"I'M NOT A VICTIM"
"I'M NOT A VICTIM"
Gerry Love opens up about leaving Teenage Fanclub
Gerry Love was one of the founder members of Teenage Fanclub in Glasgow in 1989, and he’s always been a key figure in their ultra tuneful West Coast meets indie confection.
His songwriting credits include some of their best loved tunes, notably ‘Sparky’s Dream’ and ‘Ain’t That Enough’, where he assumed vocal duties as well as playing bass.
Since his shock departure from the band in 2018, Gerry has kept a low profile – not helped by the pandemic of course - but now he’s back, and on May 27th he’ll be playing TFC songs outside of Scotland for the first time since the split, at Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre.
When I caught up with Gerry over Zoom for my Brum Radio show recently, he gave me the lowdown on the band’s break up.
GL: The dispute was about a tour. It really is as simple as that. There was no solution, there was no compromise.
I found myself in a position where I’d just come back from a world tour, where we’d been touring a new album. We took on a new manager and the new manager wanted to stick on another world tour. And I didn't want to do that, because I don't really like flying.
I'm more than prepared to tour the world when we're making a new album, but not just to play the old stuff. And there was no solution to that.
I found myself – 30 years in, 50 years old – thinking that I have no choice in my life. And I always had choice in Teenage Fanclub. Nothing ever happened unless we all decided – except for this tour.
And so I had no option. I wasn’t going to do the tour, I don’t regret not doing the tour, so there was no other option for me.
AG: But although you don’t like flying, you would do it if the incentive was to play new songs and tour a new album?
GL: Yes, exactly. When you start the process of making an album - because we are in a fortunate position of being able to tour other countries – you know that at the end, you're going on a plane to Japan, or America, or possibly Australia.
But I wouldn't expect to do that otherwise, and I really wouldn’t like to be forced to do it. I'm not somebody who’s absolutely terrified of flying – if I was, I would never have been in the band this long - but I definitely have anxiety about it, and I don't think somebody who has anxiety should be forced to do things that make them anxious just for money.
I know money makes the world go round for some people, and I know that money is helpful. But we weren't the kind of band that was ever driven purely by money. A lot of people in our generation were quite idealistic and would maybe refuse to present a song for an advert if they didn’t agree with company or whatever.
As you get older, maybe you start to change and become more realistic, but maybe I’ve held onto my idealism a bit longer than others. I’ve always felt in my life that I’ve had choice. I'm not in the army, and I'm not in jail, so I can choose what to do.
I found I had no choice left. I thought I can’t really go forward with this because I must be able to have choice, you know? I'm an artist, I'm a musician, I'm not in the Army. There was no solution and no compromise, so here you go.
AG: That was a change to how the band operated before. At a personal level, having known the guys for years, that must have hurt you.
GL: I don't think I was a victim. I chose not to do the tour, which would have put the band in a financial situation that might be difficult. So I do accept that I'm maybe being idealistic in the face of reality, but that’s the kind of person I am.
I believed that, for example, we could make the money we needed by touring Europe, you know? As things have played out with the pandemic, Teenage Fanclub’s new album has only been toured in Europe, and they’re still going - so it just shows that you don't necessarily have to tour the world to continue as a band . That was my argument.
Since that disputed tour, their only tours have been in Europe and I love touring in Europe. I love being on the road. Once you arrive in America, and you're actually on the road and you travel around I really enjoy it - I just don't like the big long flights. But it's all water under the bridge now.
AG: Does that does that suggest though, at some point in the future, you could see yourself back into TFC?
GL: I can't see how that would ever happen, because they’d have to ask me back and we're all quite proud people. We’re the kind of people that might not back down, you know? I don’t have anything to do with Teenage Fanclub any more so I don’t have any control over that, but I can’t really foresee a moment when that could happen. They're doing fine without me, so why would they need me?
You can listen to the full interview here