'Iron Lung' was supposed to be just another nail in the coffin.. the final nail in the coffin, really, in the coffin of the previously song that shall remain nameless." Thom offers a strained little smile before he continues. "But it just wasn't that at all... we released it because we found it very exciting when we listened to it. It was essentially a live recording tidied up, the audience taken out. We didn't went to release it sounding live and have the audience cheering... that would be really crap."
In my fruitless quest to understand the music industry, I must ask what was the point of 'Iron Lung' being released as a single only to college stations in America? It slid out and died months before The Bend's' release.
"Slid is a good word for it," laughs Thom as he stares into the distance.
When one asks why was it allowed to die, there's no straight answer. Since the band couldn't support the single, because they were finishing the album, it wasn't a priority... or something like that.
Thom mumbles, "Funny, we never got any straight answers either." He even took his questions to the top brass but that got him nothing but a reputation.
Jonny carefully recites like a child repeating a hated lesson. "It was released to colleges, and suddenly it was being played by some other stations, but there was no real release planned, but oh never mind, we'll just see what happens... it's like..." Jonny affects a totally confused air. "It's like you don't have to play it, that's all right. What? This is strange. I don't think any harm would be done by people hearing it outside of colleges. People can hear it: I'm not embarrassed by it,"
"I like it. I can hold a tune," scoffs Thom. "It's fine, bullocks, who cares." Thom and Jonny obviously do.
