Music Interview: Bernard Butler

Why did you decide to revisit, rerecord and reissue People Move On?

I’ve done a couple of reissues with Demon, and they were asking me for quite a while to do it. I’d always resisted – I’m not a big fan of the whole reissues industry. I like living in the present and doing stuff now – I’m always trying to serve what I do, rather than serve other people. That’s a really important part of what I do, otherwise you would just stop after your first record and live it out forever. Why did I come back to this one? Because I listened to it, and I didn’t like it. I turned it off straight away. I knew instantly how I would feel – I didn’t like the vocals.

So, you hadn’t listened to People Move On much before you started this project?

I don’t listen to any of my music apart from when I’m making it, because when I’m doing it, I’m living it. I’m doing a record at the moment, and it takes you over completely – you’re absorbed by it. I don’t put on my records for pleasure. I’m not going to look in the mirror in the morning either – I’m passed that age.

The second reason for doing this [rerecord People Move On] was that I started going back to all my songs. A couple of years ago, it occurred to me that my music is scattered amongst lots of other artists, as well as myself – it’s in all different places, all different styles and all different arrangements. Most of the people involved have come through my life and then gone. Sometimes you wonder what your role in it all is.

What’s the point of living this life of collecting all this stuff and being involved in all these collaborations? I started thinking about that and if I could find a personal thread through all of my work that connected me with it.

So, to find that thread, I started renting a rehearsal room every Wednesday. I would go there on my own, with just an electric guitar, which was the purest limitation I could find, and I would try and play music that I’d made in the past, from memory, which was specific to a time, a place and an artist. I started thinking ‘was there a song, how would I play it, what were the words and what was the imprint that it left on me?’

So, I tried to remember songs, I fumbled through the words and the chords, and I found myself quite enjoying it. I did that on my own for about 18 months – no one knew I was doing it – and I recorded it on my phone. I’ve had the opportunity to record in some really great and lavish ways, but when you are performing, you’re very much limited to the tools – a guitar and a voice. I realised I had a licence to change melodies and words.

So, what effect did doing that have on you?

I’ve started writing songs again in that style – a new record will be the next thing that happens – and I started enjoying hearing the sound of my voice, which I haven’t before, and Demon asked me [to reissue People Move On], so I jumped at it. I said to them, if I do it, can I get the instrumentals and sing over them? So here we are.

The new CD set is a really nice package and well-presented. There are lots of tracks on it and some new artwork…

I worked really hard on every aspect of it. It’s taken a long time. I’m a fan. I’m the kind of person who buys records like this and looks forward to it. I don’t like it when the reissue industry does things badly – when the group aren’t involved and don’t give a shit. I find that really distressing – particularly with my own work. I don’t want to rip people off and I want my work regarded and presented in the best way possible. I want every aspect of it to be beautiful.