Kevin Shields is a legend.
Not only because with his group, My Bloody Valentine, this 58-year-old Irishman released one of the defining albums of the nineties,
Loveless
;
also for being a meticulous study magician with whom details such as budgets or deadlines do not go.
Since that mythical album in 1991, which taught future generations how to make perfect textures, his group has only released one other album,
mbv
, in 2013. In theory there is a new one on the way, but it could arrive tomorrow, in 10 years or never .
More information
Waiting for My Bloody Valentine
The British reigns in Benicàssim
If Shields is here, it's because the remastered reissues of the records he recorded for Creation
(Isn't Anything
and
Loveless)
plus the one for
mbv
and the EPs they released between 1988 and 1991 are finally being reissued on his new label, Domino.
Before their arrival, the stores were already sold out and in a single week some have reached outrageous prices in the second-hand market.
The good news is that they are finally on
streaming
services too
.
Shields has decided to give a handful of video call interviews to promote these releases from his home in Ireland.
Question.
How has the pandemic been?
Answer.
I live in the country, two hours from Dublin.
I've been here isolated and it's been weird.
I usually go to London every month.
Creatively it has been good.
But from a human point of view ...
Q.
Can you say that My Bloody Valentine starts when you move to London?
A.
In Dublin we spent two years, but we did garage rock.
When we came to London squatting in 1985, a lot of people had moved to the suburbs, there were thousands of empty houses and it was all very crazy.
One of those who lived with us tried to blow up the house.
In 1987 we changed course.
One day we did a concert with Biff Bang Pow, Alan McGee's group, the owner of Creation, and he liked our new direction.
Q.
McGee said that his group was the opening act for My Bloody Valentine and he thought: "Who are these kids?"
But after the concert he offered them a contract ...
R.
It was like that and we recorded an EP,
You Made Me Realize
.
It was the first time we had good reviews.
Then he offered us to record an album, it was the first time we had time to be in a studio, six weeks.
With
Isn't Anything
everything made sense and we became who we are.
Cover of the album 'Isn't Anything', by My Bloody Valentine (1988).
DOMINO
P.
In 1991
Loveless
arrives
.
It took them three years to record it and legend has it that they ruined Creation.
A.
The truth is, when we started, Creation didn't even have a thousand pounds.
During the recording, all the tapes were seized five times because they did not pay for the study.
But when we finished they were a multi-million dollar company with artists who gave a lot of money.
We didn't go over budget because Creation never gave us one.
It wasn't more than Primal Scream spent making
Screamadelica
.
The problems came because I did not let them intervene: I did not let them enter the studio, they had no idea what we were doing and we did not meet the deadlines.
Q.
Why does it take so long to finish a record?
A.
Because I want to be one hundred percent sure that I'm happy with how it sounds.
And I don't care if it takes five days or 50. Recording can take only 15 minutes, but how to get the sound I want out of it, that's longer.
That's where time goes.
'Loveless', My Bloody Valentine album from 1991.
P.
Today
Loveless
is considered a masterpiece.
A.
So the reviews said it was okay, but nothing more.
They were critics with a "but": that we had reached a dead end, that it was not experimental enough ... At the end of the nineties it began to be seen in a different way.
As time went by, he liked it more and more.
And in the 2000s was when more and more groups began to claim it.
If
Loveless
has reached the status it does, it is because of the people, there was never a great campaign.
P.
Then they go on a tour and disappear ...
A.
In 1993 we got into the studio with a certain
mainstream
attitude
, but the table we had bought failed all the time, and that lasted until February 1994. In 1995, Colm, the drummer, left and it took me until 1996 to remake the group.
So I started recording
mbv
.
I smoke marijuana, but never in the studio.
I want to express a part of me that is not influenced by substances
Q.
Did you start a record in 1996 that was released in 2013?
A.
Yes, in September or so.
I worked until the spring of 1997. The company stopped giving me money and at that point I quit and went with Primal Scream.
Q.
Were those years as crazy as they say?
A.
It was crazy, but very positive.
As they are huge fans of music, being with them was an enjoyment.
Sometimes it got out of hand and the party started in the morning and lasted all day, but most of the time it was about working and then having fun.
They took a lot of drugs, but to make music and have fun.
No heroin: cocaine, ecstasy, dexedrine,
speed,
those yes.
I was there until 2002. In a two-month hiatus I made the soundtrack to
Lost in Translation
.
They didn't even find out until they nominated me for a Bafta.
Q.
How important are drugs in your music?
A.
I smoke a lot of marijuana, but never in the studio.
I want that part of me that is not influenced by any substance to express itself.
We did experiment with sleep deprivation.
We had an age where not sleeping did not mean being exhausted, but in a psychedelic state.
Although after
Loveless
I was more interested in meditation as a method to achieve psychedelic experiences.
Q.
The group reappears in 2007.
A.
In 2006 we were offered to play Coachella for a lot of money.
I said thank you, but no.
In 2007 we got back together and realized that the world had changed.
If we did live shows, we could pay for the album.
We didn't need anyone.
Cover of 'mb v', album by My Bloody Valentine released in 2013. DOMINO
Q.
That was the 2007 and 2008 tour. The volume of those live shows was brutal, physically painful.
It was like being stuck in the turbine of an airplane.
Why were they playing so loud?
A. We
experiment by taking the volume up to a cosmic level.
It started because we were rehearsing once and decided to use all of our amps and a pedal called Octavio that sounds like an erupting volcano.
We did it for an hour: the room vibrated, everything fell and our mental state changed, we entered another level of consciousness.
The building owner heard the noise from a kilometer away.
Q.
In 2013,
mbv
finally arrives
.
R.
I started in 2006, with those tapes that had never stopped playing in my head.
In 2009 I finally had money and I got on with it.
And it took me a while.
Q.
And will there be any other?
A.
I hope so, but my ability to see the future is literally zero.
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