Tim Burgess: The Charlatans plan a live listening party in Cork
Tim Burgess of the Charlatans. Pic: Joe Maher/Getty
Tim Burgess of evergreen indie band The Charlatans is forever looking to the future. During the pandemic, especially, he worked hard at staying positive when the music industry faced a nuclear winter of cancelled tours and shrinking revenue (his father also passed away during that period). And so he launched Tim’s Twitter Listening Party –where musicians and fans sat down with a favourite record together and shared their thoughts and memories on social media.
It was a simple yet hugely moving celebration of music, which made people feel less alone and helped many through those challenging years. But he has now knocked the Twitter Party on the head and The Charlatans are back on the road - and will play a hugely-anticipated concert at Guinness Cork Jazz Festival on Friday, October 27. It’s more than just another gig: they will join artists such as Gary Numan in the proud tradition of non-jazz musicians headlining Cork Jazz.
“We played a jazz festival once in New Orleans. So it’s this is our second,” he says, delighted to hear The Charlatans are following in the footsteps of Gary Numan. “During the pandemic we celebrated our thirtieth anniversary, which was done on Zoom. Not much to celebrate. Since [the end of lockdown] we’ve been playing live quite a lot all over the world. It’s come out quite well. There’s always a lot of activity around the band.”
Still, if Burgess prefers to move forward, The Charlatans are a group forever defined by their past. They broke through in the early 1990s, in that curious period when British guitar music was on the up but had yet to coalesce into Britpop. Their peers were earnest scallywags such the Stone Roses the Happy Mondays – more acclaimed in the moment but long since tumbling into varying degrees of obscurity. Burgess was reminded of that longevity when The Charlatans marked those three decades in the business during covid.
“I’m very proud. Very proud of a lot of the songs that we’ve made,” he says over Zoom. “A lot of the songs have reached people. And meant a lot to people. I’m proud of the friends we’ve made along the way. And the respect the band has.”
He is also proud that The Charlatans avoided being associated with any particular movement or era. They escaped “Madchester” and were never entirely considered Britpop, even though the mid-1990s saw them put out some of their biggest hits: thoughtful belters such as 'Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over' and 'One to Another'.
“Whenever we’ve released records there have always been interesting bands around. When we first came around there was the Madchester scene,” he says. “When we came out we were part of that. People knew our names and recognised us on the street. We’ve opened for Pearl Jam when they were massive with grunge in America. And we managed to stay relevant during Britpop. People were saying, ‘who are this band – they seem to be doing every genre?’. I don’t know- there’s always been maybe more to us than meets the eye.”
The Charlatans were nonetheless present at one of the iconic Britpop moments. In August 1996, they played at Oasis’s Knebworth concert. Attended by over 100,000, it was Britpop’s Woodstock. Yet for Burgess, Knebworth was bittersweet. On July 22, while the group were recording at Rockfield Studios in Wales, their keyboard player, Rob Collins, died in a car crash. Knebworth was their first gig following his passing. They walked on stage in a daze.
“We added something different,” Burgess says of Knebworth. “I guess with the added weight that The Charlatans had playing that show – it added some real depth. It added something else. Chemical Brothers added something for sure. Prodigy added something else. Oasis were at the top of their game - the biggest band in the world. And they knew that to have the best lineup of the day would be important for the future of rock’n'roll. We were part of the day.”
They’d considered cancelling. Looking back, he’s proud they didn’t. “We almost didn’t play it. We did and we triumphed. And we proved to ourselves that we could go on. It was tough. As everyone knows, Rob had died. Martin Duffy [the Primal Scream keyboardist who passed away last year] came in to replace him.
"We were so determined to prove to the world that we could continue that by the end of it we were just exhausted. It went from absolute positivity and self-belief to thinking that that was it for a bit. We were so exhausted. And then obviously a couple of days later it starts picking up again.”
Twelve months later came Tellin’ Stories – half finished when Collins died and dedicated to his memory. “We forgot about the record for a while. There were a lot of things going on. Martin was like, well, I’ll help you finish it. We were looking for a new keyboard player too. I’m quite impatient. I wanted everything to happen straight away. Time helped us during that.”
Post-pandemic, he’s called time on the Listening Parties. He loved doing the listen-alongs– but the work was substantial behind the scenes, especially after Twitter (or whatever it’s called this week) changed its algorithm. Burgess felt it was the perfect moment to move on, though the spirit of the parties lives on in his podcast, also called Tim’s Listening Party and where guests have included The Edge.
“I feel good about owning the ending. If someone [ie a huge or particularly interesting artist] came along and wanted to do one, I’d do it. There were so many reasons for ending it. The most amazing thing about the Listening Party is that it was at its peak during covid. It was beyond peak. It was huge.
"People just came along with us on the way. People will never know how much effort went into it. It was tonnes. I just pretended it was dead easy. It was a good way to end it. The listening parties were a huge part of my life. It’s the most common thing strangers come up and talk to me about. I love it when people come up and tell me about it.”
- The Charlatans play Cork City Hall as part of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival on Friday, October 27
ØXN, Everyman, Thursday, October 26: Doomy drone rock that draws on both traditional and experimental music. This supergroup features Katie Kim, Radie Peat of Lankum, Eleanor Myler from Percolator and producer John Murphy. The Cork gig doubles as a launch party for their debut album, Cyrm, released the following day.
The Pharcyde, Cork Opera House Friday, October 27: This “alternative” rap group from Los Angeles are best known for their intricate grooves and intelligent lyrics – and for hits such as 'Runnin’ and 'Passin’ Me By'.
Morcheeba, Cork Opera House, Saturday, October 28: Emerging during the glory days of the 1990s trip-hop scene, Morcheeba are acclaimed for singles such as 'The Sea' and 'Trigger Hippie'. Today, the former trio is slimmed to the duo of singer Skye Edwards and producer Ross Godfrey.
Tony Hadley, Cork City Hall, Saturday, October 28: He may play a smattering of solo stuff, but the set will be mostly made up hits from his old band Spandau Ballet. Tunes such as 'True', 'Gold' and 'To Cut a Long Story Short' have stood the test of time.
The Scratch, Cork Opera House, Sunday, October 29: Energetic Dublin indie band, whose forthcoming debut album is produced by troubadour James Vincent McMorrow.
MOVE - Shane Johnson and Jamie Behan, Sunday, October 29: With an 11pm kick-off, this event is ideal for anyone looking for a late-night wiggle. Johnson will roll out the quality house sounds, while Behan goes that bit tougher.
