Interview: Steve West (Pavement, The Silver Jews, Marble Valley)

Unless you’ve been living in a vacuum since July, you’ve probably already heard (and evinced a little yelp of excitement because of) the news that indie/lo-fi legends Pavement will be re-uniting for a world tour this year. So, naturally, when ((URY)) Music discovered that drummer Steve West would be embarking on a winter tour of the UK with side-project, Marble Valley, we pounced upon the opportunity to interview him. Having at first failed to get him on the phone, we were surprised and amused to receive an email from West at 1:30am on the morning of Marble Valley's appearance at the City Screen Basement in York. Here, he provides us with some ‘delicate’ insight into the course of his current tour, Pavement’s plans for the future and, er, a youth spent singing in dog kennels. The cutting wit of a genius or the empty rants of a drunken man? Perhaps that's best left up to you to decide...


URY: Your current tour of the UK, humorously named ‘Super Sober’, is well underway. How is it going? Is it staying true to its title?

SW: It’s going super, but it is far from sober. I will not say anything more about cleaning up. We are just as weathered as ever, but we look cleaner.


URY: I understand you’ll be releasing a new EP to tie in with the tour, what can we expect from it? Can we look forward to new material, written since ‘Slash & Laugh’?

SW: Yes, fat sounds with a sober attitude, no more laughing. Just slashing.


URY: Given that you’ll be joining up with the rest of Pavement for a reunion tour quite soon, do you have any plans for a new Marble Valley LP in the not too distant future?

SW: Yes but we are waiting for our publicist to give us the green light to talk about it. shshshshshshhhhhhhh.


URY: Marble Valley are quite a cosmopolitan group, with you living in the US, two band members living in Holland and three band members living in Hull. How does the writing process work in the band? Do you tend to get together in one country, or is there quite a lot of long-distance tape-swapping?

SW: We all tend to fax our parts to each other on the third Thursday of every month. (Ed: How very organized!)


URY: Which Marble Valley track are you most proud of and why?

SW: What is this? Smash Hits? (Ed: To be fair, we should have seen that one coming!)


URY: You weren’t known as one of the principle songwriters in Pavement; but
Marble Valley has given you the opportunity to shine as a songwriter in your own right. Is songwriting something you had always wanted to do?

SW: I used to sing to my dog at home when I was young. When I sing on stage I close my eyes and pretend I am singing in a dog kennel. (Ed: They do say that dog is man’s best friend)


URY: You once claimed in an interview that, in an ideal world, you would like Tom Waits to be your tour manager and personal trainer; can I take it you are a big fan of his work? What other artists do you feel have had a particularly large impact on your music and your life in general?

SW: Tom Waits has great Knuckles. I hear he rocks on them. We’ve covered Status Quo, The Cars and we’ve also done the Crimewatch UK theme and the theme from E.T. They’re all influences in their own right. I am trying to teach the guys to whistle the theme from E.T.


URY: Will you be covering any other artists live?

SW: Future covers on the list to do are Mel & Kim’s – Respectable. We’re working on a version of ‘Mad World’ by Fears for Tears.


URY: Playing in Pavement again will mean that you’ll be swapping the mic for the drum stool once again. How has your drumming held up over the years since the split?

SW: Westy can Drum! With a little wd40.


URY: Bob Nastanovic was quoted back in August as saying that this Pavement reunion tour will be a ‘once and once only kind of deal’. Should we take him at his word on this? Or could there be a future for Pavement beyond 2010 – additional shows perhaps?

SW: Bob’s an extremely honest guy. I second that.


URY: The previous decade has seen a great many high-profile bands reuniting for tours. Many have refrained from releasing new material – The Pixies, for instance. Is there a chance that Pavement could release new material?

SW: No. I doubt it. It was great and I loved what we did.


URY: Despite tales of the acrimony surrounding the Pavement split, I’ve read that you’re actually all still pretty close. How are you finding working with the guys again? Is there a tension that comes with a return to a working relationship, or have things been smooth-sailing so far?

SW: It’s been fantastic so far. We haven’t met up yet! We have remained virtual friends over the years though. It has just intensified in the last few months.


URY: You’re also known for your involvement in the Silver Jews. Last year, David Berman split the band up, claiming that he was afraid he might record the answer to ‘Shiny Happy People’ if he continued to write! What do you think the odds are that the Silver Jews will return at some point in the future?

SW: I doubt it, but you never know. David is extremely talented person and a man of his word.

By Lachlan Marais-Gilchrist & Emily Beber

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Live Review - Marble Valley @ The City Screen Basement: http://ury-music.blogspot.com/2010/02/live-review-marble-valley.html