The Beat Surrender

One of the best British directors to emerge in recent years is without a doubt Shane Meadows. His latest film Somers Town was released on DVD on 12th January, as was the excellent soundtrack by Gavin Clarke and Ted Barnes from the film.

I caught up with Gavin Clarke recently to find out how his work and relationship with Shane Meadows had come about, When he was next releasing a Clayhill album and how he had found working with Unkle on their two recent albums.

Somers Town is released on 12th Jan, as is the soundtrack that you wrote for the film, how did you set about writing the soundtrack as it’s obviously different to writing a song for your own use?

Myself and Ted Barnes were working on my first solo record when the Somers Town soundtrack came about. I’d seen some rushes from the film and spoken to Shane about what he wanted. He was after a running musical theme based around one song ‘when we had faces’. We started sending Shane early recordings and variations of that track as well as a lot of other stuff we we working on, all the score pieces ended up in other places and more songs got used than I originally thought. It did not seem unnatural at all, it was a lot of fun and an honor to be involved.

Did you have any direction from Shane Meadows as to what sort of sound he wanted to go along with the film?

Shane’s a master when it comes to music and film, he knew what he wanted and I think I understood that. I sent him a lot of stuff that was very rough which I would not have sent to anyone else but because we’re old mates I knew he wouldn’t be too hard on me. Obviously Ted and I made the the music but it was Shane who made it work.

You’ve been friends with him for a while now and have featured on several of his soundtracks, how did the friendship come about and does working together on things cause any strain on that relationship?

We met many years ago at Alton Towers. I was living in a caravan near there and had a summer job cooking chips, Shane worked there as a face painter. We were both into the same music and started writing songs together, it was the first time we’d both been taken seriously by another person and it had a pretty profound impact on me and I think for Shane too.

When you’re first starting half the battle is breaking out from the small circle you’ve grown up in, people find it difficult to shift their thinking when it involves someone they think they’ve got a handle on. So when you do meet someone who thinks your brilliant and has no previous baggage on you, you begin to believe in yourself and things start to change. Since then it’s always been about the friendship rather than the work, Shane has been there for me when a lot of others were not.

I got into financial trouble a few years ago and was left with nothing, Shane brought round a guitar and a 4 track recorder and helped get me back on my feet. These things cancel out any strain on a relationship that might come about because of work, I don’t expect Shane to use my songs on his films and I always feel very proud when he uses them.

It’s been quite a 12 months for you as you’ve also contributed 5 tracks to the last Unkle album as well as a couple to War Stories, how did that come about?

James Lavelle’s manager is my old label boss, he’d been going on about Clayhill and wanted Unkle to try me out for a track on War Stories. I got sent the music and was told I was up against Robert Plant so I wasn’t expecting much. Things just sort of unfolded from there because James liked the track.

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