Nick Cave at the 3Arena (1 Viewer)

Paul Simon uses a similar "fuck you" tactic to avoid addressing the whole Los Lobos thing

I saw him at the Graceland 25 tour a few years back, he didn't play the Los Lobos track. The prick. haha


This was his response btw:

“This Los Lobos thing has come up before, so I wanted to talk to you direct. They said all this stuff to Songtalk magazine in the States, and I've replied to it all in an interview that hasn't run yet, but its all there. There was a bad atmosphere at those sessions (with Los Lobos on Graceland) from the start; I don't know what it is with them. The whole deal for them working on Graceland was all worked out beforehand between Los Lobos and Lenny Warnoker (Managing Director at Warners USA) and there were no complaints at the time. It was made clear from the outset that we didn't have a song. There was no song. It was being written from scratch. I was - and still am - a fan of the band. What I really love is the accordion sound. So we started jamming in the rehearsal room and nothing was really coming together, and so I said do you have any ideas we can work on. What I wanted for the Graceland track was like a generic Los Lobos dikka-de-dikka guitar sound. And so we came up with something around a riff. They never once said that this guitar line is one of ours and we don't want you to have it. So we worked on recording this track for about three days, which is a long time to work on one track. I had to teach David Hildegger how to sing this song! And then David Hildegger came up to me and said "we're not happy with this track. We wanna do a ballad". But I couldn't have that. At that time it was the last track of the whole album - eventually we did one more - and I just said at this stage I don't care whether the album comes out without Los Lobos on it. I was getting really tired of it - I don't want to get into a public slanging match over this, but this thing keeps coming up.

So we finished the recordings. And three months passed, and there was no mention of "joint writing". The album came out and we heard nothing. Then six months passed and Graceland had become a hit and the first thing I heard about the problem was when my manager got a lawyer's letter. I was shocked. They sent this thing to my manager, not me. If there was a problem they could have contacted me direct, they've got my home number, we talked a lot. If you ask me it was a lawyer's idea. You know, "the records a hit, and there's $100,000 in it". They had nine months from the recordings to talk to me about all this, but I heard nothing. And its still not sorted out because they still keep bringing it up - I heard they'd done this interview for you. I don't want to get into a public slanging match with them, because I really like their music.
 
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I saw him at the Graceland 25 tour a few years back, he didn't play the Los Lobos track. The prick. haha


This was his response btw:

“This Los Lobos thing has come up before, so I wanted to talk to you direct. They said all this stuff to Songtalk magazine in the States, and I've replied to it all in an interview that hasn't run yet, but its all there. There was a bad atmosphere at those sessions (with Los Lobos on Graceland) from the start; I don't know what it is with them. The whole deal for them working on Graceland was all worked out beforehand between Los Lobos and Lenny Warnoker (Managing Director at Warners USA) and there were no complaints at the time. It was made clear from the outset that we didn't have a song. There was no song. It was being written from scratch. I was - and still am - a fan of the band. What I really love is the accordion sound. So we started jamming in the rehearsal room and nothing was really coming together, and so I said do you have any ideas we can work on. What I wanted for the Graceland track was like a generic Los Lobos dikka-de-dikka guitar sound. And so we came up with something around a riff. They never once said that this guitar line is one of ours and we don't want you to have it. So we worked on recording this track for about three days, which is a long time to work on one track. I had to teach David Hildegger how to sing this song! And then David Hildegger came up to me and said "we're not happy with this track. We wanna do a ballad". But I couldn't have that. At that time it was the last track of the whole album - eventually we did one more - and I just said at this stage I don't care whether the album comes out without Los Lobos on it. I was getting really tired of it - I don't want to get into a public slanging match over this, but this thing keeps coming up.

So we finished the recordings. And three months passed, and there was no mention of "joint writing". The album came out and we heard nothing. Then six months passed and Graceland had become a hit and the first thing I heard about the problem was when my manager got a lawyer's letter. I was shocked. They sent this thing to my manager, not me. If there was a problem they could have contacted me direct, they've got my home number, we talked a lot. If you ask me it was a lawyer's idea. You know, "the records a hit, and there's $100,000 in it". They had nine months from the recordings to talk to me about all this, but I heard nothing. And its still not sorted out because they still keep bringing it up - I heard they'd done this interview for you. I don't want to get into a public slanging match with them, because I really like their music.
hmm.I'm happier hating him
 
I saw him at the Graceland 25 tour a few years back, he didn't play the Los Lobos track. The prick. haha


This was his response btw:

“This Los Lobos thing has come up before, so I wanted to talk to you direct. They said all this stuff to Songtalk magazine in the States, and I've replied to it all in an interview that hasn't run yet, but its all there. There was a bad atmosphere at those sessions (with Los Lobos on Graceland) from the start; I don't know what it is with them. The whole deal for them working on Graceland was all worked out beforehand between Los Lobos and Lenny Warnoker (Managing Director at Warners USA) and there were no complaints at the time. It was made clear from the outset that we didn't have a song. There was no song. It was being written from scratch. I was - and still am - a fan of the band. What I really love is the accordion sound. So we started jamming in the rehearsal room and nothing was really coming together, and so I said do you have any ideas we can work on. What I wanted for the Graceland track was like a generic Los Lobos dikka-de-dikka guitar sound. And so we came up with something around a riff. They never once said that this guitar line is one of ours and we don't want you to have it. So we worked on recording this track for about three days, which is a long time to work on one track. I had to teach David Hildegger how to sing this song! And then David Hildegger came up to me and said "we're not happy with this track. We wanna do a ballad". But I couldn't have that. At that time it was the last track of the whole album - eventually we did one more - and I just said at this stage I don't care whether the album comes out without Los Lobos on it. I was getting really tired of it - I don't want to get into a public slanging match over this, but this thing keeps coming up.

So we finished the recordings. And three months passed, and there was no mention of "joint writing". The album came out and we heard nothing. Then six months passed and Graceland had become a hit and the first thing I heard about the problem was when my manager got a lawyer's letter. I was shocked. They sent this thing to my manager, not me. If there was a problem they could have contacted me direct, they've got my home number, we talked a lot. If you ask me it was a lawyer's idea. You know, "the records a hit, and there's $100,000 in it". They had nine months from the recordings to talk to me about all this, but I heard nothing. And its still not sorted out because they still keep bringing it up - I heard they'd done this interview for you. I don't want to get into a public slanging match with them, because I really like their music.
So he admits it that they had the original idea, it was a co-write but he only credits himself on the album? I knew he's been accused of this stuff in the past but that's really bad. He seems to think he's done nothing wrong (because 'there was no mention of "joint writing"' - something they dispute) but it sounds like Los Lobos never received a penny. From one of the richest recording artists in the world?
 
Yeah pretty much, it's kind of insane behaviour. At the very least give them an arrangement credit.
 
Yeah pretty much, it's kind of insane behaviour. At the very least give them an arrangement credit.
Yeah just something. Even in his own defence he barely conceals the fact that he was basically waiting for them to come up with something because he had nothing and presumably needed another track for the album.

He strikes me as somebody who's perhaps a natural collaborator as a musician but anything but as a personality type.
 
There was an article someone posted a while ago from a music industry magazine about the behind-the-scenes push to move Cave up to the "superstar" level. It was a very deliberate strategy that started when he left Mute. Oh, here it is ...


As for the other stuff ... I don't think you can be selective about boycotts. It doesn't really work if that's the case. I do get that it negatively affects people who are actually opposed to the regime or system being boycotted.

And as for Paul Simon .... his heart was undoubtedly in the right place but that doesn't mean he did the right thing. He should have talked to the ANC about it. And as this account of a press conference of the time makes clear .. he also suffers from the idea, like Cave, that art and artists transcend politics.

Aww, that Billboard piece was a great read. Chuffed to read that and peek behind the curtain.


Surely there's a distinction to be made between directly profiting from an apartheid regime and its complicit population and giving exposure to the oppressed? (rhetorical)
I still think that if Nick Cave was going to Gaza to make a record, he'd be getting a lot less shit.
And fuck Paul Weller too while we're at it.
 
Aww, that Billboard piece was a great read. Chuffed to read that and peek behind the curtain.


Surely there's a distinction to be made between directly profiting from an apartheid regime and its complicit population and giving exposure to the oppressed? (rhetorical)
I still think that if Nick Cave was going to Gaza to make a record, he'd be getting a lot less shit.
And fuck Paul Weller too while we're at it.

Yeah true. Boycotts are a blunt instrument, there's no doubt about that. But Cave is clearly doing the former. As soon as he announces his show in Gaza or Ramallah I'll take seriously what he has to say, but until then ...

What's the deal with Paul Weller?
 
I suppose the way to do it is the Lizzy Mercier Descloux album from 1984. Recorded in SA with black musicians - they get songwriting credit on a bunch of the tracks. Breaks the cultural boycott but it's clearly not something in favour of apartheid. The SA government refused the musicians visas to leave the country and tour it...Great album... you could accuse it of musical tourism I guess.

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I suppose the way to do it is the Lizzy Mercier Descloux album from 1984. Recorded in SA with black musicians - they get songwriting credit on a bunch of the tracks. Breaks the cultural boycott but it's clearly not something in favour of apartheid. The SA government refused the musicians visas to leave the country and tour it...Great album... you could accuse it of musical tourism I guess.

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‘Musical tourism’

What?
 
Never heard of this album before. Will check it out. Just did some Googling to find out more and this article paints a less favourable picture of her interactions with the local musicians.

 
‘Musical tourism’

What?
Oh as in, going somewhere on your holliers, liking the traditional music at face value and doing an entire album of it yourself without bothering to work out any of the history. Like Beirut did after his European holiday in 2003. Or Ed Sheeran did with Galway Girl.


Never heard of this album before. Will check it out. Just did some Googling to find out more and this article paints a less favourable picture of her interactions with the local musicians.


ooh, that's interesting. Yeah, she was on ZE records, i'm a big fan of the labels output but they were absolute chancers, full of rich drop outs and conmen out to make a buck. They'd give anyone a shot if they could find a gimmick to sell it which is why so much completely insane stuff got released on that label.

Sad to hear no royalties were sent back though, I believe the album was a hit in France so I assume some money was made off it. As for Descloux herself, she was more poet/artist/trouble than musician so I assume she was happy to go along with other peoples schemes if she could express herself through them.
 
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