JON: Hmm, I don't know, was there free booze?
As you correctly guessed in your review, doing Gramophone live is a rather complex affair - we're not your average rock n roll band. The songs were generally built-up in layers; there are only three of us and there are many more things than that going on; for example, David played drums, bass and guitar on many of the tracks, then there are of course the strings. We refuse to use backing tapes, so live we use 11 other musicians and all the parts are played, so although it may not sound exactly like the record, the core parts are there and the lesser parts are represented in at least some impressionistic way.Using supplementary players and a string section live costs a fortune, however, which is why we've only done it three times - despite selling out each time we still made a loss. I hear the Tindersticks have the same problem. I guess it's the price you pay for using strings live. Mind you we've taken a pretty bacchanalian approach to the concerts - stages piled high with real flowers and beautiful lighting (courtesy of Sven Pedersen and Chris Plant), which probably didn't help. I guess as a rule we've thought of performances as special occasions rather than as a normal part of what we do. Luckily so, because otherwise we'd be broke!
ADAM: Well, those string arrangements are the highlights of the album for me. Was it ever a consideration to generate the actual instrumentals yourself in the studio instead of employing an actual string section?
JON: I generally sketch out string arrangements in the first instance using technology - I'd guess the majority of modern string arrangers do so. We're very lucky nowadays to be able to get some idea of how things will sound without having to rely wholly on an 'inner ear'. However there's something about the unpredictability of real instruments and players that gives a string section an emotional edge you can never quite get with samples, no matter how much time and detail you put into it. It's the old thing about the flaws being what make it special. Furthermore, the whole process of writing for varnished wooden instruments hundreds of years old and then standing next to them the first time the arrangement is brought to life by real players using them is such a beautiful and magical thing, that for me at least a little of that magic carries onto the finished
