Pete Wylie and The Mighty Wah!

Life's a comeback

It's been raining. Not a lot, but enough to make the pavement glisten in the twilight. A man in a long coat reaches for a cigarette and without pause, continues the conversation untroubled by the fading light. Within 5 to 10 seconds the man is lying in a crumpled heap 20 feet below where he first stood, the mangled remains of the fence he was leaning on was flapping in the wind. Minutes later a fireman was on the scene attending to the victim whose broken breast bone had missed his heart by a centimetre. Turning him over, the man regained consciousness the fireman asked what his name was.

"You should know my fucking name." He then blacked out.

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is Pete Wylie. And he's back. (Again.)

He is a songwriter of the highest calibre but life has not been kind to the biggest ligger of the North. His career has been dogged by record company spats, band falling outs, localised musical politics and, well, life really. He doesn't really help his cause by being a gob-shite, but he'll be the first one to admit that and everything else. He doesn't just have a story, he's got an encyclopaedia of anecdotes in his head and if you can just turn off the funnies, he's been around the block more times than your milkman. He's been a bit luckier in recent times. Ish. After taking nearly four years to recover from the fall, Wylie took some time out to get back to what he knew best - song writing. He put a band together comprising of ex-Smiths drummer Mike Joyce and Farm bass player Danny Lunt and went off to play the unsigned A&R festival 'In the City'. Humbling stuff but it worked, Columbia stepped in and the process of spending money began. Oops! I mean the process of recording began. (Well, the line between the two is blurred y'know!)

More politics later and Wylie is on Castle Communications, the album safe in the hands of a company that are prepared to give ole' hardface a break. And here he sits, resplendent in leather trousers and his fret hand daubed in various pieces of fingerware. It's funny but as the mid-morning sun screams through the window , it falls on our hero in an almost angelic way. It lights up his gestures. It plays havoc with my hangover.

"Arr 'ay! Where's me tea? OI! Blueshite! Gerrin' 'ere."

Poor Glynn. He does photo things for Wylie and supports Everton. Umm Yeah, Blueshite. Make that two. And close the door on your way out.

"I feel like a scriptwriter, I want to put words in peoples mouth's. I like the fact that the album is about me, like all the songs I've done I guess."

Story of the Blues?

"Well that's an obvious one to choose , but I like the lyrics especially on tha' one. It's about the road behind you , littered with the corpses of ex-lovers. Metaphorically speaking of course!! There's that element in it of depression and how the depressed have a run of fantastic emotion. Depression isn't about being fed up. But the song comes from various points of view. The Blues is a reference to the Tories and the music and, actually, an episode of 'Boys From The Black Stuff' (early 80's drama set in Liverpool about a group of down at heel men who aren't having much fortune in their lives. Written by Alan Bleasedale, a playwright cum social commentator). That dealt with politics in a digestable form."

No bias because it's from the 'Pool? Wylie looks pensive as he continues. It is very powerful stuff. We watched it in school and I cried at the end of 'Yosser's Story'. Nobody should have that much bad luck.

"I met Bleasedale and told him that his writing had changed my life and I meant it. He shook my hand and said that he hadn't, I'd changed my life. He just guided me down the right fork in the road."

It's his age perhaps that shows his caring streak. There's an element of 'I was a right twat when I was younger' about him, a side which has long gone. Evident in the live set the following week at London's basement Caberet bar 'The Talk Of London', here he is the consummate performer. 12 songs all delivered with about twenty minutes of chat inbetween each bloody song. However it's unbelievably shambolic and undeniably brilliant, the hits sounding as fresh as the day they were penned. The Guardian gave him five out of five and considering the band had only done a day's rehearsal the mistakes weren't few and far between, but they were forgivable. Imagine being at the wheel of your dream car and watching careering out of control and you're powerless to do anything about it, yet it keeps swerving and missing the barriers in it's way. That's a Mighty Wah! Gig. It's noteworthy to point out that the audience would have paid to see Wylie in stand up mode such was the pace and ferocity of his verbals.

("I'm not playing on 'til I get more beer. Yes I am fuckin' Billy Corgan!!")

Wylie introduced each number like he was being interviewed by the crowd. An anecdote here, a observation there, topped off with the usual rye Scouse ranting. Jimmy Tarbuck meets Elvis Costello anyone? Whatever, we got 'Come Back', 'Sinful', 'Story Of The Blues' and an absolutely belting version of 'Better Scream'. The forty-somethings and hacks went home positively beaming. It's music you listen to on the dole after you've just found a £20 note. He's still talking..

"Me proudest moment though has to be being here now though. I didn't think I'd see this moment. I'm still getting away with it, no-one's caught me yet."

Doesn't everyone think that?

"Dunno. I've got something that keeps me going. I've not given up, Wah! has been going for over 20-odd years and here I am. Still being underestimated. I love that and hate it at the same time. This isn't an act y'know, you have to be serious about what you believe in. I believe in my songs, to the point where I invented a word that describes how I view my songs, my work, my life. 'Optimisery'."

Eh?

"It means being totally optimistic at the same time. The best way to think about is the programme 'Top Ten Punk Bands' was on the other night it was partly nostalgic and partly a reminder of things that got you where you are. Optimisery is fundamentally an adolesent thing."

Sitting in the middle of the see-saw?

"Oh aye yeah! The beauty of looking at it like that and aiming to write with those glasses on is that you see life for what it is. It's not really a series of choices, it just hits you and BAM! Deal with it."

The reason that Wylie is sprawled out over the settee is he is trying to promote the album 'Songs of Strength and Heartbreak' that is on an imprint of his called 'When!'. "Some of the songs are four years old now, but they are as important part of the album as the newer ones. I recorded it in Liverpool, London and Memphis with Mike Hedges whom I'd done 'Story Of The Blues' with years before. I hadn't been in a studio for nearly seven years, so I was a bit apprehensive. Me head was wrecked, but Sony felt a certain degree of safety using Mike as he's a big name and bloody good. Steve Leroni did two tracks as he was a fan from his Altered Images days."

Steve did Hanson didn't he?

"Yeah, so it was a natural progression to do me. What with the boyish good looks thing relevant to both of us. At least I'm better looking than one of the members!"

"NO YOU'RE NOT!"

Our tea boy is getting his own back. Evertonians eh? Blimey.

"Anyhow, where was I?" I look blankly at the cup of tea that was presented to me and my hangover tells me I hate tea. "Oh aye yeah! So when Colombia and me parted they gave us the album, the artwork, the lot. Nobody would touch it. They thought the problem was me because I don't suck Satan's cock like most of the young bands do. Shame really as I was made up to be on Colombia. The history speaks for itself - Billie Holliday, Dylan, Springsteen and The Clash, WOW unfortunately it was a different vibe than I expected. If I don't like the attitude of a group of fans or journalists then it tends to sour my view of the band in question. I feel the same way towards record companies. Occupational hazard."

Wylie glosses over his administration problems and raises his still steaming mug to his old passion. Ligging.

"You tend to get rewarded in Liverpool for things that you would be vilified for in London."

Going to the opening of an envelope?

"Yeah, I hate the idea of missing anything. That's why I go out a lot, well not so much now actually. You can bet that the night I stay in is the night Elvis turns up with a bag of doughnuts. I relate that to real life, I hate missing people. I guess I'm a little dubious of death. When you've got a few minutes left on the planet who do you think of? Not Michael Portillo or Sting, it's your kids, family and friends. Those you'll miss. That in a roundabout way is what 'Heart as big as Liverpool' is about."

Ah yes! That song that reverberates Anfield on Match Day. The Phil Spector-ish hooks that grace the chorus and the homesick nature of the lyrics suggest that if you didn't know where our hero is from.

"I've just based everything on my enthusiasms, you know, take things in and act upon them. It comes naturally to me, but it's not a safety net. Especially if you're talking about songs. People's ideas of what a good song is changes over time. 'I hate you so much right now', brilliant song. You'd never have got Cole Porter writing that. I just have to write what I know. It'll sound good though. Fuck all this anyway, what's this Heskey lark?"

Cracking timing Pete. The door comes tumbling down as our blue starts about Everton's chances tomorrow and our beloved press officer gets in a couple of low blows about Barnsley. Wylie's riled now and with as much passion you'll see from anyone in love with life goes off on what can only be described as 'one'.

I avoid it all, the epic melodies of the album ligging in my head as I run to the door, season ticket in one hand, a bag of doughnuts in the other.

'Songs of Strength and Heartbreak' is released by 'WHEN!' thru Castle Ian (UK)