Local councillors in BURY have fiercely defended their town from comments made by ELBOW in a recent NME interview, when they branded their hometown a “shithole”.
Elbow’s Guy Garvey was interviewed in the January 6 issue of NME, as part of a wider feature on the bands most likely to break through in 2001.
In the interview he spoke about the Elbow’s time in Bury, where the band formed, and some of the members still live. He said: “I know loads of great people whose growth has been stunted by Bury…it’s hideous. A taxi driver got run over with his own cab there not long ago; that’s the atmosphere. There’s no industry left so you’ve got a lot of very frustrated men knocking about.” Elsewhere, Garvey refers to the Bury dole office as “the most unhelpful, fascist fuckin’ building in the country.”
His comments have sparked outrage in Bury. In an interview with the local Bury Times, council leader Derek Boden defended the town. He said: “I don’t know what has jaundiced this chap’s opinion or what has gone wrong for him…I think Bury’s got a lot going for it. It’s attractive enough to have things going on, but still small and user friendly enough not to be frightening in the way that city centre can be for some people…
“What we’re trying to do is attract some jobs that will pay better than the industries of the past, without people being bored out of their skulls.”
NME.COM contacted Garvey and asked him to justify his remarks. He said: “I’m sorry if I offended anyone that I know and love in Bury, but if I offended the council I couldn’t give a flying shuttle!”
Elbow release a new EP, ‘Any Day Now’ on January 22 via Uglyman, and are also confirmed to play alongside Doves at the NME Carling Awards show at the London Astoria on February 5.