Taken from May 8th 1999, Melody Maker
special thanks to Tania Richard for typing this article up!
COME ON DIY YOUNG! - At Home With Hurricane # 1's Andy and Alex
Wallpapering. New lampshades. Doing up the kitchen. Not Rock'n'Roll
activities, admittedly, but even pop stars dig Ikea. We caught up with
Hurricane #1's Andy bell and Alex Lowe in their spanking new abodes and
talked home improvement.
Was it a great Chinese proverb that once spouted, "It's not where you live,
it's how you're living"? Well, it holds forever true in the world of rock
and pop. Two of the members of Hurricane # 1, for instance, don't live
anywhere remotely near each other. At the beginning of this year, while
based in wholesome Oxford, young Mr Andy Bell and lead singer Mr Alex Lowe,
decided to hop it. Andy to Stockholm, Sweden, hometown of his fragrant wife
Idha. Alex to Blairgowrie, Perthshire, his old stomping ground. Pastures
new. Nothing like them. Here we take an exclusive peek into the twin
havens that our indie heroes have created.
ANDY BELL
Andy lives with Idha and their nine-month-old sprog, Leia, in a flat in
Stockholm, above an exceptional pizza parlour. They've been there about
eight weeks, trying to avoid trips to Ikea and filling the fridge with
yoghurt-based drinks. The first thing they ask you to do when you walk in
is to take off your shoes - it is considered far too formal to be stomping
around with your boots on. The flat is light and airy, contains a lot of
baby toys and only one - one! - guitar (the rest of Andy's stuff is in
Oxford, in his old house that he is renting out). There are some
aromatherapy candles aglow and no light in the toilet. As we take a seat,
Andy is trying to get everyone to enjoy the new Whitney Houston album.
Why move to Sweden? "It's an extension of what we were doing ever since
Idha and I were married. We used to stay with Idha's parents in a separate
room in the grounds of their house, but when they had the baby, it was
different. It was originally a hen house, and it had no water or a toilet.
We thought we should move on, and with Idha's family being here we thought
it was good for the baby - there's security for her and lots of
baby-sitters. I love being here, there is a real sense of escape from the
phone ringing all the time. Oxford life was getting really boring, it's
really cliquey, full of bands".
What's Stockholm like? It's very peaceful and spacious - there's no
claustrophobia, which does get to you. In Oxford, everything was really
cramped. You could spend ages writing a song in Oxford and you'd go for a
holiday and write a couple of songs in a day. It's quite trendy in
Stockholm. There's a good scene, a gang of people and they really make an
effort - it's a bit like Japan. Everyone looks good, me and Idha walk
around looking like a couple of tramps.
A nation of Cardigans fans? They're all into hip-hop and Lauryn Hill. They
don't like anything Swedish - they eat their own here. They hate Abba, too.
Strangely, they're mad about the Eurovision Song Contest. It's front page
news.
What's the biggest difference from England? "They're not so artificially
polite here. They say things like, "In England, a person thanks you when
you've bought a newspaper! But you've just paid for the paper!" My theory
is everyone in Britain is living like a battery hen - there's something like
the population of London here in five times the area of England - so you
have to be polite there. Everyone is a lot more healthy here too. The
off-licences open during shop hours, and you have to queue up and order from
a catalogue, so it's a bit like Argos. Makes drinking a bit of an occasion.
What will you miss? Marmite and my friends, but it's not as if I don't go
back to England. The quality of crisps is terrible here.
Whats in your fridge?
"Organic milk and bio milk. Cranberry juice and Pripps beer, which is
average strength. Carrot juice, coconut flavoured yoghurt drink. Yes, it's
all a bit healthy. There's chocolate and tomato ketchup though. And we get
a lot of take away pizzas from the shop downstairs. It's the best pizza
shop in Stockholm".
ALEX LOWE
Alex has just done up a mobile home which is situated on his gran's trailer
park site, a couple of miles outside Blairgowrie, a popular Scottish tourist
haunt. He is planning a pop star village, inviting keen musicians to share
the delights of the mobile home park. His home is warm and chintzy - there
is a plastic Greek pillar and pot plants in the living room. Everything is
mint green in the kitchen and bright purple in the bedroom. Girlfriend
Fiona has single-handedly fitted the floorboards. There is a mug with "Sexy
Beast" printed on it, a "hot and spicy" cookbook and a statuette of Laurel
and Hardy that looks like it belongs in some granddad's house. His oldest
chum, Albert, is here too, on a week off from the Army before he goes back
to Germany. Also present: Blue the pitbull terrier, who is frighteningly
keen on licking everyone.
Why move to Blairglowrie? "I'd been in Oxford for three years and it was
too busy, too many people. It was very rough - you'd get cab drivers
stabbing passengers in the road. A guy couldn't pay the fare and the driver
stabbed him. Another cab driver came by and took the passenger to hospital.
And this was a black cab. That's very nice and pleasant, isn't it? And
there were too many students. I found out I had a share in this land, four
or five acres, and thought why pay rent to a guy I've never met, when I can
buy a mobile home and live in it up here? It was Mark from Terrorvision who
told me about living in a mobile home. He's got one in Yorkshire and really
loves the peace and quiet. I've got no rent, no council tax, nothing. It's
a holiday every day."
What's Blairgowrie like? "It's a bit rough, very touristy, though.
Everybody knows each other. There's not a lot to do except drink. There's
46 pubs and only 12,000 people, which is the most pubs for a town this size
in Britain. It's a big fishing place. I once caught a salmon this big
(stretches arms impossibly wide) and sold it to the local hotel and got £60.
It's a big Highland Games place here. Tossing the caber. Lots of museums,
castles, heraldry."
Are you a bit of a DIY fan, then? "Fiona's done a lot of this. But I'm
going to build a studio. We're going to buy a chalet too, so it can be a
bedroom for people who stay over. We'll fill the fridge with beer. I want
to build a swimming pool too - they're only £3000. And I want to build a
conservatory and have a fountain in the garden".
Big difference from Oxford? "I love the quiet. It's peaceful. I like
fishing too. It's good to get back here, a bit of reality after being on
tour. I can write songs here too. I was writing some yesterday while Fiona
was still fitting the floor. Our flat in Oxford was a nightmare, so small,
and here we're not joined on to any flat, we can do what we want. I've just
got a scooter so I just go around on that".
What does the town think of the prodigal singer's return? "There was a chap
in the pub who threatened me, who thought I reckoned myself. Then he saw me
in Tescos and flung me on the ground. Aye, it's a bit rough. I've been
barred from most pubs in the town too".
Any more pets? "As well as Blue, there are two guinea pigs and a really old
gerbil as well. They're with my mum, who lives about 100 yards away. We
had another gerbil who died in Oxford. We had to come back to bury her here
because she was Scottish and couldn't have been buried in the South."
What will you miss? " I don't think I'll miss Oxford, and we're touring
soon so that will be good. I do go over to Sweden to see Andy, so it's not
like we never see each other. Stockholm's great."
Whats in your fridge?
"Nothing! A bottle of Champagne to celebrate moving in, and some fridge
magnets. One says, "Bored In Oxford", which my girlfriend got me when I was
a bit down."
(
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