WE FEEL YOUR INFLUENCE SPRING SUMMER 18 THE WORLD NEEDS ORIGINALS SS18 “IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT COLOUR YOU ARE OR WHAT KIND OF CULTURE YOU'RE IN, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MEAN SOMETHING, YOU HAVE TO DO IT RIGHT AND DO IT HONESTLY.” WHEELERCARON ON CREATIVITY It usually starts from me, from a feeling of something, either to put into musical form. That’s how I usually make my discontent or something I want to fix. I turned to songwriting songs. I have to feel what the story is. I always try and make because I like writing down ideas. Sometimes I don’t completely stories sit well, and also uplift people a bit, because the whole finish songs, but if I keep going I might get the real thing. world is going crazy! It’s not until you’ve actually tweaked it enough to the point If you feel it’s not working, lay back and sometimes it just where it sounds like something that somebody would want comes to you all at once. I can’t explain it exactly but it just to listen to. starts to happen, and when it does happen and it feels right, I like doing music that can be very, not cathartic, but like it’s time to jump on that feeling and move with it. emotions that you can’t see but you feel. That’s what you’re trying Try to, basically, infuse the air with what you’re feeling. CARON WHEELER ON WRITING HIT SONGS ON FAME At first I didn’t know I’d make a hit, ever. But at the end of It got a bit wild in the middle, I had to come out of that bit. the first couple of tunes, like working on the arrangement I was like, ‘I can’t take it any more, I need a break’. It got a bit for Keep On Movin’ with Soul II Soul, it was just one of those intense. For a little while I kind of laid low. But after that I got things where I thought, ‘Okay, I’ve been writing songs for years, myself back in work mode, and that made it easier. let me do something with them!’ And the best songs I picked It’s not been a bad gig so far, I can’t moan. I’m just grateful out worked for some reason. I don’t know why, but they did. for it because you just don’t know what can happen in life. And they stuck around for a long time. If it works and it sticks, then I’m happy because I know that We had no idea that we might go on Top Of The Pops, we did our job and somebody was happy. That’s a blessing. but it turned into a big thing and we were amazed. You can’t make people do this. If they don’t want to do it, We didn’t understand that we were actually getting to they won’t. They’re not going to listen to you if they don’t like it. number one. We were very, very lucky. ON ROLE MODELS It’s not something that just falls out of the air, it’s something that you’re feeling, for me. That’s what really pulls me together We had a little baby group called Brown Sugar. when it comes to songs. It’s been interesting. A lot of things We were Pauline Catlin, her elder sister and me. She taught have happened between having babies, missing babies, us harmonies and it was amazing. She was so good, she used doing good things, doing strange things, life and death. to do lots of club work. A beautiful girl with a heart of gold. You just have to try and move it into a piece of music She gave us a lot of guidance. that people may enjoy. It was like a miracle because she was doing all the ON BELIEF black club nights, all the harmonies, leads, everything. She taught us what to do because we were the younger At some point things really do stick, and when they start generation. She was actually doing it, and we were like, sticking they start flowing. To me, that’s the best feeling ever, ‘She’s doing it, look, she’s doing it’. It was fantastic, because nobody ever thought I could do that when I was a kid. the best thing that ever happened. They said, ‘Oh, she won’t be a singer, she’d be terrible,’ and I was like, ‘I want to be a singer, Mummy’. My mum believed in me anyway, so I’m glad she did. We used to sing and dance in the living room when my dad went to work. You have to figure out what you really want to do and I LIKE DOING MUSIC what’s going to be good for you, and other people that you THAT CAN BE VERY, NOT meet if they’ve got similar goals. Work with people that you actually like, and try to evolve that. It was like a family, CATHARTIC, BUT LIKE we just got on so well. They looked after us. The music was going great. We were getting reviews because our stuff EMOTIONS THAT YOU was so different. It doesn’t matter what colour you are or what kind of CAN’T SEE BUT YOU FEEL. culture you’re in, if you really want to mean something, you have to do it right and do it honestly. CARON WHEELER “ WHAT ONE WORD WOULD ON LOOKING AHEAD “A FEELING. OR COULD DESCRIBE YOUR So I’m looking forward to the next, God knows, I don’t know how many years. I’m not thinking about the years, I’m just CREATIVE PROCESS?” thinking about the work and how the world is right now. There’s a lot of music out there that needs to be done, expressed. Everyone’s got their own version of healthy. Everyone’s got their own version of what they would really love to have in their life, every moment of their life. You don’t know when your life is going to stop, where you’re going to go. So in the time you do have, you have to get what you want done. If somebody has got an idea then run with it, don’t stand there and think, ‘I should have done it in 19-whatever it was’. Like, well, yes, but you didn’t. You’re still here. Do it, before your time runs out. Because if you don’t, who knows, it’s the luck of the draw. Now at 54 I’m like, ‘You know what, time to get serious again!’ I want to make it so solid, the new music I want to get A SENTENCE. down. I’ve got a lot of things I’m writing and finishing. I’ve been blessed to do this and I don’t know how, but I love it. I can’t stop or be away from it too long. I just can’t imagine life without music. You need it. It’s the fabric of our lives to me, it keeps us going. If somebody’s got a good tune that comes out, people are jumping up and down, going to a party. ON PAYING IT FORWARD You can help some younger children with it. It depends how much they’re interested. My daughter, she’s a pretty good singer. She’s 12 now and she’s going to be amazing. I can’t wait until she gets to 15 because she’s got a big voice already. She makes big noises and then she says, ‘Can I make them into a song, Mummy?’ I say, ‘Of course you can, you’ve been trying to make songs forever. Why don’t we just do it together?’ She says, ‘But you’re always SOME LOVE”. on the road and da-da-da’. I said, ‘Yes, but I can’t be on the road forever, can I?’ She goes, ‘Yes, OK, I’ll see you next Sunday then’. It’s so funny. I N D I V I All Clarks Originals start with their own wooden last, hand-carved by our own expert lastmakers. D U A L “A FEELING.“WHAT ONE WORD WOULD DESCRIBE YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS?” A SENTENCE. SOME LOVE.” MARGOT MULE BLACK LEATHER TOR TRACK COLA SUEDE THE WORLD NEEDS ORIGINALS SS18 “IT’S NOT ABOUT THE END RESULT. IT’S HOW YOU GET THERE.” SKIN “ I FIND THAT DOING THINGS ON CREATIVITY DIFFERENTLY, TURNING THINGS I tend to put myself into dangerous, competitive or challenging UPSIDE DOWN AND DOING arenas, and that tends to bring out a whole bunch of scary pieces THINGS IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE of creativity. And, you know, sometimes it just goes wrong and WAY, DOING THINGS IN A everything’s a nightmare. But out of that comes creativity. RIDICULOUS WAY, MUCH MORE If you look at all the greatest artists, most of their wonderful works come out of things that they’ve done wrong. I think we’re CREATIVITY COMES OUT OF THAT.” losing that ability to take the goodness out of badness, or goodness out of things that go wrong. I find that a lot of my best work comes out of challenges, dangerous places, weird spots that I put myself in. It’s about climbing myself out of the hole, I think, that is best for my type of creativity.