Last month Cherry Red Records announced five albums from influential UK band Felt would be reissued on vinyl and CD in February along with a new album from Lawrence's latest project GoKart Mozart. All of the releases arrive February 23rd (March 2nd in the U.S.) and are available to pre-order here.
As excitement ramps up for Felt fans worldwide, Loud And Quiet magazine caught up with Lawrence and published an intriguing interview with the legend. In the piece Felt's leader discussed the band's early days, hating the 80s, always wanting to be professional, and the upcoming Felt reissues, which he considers the last word on the band.
One of the (many) highlights: Felt's big break was opening up for The Fall. The opportunity presented itself after bassist Nick Gilbert wrote Mark E. Smith a fan letter. To everyone's shock and surprise, not only did Smith respond but he invited Felt to open up for The Fall in Manchester. Lawrence called it "the dream beginning."
"We played a place called the Cyprus Tavern and we were first on. I’d never been on stage in my life. I was nervous, but I was also thinking I have to get this right. We played a short set – we had about six songs – and when we came off stage The Fall all ran over to us going ‘fucking hell, you’re amazing – where the hell have you been!?’ Their manager was saying, ‘come and play with us tomorrow, we’re playing Liverpool and then we’re playing at the Marquee in London.’"
Lawrence also described his personal music philosophy:
"I’m more like a painter than a musician. Musicians rest on their laurels, play their old songs but stop making great new albums. But painters keep struggling and pushing forward...I’m trying to put myself in the same category of Lou Reed and Tom Waits. I still want to create, invent and not look back – that’s the kind of artist I want to be."
Read the full fascinating piece over at Loud And Quiet.
Published December 21st, 2017
