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Vini, you have made some of the best music of the last 40 years. Is it true that in your youth you were part of a Manchester street gang? 24 songs
Vini Reilly (guitars, vocals, keyboards): And then gangs had another meaning. It was simply “their part” and “our part”. We were swearing at each other. So when you play football in the park you realize you are playing with the local gangsters. They were actually very funny, and I could enjoy them because I was very young. At that time, I was suffering from recurrent depression and felt that I should not be at home, so I left without wearing clean clothes. I wanted to end my life so I decided to go to Moss Side, where the gangsters would shoot me. Of course they didn’t. I had a very happy childhood until my father died when I was doing my O-levels, but I have come to realize that bad things gave me more than they could have. How can you know joy until you know deep sorrow?
Bruce Mitchell (drums): Vini starts, however, the right fights. We arrested him once, and 6 people caught him.
Legend has it that Joy Division helped cut and paste sandpaper to the famous cover of Return to the Old Line. Did you have them? Gomgom71
VR: I went into Factory Records to find Joy Division putting them all on. It was sad, so I ran away as fast as I could.
BM: Vini denies this, but Hooky (Peter Hook) always says that Vini quickly stopped gluing so as not to damage her nails. Joy Division had no money, so they were paid to perform, which they did while watching pornographic films. Alan Erasmus at Factory Records had a lot of hand casts from a steam train sound album: you can tell it’s an original because if you peel back the sandpaper you’ll find a steam train.
Is there a story behind your Blood Orange collaboration, The Field? nobblehobble
Keir Stewart (producer): Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) has been a long-time fan, and he covered (the 1998 song) Sing to Me and sang it. He asked permission for the model, and when we met we spent two hours talking about the Durutti Column and all the colors. Durutti has all the following famous fans: Stewart Lee, Chris Morris, Max Richter, Richard Ayoade, John Frusciante from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chris Martin from Coldplay, AG Cook, Caroline Polachek, many hyperpop artists. It’s great that Vini has been able to reap this realization in her life, but she keeps it all outside her door. He wants to remain undefiled.
VR: I haven’t heard much about these people, but they are great.
What guitars did you listen to growing up? Troykatoo
VR: One of my favorite guitarists was Al Casey, who played with Thomas “Fats” Waller: less rhythmic and progressive. I had this idea that whether you went to a big orchestra concert at the Free Trade Hall or a public club in Sale, you knew exactly what the audience would look like, because people are known by color. So I wanted to create something that wasn’t popular. When we were trying to enter Canada, the customs guy asked what kind of music we were playing and I answered: “Avant garde jazz classical.” It was a joke, but it stuck.
How do you feel about the latest news? For Vini – Visitor at Durutti Column show in London? NickJMorgan
KS: Harry Styles has told Radio 1 that the biggest influences on his new single are LCD Soundsystem and Durutti Column. Then he was asked to organize the Meltdown festival, so we were asked if there was any way Vini could perform. There was none, so we gathered the musicians together to pay tribute. I played the guitar – I can’t sing like Vini but I’m practicing a lot! When Bruce came on drums, everyone was cheering. The promoter has already asked if we can do a UK tour, so we’ll see.
VR: It’s nice that they’re doing it, but I couldn’t wait to see it. As far as Bruce is concerned, it’s always right. Every time we played together we didn’t rehearse, but we had such chemistry that they knew when the song was over. It worked every time.
Can you tell us your memories of Ian Curtis and the inspiration for the song The Missing Boy? Philshawknight
VR: Ian and I knew each other – we both worked in different areas of the civil service. We were planning to make music together but we didn’t tell anyone because people like Mark E Smith called the net. Then I was living with Tony (Wilson, the boss of the Factory) and Lindsay (Reade, Wilson’s wife at the time). I answered the phone and it was Ian. He wasn’t making any sense. He went from positive to negative. He was angry that Tony called him a poet. When I saw all the epilepsy pills Ian gave me, I knew he was out of luck. Also his marriage was ending, he had a little girl… I wasn’t surprised when he killed himself: it’s all in the music, but no one – not even Tony – ever asked him about it. There is anger in The Missing Boy because I feel like I’m gritting my teeth.
BM: I lived around the corner. Vini said that he needed someone to take him to the studio to write a memorial for someone who died. He called the engineer, then he sang again, leaning in to play the grand piano as his guitar cut through the air. That second take is on record.
Who is Paul? Details of Paul? Uncleheinrichain
VR: My longtime friend from art school. Very intelligent, good person. He then got a job in advertising which conflicted with his socialist principles. One day he did not come. I miss him. People always think that my music is called romantic, which is not the case at all. Jacqueline is the wife of Bruce, an amazing artist. A few are named after my nieces or nephews. Do they feel respected? No. My family is being insulted a lot.
What was the best and worst thing about Tony Wilson? the game
VR: There was nothing too bad. The good thing is that he was a true devotee, and that has not changed. Factory was built with the money his mother gave him after her death, and he decided to do something in her honor. He made many possible songs. Information is precious to me, because without him people would not be able to hear it.
Without Compassion it is absolutely beautiful – modern classic classic. How do you prioritize your work? Farmyard manure
VR: It was hard to make, but I don’t regret it. Tony said: “Can you make an album?” me?” How can I say no? He thought that Keats’ poem La Belle Dame sans Merci was similar to a pop song – boy meets girl, girl loses boy – and wanted a musical interpretation. I don’t like it (laughs), but I’m glad Tony did it, because it was a way of thanking him.
The name was Durutti Column intentionally or accidentally misspelled from Spanish ordinary war anarchist Buenaventura Durruti and The line of Durruabout? section 123
VR: The name was Tony’s idea. He felt that since chaos is the basis of punk, we should return to that idea. But they decided not to tell people about it, which was good for me because it meant I could talk nonsense. Maybe it was mislabeled by the Factory as a mistake, but even in Spain some people think it looks better with one “r”.
What was it like to work? Viva Hate and Morrissey, and would you work with him again? deFaoiteK
VR: Of course, because he is ridiculously gifted. I remember him talking about the murderers of the Moors and how he would be one of the children (killed), who did not leave him. On the song Late Night, Maudlin Street you can really feel the destructive power. And we didn’t stop laughing.
BM: I dropped Vini off at the studio half-expecting to pick him up after half an hour, because all the musicians and engineers were eating at this long table, and finally it was Morrissey. But they got along so well that finally when I took him, Vini said: “Can we take Mozza?” They were crying in the back seat the whole way. It was like listening to two old ladies on Coronation Street.
