Mike Scott makes a statement with his latest Waterboys (double) album
You have to think that at some point, Mike Scott’s songwriting peers have to listen to the latest opus from The Waterboys, the double-album Out Of All This Blue, and simply say, “I can’t stand this guy,” simply because the good stuff just keeps on coming.
“I hope so,” Scott laughs. “I hope they all think that. One of my favorite stories is about Hank Williams in the days of the Grand Ole Opry back in the late 40s, early 50s. And he would sit on the stoop at the stage door, and as the other artists would come in, he would look up at them and say, ‘You can’t write ’em like old Hank, can ya?’ I love that.”
If Scott sounds like a confident artist at the top of his powers more than three decades after he founded The Waterboys, that’s an accurate assessment. But don’t let his consistently top-notch output fool you into thinking that he just sits down and the songs arrive effortlessly.
“Sometimes it’s easier, sometimes it’s harder,” he admits. “This record came very easily. I wrote all the songs in an 18-month period, which is very quickly for me. It was very fast. But in the past, I’ve had long periods when I don’t write a single song and it’s really tough. And I’m sure it will be tough for me again in the future at some stage. And who knows why it goes in those phases.”
But it’s oh so nice when those good phases show up.
“It’s fantastic,” he laughs. “Nothing beats writing a cluster of new songs. It’s the greatest feeling.”
So great that Out Of All This Blue contains 34 tracks. That’s not a typo, but in this day and age of singles and EPs dominating the landscape, it is a bold statement.
“I fought for that kind of freedom in my early days as an artist,” Scott said. “I had my battles with management and agents and record company men who wanted me to do this or wanted me to do that and wanted me to keep repeating what I was doing that was successful. And I cleared things so that I could always follow music wherever it wanted to lead me, and that’s what I’m still doing.”
Hence a double album that is a welcome addition to his body of work and a not so subtle jab at a world intent on instant gratification that has forgotten the simple joys of sitting down with a record that contains more than four tracks.
“I’m very proud of this piece of work,” he said. “I think it’s the best record I could have made and it’s a great thrill and novelty to put out a double album. I’ve always wanted to do one and I should have done one with Fisherman’s Blues back in the late 80s. In fact, it probably should have been a triple, but I didn’t have my wits about me and so it wasn’t. But now, I’ve done it.”
And the 58-year-old couldn’t be happier — about the new record and the current state of affairs in his life.
“I am a lucky man,” he said. “I get to make a living out of doing what I love to do most. I get to write songs, play around with sounds like a kid in a toyshop and then go out and tour with my best friends and play for people who want to hear what we do. It’s a really great life. And I can’t think of many things that would be easier than that.”
For more information on Mike Scott and The Waterboys, click here
