On Sunday 1 November, a day celebrated in many cultures around the world as the Day for the Dead, the legendary Tiger Lillies are set to take to the stage of Soho Theatre Walthamstow for a special concert dedicated to their favourite subject: death. Led by Grammy-nominated cult legends Martyn Jacques, Adrian Stout and Budi Butenop, Songs of The Dead promises an unforgettable evening in which the dead sing, the living listen, and laughter walks hand in hand with tragedy.
1. Death has been a recurring theme throughout The Tiger Lillies’ work, so what is it about mortality that continues to fascinate you creatively after more than 35 years of making music?
Well, death is something that happens to everybody, isn’t it? Rich or poor, good or evil, intelligent or stupid, we all end up in the same place. I find that quite amusing in a way. People spend their entire lives trying to make themselves important, accumulating money, power, possessions, and then they die. It’s the ultimate absurdity. Death is also a wonderful subject for songs because it can be tragic, ridiculous, terrifying and funny, sometimes all at the same time. I don’t think I’ll ever run out of things to say about it.
2. Songs for the Dead brings together grief, murder, memory and the afterlife with the band’s characteristic dark humour; how do you balance the absurdity of death with its genuine emotional weight?
I don’t really consciously try to balance anything. Some songs are funny and some are very sad. I think humour and tragedy are often very close together. Something can be absolutely horrific and at the same time completely ridiculous. That’s the nature of existence, really. I don’t think you have to treat death with solemn reverence all the time. Sometimes laughing at something terrible is the only sensible response. But equally, some of the songs are genuinely sad, and I wouldn’t want to undermine that sadness by making a joke. I just write the songs and let them be what they are.
3. Your music often finds beauty in society’s darker corners and in characters who exist on its margins, so what draws you to these subjects, and do you think your perspective on them has changed over the years?
I’ve always been more interested in outsiders than respectable people. Respectability is often rather boring, and quite frequently hypocritical. When I lived in Soho, I was surrounded by prostitutes, criminals, drug addicts and all sorts of strange characters. They were often much more interesting than the people who considered themselves normal. I don’t think I romanticise them particularly. Some were wonderful people and some were complete bastards. That’s true of everybody. I suppose as I’ve got older I’ve become a little less judgmental, but fundamentally my interests haven’t changed very much. I’m still interested in people who don’t fit into conventional society.
4. The Tiger Lillies have developed a distinctive musical identity blending dark cabaret, punk and operatic influences; how do you keep that sound evolving while remaining true to the world you first created?
I don’t really think about remaining true to anything. I just write music that interests me. I’ve been influenced by an enormous number of musicians, from punk and opera to blues, jazz, music hall and all sorts of other things. I think people sometimes try to put The Tiger Lillies into a very narrow category, but I’ve never particularly liked categories. My voice is obviously quite distinctive, and I suppose that gives the music a certain identity whatever I do. But I’m not interested in endlessly repeating myself. I still enjoy discovering new musical ideas, and if something interests me, I’ll use it.
5. With Songs for the Dead, you are presenting new compositions alongside established songs such as Heroin and Crack of Doom; how does revisiting older material alongside new work change the way you understand your own musical legacy?
I don’t spend much time thinking about my legacy. That sounds rather grandiose, doesn’t it? I’ve written hundreds of songs over the years, and some of them I still enjoy singing and others I’ve completely forgotten about. Sometimes you return to an old song and discover that it’s actually rather good. Other times you wonder what on earth you were thinking when you wrote it. Putting old songs alongside new ones can be interesting because you realise that certain themes have remained with you for decades. But I don’t feel particularly nostalgic about the past. I’m much more interested in writing the next song than celebrating something I wrote thirty years ago.
6. From Shockheaded Peter to The Bacchae, your work frequently crosses the boundaries between music, theatre and performance; what does theatrical storytelling allow you to explore that a conventional concert format cannot?
Theatre gives you more possibilities. You can create characters, tell longer stories and explore ideas that might be difficult to express in a three-minute song. I’ve always been interested in theatre, particularly work that is strange, grotesque or absurd. But I don’t necessarily think a theatrical production is better than a concert. Sometimes three musicians standing on a stage playing songs can be more powerful than an elaborate production with actors, scenery and lighting. I’ve done both, and I enjoy both. The important thing is whether the work is interesting. You can spend a fortune on a theatrical production and produce something completely tedious, or you can sing a song with an accordion and make somebody cry.
THE TIGER LILLIES – SONGS FOR THE DEAD concert is at Soho Theatre Walthamstow on Sunday 1 November at 7.30pm for more information and tickets – Box office: +4402074780100