Interview: Richard Langston talks about The Clean

Richard Langston is the author of the book, ‘The Clean: in the dreamlife you need a rubber soul’ published by Auckland University Press. The last part of the book’s title is in lowercase because The Clean are particular about their words and their ‘look’. He has also written six books of poetry and is a director for Country Calendar. Richard talks to NZ Booklovers

Tell us more about the genre you write in and what draws you to it.

My field is a narrow but rewarding one – I write about the music that burst out of Dunedin in the 1980s and continues to this day. I first wrote about it a fanzine called ‘Garage’ that reported on the scene in the years 1984 to 1986. So much was happening, and I felt a need to tell other music fans more about it. The ‘zine sold here, in the USA and Europe and made an impact – a lot of music fans read it and learned more about bands such as The Chills, The Verlaines, Sneaky Feelings, Doublehappys, Tall Dwarfs and many others on the Flying Nun label.  I thought some of the bands were the best I’d ever heard - here or overseas - and The Clean were inspiring and often astonishing, especially live. 

What inspired you to write your book?

I thought there should have been a book on The Clean; besides being a musical force they are part of the fabric of our culture. They have a great story of doing things their own way, outside of the music industry, and that’s a story worth telling on its own. I waited for years for someone to write the book about them, not realizing it would be me. Sam Elworthy of Auckland University Press told me I should write it. So did David Kilgour from the band. So, finally I did.

Tell us a little about your book

It’s an oral history. I like to hear the voices of the people, the way they speak, the way several people describe the same moment or event in their own way. It creates a prism effect and adds colour and depth. The pictures in it are so good – the photographers who took pictures of The Clean responded to their look and energy – and they’re uniformly wonderful. As is the band’s art. A book about The Clean that doesn’t look great would be a failure. But this book looks amazing and hats off to AUP for taking such care.

What was your routine or process when writing this book?

Once we got the book underway, I couldn’t stop myself as more voices were added to the story. Like all good stories, the strength of it was in the details, and people remembered good details. I took a winter off from filming Country Calendar and worked on the book. Some days were long as I got onto the next person to hear their part of the story. The narrative created its own momentum, and the bulk of the story was written in 18 months.

What did you most enjoy about writing this book?

What I enjoyed the most was meeting people and hearing their memories. One of the real pleasures was hearing the stories of the women who had never been or seldom interviewed. They were great. I’m so glad I did get to the central characters as some of them have now passed away. It was a real lesson that if you want to do something, do it now. I also had an excuse to play every Clean song I could lay my hands on. There were live tapes stretching back to their debut in 1978.  It was thrilling and instructive to hear them for the first time.

What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?

I was a bit tired and emotional. I’d felt so close to some of the central characters like Hamish Kilgour and Martin Phillipps – I lived with them inside my head for a couple of years – and they had died. I was also full of joy in the same moment. I might’ve had a beer and turned up the stereo for a few days.

If a soundtrack were made to accompany this book, name a song or two you would include.

I would have to include ‘In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul’. That’s a song David Kilgour wrote for The Clean’s last album ‘Mister Pop’ (2009), and it’s a pearler. Bouyant, mysterious, and wonderful. And I’d have to include ‘Anything Could Happen’ – the video for that song was on Radio with Pictures in 1981 and was a landmark in my mind and that of many of our generation - coolness beaming out of a television screen and it was locally made. Genius.

What is the favourite book you have read so far this year and why?

I have two. ‘Please Kill Me, the Uncensored Oral History of Punk’ by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. The authors got to the essential people in that story, and they got the best first-hand accounts of those years – from the Velvet Underground to The Stooges to the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. I was also in awe of what Craig Robertson achieved with the writing of the Chris Knox biography ‘Not Given Lightly’. I’ve read one of the chapters, two or three times, the one involving Chris Knox and a friend and a meter maid and LSD. Dunedin student flatting as its finest.

What’s next on the agenda for you?

Besides a book of poems, maybe another book on Dunedin music. We’ll see.

Auckland University Press