Rocker Bobby Gillespie on why Primal Scream could never cover Abba

Jun 15 2008 Exclusive by Billy Sloan

WHO needs Euro 2008 when you've got Bobby Gillespie showing his silky ball skills on the streets of London?

The Primal Scream rocker stunned shoppers in the capital when he grabbed a ball and started dribbling along the pavement after an Email photoshoot.

Bobby - showing the flair of Jimmy Johnstone and the swagger of Jim Baxter - proved football's loss is music's gain.

His hard-partying band are ready to release outstanding new album Beautiful Future featuring the single Can't Go Back.

But wildman Bobby claims he's a new man...he drinks mineral water, eats health food and was inspired on the record by Fleetwood Mac.

But don't panic, it's not all bad news.

Bobby said: "I love being a degenerate and I always will.

I'm just not a jakey now - that's not cool.

"We were entering the grounds of jakey-dom at a couple of points in our career.

There was a lot of bad s*** going down.

"But that's in the past.

We're still strong and making great records.

"There were times when the band ceased to exist - between 1992 and 96 we were a mess.

"I wasn't sure we'd even carry on but from 1996 onwards we've been going forward the whole time."

Beautiful Future - the follow-up to 2006 smash Riot City Blues - was recorded at Atlantis Studios in Stockholm, where Abba created their No.1 hits.

The Scream played instruments used on Abba classics Dancing Queen, SOS and Money Money Money during the sessions.

Bobby told me: "I was a big Abba fan and the engineer showed us the track sheets for Knowing Me, Knowing You and Dancing Queen.

It was amazing."

Bobby's favourite Abba track?

"Knowing Me, Knowing You.

It's quite a melancholic record but the chorus is so euphoric.

"It's as down as any Joy Division record and as euphoric as a Ronettes classic.

That's good enough for me.

"People think you're being kitsch or ironic but The Winner Takes It All is a wild record too.

"How could we cover Abba?

It's impossible, they were too good."

The Scream have caused controversy with new single Can't Go Back.

Radio 1 demanded they bleep the line "stuck a needle in my arm/stuck it in my baby's heart".

But a defiant Bobby said: "It's a rock'n'roll song.

If you're in a movie and you shoot somebody dead it doesn't mean you're a killer.

"If you're a songwriter you're telling a story but it doesn't mean it's autobiographical.

"We make high-energy, psychotic music."

Beautiful Future threw up some interesting music collaborations.

Bobby recruited UK folk icon Linda Thompson to duet on a cover of Fleetwood Mac's Over And Over.

He said: "I felt we needed a female vocalist with weight, soul and experience to sing it.

"I think Linda's voice is really beautiful so I decided to ask her.

She could only say no."

Bobby also sings with Lovefoxxx from Brazilian group C.S.S. on the track I Love To Hurt (You Love To Be Hurt).

He told me: "I thought their debut album was one of the best in years.

"At a party, I'd had a couple of drinks, was feeling brave - so I asked Lovefoxxx to sing on the track.

"I sent her an MP3 of the song and asked her to contribute some lyrics.

We had a great day in the studio."

Guitarist Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age guests on Necro Hex Blues.

Bobby said: "I interviewed him a few years ago for NME and thought he was a great guy.

"He invited me out to his ranch in the Californian desert and we did some songs.

"Then Josh came over to London and jammed with us.

Out of it came Necro Hex Blues."

Beautiful Future chalks up 26 action-packed years for the Scream.

"To be honest, when Primal Scream began I didn't think I'd be doing this more than two weeks," admitted Bobby.

"I always wanted it to be a longterm thing but putting a band together is tough.

"I'm not saying we're as good as The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison or Neil Young but if you've got the strength, imagination and sheer will you can do it for ever.

"You get better at what you do.

Primal Scream are much better now than they were 20 years ago."

Bobby let me sit in on a mixing session - with ace producer Andrew Weatherall - on a blistering cover of the classic Who Do You Love? by Bo Diddley.

The Scream first recorded the track nine months ago but the death of the veteran US bluesman has given the song an added poignancy.

Bobby said: "Bo Diddley didn't make a single record I've not liked.

"Andy has done a great nineminute disco mix of Uptown, another song on the album.

Maybe that and Who Do You Love? would make a great 12in single."

Now the Scream are gearing up for their headline appearance at T in the Park next month.

Bobby told me: "We did the Main Stage a few years back with Oasis and it didn't seem to work but in 2006 we played the Tut's tent and it was rammed with 10,000 fans with thousands more trying to get in.

"The whole process of writing songs and making records is great.

But gigs are best for me.

"Two years ago, we played the SECC - our biggest ever hometown gig.

It was incredible.

"The energy from the audience was magical.

It was good as any feeling I've ever had in my life.

Bobby also joked about his wedding in 2006 to Katy England, mother of his children Wolf, four, and two-year-old Lux.

The happy couple rode through a picturesque village in Staffordshire in a horse-drawn carriage in a scene Hello magazine would have been proud of.

Turns out, it was all a big surprise for the Scream singer.

He admitted: "My wife's best pal said, 'We've got a surprise for you'.

I really had no idea what it was going to be.

"It was like something out of Steptoe And Son but I couldn't say no.

"My wife loved it so I put up with it for the 500 yards from the church to the reception.

"I thought we were going in a helicopter - or a U-boat."

'We are not good enough to cover Abba.. Winner Takes It All is a wild record'

It looked like we were in Steptoe & Son.. I wanted to leave church on top of a U-boat