Interview with John Craven, September 1999.

There can't be many people reading this who've never heard of John Craven. He's one of the most worshipped musicians in these valleys. Well on and off at least. Last we saw of him was back at the start of 1995. Then he vanished into darkness... again. Well the planets must be in conjuction again, for the Craven Angel has returned once more, and Evan has him in for questioning.

JC - Halloo...
EP - So where've you been?
JC - Mm? Oh... here and there... Nah. I got a boat. Another one.
EP - Yeah. You burnt your last one.
JC - I did. Going back a few years mind.
EP - Mm.
JC - No. I've been living on me boat, floating about the country, writing songs about wildfowl.
EP - Interesting existence.
JC - Great. I recommend it.
EP - How do you sustain yourself?
JC - Not through royalties, that's for sure. No, I sustain myself through writing. I write. Journalism. You should know this by now. If I'm not here making noises, I'm elswhere doing your job.
EP - Yeah. I know. But I have to ask these things.
JC - Sure.
EP - So then. What brings you back.
JC - Records to flog.
EP - Ah yes?
JC - Compilation.
EP - Ooh.
JC - Yeah, Dafydd and co have decided to give me a compilation, and so I've been hard at work putting it together.
EP - You put it together yourself?
JC - Pretty much.
EP - So it's good?
JC - Think so. I've put two tracks from each album on. 'Part from the covers album, cos of copyrights and what have you.
EP - Oh. Right.
JC - Got a couple of new things too. Well one really. And a couple of old things an'all. Oh... and a couple of Et Cetera tracks.
EP - Ooh. Which?
JC - My two... Ashes and Paranoia.
EP - Ahuh. I suppose we ought to point out who Et Cetera are...
JC - Do you think?
EP - Can't hurt.
JC - I think you should just leave 'em confused.
EP - Oh alright.
JC - Et Cetera were a band I was in once.
EP - Yes.
JC - We did an album, but it went wrong, then people ripped us off.
EP - It's an interesting story really.
JC - Yeah. Well.
EP - Your stuff has been "covered" by some really big acts.
JC - Bo Rhap was the killer. And that was the first... Everything since has just been knocking the nail in that bit too far.
EP - Does it piss you off?
JC - Not any more. I don't care. Funny thing is... more it goes on, more I start to think maybe we didn't write all that stuff after all... maybe it were just some crazy dream.
EP - Could be for what there is to show of it.
JC - Yeah. Weird.
EP - To clarify - you made an album which got burnt, and since then famous bands have ripped off your songs wholesale.
JC - Yup. That's it.
EP - Weird, certainly.
JC - Yes. Well, two of the tracks that weren't ripped off are on this record.
EP - New recordings?
JC - No. Well... there's a bootleg. Well a couple... out there. Dunno where they came from, but I got a hold of them and using the powers of modern technology I was able to sort of remaster them. I had to re-record a few bits, and I used some tracks I recorded back then as demos too. Came out alright.
EP - I've heard the Paranoia one.
JC - Yeah? What did you reckon?
EP - Nice job. Better than the bootleg.
JC - Well for sure. Bootleg's all out of tune.
EP - Well we could talk about Et Cetera for ever cos it's a very... well...
JC - It's a fucking nightmare really. Let's forget about it.
EP - Sure. Well what else is there.
JC - There's a Hendrix thing.
EP - What?
JC - Hendrix. Found a recording of me jamming with Hendrix.
EP - Jimi Hendrix?
JC - No. Barry. Of course Jimi.
EP - You really got about a bit.
JC - I am rock.
EP - Yes.
JC - Mm. It was back in the 60s. I was doing some session work. And Hendrix was... next door. And after we'd done, we were bored and messed about. And it got taped.
EP - So where'd the tape come from?
JC - I've had it years. Well I say I've had it years... I kept my record collection in storage when I went to New York in the seventies, and then when I came to Wales, I moved everything to the Clustcwyr vaults. Nowhere safer than the Clustswyr vaults, you know... Asbestos lined for a start... learning the lessons of Tapioca.
EP - The company that was meant to put out the Et Cetera album.
JC - Yeah. And which burnt down with our records and all our money.
EP - Yes.
JC - Anyway... yeah, so there's some old stuff, and there's a new piece... sort of ambient number about moorhens.
EP - Riight...
JC - And there's a re-recording of The End from the last album.
EP - Oh yeah?
JC - Yeah. Fancied another go. It's ok. I quite like that song. Sad. Don't normally do sad.
EP - Yeah. What's it about?
JC - The End?
EP - Yeah.
JC - Well it's this guy who learns that... he's a widow, and he learns that his dead wife... who's in a cemetry... he learns that she.. that the cemetry's full and he's not going to be burried next to her, like he was meant to be. So he's a bit pissed off with that. With everything. I always kind of liked it. I thought it closed the Craven Angel thing well. I suppose it gives us an insight to why the Craven Angel's so pissed off... cos he got burried apart from his wife, and he's just really lonely... and... yeah.
EP - Not like you to get all sentimental.
JC - Nah. I'm soft deep down. Slightest bit of nostalgia can make me crumble to pieces so long as the soundtrack's emotive enough... you know?
EP - I think so.
JC - Yeah.
EP - So does this record usher in another comeback for you?
JC - Is it a comeback? I mean... this is the thing when you get old... I mean you start out and if you've not done another album in your first year you've flopped. But once you're my age... every five years is the going rate innit? You fancy a new hi-fi, so you go in the studio... well maybe that's a bit flippant... but sure... I don't see it as a comeback. More a still here - hello?
EP - Ahuh. But you don't play live these days either...
JC - No. Not recently. It's a bit dull really, and hard work. And I'm not one for hardwork. I've been playing live for over forty years... I'm having a rest. No this album is more a... um... I'm still here. Yeah. I'll do a couple of promotional gigs though. Just a couple. I can bare a couple. Might do a few more if I fancy.
EP - Where you living then these days?
JC - Well I float about the place on my boat; narrowboat, you know... I'm touring the country for now. Though at the mo, the boat's up at Trevor, cos it's a bugger to get down here to be honest. So I biked it, and I'm lodging at the studio flat again. Good to be home really. In a way. Tell you what... I saw Kirsten May the other day... you know... from the Cookie Crumbs... Hoo... She's still... mm.
EP - Didn't you once sleep with her, thus destroying your relationship with Cathy Carrow.
JC - Yeah. But, you know, seeing her again, I thought... maybe I was right, you know... Mm.
EP - I think she goes out with Lizbet Hallow doesn't she?
JC - What? The girl from Helena's Box?
EP - Mm...
JC - The... uh... tubby one?
EP - Yeah.
JC - Well... fair enough. She's ok. Physically. Never really met her properly. You know... I quite like 'em cuddly...
EP - I'd never've called Kirsten May cuddly.
JC - Well I quite like 'em emaciated too. I quite like 'em full stop... Women. Grr.
EP - Right. How many relationships have you had?
JC - Proper drawn-out relationships... um... four.
EP - Go on...
JC - Well there was a lass in Canterbury... er... Jenny Marshall. That was fun, but I was young and naive back then...
EP - What happened?
JC - She was into free love, and so was I. So that was that.
EP - Then what?
JC - Well I had various comings and goings in New York. That was fun, cos you never knew what you were getting there... Half of the women you'd pick up would end up being fellas - or ex-fellas. Which was novel, you know... Wouldn't consider it as a career choice, but I'm not one to say no to a beautiful woman, even if she has a cock. I'm quite progressive in that way. But the next proper girlfriend I had was Cathy. Cathy Carrow. And then I slept with one of her mates, and that was that.
EP - Ok. Number three?
JC - <looks both ways before whispering:> I had a brief fling with Petra Corren in the '80s. Only lasted a few months.
EP - God, you're brave.
JC - Tell me about it. I still bare the scars. I was obsessed about her back then. Her and Mooney had sort of split up and I finally persuaded her to give me a try. It ended with her going back to Mooney, and the Angels going solo. Still. Interesting...
EP - So that makes number four Connie Lyndhurst, I guess...
JC - Well deduced. Yeah. That was interesting... my brush with the bohemian upper middle class... fun in a way, but I couldn't eat a whole one as it were...
EP - So are you looking for a number five?
JC - Not really. More trouble than it's worth. Nah. I've got my boat and my moorhens, and that's what matters really.
EP - Ok. Well I'll leave you to get back to your moorhens.
JC - Ta.

"Craven Images - The Very Best of John Craven" is out next month.