The Wedding Present: ‘Instrumental Music Is Boring’

Indie icons The Wedding Present have given insight into their creative process, with frontman David Gedge saying their painfully personal lyrics would mean nothing without the right music.

“I think they get equal attention,” he reflects. “I'm very interested in both aspects of it. To me the lyrics often only make sense when you hear them in a song – if you see them written down it's too naked or something. When the words aren't sung or there's no melody to it it's not quite the same. A great melody can really make a lyric transcend the words that are written down, and vice versa. I'm interested in music, but I often find instrumental music quite boring in some ways because I'm looking for something extra – that extra depth which is introduced by having a little theme or a little story. It can be quite simple or abstract even, but still be the icing on the cake. It's a fabulous art form really the way [the two elements] combine like that, which is why I do it I suppose – I've always been attracted by that.”

If you've ever wondered where Gedge gets his knack for an emotional lyric from, it's his fascination of human relationships.

“It's just my style – I've tried to write about different things and I've never been as happy with the results. I'm just very interested in relationships really – I'm fascinated by what people say to each other, why they say it, how they say it. Especially at times of stress like at the beginning or the end of a relationship, or when some kind of situation's happening, and I just think that it really lends itself to the pop lyric as well.

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