In view of Lloyd’s impending Auckland concert I retrieved this interview I did with him in the mid-2000s

Lloyd Cole, the younger man’s Leonard Cohen is debating the worth of various textile producers when I get put through to his home in Massachusetts. ‘Merchandising is such crap,’ he opines, with obvious frustration, ‘but my wife says that the fans want t-shirts, so I’m trying to get something of quality. And it’s not easy.’

Yip, Lloyd the uncompromising perfectionist. From the heady heights of the mid eighties with his band The Commotions- ‘we sold 250 thousand copies of our 2nd album in 2 weeks’ to a career carved out amidst record company reticence, he has found himself a solid fanbase that adores his acoustic driven wry world-wary sentiments, a la his latest album ‘Music in a Foreign Language’. Picked up locally by BMG, Lloyd is here next week to play golf and sing a few tunes at the Herald Theatre, largely on the back of a couple of successful gigs at the KA two years ago, and the tenacity of Kurt ‘Stellar*’ Shanks.

‘Yeh, God bless Kurt,’ he says, who has organised the two rapidly-selling-out acoustic shows. The theme is two sets of, well, whatever Lloyd wants to play on the night, and whatever he’s asked for. ‘I can play a few more sombre songs this time round; the pub environment is a bit loud for that. But that doesn’t mean I want everyone to be reverential,’ he laughs. ‘I recently played a gig in Bremen and it was like a church- they wouldn’t say anything at all. Very disconcerting. The idea of the shows is that they can be bit random- you yell it I’ll try and play it.’

It worked a treat last time, with a charming mix up of old Commotions gems such as ‘Forest Fire’ and ‘Four Flights Up’ given a beautifully new pared back coat, and then some fab newer ones off the ‘Negatives’ album- ‘Forgive that Boy’ being a particular standout. The Negatives was a collective that toured with LC between 98-2000. I ask him if he misses the band environment.

‘No, not at all. The good thing about the Negatives is everyone had another job, so we could just come together to do this finite thing and then go our separate ways.’ Separate ways is for Lloyd recording at home with little backing, and then touring the songs. Having recently reviewed Elvis Costello’s ‘North’- a very sparse affair, I wonder if LC thinks of him as a contemporary.

‘Definitely. Elvis Costello, Nick Cave- although they sell a few more albums than me,’ he laughs. ‘Maybe I should do a car ad. Nick Drake is selling more albums than ever after doing one in the UK, and he’s dead.’ Irony has always been a Cole strong suit. Is he too clever-clever for the ‘younger generation’?

‘I don’t know. ‘Music in A Foreign Language…’ has sold about 50,000 copies and that’s without a US release, so someone’s enjoying it. I mean, I remember when I fist saw Linkin Park and I really realised how I have no thread whatsoever with that generation. So why would MTV ever play me? Sony just wanted to re-release Commotions hits forever but I want to put together a strong body of work that can exist in parallel with the industry.’’

Unfashionable? Maybe. As he says, ‘the closer I get to Val Doonican, the harder it gets.’ And laughs, and goes back to his t-shirts.

Don’t miss him, folks, cos, in a funny ole, way, he kinda rocks.

‘Rather than you she said I prefer solitude/rather than company I prefer cigarettes…’ Bless.