Fixx

Rip It Up, Issue 85, 1 August 1984, Page 27

Fixx

Russell Brown

I’d been told the Fixx were “nice young men.” They certainly are. Both singer Cy Curnin and drummer Adam Woods speak in philosophical, dreamy terms. They seem less like musicians than missionaries, at times. Woods criminally hides remarkable iridescent blue eyes behind sunglasses for much of the interview. As part of the “British Invasion” of the American charts, the Fixx are in the odd position of being considered rising stars in the States while barely rating in their native England. Despite their success they’re obviously not very keen on America, even a little embarrassed about their popularity there.

"I think it's been useful for us to gain strength in America to look

at the rest of the world,” says Curnin. "Some people would say America is just a big cauldron where everything gets absorbed on the same level, their conception of things seems so shallow, but that is still caused by something. Their attitude, whether you like it or not, has been caused by the institution working better or worse for them."

"It's the land of opportunity we’ve had the opportunity to take lots of money out of there and spend it elsewhere," adds Woods, more practically. "We aren’t making any money here," Curnin continues. “So we have to spend the money we make in America to come out and tour places where we get... more strength. People in America seem very misinformed because of the way their media works. Like the Midwest, it’s almost completely cut off. They use that weight to say it's the strongest superpower in the world but it's really based on ignorance and you can't actually criticise people for being ignorant because it's just a natural state."

The pair confess the band has

benefited from being lumped in as part of the "invasion” but Woods points out that the "invasion" has been more one of video, with the advent of MTV, than anything else.

On the other hand, the band’s new single, 'Deeper and Deeper’, written for the soundtrack of the film Sixteen Candles ("absolute crap," according to Curnin) is more American-sounding than anything else the Fixx have done. Curnin claims the sound was deliberate.

"We were asked to do a song for it by Jimmy lovine and he showed us some of the film. I took the piss out of the movie, especially lyrically, really and he didn't notice," he explains. Nonetheless, 'Deeper and Deeper' will go down a storm on American FM radio. A line in some of the band’s press material describes Fixx songs as "impressionistic.” Curnin explains: "I think it just reflects the pattern of the way the human mind works anyway. Everything goes past us in such a way that you can only draw a quick image from everything and your brain builds

up a whole picture. That process works just as well with music it’s just a matter of stimulating little flashpoints in people's memories and moods and using the lyric to just put the context in. And the impression is something they can carry away after the music’s stopped. Hopefully.” He says the lyrics to the songs are important and all the band members are conscious of them. "All the music’s about supporting the lyric. Otherwise it’s just a groove,” adds Woods. "Entertainment is about entertaining ideas as well as entertaining people,” Curnin concludes. Although they’ve come from stadium supports for the likes of the Police to playing to audiences of about 1000 on this tour, they say it’s much the same thing. "It’s the audience that makes the gig really,” says Curnin. "The bands just give the audience a reason to come together. Humans always need a guide to show their oneness, be it style of music, style of dress or political movements and things like that.” Amidst an array of other noble sentiments, the pair espouse optimism for youth. "Everyone’s convinced that things are going downhill. Well it's got to stop. Because if they convince themselves of that, that's the way it is. What’s going to happen is within people and nowhere else.” * "If you challenge people to believe in fate and destiny and all those words which have been taught to us as being 'part of the imagination' and not to be taken too much notice of ...” Curnin continues. "The people who teach us build up this false set of values and we all walk around feeling secure or insecure depending on how far we are up this supposed scale of comfort or whatever. The real security is to realise there's no security. You just go with the flow." While you have to admire their earnestness, it's hard to see how the Fixx ascribe all these properties to their rather tepid music. But on the other hand it's probably healthier to have sentiments like theirs in the US charts than those of Loverboy. So watcha got? A Smiths for America?