There’s a difference between nostalgia and fulfilment, and Manchester’s The Catchmen are firmly in the latter camp. What began on borrowed gear and Roland keyboards on the edge of Stockport has grown into something far more cinematic. With Indoor Weather completing the narrative arc they reignited on Stockport Syndrome, Michael Knowles and Ian Livingstone have finally matched their youthful ambition with the resources, experience and perspective to deliver it properly. Orchestral in scale but intimate in spirit, this second chapter isn’t about looking back, it’s about finishing what they started, and doing it on their own terms.
Let’s start with the sound. ‘Indoor Weather’ is lush and orchestral in a way you couldn’t achieve back when you first started this band. Is this the record you always heard in your heads?
We always had orchestras and scale in our heads and tried to do this with Roland keyboards and guitars when we were younger – and made a pretty good noise! Its lovely though to be able to work with the real thing now and get that cinematic sound and light and shade we imagined.
If 22-year-old you from Stockport heard ‘Indoor Weather’, what would he say?
I think he would be chuffed as he always presumed he would be dead by 40. He would be even more chuffed that the old fella was still doing music and had a decent head of (almost) red hair.
Your backgrounds span from film producers, composers, and songwriters. How does scoring for screen influence the way you build tension and release inside a Catchmen song?
The dynamics from working on film scores and underscoring emotion in films is reflected in the songs of the Catchmen. We love the drama and scale we can get with working with film type sonic textures
You’ve both had huge success outside the band, BAFTAs, Ivor Novellos, global scores. Why return to The Catchmen now?
We have always written songs together and are lifelong friends. After Ian had written the score for Book Of Love and I had written some of the songs, Ian suggested it was a good time to try and revisit some old Catchmen songs (such as Hangover on ‘Stockport Syndrome’) as we had wished them to be (with an orchestra) and do some new ones. It was lovely to focus on an album together that brought together the worlds of music and films on a story that reflected our home town.
Do you approach lyrics cinematically, as scenes and characters, rather than traditional indie songwriting?
Most of the songs start with a guitar or piano and a basic lyric idea. I don’t think lyric s change from being in a acoustic context, rather the musical treatment of the lyrics changes. A good song I think can be played in a number of ways. And I think the basis for anything we do is a good song- in both words and music.
The dual-album structure, male voice first, female voice second, did you map that out when you wrote the first album?
The first album told a story from one perspective- a young immature lad in a band in young love. The second album picks up that story but everyone is a little older, not necessarily wiser. It felt interesting to see this from a complimentary yet different perspective and was good to collaborate with my wife, Jennifer Knowles lyrically on this (as well as Ian). As a writer/ singer/ producer it was interesting to take a step back and be singing back up. The two albums complement each other I think but are also mirrors of each other.
There’s a real sense of place running through both albums. How important is geography to the emotional weight of these songs?
I think its about particular people in particular places in particular life situations which create that emotional weight. In ‘Heartbreak and Jealousy’ from Stockport Syndrome, I can see myself looking up a window in Edgeley. Whereas ‘England’ from ‘Indoor Weather’ takes a personal look at England and where we are now. How the imagined England and the reality meet.
When listeners sit down and play both records back-to-back, what journey do you hope they take from the first spark of young love to ‘You Alone’ closing the story?
We love the fact that these are albums to be played all the way through-which seems to be a less of a thing I think at the moment. When I think of the albums I love from Pet Sounds to Steve McQueen, Skylarking to Want, these albums all sound like colours and have a oneness to them. We are really grateful for anyone and everyone going on this journey with us and hope they feel that innocence in the first album through to the more life worn songs in the second – but feel the joy in life and living and creating throughout both (and get something from the experience). Whether we are young or old we can still have the joy of these experiences and joy of creating something new. All things must pass as George Harrison said.
Do you plan on playing this album live, and would you bring a full orchestra with you?
Would love to but I think it more likely to do this with a quartet and have talked about doing that.