Ian McClaglan, still kickin’ after all these tears

I found this interview by Ken Shane with Ian McClaglan at The Popdose, from Wednesday, April 29th, 2009, at

http://popdose.com/the-popdose-interview-ian-mclagan/

Let’s talk about your most recent album, Never Say Never. How did it come together?

As I said, I was recording it before I put it to one side, and when I went back, well, my wife was killed (Ian’s wife of 28 years, Kim, was killed in a car accident in Austin in 2006), and then I didn’t want to listen to it for awhile, and when I did, I threw out a bunch of songs, wrote some new ones, and then I was motivated. “Never Say Never” came out of the blue, and I’d already recorded “Killing Me With Love” a couple of years before, which was for her. “Hot and Cool” I’d had for years. I’ve been playing it live for 15 or 20 years, but never recorded it. After awhile, I realized that the songs I was writing, the songs I was leaving in, and the songs I was re-recording were either about loss or obsession, so I just let the thing happen really. Then I threw another few songs out, and I realized that I only had nine. I found a tissue box that I’d had in the truck while I was driving, and I’d written a verse of a song on it, and I’d completely forgotten about it. That was “When the Crying is Over.” I looked at those lyrics and I cut the song and it was done. So that eventually came together quite quickly.

I e-mailed Glyn Johns to ask him if he’d mix it and master it. He said to send him a track. So I sent him “Little Black Number,” and he said “bloody great, send me another.” I sent him another two or three, and eventually sent him everything. He said, “yeah, where do you want to do it, London or Austin?” I was going over to England for a wedding in November, the year before last, and we did it after that. He did a fantastic job.