(c)
NME 2000 - Interview
MEEKER - VIDEO AND Q&A
Husband and wife team Tom and Rachel Morrison have been working together ever
since they met in the early-'90s guitar group Bliss, but Meeker first found
form in the wake of Tom's engineering work on the Underworld album 'Beaucoup
Fish'. Combining Tom's newly acquired electronic nous with Rachel's songwriting
skills has resulted in some incredible club sets, and last year's Futureshock-spiked
'Save Me' cover.
Now, after having everything put on hold while label boss Darren Emerson sorted
out his split from Underworld, the pair are back with the speaker-tearing melodicism
of 'Mountains'. To celebrate, we've got the full, unexpurgated promo video,
as well as a Q&A with the band themselves. Enjoy!
Why was your first single release a cover version?
Tom: "We've been doing stuff together for years. We went through a phase
of acoustic gigs, where I played the bass as well. This song was the first one
that I took and reworked with an electronic beat. It just seemed to have a natural
groove to it. It was also the first track I played to Darren, and he just wanted
to get it into the shops as soon as possible."
Rachel: "I come from a blues, soul influence, so it seemed natural."
Do you still do any work with Underworld?
Tom: "Well, after doing loads of programming, recording and mixing on
the album, the relationship had evolved in such a way that, for me, it was time
to move on. I wanted to do my own thing. We both went our own way after Meeker
had started, though I still have occasional contact with them."
What's the background to 'Mountains', then?
Tom: "It's been knocking around for about two and a half years. It was
first recorded then. We've just been playing live, reworking it again and again
after the gigs, until we'd finally nailed the finished version at the beginning
of the year."
Rachel: "I suppose [lyrically] the track's about man's power and intelligence,
and how we mustn't forget our humility and humanity. If we keep getting further
and further into technology - like cloning - without thinking about the consequences,
we could end up in serious trouble. That is quite deep, though! It doesn't have
to be about that, but that was my original idea."
How important is playing live in a club setting
for you?
Tom: "It's very important. That's how the songs evolve, through performance.
You're communicating the music directly to people, so the tracks develop from
that."
Rachel: "It can really be quite spectacular. The adrenalin rush is completely
different. Obviously there are things that you can't do - you can't chill out
and do some acoustic stuff, but that's the sort of thing that'll be appearing
on the album."
So what now?
Tom: "We're just working on the album. All the tracks are there,
it's just that they have to be cleaned up. We're going on a 20-date tour really
soon, we've got some new songs to try out, to see how they develop. The album
should then come out just after the summer."
To watch the video for Meeker's 'Mountains', click here...