Justin Currie of Del Amitri - Exclusive Interview

by Daniel Falconer | 6 December 2013

Del Amitri

Having not toured for over a decade, Del Amitri are preparing to get back on the road again in 2014 to delight fans all over the UK.

We chat to Justin Currie - who's stuck with the band since the very beginning - about shifts in band dynamics, their new releases and his career in the business.

You formed back in 1983 and since then you've seen some great success - how have you found that journey?

Well, the EPs were quite hard. Certainly the early years were hard because we stuck a single out on a friend's label in Glasgow in 1983, which did quite well, we got some good reviews, and then from what we picked up a session, and then from that we got offered a major recording deal - I think that was 1984 - and then it all went a bit pear-shaped - for reasons that are too long to go into - we ended up being a quite arty-indie band that should have been on a label like Rough Trade or something - on a major label and it became a bit of a nightmare.

So, by 1986 we were all back signing on the brew, or working in restaurants again. So yeah, the early years were really up and down, then by the end of the 80s we signed another record deal and we had a complete nightmare making the first album - then after that everything was uphill for about ten years.

You mentioned some of the challenges you've faced - what have been some of the highlights of your career?

Well the highlights I think are the first time you play Glasgow Barrowlands and there's a couple of thousand people going completely mental.

Australia in 1990 was a highlight as well, because we were sort of - it was the first place we were kind of popstars for a short period - so everybody kind of recognised you. That was because Australia's not a huge population and the album had been advertised on television. That was an extremely pleasant experience - Australia's one of those kind of bulls**t free places where people just take you as they find you, and we just had a fantastic tour there in 1990.

And touring America as well, we always loved touring America.

The line-up has changed a couple of times, how did you find getting back into the swing of things with new members?

It's always difficult. We were unfortunate in that we were always losing guitar players, and we lost a drummer in the middle of the 90s, and we lost two guitar players which was a bit frustrating. Everybody's got their own way of playing and you end up having to remake the band around the new members - that was very frustrating for us because we wanted to be a band. We wanted everybody to contribute to the writing and be a proper group - we were so busy in the 90s, I think people just got a bit burnt out. We went to America for three months at a time, we'd come back, have a couple days off and then be touring Europe for three or four weeks. So, it was pretty eventful, but great fun as well.

How has the band changed your life?

Our life changed only in respect of when we had our first chart hit in 1990 - everything became a lot easier. You were suddenly playing bigger venues, selling more tickets, selling records, it became easier. Travelling was easier. Success brings more work, but it also brings a certain level of comfort that you don't have before that. Before that you're just trying to make ends-meat - sleeping in vans and all that sort of stuff - so that was only the really big change if I'm honest.

Also we went to America in 1986 when we were absolutely skint and that changed us a lot - I think it changed us as people - sleeping on people's floors and fan's parents putting us up - so it was a brilliant exposure to real life in America, which you wouldn't have got if you were sitting on a tour bus for six weeks.

Three of your classic albums are to be re-released, as part of Universal's Re-Presents Label, what can fans expect from that package?

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to use the word 'classic', but certainly the first three albums from the 90s are coming out.

The odd thing about not being on label anymore is that it's quite difficult to control these things, but we managed to get our paws on them and managed to get rid of an awful lot of stuff that they were gonna put out which was just rubbish, so originally they were gonna put three CD packages. Each album was gonna be three CDs and the third CD was just absolute crap, so we ended up getting rid of all that stuff. The first CDs are the original albums which have been remastered and then the second CDs are all the B-sides from around that particular album - so there's quite a few things there that weren't released before - and then a couple of decent live versions of things and alternative versions of things.

Will you be recording any new material?

We talked about that - that's still up in the air. It's not something we're planning to do - it's something we could do - but whether we want to or not I don't know. I'd be very wary about putting out new material and it being sort of - I just wouldn't want to sully the current repertoire - those records are well made, well-written, 90s pop-rock records, and I'm not sure that's what we'd do now. We'd probably do something a bit different now. So that's always a bit tricky.

You're about to tour for the first time in over a decade - how are you feeling going into that?

I feel quite good now because we had our first try-out rehearsal the other week and I thought it went really well - it was easier than we thought and more enjoyable than any of us imagined.

For me it's just a pleasure playing with a drummer again and playing with a five-piece band, because I had my own band for a while but since 2010 I've been touring completely on my own which is a different kettle of fish.

What can fans coming to the live shows expect?

Well, it's called The A-Z Of Us, so we're trying to cover all the albums that we made, including the first Christmas album which came out in 1985 - we haven't done any of that material since 1986/87, so that'll be interesting. So yeah, at least one or two things from every album - the first three A&M albums were the biggest sellers and had the most singles on them - once you cover that there's quite a lot of room to maneouver. We'll certainly be playing things we've never played before, in this incarnation.

Do the bands have plans for after the tour?

If we get more offers of gigs we'll look at them, if not I've got solo work to do in America in April, May, so anything over the Summer would be good, but so far I've not heard anything so at the moment we're just doing this one tour.

You touched on your solo work - what other projects do you have personally coming up that you can share some details about?

Well I'll do a solo record at some point - whether I get time to do it this year or not I don't know - but for me it's just all I'll be doing in my spare time is writing my next album.

Del Amitri's three albums will be re-released on January 20, and their tour will follow, full details below.

DEL AMITRI UK TOUR 2014 – The A to Z of Us

January

Wed 22nd Dublin, Vicar Street

Fri 24th Glasgow, The SSE Hydro, Celtic Connections

£35/£30 from www.ticketsoup.com / www.celticconnections.com

Sun 26th Newcastle, City Hall