Bobby Conn – Recovery and interview: “my career is a bit of a mystery to me”

Tapete

In a world that seems to have gone completely crazy, it feels like the perfect time to welcome back Bobby Conn after too long away. Tapete clearly felt that the world wasn’t the same without him and on his debut album for them, and first since 2012’s Macaroni, he has wrapped himself up with his regular collaborators and boy, do those guys really bring the funk when they need to.

The bare bones of the songs are Bobby’s, but when handed over to the band in the studio, they are imbued with so much vitality that they tear themselves out of the speakers and into your heart. I mean, the bass line is so sweet on opener “Recovery” that you can’t help but move, and it is tempered by bells and smeared electronics that offer an element of warning. The tracks on here were written with the premise of taking a look at the soul of America and how it could possibly be healed in these difficult days, and those heavy sentiments lend some weight to the groove.

The band really are keen to groove, but against an uncertain future, with Bobby’s exhortation to “help me help myself” being a keen observation. How do you help a civilisation that is so self-obsessed? It a question over which he ponders as the band show how tight they still are after eight years away, and with the addition of Monica BouBou‘s string flourishes, it is filled with good nourishment. Somehow, although the band clearly loves their funk and soul chops, there is still room for sci-fi fascination and the spoken word intro to “Disposable Future” brings to mind Total Recall gone rogue (the Technicolor original, not the dreary remake).

Recovery is a fantastic melange of the last fifty years of rock, pop and soul put through Bobby Conn’s own personal blender. Bobby somehow manages to channel both Prince and ’80s David Bowie into his vocal stylings and although his influences can be detected, I think they would be thrilled that he is carrying on their good work. The strings really sizzle when used and there is a certain joy to the retrospective vision of “Good Old Days”, with its throwback sound that could almost be something over which the Ink Spots would  have sung. His falsetto is impressive here and the violins are a welcome exuberance.

I have been listening to Coronavirus updates on a daily basis and this album is a real salve to the soul when surrounded by nothing but grim visions. There is something honest about his outraged delivery and the band seems to operate in their own little world. Although they are addressing relevant issues, they do it with a fervour and tightness of a great band; one that can remove you temporarily from the daily grind. The lyrics are great, acerbic when they need to be but hopeful as well. Bobby keeps singing “I love my brother” on “Brother”, and that is a great thing to hear while the shimmering guitar twinkles in the shadow of the vocal. The sing-along chorus to “On The Nose” has a real glam-rock sort of feel to it, and although it is calling for revolution, it could also be calling for a stomping party full of colour and life.

Bobby hasn’t lost touch with his sleazier self either: “You watch a flick / You touch your dick / There ain’t many chicks”. I am not sure that the “Bijou” is quite the place for us, but it feels like an update of the New York Dolls sort of sleaze rock and glam cool, but cut with female disco backing vocals that really do evoke the band and all their followers undertaking some elaborate dance moves that culminate in arms pointed firmly skywards, Bobby’s scarf and headband flung recklessly. There are ’80s synths and accompanying guitar blasts on “It’s A Young Man’s Game”, and it really is uplifting as he yells “I just can’t get enough!” as the sky-saw guitars and urgent cymbal work feel almost on the edge of breakdown, making the ’70s MOR wash of the phased harmony vocals all the more disorientating.

By the time the relatively subdues closer “Always Already” appears, it feels like we have run a marathon. This paean to personal positivity over adversity has sweet electric piano and rumbling bass that highlights just how wonderful the instrumentation is over the whole album. “I ain’t gong nowhere”, Bobby tells us as the song begins to fade; and on the strength of this return, let us hope he has more medicine for the masses hidden up his sleeve. The way things are going we need more and more of this. Welcome back Bobby!

As well as reviewing the album, Mr Olivetti penned a few quick questions for Bobby Conn to consider from the confines of his Chicago homestead-cum-studio:

I see you have been working on this album for the last four years; but apart from lamenting the state of US politics, what else has been occupying you since Macaroni?

Many hours of macrame, skydiving, my miniature shoe collection, finishing Proust (finally!) But mainly working with my partner Monica BouBou to keep our family afloat — our kids are almost grown up, so we are enjoying the last few years with them. We are pretty good at pretending to be boring.

Tapete has a very cool roster at the moment, but you had quite a long relationship with Thrill Jockey. Do you still have any contact with them and the other Chicago bands that operated out of there?

My career is a bit of a mystery to me, to be honest. I loved the Thrill Jockey era and we made some great records with Bettina, but we decided to split about ten years ago. I wasn’t pursuing another label, but Fire Records in London asked to re-issue Rise Up! and my first album, and that led to recording Macaroni. That didn’t set the world on fire, so I was very surprised and happy that Tapete was interested in a new record. Somehow, my method of not
trying very hard has resulted in a much longer career than I expected.

There has been a lot written recently about the modern music scene in Chicago and surrounding areas. Do you feel part of this and do you watch with interest?

You’d have to define modern music for me — I’m not much of an expert on Chicago music that sells well, and I don’t read much music criticism / journalism. I show up whenever someone asks me, so the past two years we’ve played at a local festival for Chicago artists called Ian’s Party. It’s been fantastic because the organizers curate a roster of young and old weirdo musicians across genres, and put them in front of an open-minded audience. There is unlimited talent in Chicago, and thankfully not just in my age group.

You are clearly still a music enthusiast. Are there any bands in your local area that you are excited and we should know about?

You may already know about Damon Locks and his Black Monument Ensemble project  — he has gotten a lot of attention and it’s the best thing to happen in Chicago this year. Damon has been doing cool stuff for a very long time, so it’s great to see this finding a larger audience. I’m also a big fan of Dead Rider, led by former U.S. Maple genius Todd Rittmann; Lovely Little Girls are disturbingly damaged prog rockers; Relevant Hairstyles  might be a parallel universe Tom Petty / Smog hybrid with much better lyrics than either; No Men are uncompromising, brutal and intensely charismatic; Cheer-Accident continues to actually move the ball forward; In Masks make deeply musical anti-music (they remind me of Kanye West at his most inexplicable); and we are very excited to have Vogds perform at our record release show for Recovery.

I remember you tearing the place up at the Thrill Jockey tenth anniversary show in London. Does the music business still appeal after twenty-five years? Do you see yourself heading in any other directions?

I am grateful that there is still just enough business to allow me to record and release and play out — but I’d still make music if it was just me alone in my basement (and it often is!). I’ve been fortunate to do a couple of small acting things over the years — that is always fun.

The groove of the album and your delivery sounds as always like are really enjoying yourself. Do you look forward to taking it on the road or are you more of a studio hound?

We will be touring Europe and what remains of the UK this September! I love touring and wish we could do more. Fingers crossed.

The album contains some quite heavy subject matter. Do you feel that the current US government is perpetuating this era of self-obsession and can you see a resolution?

The poison of nostalgia, xenophobia and racism is a worldwide problem, not just here in the USA. It’s mainly generational — my generation (and older) has truly fucked the planet, and is generally unwilling to sacrifice anything to make it better. Sorry about that! So the resolution comes when the kids take over — hopefully there’s still something left for them by then.

How does the songwriting work in the band. Do you bring the tracks fully formed or do you collaborate in the studio?

I make pretty detailed demos and then share them. Monica lets me know when something is crap — I either make it better or discard it. Once the band gets involved, the arrangements and voicings get tweaked, especially in preparation for live shows. But for this record, even though we spent a long time rehearsing and fiddling before hand, the actual tracks were done in just a few takes playing live in our studio. Most of the overdubs were vocals, and DJ
LeDeuce’s atmospheric electronic stuff.

How do the other band members entertain themselves in the down time between albums?

We have cryogenic stasis pods for each member in my basement and there is an intense calisthenic regimen when someone is reanimated.

During their limited periods of consciousness and free expression, bassist Jim “Dallas” Cooper releases music and performs subversive motivational music as Infomercial USA, drummer Josh Johannpeter is active in many projects, including rhythm masters HUJO, keyboardist / violinist Billie Howard performs and records experimental music as Akosuen, guitarist Devin Davis is a brilliant pop composer in the tradition of Todd Rundgren, ELO and 10CC, DJ LeDeuce has an eclectic weekly radio show Post Modern Talking with Bobby Conn, and Monica BouBou recently did string arrangements for Jackie Lynn’s new album and collaborated on a collection of Baudelaire poems with Azita Youssefi, Whitney Johnson and others. So they keep busy – check it out!

Your musical tastes clearly cover a lot of bases. Did you grow up in a musical household and if so what were those formative influences?

My childhood was all Bach, Beethoven and The Beatles at home, with a lot of show tunes I hated at the time and opera that I still don’t care for. I’m sure it had an influence; I could make you a list of stuff but my fingers are tired and I’m sure you can guess what would be on it anyway.

Thanks for your questions!

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