The Reverend Jon McClure vs. The World

As Sheffield’s Reverend and the Makers gear up to release their second album, ‘A French Kiss in the Chaos’ on July 27th, Lauren Holden speaks to vocalist, Jon McClure. In a typically frank interview, The Rev proves he’s not just some gobby indie frontman - he actually has something worthwhile to say. And you better listen up!

Gigwise: Your new album sounds quite psychedelic. Is that intentional?
Jon McClure: “Yeah, I feel an affinity to classic bands [like 60s psychedelic act, Love], as they’re just doing their own thing, you know. The real classic bands are never gonna be held up as the best bands though, are they? Arthur Lee (Love frontman) was obviously a fucking dude. If I had to choose between the noughties and the sixties, I’d happily take the sixties.”

G: You’ve said in the past that the music press have been a bit up and down with you. Is that right?
JM: “Yeah, in lots of ways I feel like we have been a little bit ignored until recently. But I think what we’re doing now is really positive and fresh. Instigate Debate is the most exciting thing to happen since fucking punk, really. We have to break (the shackles). The East London Mafia seem to have got the music industry in this country - they keep putting forward all this shit music that no-one really wants to listen to.  They keep putting forward these substandard East London Oxford-ite bands who, in reality, are just fucking awful. What have these bands ever said about the world? Woah, we take some MDMA. Wow. They’re no way the saviours of music. If the thing that defines you is the drugs you take, you’re a bit of a sad human being.

G: What have you learned about the music industry, then?
JM: “Never think it’s an open shop. It’s not. It’s run by rich white men, do you know what I’m saying? The doors are often closed. It’s run by nepotism - the bands who you think are the cool bands of today, in reality, are just the friends of people who work (in the music industry). It’s all bullshit. Hip-hop artists deserve more recognition, too Why are we not putting certain types of music forward? Why are we given White Lies instead of Dizzee Rascal? Do you not think it’s rubbish, that?

“Not one person dares to stand up [regarding the state of the music scene] We’ve all got fucking Joe Strummer or John Lennon posters up, but not one person thinks ‘well, it’s not enough to just look like, or sound like, them. What about what they actually believed in?”
The reason our generation has got no egos is because we’re not allowed - anyone who dares to stand up, and dares to stand for something, is ruthlessly slapped down.”

G: Maybe you could be the next big ego?
JM: “We need some egos, man. Even the people in the biggest bands don’t wanna be egos. No-one’s prepared to sit up and say ‘fucking come on’. When I was a kid I used to buy music magazines and read what Noel Gallagher was saying. I used to think ‘wow’ - and be inspired. Kids should be reading what I’m saying and thinking: ‘yes, come on - let’s change the world’. There’s never going to be anything really exciting happen again in music There’s never going to be anything life-changing again.
“I have to look at myself in the mirror and ask myself, ‘Am I a pop star, or do I stand for something more?’ Do I want to go on the David Letterman show, or do I want to cancel it - and cancel a million pounds in my bank account - and go and do a gig in Beirut, to show solidarity with Palestinian people.

“It’s now or never. The world’s more fucked up than it’s ever been, yet no-one speaks out about it. Enough’s enough.”