Growing up with Elvis - his brother tells all
The Guardian (London) reports -
Excerpt - Ronan McManus was a year old when his half-brother
Declan - also known as Elvis Costello - released his
first album. Ronan grew up thinking of the distant
"Dec" as just another punk flailer, albeit one who
turned up to collect Christmas and birthday presents
("Dec likes getting presents; he's quite childish that
way"). Now, Ronan and his three siblings, who record
with their friend David Bowles under the name
Riverway, are discreetly refusing to mine the Costello
connection in the run-up to their own debut single,
Don't Start Me Off (released on April 12 on Kapow).
"I grew up seeing him on TV, and I guess it made the
music business seem attainable to us, because he did
it before our eyes," says Ronan about the man who
articulated the angst of a generation. The differences
between Costello and Riverway would make a fruitful
genetic study, with their contrasting feelings about
the music business filling several chapters. While the
young Costello came out armed with a Most Hated list
that included, well, just about everybody, Riverway
are "more easygoing, more of a team, and that comes
across in the music," says Ronan. "I suppose we're
pretty well-adjusted."
"Elvis had the angry-young-man thing going on," agrees
Ronan. "But the world was different then. Our approach
has always been different. Everyone had individual
stamps then, and it's harder to find that now." Well,
he said it.
Growing up with Elvis
Pop
Caroline Sullivan
Wednesday March 31, 2004
The Guardian
Ronan McManus was a year old when his half-brother
Declan - also known as Elvis Costello - released his
first album. Ronan grew up thinking of the distant
"Dec" as just another punk flailer, albeit one who
turned up to collect Christmas and birthday presents
("Dec likes getting presents; he's quite childish that
way"). Now, Ronan and his three siblings, who record
with their friend David Bowles under the name
Riverway, are discreetly refusing to mine the Costello
connection in the run-up to their own debut single,
Don't Start Me Off (released on April 12 on Kapow).
"I grew up seeing him on TV, and I guess it made the
music business seem attainable to us, because he did
it before our eyes," says Ronan about the man who
articulated the angst of a generation. The differences
between Costello and Riverway would make a fruitful
genetic study, with their contrasting feelings about
the music business filling several chapters. While the
young Costello came out armed with a Most Hated list
that included, well, just about everybody, Riverway
are "more easygoing, more of a team, and that comes
across in the music," says Ronan. "I suppose we're
pretty well-adjusted."
Riverway, who named themselves after their street in
Twickenham, west London ("Even at the poverty end of
Twickenham, bread and water is still ciabatta and
Evian"), are melodic rockers akin to the Thrills.
Don't look for barbed Costello-isms in their songs;
there aren't any.
Costello himself, mellowing in middle age, calls his
brothers' music "just beautiful songs". To be fair,
they are filigree-lovely. But the generational
differences between cynical older brother and placid
younger brother raise the question of what music is
now for. Do newbies such as Riverway and the similar
Snow Patrol and Keane exist as a way of easing people
into the CD habit, from which they'll strike out
toward more challenging artists after a while?
"Elvis had the angry-young-man thing going on," agrees
Ronan. "But the world was different then. Our approach
has always been different. Everyone had individual
stamps then, and it's harder to find that now." Well,
he said it.