The Null Device
2007/9/26
Bobby Wratten, of The Field Mice/Trembling Blue Stars fame, has posted an interview he did with a Spanish publication named Supernova Pop in July, in which he dismisses The Field Mice as being "like baby pictures", and asserts that only some songs on the first two of Wibbling Blue Stars' albums were about his breakup with Anne Mari (or is it Annemari?).
I also, think of The Field Mice as being like baby pictures; we were learning and it's not something I really want to look back on.I'd never want to listen to a Field Mice record whereas although I'd rather not I could stand to listen to a TBS record if I had to! If I were to be judged on anything I'd want it to be TBS. I think the songs are better and the records are better produced and more adventurous.Then again, in my opinion, The Field Mice had something that's missing in Trembling Blue Stars; a sense of passion perhaps? And from a technical point of view, they can be hardly called shambolic; even their early 3-chord guitar-and-drum-machine songs (Emma's House, for one) are skilfully put together, and other tracks (Missing The Moon and Indian Ocean, to name two) show a technical polish far removed from what one could classify as juvenilia. Unless one means that they don't show an excess of enthusiasm.
Mind you, I also am of the opinion that Slowdive were artistically far superior to Mojave 3; what would I know?
I like all kinds of music, a lot of which has no direct influence on the music I make myself. But,there are four people who I'd say have directly influenced me(in TBS) and have inspired me more than any others; Jeff Tweedy, Robert Smith, Mark Hollis and Brian Eno.