On the Tidal Wave of Indifference we’re no great fans of Frank Turner and don’t quite ‘get’ his increasingly wide appeal. The music of Billy Bragg, an even better-known protest-y singer, also leaves us a little cold.
So imagine our astonishment when a singer-songwriter very much influenced by both doesn’t have us reaching for the ‘skip’ or ‘off’ buttons.
Maybe it’s the Scottishness. Maybe it’s the beard. Whatever it is, Shambles Miller – Campbell to his maw – is doing something right. His brand of witty and articulate folk is compulsive listening with lyrics you can get under the skin of.
And I’m not the only one who’s listening. Miller has been accepted into Strummerville – the Joe Strummer Foundation for New Music, a charity which supports aspiring musicians and global projects that aim to change the world through music.
Quite an accolade, but a deserved one. A talented lyricist and passionate singer, I decided to find out for myself what makes the man tick…
So who the hell are you?
I’m Shambles Miller, your local neighbourhood folkieman. Who the hell are you?
I am Charlie Sheen, man of moderation and fidelity. Describe your sound in ten words or less?
Songs about life, politics, love, sometimes beer. But not pterodactyls.
That’s a relief. There’s a strong element of social commentary in your lyrics – how did that come about and would you describe yourself as a political singer?
It’s just a natural part of my songwriting and always has been, I suppose. As you can probably guess from the song Things That Make Me Angry, I just write about the things I care about. Sometimes that means those things in the world that get my hackles up; sometimes it means songs about friends or beer or love or anything else a person might conceivably care about. I’m yet to write a song about sandwiches though, only because I know my songwriting ability isn’t yet able to express that kind of love.
So I wouldn’t label myself as a political singer; after all there’s not much political content to be found in Beer Song or Robots, for example. I think Billy Bragg’s approach to his being labelled a political songwriter is interesting; he’s been quoted as saying “my theory is this; I’m not a political songwriter. I’m an honest songwriter. I try and write honestly about what I see around me now.”
What comes first in the process – words or music?
Och, it depends really. I do write lyrics down, all over the place. I have envelopes and boxes full of unused lyrics. I suppose the majority of the songs I play live or that you can hear on my records tend to be the ones where I’ve been lucky enough for both music and lyrics to appear at roughly the same time. Except of course for AAARRGGHHH!, so called because I was battering the chords and melody around for months before I could settle on lyrics I liked, my varied attempts punctuated by the aforementioned cry. I suppose I could’ve called it FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!, but two men much wiser than me suggested I try to swear less.
I’ve heard you described as alternatively a new Billy Bragg or Scotland’s Frank Turner – do you like either? Are they an influence??
Yes and yes. I find both extremely flattering, to be honest. I’m nowhere near to earning the kind of respect or acclaim either of those artists have achieved, but you can’t help feeling encouraged when people make those sorts of comparisons. Frank Turner is probably one of the main songwriters who made me feel like I could write the sort of songs I wanted to write and still have people listen, which in turn gave me the confidence to finally get out there and gig on my own. Billy Bragg is a huge inspiration as well, particularly in his political songwriting. That snarl on his version of “Which Side Are You On” (a song I’ve recently rewritten myself) in the line “it hurts me more to hear a scab say ‘sod you Jack’” sends shivers up my spine just thinking about it. There’s something about his music that has the power to make you feel hopeful, even when things seem hopeless. Like things can change, because together we have more power than we know.
Strummerville – honoured?
Absolutely! Who wouldn’t be? It’s a great opportunity to be involved with Strummerville and I plan to make the most of it. I wish I’d known they submit your bio as is though. I thought someone rewrote the basic information you send in, but it goes up exactly as you present it, so I sound like a bit of a dafty. Maybe I’ll get a chance to rewrite it at some point.
You’re also on Amazing Radio’s tips for 2011. A strange feeling?
Definitely. A real honour of course, but it’s always weird (in a nice way) when anyone gives you that sort of attention, that sort of compliment. I’m still relatively new to this to be honest, I just hope I can live up to such high praise. But if I get to the end of the year without doing much, I’ll just do something MENTAL like live in a hot air balloon for a month with a cat (I’m allergic) or spend all my time vehemently claiming to have invented chalk. If people would like to avoid such crazinesses, book me for nice gigs and such.
You can have a listen to the self-explanatory Things That Make Me Angry Below. It’s from his Shambles Sails the Clockwork Sea which I strongly advise you download via his Bandcamp page.
