Mixing pop and politics
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday August 1, 2009
'Reverend' Jon McClure is passionate about his songs and intelligent debate. YOU can feel the positive energy emanating from Jon McClure these days. The charismatic leader of British outfit Reverend & The Makers is excited because his band's second album, A French Kiss in the Chaos, looks set to fulfil the promise suggested in 2006.Back then, there were many whispers about a near-mythical character from Sheffield, Yorkshire, known as the Rev and stories abounded about him. It was true he was a poet. It was also true he was a close friend of, and inspiration to, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, as well as a key figure in the Sheffield music scene that spawned Turner's band.But rumours that McClure, not Turner, was the brains behind Arctic Monkeys' astonishing debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, had to be refuted repeatedly.Still, the pressure was on Reverend & the Makers to come up with something special and they briefly did so with their monster debut single, Heavyweight Champion of the World, in 2007. Yet The State of Things, the album that followed it, didn't quite live up to expectations.I think it was a little bit disjointed, McClure says in his broad Yorkshire accent. It's not a great album there's some great moments on it and there's some average moments on it.However, the response to [A French Kiss in the Chaos] has been staggering, to the point where my biggest critics are now my biggest fans People who hated me and actively tried to kill [Reverend & the Makers] off, just love it.You can hear the Rev's renewed confidence throughout the new record. It has looseness and tension, swagger and urgency, not to mention an attractive diversity that takes in the likes of dub-inflected pop and psychedelic waltzes via seething rock'n'roll calls-to-arms and reflective ballads.I feel like it's got some real class about it, McClure says. For the first time, I feel comfortable in me own skin because the rhetoric matches the music. When you're unafraid to nail your colours to the mast and you stand for [British anti-racism organisation] Love Music Hate Racism or you stand for Palestine, for instance.. you have no idea the amount of hatred that it generates."I was just like, 'I can't believe people are saying this about me.' I feel like I've kind of answered them.That's the other thing about the Rev he's got plenty to say (hence the sobriquet).Until recently, the former politics student admits he felt alone in a world apparently uninterested in anything important. I think there's a reluctance to say anything political among celebrities, to say anything of any kind of gravitas," he says. "There's an obsession, especially in Britain, with minutiae.But there's something bubbling and [people] can feel it. There's real discontent. It's not confined to Britain, either it's all over the place.A lot of musicians out there especially with the way the music industry is changing are now thinking, 'Do I really wanna sacrifice all my principles for a load of money or in 20 years, do I want to be remembered for saying something and making proper records?'It's a very exciting time, I think.These worthy intentions have extended beyond McClure's music. He made an invigorating album of politicised dub and hip-hop earlier this year under the name Mongrel, along with friends including members of Arctic Monkeys and Pete Doherty's band Babyshambles.The prolific McClure also plans to record a dancehall collection in Jamaica with Damian son of Bob Marley and other prominent collaborators in the near future. But his crowning achievement of late has been the website instigatedebate.com, which invites participants to ask public figures intelligent questions and instigate debate with a view to potentially effecting changes in the way their country is run.The main thing is complete surprise, he says, referring to his music again. You know bands who can change their skin? The artists I like are people who can do that. I might make some shit records but I just might make a f---in' classic an' all.A French Kiss in the Chaos is out now.
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