Mick Harvey

Mick Harvey is an Australian national treasure. For the past 30 years he has been one of the most interesting figures on the Aussie post-punk scene and has also been instrumental in making some of the finest musical voices out there sound wonderful. Beyond his work with others he has recorded two records of Serge Gainsbourg songs translated into English and recorded two original solo records. The newest of which, Two of Hearts has just been released by Mute records and deserves a place on your shelf and in his pantheon of fine work.

Mick Harvey co-founded the Boys Next Door with Nick Cave in the mid-70's who later evolved into the Birthday Party. The BIrthday Party, along with Joy Division were arguably the most important and most influential of all of the bands of this era. Following the implosion of the Birthday Party Harvey was a member of Crime and the City Solution, and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds (which he is an crucial and instrumental force behind to this day). He has also produced and played with such greats as Robert Forster, PJ Harvey and fellow Birthday Party member Rowland S. Howard.

MIck Harvey has long existed on a shortlist of artists I have always want to speak to so you can imagine what a thrill it was for me to talk to him this summer:

Trout: "Two of Diamonds" has a very laid back feel to it. I get the drift from this and from 'One Man's Treasure' that you have already proven yourself a million times over and the approach was: "Here I am", is that at all accurate?

Mick Harvey: To some degree. It’s probably also a case of wanting to do something a bit different from what I’ve already done in the past and indeed other things I’m involved in now. I’m not sure I’d call the music laid back, though. It’s not trying to rip your head off, for sure, but the lyrical content is not exactly easy listening. It’s certainly about me putting forward my own song based predilections so in that case it is, “Here I am”.

T:When you approached this record, covers and originals, was there a clear trajectory? Something you were trying to express with other songs you loved? Was there a clear order? Do your songs sit beside other people's that you have enjoyed to make a statement?

MH: Not really, just a list of songs and the hope they would fit together well. As it happened, what I initially recorded didn’t fit together that well so I recorded two more songs, “No Doubt” and “Home is Far From Here’, to try and get it to gel.

As for how my own songs fit in, I cannot be an objective judge of that.

T:This is personal and long but I want to know: One of my favorite songs on 'One Man's Treasure' was a cover of an obscure song called 'Come on Spring' that has found it's way into my brain. Whenever I am walking around Philadelphia and I see a pretty girl I hear you in my head saying "Come on spring, do your thing...." after working so hard to make others sound so good, do you ever feel like it would be good to have someone say 'I love that Mick Harvey Song" or at least know that someone like me is personally referencing you?

MH: For me it’s always about making the music as good as it can be, so in a way I always feel connected with people being affected by any music I’m involved in making. I suppose it feels a little closer to home when it’s something from my solo work, though, yes.

T: "Here I am", "Little Star", and "Slow-Motion-Movie-Star" are gorgeous, you have a great lyrical gift. As a writer where do you draw inspiration? Do you arrange your own songs to match something going on with you?

MH: “Little Star” is actually the only one of those three that I wrote, though I did change some of the words in the other two. My “cousin” Polly wrote "Slow-Motion-Movie-Star". I don’t really consider myself a writer or a composer as such, despite the fact that I’ve composed a lot of music. I don’t really sit down and labour over compositional matters, I just use pieces that come to me. And I only write words very occasionally so I don’t consider myself a lyric writer either, as other people might..

T:Was it a true love of Serge Gainsbourg that prompted you to make those two wonderful records? Please don't say there was anything else. There are wonderful. I think you should curate a Francoise Hardy record with Lydia Lunch, Shirley Manson, Siouxsie and Joan as Police Woman.

MH: True love? No, I’m not sure I can say there wasn’t anything else. The initial motivation obviously grew out of a fascination with his material but to actually undertake such a project there had to be other factors. The fact that the songs are in French, and consequently largely unknown outside of France springs to mind as one opportunistic reason. An opportunity to put myself forward with a project which would arouse interest might be another. Hate to disappoint you but these are the realities.

I love all those ladies you mention but quite honestly have no desire to work with any of them. The feeling would probably be mutual.

T: You covered one of my favorite Gun Club songs 'Mother of Earth' on 'One Man's Treasure'. I think the Gun Club, with the Dream Syndicate were the best bands America produced since 1980. Thanks for doing that. Any good stories about you and the Gun Club?

MH: Umm. Good stories? Perhaps over a beer. This is not really the place. Jeffrey was always good value. I did end up at Disneyland with Patricia Morrison the day after seeing The Gun Club in LA in ’84 but that’s a long story.

T: Finally, What was the last record you bought, last song you liked, last movie you saw and your favorite movie?

MH: Let’s see. I just bought Hal Wilner’s ‘Rouge’s Gallery’ album which Warren was involved in and a Gogol Bordello album because I spent a long evening with them in a bar in London a fortnight ago and didn’t know who the hell they were. Very sweet though.

The last song I liked?? Do you mean recent song? ‘Sad White Music’ by James Cruickshank and that recent single by The White Stripes.

The last movie I saw was on the plane, it must have been ‘Half Nelson’ or ‘Borat’, can’t remember which I watched first.

My favourite movie is ‘Touch of Evil’ by Orson Welles. Always has been.

Mick Harvey is touring the U.K. this fall in support of Two of Hearts. For all things Mick check him out at Mute and his official site.

Greg Trout