Martin Carr first made a name for himself in the early ’90s as the guitarist/songwriter of the Boo Radleys, whose Everything’s Alright Forever (1992), Giant Steps (1993) and Wake Up! (1995) remain essential listening from the Britpop era. The Boos disbanded in 1999, and Carr began releasing records under the bravecaptain moniker for the better part of a decade before issuing Ye Gods (And Little Fishes) under his own name in 2009. Carr is back with third solo LP New Shapes Of Life (Tapete), a compact, sophisticated and personal pop album inspired in part by the death of David Bowie. Carr will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.
Carr: If I had to choose one room in which to spend the rest of my life it would be in a pub. The Lexington in London, perhaps, or The War Room in Ye Cracke in Liverpool, The Chain Locker in Falmouth or The Lansdowne in Cardiff. They aren’t the same as the pubs I frequented as a youth, packed and noisy with clouds of smoke hanging from the ceiling, but they are comfortable and safe and I feel at home in these places, whether I’m having a quiet pint on my own or two or three with friends. There is a pub where I grew up called The Cheshire Cheese, and me and my mate Sice would stand outside as kids waiting for the door to open so we could take in that lovely warm pub smell, beer and cigarettes, aftershave and perfume, and hear the raucous shouts and laughter. Many of the pubs that I have loved have been torn down, but they’re still here in my heart and soul.
