Tom Doyle - The Glamour Chase: The Maverick Life of Billy MacKenzie

For Marjory Doyle

My love affair with the Associates started when I was fifteen. There was only one record shop in Reykjavik that sold alternative music and I worked there with some of my mates. We didnt care what was popular in England or America at the time. We just adopted the artists we liked and played them to death. I quite liked Fourth Drawer Down and The Affectionate Punch, but it was Sulk I really got into.

I was still looking for my identity as a singer and I really admired the way Billy used and manipulated his voice on that record. He was an incredibly spontaneous and intuitive singer raw and dangerous. At the same time, he always sounded like he was really plugged into nature and the things surrounding him. Ive heard people describe him as a white soul singer, but Ive always thought his voice was more pagan and primitive, and for me thats much more rare and interesting. There are hundreds of singers who sound a bit soulful, but there arent that many who sound like they have gypsy roots in them.

I thought Party Fears Two was a bit too slick and over-produced at the time, but I listened to it again recently and I think its aged well. The electronics sound classic rather than clichd and Billys voice really complements Alan Rankines arrangements.

I didnt realise Gloomy Sunday wasnt one of their tunes until I was invited to do a benefit concert with Joni Mitchell in California in 1997. I turned up at the rehearsal and couldnt believe it when the orchestra played this really straight jazz version without the outrageous key change in the middle. I tried protesting that they were missing out the best part of the song, then it dawned on me that the Associates version was obviously a cover. I was disappointed because the original isnt half as challenging.

The Associates went there. They didnt edit their nature out of it. They had pagan qualities. When I read this book about Billy MacKenzie, it said that all the lyrics were composed in the moment, not written down, like a stream of consciousness. For Medlla, I thought about using Billy MacKenzies voice, and his father sent me old multi-tracks, the original tapes, and I wanted to work on it, celebrating voices, maybe do a duet with him. But when it came to it, I was too scared.