A Chat with With Alex Sharkey of Pinkie
Fussy, Brighter, Sarah Records, and more...
The following interview with Planting Seeds' artist Alex Sharkey of Pinkie is exclusive to www.plantingseedsrecords.com. An abridged version appears in indie magazine Dagger - Issue #36 Summer 2005.
Interview by Kevin Corrie
Alex,
it’s good to have you back with a fabulous new record! But for a quick introduction…
Other than the obvious coastal connection (Alex’s in Worthing, Pinkie in
Brighton) to the main character "Pinkie" in Graham Green's "Brighton rock"
- What drew you to adopt him, Pinkie, as your moniker? Any specific boyhood
memories or experiences that you find parallel the troubled young 19 year
old aspiring gangster?
“There were a number of reasons why I was attracted to using the name
Pinkie…and I suppose it’s because there were a number of reasons that made
it so attractive…the pure ambiguity. Pink is a traditionally soft feminine
colour, has connotations with left wing politics, but it’s also the nick-name
of a psychopathic gangster… who looks angelically innocent…but is brooding
with demons…plus Brighton Rock is a fantastic book and is based down the
road…enough reasons already! But apart from that there are no specific parallels
or dark memories that I identify in Pinkie the gangster…I’m afraid.”
Let’s talk about the record a bit…How did the concept for “Sharon Fussy”
come about?
“Well the songs were pretty sporadic, mainly a collection I’d been
storing up for a while with no particular theme except perhaps one of heartbreak
..which does tend to inspire (obsess) me somewhat. But when compiling the
album I liked the thought that there might be some sort of continuity. Not
a concept exactly but as though it was the sound track to a film that one
day might be made. That’s why I’ve included some sections of incidental
music. That’s the bit where the leading man stares hopelessly into the eyes
of the leading lady, only for her to turn away to run after the 904 bus,
dropping her chips behind her…or something like that...”
Who actually is Sharon Fussy and what significance is she to the concept
to the LP if any? Was she someone famous in England?
“Mmm.. good question. She was basically someone I knew as a child. She was
a professional actress though not famous as such and I actually appeared
in a play with her. I suppose she was a kind of first crush, but above anything
else the name just stuck with me. In the UK Sharon is known as a bit of
an ordinary name (sorry to anyone reading this called Sharon – I know individually
you are all very special) and in my (albeit warped) mind, I thought being
fussy and being called Sharon was somehow a contradiction in terms. As I’ve
said before, this is by no means a ‘concept’ album but the idea that Sharon
somehow forms a sort of continuity to the songs appeals to me.”
How do you feel the new record differs from your first release “My Little
Experiment?” Songs such as “Shelly Anne” and “Say After Me” seem like a
new direction for Pinkie – The fuzz guitar break was a complete welcome
surprise – did you consciously make the decision to take it a step further
and add bits and pieces previously not heard on the first record?
“On
the first EP I made a very conscious decision that the songs should stick
to a rigidly defined sound. I wanted them to sound like they were all recorded
in one afternoon (which for a large part they were). I wanted to stretch
that a little further for the album, provide a few more dimensions and at
least a couple of the tracks started out as Fosca songs but I felt I could
let my Fosca world and Pinkie world combine a bit more for this recording.
And hey we’re all entitled to do the odd fuzz guitar break...right kids?!”
And I must ask about "Don't forget to sing"? A nice pause to the record,
yes...comical, yes...delightful...who put you up to it? Any backstory there?
“Well as anyone who knows me will tell you, I spend many a happy hours rummaging
around charity shops looking for vinyl oddities calling out to be sampled.
On one of those quests I came across the recording that I worked into “Don’t
Forget to Sing”. I inserted it to provide a bit of a wake up call between
songs and it reminds of what Pinkie might have heard when he happened to
chance upon a tea-room band of 1930s Brighton.”
In many of the reviews/press we have read regarding your music/lyrics,
the press paints a picture that you are a very sad person – do you find
that to be even remotely true?
“Well I like to think of myself as a pretty positive and cheerful person
most of the time – I would describe myself as more reflective than ‘sad’,
but I believe it’s true of all of us that we find it easier to record in
diaries/letters/even emails, our truest and honest emotions and for me that’s
in the form of songs.”
Do your fatherly experiences find muses in your song writing at all,
a lot of your music is very soothing with lullaby-leanings. Any of them
start out as such, and end up transforming?
“Well it would be a rather strange father that sang his child a lullaby about
the unrequited love of a person suffering from restricted growth. Come to
think of it…I am strange…and I wonder if Disney would be interested in some
lullabies? But I take your point, the answers no, the soothing lullaby leanings
are just the by-product of my limited musical technique! Hey, I like the
acoustic 12 string guitar…get over it!”
With the recent release of the Brighter “Singles 1989-1992” collection
on Matinee Records, do you think you will ever want to reform Brighter and
record a new LP?
“I don’t think that’s very likely but you should never say never. It would
be more Keris’s call on that one as Brighter started out as his bag. I suppose
the closest we got was when I joined Keris for the Harper Lee tour in Spain
last year, but I think hardly anyone realised who I was and so the significance
was lost on just about everyone except me. So to answer your question…you
never know…but don’t hold your breath…unless you are a champion hold your
breather.”
Is recording/writing more or less as a solo artist in Pinkie more fulfilling
than performing with either of your past groups (ie: Brighter, Hal, Fosca,
etc.)?
“Well it’s a mixed feeling. Working alone is great from the point of view
of control and being able to completely follow an idea through, but I do
miss that buzz of bouncing ideas off people.”
And I’ve been listening to the “Sunsets & Silhouettes” compilation and
not only love your track “She’s Dead” but your teaming with Scott Meiggs
on the Xavier Pelleuf song “Fourth of July” is just a lovely track/performance!
– Would you like to do more collaborations with other artists in the future?
“As I said above, there is a great deal of satisfaction to be found in putting
a different spin on someone else’s work and also when someone breathes new
life into mine. It was great fun adding the orchestration etc to XP's track
(which was wonderful already – which of course made it easier) and all the
more interesting because we’ve never communicated… let alone met – we conversed
through the medium of melody.”
The whole Sarah Records legend seems to have grown through the years
since the demise of the label a little while back – how was it working with
such a label and did you think a decade later people would still be talking
about it?
“At the time we (or at least me…I can’t speak for the others) thought it
wouldn’t end…though I suppose it was inevitable it would implode at some
point…actually it’s not fair to say it imploded…it ended with a cocktail
party on a barge…I’ve still got the badge to prove it. They were fun, magical,
naive, innocent, depressing, heartbreaking times. I’m not sure if I’d be
surprised if I known then that people would be still talking about it a
decade later…but I think I’d be pleased.”
You
mentioned your recent tour of Spain with Harper Lee – how was that experience
and does touring Europe or the USA fit into the picture for Pinkie the near
future?
“It was fantastic. It was arranged by our friend Angel and we were looked
after so well. The Spanish people we met were all so charming and accommodating
it couldn’t have been better. We also traveled with some good friends (The
Trembling Blue Stars and Lovejoy) and it was a privilege to hear their music
every night – for free! The thing is with tours etc you kind of wait for
the offers and then think about the logistics.”
We always as you know love to know what others are listening to…what
would be your current Top 10 records?
“The Sharkey juke box says…10) Aqualung, Still Life 9) Morrisey, You Are
the Quarry 8) Air, Moon Safari 7)Trembling Blue Stars, Alive to Every Smile
6)Lovejoy, Lovejoy (Unpopular Records) 5) Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand
4) Mull Historical Society, Us 3) St Etienne, Finisterre 2) The Glitter
Band, The Glitter Bands Greatest Hits 1) Wah!, The Handy Wah Hole.”
Thanks again for taking the time to hang with us Alex – hopefully myself
and the rest of the Planting Seeds group will make it to England in the
future! Cheers for now!
“Thanks for the questions, nice to hear from you again. Last I heard you
were learning to fly, hope you passed OK. I tried that once, they passed
me alright on the take-offs…but I always failed on the landings…I just had
to keep flying round in circles for days…never mind they said I’m OK to
drive a Robin Reliant and a large motorcycle…as long as I keep on the L
plates…Cheers.”
Pinkie's "Sharon Fussy" has since met with critical acclaim and made
some Best of 2004 lists worldwide. Alex is currently working with fellow
Planting Seeds' artist Linda Draper on a series of remixes. Visit Pinkie
at www.plantingseedsrecords.com/pinkie/pinkie.html.
Photography (Courtesy of Alex Sharkey collection; bottom photo: Kevin Corrie,
UK, 2001.)
