The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

Baker's Dozen

Lifting A Veil: Kurt Wagner Of Lambchop's Favourite British LPs
Luke Cartledge , January 11th, 2017 08:54

Reflecting at length upon his intimate relationship with British music from his office in Nashville, Tennessee, the alt-country veteran at the heart of Lambchop discusses freedom, interpretation and the lasting effect on him of 1970s Sheffield with Luke Cartledge

Wedding_1483988946_resize_460x400

The Wedding Present - George Best

Before Lambchop was Lambchop, we were called Posterchild. One of the things that inspired me at that time was David Gedge's articulate expression of complex ideas through aggressive music. Later, we did a show in Paris with the Wedding Present, and that was a big moment for me. Personally, the Wedding Present in all its magnificence was really the band with the guy from the Ukrainians in there. For a while, we totally wanted to emulate that, but we tried many things. It only came to mind to do such because I didn't think anyone was fucking listening. Also, David Gedge is a Northerner, and I'm drawn to that. Maybe it's the accent, but there's definitely a thing about music from Manchester and the rest of the region that moves me in way that's different to the South of England – although I have loved some music from down there as well. At that time, Manchester seemed to be one of the most interesting places in the UK, with so many great ideas coming out of there. It's like New Orleans or something. Still is – I was listening to Cabbage the other day, and I was like, "wow, here we go again". I love the accent – it was very noticeable to me when we would make our monthly trip to London to go to the orthodontist, and it was a completely different culture. I'm very fond of that, in lots of ways. I like Sheffield Wednesday, and Lancashire Cricket.