It's a normal Monday night and I'm down at the Louisiana, a small pub which
doubles as a venue, near my house with my friends. I have come to watch Topper
and because I promised someone I'd go. One moment I am sat down having a quiet
drink with Sam wondering when the free records and cds will be distributed and
then the next I am thrown into turmoil after spotting the presence of Richard
James. That's right, he's sat on a table nearby enjoying a quiet pint himself
with his friend Sean. Argh Sam, it's Richard from Gorky's I stutter as I am
in the process of trying to get the guts up to go round people's tables casually
dropping fliers for this fanzine. I can hardly go up to his table and give him
one can I? I'd look like a prat. None the less this is what I settle upon after
failing to stammer a greeting as he walks right past me on a trip to the lavvy.
Assuming, what I hope to be, a pose of semi- nonchalance, I walk on over and
give a flier to his friend then one to him and the conversation follows like
this:
Emily- Um, this is kind of redundant for you because it is about you
Richard- Oh, oh yeah, I saw this the other day. Is this the one with the Euros
doll in?
E- Yeah that's right . So you got a copy then? (Dur, of course he did if knows
what's in it) Because I wasn' t sure it'd reach you
R- Yeah, yeah it did
awkward silence in which I fidget
E- . .. Um, so how come you weren't playing the other night? Are you Ok?
R- I'm having a well deserved rest
B- Oh, right. What's going to happen now Mercury have dropped you? (ever the
one for tact)
R- We've had some interest from other people, other um, what do you call it?-
ur, offers
B- So the future's bright then?
R- Oh yes
B- Good, um ok, thanks. Bye.
stumble off and walk into the back of a chair, fortunately not witnessed. BUT,
and this is a big but, later on I spoke to him properly for ages, like about
15 minutes and he was sehr, sehr lovely. I can't remember exactly what we talked
about but it was just really nice. It was like a proper chat. I asked him if
he was alright and he said he isn't. He's feeling pretty dismal and is trying
to sort his shit out, something he thinks John needs to do too, but isn't. He
distrusts medication as he thinks it is addictive and doesn't want to mess around
with that kind of thing. He is just chilling out with friends and having a break.
I asked if I could interview him some time and he said did I really want to
as he isn't the best person to because he doesn't have much to say and he is
awkward. And that Euros or one of the others would be better. He took my phone
number and said he'd ring me the next time he was in Bristol but that couple
of weeks have gone and he never phoned. I didn't really think he would and kind
of sounded incredulous when he said it. I have since convinced myself,
(because that's the nicest reason) , that he lost the number.
We spoke about Sparklehorse and how good Neutral Milk Hotel are and he informed
me that when Olivia Tremor Control have a night off they team up with them to
form a ten piece. I wasn't too keen on the later and he said that
he likes them. I'm desperately trying to, but I just can't seem to manage it
. He said that Infectious, V2 and some one else that I can't remember, are interested
in signing Gorky's and that they are just mulling it over for now and having
some time off as they are pissed off with the whole thing. Within the last year
and a half the music has began to pay a wage, and that previously they were
all on the dole, except Megan who was a librarian (none of the rest of them
have ever had another job outside of the band) . I said I liked Gorky 5 a lot
to which he replied, thankyou very much, 's not bad is it? Catrin is his favourite.
Hush The Warmth is mine, and Mercury, the little shity bastards that they are,
have stopped that from materialising as the next single now that they have dumped
them. Argh. AND, to make it worse Poor Ditching Boy had the potential to be
the b- side. I then admitted that I had gone into Virgin the day after I last
saw them and looked through all the Richard Thompson stuff and listened to the
original and ordered Henry the Human Fly. He told me to listen out for To See
The Bright Lights, and said it was a fantastic album. Need less to say I have
subsequently put it top on my birthday list. Still, it's not all bad though
because they played PDB at Sound City and I taped it. Hooray.He did say though
that they are thinking about maybe releasing it on a mini album.I asked if they
will ever release Ice Cream and he said they won't
He said Euros girlfriend has a bad back when I said I had to go because mine
was killing (I curse you you damn thing) , and that he thought it was quite
a serious medical problem that she had. He asked what I did, and I said art,
and then we spoke about their artwork. He told me who did the newer covers (ie.
Let's Get Together, Sweet Johnny and Gorky 5) and I'm ashamed to say I have
forgotten her name, but I'm pretty sure it is a woman, and she does covers for
Stereolab as well I think he said. He asked Sam about his band (The Pudding)
and was genuinely interested. He apologised when I said it had taken me all
night to come over and talk to him saying oh I'm sorry if I made you feel like
that I'm just not very good with people or something along those lines and I
said no it's not you, it's me. I was worried about going over to him incase
it pissed him off. After all, he was just out with friends watching a band.
I thought he might not like it if people recognise him, or worse still accost
him for it, but he said he didn't. It was stupid too because he is so completely
not scary. We spoke about Topper and how good they sounded, and he said he liked
the Euros doll in my fanzine. I said I wanted to do a Megan one for this issue
but that I didn't have any suitable photos so he said he'd have a ruimnage around
and try and find one that met with her approval. But, it turned out ok because
I got my film back after I spoke to him and I have quite a few, don't know if
she'd like them or not. What else did we talk about? Um... Bristol and how we
both like it. He asked where I am from originally. Ur, I can't think of anything
else. But he was really, really nice and I'm sorry I didn't get to go out for
a drink with him, but that's ok. He's a busy, stressed man with better things
to do. I just hope he's feeling better. I can't get over how nice he was though.
I mean, I have spoken to him before, years ago, and I thought he was lovely
then, but, oh he's just so sweet, and quite alarmingly bears a close physical
resemblance to one of my uncles and the whole way in which he stooped down to
hear what I had to say and was so attentive is like Rob too. I don't know how
to end this, except just saying Richard I think you are great and it really
meant a lot to me that you took the time to talk to me. My housemates will vouch
for the size of the grin on my face when I got home.