„I feel very privileged and fortunate” – an interview with Wayne Hussey (The Mission)

You’ve been in the music business for so many years, so how do you respond to criticism and audience feedback? Do the negative opinions affect you somehow? 

WH: Yeah, but less and less so. It’s a weird thing. I think back to album reviews – you can have a hundred reviews and 99 of them are good, but it’s the bad one you remember the most. It’s always been the way. I think it’s the same for most artists. Over the years you learn that reviews and criticism is not really important in the overall scheme of things. One of the things I’ve learned is that I need to be true to myself, I need to be honest with what I do with my work, and if other people don’t get it, they don’t get it, it’s as simple as that. If other people do get it – great. Of course both good and bad criticism did affect me, but it’s not a big deal any more. 

Let’s talk for a while about your side projects and guest appearances. Could you please tell me about your cooperation with the Polish band Agressiva 69? How did we come to hear you in the „In Your Eyes” song? 

WH: I’m not really sure, I think they just got in touch with me either through MySpace or through the band’s website or through the management, I don’t really know. They got in touch with me somehow and asked if I would be interested in singing on a track. I get quite a few of these requests. Before I yes or no, I always say I wanna to hear the music first. So they sent me the track and they explained the basic concept behind it. I liked the music. I liked what it was doing and it triggered a response for me. It was something I thought „ok, I could do this, I can sit down and write some words for this and sing this and I think I can do a good job”. So it was one of those occasions where somebody sent me a piece of music, I liked it and I decided to do it. For every one I do, there’s probably 10 or more that I don’t. [laugh

They may feel privileged now. [laugh] 

WH: I don’t know about the privilege, it is a good piece if music and it was very easy to sing to. I don’t like to make life difficult for myself and because it’s easy to sing to, that’s why I did it, I liked it. 

Wayne Hussey, The Mission 

Recently the album „The Ungodly Hour” has been released. It’s far different from what you do in The Mission. Can you tell me something more about this project and your cooperation with Marcus Birro and Mats Lerneby? 

WH: I met Mats probably 10 years ago or something like that. He’s a journalist in Sweden and he did an interview with me for some magazine or some newspaper. He’s a long time The Mission fan and he told me about Marcus who’s also a long time The Mission fan, but who is also an author, a poet, he’s on TV a lot in Sweden doing talk shows and things like that. So he asked me if I’d like to meet Marcus. He brought Marcus along to one of the shows and introduced us. Marcus gave me all his books in Swedish so I’ve never read them, but they’re all signed. [laugh] 

Three years, or so, ago Marcus was doing the show based on one of his latest books. It was about his heroes that he grew up with and I just happened to be one of his heroes. I think Joe Strummer was his biggest hero, but Joe Strummer was dead, so Marcus couldn’t ask him and he asked me instead, if I would go and do a show with him or a tour. It was a small tour in Sweden basically in theatres where he would do readings and then he would introduce me as one of his heroes and I would come on and play a couple of songs, and then I would play music to back him while he was reading. It was really a very different experience for me. I actually enjoy it. It was a lot of fun and very little pressure; I only had to sing three or four songs a night, which was easy, again. As I said, I don’t like to make things hard for myself. [laugh] 

Mats is his long time partner in as much as Mats has always done the shows where Marcus has done the music, so we ended up playing some music together, me and Mats. And just natural course of events through the tour we thought it would be great if we could some time arrange to do an album together: Marcus reading and I would come up with the music. They eventually got it together, we did it last year in one week or six days, in a studio in Sweden. They flew me over and we just basically stayed in the studio. I wrote the music there and we went straight into record it and then Marcus would do his voiceover. I really enjoyed it. Musically there was no kind of concept to it and obviously I don’t really understand what Marcus is saying because I don’t understand Swedish, but I kind of get the drift. I really enjoyed that album, it was a very creative time for me, I’d wake up in the morning and I’d had an idea for a song we’d have that song finished in 2 or 3 hours. It was great. That process was great and I really enjoyed that. 

On one of the songs you used the theme of „Butterfly On The Wheel„. What made you use this particular song? 

WH: The thing about that piece was that Marcus and his wife lost their baby. The baby was stillborn. And he was telling me that „Butterfly On The Wheel” was the song that got him and his wife through a very dark time. He said he got the pieces about that and asked if we could play the piano and „Butterfly On The Wheel„. And I said yes, sure. So that’s where that’s come from. 

Now for something completely different. This issue has been nagging me for years: why did you used to perform onstage barefoot? [laugh] 

WH: Why is that an issue with you? [laugh] Actually I’m sat here now with no shoes and socks on. I don’t really like shoes and socks and never have done, even when I was a boy. So if there’s any excuse for me to take my shoes and socks off… well, I don’t need an excuse – I just take them off, but I did find – it was back in the days of smoking – that people started to put cigarettes on the stage for me, so I ended up having to put shoes and socks back on. Not very nice people, are they? 

Not at all!
What can I wish to someone who’s experienced almost everything in his rock life?
 

WH: One thing I’ve never done and I’d really love to do and is still an ambition of mine is to compose and score for a film. I’ve done little bits and pieces but never a whole film. I think I would be very good at that, but I’ve never found anybody, any film directors, with enough confidence in me to give me a go. [laugh

What kind of film would you like to score? 

WH: I think it would have to be something a little more arty, certainly not Hollywood. Something independent with a good story. 

…and that is what I sincerely wish for you. Thank you so much for your time. 

WH: Thank you.

Anna Jankowiak 

The New Mission Album will be released in Europe on the 20th September 2013 and the UK on the 23rd September 2013.
 
The official The Mission’s website: www.themissionuk.com 

Może Ci się również spodoba

Dodaj komentarz

Twój adres e-mail nie zostanie opublikowany.

Witryna wykorzystuje Akismet, aby ograniczyć spam. Dowiedz się więcej jak przetwarzane są dane komentarzy.