Eugene McGuinness released his debut EP, a wry collection of frenetic songwriting underpinned by the clash of the electronic and acoustic, a few days before his 22nd birthday. Nineteen years later, with half a dozen more release under the belt, McGuinness is gearing up for the release of his next effort, Eugene McGuinness Versus The Universe (out April 24). Led by the brilliantly evocative singles ‘London’ and ‘Seascape’, we asked McGuinness ten questions to understand the man who is waging intergalactic warfare and, in his own words, will inevitably lose.
What’s your earliest memory of music?
Rubber Soul, at 3, in Leytonstone.
You seem to enjoy using your name as part of release titles – your self-titled LP, your debut The Early Learnings of Eugene McGuinness and your upcoming Eugene McGuinness Versus The Universe. Is this a means of self-examination, self-fictionalisation, or something else entirely?
Yes, to all the above. It’s also done with tongue firmly in cheek, self-aggrandizing whilst being firmly aware that nobody gives a shit.
Will we ever see any new music from yourself and the Lizards?
No.
What are your biggest non-musical influences?
Mainly people: marginalised, beautiful, awkward and slightly lost people. And books and paintings, Irish and French literature especially, with some of the American and Russian stuff. And T.S. Eliot, Percy Shelley. My father’s painting’s and drawings, too, and other great painters – Delacroix, Van Gogh, Picasso… none of the bullshit.
Your first EP came out almost twenty years ago. Are there any songs from earlier in your career whose meaning has changed for you as your career has progressed/you’ve gotten older?
No, they come from wherever I was at the time, which is why I rarely dwell on them. Some still sound good to me; I think that’s because the dream that spawned them is still a dream that excites me. Other songs of mine lose their glow and I think it’s because I’m no longer turned on by whatever dream it was forged from. I know how this all sounds but that’s just how it is for me.
The music video for ‘London’ shows a melancholic look at London on film – how does this compare to your own perspective of the city?
It’s exactly how I see the city, which is why Dylan and I made it the way we did.
Which part of London inspires you the most?
Romford.
These new singles seem to trade the menace of your earlier songs for a string-led sentimentality – how did you choose the sound for these latest tracks?
I had some very rough voice recordings on my phone, and I was very fond of how they sounded. In the studio, I recorded them just like I did on my phone, live, with me mainly on guitar. But there were some friends around me in the studio, people who I really trust, and I just let them instinctively respond to what i was doing: drum machines, bass, lap steel and some beautiful strings all starting swirling around, and it was wonderful.
What track from the upcoming LP are you most excited for people to hear?
‘Eastend Requiem’. I wanted to call it ‘Pylon After Pylon After Pylon After Pylon After Pylon’, but there we go. It’s a weird one. It’s a song that knows what it is, but I don’t.
Who wins when Eugene McGuinness goes up against the universe?
The Universe.
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