The Skinny On... Roddy Woomble
Ahead of the release of his latest solo record, Lo! Soul, Idlewild's Roddy Woomble takes on our Q&A this month and has us salivating over breakfast food
What’s your favourite place to visit?
Iceland. I love the landscape, the air quality, the culture, the outdoor geothermal heated swimming pools, the cool and creative locals, the excellent coffee and cinnamon buns.
What’s your favourite colour?
I suppose I like green the best. A tranquil, balancing colour. The middle colour in the spectrum – easy on the eyes, and good associations with the natural world.
Who was your hero growing up?
From the age of about 18 my hero has been the Orcadian writer and poet George Mackay Brown. His life and work was bound by the small island landscape he inhabited and he described it in all its wondrous ordinariness. I was struck then, and still am now, by the clarity of his writing style, and his sense of place.
Whose work inspires you now?
My favourite writer of the last decade is Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgård. He dissects his life and relationships in often merciless detail, but he’s so readable and wise. Musically – Bob Dylan always. I like Weyes Blood and Beach House too. They make great records.
How have you stayed inspired during the multiple lockdowns and various restrictions that have been in place for the past year?
To be honest the Hebrides didn’t change too much with lockdown. Fewer people visited in the summer, and the pub stayed shut, but otherwise the cycles of life continued as they always do. All my gigs vanished, but aside from that I operated almost as usual – writing, reading, and wandering about. I guess I watched a lot more films than I normally would have – I worked my way through the entire collections of Orson Welles, Éric Rohmer and Agnès Varda.
What’s your favourite meal to cook at home?
I cook a lot and I’m decent at it, so I've a varied repertoire. I'm particularly good at breakfasts: buttermilk and blueberry waffles, with apple compote, Greek yoghurt and maple syrup. That’s a favourite.
What three people would you invite to your virtual dinner party?
Assuming I can invite figures from the past and that they’d all be up for using Zoom – Leo Tolstoy, Miles Davis, and Hildegard of Bingen. Not sure what we’d eat – I’d maybe suggest borscht and pickled herring to keep Leo happy and we’d drink mead so Hildegard feels at home. The chat would be excellent and varied, with maybe a little music from Miles. Might get Orson Welles to jump on later, after dinner. For cigars.
What’s your favourite opening song from an album?
It’s hard to look beyond Like a Rolling Stone from Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited album – one of the best six minutes of popular music ever recorded and the ultimate first track.
What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?
David Lynch’s Dune is pretty awful. I’m a big Lynch fan and watched it recently. It’s just not very good almost on every level. Maybe I’m missing something? My son assumed it was a comedy.
What book would you take to a protracted period of government-enforced isolation?
Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes. For a start it’s long, and so is going to take a while to get through. It’s also one of the greatest, most influential novels ever written, both artfully crafted and entertaining. It shows us how one person can be influenced by an inner calling, change their life and do marvellous things. It also makes you question reality, so useful during a global pandemic and lockdown. Otherwise, I’d take some sort of manual or guide that you could learn something practical from to put into practice when the lockdown is over: car maintenance, hypnotism, gardening, horse handling, Spanish, upholstery, something like that.
When did you last cry?
Watching The Muppet Christmas Carol on Christmas day. The bit when Tiny Tim dies makes me cry every year at almost exactly the same point. It has become a Woomble Christmas tradition.
What are you most scared of?
Aeroplane travel, and large dogs make me nervous, but not scared.
When did you last vomit?
Does anyone really care? Norovirus 2016. Awful.
With restrictions starting to ease, what will you do with your first night of freedom?
I’m looking forward to celebrating by staying in, drinking wine and reading a book.
If you could be reincarnated as an animal which animal would it be and why?
An axolotl – the ‘walking fish’. Comfortable on land and in water, always smiling, and they can regenerate any limb.
Lo! Soul is released digitally on 21 May, with a physical release on 13 Aug via A Modern Way