THE GENEVA CONVENTION

Rip It Up, Issue 242, 1 October 1997, Page 13

THE GENEVA CONVENTION

”1 don’t suppose we’re going to be some kind of phenomenon like Oasis,” Andrew Montgomery reflects from his London hotel. Geneva, the latest fresh-faced guitar struck hopefuls from arious points North of the Border, have been inching their way up the hit parade with each successive single, and their soaring, emotionally fulfilling debut album, Further, places them well above the anonymous hordes of the post-Britpop rush.

■« 3 unlikely that Montgomery, Christian, I L D ex-Sunday Post journalist, Glasgow Rangers supporter and owner of a heavenly larynx, would want to be as big as Oasis. “I agree, I don’t think I could cope with that loss of privacy, it’s good to get your own space. Obviously, I’ve got a big enough ego to want to go on stage and have people look at me. All the guys in the band are the same, we want the applause, but once you’re away from the stage it’s a different matter. I don’t really fancy being the star and anyway I don’t have that kind of charisma.” So if you don’t want to be a pop star what attracted you to pop in the first place? “I like the singing. I never really had any ambitions in my teens to go into pop music. I had journalistic ambitions since I was about 14

and they culminated in working for the Sunday Post in Aberdeen. It was there that I met Steven [Dora] our guitarist and we formed a band called Sunfish.” A record contract arrived in the nick of time through a friend-of-a-friend in London who was Nude Records’ A&R man. “There must’ve been some element of fate going on because we were at our lowest ebb,” continues Montgomery. “We were close to breaking up a month before we got signed. I was the only one left in Aberdeen, Steven had gone down to Dundee, Douglas [Caskiedrummer] was in the throes of moving back up from London to Glasgow. Meanwhile Keith [Graham, bass] was going from Edinburgh to London for a law course and Stuart [Evans, guitar] was in Edinburgh. So as you can imagine practising and writing songs was a difficult process.” So if the band hadn’t got the break of the record contract it would’ve been back to day jobs? “Aye, but with a heavy heart,” Montgomery laughs with relief. “If Geneva ever split up I’d try and get involved in something else in pop music as I’ve become lazy in the nine to five sense in the last couple of years as it’s like coasting through the day and that’s something you can’t get rid of very quickly.” Contract under the belt, it was agreed that, as a name, Sunfish just wouldn’t cut it. So a flick through the dictionary producing a shortlist of 12 names sees the band and the record company agreeing on Geneva, dictionary definition meaning ‘gin’. “You don’t want to prejudice your listener,” explains Montgomery. “You don’t want to come out with Heavy Metal Mothers. Your name is your trademark and you don’t want something that’s going to mislead the public. The name ‘Geneva’ has no special design on it other than the fact that it doesn’t say anything about us so it means we can grow into the name.” Inescapably, the distinctiveness of Geneva’s sound lies with Montgomery’s rootless, angelic falsetto. It’s pure and powerful without being irritating or sentimental. Formal training perhaps? “No, my mum does a bit of singing in amateur dramatics so probably I’ve inherited a bit of ability from her. I was in choirs in church and school. When we got the band started I was singing in a lower key than I am now but just over time you listen to different singers

An Interview with Geneva a Andrew Montgomery

; . and you experiment vocally just as guys will i improve on guitar. You don’t stand still, you ' / ; just find a new base to develop what you’ve i got.”, = And for influences Montgomery can quote : the peerless talents of the likes of Smokey j Robinson, Marvin Gaye, and the forgotten j seduction of 60s soul music. j “A lot of people are put off because they i think soul music is a heavy, emotional, j demanding thing. There is obviously a lot of : emotion, that’s one of the things that attracted j me to it and there’s such a superb pop touch : from the guys you mentioned. There’s so much ; to learn from Motown and Stax and I’m still in i the early stages of discovering all that stuff, j I’ve got four or five Marvin Gaye albums, a i boxed set of Al Green and Aretha Franklin. ; “I love to them sing. Why hide your i light under a bushel? If you’ve got something ; to sing about sing it out. I love the way they i can make painful moments and transcend j them into something positive and I think that’s i something that people overlook in our music. L OK they say new seriousness but we try to : make our music as uplifting as possible.” j Producer Mike Hedges (Manics, the Cure, ; the Beautiful South etc) didn’t have to drag the i band into the idyllic Normandy countryside to : record their album, Further, their first big i statement of faith and romanticism : communicated through Montgomery’s i elemental and Christian imagery. : “I think simple imagery is a strong thing to j do as people get what you’re saying and : you’ve got to bring out human nature in your i songs. There’s no point in clouding things in i mystery, it’s entertainment, that’s the bottom ; line. Sure, it’s artistic expression but if you i totally alienate people and it becomes so . ; individualised then you may as well sit in your : bedroom. ; “For me it’s about making an emotional : connection with people — that’s what soul j music tried to do for years and so did all the : best rock bands of the last few years like ; Nirvana. Maybe I tend to get a bit serious : minded at times and a bit existential but you i can’t help it if you’re touched by something. : On ‘Temporary Wings’ (suicide from a bridge) I ; was touched by what I read and the lyrics were j written in whirlwind fashion in ten minutes flat. ; OK metaphors are used but most of the time i the language that’s used is plain and ; heartfelt.”

i Has your Christian background influenced ; i your lyrical approach? i i “I was a Christian. I was brought up in the ; \ Presbyterian Church and I became a born again i i Christian when I was 15. That was something \ i that I went through at the time. It was partly i i where I was and the people I was with and I ;

had a church background. I sdll have a residue of faith but I don’t go to church or anything like that. “Fait: is a private thing and maybe there are allusions to it on the album in songs like ‘The God of Sleep’ but the biblical imagery is used to lend colour. It’s not something the rest of the band are into, it would be unfortunate if we were all tarred by the same brush.” The NME suggested that the band tried to rough up the sound of the album in order to prevent it from being too heavenly. Montgomery disagrees. “There was always a possibility that things could sound too sweet and mannered but we didn’t sabotage the sound in any way. If you saw us live you’d understand that we were trying to connect more with the live feel of our songs. Live it’s a lot more raw and in your face.” With your voice being so distinctive, you’ll be wondering how to get a different sound? “It can be good that we’ve got our own sound, not just the vocal but the way the guys play. But I think we can change it and make it different enough from the likes of‘lnto the Blue’ and ‘No One Speaks’ for it to be interesting. I can sing lower, I’ve not got a brilliant lower range but it’s good enough to get by and I’d like to try and explore the use of range within songs. Some of our songs like ‘Fall Apart Button’ are sung in that high range and that’s one of my favourite songs on the album but I also like ‘Wearing Off because it’s going up the scales.” Montgomery may be the torch carrier for this band, but the other four aren’t there just to make up the numbers. Guitarist Steven Dora takes care of most of the music, and the band as a whole give Montgomery the drive and spiritual intensity that prevents him from being the lone choirboy. “I’m glad you picked up on that. People call attention to the fact that I sing high and that’s quite annoying as I don’t play an instrument and I’m only as good as the rest of the band. This isn’t the Andrew Montgomery Band, this is Geneva, this is about five people that can write music and explore what’s going on in their heads hopefully passionately. I think we’re all lucky to have one another.”

GEORGE KAY