Pre-tour interview: The curse of Babybird is inability of getting people to hear the music, but Stephen Jones finally finds pleasure in touring. In fact, he’ll give everything!

What can we expect from Babybird on this tour?
“The difference with this tour will be that I enjoy it. Give everything. Treat it like the explosion before the end of the world. The original plan was to have two sets, but there is no money to do it.”

How will you deal with all the brass and piano on I Can’t Love You Any More and Jesus Stag Night Club?
“I have absolutely no idea. But probably lots of effects on guitar pedals. As long as my voice is supported, the live versions can be without brass.”

Describe the sound of Babybird in 2012
“I have written a bunch of new songs which I’m very excited about. ‘Pleasures’ is now pretty old so I need to push on. I want to give the lyrics more depth and move away from drug and Jesus references.”

Let’s hear a secret from the rehearsals
“Not rehearsed yet, but when we do it’ll be so secret it may not even happen. A real secret eh? We don’t rehearse and drink beer at the same time. In fact, the band rehearses while I’m in the pub crying.”

Any fear of meeting enraged Christians on the road?
Slightly. They are mental. If we do see them actually on the road, we’ll run them down like in Deathrace”

I’m forcing along my girlfriend to the London show. She’s mostly into Jack White, Lykke Li and those indie darlings from the charts. How shall we turn her over to Babybird?
“Usually no one comes away disappointed from the gigs, people are very often converted if we get it right. The curse of Babybird is inability of getting people to hear the music. But once it’s heard, people usually like something in there because of the range and lyrics. Indie darlings are usually style over content. I’m not into that. She’ll love it.”

Tell us a bit about the Amplified Silence book
“Pork pies, cufflinks. We’ll have the lot except maybe those two. The book is the life of Stephen Jones from birth until now. All totally unseen plus a set of photo postcards.”

Will you be Tweeting during the shows?
“You mean tweet while singing? Now that’s an idea. Not sure our ‘hotels’, if I can call them that, have wifi, or indeed electricity. On the last tour, I had to rub my laptop all over my legs to get just enough static to power it.”

Babybird kicks off their UK tour in Cardiff next week. See all 14 dates here.

YouTube  Playlist: Highlights from Babybird’s 2010 UK