( Sorry for the repost, but I screwed up and left out one of the questions....
"something got in my eye" while I was thinking about some of the things Doug
had to say...... Flame me directly for the stupidity, please.)
From the New Brunswick Underground (Issue# 3, Volume 1 - Autumn 1998)
The Connells
by Sandi Demeo
After seven critically acclaimed albums, 14 years as a band and over a decade
on the road, The Connells are still alive and kicking. The swirling, chiming
guitars of Mike Connell and George Huntley together with the unshakable rhythm
section of bassist David Connell and drummer Peele Wimberley produce nothing
but pure pop bliss. top that off with the soulful keyboard backing of Steve
Potak and you've got a sound that's all their own. And then of course there's
Doug MacMillan. With the voice of an angel and the personality of a stand-up
comic, MacMillan is arguably one of the most entertaining frontmen in music
today. NBU sat down with Doug MacMillan in July just before his band hit the
stage at Surfstock '98 in Ortley Beach, NJ.
NBU: How have you guys kept this band together for so long when so many of
your contemporaries have fallen apart?
MacMillan: I think mainly because around the time we finished touring for
Ring in 1995, we were kind of scratching our heads and going "What are we
doing here? Every time we make an album it only goes so far and then it hits
a ceiling." And all of a sudden we started getting these faxes from Germany
saying "'75-'75" is climbing the charts. We didn't believe it. Sure enough,
it went to Number One so we started going to Europe and the next thing you
know, EMI picked up the record label in Germany and it was like this seven-
country number-one hit. If that hadn't happened we probably wouldn't be
sitting here talking. Also, I think we all just really appreciate the fact
that we can do this. Like I haven't had a day job in a long time - a long.
Long time. We all love the fact that we get to travel a lot and just play
music and generally, there's people who enjoy (our music) - that's a novelty
when you think about it. Every time we make an album, it's like "We're not
doing this again, are we?" But what else are we going to do? It's the
greatest job in the world.
NBU: At the beginning of your career Mike (Connell) wrote most of the songs.
On the new album, Still Life, every band member wrote at least one song. How
did that evolve?
MacMillan: It's actually really healthy. Basically, I only started writing
songs when I started playing guitar some years ago. There are times when Mike
will feel more pressure about having to be the sole bearer of that
responsiblity. George (Huntley) and Mike are definitely songwriters. I'm a
perormer who sometimes writes songs - there's a big difference. Most of the
songs I write are pretty slow because I don't play guitar very well! Actually
though, I did write "Circlin'." I call that my .38 Special meets T-Rex song.
NBU: Why didn't any of you take credit in the liner notes for songwriting on
this record?
MacMillan: Generally, one of us sits at home and works up a song. But when
you bring it in to the whole band, it evolves into something else. If you had
a different group of people that you brought the song to, it would sound
totally different. If it was a situation where one guy wrote the song, demoed
it alone with a drum machine, bass, guitar, and keyboards, then it wouldn't
be written by The Connells. It's just a way of keeping things equal and fair.
If there was someone else playing the songs besides Peele I don't know what
the songs I've written would sound like. I don't really want to know! Also,
nobody in the band is really hung up on that "taking credit" thing. We've
been together for so long, the songs are going to sound the way they sound
because of the personalities in the band and the way the band works. Since
the first album, there was at least one other person besides Mike writing.
NBU: How do you guys feel about your first album? (Darker Days 1985)
MacMillan: I simply can't listen to it. I can laugh at it now - it just
doesn't sound like us. All the songs were written in really low keys. I had
barely learned how to sing (at the time). I was listening to Echo and the
Bunnymen and Joy Division. Then I hear the Smiths and thought, Wow, there's
another guy singing like that. Okay, I don't feel so weird now, that's how
I'll sing." And it came back to haunt us. That album is a perfect example of
a band that was in the recording studio way before they were ready to be there
- a very good example. Six months later I learned how to sing properly - sing
the way I should have - and it was too late. On the second album, Boylan
Heights, Mike learned to change the keys in the songs better for me but on
Darker Days, I sounded like Robert Goulet. Like I said, we shouldn't have
been in the studio, but we had the opportunity so we did it. It's good for a
laugh. I used to get really upset about it at the time because I know I could
sing better than that and I thought that was it. Thankfully, we got to put
another album out soon after that sounded a lot better. Also, we were all
just really nervous guys making their first record.
NBU: (The first album) really sounds like a different band… a different
British band, not some guys from North Carolina.
MacMillan: That was Mike's thing. Mike grew up listening to The Who, The
Beatles, and Jethro Tull. Then in the late 70s he got into The Jam, The Clash
and The Buzzcocks and started to get into playing guitar more. The way he
taught me songs, and the way he sang, was very English. He still sings like
that. I was just trying to do what he was doing but I had a fuller, deeper
voice.
NBU: Why didn't Mike sing a song on Still Life?
MacMillan: There was one song that should've been on the record where he was
singing the bridge, which was really cool. We would trade off. But for some
stupid reason, it didn't get on the album. It was a good fuckin' song too.
We've been wanting to play it live. It's called "31."
NBU: Who picks the single you put out first?
MacMillan: I like the idea of kind of building up to something. "Crown" is
just the first single but there's no way of knowing if a song is going to
catch on or not. As far as who picks the single, it's not us. Our job is
done. We just tour and do interviews and make videos now.
NBU: Speaking of videos, are you doing one and for what song?
MacMillan: We'll make a video. I just don't know for what song and when.
You have to be really careful about that cause you can blow a lot of money.
NBU: The take off of the movie "Deliverence" that you guys did for the video
for the song "Maybe" is the funniest video I've ever seen. It looks like you
dropped quite a bit of cash on that one.
MacMillan: That's my favorite video. Actually, it's amazing how little it
cost. It was shot for next to nothing compared to most videos today. It was
like forty or fifty thousand dollars. That's nothing by today's standards.
The guys who shot it were friends of ours form North Carolina who all work in
the film industry and really know what they're doing. They did it in tow days,
it was a lot of fun.
NBU: Every time I see you guys play, it looks like you're having a great
time. I've never seen you play an unenthusiastic or boring show.
MacMillan: Well. We've had our fair share of those in the past. If you spend
that mush time with anybody you can really get on each others' nerves. We've
learned that you just can't bring that stuff out on stage with you. Actually,
we're genuinely having a lot of fun with the new songs and we're throwing in a
lot of older stuff we haven't' played in awhile.
NBU: A big portion of the people who read this magazine are musicians…
MacMillan: That's flattering that you guys would want us to be in it if
musicians are running it and reading it.
NBU: Do you have any advice for young bands starting out? You guys have been
together for 14 years and the only line-up change you've had was an addition.
That's almost unheard of.
MacMillan: I don't think I realize how novel that is… This is the only band
any of us have really been in. George was in another band at the beginning
and Peele has played with some people. I used to do a side project called The
April Fools like 10 years ago. We'd do Burt Bacharach songs just because we
had fun doing it. I've been playing with some friends in Raleigh called the
Cliffmen and we're all wary of taking it too seriously. I just think it's key
to have fun and bee with people you really like. To me, musicianship is sort
of secondary - I'm a perfect example of that… Do you want the annoying guy
that can play really well or the guy you can get along with? In the long run,
the latter is more important. As long as you're having fun, keep playing. A
problem we had in the past was playing night after night and not really
changing the set around too much. That really gets old when you play a lot.
Mix it up and you'll have a better time. As far as the business side of music
goes, I don't know what to say. It's such a fluke-filled fuckin' business.
How does one band make it and another doesn't? There's really no rhyme or
reason to it. It's logistics and luck. I know so many people who write great
songs but nobody will ever hear them. Unfortunately, it's really manipulated.
It's all timing. Just play for the fact that you really love playing and
don't think about anything else. I mean, it's music - don't mistreat it.
(The Connells are currently in the midst of a North American tour. Grab
yourself a copy of Still Life and by all means, try to catch them live. I'll
see you in the front row. -SD)
Sandi Demeo is a local musician, scene maker, and if you haven't already
guessed, a big Connells fan.
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