Eugene McGuinness @ Liverpool Music Week

United Kingdom | by Ross Purdie | 10 December 2007

We like Eugene. At just 21-years-old he possesses a unique talent, adding a playful whist to the  tired old singer-songwriter mould which serves to stick him out from the rest. A bit of a local hero in Liverpool, he studied in the city and made his name here before moving back to London to follow his musical dreams. His debut EP ‘The Early Learning Of Eugene McGuinness’ is out now.

VF: You know Liverpool quite well we hear?
Eugene McGuinness: “Yes, I’m not from Liverpool but I went to university here. I was up here for three years; it’s quite a nice place and it's lovely to be back."

VF: How have you seen Liverpool Music Week evolve over the years?
EM: “It’s weird because there are massive acts playing now. It seems to have mushroomed into massiveness. It’s cool though, it’s exciting. Most gigs are free too. Liverpool has always encouraged live music so it’s good something big like this is mainly free.”

VF: Take me through your track ‘Bold Street’. Why did you pick that street out of Liverpool?
EM: “It was just in my head. I try and write about things that I know or things that are ingrained in me, but not in a kitchen sink way. I dress it up to look like pantomime reality and then I throw in lots of lies, just to make it a bit more interesting because it’s not that interesting to just write about KFC. So the street was in my head and I was thinking what to write about it. It’s slightly heightened reality, but there is some truth in it, but some is just completely heightened. I did a similar thing with a song called ‘Myrtle Parade’ which was a B-side. Myrtle Parade is another road in Liverpool, just more out the way. It’s out towards Hope University and I lived there and did exactly the same thing. You know how they make a film about Johnny Cash, or something, and there is fact in there but to make it a good film you need a bit of extra fluff around it. You couldn’t just get someone to just dress like him. You need a bit more.”

VF: What is the song about?
EM: “I’ve just tried to make it sound exciting and put loads of things in it. I was imagining walking from the top of the street to the bottom. So Roller Cabs enter at the top, which are the first line of taxis, and then down at the end there is a fake American diner and a busker and I just wrote a song lyrically as if I was walking down the street.”

VF: So there's no real reason that made Bold Street stand out from anywhere else. There was no ‘Penny Lane’ moment?
EM: “I suppose there is a little bit of nostalgia. I'm not saying that I feel like that now but maybe when I’m an old man and I’m not in Liverpool I’ll hear that song and there will be some nostalgia. It’s not really anything but there were lots of things going on and lots of ideas which I had and they all came under the umbrella of ‘Bold Street’. I was really happy with myself when I thought of things like the street being caked in a ton of its own vomit. I thought that was quite beautiful. It was just a collection of ideas under the umbrella of ‘Bold Street’ – a few things all came together. It’s got this thing of walking down the street feel to it.”

VF: Do you miss Liverpool now?
EM: “Yeah, most of the people I know live in Liverpool. I’ve moved to London and it’s very miserable.”

VF: Have you gone down there for musical reasons?
EM: “I grew up there. I miss London when I’m not there and I miss Liverpool when I’m not there either.”

VF: The grass is always greener.
EM: “Exactly.”

VF: Is there anything special you’ve got planned for tonight?
EM: “I don’t know really. It’s going to be solo, I was going to have my little brother on piano but it didn’t really work out. I think it will be better to just play solo. I’m going to play quite a few new songs as well because tracks like ‘Bold Street’ are about one or two years old now.”

VF: Did you do a lot of your writing when you were in Liverpool?
EM: “Most of the EP was written in Liverpool but I’ve been writing music for around seven years. I was around 15 when I started, but my songs were all terrible back then. It was amazingly bad.”

VF: When did you get to the point when you thought: ‘Actually I’m alright’?
EM: “About a year ago. I’ve always written music or been in a band or something but I didn’t really fall in love with the idea of songwriting until quite recently – it was just something to do. It was like playing football because it was just fun. It can be very difficult if nothing happens, but when it pays off it’s brilliant. I really enjoy it.”

VF: What's clear from your music is that it's very 'you and a guitar'. Would there be any plans for a bigger sound?
EM: “Yeah next year I’ll be playing guitar, drums and piano. I’m going to kidnap my little brother and take him on tour. The next record will have a bit more of a live aspect because I’ve pretty much played everything myself on the last one. But I’ll try and do that for the next one because I try to balance my music, I don’t just listen to every single singer-songwriter, so that aspect will be on the record and performed live as well as trying to keep the solo thing going as well.”

VF: Do the Rufus Wainwright comparisons annoy you?
EM: “I take them as a complement because I think he’s really good. There are similarities and certain things people say which are similar but I've heard other things that I just can’t relate to at all. People have said I sound like Animal Collective or Of Montreal and I’m not really even aware of their music. Somebody said Nick Drake and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Nick Drake record in my life. When they say 'my influences are' I often think: ‘I haven’t heard these people’. It sounds like Animal Collective are quite good though and I am a fan of Rufus Wainwright.”

VF: You don’t see such grandiose comparisons as a burden on you shoulders?
EM: “I think the best thing you can do is just stay very honest and have real knowledge, whenever you do anything, because if you’re anything other than very genuine and you’re trying to appeal to a certain market or idea then you will eventually get found out. People eventually get sick of it. People might be sick of my songs anyway, but at least I’ve based it on a piece of my conscience.”

VF: Why is that so important?
EM: “You just can’t try too hard or force things in a certain way. I can hear a Kings Of Leon song and I think: ‘Wow, why can’t I have a song like that?’ So I try and write a song like that and it will be rubbish. I can’t do that but they sound like a band that are fans of Rufus Wainwright as well.”

VF: While you’re up here is there anyone else you want to see?
EM: “There’s a lot of folk around here, well it’s not Crosby, Stills and Nash or anything. Lightspeed Champion, he’s playing tonight and I think he’s going to do a cover of one of my songs. I hope he does. He usually does, but he never does it in front of me.”

VF: What’s it called?
EM: “It’s called ‘A Girl Who My Eyes Shine For But My Shoes Run From.’”

VF: Are there going to be any collaborations tonight?
EM: “I don’t know. I haven’t seen Dev (Lightspeed Champion) yet. I’ll wait for him to arrive and see if he wants to do a cover of The Strokes’ ‘Heart In A Cage’. We’ve done it a few times before and I sing on it. It’s a great idea as a cover because it is quite a Johnny Cash type song when you take it to its bare bones like that.”

Find out more at the Eugene McGuinness MySpace.