NEIL TENNANT In the previous issue of Literally, Chris was asked a series of questions he had first answered in the magazine 15 years earlier; this issue it is Neilās turn. This new interview takes place in the upstairs living room of Neilās London home on the afternoon of December 12. As the interview is about to begin, a call via Literally mobile phone alerts Neil that Chris has been outside the front door in the cold for the past ten minutes, trying but failing to get in due to various doorbell and phone problems. |
Neil lets him in and, soon; will make tea and ham sandwiches. (The sandwiches are for Chris and Literally; Nell will have a macaroon instead.) First, Chris will disappear downstairs so as not to eavesdrop as Neil answers the following questions:What sort of mood are you in? [laughs] Apart from the fact that my doorbellās not working, Iām actually in quite a relaxed mood. Weāre talking not long before Christmas and Iāve done all my Christmas shopping now, I think, so thatās always a relief. We finished the tour a couple of weeks ago and weāre just starting planning to work on the next album. This December weāre not really doing very much and Iām quite enjoying it because weāve been rushing round ā Fundamental, as an album and as a tour, has taken about three years ā and itās actually quite nice to not be rushing around being a Pet Shop Boy this month. Just to familiarise oneself with oneās home life and everything.Do you like being famous? Itās not really an issue for me. I donāt feel fantastically famous. I donāt feel any different to when we did these questions 15 years ago. I always think youāre more famous if youāve been on television quite a bit recently. I think Fundamental has upped our profile because I think I get recognised a bit more than I did a few years ago, but people normally just say… I mean, I was in Selfridges yesterday buying some cosmetics as a present and the woman behind the counter said, āAre you a pop star?ā Iāve learned over the years never to beat around the bush with that, I just say, āYes, Pet Shop Boys:ā āOh! Pet Shop Boys!ā Theyāre just really sort of interested, I suppose because youāre someone or other off the telly, occasionally. Itās not really an issue. I always think we have quite a nice level of fame. People are generally quite respectful to us.Do you think youāre better friends with Chris now than before the Pet Shop Boys became successful? Before the Pet Shop Boys became successful Chris and I had known each other just over four years. Itās quite difficult to even look back to then, but for two years of that Chris was at Liverpool University. where he came back to London in 1984 and in less than a year ā eight months later ā we signed to EMI, and that was that, really. So, yes we are better friends now, because weāve been through the whole Pet Shop Boys experience so far together, and no one else has. On tour, sometimes it always seems like itās Chris and I who want to go clubbing, though sometimes it doesnāt. But we still like to goout sometimes. And we have friends in common ā we socialise together and with mutual friends quite often. Recently Chris sold his flat in London, and when he stays in London sometimes he stays in my house, so thatās a bit like 1984 again when Chris moved into my flat on the Kingās Road for a weekend and stayed for a year. Actually he did the same in my house in about 1995 as well. Chris likes living in other peopleās houses, I think.Do you think youād be friends if you werenāt in a group together? Well, we were. Itās difficult to speculate on that, isnāt it, because if we werenāt in a group together that would imply that weād done different things. I suspect we would still know each other if Chris was now a successful architect and I was working in some sort of editorial capacity, and weād remember those crazy days when we tried to start a pop group together. Who knows where life would have taken us? But it didnāt.Do you really sit round reading history books, drinking fine wine and listening to classical music? Yes, I do. I mean, itās not all I do. But Iām sure if you come back in 15 years time it will be reasonably similar, God willing. I still live in the same house I lived in 15 years ago. I socialise a lot and I go out a lot, but when Iām at home… and also I have a house in the North of England, and thatās probably more where I do the reading-history, listen-to-classical-music, drink-a-glass-of-red-wine thing than London is. But I like to be quiet sometimes, and sometimes I like to be by myself, because you can think then. I get ideas for songs quite often when Iām by myself.Do you ever think youāre too old to be a pop star? Yeah, the last time I thought I was too old to be a pop star was in 2006 when Chris and I performed at Ton The Beach, a Channel 4 youth programme filmed in Weston-super-Mare not long after Fundamental came out. And I looked around at all the other groups on and I remarked to Chris that we were the oldest people there by a minimum of 15 years. Or in my case, 20 years. The next one down the age scale would probably have been Danni Minogue. I thought it was mad that we were even on it. But they asked us to be, and they thought we Were appropriate to be on it. I guess weāre sort of ~ godfathers of pop music, or one kind of pop music. Do you want to make a solo album? No. I have no desire to. I donāt feel that thereās something I want to achieve musically that I canāt achieve within the frame of the Pet Shop Boys.How would you feel if Chris made one? I would be curious that he wanted to make one, because I would be interested to know what he wanted to do. Maybe heād want to make an instrumental album. Not that I wouldnāt mind making an instrumental album, really. But if he wanted to, that would be fine.Do you think it annoys Chris when you sing songs for Electronic? Well, Electronic hasnāt operated, of course, for many years, but as a contemporary comparison, last year I was executive producer of Rufus Wainwrightās album. I donāt think itās annoyed Chris really. I think I would probably be more of a collaborator with people than Chris would, though I donāt know. Something like doing that with Rufus wasnāt a lot of work, and itās got more in common with being a judge for the Turner Prize than working with Electronic, because it was interesting watching how something else happened outside the Pet Shop Boys, just as with the Turner Prize it was interesting seeing a lot of contemporary art in a short space of time. Rufus Wainwright works in a very, very different way from the Pet Shop Boys and makes very, very different music, and it was very interesting to see all that come together. So, like the Turner Prize, itās a learning process ā I feel like Iām learning as much as Iām giving.Does Chris really annoy you? No. Chris has quite a lot of anger, I think, sometimes. Only maybe on tour, when we both get tired. He has more anger than I have. I know quite a lot of angry people. Janet Street-Porter ā angry. I think I donāt really operate through anger. [Laughs] That can probably make people angry. Generally speaking, from day one, I get asked things by people all the time, and I have to make sure that Chris has been told or his opinion ascertained, and acted upon, and itās sort of exhausting, that. Chris doesnāt have to do that for me, and Iāve always had to do that. I think itās because I answer the phone more or something. But itās a frustrating thing because you can get into a position where Chris is, āI donāt know about this, no oneās asked me.ā Thatās been the same since the Tom Watkins days.What do you think you do that annoys him the most? I think just generally being oneself can be annoying for someone else. And the dynamic in the Pet Shop Boys has always been tat we operate in completely different ways, which is a strength. But itās a weakness if it annoys Chris or it annoys me…Do you think youāre too bossy? No, I think I have strong ideas rather than being bossy. I think in terms of bossiness Chris is bossier than I am [laughs] which is not what people think. Chris is a very strong-willed and assertive person, assuming heās interested in the relevant particular subject.Do you think of songs all the time? Yes, I do. Often when Iām reading I get a line from a book, maybe a tiny piece of dialogue, and think, āoh, thatās a good lineā and write it in my phone. [Looks in his phone] The most recent thing Iāve got in there is ātalking to a woman in loveā. That doesnāt seem to be such a good idea now but it must have seemed at the time. I suppose you could make something of it. Itās a line from The Master And Margarita, the Russian novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, which I was re-reading until this morning.Do you keep a pad beside the bed? No, I use my mobile phone.Do you ever wish that you were still a journalist? Never. I frequently get asked to write things for magazines or a newspaper, but I never used to bash out articles really quickly. It always used to take me a long time to write something, and I find it very hard work and solitary work. What I love about the Pet Shop Boys is that itās a collaboration between the two of us and you can bounce ideas off each other. I used to like the editorial work at Smash Hits for exactly the same reason. Sitting by yourself, writing an article… I canāt be bothered.Why donāt you drive? Iāve now got a provisional driving license and Iām in theory learning how to drive in the New Year. The reason I never learned to drive is because for many years Iāve lived near central London where itās difficult to park, and I can use public transport and all the rest of it. But I also have a house in the north of England in the countryside and sometimes it seems a bit ridiculous I donāt drive so I was thinking that I might finally learn. I donāt know if Iām going to, but thatās the plan. It slightly scares me, driving. And I still donāt think people should drive round London. I have friends who drive around London from A to B and I think itās crazy. Chris doesnāt do that, generally. Too much traffic, pollution, all the rest of it. I donāt know why people donāt walk. I walk a lot. Chris does as well. Yesterday, after I went to Selfridges, I walked home. Thereās a funfair in Hyde Park, and I walked through it. I like to see whatās happening on the streets. You get a lot of ideas when youāre walking because you see things. I even occasionally get the tube, but I donāt really like getting the tube because Iām a bit claustrophobic. And I get taxis, which is driving around London, I suppose, but itās sort of public transport rather than private cars driving around unnecessarily.Why did you get your hair cut so short? My hairās been short since 1990,1 think. And that was because it was just getting so thin. When you havenāt got a lot of hair you have to have it cut more often, really. You have to have it cut about every two weeks because the sides grow in a very clumpy way.Have you ever thought of growing it out and seeing what happens? No, I havenāt. I canāt see the point. Whatās left would still be curly though.When did you last cry? Probably when I heard Dainton was killed. And at the funeral. And after we did a tribute to Dainton on the last night of the tour, we made a little DVD of the performance for Mandy, Daintonās widow, and I was sent one to check it looked airtight, and I found myself… there were tears running down my cheeks.You donāt cry very often? I went to see a play recently at the National Theatre called War Horse. Itās an amazing production. Itās about a boy and his horse at the end of the First World War, and they get separated. At the end I was crying ā I think at least half the audience was. Itās incredibly moving at the end. I often find myself almost crying at things in the theatre or films.When do you feel happiest? Thereās not a particular formula, I donāt think, forhappiness, or one particular situation. I think I feel happiest when Iām in a relaxed situation with friends and everyoneās getting on and itās fun and easy. I can feel very happy waking up in the morning, thinking either āweāre doing this and this and this ā Iām looking forward to doing all of thatā, or conversely waking up in the morning thinking, āoh, Iāve got nothing to do today ā how greatā. Sometimes coming off stage when itās been a really good concert and everyoneās happy, I can feel very contented then and pleased about things. Iāve said this many times to people but itās an amazing thing when you come off stage and all the audience is cheering and all that stuff, because the vast majority of people donāt ever have that in their lives, and itās something we take for granted as part of the job, because it is part of the job. But it is actually also quite a moving thing sometimes. I remember a few years ago when we played the Dominican Republic and we got this amazing reception and it brought tears to my eyes. There are occasions like that where the warmth of the audience is so great you feel slightly overcome by it. Itās a very nice feeling, that.How have you changed over the last 15 years? I donāt know if Iāve changed very much really. Iāve got less definite, maybe, about things. I was going to say that your view of the world gets more relaxed as you get older, but I donāt think mine has, actually. You can also become a grumpy old man, which is a c1ich~ Iām trying to avoid because I think it is a cool, and a lazy thing. But I do think the world is changing and I honestly believe that we are becoming less free and that society and technology and the way people behave is so much more intrusive than it used to be. I donāt think thatās an opinion ā I think thatās a technologic call sociological fact.What you do now, in everyday life, is recorded by people and filmed by people, and I donāt think it used to be like that, and I donāt think weād have ever wanted that, but I still donāt think people really think about it. If you go on about it now, people tend to look at you like youāre some sort of David Icke mutter, but I donāt think it is being a David Icke mutter. Iām not suggesting thereās some massive conspiracy, Iām just suggesting that technology has a momentum and we go with it. We think: if itās invented, we must use it. I think weāre starting to turn society into a kind of electronic dictatorship. And I donāt remember consenting to it. Thatās what really bugs me. The thing that really bugs me about illegal downloading of our music, for instance, is not just the theft aspect, itās always been the lack of respect for you. The lack of consent. Your consent is not asked to download your new album ā that youāve spent a long time making and paid for ā before it comes out. Itās the lack of consent that bugs me, and thatās what I feel about surveillance and all the rest of it. Iām not actually a paranoid person, but I think thatās what is happening.When I talk about it to people in politics sometimes they never seem to regard it as an issue. I was very pleased when Shirley Williams, the old Labour then Social Democrat politician who must be in her seventies now, said she would go to prison rather than have an m card. I donāt know if I would have the courage to do that, but I think sheās right, because I just think itās mad.Could you imagine the Pet Shop Boys ever splitting up? I could imagine it, but I donāt think it would happen. We have a lot we want to keep on doing that we re looking forward to doing. I think the Pet Shop Boysā song writing is as good or better than it ever was. Maybe itās changed a bit in that our music is much more sophisticated sounding ā if you play Fundamental next to Actually itās a much more sophisticated record. But actually if you played Introspective next to Actually itās a more sophisticated record. Thereās been a sort of musical learning thatās gone on, but I think melodically and in terms of lyrics it all feels fresh to me. We make our kind of music. Occasionally we do something in a totally different genre, just to prove we can, like in Closer to Heaven thereās, in my opinion, a really good rānāb record, āIām going to get him out of my systemā, and we wrote that because the genre seemed right for the scene in the play but also partly just probably to prove we could do it.But I think as a kind of sub-genre of music, which is what the Pet Shop Boys is really, itās something that has remained interesting and valid and fresh. The one thing that might annoy us, and there might be an element of vanity in this, is thinking that people take you for granted, because I think the quality of what we do is very high.So you think the Pet Shop Boys might go on more or less forever? Well, again, we donāt really think like that. [Laughs] But, given that we donāt think like that, weāre not thinking that they wonāt go on forever. Itās like a triple negative. |