“French Navy” will never stop playing.
Lee Thomson He talks about returning to Mexico, about the albums that hurt to listen to and the album that almost didn't exist.
Camera Obscura For more than two decades he has been building one of the most beloved catalogs of Scottish indie pop. From their first albums recorded almost without knowing what they were doing, until Look to the East, Look to the West —the album that no one expected to exist after the death of its keyboardist Carey Lander in 2015—the band has survived, evolved, and continued to find its people in the least predictable places. Mexico is one of those places. Perhaps the most important.
Lee Thomsonguitarist of the group, speaks from Glasgow in the midst of the rain and the rehearsals prior to their return to CDMX. He talks about going back, about the albums that hurt to listen to because they return you to who you were at twenty years old, about “French Navy” It will always sound and why making music today, with almost 50 years behind us, has nothing to do with money.
Indie Rocks!: Are you excited to return to Mexico?
Camera Obscura: Lot. Extremely excited. It is the best place in the world for Camera Obscura touch.
GO!: What a statement. Can you back it up?
CO It's a strong statement, yes. Let me develop it. I didn't play at last year's shows because I was working, but this year I will be there. I'm trying to remember the first time we played there… I remember it was amazing for us. The public reaction was something else.
It was crazy. I think it was Merge who took us for the first time, for the tour of Let's Get Out of This Country. We had played all over Europe, North America, Canada. And never… is it Lunario Auditorium? He Lunario of the National Auditorium? Yes, that. In Mexico City.
It was the first time we played there. And it was something wild. So exciting.
We have never had a reaction like this from an audience. And it has always been like that every time we have played in Mexico. Incredible.
GO!: That sounds great, but they've been at this for a long time. They have toured all over the world and always make sure to back up each album with a great tour. They put on great shows. This time they return to Mexico with their latest album. What changes? How does the process work? Do you sit back and say “last time we did this, now what?”?
CO: We want to be very good for you, so we have already been rehearsing for these shows. Although it's the start of the year and it's been raining every day in the UK, absolutely depressing. But we've been busy rehearsing.
And we had a conversation at rehearsal where we talked about what we should do. I think that, since last year we were touring with Look to the East, Look to the Westwe thought that perhaps it would be nice to open the catalog a little more. Playing some of the older songs from our early albums.
That's the idea. That's our focus for this trip.
GO!: That sounds incredible. They say there are songs that age well, like a good wine. And others that spoil like milk. What happens when you release old songs? Are there some that are easy to include and mix with the new material, and others that just don't fit anymore?
CO: We always felt that there was a very big change between the first two albums and Let's Get Out of This Countrybecause for that album we worked with Jari, the producer, and we went to Stockholm. Then we made another album with him right there. And then we went to America, and that's when you start working with real producers.
So it feels very strange when we play songs from the first two albums, because we did them without any guidance. It's almost as if you have to go back and live with a very strange version of yourself when you were young. Like putting yourself in a time machine and hanging out with your 16-year-old self.
You don't want to do that. You want to run away from it as quickly as possible. When we play songs from those first two albums, it feels like we have to go back to a very weird, regressive version of ourselves.
They are quite complicated because we didn't know what we were doing. They are rare, but let's touch on some. Because as you say, some of them aged very well. “80s Fan” It's a great song. We can continue playing that one.
GO!: I always say that when bands have been around for so long, there are a million different versions of the same band. Especially in Camera Obscura, because people have changed over the years. There are always people who have been there longer and people who arrived later. It's always a different band, always evolving. But there is always something that remains. There's always “French Navy”.
CO Always “French Navy”. And yes, of course it is: it is that moment when you know that you are going to play “French Navy” and everyone is going to go crazy. There are certain songs—“French Navy”, “If Looks Could Kill”— that would be very difficult not to touch. We would love to continue making songs like that.
But look, the last album was a surprise for us. We had no intention of doing it. When Tortoiseshell died, we just assumed the band was over. Nobody wanted to make music. Tracyanne yes she wanted, she made the album with Danny. But we felt like it was never going to happen. We gave it up for lost.
So, in a weird way, it was a huge surprise that we all went into a studio and recorded another record. So yes, absolutely. when we touch “French Navy”it's like… we're never going to stop playing “French Navy”. It would be ridiculous. Stupid not to touch it. And it's still just as exciting as it was in 2009, when it came out.
GO!: That's brave, because there are bands that have been around for so long and they just say they don't want to play that song anymore. Or that they lost a very loved member and the easiest thing would be to give up. But they didn't give up. And here in Mexico we appreciate it, because there are many fans of Camera Obscura. The date is in June, with its own show. How long are they going to play?
CO: Let's see, I think this has something to do with the fact that we are already quite old. Some of us are pushing fifty. We're not going to do a three-hour progressive rock set. But I think it's going to be long enough to cover… how many albums do we have? Five? Six?
Let me count. Five? No, there are six. Six albums.
GO!: Six.
CO: Yes, thanks. Were you consulting Wikipedia?
GO!: I'm here, yes.
CO: Well done. Thank you. One, two, three, four, five, six. Okay. There are quite a few songs. I think the challenge for us… and maybe at some point there will be audience participation, the band will put something on the networks so they can tell us what songs they want to hear.
GO!: Do they really do that?
CO: Sometimes yes. It could happen again.
GO!: Have you ever dreamed of doing a show for ultra hardcore fans, where they play the B-sides, the rarities, the songs that no one knows?
CO: Never. Never.
GO!: Good. I'm glad to hear it.
CO: I don't think so. Although it's funny, because from time to time we try. Look, Merge is going to re-release, I think, the first album: Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi. I think it's this year. Is it an anniversary? I don't know exactly, but something is happening. We're going to re-release it, and to do that, we had to remaster it. And we all had to go through the pain of—sorry if you love that record, it's a little painful for us—listening to music that you played when you were like twenty and now you're almost fifty.
But now, listening to those records, it's like: ah, they're not that bad. They are pretty good. It's like when you hated how you looked when you were young and were like, “no, I don't want to see that photo,” and then you look at it and think, hey, I actually looked good.
GO!: It's the 25th anniversary. It was in 2001.
CO: Here you are in Wikipedia again.
GO!: No shame.
CO: But hey, I want to be thankful that they're re-releasing those records, because maybe back then they didn't have the technology to make them sound the way they wanted, and I think the versions have changed a lot over the years.
You mean when we play live?
GO!: Yes, exactly.
CO: What happened was, like I said, the first two albums—Underachievers Please Try Harder and Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi— we did them alone, without really knowing what we were doing. We were improvising, to see what would happen. But when a producer came along and told us what to do and how to play, going back to those old songs it was like: oh yeah, this sounds a lot better now, because we know how to play. All because we had someone who gave us the batteries and taught us how to play properly.
GO!: Would Camera Obscura ever produce their own album again?
CO: I don't know. It's a good question. We're pretty old now and people have babies and jobs that take up a lot of time.
GO!: How come you're not a musician? Isn't it a job?
CO: Not today, unfortunately. And I really feel sorry for the young people who are now trying to make music and can't make a living at it. I think it's even worse now than when we were young.
GO!: Thank you very much, Lee. The last time Camera Obscura was here was with Indie Rocks!. I'm from Indie Rocks!so I thank you. This time it is also a collaboration, although in a venue different. Thank you for trusting us here in Mexico.
CO: Thanks to you, Maria.
GO!: Thank you so much. And in closing, anything you want to say to people who are still lying on their couch, perhaps with a glass of wine, smoking something and listening to Camera Obscura albums?
CO: We are very fond of them and we can't wait to see them in Mexico. It's such a warm place to play. They always open their hearts to us and that is wonderful.
GO!: Thank you very much, Lee.
