Post by Lord Emsworth on Aug 11, 2021 12:57:12 GMT
The Strange World Of... Vic Godard & Subway Sect
Alex Burrows talks to Vic Godard about his incredible career and chooses ten points of entry into his bewilderingly large back catalogue
It would be too easy to describe Vic Godard as a Zelig figure with a serendipitous career. It seems he was always in the right place at the right time. It also seems things just have a habit of coming together for him. But such incidents of happenstance and luck belie Godard’s musicianship and his determination to explore pretty much everything throughout the entire course of his music career.
Born Victor Napper in 1957 – his dad an engineer, his mum a cleaner – in London’s southwest district of Barnes, Napper renamed himself Godard after his predilection for watching late night post-gig French new wave films. Growing up on the likes of Bowie, Velvet Underground and The 13th Floor Elevators, he already had gourmet music tastes from a young age, but when he took up music himself, he became a true connoisseur. Completely self-taught, Godard’s first instrument was a Hofner semi acoustic bass that he bought for £26 in 1976. He learnt by playing along to Tapper Zukie’s ‘MPLA’ and Television’s ‘Little Johnny Jewel’, then later, Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth.
At an early Sex Pistols gig, Malcolm McLaren – eager to fill out a bill for an upcoming show – asked if Godard and his group of friends were a band. They weren’t, but much like Siouxsie Sioux also recognising the opportunity of a lifetime, that didn’t stop them becoming one overnight. Opening the show at the now legendary 100 Club Punk Festival of 1976 was Subway Sect’s debut performance. The band were so green that they thought the sole purpose of a kick drum was to display a band name rather than provide a beat – until someone queried the absence of their pedal.
Managed by McLaren cohort/competitor and Clash guvnor Bernie Rhodes, Subway Sect quickly carved out a name for themselves both in their sound and image (dressing exclusively in grey to stand apart from their dayglo peers). Then, just as quickly, they left punk behind. They rapidly developed their skills thanks to Godard moving to guitar and fully adopting the influences of Television and those around them at the time, such as the Buzzcocks. Other than a Peel Session and debut single ‘Nobody’s Scared’, the original Sect line-up went undocumented. Housed in a basement in central London’s Chinatown, Gooseberry Studios flooded, meaning the masters of their debut album were thrown in a skip. In 2007, Subway Sect released 1978 Now!, a retrofit of that lost album, historically revised from live bootlegs of the original era.
Rest here:
thequietus.com/articles/30330-subway-sect-vic-godard-interview
Alex Burrows talks to Vic Godard about his incredible career and chooses ten points of entry into his bewilderingly large back catalogue
It would be too easy to describe Vic Godard as a Zelig figure with a serendipitous career. It seems he was always in the right place at the right time. It also seems things just have a habit of coming together for him. But such incidents of happenstance and luck belie Godard’s musicianship and his determination to explore pretty much everything throughout the entire course of his music career.
Born Victor Napper in 1957 – his dad an engineer, his mum a cleaner – in London’s southwest district of Barnes, Napper renamed himself Godard after his predilection for watching late night post-gig French new wave films. Growing up on the likes of Bowie, Velvet Underground and The 13th Floor Elevators, he already had gourmet music tastes from a young age, but when he took up music himself, he became a true connoisseur. Completely self-taught, Godard’s first instrument was a Hofner semi acoustic bass that he bought for £26 in 1976. He learnt by playing along to Tapper Zukie’s ‘MPLA’ and Television’s ‘Little Johnny Jewel’, then later, Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth.
At an early Sex Pistols gig, Malcolm McLaren – eager to fill out a bill for an upcoming show – asked if Godard and his group of friends were a band. They weren’t, but much like Siouxsie Sioux also recognising the opportunity of a lifetime, that didn’t stop them becoming one overnight. Opening the show at the now legendary 100 Club Punk Festival of 1976 was Subway Sect’s debut performance. The band were so green that they thought the sole purpose of a kick drum was to display a band name rather than provide a beat – until someone queried the absence of their pedal.
Managed by McLaren cohort/competitor and Clash guvnor Bernie Rhodes, Subway Sect quickly carved out a name for themselves both in their sound and image (dressing exclusively in grey to stand apart from their dayglo peers). Then, just as quickly, they left punk behind. They rapidly developed their skills thanks to Godard moving to guitar and fully adopting the influences of Television and those around them at the time, such as the Buzzcocks. Other than a Peel Session and debut single ‘Nobody’s Scared’, the original Sect line-up went undocumented. Housed in a basement in central London’s Chinatown, Gooseberry Studios flooded, meaning the masters of their debut album were thrown in a skip. In 2007, Subway Sect released 1978 Now!, a retrofit of that lost album, historically revised from live bootlegs of the original era.
Rest here:
thequietus.com/articles/30330-subway-sect-vic-godard-interview