James Parsons

When did you join Spearmint & how?
I joined spearmint after applying to an advert in the Melody Maker in 1995, I've still got that issue actually. It was the same issue that featured news of a head to head battle between Oasis and Blur for their forthcoming singles, Roll out the Barrel and Country Mouse respectively. My band of many years, "Supersaurus" had just split up and I spent the best part of two weeks in a phone box outside the Lebanese restaurant in Teddington high street. Armed only with a copy of Melody Maker, a pen and note pad and a will to join a fantastic band. I spoke to Shirley and we arranged to meet in Greenwich in the pub by the station. When we got in the pub there was a certain amount of acting cool and aloof going on from both parties until we were chased by a wasp, HE insisted that we moved. We talked about music and he invited me to an audition. Not only was I one of just two that applied for the audition, but I was the only one who turned up to the audition. So in retrospect the sentence, "You were the only one for the job" takes on an all together different meaning. (actually 3 applied, but Yes, you were the only one who turned up - Shirl)

What do you do in Spearmint?
I play guitar now but up until the Oklahoma! tour I played bass. I do the artwork and I'm also responsible for the biggest mood swings especially on the first and last night of any tour.

You do all the artwork for Spearmint... How did this come about & tell us how you did the new album?
When I first joined spearmint I was given a copy of "somebody" an excellent record. It had a folded piece of yellow paper with a photocopied picture of a guitar and some text on it. It wasn't long after I joined that we recorded "goldmine" the second single. While we were recording I took a long look at the cover to "somebody" and the next day I insisted that I should be designing the cover to the next single. That's how I secured my position as the spearmint designer. I always carry a sketch book with me. Ideas are like the weather, you don't know if its going to be good or bad from one moment to the next. Also you can guarantee that when you sit down with the express purpose of coming up with ideas you will spend a great deal of time looking at a blank piece of paper. Conversely, good ideas will pop in to your head at the least convenient time.

When we are coming up with ideas for Spearmint covers I like to know which songs are going to be on the record because I like to try and represent it pictorially. There is usually something in the lyrics that inspire me and obviously the music has a lot of atmosphere and emotion so that has a big influence. Of course you can't truly represent visually what music sounds like, unless your idea of a good piece of graphics is sheet music. Shirley and me would get together after I have created some initial sketches. We sort through the ideas and he says things like, "I really like Red and
Yellow at the moment" or "that's good but that's not". It's really important to have to have Shirley's input, someone close to the music but not so close to the making of the artwork that they can't step back and be objective.

When we are throwing ideas around, looking through sketch books, magazines and listening to the developing demos and recordings, it's my favourite time, a big creative soup of ideas plucking out our favourite juicy morsels. Once we have come up with the idea the next step is the execution.

I find this is too much like working and I loose interest. From this point on most of my time is spent at an apple Mac. Scanning; laying out; doing different versions; posters; adverts; sending artwork in the post; Changing the position by one pixel and mailing it back again; It takes so long people are usually waiting for me in order to get the record out. So if it is late, sorry but it's not worth doing if it is not done right.

When you get the final product back it's very exciting, a real buzz and certainly worth all the hard work.

What is your favourite word?
Spurious

Tell us some of your favourite places?
Tokyo, Florence, London, Barcelona.

What does Spearmint mean to you?
Late nights; tired mornings; a whole barrel of fun; several surrogate fathers; a chance to prove my self and a thorn in my wife's side

Do you collect anything?
Toys, Records, Opinions

How do you indulge yourself?
With one of my many Simpsons videos and a huge vat of ice cream

Tell us some of your favourite films?
Donny Darko, After Life, Trainspotting, Rear window, It's a wonderful life,
Fargo

Who would play you in the movie of your life?
Edward Norton

What annoys you?
Mobile phones on Trains

Which are your favourite Spearmint gigs?
'Bay side Jenny', Osaka, Japan 14 May 1999
Our first gig in Japan it was so unlike anything we had ever experienced. I hope our big grins didn't upset anyone too much. Stayed at the aftershow club afterwards talking to the most fanatical fans we'd ever met.

'Linkoping', Sweden, 10 Feburary 2000
So many bands have an attitude & eventually this rubs off on people who work in venues every day, but not here. We were made so welcome by staff and punter alike. It felt like a new home. The whole show was recorded for radio and we had a fantastic night.

'The Scala', London, 16 October 1999
At the time we'd been doing a lot of shows in places where we weren't so well known and our egos were quite deflated. It was also the year we had first been to Japan so it was quite a steep fall to be back playing to 20, 30 people in the middle of England. The
Scala took us by surprise because we had no expectations. We got such an amazing reception when we took to the stage it felt like we were returning to London after a very long world tour. I felt like it was a welcome back, where have you been, we've been waiting for you. It was a warm and emotional feeling and that's all you need to make you play well, to give them that little bit more.

'Club Asia', Tokyo, 2000
At the end our third visit to Japan we did a surprise gig at Club Asia in Tokyo. We had none of the extras we were so generously supplied with on the rest of the tour. No stage helpers, no projections, no beautiful new backline. It was back to basics. I remember the sound on stage being too loud. (too fucking right! YOU on the stage were too loud - Shirl)

Atomic cafe Munich 18 August 2000
Arrived 15 minutes after we were supposed to start. Expected the gig to be really difficult having kept everyone waiting but the audience were singing along and jumping up and down, it was wonderful. Ended up playing the last song on my back with Jeff pouring beer down my throat.

What would you like to happen over the next year?
I'd like My Missing Days to be warmly received by all interested parties.
I'd also like to finish writing the shuttle bug LP (Jim's solo project)

What is your ritual before going onstage?
Shirley makes us go through the set, while he is sat there like some headmaster with a cane. We all desperately try to remember a set that quite frankly we should know because we have been rehearsing it for the last X months but we can't even remember what day of the week it is or what instrument we play.

Which are your favourite Spearmint songs?
Time is now, Sweeping the nation, A different lifetime, Beautiful things, Meet Mr Marsden, Perhaps you were sleeping.

Tell me a secret about another band member
Shirley's tooth brush is the size of a hair brush.

What did you want to be when you were young?
Paul McCartney, then Debby Harry, then Adam Ant

Which songs would you like to play more live?
I'd like to do a really good version of Meet Mr Marsden, Also the Weather
Forecaster...

Tell me a story about being in Spearmint
The first time we were in Japan early 1999, we were all very excited by this new experience and enjoying the opportunity to play to such receptive audiences. Anyway the whole band went to do a Radio session deep in the heart of Osaka ahead of our Bay side Jenny gig. Tomo, who runs SYFT records, was there as our interpreter. We played an acoustic version of, "Isn't it great to be alive". The DJ started to ask us questions about Spearmint and our time in Japan. So He turns to me and I thought he said, "How is your Japanese?" So to counteract the skilful level of English we had encountered from all of the Japanese we had met I said, "It's awful, really bad". I couldn't understand why everyone was now looking at me with their mouths open. What he had actually said was, "How do you find the Japanese?" I don't know how I got out of that one.

What is your favourite smell?
Bananas and custard, Janis, Maurice our cat, Freshly cut grass

Tell us some of your favourite books?
"1984" George Orwell; "Billy Liar", Keith Waterhouse; "The House of sleep", Jonathan Coe; "High Fidelity", Nick Hornby

What is your least favourite thing about being in a band?
Band Politics - I imagine living in the Big Brother house would be like being in that van 24hrs a day AAAARRRGGGG!

Which songs make you cry?
In the middle of Shrek there is a scene where they use the Leonard Cohen penned, "Hallelujah". I don't know who's version they have used but it misses all the obviously inappropriate lyrics. Anyway it make that scene incredibly tender, I never thought I'd well up during an animated film but as that song gets me anyway I guess it was inevitable.
"Perhaps you were sleeping", brought a tear to when I first heard it, Its the song I wanted to write. It's still very sad but positive too. "She kissed my face and said life means nothing at all" from "Lisa Radley" by The Jam always makes me feel Romantically sad like I'm about to cry. Its like He's singing about some dear departed lover.

What is your favourite city?
Tokyo

Tell us some of your favourite records?
The Kinks, "are the village green preservation society"
The Jam, "All Mod Cons"
The Smiths, "Strangeways here we come"
Wannadies, "Baggsy me"
Sparks, "Kimono My House"
Cardiacs, "On land and in the Sea"
XTC, "English Settlement"
The Cardigans, "First band on the moon"
They might be giants, "Apollo 19"

What is your favourite song on the new album and why?
It changes but at the moment it is "Time is Now" because it is the most different from when we started recording it. It used to be spearmint by numbers now it's numbers by spearmint...

What is your favourite Spearmint catch-phrase?
I hate trying to convey in-jokes it never seems to translate, but I'm rather fond of "3-2-1........ TREAT" When you are directing someone towards a nice piece of architecture for example. I used to really like, "It's your donkey not mine"

Have you any hobbies?
Collecting toys, going to exhibitions

What are the best things in life?
Janis, Guitar and Morrissey

What is your favourite item of clothing?
I like my white / see-through racing jacket with orange stripes down the arms that I only wear to gigs. Shirley says I look like a Petrol pump attendant in it, and that usually
brings me down to earth.

Tell me about a low-point you have had during the band's career
Playing in Milton Keynes shopping centre and being pelted by chewing gum.

What is your favourite thing about being in a band?
My chance to shine

Where are you from originally?
Weston-super-Mare

What do you like about living in London?
It's where my wife lives

3 words to describe yourself
Really bad speller

Recommend some great bands to us
Clearlake, Cardiacs, The Flaming Lips, The Scaramanga Six, Sparks

Choose 3 slow songs to smooch to
"Moon River", "Slow Love", Prince, "Oh Yes (its a mess)", The Wannadies

What is your favourite Spearmint lyric and why?
"I washed my shirt in Orange juice and wore it to the party, just to make clear my intentions" from "The Locomotion" off of the Oklahoma! LP. I love the image that springs to mind when ever I hear it.I really identify with making a bold statement like that, so that from the offset people know where you are coming from that you 'mean it'. When I was young, really young, I used to dress like Adam Ant, with the make up and everything. My Dad didn't know what to make of it (Let's take the boy hunting, get it out of his system) and I don't know what my Mum thought but she quite often used to put the make up on. Anyway that's the kind of statement I'm talking about I was so into the music and I wanted everyone to know, It meant so much I wanted to refer to it all the time and for people to associate me with it. I wish that kind of spirit wasn't drummed out of you as you get older. I'm getting excited now - pass the make up or at very least some orange juice.

What is your favourite Spearmint album and why?
My missing Days, because we've just finished it and it sounds great!

Anything else to declare?
Yes, the pony tail was a mistake...