MTV Interview (Enrico interviewing Jyoti)
Why didn’t you want to keep your name, and go for another name?
Well because the band’s just me, but I choose to work with other people as well.
So it must be really weird that before “Your Woman” came out nobody new about the song or about you, and all of a sudden it’s at the top of the charts and a big success
It’s only taken me 15 years. I’ve been releasing stuff for years. White Town’s been out since 1989, the success has been quite quick and quite recent.
Did you aim for this kind of success?
No, what I’ve always wanted to do is make pop music that I like and I love and I think is trying to be something different. I want to make something that excites me, like when you hear a great pop single you get excited by it, it grabs you. Like the first time I heard Fire Starter. I want to make that kind of music. I don’t know if I’m doing it, but I want to do that as much as possible.
Do you feel excited about this huge success. Like when you go to parties, celebrations, or something like that?
There’s none of that, I don’t do that stuff, I stay up in Derby.
Do you feel like a proper pop star?
I don’t think so, no, because I think being a proper pop star is being a proper prat. So I don’t want to do any of that. That stuff doesn’t interest me.
So is it weird when people stop you?
I’ve just been to Germany recently and the weirdest thing is that I had to sign autographs for the first time and somebody says, can I have your autograph and you’re like why? Because you’re just you.
Do you feel like they would probably call you one in a wander or something like that?
They might do, but I’ve been doing this for a long time already, and the point is, commercial success is nice, but it’s not what I’m doing it for, it’s because I’m sick of a lot of pop music, I want to try and do something different, and as long as I’m doing something I like and respect, then fair enough, and then again the way things are going with the album and the single internationally I don’t think there is any prospect of that anyway. Maybe that sounds overconfident, but it’s just doing so well.
Is “Your Woman” a typical song of White Town, does it represent your sound completely?
That’s the difficult thing. I don’t want to be painted in a creative corner, I want to be able to do anything I want. So on the next album if I want to do a hip-hop country western, then I’ll do it. I don’t see the point of staying in one thing. Music is just music, why label it, why box it, you should be able to do anything you want.
Your album “Women In Technology” all done where?
In my small bedroom, 9 foot by 9 foot.
So you didn’t want to go for studios or anything?
Oh no, I don’t like studios, it’s better at home because you can keep more control of it. People would say, why are you compromising by recording it at home? It’s not a compromise, you compromise when you’re in a studio, it’s like, there goes another £1000 there goes another £1000, so you can’t do what you want.
So you must be good at mixing all that stuff and producing it
I hope so.
Anyway, plans for the future? When’s the album coming out?
The album is out in most areas now. The next singles out in Britain on May the 5th.
Which one is it going to be?
Undressed. I’m off again to America very soon and Europe in a bit.
How do you feel about touring?
I want to do some live work, but it’s a question of when I do, I don’t want to be like fakey stuff, I want to do it all live, and have a funky organic feel to it.
