What A Song and Dance!

Rock group James have reunited after six years apart. They've spent the summer touring around Europe's biggest festivals — one of the the last was at Belladrum in Scotland, where we caught up with frontman Tim Booth.

ET: How was the show for you tonight?

TB: Wonderful. Almost too good at the beginning. It was like, "Holy cow, how are we going to keep this up?" It was a fantastic audience and you don't know what it's going to be like especially when people have been standing in the rain for half a day.

ET: You performed a song you said you'd written yesterday for Tony Wilson...

TB: It wasn't really written for him. It was written yesterday. We played it last night at a gig in Edinburgh. We sound checked it at the concert. It was the first time we had ever played it as a band and then we said "Let's do it". Then we heard that Tony had died and I thought that one would be good because the lyrics were very poignant. It's called "Bubbles" at the moment.

ET: I thought it was superb. Is it going to be a single?

TB: No, but it's going to be on the album.

ET: The band looked like they were really enjoying themselves at the concert. Is that how things are now with James since reforming?

TB: Yes, I think we're in a better state than we've probably ever been. Communication is very good. We've just got Andy back on board on trumpet. This was one of his first big gigs with us since returning.

ET: Your music seems to be on a different level live compared to the studio. Is that how you see it?

TB: I think we've always been a live band and our problem has always been how to capture it. At festivals we play it a little bit more safe than we do when we have a captive audience in four walls. There you can take more risks. At a festival you turn up, you get no sound check. If you can't hear each other, you can't improvise quite as much. The intention is to always make sure the songs are still alive, and the way to make them alive is to adapt them and change them.

ET: You say you're planning to go into the studio to make a new album. Any idea when that's going to be?

TB: We're recording in October. We'll have it done by the end of October.

ET: You have an interest in spirituality. To what extent do you feel that manifests in your music and performance?

TB: I don't know how to answer that. I go very up and down with it. I'm very nervous of the word spirituality as it usually suggests something superior. For me there are practices I do that enrich my life like meditation or whatever, but I don't see it as being advanced. I see it as I have to do those things or I'm more of a mess than if I don't do those things. I'm preferring that way of looking at it at the moment rather than calling it anything else.

ET: When you perform you do a mesmerising and individual dance. Do you feel that the practices you just mentioned or spiritual belief, or whatever you want to call it, influence your dancing?

TB: I've always danced like that and it was always about just expression. In the 90s I met some people who worked with trance and altered states through movement. I worked with them a lot and I teach it in groups. It's trying to teach people how to get high but without drugs and alcohol—through dancing. It's ecstatic. It's looking for ecstasy through dancing, through physical response. That's my practice basically.

ET: You've reformed after six years. You've got a new album coming out. How do you see the future of James?

TB: We're feeling very strong at the moment. We've got a lot of new songs as good as the ones you heard tonight. We're wanting to have a crack at things and see how it goes. It's always hard to tell in this industry. It's always about chance. The only bit we can control is making the best music and playing the best gigs we possibly can. We've got some really great artistic ideas for next year. We're just going to steamroller ahead and see where it goes.