James Frontman Tim Booth "I do see Simon Cowell as some kind of Antichrist"

In an interview with Digital Spy, James frontman Tim Booth talked about how pop mogul Simon Cowell has significantly lowered the expectations of the public. 

"Punk brought in a slightly puritanical morality of not selling out. What happened in the early '90s was the media sold out. Q would put Spice Girls on the front cover and Robbie Williams. I'm not knocking them, but those magazines used to be about music, and just about music.

"That seemed like a betrayal. That seemed like a sell-out. They're accusing bands of selling out, it must be able to work the other way.

"From then on it became about money, and how much you sell. Rather than music. There's a crossover with that, obviously, but it shouldn't just be about money and celebrity. It became that when Spice Girls got some kudos.

"It was like, 'You're f**king kidding me!' This stuff was manipulated, created to con the pocket money out of young girls, essentially, and it worked. But it shouldn't get mythologised by the music press, just because it's successful. And by star-hungry journalists."

He added: "I've seen that happen and Pop Idol entrenched that, and all of those things. And I do see Simon Cowell as some kind of Antichrist, in that way. In the kind of Bill Hicks. You've been sent to the planet to lower the standards, so that people will forget that they are actually angels and divine beings. They kind of lose themselves in this s**t. So, yes, I can rant like that now and again!

"I would never say that he should be shot. I would just say that he's probably the Antichrist in my world. To me it's like what Rupert Murdoch did to this country and what Dennis Potter spoke out about. It's about dumbing down and lowering the standards.

"I totally get why people are attracted to it and kids are attracted to it as a shortcut. But it's a shortcut to a short life. I don't think it's very fulfilling. What I want to see is people expressing themselves. From their heart, from their soul. I don't think when you become part of a machine like that you have any chance of that happening."

"I went last night to see a band in Brighton called Soccer 96. Two guys, drummer and keyboard player, and it was genius. It was their own language. It was raw as f**k. There wasn't a chorus to rub together. It was fantastic. Tiny audience, but people going, 'Whoah'. You're watching a band who's going to influence a lot of people. Booth continued.

"They may not become huge - if they stay as bloody minded as they are. But genius. Then you watch Alabama Shakes and you go, 'F**king hell'. That's the music we want. That's the music that feeds us and touches our souls."

The singer added of the media: "The NME particularly sold out. It had to launch a new band to be the great band every two years and then destroy them after two years... it just became clearly an editorial conceit and a strategy to try and keep people interested. Aimed at manipulation."

A few weeks ago, Depeche Mode's Martin Gore also spoke about Cowell saying: "I'm not advocating violence, but I think somebody should shoot Simon Cowell! His influence in the music industry over the last God knows how many years it's been now... it's just like, so many people think that that's what music is. What happened to bands getting together? They are very few and far between now and the ones that do probably can't afford to get into a studio and make a record."

James To Tour With Echo & The Bunnymen in Support of ‘Gathering Sound’ Box Set

James will hit the road with Echo & The Bunnymen for the first time in April 2013 to support their forthcoming career-spanning box-set 'The Gathering Sound'.

James frontman, Tim Booth has said "It is with great pleasure that we announce our 'Gathering Sound' April tour with the legendary Echo & The Bunnymen as our very special guests. We will be reworking old songs and revealing some new steps – expect the unexpected and prepare yourself for more passion than Fifty Shades of Grey.”

"The Gathering Sound" box-set looks back on the Manchester band's twelve album career, and is due to comprise CDs, a DVD, a 12" vinyl record, an 8GB USB, rarities, live recordings, a 16-page booklet and a 44-page scrapbook, plus 32 previously unreleased recordings, 12 of which are completely unreleased songs.

Tour dates:
APRIL 2013
Glasgow SECC Hall (13)
Newcastle O2 Academy (15)
Sheffield O2 Academy (16)
Bristol Colston Hall (17)
London O2 Academy Brixton (19, 20)
Bournemouth O2 Academy (22)
Leeds O2 Academy (23)
Birmingham O2 Academy (25)
Manchester Arena (26)

The collection was originally due out in fall 2011, but now is finally due for release next month in the U.K. You can pre-order the box set via Amazon.co.uk for £96.40, or about $153.

Tracklist: James, The Gathering Sound

CD1: Rarities
1. “Willow”
2. “Say It With Flowers”
3. “JustHipper”
4. “Mosquito”
5. “Left Out Of Her Will”
6. “Doubts” (BBC Radio Manchester Radio Session)
7. “Count Your Blessings”
8. “Weather Change”
9. “Pressure’s On” (Demo)
10. “Jam 1″
11. “Jam 2″
12. “It’s A Fine Line”
13. “Hedex”
14. “Long To See”
15. “Scratch Card”
16. “I Thought You Were” (Demo)
17. “All My Letters”
18. “Dust Motes” (Absolute Radio Session)

CD2: Live
1. “Folklore” (1982 gig)
2. “Announcement” (1982 gig)
3. “Burned” (Bath Moles 1988)
4. “Hymn From A Village” (Glastonbury 1990)
5. “Hang On” (Glastonbury 1990)
6. “Maria’s Party” (Alton Towers, Staffordshire, July 1992)
7. “America” (Town & Country Club, London, December 1992)
8. “Sit Down” (Town & Country Club, London, December 1992)
9. “Sound” (Town & Country Club, London, December 1992)
10. “Honest Joe” (Brixton Academy, 9 December 1993
11. “Come Home” (Shepherds Bush Empire, March 1997)
12. “Johnny Yen” (Manchester Apollo, 11 April 1998)
13. “What For” (Glasgow Lighthouse 1999)
14. “Stutter” (Shepherds Bush Empire, June 2000)
15. “Fine” (Sound Republic, June 2001)
16. “Bubbles” (2008 live gig)
17. “At The Seams” (Acappella)

CD3: The Night Before the Morning After
1. “It’s Hot”
2. “Crazy”
3. “Ten Below”
4. “Porcupine”
5. “Shine”
6. “Dr Hellier”
7. “Hero”
8. “Got The Shakes”
9. “Dust Motes”
10. “Tell Her I Said So”
11. “Kaleidoscope”
12. “Rabbit Hole”
13. “Make For This City”
14. “Lookaway”
15. “Fear”

Vinyl
A1. “Sit Down” (Demo)
A2. “How Was It For You” (Demo)
B1. “Gregory’s Town” (Demo)
B2. “Ring Those Bells” (Demo)

DVD: Come Home
1. “Come Home”
2. “What’s The World”
3. “Lose Control”
4. “Sunday Morning”
5. “Ring The Bells”
6. “Bring A Gun”
7. “Whoops”
8. “Government Walls”
9. “Walking The Ghost”
10. “Next Lover”
12. “God Only Knows”
13. “What For”
14. “Sit Down”
15. “How Was It For You”
16. “Stutter”

USB: Stutter
1. “Skullduggery”
2. “Scarecrow”
3. “So Many Ways”
4. “Just Hip”
5. “Johnny Yen”
6. “Summer Song”
7. “Really Hard”
8. “Billy’s Shirt”
9. “Why So Close”
10. “Withdrawn”
11. “Black Hole”

USB: Stripmine
1. “What For” (Album Version)
2. “Charlie Dance”
3. “Fairground”
4. “Are You Ready”
5. “Medieval”
6. “Not There”
7. “Ya Ho”
8. “Riders”
9. “Vulture”
10. “Stripmining”
11. “Refrain”

USB: Goldmother
1. “Come Home”
2. “Government Walls”
3. “God Only Knows”
4. “You Can’t Tell How Much Suffering (On A Face That’s Always Smiling)”
5. “Crescendo”
6. “How Was It For You?”
7. “Hang On”
8. “Walking The Ghost”
9. “Gold Mother”
10. “Top Of The World”
11. “Sit Down” (Album Version)
12. “Come Home” (Flood Mix)
13. “Lose Control” (Album Version)

USB: Seven
1. “Born Of Frustration”
2. “Ring The Bells”
3. “Sound” (Album Version / Full Version)
4. “Bring A Gun”
5. “Mother”
6. “Don’t Wait That Long”
7. “Live A Love Of Life”
8. “Next Lover”
9. “Heavens”
10. “Protect Me”
11. “Seven”

USB: Laid
1. “Out To Get You”
2. “Sometimes”
3. “Dream Thrum”
4. “One Of The Three”
5. “Say Something” (Album Version)
6. “Five-O”
7. “P.S.”
8. “Everybody Knows”
9. “Knuckle Too Far”
10. “Low Low Low”
11. “Laid” (Album Version)
12. “Lullaby”
13. “Skindiving”

USB: Wah Wah
1. “Hammer Strings”
2. “Pressure’s On”
3. “Jam J”
4. “Frequency Dip”
5. “Lay The Law Down”
6. “Burn The Cat”
7. “Maria”
8. “Low Clouds (2)”
9. “Building A Fire”
10. “Gospel Oak”
11. “DVV”
12. “Say Say Something”
13. “Rythmic Dreams”
14. “Dead Man”
15. “Rain Whistling”
16. “Basic Brian”
17. “Bottom Of The Well”
18. “Honest Joe”
19. “Arabic Agony”
20. “Tomorrow”
21. “Laughter”
22. “Sayonara”

USB: Whiplash
1. “Tomorrow” (Album Version)
2. “Lost A Friend”
3. “Waltzing Along” (Album Version)
4. “She’s A Star” (Album Version)
5. “Greenpeace”
6. “Go To The Bank”
7. “Play Dead”
8. “Avalanche”
9. “Homeboy”
10. “Watering Hole”
11. “Blue Pastures”

USB: Millionaires
1. “Crash”
2. “Just Like Fred Astaire”
3. “I Know What I’m Here For”
4. “Shooting My Mouth Off”
5. “We’re Going To Miss You” (Album Version)
6. “Strangers”
7. “Hello”
8. “Afro Lover”
9. “Surprise”
10. “Dumb Jam”
11. “Someone’s Got It In For Me”
12. “Vervaceous”

USB: Pleased To Meet You
1. “Space”
2. “Falling Down”
3. “English Beefcake”
4. “Junkie”
5. “Pleased To Meet You”
6. “The Shining”
7. “Senorita”
8. “Gaudi”
9. “What Is It Good For”
10. “Give It Away”
11. “Fine”
12. “Getting Away With It” (All Messed Up) (Album Version)
13. “Alaskan Pipeline”
14. “Coffee And Toast”

USB: Hey Ma
1. “Bubbles”
2. “Hey Ma”
3. “Waterfall”
4. “Oh My Heart”
5. “Boom Boom”
6. “Semaphore”
7. “Upside”
8. “Whiteboy” (Radio Edit)
9. “72″
10. “Of Monsters And Heroes And Men”
11. “I Wanna Go Home”

USB: Non-Album Tracks From Hits Collections
1. “Runaground” (Album version)
2. “Destiny Calling”
3. “Who Are You”
4. “Chameleon”

USB: Videos (1988-2001)
1. “So Many Ways”
2. “What For”
3. “How Was It For You?”
4. “Come Home”
5. “Lose Control”
6. “Sit Down”
7. “Sound”
8. “Born Of Frustration”
9. “Ring The Bells”
10. “Seven”
11. “Sometimes”
12. “Laid”
13. “Say Something (Original)”
14. “Say Something”
15. “She’s A Star”
16. “Tomorrow”
17. “Waltzing Along”
18. “Runaground”
19. “Destiny Calling”
20. “Sit Down ’98″
21. “I Know What I’m Here For”
22. “Just Like Fred Astaire”
23. “We’re Going To Miss You”
24. “Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)”