Sparks, the band preferred by your favorite band
A zooma like this will never happen to me again. A few days after the release of “Mad!” (Transgressive Records), 28th album from 1971 to today of the Sparks of the Russell brothers (vocals) and Ron Mael (keyboards), I connect via Zoom at 18 split, which in Los Angeles are the 10 morning. The appointment is with Russell, yet it is Ron who appears to me. Miracle. He does not realize that he is seen, if he is laughing with who knows who under the proverbial sparrowped mustaches and for myself, which of the sparks is fans substantially for a lifetime, it is like winning the terno to the lot of interviewing both. Instead Ron disappears within a nanosecond (but I have the video test and I keep it tight) and here is Russell, smiling, in the foreground.
I have often wondered, dear Russell, as the hell they did 2 Californians like you to turn into Central European and to interpret songs like “Amateur Hour”, “Here in Heaven” and “Thad God it’s Not Christmas” convincing me to be in Paris, in Vienna, in the Weimar Republic … pure randomness? Precise intention?
It was probably a case. From the beginning of our career, Ron and me We have always felt more similar to what England proposed than to what was going on in California. We wanted in a sense to be a British band, but I would say that we failed for the simple reason of never having managed to emulate that kind of groups. On the other hand, We have acquired our solid personality. Fortunately – or for bad luck – it went like this. From an aesthetic point of view, we are what we are more for randomness than for calculation.
Which at the time your bands were at the time Do you prefer?
First of all Move, Who and Kinks. Then the Led Zeppelin, which we saw in concert at the beginning of their career; Ei T. Rex by Marc Bolan, known when we were in London in full glam rock explosion to record the “Kimono My House” LP.
As for the lyrics of your songs, in addition to the obvious references to the history of cinema which literary sources are you inspired?
Much of our influences come from films more than from books, which however see Ron much more reader than me. We are both great cinema fans. When we attended the University of California in Los Angeles, we went to see only foreign films, most of the Italians, directed by masters of the caliber of Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica. Then, of course, there was the French nouvelle vague of François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard; The Swedish cinema, to which in 2009 we dedicated the radio musical “The seduction of Ingmar Bergman”; the one directed by Yasujirō Ozu, historical exponent of Japanese realism. Our artistic and cultural identity has also been formed thanks to the films.
Is mankind crazy? Is the world crazy? Are the Sparks crazy? Why “Mad!”, With the addition of the exclamation point? Is there a reference to the American Mad Magazine of the 60s and 70s with Alfred E. Neuman, the iconic character?
We liked that satirical magazine very much, to the point of having collected it, but the title of our new album reflects rather the idea that the world, society and politics are crazy. The word “mad”, which also means “angry”, adapts to the overall impact of the album, the spirit of time, to what is happening to us and is totally out of control. The fact that the Sparks have often been defined outside the head is well suited to the lyrics of the new songs.
In this regard, I think in “Mad!” Your creativity even overcome itself. I refer to the texts of “Jansport Backpack” and “Hit Me, Baby” that reminds me of “You Hit Me with a Flower”, the verse of “Vicious” from Lou Reed’s LP “Transformer”.
“Jansport Backpack” speaks of a relationship, but does it from a different perspective: she is leaving him and this turns into the metaphor, into the symbol of his departure: he always sees her from behind, with the sports backpack on the back. It is the image, I think effective, of a love story that is shattered. “Hit me, baby”, far from any Sadomaso reference, comments on how terrible the world in general is. The exhortation “hit me, wake me, I can’t believe what is happening” is symptomatic of this reality of ours who has more and more the appearance of a collective nightmare.
With the new pieces reiterated how special and inimitable your music is.
We really worked on it So much and believe me, it was not easy with 27 albums behind keeping a certain compositional freshness. We managed to preserve our character making sure that it is still exciting for us and, we wish us, not only for those who have been following us for years but also for those who will listen to us for the first time. “Mad!” It contains everything that the Sparks are.
With its rhythm repeated by Synthpop and the creative use of the electric guitar, I think “do Things My Own Way” is the ideal song to enter Empatìa with Mad!
It is the ideal “Ouverture”, a declaration of intent: not only for this album, but for the Sparks in general. Reiterates that We have always done things in our own way and with our sensitivity.
“Jansport Backpack” impressed me with its raising rhythm and your vocal evolutions reminiscent of the beach boys, however already mentioned in “Over the Summer”, by “Introducing Sparks” of 1977.
We love everything they did and who knows?, If things had gone differently for them and for Brian Wilson they would have played like this song, showing a truly modern attitude. “Jansport Backpack ” It does not have the typical structure of the song, it does not have a refrain but is something unique in its kind.
With “Running up a Tab at the Hotel for the Fab” you have instead conceived a small jewel of rock and symphonic melodrama.
From a sound but also lyrical point of view, it is a song that we think is in its special way. Listening to the pop music that is currently around, it is not easy to connect it exactly to a style.
Sparksian, perhaps?
I would say yes, but I didn’t want to seem arrogant!
The infinite possibilities of a symphony are also enclosed in the virtuosity of “I-405 Rules” …
It is an unusual mixture of elements: It has an almost orchestral impact, but there is also drumming. In addition, on text is an ode in Los Angeles. The I-405 is a highway. We do not have the Colosseum of Rome, or the Torre di Pisa, or the Milan Cathedral … what we have is a freeway that crosses the west area of Los Angeles. A metaphorical water course, next to which we grew up. We don’t have a nice river but an iconic highway, yes.
Then there are the melodies, which you have always been masters. The catchy, whistling “My devotion”; the soft, vaporous “in daylight”; the engaging “Drowned in a Sea of Tears”; “Lord Have Mercy”, which makes me resurface the Beatles …
They contrast with the most aggressive pieces we talked about: “I-405 Rules “, “Do Things My Own Way “ And “Hit me, baby “. They represent the other face, sweet and emotional, of the Sparks. We can do melodic but also electronic, aggressive, guitaristically powerful things.
Are there groups or soloists you believe are your spiritual heirs?
The Scottish Franz Ferdinand, the Mgmt New Yorkers (contraction of The Management, editor’s note) of Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew Vanwyngarden, singer -songwriter St. Vincent. We perceive echoes of our sensitivity in certain things that they make up. All this prides us, but we feel we are still at stake, not just a point of reference.
On July 8 you will play in Milan, at the Arcimboldi Theater. Why did you never perform in Italy so far?
In reality we did it in 2015 in Genoa, Catania and Treviso on the occasion of the tour with the Franz Ferdinand in the FFS project, never as Sparks. So this concert will be very special for us. A dream that finally comes true.
Have you planned some surprises in the lineup? Maybe songs that you rarely or never performed live?
Of course, since we know well that our fans want to be surprised, they demand the unexpected from us. We therefore chose some songs never performed before, even from less known albums. And then all those pieces that we know we have to do: the indispensable ones, for those who have been following us for years.
At what point is the “X-Crucior” project?
He is in the course of work, with the director John Woo to direct him. After “Annette ”of 2021 For the direction of Leos Carax, it will be our new event of cinema and music. Something particular, but only the fact that John Woo and the Sparks are together in a musical … we could not ask for better.
What are you more afraid of?
To repeat us to boredom. To lose that intensity or that … no play on words, let’s be understood: sparkle. We never would like to become a nostalgic band.
What about your greatest satisfaction?
That after more than 50 years there is those who are still there, to listen to the Mael Brothers and take them to the heart. It means everything for us.
Milanese from birth, enthusiast of glam rock since adolescence, Stefano Bianchi has worked from 1984 to 1997 as editor to the monthly “All Music & Entertainment”. Since 2007 he directs the online magazine Coolmag and is vice -president of the Ponti Cultural Association for art.
Photo of the article: Munachi Osegbu
The Sparks in 28 songs – Part 1
The Sparks in 28 songs – Part 2
Our review of “Lil ‘Beethoven”
