Last year, the Antigel festival invited Tindersticks to the Salle des Fêtes du Lignon. They came to our city with an album: The Something Rain published in 2012. This album of a formidable melancholy paid tribute to deceased friends. In an interview with Les Inrocks, Stuart Staples asked the question: “How to continue to live normally after all this? How do people manage to keep dancing despite everything”…

This year, Stuart Staples is a member of the jury of the Geneva Festival Tous Ecrans.

The universality and timelessness of this album are undeniable. I’m thinking of David Bowie…

As the 2016 edition of the Antigel festival has just ended (sniff), Takk Productions announces a Swiss tour with a new album: The Waiting Room. In this waiting room, the music of Tindersticks dialogues with filmmakers such as Claire Denis, Christoph Girardet, Pierre Vinour, and Gregorio Graziosi.

So I woke up this morning to listen to the sweet and irreplaceable voice of Stuart Staples…

How did The Waiting Room project start?

In 2012, I was part of the jury during the International Short Film Festival in Clermont-Ferrand. At that time, the world of short films was foreign to me; I was particularly surprised by the energy released and the creativity of the ideas raised by the short film. Maybe I said to myself with the group, we could one day release an album and commission short films that can be inspired by each song from this future album. But I did not think for a second that it would be done so directly and quickly.
By the end of 2014, we had an “advanced draft” of The Waiting Room; we had enough time left in the creative process before its release to address the question of the short film. And gradually, things got done.

Am I therefore to understand that you composed this album with a view to producing short films?

No not at all. I didn’t realize that the two things – the album and the short films – were going to fit together. When writing the songs for The Waiting Room, all I thought about was the music. And it was only at an advanced stage of the composition that we realized that we had time to explore this idea of the visual of the album.

Tell me, how would you feel if I told you that Tindersticks music fills the void that sometimes surrounds us?

Hum.. I believe that what I do, I do it deeply in relation to my conception of art; composing, and writing my own songs are the means that I use to fill this void. Maybe we are all looking for the same thing. And if at the same time, I have the opportunity to help others through this art, then I am fully satisfied.

Let’s get back to things that are a little more tangible: concretely, what does a working day look like according to Stuart Staples?

Every day is different. But when I’m working on an album or a musical project, my day is basically quite common: I get up in the morning, I take my children to school and I stay in my studio all day to figure things out (understand things). Sometimes the group comes to keep me company and they leave leaving me a creative mess that I then try to solve. This is how it works.
And the loneliness in all this?
I think I am a person who needs a certain amount of solitude. Up to a point of course and I think I now know how to manage this loneliness.

What comes first to you: the music or the lyrics?

It depends on the idea. Most of the time, my songs take shape when I sing. Sometimes a few words are already present, sometimes it is only the translation of emotion. And sometimes the idea comes from a member of the group and it inspires me to sing. Several songs from our latest album have taken shape thanks to ideas from the band. And me, I connect to them, to their ideas and I try to sing them.

But then when do you decide or how do you decide that the idea is good? Or at least, is it worth it?

On this particular album, I would say there were about twenty good ideas. Then, we had to manage the time to bring these ideas to a path… And together, we see if the path taken has a certain resonance within the group. I don’t think this album comes from the best ideas we’ve ever had, but the stories it tells are most definitely the best. And comes the moment when we choose the 11 songs that will compose the album in order to work on the story that this album tells. It is always difficult to make this choice, to abandon a song along the way. But they will always be there, these songs, half forged and we will come back to them one day because they have this ability to lead us on other paths. Moreover, some songs on this album were half-forged more than ten years ago… Each song waits for its moment…

Stuart, I would really like to know something: what exactly is happening on stage?

For me, it’s all about connecting and sharing with each other…. the transmission of energy, of an idea in particular. I seek to break down physical barriers rather than becoming aware of the stage, the audience, the lights, etc. I just want to get to feel comfortable enough in a room to be able to share something with the audience.

And after more than 20 years of career, do you still have stage fright?

Always! It’s not something you can take at face value. Perhaps for some artists or musicians, the motivation is precisely to go on stage. But for us, motivation comes from our desire to create something. And the scene may not be part of this creative process. However, it was never natural for us to be on stage: over the years we had to learn and that is how we are.

The Waiting Room ends with the song Like Only Lovers Can and the lyrics of this song ask the question: so where do we go? (so where are we going?). So my last question for you is, where is Stuart Staples going now?

I’ve no idea. This album could not end with a conclusion… it had to end by offering a space in front of the music which invites the next chapter. That’s how we felt. So I don’t know and I don’t want to know because emotions and excitement are part of the journey.

Are there at least places you don’t want to go?

(Laughs)…I don’t want to go back. At over 40 years old, we have found with Tindersticks a space where we can create and it was not easy to do it with people you have been around for so long. So we will see together where all this will lead us…

Anyway, I can tell you where I’m going next Sunday, March 6: to the Octogone Théâtre du Pully to attend the Tindersticks concert because I’m probably like everyone else and I’m constantly trying to fill a certain void: the emptiness of absence, misunderstandings, suffering and the music of Tindersticks decorates it with humility and depth.

A big thank you to Takk Productions and more particularly to Aurelia.

Photography © Tindersticks 2015 Christophe Agou