Jason Williamson:<\/strong> All that Glue<\/em> is the name of the first song we ever wrote, me and Andrew. It was written in 2012, or maybe earlier, possibly 2011. It\u2019s going to be available as a flexi-disc on the \u2018gold \u2019 version of the album. We thought it was a good answer to what Sleaford Mod is. There\u2019s obviously echoes of punk in it. It\u2019s a very DIY-orientated style of music, very minimal, very street-sounding\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n PAN M 360:<\/strong> Was it difficult for you to choose among all your songs? You have a good ten albums and four EPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: <\/strong>It was not too difficult to choose the songs for the album. We just didn\u2019t want to put out a greatest-hits album, or a singles album, you know? We are not a greatest-hits band for a start, we haven\u2019t sold millions of records, we are not internationally known on a larger scale and we didn\u2019t want to do a singles thing because we thought it was too obvious, so we collated a lot of stuff from all our albums, along with some singles and also some unreleased stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PAN M 360: <\/strong>Where do the unreleased songs come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: <\/strong>These more obscure songs were recorded mostly when we were doing albums or EPs, between 2013 and 2016, and we thought that some of them deserved to be put out because they\u2019re just as strong as the albums tracks. We also wanted to give an atmosphere to the period of time, which is from 2013 to 2019. There are no live songs on the album, but all the songs have been remastered. A lot of these songs are very difficult to find today because you can\u2019t get the albums they\u2019re taken from anymore. So it was important for us to make those available once again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n PAN M 360:<\/strong> And as for your material released before 2013, that too is very hard to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: <\/strong>None of the stuff I did before Andrew is on this album though. There\u2019s actually a double album called Retweeted<\/em>, where it’s all pre-Andrew stuff on it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n PAN M 360:<\/strong> On the albums recorded before Andrew’s arrival, you had a different sound, with more sampling and sounds that were often punk and \u201960s, whereas now you advocate a much more minimal, hip hop-like musical approach. Have you thought about going back to your sound from the first albums?<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: <\/strong>We tried it a couple of times but it doesn\u2019t work, it’s just not us. Andrew\u2019s music is very personal. And it doesn\u2019t need fucking with a lot. And I think using guitars the way I used to does not work. He does use guitars but in his own way. There was a time and a place for that music. Things move on, at least that\u2019s how I look at it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n PAN M 360:<\/strong> You usually attract an older audience, which you don’t see so often in concert halls. Why do you think people over 35 like you so much? <\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: <\/strong>I think it’s a kind of music older people relate to. It’s got a lot of history to it, a lot of punk and post-punk. That first wave of authentic \u201970s punk, I mean. It possesses a lot of that, and a lot of new-wave punk as well. That\u2019s generally why we get a lot of older people at our shows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n PAN M 360: <\/strong>Many of the Sleaford Mods\u2019 lyrics have a socio-political angle. Do you think that music can change politics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: <\/strong>No, no. I think music can change people\u2019s opinions a little bit but I don\u2019t think it can change politics. It’s not a powerful enough machine in order to shift the monster that is politics. Politics are complacent, and it affects every little bit of our lives. Music too, you could argue just as well to a certain degree, but I don\u2019t think music is a big enough vehicle to go into combat against politics. But there have been times where it shifted the social landscape. There have been times where it made politicians aware of it. But generally speaking, as we go forward, as the world becomes smaller, more controlled by right-wing factions, it’s not something that\u2019s on an equal playing ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n PAN M 360:<\/strong> What do you think of Brexit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: <\/strong>I don\u2019t like it, it’s horrible. I voted to remain in the European Union. We\u2019re not prepared for it at all, there is no justification for it, absolutely none. If there was a justification for it that made sense, then fair enough, but there isn\u2019t! It was just political games played for and by the elite. Its a neoliberal idea that is just stupid. It’s not for the people, it\u2019s for a few business minds and that\u2019s it. It’s gonna be a disaster, absolute disaster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n PAN M 360:<\/strong> In your lyrics, you often flay artists, politicians and other personalities in passing. Do you think you have a lot of enemies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: <\/strong>Yeah, I would imagine there are some people who don\u2019t like me very much (laughing). You can\u2019t blame them, you know (laughing again<\/em>). I wouldn\u2019t like me very much. But generally speaking, fuck \u2019em! It’s a competition, come on, let\u2019s see what you got, what have you got? Are you bleeding when you do this, because if you\u2019re not, then it’s of no interest. A lot of people out there claim to be something that they\u2019re not, which is a problem. It’s fine if you wanna be Britney Spears or One Direction, that\u2019s fine, there\u2019s a place for that music, but don\u2019t try to say you\u2019re something else when all you are basically doing is that. That\u2019s what angers me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PAN M 360: <\/strong>Your words are never limited to a few banal sentences and avoid the many clich\u00e9s. What inspires you? Does this pandemic inspire you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: <\/strong>Life! And stuff I\u2019m listening to now, sometimes. Before, I would only listen to hip hop or punk, but now I listen to a whole range of things, because I\u2019m a different person, I\u2019ve grown more, I\u2019ve started communicating with other musicians and not necessarily people that play the same music as me. Yes, this pandemic does inspire me, in a little way. We\u2019re gonna see what happens. This is such a massive moment in history that it has to be handled correctly. You can\u2019t just write some shit about it. It’s gotta be communicated in a way that will make me remember it for what it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PAN M 360:<\/strong> For the first time in your career, you made Top 10 with your previous album Eton Alive<\/em>. How does it feel, after that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n JW:<\/strong> (laughs<\/em>) It’s alright, it\u2019s nice to have a top-ten. Look, I\u2019ve got it tattooed on my arm, Eton Alive<\/em>. I\u2019m really proud of that, you know? Moving forward is more of an issue. You\u2019ve got to constantly be aware of the music and not let the quality of it slip. You got to constantly please yourself and ask yourself, do you really like this still? Is this something you\u2019re still interested in? All of these things, I\u2019m more concerned with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PAN M 360:<\/strong> Do you feel pressure for the next album? Do you have one in the works?![\"\"](\"https:\/\/panm360.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Sleaford-Mods-1.jpg\")
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JW: <\/strong>No, because we don\u2019t really put ourselves under any pressure. People expect a good album, and that\u2019s what we’ll do. We\u2019re not going to reinvent ourselves because there is no point, we don\u2019t need to. We\u2019re not a massive stadium act. All what people expect from us is to be Sleaford Mods, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll continue to be. Yeah, we\u2019re working on one now. We were fortunate to go in the studio at the start of the year, so we managed to do three good tracks. Now Andrew is sending me some new music so hopefully lockdown restrictions will be lifted a little bit, so we could go to the studio, at least just me and him and someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n