A Certain Ratio reflect on their ever-changing sound: “We’re a marketing team’s nightmare”
Since their initial inception in 1977, A Certain Ratio has always been something of a rarity within the vibrant world of independent music. Over the years, the Flixton collective have drawn upon an incredibly broad spectrum of sounds and influences, ranging from jazz-funk to Balearic beats and acid house. Seemingly, the only thing that has remained constant throughout the long career of A Certain Ratio is their constant need for reinvention and, above all else, incredible songwriting.
A Certain Ratio are a group that are firmly entrenched in the cultural fabric of Manchester, having been among the first groups to be signed to the iconic Factory Records. Thankfully, through the advent of video technology, I was able to sit down with the core trio behind ACR from the comfort of my home, preventing the need for a treacherous journey across the M62 into the perpetual drizzle of the dark side of the Pennines. Hot off the release of their incredible 13th studio album, It All Comes Down To This, Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Donald Johnson all appeared to be in good spirits.
Throughout all their differing musical periods, A Certain Ratio have, by this point, amassed an incredibly dedicated audience. As Moscrop shared, these fans can be categorised into distinct groups, “We’ve got a few different groups of fans,” explaining, “We’ve got the very early, diehard Factory fans, who are getting bald and fat and quite old now. Then we’ve got the people who got into us because of the album Force in 1986. And then we’ve got – what we think of as – the Haçienda crowd who got into us in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. We’ve picked up quite a lot of new people over the last decade, especially from doing festivals and stuff.”
With all these different groups of fans, all favouring one period of the band’s sound over the other, it must be difficult for the band to try to appease every crowd member at their gigs. “It’s hard pleasing our fans,” Moscrop confirmed, “because we’ve got a certain amount of people who really like our jazzy and, you know, more balearic type stuff. We’ve got a certain amount of fans who like our electronic stuff, and we’ve got a lot of fans who like our indie stuff.”
According to the multi-instrumentalist, the group’s latest effort leans more towards the latter group, “The latest album appeals to that indie crowd a lot more than 1982 – the album before – did. So I think, in a lot of ways, we’re a marketing team’s nightmare.” Although it might have some more indie tendencies, It All Comes Down To This is still awash with the inherent funk and infectious basslines that have become synonymous with the band.
The band’s constant evolution and development in sound is said to come as something of an accident or a byproduct of having an endless creative drive. Johnson offered a peak behind the curtain into the inner workings of the group, sharing, “We have a huge record collection between all of us, and we’re also consuming music at the rate that you do, and others do.” explaining, “The great thing about what we’ve got is that we’re able to channel that in slightly different ways. You know, so we’re not purposely thinking, ‘Right, this is going to be a jazz one, this is going to be this one, this is going to be that one.’ It just kind of happens.”
Unsurprisingly, therefore, the new album from A Certain Ratio is quite the departure from their previous effort, 1982. For one, the record seems to contain a much darker atmosphere than some of their previous work. According to lyricist Jez Kerr, who had remained quiet for much of the interview this far, that dark atmosphere came largely as a result of the album’s production work. “I think the album’s dark because we’d sort of left a lot of space with the demos that we did,” he revealed, “We knew that Dan [Carey] was going to fill that space with his kind of electronica and his approach,” adding, “It’s a stripped down sound, I think that gives it a harder edge when there’s less instrumentation. A bit more direct.”
The influence of Carey on It All Comes Down To This is virtually unavoidable. Carey has shown himself to have something of a midas touch in recent years, when it comes to the world of indie and post-punk. He seemed a natural fit for the band’s new record, especially given the fact that he has been a dedicated fan of A Certain Ratio for years.
“We asked him to do some sleeve notes for us,” Moscrop recalled, “‘What was it like working on an ACR track?’ and he told us a story about the first time he came to Manchester, as a student when he was 18. He saw a poster for ACR – a remix of ‘Shack Up’, by Norman Cook. So he went to Piccadilly Records, he bought the record, and he really loved it. Then he got into ACR’s back catalogue, through hearing that remix, and he started buying equipment and started dabbling with making music himself.”
To be tirelessly making music for over four decades and scarcely repeat yourself is certainly something that A Certain Ratio can be commended for. Especially given the fact that many of their contemporaries from the early post-punk and indie scene of the late 1970s have resigned themselves to ‘Greatest Hits’ albums and reunion tours. Although I could have probably predicted the answer, I asked the band whether we would ever see A Certain Ratio embark on such a tour. Johnson greeted my question with a smile as he derisively said, “Absolutely, positively, 1000%, no.”
That answer shouldn’t come as much of a surprise for fans of the band, but Johnson was quick to reaffirm the ethos of his group, saying, “Our standard message is that we truly embrace our past, but we don’t dwell on it. We’re not wired to just sit back and rest on our laurels. It’s the worst thing you could ask this band to do.” Continuing in his inspiring speech for creativity and sonic evolution, the bassist and drummer said, “I don’t want to just keep regurgitating some of the last things that we did without creating anything new. A lot of those other guys have kind of given up. They’ve resigned themselves to going, ‘Oh, we had this album that was in the top ten, in whatever year, let’s just go and play that.'”
Within his admittedly quite engaging rant, Johnson was quick to note that he doesn’t have anything against reunion tours, but he certainly doesn’t understand them. “I’m still marvelling at the fact that people wanted to recreate Spike Island,” he explained, “I just don’t get it. I really don’t get it. It’s like saying, ‘Let’s do Woodstock again’. The event happened, it was a wonderful event, documented in the best way possible, why do you need to keep regurgitating it? We’d never resign ourselves to that.”
Finishing with a smile, Johnson joked, “If we do, what we’re going to do is clone each other and send the clones out to go and do it. We won’t be doing it.” So, if ABBA Voyage ever fails to pay the rent, then perhaps we will see the Mancunian icons of A Certain Ratio rendered in hologram form.
All in all, my brief chat with the band was far more inspirational than I could have hoped. It showcased a band that, throughout its history, has devoted itself to independence and creativity, which is becoming something of a rarity within an increasingly business-orientated music industry. Long live A Certain Ratio.
