An Interview with Glen Strachan, An English musician in Germany (1/3) By Steve Rudd

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

Glen Strachan, formerly of Uxbridge, recently made the bold decision to relocate to Berlin, where he has been edging his way into the city's music scene with cunning stealth. Former member of acclaimed underground bands TheBed and England and The April, Glen is a prolific songwriter whose tunes never fail to astound and inspire through being so daring and original. Here, in an exhilarating and hugely insightful interview with Steve Rudd, Glen spills the beans about the prevailing music-scene in Berlin, his current music exploits, and just what it's like being an Englishman in Germany...

Hey Glen, how are things? Good... never better in fact! Incidentally, my great grandfather was from Hull. You recently moved from London to Berlin. What prompted such a move? You know, I'm not sure. I have this thing about the God Channel... you really don't want to hear about it.

How easy has it been to get settled into the city, and what aspects of Berlin do you like the most? I've settled in really well; it's been 2 months now but feels like a year. I'm good at meeting people, I guess; alcohol helps with that... and it also helps with losing them.

Back in London you used to front underground heroes TheBed. Do you miss playing the type of music that you did in such a band, and what ultimately became of TheBed? Yeah, I've been doing mainly solo stuff for over a year now and I do miss the band thing, but I don't like waiting around for other people because I don't like blaming other people when things don't get done.

I've constantly been thwarted in getting a band together recently and rather than waste time waiting for that to work out I've been recording all the parts myself, which is how I got tinnitus, spending days on end trying to get a drum part right: it's not natural. Although some of it sounds great.

Despite the disbanding of TheBed, you are still heavily involved in the music industry and a re currently hard at work writing new songs. Does the material that you are writing now bear much in common with the old 'Bed tuneage? I think TheBed had a distinct direction and ethic. The reason it began to disintegrate was because I started experimenting with a wildly different concept. For me it was going to be like the next phase of the band - new sound and performance ethos, but really it was a completely different band I was trying to create so it was useless to even keep the name you know.

A band name is a strange thing for me - like a song name. Often it's the first thing that arrives and it sets the whole scene for what's to come. Or you can try to second guess everybody by making it the opposite of the name, if that's what the name permits. A whole set with no distortion and fairy-tale inspiration just wasn't what people came to see TheBed for. Sometimes the name is the most important thing. Words, words, they're all we have to go on etc. So I started a new band called England and The April, and everybody thought I'd gone crazy. People tuned out and that band fell apart too but at least we got some good work done. TheBed magic is lost in a handful of live shows and some incredible rehearsals!

Continued .... Next Page (2/3)

People - An Interview with The Alps By Steve Rudd
	London band The Alps have been receiving rave reviews over the past couple of years for their CD releases and live performances. Having recently unleashed their eagerly anticipated debut album, Something I Might Regret, the band is working harder than ever, with a string of dates in Spain and the shooting of their latest music video keeping the four lads tremendously busy. Read more...

People - An Interview with Chris Helme By Steve Rudd
	Former member of acclaimed Indie band The Seahorses, in which he penned and performed tunes with John Squire, Chris Helme has never been one to shy away from the limelight. However, since The Seahorses disbanded, Chris has been hard at work pursuing other musical avenues, not least by means of York-based band The Yards. Read more...

People - An Interview With Karl Bushby By Steve Rudd
	Men come no more intrepid than adventurer Karl Bushby, formerly of Hull. In 1998, feeling like undertaking the mother of all challenges, he set out from Punta Arenas, Chile, with the intention of literally walking around the world: all the way home. Thus, he walked north through South America, Central America and North America, completing the American leg of his epic walk in Fairbanks, Alaska. Read more...

People - Michelle Dee Catches Up With Afterglow During Recording Sessions At Big Hand Studio In Hull By Michelle Dee
	It's a blistering hot Saturday I am in the upstairs room of Big Hand Studio with mixing desk monitors and stacks of equipment covered with LED lights blinking intermittently. I am here to see AfterGlow who the week previous headlined at Sesh to great effect playing possibly their best Hull gig to date. They were all right on the button raising Read more...

People - An Exclusive Interview with David Icke, Candidate in the Howden and Haltemprice By-election
	Hello David Icke. Is this election the first step in a move into politics? No. I'm just using the opportunity to draw attention to the issue of the Big Brother state, the global elite which is slowly taking over. I'm not entering politics as a career. So what will you do if you win? I'm think there's a one-hundred per cent chance that I won't win, but if by some chance I did, I would resign. How could I stand up in the houses Read more...

People - An Interview with Charlie Heather of The Levellers By Steve Rudd
	The Levellers have dominated the Folk-Punk scene for the past twenty years, having had scores of hit singles and albums. Often voted as one of the best live bands in the UK, they've wowed venues and festival audiences all around the world with their brand of politically-charged music. On the brink of performing a huge number of dates at various summer festivals, The Levellers are also on the verge of Read more...

People - An Interview with Leila Slater (Mastermind behind Moonbeams Acoustic Nights in Driffield By Steve Rudd
	Fed up with having to travel out of town to indulge in her passion for live music, Leila Slater boldly took it upon herself to start organizing and promoting her own nights of live music in Driffield. Taking the form of intimate Acoustic nights, her Moonbeams events have so far attracted a whole host of marvelous musicians and singers from near and far. Read more...

People - An Interview with Adam Towse of Filth Wizard By Steve Rudd
	Fans of Torso Horse might have been wondering why it's been so quiet on their metallic front in recent months. Well, rest assured - they haven't split up; they've simply been taking a break. In the meantime, band ringleader Adam Towse has been busy writing material for a new project: Filth Wizard. Unleashing auto-erotic fury in a similar manner Read more...

People - An Interview with Phluid By Steve Rudd
	Leeds-based band Phluid have been whipping fans of Glamtastic Punk-Rock into a frenzy for the past ten years and then some. Not only have they proved to be one of the most exhilarating live bands in the UK, they have also released some stunning CDs, most notably their Cynical Smile album that was absolutely jam-packed with glorious anthems. Read more...

People - John Science Talks Exclusively To Thisisull.com - Sixties Bands and The Seventies Fast Food Phenomenon By Michelle Dee and Cilla
	... he rang me up and said, 'John, I've got this group. Don't know whether you've heard of them or not, but they're called The Beatles. They've just come back from Hamburg...' It's a wet Friday, the one a week before the floods last year, and we are drinking Cappuccinos, sitting in the lounge at The Village Hotel. Read more...

People - Interview with Christopher Manson By Steve Rudd
	Lights! Camera!! Action!!! Christopher Manson, a photographer from Driffield, has in recent years had work published in a plethora of high-profile magazines and newspapers such as The Observer On Sunday, Time Out and Hello. Having lived and worked in Dubai and Toronto since graduating from university, he is currently back in the East Riding, Read more...

People - An Interview with Sandi Thom By Steve Rudd
	Since releasing the chart-storming hit I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker, Sandi Thom's career has gone from strength to strength. Such a tune featured on her debut album, Smile... It Confuses People. Now, Sandi is on the verge of unleashing her follow-up LP, Pink and The Lily, a record she's set to promote with a lengthy UK tour. It just so happens that Sandi Read more...

People - Interview With Sid Stovold of Brassneck By Steve Rudd Brassneck photos by LMI Photography
	Sid Stovold, former guitarist for Indie-Pop-Punk heroes Inter, recently got together with a new band called Brassneck. Here, in an exclusive interview with Steve Rudd, he chats candidly about his time in Inter, and about more recent musical endeavours, as well as his frenzied involvement in the UK's underground fanzine scene... Read more...

People - An Interview with Athlete By Steve Rudd
	Athlete first burst onto the scene with their Vehicles and Animals album, a stunning debut which they followed-up with Tourist. They recently released their third album, Beyond The Neighbourhood, and in promotion of such an album the Deptford boys have been hard at work touring the length and breadth of the UK for the aural pleasure of their fans. They even stopped by Hull University Read more...

People - Interview With Miles Cain By Steve Rudd
	Miles Cain, once a Hull resident, is a superb singer-songwriter who is now based in York. Back in April he unleashed yet another outstanding album - A Way Of Being Free' - and, fresh from his recent support slot with Lucy Kaplansky in York, here he chats exclusively to Steve Rudd about the state of the local music scene in general, what Read more...

People - An Interview with Kris Mole, Skint In Europe By Steve Rudd

	Intrepid travellers unite, and meet Kris Mole... metaphorically speaking! He's a globetrotting man on a mission, determined to visit the capital city of every EU country on a budget of... wait for it - NOTHING! And all in aid of charity, too! How, you might ask? Well, if you read this here interview that Kris took time out to conduct with Steve Rudd Read more...

People - An Interview with Lucy Kaplansky By Steve Rudd
	New Yorker Lucy Kaplansky is a renowned Folk/ Country singer-songwriter who recently unleashed her latest album, Over The Hills. Born and raised in Chicago, Lucy moved to New York in her late teens, where she got involved with the Folk scene in Greenwich Village, going on to play with the likes of Suzanne Vega and Shawn Colvin. In 1994 she released her much-anticipated Read more...

People - An Interview with Steve Steinman By Steve Rudd
	Steve Steinman is the mastermind behind the hugely successful shows Vampires Rock and The Bat Trilogy. After appearing on Stars In Their Eyes as Meatloaf, Steve threw himself into the world of entertainment without hesitation, and today he is one of the hardest-working performers in the UK, regularly touring his shows the length and breadth of the country. Read more...