be some kind of smooth backing vocal, it’s about real voices that sing together. I really loved it.
There was a story of you using some Sunspel boxers early on…
That’s right. I didn’t think selling standard t-shirts was really us, so I got in touch with Sunspel and asked them about making a run of boxer shorts for us with our little donkey logo on, and we had a few hundred pairs made. People are still proud owners of them. You often see them sticking out the top of jeans. But I think it completely baffled our audience!
What about your sense of style – do you care about what’s contemporary?
I don’t think we ever have done. When we started we just always wore second hand suits. Our Saturday night thing. We were always round Oxfam looking for the right suit, but they always had the arms too short and the legs too short and the waist too wide. When we got a bit of success somebody pointed us in the way of Timothy Everest, who was just starting out in one room off Brick Lane. He made lots of bespoke suits for us and became a good friend.
But it had nothing to do with what was going on at the time in fashion. Fundamentally it was to do with having something made that was in your imagination rather than scouting around on the high street.
I don’t think it’s so different now. Playing a concert, we still have this Saturday night feeling of trying to look your best.
That’s a traditional approach.
I agree – it’s about quality. It’s about the perfect cut – of something that feels just right. But I don’t think what that represents is old fashioned at all. That kind of niche quality is modern. People are moving away from mass-produced crap.