I had the pleasure of hosting another conversation with Andrew Weatherall, this time at Festival Number 6. There was a sizeable crowd to see him, and there were laughs from the off – and some good heckling from a Glaswegian Love From Outer Space regular. Weatherall is always impressive and I could probably write reams and reams about why he’s so influential, but instead, I’d just like to leave you with a tiny nugget, right from the end of the session. We’d been talking about his BBC6Music radio shows, and specifically, the one where he played the music that made Screamadelica, a show that featured tunes from Can, ACR, Prince Far I and Isaac Hayes. What, I asked, might be on a show that explained the music that makes him right now?
I’m paraphrasing but the answer is perfect, because it explains why he’s still as relevant now as he was when he and his pals started Boys Own back in the late ’80s. “I value authenticity over originality.”
Or to put it another way, come as you are.
You can see my interview with him at last year’s RBMA here.