Tim Burgess Of The Charlatans On New Double Album ‘Typical Music’

Beginning in March of 2020, as the quarantine of early pandemic lock down began to take shape, Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess found a way to connect people via music even during the most isolating of times.

Tim’s Twitter Listening Party featured an artist breaking down an album in stunning detail, with fan and artist alike listening to a record together, connecting via comments on Twitter in real time.

Artists ranging anywhere from rap duo Run The Jewels to Beatle Paul McCartney took part and the series became an uplifting force during an otherwise uncertain period.

That positivity spilled over into sessions for Burgess’ sixth solo album Typical Music, one defined by a palpable sense of optimism despite the tumultuous times from which it was born.

“I think the overall feeling is one of optimism,” said Burgess over the phone. “I wanted to kind of build a hermetically sealed spaceship and just transcend everything that was going on in the world. I built that with a minimal crew. We’d be making this fantastic, colorful music that would sort of just lighten everything up.”

In July of 1996, U.K. alt rockers the Charlatans were recording their fifth studio album Tellin’ Stories at Rockfield Studios in Wales, when original keyboardist Rob Collins was killed in a car accident near the studio’s gate. Burgess returned to the studio to work on Typical Music, recording at the studio for the first time since the tragic accident.

“I love Rockfield Studios. And I’d been wanting to go back for a long time. There’s something amazing there,” said Burgess over the phone. “We didn’t really want to go back there because we couldn’t face up to the reality of what actually happened. But, you know, as time goes by… That was 1996. Lots of time has gone by. Now I just walk up to the gate and sort of like just think about him. He invited me to be in The Charlatans so I owe him a lot – he taught me a lot. And I feel that he’s still here with me somewhere, you know?”

I spoke with Tim Burgess ahead of a series of November U.K. solo dates about Tim’s Twitter Listening Parties, making Typical Music, the ability of music to connect people and much more. A transcript of our phone conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows below.

You’ve said that during COVID, you fell in love with the world again and that that idea sort of informed Typical Music. Here you’ve got tumultuous times politically in both the U.S. and the U.K. plus a global pandemic. How were you falling in love with the world again?

Burgess: Well, I think my world was definitely the Listening Party. And I was doing work 10 hours a day on that, especially the first three weeks, trying to get everything organized. And I just think that the braver I got in my asks, and the more responses that I’d get, it was just fantastic.

I remember having to pull over while I was driving around – pulling over so I could organize listening parties for Kylie Minogue and Paul McCartney. Literally pulling over on the side of the road on my way to the studio. Everybody thought that it was a good idea and wanted to be involved and wanted to help and give of their time and all of that kind of stuff. So it was mostly that.

Plus, I actually fell in love with somebody during that time too. So that I guess made me fall in love with the world as well, because that can do that.

I love the idea of the double album but sometimes people have these preconceived notions of it – they think about excess or these sprawling opuses. But this is certainly not that. How did you kind of treat that idea as you started putting together a double album?

Burgess: Well, I was very keen on an album called Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me by The Cure. That was 16 tracks. I suggested to Thighpaulsandra and Daniel O’Sullivan, who I was working with, that when I got to 16, they should give me a shout. Because I thought that was a good place to start. And they said, “We’re well past that already. We’ve got way more than that.” We counted them up and there were 22. And they were all about at the three minute mark – a couple were a little bit over that. But mostly pop songs.

We thought, “Well, let’s color them all in and give them all the attention to detail that we can possibly give them and just finish them off and give them all a chance.” Then I just couldn’t leave any off.

So I thought that it would be great to put all 22 on and we found a way to do it.

Your book is named Telling Stories. There’s the Charlatans album Tellin’ Stories. Certainly, there’s a storytelling arc on Typical Music. Who are some of your favorite writers or favorite storytellers whether it’s in a song, a book or anything else?

Burgess: Gosh. Well, they all have stories don’t they? I like Carole King. She’s classic, obviously. And I’ve liked stuff that she wrote with Gerry Goffin, stuff that she did with her band The City and obviously the stuff she wrote for other people – and Tapestry onward. I really admire her writing.

Storytellers in other works… Sharon Horgan, who tells the greatest stories I think.

I would imagine being at Rockfield Studios carries mixed emotions. What was it like returning there and recording there again?

Burgess: I love Rockfield Studios. And I’d been wanting to go back for a long time. There’s something amazing there. The vocal booth is so simple. I don’t want to sound too technical here but there’s a reverb unit there that just is like gold reverb. It just makes the voice sound fantastic. You don’t even have to try too hard – it just makes it sound otherworldly.

I wanted to go back there a couple of times with the Charlatans. I’m sure most people know, but Rob Collins was [killed] in a car crash at the end of the gate. And we didn’t really want to go back there – because we couldn’t face up to the reality of what actually happened. But, you know, as time goes by… That was 1996. Lots of time has gone by. Now I just walk up to the gate and sort of just think about him.

He invited me to be in the Charlatans, so I owe him a lot – he taught me a lot. And I feel that he’s still here with me somewhere, you know?

There are times when social media can carry a negative connotation. But, for you, it really became this positive force during that period of early lock down isolation. How important did Tim’s Twitter Listening Parties become?

Burgess: Very important. Important for everybody, including myself.

There was a day that I was just sitting here and I was on the phone to Ian Astbury [of The Cult] followed by Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet and they were just all very keen to do the best Listening Party that they could. So they wanted the details – if there was any key to doing it. So it meant a lot to the artists as well as the people. There’s an amazing thing about listening to a record and knowing that so many other people around the world are listening as well.

I tried to compare it to meditation. I meditate and I practice twice a day on my own – but I have done it with like 10 other people and 100 other people and it’s way, way more powerful than anything I’ve really ever experienced. Just sitting there in silence with a mantra. And, in this case, with the Listening Party, the album in question was the mantra. And the teacher was the person who was involved in the record. And us, the listeners, would be the ones meditating.

I was looking this morning at the very expansive list of artists who have participated. And it’s such a diverse roster – which is so cool. Is there a moment or a participant who sticks out to you as having been surprising in the moment?

Burgess: So cool, yes. Stephen Morris from New Order did a great one on Power, Corruption & Lies. And “Blue Monday” was the single but it was never actually on the album (Maybe in America it was but over here it was just eight tracks plus “Blue Monday” as a 12 inch). But I knew that he was going to play “Blue Monday” afterwards and it was just a countdown to that bass drum of “Blue Monday” kicking in. And it was like a f—ing rave! It was just amazing. That was great.

Gary Kemp talking about “True” and the album that he made with Spandau Ballet – a band that I was never really familiar with or never really cared about that much (it was my fault, not theirs!). But just hearing his stories about him being 19 and his brother 21 and his mom and them all living together in this council house in London. And he had these great songs like “True” and “Gold” and “Communication.” And the only people that had heard them were his mom and his brother – and they were his fans.

It was just like, “Wow!” These are the stories that you just don’t get.

Looking back at those now two and a half years after they started, in a world that’s been continually changing over the course of that time, what do you learn from an experience like that?

Burgess: It was brilliant. The first three weeks were mostly friends of mine who were doing them. Bonehead from Oasis, The Chemical Brothers, Dave Rowntree from Blur, Alex Kapronos from Franz Ferdinand. As time went on on, we wanted to make it more far reaching and add new bands. We got We Are KING, R. Stevie Moore, Sofie Royer, Run the Jewels. And that’s when it started to really kind of take the shape that I wanted it to take. And, after that, I kind of just left it to run by itself. Because everybody was invited.

It really didn’t matter whether it was The Slow Readers Club one night or Paul McCartney the next. It didn’t matter how big they were. It mattered how great of a Listening Party they felt they could do.

McCartney did an amazing one. It was just amazing. He didn’t have to bother, you know? But he did. And it was brilliant. He did a really great job.

Something that’s really hit me the last year or so as concerts have started to come back is the way music can bring people together – can connect people. Even during quarantine, you found a way for music to connect people. Generally speaking, how important a role is that for music to play?

Burgess: Yeah, I think people have been connecting through fear, you know? And music, typically, sort of saves people – and gets people excited and motivated and sort of can bring people together in such a beautiful way. It’s just amazing.