A Conversation with Glenn Tilbrook (continued)

PM: Tell me, what are you listening to and what are you reading?

GT: I'm listening to the new Badly Drawn Boy record today.

PM: Is that the name of the band, Badly Drawn Boy?

GT: Badly Drawn Boy is from Manchester, yeah. I'm just absolutely mad for BR-549. I want to get hold of all their records. I've got my Junior Brown records out at the moment, because every so often I like to get his records out and listen to those.

PM: Totally amazing.

GT: I mentioned the Coral to you--did I, or did I not?

PM: Who?

GT: The Coral, C-o-r-a-l. They're a band from Liverpool, England. They're all between 18 and 21, and they're absolutely fantastic.

PM: Are they a pop band?

GT: They are a pop band--they're a pop band in the sense I understand. Most of my favorite music is created by people who sound like they sat down and absorbed something. And the Coral sounds like they spent three years in their respective bedrooms listening to West Coast psychedelic music plus pop music, then came out with their own take on it. And because they've sort of grown this thing together, it sounds a bit like that, but quite a lot like nothing else I've heard.

PM: Oh, I'm going to get right on that.

GT: Yeah. Also, they're doing things like time signature changes, all that sort of stuff that really not that many people are doing now--

PM: No.

GT: --and make it sound not like Yes, but like pop. And I like it sounding not that labored.

PM: And what about books?

GT: Books, well, let me see. I just finished P. J. O'Rouke's The CEO of the Sofa, just because I like him. And I just started reading The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy. It's very good, very stripped down. I always admire people who can get right to the point, in three words identify what they're talking about. That's an art in itself.

PM: Truly. Are you much of a religious or spiritual sort?

GT: I'm not religious. I wasn't brought up by believers, though I wasn't brought up by non-believers. And I suppose that lack of religion has transferred itself to me. My children, on the other hand, are being brought up to believe in God. People who have that certainty, I envy them without being able to understand it.

PM: Does that mean your wife is more of a believer?

GT: My ex-wife, actually. And yes, it does.

PM: And on the Christian side, or--

GT: Yes, she is.

PM: That's very interesting. So you live now in England?

GT: Yes, I do.

PM: And with whom, if that's not too--

GT: With my partner, Suzanne. We are now expecting a baby too, so that's a great thing.

PM: Ah, beautiful.  continue

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