Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy)
January 29, 2003

Despite my addiction to music and ludicrous rate of CD acquisition, it's actually very rare that an artist touches a nerve. Yes, I have thousands of CDs spanning close to as many artists, though if asked, I would only list off a handful of them as my favorites. Artists that upon hearing evoked such an inexplicable reaction, all I can do is run around telling everyone, "You have to hear this!" Such an artist is The Divine Comedy.

While the unfamiliar are quick to assign TDC as a lounge act, there is absolutely nothing sleepy or innocuous about their catalogue. Anyone who can take restroom rhythms out of the bathroom is doing something truly innovative, and all should pay appropriate attention. Often using a full orchestra, TDC delivers a production rivaling almost all in existence. Other artists struggle to sound like this when recording, and TDC make it seem so brilliantly effortless. Add to this that every TDC assemblage is written and coordinated by only one person, Neil Hannon, and you can't help but pay your respects. Very few solo-type 'band' artists are able to achieve such a grand sound in the studio.

Much to my delight, Neil obliged me an interview over the phone just before sound check on the final night of his U.S. tour before heading back to Northern Ireland where he is now working on new material for his next release.

How are you doing? How's your cold?

It seems to have cleared up miraculously. I just had a stinging hangover this morning, actually. I think I drank my way through it. [laughs]

You did an excellent job last night in spite of it. I was very pleased.

Thank you. It was pretty good. The crowd was a bit more receptive and chatty than sometimes they had been in LA in the past. I always like to have some sort of dialogue with the audience.

Right. It makes for a more enjoyable show. You feel like you've connected with the performer.

Yeah, it makes people feel like they've sort of "been somewhere" - done something which is more of a two-way thing than being sung at.

I was really surprised myself at the size and enthusiasm [of the crowd]. Has this been the typical response stateside this time around?

Yeah! And it's really gratifying! We've put in the hours in the last year or so, and it seems to have actually worked. Things have grown each time we've put on shows.

I think all of us statesiders individually think we're the only Divine Comedy fans in this country.

[Laughs]

There was a comment that you made during last night's performance that is prompting me to ask a question I'd originally set aside for fear of attacking your sensitivities. A lady in the audience mistook your ailments as a typical English response to being in America. You were quick to smartly correct her on your Irish descent. Perhaps this is bad practice of letting stereotypes get in the way of reality, but the style of The Divine Comedy comes across to uneducated statesiders as very English. Does it aggravate you at all to be mistaken for an Englishman?

No. Honestly, I couldn't really care less. It's just like anybody-they like to have as little ambiguity as possible about their identity. I've never minded being seen as an anglophile. An awful lot of what I've been inspired by has been English/British. But I think I wouldn't have treated it in the way that I had if I hadn't been not English, if you know what I mean. I wouldn't try to put myself in the same bracket…but you know George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde sort of beat the English at their own game, you know? I think it's easier to observe somebody else's culture from that side. But then again, I'm influenced by many cultures. I suppose it'd be mostly European. But then you'd be surprised how much American music is relevant to what I do. My favorite singer in the world ever is an American, Scott Walker.

Yes, Scott! I wanted to touch on him a little bit. It seems most journalists just sort of graze the topic of Scott when speaking with you and then walk away very quickly. They don't seem to pick up on your admirations of him. I had the opportunity to listen to 'Scott4' and instantly heard where your influences have come from. Do you still feel too intimidated to get too close to him? Did you work with him much during the Ute Lemper collaboration?

Oh no…but because he was working on the same project I sneakily sort of positioned myself outside the mastering studio when he was in, and just kind of "accidentally" bumped into him. I was absolutely terrified. I was so completely in awe. I tried to make a decent fist at conversing with him. I didn't say anything too embarrassing so…

Was he aware of your admirations at the time?

I think he was, because I've sent him every record I've ever made! [laughs] I read in a French interview he did once that he said, "this funny little Irish guy keeps sending me his records." I had it framed and put on the wall.

What did you think of his last effort with the Pulp album?

It's funny because I couldn't sort of quite discern his hand in any way. It doesn't sound at all like what he's doing at the moment or has done for the last twenty something odd years. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall, and seen the working relationship there. I didn't think it was Pulp's best album ever, but it had a few very lovely tunes on it.

I wanted to kind of draw a simile here, but with the recent Pulp album and 'Regeneration,' it seemed like there were two bands taking bold steps in new directions, trying to do something different-

-And nobody wanting to know! [laughs]

Which is rather unfortunate.

It tends to be the way of things especially in today's musical climate.

Agreed. Though I have to applaud you in sticking to your stated raison d'etre, "never to stagnate."

Yeah. It was something I really wanted to do. Kind of employ the band more in the music, and also see what it was like with a producer. I've never really had a producer, per se, who was known for production before 'Regeneration.' It was largely just engineer and artist getting the record made.

Does that mean Darren Allison did more engineering than production on your previous efforts?

Darren Allison started out as just the engineer, and as we did more albums he got more involved in making them sound really good. The same thing with John Jacobs; on 'A Short Album…' he recorded it, and on 'Fin De Siecle' he definitely had a large part in making it sound the way it did. But in those days, I was always loathe to bring up the production credit on the album because, at the end of the day, it was really just what we had arranged musically being recorded. That's very different from real production, which is more the act of choosing the instrument and what it's going to play in the studio. I'd never done this up until 'Regeneration.' On all previous albums, I arranged very tightly, demoed very specifically, and then gone into the studio and did it in about two weeks.

I think The Divine Comedy production as a whole is some of the best on catalogue available.

That's very kind of you to say so! [chuckles]

The one that sticks out for me the most is the production on 'Casanova.' I think it's absolutely stellar. I think other artists strive for this. I can hear them on their own recordings almost seeming to aspire to something even remotely close to it.

'Casanova' is where my ideas and the sound of the music came closest together. I wanted it to be interesting and multi-faceted as a lot of instrumental records I had been listening to at the time - Ennio Morricone, John Barry, and things like that. Whilst having the sort of "up" kind of punch - that sort of contemporary vibe.