David Scott from The Pearlfishers was interviewed by Giampaolo Giabini of Jam Magazine in June, 2001.

What have you done before "Across The Milky Way"?

I actually recorded three albums before "Across The Milky Way". The first record was called "Za Za's Garden" (1983) and I guess you might not recognise the sound so much. It's a good record with some great songs but it's what I would call a "stylistic blip", featuring some instrumentation that I probably wouldn't use now. It was just what I was doing at the time. There are pointers toward the sound I got right on "The Strange Underworld Of The Tall Poppies" - songs like "Bedroom On The Seine" with more of the string arrangements that I really love. I felt that I wasn't reaching what I had in my heart and so I took a long time out, writing songs and putting together a sound that matched the feeling."Tall Poppies" is still very dear to me because it was such a big leap forward. That album also marked the start of my relationship with Marina Records. Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub and Duglas Stewart from BMX Bandits heard the record and suggested I send it to Marina and that was it! We immediately hit it off - just a real understanding of music across the North Sea. "Tall Poppies" has a vey distinctive sound - very warm and dry (not much reverb or effects) and the songs are very direct too. By the time I got to "The Young Picnickers" I felt like I was really in my stride and that is the record that brought the music to a wider audience, particularly in Japan and America. "Young Picnickers" was very much written "like a songwriter" - most of the tunes were completed in one sitting at the piano although some of the songs ("Stella Painted Joy", "We're Gonna Save The Summer") went through lots of changes in the studio. I suppose the album is "Tall Poppies Mk2" - some people prefer it, but I love 'em both!

In which way does the new album differ from them?

One major thing is that the two previous albums were more collaborative. My great friend Brian McAlpine made fantastic contributions to those records - as a musician, co-producer and sometimes helping out with the songs. But this time around I guess he wanted to branch out a bit and do different kinds of music so I had to fend for myself a bit. I bought a portastudio, which used to be state of the art for home recording, just to go back to the way I used to make demos and the results pretty much became "Across The Milky Way". Lots of the songs were kind of improvised at home and then refined later on which gives them a real freshness. I guess the lyrics are more personal too - things like "When The Highway Ends" and "I Was A Cowboy" are very inside. The new record is also more experimental sonically. I suppose you can hear that anyway.

The Byrds, The Beatles and The Beach Boys were always cited as your influences...

Who with a brain wouldn't be influenced by great music? My music is influenced by Brian Wilson. I've made no secret about that - I was one of the main producers of "Caroline Now!" after all - but my records don't sound anything like The Beach Boys. The harmonies are a totally different style for a start (no one on the planet is in Brian's league even today - don't forget that). It's just that as soon as you do more than three part harmony and use the word "summer" in the lyric people say "Beach Boys Lovin Spoonful Byrds etc". The most obvious influences on my songs are Paul McCartney - I can't escape it - and other things like The Monkees, Harpers Bizarre, The Association, etc. I also love things like Moondog, Laura Nyro, Dylan, Bacharach and more recently things like Stereolab, Eminem, the last Scritti Politti not to mention contemporaries like Norman Blake, Bill Wells and Duglas Stewart. It's more about being inspired to make music rather than being inspired to copy music.

How important are these influences for your songs?

If you're a lawyer or a doctor or a priest you can go to college and learn how to do it. There isn't an effective alternative for songwriters except learning by listening. The most profound lesson I ever got was by listening to my Dad's copy of "Portrait In Music" - a great Bacharach compilation of semi instrumental versions of his hits. All you have to do is listen to the feeling which comes through the beautiful changes and sounds. As far as Brian Wilson is concerned I'm as much influenced by him personally as I am by his music. I think he's the bravest and most committed artist of all time - his bravery has cost him a lot and we're the beneficiaries.

Is "Across The Milky Way" a retro or a "here and now" album?

I think good music is timeless - "modern" for modern's sake is bullshit. I love it all if it's good. It would be silly for me to try and go for what I imagine to be "here and now" because as soon as you do it it's yesterday's sound anyway. That's not to say there's no ambition in the records. I really want to touch people and be relevant, whatever that is. I just think the most important thing is emotional truth. I'm an artist - what I produce is what I produce and I sincerely hope people find something in it that they can trust.

I guess arrangements are very important to you...

I really love to have good arrangements on the records but don't be fooled into thinking that they are the only component. The main theme in my songs is whatever is in my heart - usually optimism or hope and sometimes sadness. The arrangement is used to heighten the feeling - sometimes to focus the emotional thrust of the record. Most of the string arrangements provide a counter melody or a hook ("Sweet William") and wind their way around the melody or even the lyric but some of them are just kind of "my chords" whether that's good or bad. String lines can almost be an extra voice on the record too. Sometimes you can use bits of arrangement as punctuation or humour, like the bass clarinet on "Paint On A Smile" which is obviously meant to be funny and sweet. Of course, every part of the record, from the drums up, are part of the arrangement. Song comes first - arrangement and production ( which includes the way the track is engineered ) are the things that help nail the feeling. I do the parts by hand on manuscript with a pencil. It's good to hear them in your head and then with the band. All the parts for the "Milky Way" album were written on holiday at the swimming pool miles away from a piano. It was good fun.