“IT was avery deep immersion,” says Mike Scott, speaking to Uncut from his music room in Dublin, rockstar resplendent in denim togs and baggy hat. The chief Waterboy is revisiting the spell of intense creativity he fell under in 1984 and 1985. Living in abasement flat in west London, Scott was consumed by the process of dreaming up The Waterboys’ third album, This Is The Sea.
“It was all I did, really,” he says. “I lived on my own. I liked living alone, because I could be absorbed in my musical world 24/7. Sometimes I’d go out to shows, but I’d come back to my little place and straight back into my writing world.”
This world is fully mapped out on 1985 –asix-CD set which tells the story of the making of The Waterboys’ landmark album through nearly 100 recordings, two-thirds of them previously unreleased. Despite the title, the music spans early 1984 to late 1985. Following frustrations with The Waterboys’ eponymous 1983 debut album and its follow-up, APagan Place, Scott was determined to take full control of the next record.