My Ears Through the Years with Alan Smith
Welcome to the first in our new series, My Ears Through the Years, where we ask you to score the soundtrack of your life. We want to hear about the songs you grew up with and the songs you’ve boogied on down to; the songs that scored the good times and the ones that saw you through the bad; the songs you could never forget and the ones you wish you could; the belters, the bops, the ballads, and everything in between.
Kicking things off for us is Alan Smith from Riff Raff.. Alan is one half of the formidable directing duo Smith and Foulkes, who have an incredible catalogue of 2D, 3D and live actions films to their names. But what music does a highly-decorated, BAFTA-winning, Oscar nominated director listen to?
Hi Alan! Please tell us, what’s your first memory of music…
My Dad played trombone and I was forced to sit through endless brass band competitions at Pontins holiday camps. This did not instil a love of brass band music in me. My passion was pretending to be a rock star while watching Top of the Pops. Still do.
The first music you bought for yourself…
‘Out of the Blue’ by ELO. On blue vinyl of course. Epically overblown orchestration and pompously overproduced. But it had choons!
Your first gig…
Not counting the brass band concerts… Echo & the Bunnymen, Gloucester Leisure Centre 1984. Life changing.
The first song that comes into your head at any given opportunity…
‘Getting Away With It’ by Electronic. Not sure what this says about me as a person.
Your first slow dance…
Still waiting…
The first song you couldn’t escape from…
I was around 15, staying in a static caravan and properly drunk for the first time (eight halves of cider if you’re asking). As I threw up all night I couldn’t get Bad Day by Carmel out of my head. Still can’t listen to it.
Music you’d enter the stage to…
As in The Holy Grail, it would be great to have a wandering minstrel alongside me at all times telling rambunctious tales of my daily derring do’s to the world.
Your dancefloor anthem…
Madchester! Anything! Except Northern Uproar.
Your go to karaoke song…
Anything by Johnny Cash you can just growl. Although if me and Foulkes are duetting we seem inexplicably drawn to the Proclaimers. Neither of us is Scottish so it doesn’t end well.
Your guilty pleasure…
‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’. About as pompous as you can get, but that guitar just sucks me in every time. I might even start blubbing if I’m drunk.
A song that reminds you of home…
I was working behind the counter at Our Price Records alongside other aimlessly drifting twentysomethings when the CD single of Primal Scream’s Loaded arrived. Just three songs which seemed to sum up everything music could and should be at that time. We put it on repeat the entire day. Playing anything else just seemed pointless.
An artist you grew to love…
So many down the years. The Jesus & Mary Chain marrying pure 60’s pop with visceral guitar noise. The Roses proving it was way more fun to dance like a madman than to skulk in the shadows. Underworld and Leftfield (and a lot of all-nighters) and the euphoria of repetitive beats. Not understanding the point of Rap until seeing Public Enemy at Reading Festival.
An artist you just can’t get on board with…
The 1975. Enough said.
A song you wish you wrote…
If you’re looking for the perfect pop song then you can’t really beat ‘God Only Knows’.
Your desert island disc…
This is impossible. It changes every day. Currently it might be ‘Won’t Get To Heaven (The State I’m In)’ by Spiritualized. Which is, in fact, pretty spiritual. And pretty long. But if I’m allowed a whole album it would always be the first Stone Roses, which, completely unrelatedly, I recently had the joy of listening to on a plane while sat opposite John Squire.
A song you want to be played at your funeral…
This is easy. ‘I’m OK With My Decay’ by Grandaddy. You have to be, don’t you?
Best sync moment…
I love how the Eno track in Trainspotting creates an eerie moment of imaginary beauty amidst the grime.
Best theme song…
Banana Splits. One banana two banana three banana four… four bananas make a bunch and so do many more. Exactly. I SO wanted to be in their gang.
Favourite film soundtrack / score…
I’m a sucker for a bit of '70s Americana like Butch Cassidy or Midnight Cowboy. I wouldn’t choose to sit and listen to Ry Cooder but you can’t imagine Paris, Texas without his music, it’s almost as if he’s in the room playing live in each scene. I love how Vangelis scores can somehow seem dated and futuristic at the same time.
Track you’d most like to sync…
I keep imagining the Bunnymen’s ‘Ocean Rain’ being sung by a Welsh Male Voice Choir. Just voices mirroring the rhythm of the wave.
