Draft Record
Collector Interview
LD You're hard to find Mr Cutler!
IC "The less people know my phone number the better"
LD Introduction. explain to IC why Record Collector readers maybe interested
in him.Virgin
Records, Rough Trade, Creation, 3 of the most adventurous
labels of the last 30 years.
IC "John Peel, he played me a couple of times a year for 30 years. All these
guys who were around about 14, or something like that, had just discovered
Peel's work and the kind of music he was playing. They found my work in
among it and wondered what the hell was this. They must have thought, well,
if Peel thinks they are worth playing, well lets have a proper listen. That'
s why I owe a great debt to John Peel for that - because otherwise I would
have had a relatively small audience."
LD How was the gig at the Bull Theatre in Barnet last night?
IC " the most beautiful gig I've ever done. There was a great homage in the
air with the audience and me. They enjoyed themselves in a way that I was
grateful."
LD Did you have a fantastic evening?
"Yes, but so did they. It sold out and there was only one 'silly ass', at
the very end standing up to leave the hall who did a kind of yell, 'yeehah
'.I can't take that..I just had to let it fade away".
LD Why the new shows?
IC ".I never stopped, I just happened to have been not well for the last
year. Most of last year I spent time in bed. And there wasn't a single woman
to hand."
LD Will there be more shows?
IC" No, what my health will allow me to do with pleasure. I have no
intention of doing things that I don't want to do. That's for kids"
LD Are you happy to talk about your Beatles associations? Do you have any
little stories about them?
IC "Boredsville... hee hee hee..No...not boredsville!"
Gap...
IC "Well I did a couple of weeks with them for the Magical Mystery Tour. I
was an idiot. Buster Bloodvessel."
LD I read somewhere that the Beatles wanted you to teach their children? Is
that true?
IC "Yes, that's right, I was asked. Having been brought up among, I was
going to say, ordinary people, I would be of more use to society working
with the kind of kids that I was working with. The Beatles could have got
somebody else who was 100% on the idea"
LD How did you find John Lennon?
IC "How did I find him?"
LD He found you?
IC "I don't think I ever spoke to him. I might have just said hello once. I
do remember being in a fish and chip shop, where the bus had stopped. We all stood around with fish and chips and I looked across the crowd there in the
shop and there was John Lennon. He was there and I was at the other end. We both happened to look up at the same moment and saw one another. Our eyes met. I didn't need to say anything and nor did he. We were both talking
about the human race."
LD How did you learn the harmonium.
IC "I played the piano when I was a little kid. We had a piano at home and I
used to play it. Eventually, when I got married, I wanted to have a piano
for the flat. I went to Camberwell. There's a second-hand shop there. I went
in and there was a piano and I sat down and played it. It was appalling. I
saw another instrument. I said 'can I have a shot at this?' He said 'Yes,
sure'. It was a harmonium, my first harmonium. I thought 'wow' because I'm
an emotional man. The harmonium is a useful instrument in that field. They
sold it to me for thirty bob. They took the instrument to my flat. Because I
had been writing songs before then, I found it was really my thing. It was a
bit of British-type music and a bit
Eastern European,
came from that part of the world. I found the East European stuff went very
well with the bagpipes. So I was able to take folk songs from both of these
places and stick them together and get something very nice."
LD Did you see the massed pipe band at the Queen Mother's funeral?
IC " I threw my television out 30 or 40 years ago. I realised it was just
screwing my brain - to hell with that. I preferred the noise you make on the
radio"
LD What inspires you to write? What are your influences? I read that it was
working with children?
IC "working with children and working with my unconscious. They could turn
very well together. The work I do is in two parts. One is the feeling and
behaviours of children, because I taught 7-11 year olds. The other part is
' I don't know what I'm doing'. I've discovered that my unconscious mind
just comes into my conscious part of the brain. I don't have to make any
music. I just let the unconscious part come out. I find myself writing all
sorts of things. I just put pen to paper and out starts things. I look at
it, then I think that's good or that's a load of rubbish. I just carry on
and I come to the end. Then I leave it for a wee bit and then I come back
and have a look at it and realise I've got something good.
I've been trying to pass it on, particularly in the poetry field. To be able
to get people who know they can't write poetry. They say to me, fans you
know, I meet them in the street and ask them do they write. They say ' oh
no, I'm no good at it, you're wasting your time'. I say 'well, you come
round to my place'. I've done over 60 people so far over the last 10 years
or so. Within half an hour, or three quarters of an hour, I've got them
having written a poem. The first one they write is a load of rubbish. I
expect that. They are clinging to the orthodox way of writing poetry. The
second one, I was able to see that they had potential for going on, against
their better wishes. I said ' please lets just have a last one - n more'.
They do it and I take it from them and I look at what they've done. I know
that I am going to get something really great. Before they can read it, I go
to the other end of the room and read it out to them. It brings tears to my
eyes and tears to their eyes.
For the first time in their life they've discovered something, which can be
used to be able to communicate. For me that is a great thing. When I was
working with the kid I was very interested in that part of learning. I could
teach them the 3 'R's of course, but when I got into show business, I
specialised in drama, music and the kids enjoyed it very much. I meet them
occasionally in the street. Actually, there was someone there last night who
said, "You taught me Mr. Cutler, about a million years ago". It was very
nice. He was middle-aged by now, of course".
LD Are you writing at present?
IC "A bit at a time. The thing I bring out mostly these days is the little
books of poetry. You can find them
in the bookshops on
If you ever go to the Festival Hall, they have a library. It's a free
library. You can take out books. Take out a couple for a fortnight. I have
quite a lot of books there."
LD Do you have any new books out?
IC "couple of months ago, "Under The Spigot", £4, by Ivor Cutler, (through
Arc Publishers). I do wee pictures along with it."
LD How about any new recordings?
IC "did one recently that went out on Radio 3 and there was one with Andy
Kershaw. It lasts about 28 minutes. "
LD you receive great affection from your fans
IC " they wouldn't be fans otherwise"
LD Apparently they are called Ivorologists.
IC " Oh No...It's the first time I've heard it"
LD There are several websites dedicated to you and your work. Are you aware of them?
IC "So I understand. I loathed when the www thing started. I just don't want
for the rest of my life to have anything to do with them. My brain hurts
when I think about them. I've done quite well without having to get mixed up
with all that."
LD do have any plans for the future?
IC "I have very little energy. My plans for the future are to keep going,
but I don't mean pushing. I'm just in a relaxed way. I find I can do that to
my taste."
LD are you enjoying life?
IC "What? On this planet? Are you kiddin? The human race is something. I'm
ashamed to be the kind of people that go around, you know, because they have got big muscles and they go around killing people who have got small
muscles. And it's certainly not going to change very much in my lifetime. So
I just put it to one side and forget."
Pause...
IC "the thing also about looking at my work is that people who have good
ears for music find that my work is food and drink to them. And those who
aren't and are trying to understand intellectually what I'm saying think it'
s a load of rubbish, because they don't realise that there's a bit more to
it then that. I think I ought to stop this now before I die!"