After six years away, The Telescopes recently returned to the stage to preview their forthcoming album. We decided to catch up with Stephen Lawrie, lead singer of The Telescopes, to ask about their new album, his other band 'Unisex' and exactly what he's been up to for the last few years. - You played your first gig in 6 years at christmas, how was it for you?
- Why such a long time away and were you nervous? I put the Telescopes on hold because i felt the band around me at the time, with the exception of jO, had become complacent & it bored me. Then they lost faith in my creativity because the UK press had turned against us. I thought it was truly spineless of the group to do that. I wrote, arranged & co produced all of the Telescopes records & it became tiresome doing so under those circumstances. Sometimes the only way to get the best out of something is abstain from it for a while. To me, the Telescopes have always stood for 'crucial listening'. Rather than make an inferior record, I decided i would never make another Telescopes record again unless it felt right. I became consumed with working with other people like Unisex & more recently füxa. It wasn't until i was producing the Unisex album in Northampton that i began writing Telescopes songs again.
- You played mainly new songs, how's the new album sounding? Great. Some songs are pure electronica, we like to abuse the machines like we abuse our guitars. We make them scream & bleed in order to force our human feel on them. I've been told the album sounds eccentric in places. We used a lot of different instrumentation. Some of it sounds really spiritual. There's no traditional song structures as such. We let the feel dictate the direction of the music. There's a real intensity that builds as the album progresses. We didn't force any of the lyrics, some of the songs sound totally complete with only one verse & no chorus. - Has it all been recorded yet or are you still in the studio? It's all mixed. We're about to master it. The sleeves finished. It's a drawing jO did when she was 4. An analyst could have a field day with some of her sketches. - Any plans to tour when the album comes out? Definitely.
Yeah, i'm writing with all kinds of people in lots of different ways. There's no room for stagnation. The way i write with Unisex changes with each song. Füxa sends me the music on a disc & i write the vocal parts. The Telescopes are the place where i can become totally immersed in my own vision, there's a certain intensity that comes from working like that. You don't get it so much with collaborations because they involve compromise. - How did the band get together intially?
- Have there been many line-up changes throughout the years? Before we made records we got through 6 drummers & 8 bassists. We kicked dave out after the untitled second album & did our last gigs with nick from Unisex filling in on guitar. rob & dominic then jumped ship to join sunhouse. - You had a few legal problems with your previous label before signing to Creation, do you think this affected the bands success? It held us back a bit at a crucial time. We were owned by the receivers. It was hard to plan anything because everything was so uncertain. If anything, we affected our own success. If we'd have made 12 'flying' s for our second album, we would have been more of a commercial success. But i didn't form the Telescopes to make records like that. - Tell us how the Creation deal came about?
- Were you a fan of the label before signing to them? I loved meat whiplash, jamc, the pastels, the loft, revolving paint dream, TVP's & slaughter joe. still do. - Do you have fond memories of your time on the label? Yeah. We had some seriously hedonistic times. We made some great music & we got to work with a lot of interesting people, like paul cannell, douglas hart, ed ball & guy fixsen. - When/why did you leave the label? 93? around then. The third album wasn't working out. - What did you think of Oasis and the Creation sound of the mid-90's? Or what do i think to celebrity replacing the cerebral? I'm very cynical about formulas.
I've heard the hives, they're far superior to the strokes. the byrds & gary usher stuff caught my ears too. - What music have you been listening to lately? four tet. suicide, kriedler, third eye foundation, dreams of tall buildings, los planetos del agua, füxa, gavin wyber, the dust collectors, the for carnation, stimulus, keiron phelan/david sheppard, pharoah sanders. - Tell us about your other band 'Unisex'. Unisex are five people, two of which are writers, who write together & separately for the groop. We're less experimental than the Telescopes & a lot more song based In the traditional sense of the term. we've just released our first album for double agent records, it's a spacerock masterpiece. available in all good record shops.
We're putting out a new ep on mind expansion records in feb. it's called re:konstrukktions. it's our best ep yet. & will totally surprise everyone who's got the album. - Finally, have you got a message for the kids today? Expect the unexpected. To read a full review of the gig from rockcity.co.uk and to see the flyer, click here Links
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Really great. We got a good
idea which new songs work best live. There was 9 of
us & a computer onstage this time. We even had
a grand piano. It was really moving playing the
perfect needle again. It sounds better than ever.
Every time we play live we will be different.
People should expect the unexpected. I don't ever
want the Telescopes to become a predictable band that
just go through the motions. 
After the Unisex sessions finished
at night, i was stranded in a studio on my own, by a lake
in the middle of nowhere, there was nothing to do but
write on my own again. I haven't stopped writing
Telescopes music since. I did question everything
for a brief moment before i went onstage at
christmas. But the minute i walked on i knew it was
right. It's something i can feel but i can't
describe. 
- This
will be the Telescopes third decade together, do you
still get excited about writing music? 
I was in a band with rob, dominic,
dave & another fellow. Playing rhythm guitar
& writing. I hated the way my songs were
done. Nobody but dave seemed to understand my
ideas. So i quit. I'd seen jO around, we went
to a lot of the same gigs & both liked bands that
used feedback & screamed a lot. Dave was the only
guitarist i knew that hated 'rock guitarists' as much as
i did so i asked them to be in my new band the
Telescopes, which was no more than an idea in my head at
the time. At first we used to talk for hours about
the velvets & the stooges. None of us could
play very well, but after a while, the overall sound we
were making was awesome. I wanted to make music
that would make heads explode & i wasn't prepared to
compromise one bit. so we went thru lots of bassists
& drummers, then rob & dominic started coming to
our gigs & saw we were really happening. they
filled in when our bassist & drummer at the time,
couldn't take anymore & left us two days before a
gig.
I think
i met mcgee briefly at the ULU when we played with
the primals. He came to see us play in birmingham
soon after that & had to leave because we were too
loud & intense. Which appealed to him. A
meeting was set up at the Creation offices, but i got
there too late & missed it. Then 'what goes on'
(the bands label) went under. Alan stepped in &
rescued the situation. He really fought in our
corner against the receivers. He retrieved our
whole back catalogue from them & got us out of the
contract we were tied to. So we signed to
creation. he even became our manager at one point. 
- Have you listened to any of the stuff
released on Poptones (Alan's new label)? 
- Any plans with 'Unisex' for the
future? 