Ian Prowse talks Elvis Costello collaboration, No Names, and the ‘turning point’ of political songwriting

The Good Ship Prowsey is setting sail once more as the Liverpudlian legend releases new album, No Names, today (July 3). Ian Prowse wrote and recorded the songs featured on his latest solo album over two years. Featuring his pal Elvis Costello and a beating political heart inspired by Bruce Springsteen, the latest Prowse effort is a staggering example of the Pele and Amsterdam frontman’s form as a leading voice in a sea of protest figures.

Prowse sat down with Ewan Gleadow to speak about his latest album, a transatlantic collaboration with Pump It Up hitmaker Costello, and why political music is relevant now more than ever. Prowse said he only makes an album “when I’ve got enough good songs” and the time has come for another round of material with his excellent No Names release.

The Does This Train Stop on Merseyside hitmaker has credited fans with being the driving force behind his latest album. Prowse turned to Kickstarter for the No Names funding and believes that being integrated into the worldwide community spawned from fans of his music is all part of the appeal. He said: “It’s all about building a community. I do it at every single gig. As soon as it’s finished, if you want to chat, you know, there’s a bottle of brandy at the merch stall. You can have a little go at that and get whatever you want.

“Even if you don’t want anything, just come and have a chat about it. Because some of the songs that I sing are very, they’re pretty emotional like, and people might want to talk about it, and they do. They come to the merch store, and they have a chat about it. So it’s lovely.”

Much of No Names features commentaries on the modern political situations the world over. From Donald Trump to at-home problems which strike fear into the hearts of the public. But Prowse works with a nuance and positivity that is perhaps alien to most other politically charged songwriters.

“I have a degree in modern history and a master’s degree in Irish studies. So I know from these things that everything goes in cycles. You know, the human races and human societies and communities have faced grave, grave issues before. I mean, just approaching the First World War, for example, you know, and then the end of the war. In the UK, you know, there’s hardly any men around. That would have felt like the end of civilisation much more than anything that goes on now.

“I think it’s a bit like arrogance to think, ‘Oh, it’s awful, everything’s just going to shit. We’re going to hell in a handcart.’ It’s all been done before. It’s all happened before. It’s just different now because we have to deal with, you know, digital growing pains for humanity and all the rest of it. But we’ll be all right.

“You know, most people are sound, you know, and pulled together in times of need. We’ve got issues. Of course, we’ve got Elon Musk, you know, funding the very, very worst people in our country, giving them money to say and do the worst things. But I fully believe we’ll overcome it. Honestly, you know, people are good.”

Prowse indicated that Springsteen, his hero and a performer he has covered many times over the last six years as part of his setlist, had read the room correctly with recent song, Streets of Minneapolis. “He’s using the full power of what we’ve got at our fingetips these days with social media and the digital world,” he said. “He took advantage of that and all of a sudden there’s millions and millions of listens to a song that he’s constructed out of righteous anger.

“He has optimism in there because at the core of the song it’s talking about how a significant amount of people in Minneapolis came together to resist the jackboot of racism, Trump, and these fuckers dressed up like brownshirts. Springsteen’s not going, ‘It’s all awful.’ He’s pointing out how strong and resolute people were. And you’ve seen it, I go on quite a few demos, anti-racism things or whatever. I’m a singer, not an activist really, but I’ll always go on them when I’ve got time. And there’s a lot of brave people who go on these things.”

Springsteen has been a clear influence over Prowse for a number of years and it appears once more on No Names tracks. Saxophones galore and a sense of righteousness flows through the record which will take Prowse on tour across the UK later this year. Attendees ought to keep an ear out for some covers of songs which still influence The Cleaner songwriter.

Prowse said: “We always do one song towards the end of the show by one of my major influences. It could be something by Bruce [Springsteen], or a Jam song, or The Waterboys, The Clash, you know, we often do Born to Run.” The songs featured on No Names go beyond interpretations of political strife, though, with Keynote Speaker a chance to hear the call and response Prowse’s idols perfected.

“It’s just two chords with a huge single on the chorus. Yeah. That’s, you know, John Lennon did that to immense effect on Give Piece a Chance. Just two chords and ours is basically a key change halfway through, but it’s still just two chords. I knew that I wanted to do that Springsteen thing again of having a big chorus, but sneaking things in under the wire in the verses. All of the verses address a different progressive cause, so to speak. Like in Born in the USA, people have mistaken it for a big patriotic chorus.

“It’s severely anti-American government and so that’s what I wanted to do. So on Keynote Speech, we bring in the concept, the issue of period poverty, of arms dealing, of charity provision, of Gaza, of the obscenity of billionaires. I just knit them all together because it is cohesive. These things are interrelated one way or another. And what’s brilliant is, you know, Clarence Clemons’ influence is all over Keynote Speech. On the tour we’ve got coming up, his son is going to be there.”

It’s not only musicians adjacent to Springsteen that Prowse is, very rightly, brushing shoulders with. His “old mate” Elvis Costello features on The Cleaner and recorded his vocal take in the kitchen of his New York City home. Prowse shared: “He’s incredibly generous to me. I know he’s an old mate, but he really is. Cause everybody wants something from Elvis Costello. He is a great lad, and he’s funny as well. That song, The Cleaner, the structure of it is obviously lifted from Proud Mary, the Tina Turner song where it starts off slow and then a band kicks in.

“So I said to him, ‘Listen, I can’t croon to save my life, but you can. Will you do the opening words and then the end bit when it goes back to slowing down, you know?’ And he went, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ So he did it, sat at his kitchen table with his laptop and a microphone, with his cornflakes, and he lives in New York. He would say, ‘Do you want it like this? Do you want it like that?’ And the amazing thing was we did about like 10 transatlantic phone calls. He’s had a massive career, but what people don’t really mention so much is his work as a producer.”

Prowse, who produced No Names, went on to ask Costello for advice over how to produce the album. He said: “He [Costello] produced Free Nelson Mandela for God’s sake, and the first Specials album, which is a legendary album. He did Rum, Sodomy and the Lash. Elvis has got all those irons in the fire. He was saying to me, ‘You’re producing this record.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m a bit worried. I’ve never done anything like that before.’ And he’s gone, ‘No, it sounds great. You’re doing good. You know, keep going. Keep going. He’s always a mentor as well, you know.”

Prowse’s No Names is out today. He will also be on tour from September 25, starting his Radical Change tour at The Deer’s Head in Belfast and concluding with a show at London’s 100 Club on November 14. Remaining tickets can be purchased here.