Since I recently got hold of an A3 scanner (actually I've had one for a while; but the new one actually works...) I decided to try scanning a few of the weekly music-press KS articles from the nineties. (I guess you can scan old-style NMEs / Meoldy Makers with an A4 scanner by doing several scans and stitching them together, but I'm way too lazy for that kind of thing, especially for articles across multiple pages.)

Anyway, I've scanned a couple of interviews, one from NME (9/11/96) and the other from MM (25/01/07.) You can find them here:

http://www.drykid.ukfsn.org/kulashaker/

I've got plenty more I can add, but I just wanted to put a couple up first to see how useful they are. It's really hard to judge the right size for these kind of scans. If you try and make them small enough to fit on the screen all at once then there's no way they'd be readable. But if you make them too big then you end up with one paragraph filling the whole screen, and that's almost as useless.

Anyway, I've gone for a size that I think's a reasonable compromise, but I'm open to suggestions for improving them. I don't really want to scan dozens of these things only to find out I have to redo them all again cos the settings are all wrong heh

Just took a quick look, i think size is good. Texts can easily be read.( I'll do that later!)

Photo's are really funny, they are so boyish!

Thank you very much drykid!

Thanks for these drykid. The text is just the right size to read and the pics are good.
I have one querie. The third photo from the left along the top with the heading titled Krishna. Do you happen to know the location of it? I have a similar photo in one of my KS books but it doesn't say where it was taken.

Thanks Drykid, No time to read all this at the moment but I'm looking forward to doing so later. wow,the photos are quite funny

Thanks people; they looked reasonable to me, but it's hard to know for sure when other people are using different desktop resolutions / browsers etc. But since no-one has complained I'll keep doing them this way

quote:

Originally posted by Christine from Oz:
Thanks for these drykid. The text is just the right size to read and the pics are good.
I have one querie. The third photo from the left along the top with the heading titled Krishna. Do you happen to know the location of it? I have a similar photo in one of my KS books but it doesn't say where it was taken.

I'm fairly sure that pic was taken in Berlin, as that's where the accompanying interview was done. And it was pretty much the standard with NME / MM for the photographer and interviewer to be sent out at the same time (there'd often be a passing reference to the photo session in the accompanying interview.) There's also a number of different pics from the same photo session in Paul Lester's KS book (which may be the one you're referring to.) The one on p14 of Paul Lester's book seems to be taken outside the Reichstag, although one suspects that they'd probably give that location a miss these days... Anyways, in the other ones taken on the steps outside the building you refer to, Crispian is dressed identically. So I'd bet money that they're taken in Berlin too. But what the building is that looks a bit like a mini-version of the Sydney Opera House, I don't know.

On the subject of that NME interview, it's interesting as the source of Crispian's comment: "you can see why Hitler got support. It was probably the uniforms that swung it." Which later was one of the comments people liked to dig up when trying to "prove" something or other. But read in context it comes in the middle of a rant about the perceived failings of the German race, and it certainly reads to me like he was actually saying that he could see why Hitler got support among Germans. Which is still offensive in its stereotyping of Germans, but a lot different to how the comment seems taken out of context. Which is why I think it's good to make these old articles available. As long as people continue to take quotes out of context, it's good that the original context should be available for people who want to do a bit of thinking for themselves.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: drykid,

Lol! They were so young!!
Alonza and Paul had all their hair!!!

quote:

Originally posted by drykid:
On the subject of that NME interview, it's interesting as the source of Crispian's comment: "you can see why Hitler got support. It was probably the uniforms that swung it." Which later was one of the comments people liked to dig up when trying to "prove" something or other. But read in context it comes in the middle of a rant about the perceived failings of the German race, and it certainly reads to me like he was actually saying that he could see why Hitler got support among Germans. Which is still offensive in its stereotyping of Germans, but a lot different to how the comment seems taken out of context. Which is why I think it's good to make these old articles available.

well, even if you don't take this out of context, he simply talks bullshit. Yes, he was naive, and yes, it was stupid to say things like this but he's very intelligent and i can see why people picked on this.
I'm sure his understanding of the world has changed massively since the 90s and I don't think he'd say something like this nowadays (if you look at the Berlin blog last year it becomes obvious) but still, I was a bit shocked reading this.

Thanks for sharing these, drykid! The size is good for me, and pic quality is really good! I have not read them yet, I need a lot of time to read...

quote:

Originally posted by raagy girl:
well, even if you don't take this out of context, he simply talks bullshit. Yes, he was naive, and yes, it was stupid to say things like this but he's very intelligent and i can see why people picked on this.
I'm sure his understanding of the world has changed massively since the 90s and I don't think he'd say something like this nowadays (if you look at the Berlin blog last year it becomes obvious) but still, I was a bit shocked reading this.

Yeah, I'm not defending Crispian. Even if his point was, as I'm reading it, that basically Germans think that everyone hates them, and therefore would be tempted to vote for a fascist dictator just to get their own back on the rest of the world, then it's still a pretty stupid thing to say. But the difference between that and how it seems out of context is still worth pointing out, in the light of some of the things that have been said since.

Are you suggesting that it would be better not to be uploading these things? I'd respect your opinion if you were, but from my point of view these quotes are already out there. And even if the band now would probably wish they hadn't said some of it, at least setting it in its correct context makes it harder for people to twist things.

Uh, that interview is not very happy - he wouldn't have dared saying things like that in front of a German audience (who would have come to the show leaving their life-crunching Nazi boots at home for a change). What saddens me most is people still running around pointing at others and saying, "Nazi." Ironic that Crispian himself has had his share of this.

quote:

Originally posted by drykid:
Are you suggesting that it would be better not to be uploading these things?

Well I don't know... I do think it's a good thing that the fans (and this will probably only be read by fans) get the chance to read what he said in its correct context.
I don't think Crispian will be happy that we still read and discuss the things that caused Kula Shaker's downfall, especially if he regrets what he said. But then again, it's part of their past, and why should we ignore it?

btw if you interprete it right and he really meant that Germans felt hated *before* Hitler, than his opinion's even worse. Cos yes, the Germans must've felt hated after world war II, but it was their own fault, but I wouldn't know for which reasons German needed a fascist dictator to get their back at the rest of the world in the first place.
I'm saying "they" cos it concerns the generation before mine, even tho us younger Germans still tend to feel guilty for things some f***heads came up with 70 years ago.
As Crispian, we suffered enough from the past I guess...

quote:

Originally posted by raagy girl:
I don't think Crispian will be happy that we still read and discuss the things that caused Kula Shaker's downfall, especially if he regrets what he said. But then again, it's part of their past, and why should we ignore it?

And more to the point, if we only stick to uploading / discussing things that the band would approve of, then an awful lot else would have to go too. I'm sure Crispian the perfectionist would take a dim view us sharing bootlegs with variable audio quality, for instance. Nor would he approve of a section entitled "controversy" on the KS wiki page, despite the fact that it serves an important purpose. And as for me uploading unheard songs (that after all almost certainly would never ever have been heard again if the band had any say in it), I'm sure that isn't something that would raise a smile...

I think the point is that it's inevitable that a fan's desire for a warts'n'all view of their favourites is always going to be slightly at odds with the artist's desire to control their public image as much as possible.

quote:

btw if you interprete it right and he really meant that Germans felt hated *before* Hitler, than his opinion's even worse. Cos yes, the Germans must've felt hated after world war II, but it was their own fault, but I wouldn't know for which reasons German needed a fascist dictator to get their back at the rest of the world in the first place.

Well even with my limited knowledge of German history, I realise that if my interpretation of Crispian's comments are correct then they show a lot of ignorance. To be fair though, the interviewer does note how he was giggling at the time, and that whole section does come across as someone "talking smack". I'm sure I've said worse things down the pub myself, which is why I can't get too high and mighty about it. The difference is that when you're talking to a journalist you have to be a bit more careful, cos they lap that kind of thing up.

You have to put it into context though. I've read countless interviews with Blur and Oasis from the same period, and there's just as much utter stupidity on display in those too. So I can't help thinking the band were just playing the game at the time.

quote:

I'm saying "they" cos it concerns the generation before mine, even tho us younger Germans still tend to feel guilty for things some f***heads came up with 70 years ago.
As Crispian, we suffered enough from the past I guess...

Yeah, I'm not German, so I can't really put myself in your shoes. But I can understand nonetheless that it must be extremely offensive to hear comments like that from someone you respect. I wish I'd never drawn attention to the Hitler comment now. But all I was trying to do was to make the point that a comment that others had tried to make out as anti-semitic was if anything more anti-German. But that's not much reassurance if you're actually German, I realise.

I think I'm going to keep putting these things up, but I'll try to avoid singling out controversial quotes in future, cos I don't think that that helps much.

quote:

Originally posted by drykid: I've read countless interviews with Blur and Oasis from the same period, and there's just as much utter stupidity on display in those too. So I can't help thinking the band were just playing the game at the time.

That's the most annoying thing about this whole kula slag-off! there are so many so stupid comments made by too many "stars" and noone cares about it. It was as if they've been waiting to find something to kill Kula Shaker. Looks like they "had" to push them at first cos people liked them but then they found something and slagged them off.

quote:

Yeah, I'm not German, so I can't really put myself in your shoes. But I can understand nonetheless that it must be extremely offensive to hear comments like that from someone you respect.

Well yes, I've never read that article and it was a bit like "Errr... what's this now?!" But this was years ago and I'm not very patriotic, so nevermind

quote:

I think I'm going to keep putting these things up, but I'll try to avoid singling out controversial quotes in future, cos I don't think that that helps much.

Sure, go for it! Can't wait to read more! And don't worry, you don't need to avoid anything. Why should we not discuss it? I'd prolly have posted something about it anyway.

I have to add, it's pretty difficult to explain my feelings about this in English, but I hope you understood what I meant!

quote:

Originally posted by raagy girl:
That's the most annoying thing about this whole kula slag-off! there are so many so stupid comments made by too many "stars" and noone cares about it.

Yeah, I mean if there was any consistency then you'd think they'd mention that Noel Gallagher wished that two members of Blur would "die of AIDS" every time an Oasis single is reviewed these days. But of course it isn't. It may not be completely forgotten, but its' not harped on about in quite the same way. Even though it's a far more offensive thing to say than anything Crispian has ever said in an interview.

quote:

Sure, go for it! Can't wait to read more! And don't worry, you don't need to avoid anything. Why should we not discuss it? I'd prolly have posted something about it anyway.

I have to add, it's pretty difficult to explain my feelings about this in English, but I hope you understood what I meant!

No, it all made sense. More sense than anythin in the interview anyway heh

I've just added a quick uncontroversial extra scan - the NME "On" piece on the band from 18th May 1996. Pretty lightweight fluff, but an indication of what early coverage looked like.

I enjoyed reading these articles and I appreciate that you (Drykid) took the time and effort to scan and post them. I also enjoyed reading the discussion that followed, so I am glad that you have decided to post more regardless of whether the content may be deemed controversial or not. As you both stated, the NME article was years ago and Crispian’s opinions will undoubtedly have matured. It is unfortunate for him that some things he’d rather forget still surface and may cause embarrassment. (I’m just glad that all the shit I came out with when I was younger can’t resurface.- The people on this forum are intelligent and can make their own minds up.
I don’t want to go on about Hitler as this is neither the time nor the place, but I feel compelled to make this point… He (Hitler) was a charismatic psychopath and there is nothing intrinsically different about those who followed his orders compared to the rest of us. Given similar circumstances, this could happen again anywhere in the world. While we all like to think we have free will and can stand up to authority figures this is not really the case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment