 | | Stephen Fretwell |
Since then, he’s spread his wings much further afield, showing off his emotionally-soaked, wonderfully melodic music around the globe, and written the follow-up to Magpie, an album provisionally titled as Man On The Roof that is due out in August. We caught up with him ahead of the release of the first fruit from it, the slow meander that is the Four Letter Words EP. It’s a roughly produced gem of a release that’s sure to turn even more ears in Stephen’s direction, even if the man himself isn’t too keen on it. "I’m not really pleased with it," he explained, "but then I don’t think that anyone who does anything creative really is. It’d be easy to say I was, but I’m not. I think it’s alright, that there are some good songs on there, but I think it could be better. Maybe it’s natural to think like that, though." Under the cover Whatever he might think, few of his listeners would deny that there are some good songs on there, not least a cover of the 50s classic, You Belong To Me. It may seem like an unusual choice for the singer, but it’s a song that has always fascinated Stephen, not least because of the weird undercurrent to it.
 | | Stephen Fretwell |
"“It’s just a beautiful song; it’s one of my favourites. But there’s a psychotic element to it. The lyrics say that you might be going away and doing all these things, but just remember, we’ve got a pact here, you belong to me. "The guy who wrote it, Pee Wee King, got locked up for some weird things, he was a very weird songwriting dude, and that weirdness comes through in the possessiveness. You just know that the person who’s narrating the song, the one who’s saying the other person belongs to them – I don’t think they do. I have the same sort of thing on William Shatner’s Dog…" Yes, you read that right. There is a song on the EP called William Shatner’s Dog. In a suitably straightforward way, Stephen explains that the name comes from the fact that he’s "a big fan of William Shatner and his music, strangely enough, but to be honest, it’s a bit of a private joke between myself and the person who the song is about." In love with Manchester Presumably, there’s a chance of a better explanation from that person, so just look for who laughs when he plays it live. And play it he will, along with the rest of his new material, on his current tour. Excited as he is by all the shows, it’s the one in Manchester that he’s really looking forward to, thanks to his on-going affair with his adopted home town. | "As long as you’re not noncy about it, people will say ‘go on, why not do that?’ That’s the great thing about the city." | | Stephen Fretwell on the freedom of expression he found in Manchester |
"I am, and I have been for the last ten years, head-over-heels in love with Manchester. I honestly feel that my life began when I moved to Manchester. I was brought up in Scunthorpe and there’s no real way of doing music there. You couldn’t go out and say ‘I quite fancy being a musician’ because everyone just knocks you down. "In Manchester, if you want to be a journalist, a graphic designer, a musician, whatever you like, as long as you’re not noncy about it, people will say ‘go on, why not do that?’ That’s the great thing about the city." Fretwell: the early years There’s little surprise he’s so enamoured with the city. Ever since he first picked up his guitar here, he’s been gathering support and while his fan base might now be global, he still remembers those early days with a misty fondness.
 | | Stephen Fretwell at Blueprint (G Camera) |
"I miss playing at the Roadhouse. I used to play there on Sunday nights, at an open mic night run by a fella called Cash'n'Carry Gary. I’d play a couple of songs and it didn’t matter if you got things wrong, because everyone was having a good time. Kloot would be there, Elbow were down there and we’d all be drunk. It was a great time, the start of all that Northern Quarter scene. "It’s a shame, it seems to have died out a bit now. Everyone’s grown up a bit and got kids." It seems that times, as the great Bob Dylan once said, are a-changin’, but if this EP is anything to go by, Stephen Fretwell is more than capable of keeping up with them. The Four Letter Words EP is out now on Polydor. The album, Man On The Roof, is out in the summer. Stephen Fretwell plays the Dancehouse on Wednesday 23 May. |
