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𝐄. 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 (FANPAGE)

@e.lviscostello

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Working class struggle of Thatcherite Britain embodied within a sneering young man. Unconventional lyricist composing with an honest pen — unconfined.

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6 years ago

“The Attractions and I were initially called to perform on ‘Saturday Night Live’ as a last resort. The Sex Pistols were unable to make it and the Ramones refused to do what they thought was selling out. I had never seen an episode in my life, as the programme had never reached British television. However, the wide broadcasting to an American audience seemed like a good move for the redefined band’s reputation. The Attractions were newly formed and this was the one chance we had to successfully expose them to new ears. Like Ed Sullivan was to The Beatles is what SNL could have been for us. In hindsight, the whole decision was made in a haste — the band and I had just barely escaped the claws of a rabid crowd at Asbury Park when news broke out about our upcoming television appearance. From the get-go the record company was already pushing us to perform a song from the last album — ‘Less Than Zero’, a song that with all things considered an American audience would understand the least from past work. I was thinking ahead, I had already dropped the weight of ‘My Aim is True’ but the record company seemed to have one foot in the past while we were pushing forward towards a future for the Attractions.
I had to get creative with how I expressed my resistance, so I started digging into the past to play the record company at their own game. There was a stunt that Hendrix had pulled in 69’ while on the Lulu Show that would be forever ingrained into my head. He halted his performance of ‘Hey Joe’ to play a rendition of ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ as Cream had broken up that week. It’s one of those moments that, when seen live, is burned into your memory. It was such a bold move, and that night I’d be paying homage to the man who did it first. The word ‘live’ was in the name after all, it’s not like they could prevent me from pulling such a thing. Once they’ve seen it you can’t go back from that. I put on a compliant front for when we got out on stage. I only let the band go one verse in before I cut it off and apologized to the audience. We dove right into ‘Radio Radio’, which hadn’t even been released prior to when we played it that night. Producer Lorne Michaels held up + by @e.lviscostello

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6 years ago

“The sound of ‘My Aim is True’ — the one in which so many people remark of it’s individuality within the Stiff Records catalog at that time, and music of the era, is one that came about in the midst of a total lack of money. This was at the very beginning of the punk scene. It was given a distinct look by the media and many perceived it as this rough, dangerous and just plain anti-establishment movement. As an artist on the Stiff label, I fell into the mixed bag of artists that were instantly categorized with the movement. This lead to a quite exaggerated image of me being pushed; this angry, snarling caricature of myself with a big mouth. Now that wasn’t really me at all. I’m actually quite shy and I’m never much of a contrarian — but I went with the act and played along during live shows, public appearances, and even in future projects. ‘My Aim is True’ wasn’t really a reflection of that image, though, it was simply unconventional songwriting. I’m an honest man, I tell stories and I don’t have other people write them for me. When these lyrics were put against low budget nostalgic melodies, it was adjacent to the ‘angry young man’ that the media and my management loved to claim me as. But in all actuality, I was attempting to call back to the music I grew up hearing. Big band jazz music, all infused by my father himself. I grew up hearing music differently because of him. My father was very methodical with his writing and playing, no matter how simple it was. I never wanted to be a rockstar, I wanted to be a musician as he had been. I always held that mindset subconsciously when I wrote. A lot of the songs off the first album are me caught in real time as my writing and style developed. Once it was released, I was able to separate myself slightly from the punks rampant in the UK at the time. My songs weren’t necessarily fast tunes that carried a sense of discontent with life as it was — and wanting to go against that. They were about living in that life, the things people outside of myself go through. I observe people, I observe music, I observe myself.” by @e.lviscostello

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