John McClure (of Mongrel and Reverend and the Makers) Interview 12/03/09

John McClure of Reverend and The Makers is renowned for being anything but tame, and catching up with him to talk about his new ambitious collaboration, Mongrel, is an exhausting experience in itself. The passion and intensity he holds for the new projects he has been a part of is testament to the inevitability of the success of Saturday 7^th March in which their debut album, Better Than Heavy, will be distributed free with The Independent newspaper. The day is a product of the culminating revolution which started shaking long a go and which now, the strong-minded McClure believes, is about to explode in an epiphany of musical gritty reality.

“Music as you know it is dying”, he announces. “There is no way you can justify charging thirteen quid for summit that’s 50p”. Ever the voice of reason, his Yorkshire roots have proved to be swelled with antagonisms for the current apathy in the music scene, which in turn has made him ever the more enthusiastic to shake people up and beat the crowds. He talks a lot about the “former voices of rebellion”: - such as NME, punk bands and old Rock and Roll; all of which have merged into the docile establishment which, despite the masses of cultures, have insisted on ignoring most of them.

“Where is everyone?!” he asks with disbelief lacing every syllable. He waves a Palestine flag and gets ridiculed, he takes a risk and speaks his mind and gets chastised for being loud. In a sentence reminiscent of Marx, he states that “the moment you put making capital above the well-being of human beings and the integrity of journalistic investigation, is the moment you have to be removed”. Well if they say actions speak louder than words then McClure is screaming his way to changing the world.

“What’s rock music?” he probes me, in his idiosyncratic way which I soon see is embalmed in the depths of his soul. He wants to show the world that new music - passionate music - deserves a chance in the everyday world, instead of being confined to certain late hours on the radio. This is why at first glance, the collaborations with some of the best hip hop artists around perhaps seen incongruous for someone hailing from the Sheffield indie scene, but the results are too amazing to ignore. As the Independent on Saturday is thrust in our faces with the Debut of Mongrel, the diverse talent of Britain is thrown along with it and the impact is intense, exciting new music.

The new album is not only about producing fresh music, it is also embedded in the greater atmosphere of rebellion. The Independent newspaper is thus the perfect form of distribution, as McClure makes clear that Mongrel are “not afraid of telling the truth”- just as The Independent voices rebellious opinions and won’t stand short of contention. Is this new teaming of media the beginning of the end of music as we know it? With the credit crunch now in full steam ahead, collaborations such as this don’t seem too daft an idea at all.

See wearemongrel for tour dates and download info.

See instigatedebate and find your voice of contention.

Interview by Eliza Lomas