Adam Stafford, Imaginary Walls Collapse sleeve art
1) Your recent album reminded Limbo a bit of a few iconic acts from years past, namely Beck, Johnny Cash and Kurt Cobain. Do you acknowledge all these artists as influences or are we just hearing what we want to hear…?
I would definitely acknowledge all of those you have mentioned, but I think without Nirvana and Kurt Cobain especially, I wouldn’t have the same taste in music as I do now. I was eleven when I bought In Utero in 1993 and I’d never heard anything as raw, dangerous and visceral before in my life. It certainly changed everything and informed and influenced everything I listened to after and beyond from The Velvet Underground, to Daniel Johnson, William Burroughs and Boredoms. Their influence is immeasurable.
2) Who or what else has influenced this new album most of all?
The LP took two and a half years to write, so I’d been listening to a lot in that time. Its biggest influences are: Talking Heads, Remain in Light and Stop Making Sense; Steve Reich, Drumming and Mallet Music; Kurt Vile, Childish Prodigy; Suicide by Suicide; Nils Frahmn’s Felt. Other influences have come from personal memories, news stories and a feeling of being dispossessed and cheated.
3) You quit the band and went solo two years ago. Has this been all good or a bit of a mixed bag and why?
It has been like starting from scratch, building up a collection of songs and an audience from dust. There has been some brilliant highs – recording (Build a Harbour Immediately) with Paul Savage, a mini-tour with The Twilight Sad – and some tremendous lows – the usual self-doubt and frustration associated with being an artist, I suppose.
4) Some of your solo music has been very experimental. What was the main objective behind that project for you and what prompted you to return to a more accessible style again?
When I left Y’all is Fantasy Island all I wanted to do was get away from song-based music, so I immediately started experimenting with a capela sound textures and music with repetitive structures. I released an improvised album called Awnings which was so cathartic to do, similarly with Miniature Porcelain Horse Emporium, which was me sitting with two tape decks and manually cutting and pasting from a random selection of Jam/Demo tapes. Both albums are important transitional works, without them I wouldn’t have developed the songs and techniques for both Harbour and Walls.
5) How do you feel about Scottish independence? Will you be voting yes or no and why?
I will be voting Yes, because I don’t see a reason why not to. Although Alex Salmond is most definitely a career politician with a hidden agenda, I honestly believe he can’t be any worse than the destructive and loathsome idiots that are currently running Westminster. Britain has been hobbled by three decades of bad government and the Coalition are the worst of the bunch. Their myopic dystopium and reckless social holocaust will send England and Scotland back to the Victorian age if they continue for another term. The SNP seem to have done a decent job of managing their own Parliament since Devolution, it’s about time they took the next step.
6) What development would you most like to see emerging in Edinburgh / Scotland / the UK in the next 5-10 years and why?
Complete independence; a written constitution that protects the human rights of all Scottish citizens to have the right to employment and a comfortable living irrespective of personal circumstances; investment in renewable energy through oil profit; a greener/fairer socialist-based society; the removal of religion in education; an open door policy on immigration; the standing down of an aggressive army, including the removal of nuclear warships; free education for all; fairer and more robust benefit system; better funding opportunity for culture, the arts and science; free health care and prescriptions for all; greater scrutinising of corporations and banks that intend to exploit; the removal of the monarchy from society and a move towards republicanism. Sounds good, ae?
