Last, but certainly not least, here are Bernard Sumner’s responses to the questions asked by JDW, Alejo Parella, Shane Clarke and Shaun Hutchinson. Bernard also wanted to add to the answers provided by Jake Evans to the questions by Fiona Hooley and James LaBove:

Fiona Hooley:

Hi,
With many artists embracing an online presence to marketing and distributing music, I’d like to know what the band’s views are on the always hot topic of file sharing on the internet. Is this something that the band will be embracing with exclusive internet only fanclub releases where people can legitimately download (and share) mp3’s as part of viral marketing campaigns or do you feel that this is an area which ultimately leads to loss of revenue for the band?

Thanks for offering a chance to have our questions answered!

Fiona

BS: Well the internet is a double-edged sword, it allows us to receive more revenue for every album or son,g but people are not buying as much music as they used to. File sharing must be one of the reasons for this and it’s not good. But I do understand why people do it.

The reality is that you have two buttons on your computer, one marked “Pay” one marked “Free.” It is human nature, business men would call it market forces. I’m sure everyone who does it knows it is wrong, and that people in record companies are losing their jobs because of it, that young new bands are finding it difficult to get a deal because of it and that somehow music that is so easily obtainable for free doesn’t seem that special anymore. I understand it’s so tempting, it’s free! But it takes about as much effort making an album as it does to make a car, just one car. It’s a lot of time. Imagine the effort doing that then someone walks away with your pay packet. Can you understand it?

James LaBove:

Hello,

I’d like to submit a question for the band:

Can you tell us a little about the songwriting process? What kind of
process did you guys undertake to form the songs, and were the
lyrics/music chiefly a collaborative effort?

Thanks!

BS: Part of the process was for me to try to get to know and understand Jake’s singing style and find out what types of song he would be good at singing. We also just divided up what songs Jake fancied singing and what songs I fancied singing. It was a new experience working with Jake and to a great extent it was unpredictable what would happen, but that’s what made it an exciting album to work on and I love what Jake did especially on “Shine Like The Sun.”

The Lyrics were each our own. The Guitars? Generally speaking, Jake played the twiddly bits, Phil played the Rocky bits and I played the funky bits.

JDW:

While I understand that Alex James only appears on a few tracks Never Cry Another Tear, and he wasn’t in the final band because of “distance issues,” but is there any chance of him getting a more central part in the future of Bad Lieutenant? It’s a shame that a talent like his gets over shadowed by fellow Blur-mates Damon and Graham, and it seemed when he finally got his own chance to shine, he was put in the backseat again.

BS: I think that’s a matter of perception. I see all the musicians in Blur with equal standing really. Obviously, the singer is going to get a bit more attention because he is doing something different to the others, is usually the focal point for the band and is usually the biggest c***. The guitarist always looks a bit clever because he’s got so many strings and apparently knows what to do with them. The drummer is the backbone of the band and is the real underrated one. Mmm … Bass players … mmm …

Alejo Parella:

you had the chance to be in an independent label as Factory for many
years and also signed to a major label afterwards. what do you think is
the best and worst aspect of both and what would be your advice to a new
artist considering how the music industry is nowadays?

Alejo Parella, Buenos Aires, Argentina

BS: All record labels are great if you are making money for them. If you’re not? Well things are a little different. Factory was great because they didn’t know what they were doing and we didn’t know what we were doing, but somehow we did it. I have to say in a different way, Warners / London were also great and we tended to get paid which of course is always an unexpected bonus.

Shane Clarke:

Hi guys,

Now you’ve got to grips with the new technology for publicising your work (Myspace / Twitter, etc) and have had the chance to interact with your fans, have you been surprised by what you’ve found?

Cheers,

Shane

BS: Hi Shane. I’m interacting right now. I like it really. Most of the time we have to communicate through journalists. This is often coloured by a journalist’s perception of what we are, some times he’s right sometimes he’s wrong.

It’s nice to have a direct communication so you can make your own mind up. However I don’t have tons of time to twitter and all that so my communication is pretty minimal at the moment. “He was a man of few words,” etc.

Shaun Hutchinson:

How difficult was it to make the transition from eating Tripe and Findus Crispy Cheese Pancakes in Lower Broughton in the 70’s to having to eat organic, Fairtrade sun-dried tomatoes in the leafy suburbs?

Many Thanks

shiveringgoat

BS: Well what makes you think I don’t still eat Tripe and Findus Crispy Cheese Pancakes, not to mention the Brains frozen faggots, pop tarts and goblin steak and kidney puddings? If it was good enough to eat in the 70s, it’s good enough to eat now! It’s better than all this foreign muck they have us eating now, like that sour milk stuff I believe it’s called Yoghurt!

As promised with the posting of Phil Cunningham’s answers, here are Jake Evans’ responses to questions asked by Bad Lieutenant fans Fiona Hooley, James LaBove, Dietrich and Stephan Spencer.  Bernard’s answers to come.

___________________

Fiona Hooley:

Hi,

With many artists embracing an online presence to marketing and distributing music, I’d like to know what the band’s views are on the always hot topic of filesharing on the internet. Is this something that the band will be embracing with exclusive internet only fanclub releases where people can legitimately download (and share) mp3’s as part of viral marketing campaigns or do you feel that this is an area which ultimately leads to loss of revenue for the band?

Thanks for offering a chance to have our questions answered!

Fiona

JE:  Hi Fiona,

Thats a good question. I have mixed feelings when it comes to the topic of file sharing and in fact the internet in general. We gave away our first single and a bside from the album on the website so I would say we embrace it as a means of communication with our fans. I hope you managed to get your copy! We’re at an interesting point right now in the music industry with regards to trying to control file sharing, which I’ve heard likened to ‘ trying to put a toll booth in the middle of an ocean’. File sharing is great in that it gets more of your music out there which is what most musicians aim to achieve, but ultimately people have to earn a living. I’m not talking about being a bread head, but if you literally cant afford to live as a musician what happens then? Ultimately it effects how much new music we can expect to see breaking through on a large scale …..because if in the end the only safe bet for record companies to release are things like X factor or whatever,  then what a boring world that will be!! Thankyou for the question!

James LaBove:

Hello,

I’d like to submit a question for the band:

Can you tell us a little about the songwriting process?  What kind of process did you guys undertake to form the songs, and were the lyrics/music chiefly a collaborative effort?

Thanks!

JE:  Hi,

Thanks for the question. The song writing on this album in the main happened very naturally and in the beginning ideas were born from either jamming or passing around a guitar between the three of us in a room together. Having said that we spent a lot of hours concentrating on the sonics of the instruments within those songs once we came to record them. I would say most of the others developed from an idea that one of us would bring to the table, and the others would expand upon. Lyrically, we just began to get a feel for which ones would be suited to either myself or Bernard. Or, if they were a collaborative effort we would combine and swap ideas  until we got the right melody and lyrics for the song. It was a great experience!

Dietrich:

Hi My name is Dietrich, and I live in Hamburg,  Jake I love your youthful looks, and when you play here would love to corrupt you in one of our more special hardcore clubs. There is a favourite  club I go to called “Ladestock” it means “Ramrod” Jake I think you know what I mean eh?

I imagine us both there in our tight leather trousers.

Hey what do you think?

Dietrich

JE: Hi Dietrich

Thanks for your question. I hope you enjoy listening to our new album as much as you do squeezing into those tight leather trousers of yours. The clubs I go to are perhaps not as ’specialized’ as the ones you frequent. Maybe try sending Mika an email? All the best.

Stephan Spencer:

With Bad Lieutenant comprising of three quarters of arguably one of the most influential bands of the last three decades some people are likely to expect a repackaged reincarnation of New Order.

Having listened to the preview of the album on BL’s Myspace page this does not appear to be the case and, with all due respect, this may not be a bad thing - something which is hard to admit from a die hard New Order fan who has been following that band through teenage years and adulthood. Maybe it is the influence of the new band members Jake and Tom, with Jake adding a new (and superb) vocal dynamic to several of the tracks – most noticably the Chris Martinesque contribution on ‘These Changes’.

A couple of listens in and there are some outstanding tracks on this album (Poisonous Intent is an instant grower and an initial favourite). On many of these you can hear a whole myriad of musical influences which has probably been brought about the varied ages of the band members.

We are probaly aware of some of Bernard, Stephen and Phil’s musical tastes but it would be interesting to hear who Jake or Tom regard as music Gods and which bands are currently populating their CD racks.

Looking forward to the Manchester gig on the 22nd October. I bought the tickets well in advance of hearing any tracks but looks like the gamble has paid off – well done lads.

Regards

Stephen Spencer
Liverpool

JE:   Hi Stephen,

Firstly thanks for all your supportive comments about the new album. I think everyone involved just saw this as a new start as well as a new band so I think that maybe comes across in the sound. The New Order comparisons are inevitable but the truth is that the songwriting centered around myself Bernard and Phil with the help from quite a few top musicians along the way! It was this collaborative approach that also played a large part in the albums sound.

As far as my musical heroes go, there are so many but I would say they include artists like Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Keith Richards etc

Bands I have been listening to recently include, Camera Obscura, Doves, Empire of the sun, M Ward

LOGO is airing the video for “Sink or Swim” on the next new episode of their show New Now Next on Sunday, December 6th.

Info on the programming schedule for that day can be found here.

“Sink or Swim” has made the shortlist of the top 100 songs of this past year. PLEASE help the band by voting it as your favorite on the BBC’s site.

Here is the best part: it appears that you can vote no matter where you live.

Vote now by clicking here.