No Rock And Roll Fun

OOH, THAT LONDON: In an astonishing outburst, Fran Healy has moaned his arse off about London. Apparently, it's full of backstabbers, and the big C for the congestion zone really means "Cunt" because "that's what you get to be" (presumably if you venture no further south than Euston, you'll be fine). Banging on to Scotland on Sunday, he warms to his theme:

"When I was growing up in Glasgow there was always this idea that we had to have a music industry in Scotland. I always thought ‘fuck that’. The music industry is just a place for people to stab each other in the back. I really always believed that that couldn’t exist in Scotland because we don’t have the capacity to be that dishonest. Only in London...

London is a place where people do that all the time. If you drive into central London there is a big C painted on the road at the point where the congestion charge kicks in. I always think it means you pay five quid and you get to be a cunt."

Healy has made seven million quid out the music indsutry, which must mean he's something of a cunt himself. As if to prove his point, he then starts to mutter about how young bands have it easy these days:

"I was speaking to a couple of guys in a band who were doing a pub gig in Camden recently. Steve Lamacq was there, as were a couple of record company scouts. The guys had been in a band together for just two months. That is not enough time to hone your skill, assuming you have any. It took us six years to get there. I was thinking: ‘You wee shit!’"

This throws up two interesting points: first, that Healy can't conceive of a band actually being worth interest and support from the off - it doesn't all have to be workmanlike, does it? Second, and more significantly, it torpedoes Healy's gripes about London, surely? The reason why it took Travis years to break through was because their early records were, frankly, rubbish; and yet the supposed back-stabbing, cuntish London scene gave them support and support slots which gave them time to get - well, if not better, then at least popular. A man who was allowed the time and space to record again after making the shocking U16 Girls might want to think a bit before moaning on about how everyone is simply beastly to him.