Soul, Passion, Pop, Good Taste and ... Utopia. Yes, they are like the Supremes meets Huggy Bear. Well, really they were... because today, COMET GAIN aren't the same COMET GAIN. Four original members left the band to form VELOCETTE (Sarah, Phil, Sam and Jax) while David, the other original member, continue with the same band name and new This interview was made before they split for a spanish people.magazine called SPIRAL, before the magazine went bankrupt... but don't be afraid, this isn't a damn interview because David tell us very interesting things about pop music so we'll not anounce it as a tabloid that would say: "COMET GAIN, the last interview!"

Interviewed by Juan de Ribera Berenguer

I was always waiting a revolutionary band that played music with attitude but with beautiful melodies. For example, Huggy Bear were fantastic but their sound were a bit scary and the girls sixties bands ( The Supremes, Ronettes) played beautiful melodies but their lyrics weren't very clever. Do you think that the revolution will be POP someday?

DAVID: The point about the revolution well be pop is true, there's no point in being radical or incendiary and playing music that will intimidate the masses, there's no point just singing to a minority that will agree with you. Anyhow "political" songs that are worthwhile are those that will appeal to bricklayers and housewifes, those who need to hear the song. The only way to do that is the popular music on the radio, in the daytime, "Ghost town" and "Going Underground" for instance.

Are polictics more important that love?

DAVID: Is jam more important than butter? I don't know.

Every time I read your sleevenotes, I think you are marvellous people, but don't you think that Comet Gain toughts are utopia in this world? Do you think pop music can change the world?

DAVID: I used to think music could change the world, I think the Beatles made some people better humans beings, but it's ideas that change the world. It depends on whether you think music is entertainment or Art. Music, I guess, can change some worlds.

When I see the your pictures, I enjoy them. There are so cool...Orange Juice third album, Petula Clark "Downtown", Scott Walker books... There's a picture of Vic Godard in your photo session, Isn't he? I can see two girls too, Who are they?.

DAVID: In the LP photo we were on my roof, drunk with a westernly wind blowing us away.
Vic Godard is an idol and a maverick star. I think also there is Rodney Marsch ( a great 70's fooballer) and the sixties actress Carol White who was in "Poor Cow".

When I reviewed your album I wrote that Comet Gain showing their tastes were telling the script of "Casino Classics" film, but I didn't mind, because tough I knew the end of the film, Comet Gain represented perfectly the idea. Why do you give so many clues?

DAVID: Casino Classics LP was many things... on the roof we are a gang like an old cowboy movie. It was our collection of singles and b-sides of singles that never came out, they are a homage to our heroes, they are just POP songs. "Villians" for instance is us being R+B mods, "Original Arrogance" is us being angry polemical punks, "Just 14" is us as the new Stereolab... and so on. There are clues to everything.

I can see you love POP music, Is it the most important thing in your lives?

DAVID: No, POP music is not the most important thing in our lives, we are real, rounded individuals who love, hate and everything. I like films just as much as music. Great things are great things whether they're cheese sandwiches or a Sam and Dave single. But I guess records are up there with drinking beer.

What are the last records that you have bought?

PHIL: Ken Nordine "Colours" and Beck "Odelay"
SAM: Heavenly social LP
SARAH: Everything but the Girl "Walking wounded"
JAX: Money Mark
DAVID: Big Fleam 7" and 70's reggae collection

Unavoidable question: What do you thing about C-96? Are Comet Gain part of that revival?
Do you like BIS?

DAVID: C-96 is just another disastruous and very silly and childish box some unimaginative hack invented so he can go round the bars of Hampstead and tell everyone "I invented C-96 you know". It means wathever you want it to. To us it means the same as C-86, absolutely nothing. How we can be a part of a revival that doesn't exist in our heads?. We played with BIS, I like'em a lot: they're spunky young things with nice accents.

How would you define Comet Gain? I have a lot of problems because you have soul songs, pop songs, ballads, mod songs, riot songs...

DAVID: Comet Gain and their wide range of songs styles is a deliberate move to make life more interesting for the viewer. As we all like different kinds of music it would seem stupid to play only one?. It's more fun even if it went wrong. It's the attempt that's good. Although I think Reggae would be a bit too difficult. The new LP we're recording as I write has country music, dub, punk, folk-rock, funky instrumentals, etc.

I can see that Comet Gain has two singers, What kind of songs do you usually sing?

DAVID: The two singers are me and Sarah, I sing what I write and vice versa and that's only criteria. That they are songs. We are all old friends like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson and we all solve our own crimes too.

Do you thing your songs should have daytime airplay on the radio stations or do you prefer the underground? What are the Comet Gain ambitions?

DAVID: Our songs have had some daytime play which is the best place for them. I'd hope our ambitions are to continue being Comet Gain in the best possible way and ruling the roost with an iron hand, to dethrone prices and destroy our enemies.

Why did you choose this name?

DAVID: I wrote the name Comet Gain on our first demo tape box in red letters and forget what it meant. Something to do whith breaking amplifiers, stars, fire and random letters in a row, like our career in fact.

Thank You and congratulations for the Comet Gain SONGS!