Jackie Leven Interview (Ross McGibbon puts some questions to the enigma that is Jackie Leven)

Short, apparently written interview by the webzine Vanguard Online on the release of Lovers At The Gun Club (2008). Leven explains that he puts albums together as a “family” of songs, always with one old and one new song; “Fareham Confidential” was written in ten minutes in a bar in Fareham. He defends guest tracks by other artists (here David Childers) as a means of creating community among musicians, and collaborations (Johnny Dowd, David Thomas) for their voice and persona. He owns a large poetry library; after a Patchen poem on the predecessor (Oh What A Blow That Phantom Dealt Me), Gun Club also contains one. He is in constant contact with Robert Bly. A second and third Argyll Cycle album are conceivable; another album is in progress for 2010. Playful questions: with Lightnin' Hopkins he would found the zombie band “Leven and Hopkins (deceased)”; on male melancholy and the nickname “the miserable git”.