Pete Fij / Terry Bickers – We Are Millionaires
Broadcast Recordings – 21 Jul 2017
The release in 2014 of ‘Broken Heart Surgery’, the debut album from Pete Fij / Terry Bickers, was met with widespread acclaim as the two former Creation artists put their more indie-rock pasts (Adorable / Polak for Fij and House of Love / Levitation for Bickers) behind them to write a series of beautifully bruised songs of heartbreak and loss, that drew comparisons with Simon & Garfunkel, The Velvet Underground, Richard Hawley & Johnny Cash.
The long awaited follow up, ‘We Are Millionaires’, released July 14th on Broadcast Recording (available via Bandcamp: https://petefijterrybickers.bandcamp.com/) , sees the duo still circling around a lake of melancholy, but there are signs that the two have their eyes on the horizon where maybe, just maybe, there might be an escape to a happier world.
Pete Fij (alkowski) continues to exhibit his gallows humour from before – in his world love is like an eternally cancelled train and cupid a sinister sniper. But, if he is the screenwriter then Bickers is the cinematographer, adding beauty and depth to the picture – as he continues to remind just why he was labelled a “rock god” alongside Johnny Marr or Bernard Butler by the likes of the NME some 30 years ago with his sublime guitar playing, as he delicately picks out textures and tones.
Like a pair of ill-fated lovers, Bickers & Fij can never quite (yet) make that break across the border into happiness, but there is the strong suggestion that in a skewed way, they are happy in their beat up world.
Listen in full below along with a track-by-track by Pete Fij
https://soundcloud.com/petefij/sets/pete-fij-terry-bickers-we-are-millionaires/s-taa3g
We Are Millionaires – Track-by-Track
Let’s Get Lost Together
This is a love song of sorts, about the bromance between me & Terry. I see us as like mismatched pair of TV cops who manage to get the crimes solved despite their difference, and wanted to evoke the spirit of ‘Jackson’ by Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra where they slag each other off, though underneath it all you suspect they still love each other.
If The World Is All We Have
There comes a point in your life when you realise the chances if you ever being asked to write the next James Bond theme have probably gone, but it doesn’t mean you can’t record one of your own that mixes in the spirit of Peggy Lee’s ‘Fever’ for good measure.
Love’s Going To Get You
This is about the inevitability of love – how if Cupid decides to shoot his arrow in your direction there’s little you can do. It’s like a relentless pursuer – like Tommy Lee Jones hounding Harrison Ford in ‘The Fugitive’.
We Are Millionaires
We set out to try to write a more upbeat, positive album than our debut ‘Broken Heart Surgery’ which was a pretty downbeat affair, but like moths to a flame, we couldn’t help but return to our old melancholic stomping ground. I wanted to evoke some of the feel of The Smiths’ more introspective work on this.
Waking Up
This is the song we’d sing around the fire if we went camping with Glen Campbell & Richard Hawley.
Mary Celeste
This that rare thing – an out and out positive love song by Bickers & Fij. Like a Kittiwake, a Turtle Dove or a Spotted Flycatcher.
It’s Over
A song about the grieving process; about knowing you have to move on, yet being unable to let go of the memories of someone.
I Love You
I started out with nothing but the title, fully intending to write a love song. Although it is a love song of sorts, it takes a diversion pretty much from the first line.
Sometime Soon
A song about depression & hope. There’s a light ahead in the tunnel, and it’s a long way off, but if you focus carefully on it, you might just reach it. Of course, it might not be sunlight, but a train heading in your direction, but let’s stay positive!
“If our lottery numbers came up – sure we could pay the rent. But after the party was over – would we really be content? Because rom-com happy endings are really not quite our scene. We’re happiest when we’re descending into our minor keys” – ‘We Are Millionaires’
We Are Millionaires is out Friday 21st July and can be pre-ordered from Bandcamp here: https://petefijterrybickers.bandcamp.com/
Live Dates
Saturday 22nd July – St Pauls, WORTHING
Tuesday 29th August – The Star, GUILDFORD
Wednesday 30th August – Rialto, BRIGHTON
Thursday 31st August – Aces & Eights LONDON – SOLD OUT
Friday 1st September – Aces & Eights LONDON