liveDaily Interview: Miles Hunt of The Wonder Stuff

The Wonder Stuff was one of England's musical darlings in the early '90s, and also picked up a solid fan base in the U.S. thanks to college and underground radio support of their albums "The Eight Legged Groove Machine," "Hup" and "Never Loved Elvis."

Unfortunately, their run of good fortune came to an abrupt end as grunge took over the airwaves, and their following release, "Construction for the Modern Idiot," suffocated from lack of U.S. radio airplay.

The band remained cover-story fodder in the U.K., thanks to their outspoken singer, Miles Hunt, and eventually ended on a high note with a triumphant 1994 show at the U.K.'s now defunct Phoenix Festival.

Though the band parted ways, Hunt continued as a musician and wordsmith. He briefly hosted for MTV, released a few solo records and played some well-received solo-acoustic tours of the U.S. with former bandmate Malcolm Treece.

Now, after a few years of successful reunion shows across the pond, Miles and Malc have officially reformed The Wonder Stuff with two new members, bassist Mark McCarthy and drummer Luke Johnson. The U.S. release of the group's fifth album, "Escape from Rubbish Island," is set for March 22. A six-week North American tour--the band's first in more than 10 years--is also planned.

liveDaily recently spoke with Hunt by telephone from his home in the English countryside.

liveDaily: So are you ready for the new U.S. audiences, who see U.K. bands as either having a sensitive singer who may marry an A-list actress, or a quartet who plays artsy pop-punk?

Miles Hunt: [laughs] No, I think I'm going to give them a bit of re-education from the artsy frontman thing. God, what an appalling period of music it is right now. I try to not get myself wound up and angry about stuff that I don't like these days, but Jesus Christ, what an uninspiring period this is for popular music--and just how willing people are to swallowing up more and more and more of it.

Was the songwriting a little different this time around for the new album?

The songs were conceptual for a long time, even through the recording. The title track, "Escape from Rubbish Island," had eight or nine verses, and I had to narrow it down to four or it would have been ten minutes long. Then there were other songs where I literally had two lines for a chorus, and I'd be in the songwriting process right up to mixing. Once I got the choice songs into basic arrangements, that's when I'd start to get stuck and I'd get on the phone to Malc and say "Malc, I've gotten lost. I can't see the wood through the trees right now." I didn't want the album to be a concept album, but one thing I noticed as I was proofreading the lyrics before they went to print for the sleeve was that every song has an element of departure or arrival. I guess I got all the lyrics completed in a 2-to-3 week period. I don't think I really ran into a pattern writing-wise, but at the moment I'm really enjoying what I'm doing.

We're well into the process of writing the next record now. Mark and Malc are coming up next weekend to the countryside and giving ideas for a bass line or guitar part, and they leave them with me, and I try to make them into songs. That's going really well. I suppose whenever I sit down with Malc, or any number of friends who are songwriters, I'll always tell myself I'm no originator, but I'm always trying to take myself into areas where I haven't been before.

At the moment, we've done quite a bit of shows over here, and we're quite excited to go to the states for six weeks. Because we're playing quite a lot at the moment, me and Malc have decided to write to type, so I think the next Wonder Stuff album may be the definitive, classic Wonder Stuff album, at long last, after writing together for over 20 years. Malc and I sit there and say "we have sound; we have strength, let's play to them," as opposed to "where are we going next with this."

Is there a track on the new album that stands out as your favorite?

I think I appreciate "Was I Meant to be Sorry." I was at the 101 Diner in Hollywood, and I remember singing the line over and over. When I walked back to my mate's house, I had to use his computer to demo the whole track. In fact, the guitar solo in the middle is not Malc; it's the guitar solo I did on the demo. Malc tried to replace it and felt it was all wrong, but I decided that yeah, it's discordant, but it's the one. I love playing it live. Its funny, I did an interview this morning for the BBC Digital Radio station, and as I was waiting to go live on the air our new single, "Bile Chant," was being played and I thought, "This is an exciting track, I love this! I'm glad this is my new single."

What is one thing you look forward to as you bring the band back on tour to the states?

It's been a while since I did my last acoustic tour of the states. It's the club-level gigs out there. I don't want to upset anybody over here--compared to the ones here where you meet the local sound guy and the promoter and it's a generally confrontational experience that's made me wonder why I've stayed playing out here for 20-some years--but thankfully with The Wonder Stuff over here we've been well enough to go just a bit above that with having our own PA guys. It's the complete opposite in the states. I remember when Malc and I did our first acoustic tour in 1998 through 1999. We couldn't believe how welcoming, helpful and friendly the people were at the venues. Also, after years of past experience touring the U.S. in my earlier days, I've come to learn that it's not about the destination, but the journey.

Taken from http://www.livedaily.com/news/7779.html