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Irish Examiner

Sparks: The band where eccentricity meets high art

Sparks brothers Ron and Russell Mael expect to feel thoroughly at home when playing Dublin's National Stadium this July. When not hosting live music, the stadium is a boxing arena – a dead ringer, in fact, for the venue featured on the cover of Sparks' Whomp That Sucker, one of the classic albums the art-pop siblings from Los Angeles released in their first golden streak of success in the 1970s and early 1980s. Over video link from his home in Los Angeles, Russell nods enthusiastically: 'We can recreate our Whomp That Sucker cover!' As Sparks prepare to share their new long player, MAD!, it is from the surreal vantage of being an overnight sensation 60 years in the making. Since 1971, they've been putting out reality-distorting pop that, at various moments, recalls Queen, Kraftwerk and the emotions you experience watching a David Lynch movie. They've had hits, appearing on Top of the Pops after 1974's This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both Of Us went to number two in the UK; the track would later be embraced by voguish Brit-rockers the Last Dinner Party, who covered it in Dublin last year. Along with the brilliantly catchy tunes, the Maels have turned eccentricity into high art, radiating a studied oddness unlike anything else in pop. During one tour, Russell would play the keyboard with comedically extended arms that made him look like a life-size muppet. And when they went on Top of the Pops, John Lennon was so struck by what he was watching that he called up Ringo Star to say he'd just seen Marc Bolan collaborating with 'Hitler' – a reference to the frizzy hair Russell sported in the 1970s and the tooth-brush moustache Ron wears to this day. Their charm and their weirdness made them beloved – yet their audience was modest and, in the best sense, cult-like. It wasn't until director and lifelong Sparks fan Edgar Wright eulogised them with his 2021 documentary, The Sparks Brothers that they returned to the mainstream of popular culture. Their subsequent movie-musical Annette cemented their comeback, but it was the Sparks Brothers that grabbed the headlines, thanks to the participation of Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Taylor Swift producer Jack Antonoff, fellow Californian Beck and others – all happy to gush about their fandom of the Maels. This has led to the extraordinary situation of Ron (79) and Russell (76) rolling into Dublin this year with the buzz of a brand-new band. 'It's not the traditional career path where, after having 27 albums and now the new one with our 28th album, things are on the rise for a band,' says Russell. 'It's really special. Since the time when Edgar Wright did the documentary on Sparks a couple of years ago, more people that previously weren't exposed to Sparks were made aware of Sparks. And people that had been lurking in the background and not exactly following every move that we've been making, I think the documentary helped reawaken those people, too. And so since that time, and then also the movie musical that we did – I think the two movies combined, it has helped to push the profile of Sparks higher, which is great.' In the film, Wright traced the Maels' journey from the early years as Americans obsessed with British glam rock through to the 1980s days as electro-pop pioneers and their subsequent adventures in everything from art-rock to indie pop. He also made the case that the group were innovators who brought humour and self-awareness into songwriting and pioneered the use of synthesisers in music, with projects such as 1979's No.1 In Heaven – produced by disco kingpin Giorgio Moroder. 'Most of the artists he went to – we don't know them personally at all. So when Edgar said, 'Oh, this week, I'm interviewing, you know, Flea, and I'm in interviewing Jack Antonoff, I'm interviewing whoever you know'. We went 'what' ?,' says Russell. Despite living in LA all their lives, rubbing shoulders with the great and the good of Californian music isn't their thing. 'We're maybe shyer in that way to be going out and talking to other musicians. Edgar is brazen. He just says, Hey, 'you like Sparks, right?' 'Well, yeah, of course, I like Sparks'. That's his approach. "And it was so nice, that he went out to all these people that he did know. Or even some that he didn't know, I think, at the time, and but thought, 'I'm pretty sure they must like Sparks'. More times than not, he was right. We didn't know most of the people personally that that he that he approached. It made it all flattering.' The movie's success hasn't unduly impacted the Maels' songwriting: the new album is classic Sparks, brimming with shapeshifting melodies and madly catchy choruses. The lyrics run, as ever, from the surreal to the heartfelt. 'There is sincerity to what we do,' says Russell. 'Sometimes, if you couch the sincerity in something humorous it's taken as being light or something like that. We always feel it. Even in songs of ours that have a humorous side to them, maybe there's the other flip side to it that has an emotional side to it. On the new album, there's quite a few songs that we feel have a strong, emotional and melodic content. Those songs in particular – they're relationship songs, but relationship songs hopefully done in a fresh sort of way.' Sparks in 1975: Russell Mael and Ron Mael. Picture: Evening Standard/. Wright's movie also showcased the darker side of the music business. Despite the success of This Town Ain't Big Enough, and the accompanying album, Kimono My House, the industry never knew what to do with Sparks. So, for many years, it ignored the siblings, who had grown up in the wealthy LA suburb of Pasadena Palisades. They were left to make their own way, yet they never became bitter or resentful. 'You have to do what you feel is right,' says Russell. 'And all the peripheral stuff – what's going on the industry, all that kind of stuff… It's not the important thing. And you sometimes get consumed by thinking that it is important. "I mean, it is in a certain in a certain way. Then the most important thing is doing what you do creatively. And then you hope that someone will be able to take what you've done and kind of disseminate it to more people in a good way. And sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn't. Those kind of forces are out of our control once we've given our our music to them.' They've noticed a change in their audience when they go out on the road nowadays. The older fans are still there, but now they are joined by Gen Z-ers, many of whom came to them through Wright's film. 'We're fortunate that we have a devoted fan base that that either has stuck with us from the beginning or, like, from things like the documentary, have discovered Sparks more recently, and are passionate about the band and feel it's kind of a their own club. Especially when we tour we get to see it more first hand how passionate people are for what we do. "And also we're able to do songs from all eras of our career. People are surprised by us doing songs maybe that are more obscure from albums that weren't as visible at the time. The situation for Sparks right now couldn't be better.' MAD! is out now. Sparks play National Stadium, Dublin, July 15 and 16