Derin Sular

Serdar Kaya: In an interview you gave in Arizona about two years ago, you are reported to have said, “I live in a city, which is a third Muslim, and if you believe the Bush, Blair and bin Laden vision of the world, we’d be shooting each other, but of course we’re not.” So why do you think this is the case? I mean what’s wrong with you guys, why are you just not killing each other in Bradford?

Justin Sullivan: (laughs) It was a strange time. We started coming back to America for the first time in 2003, which is just the beginning of the Iraq War. And everywhere there was kind of flags. And I watched it dwindle, and dwindle, and dwindle, and dwindle down to where there is no flags now.

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Serdar Kaya: You once said that asking whether your political songs change anything is missing the point, probably because you think that it is the expression and the communication that the music itself entails that matters. Is that true?

Justin Sullivan: Yeah…

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Justin Sullivan: … and you have a very interesting prime minister.

Serdar Kaya: Prime minister?

Justin Sullivan: [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan is an interesting guy.

S.K.: I can’t say I hate him.

Justin Sullivan: I can see why you wouldn’t. He’s a very interesting guy. At one night, I was up in the mountains in the northeast, near the border with Georgia and Armenia. We were sitting there watching television one night together with this guy, and I was talking about Erdoğan. We didn’t really speak English, and I didn’t speak Turkish, so I said [turns his thumb up and down], “Good man? Bad man? Good? Good?” And he went [turns his thumb up], “Very good! Very good!” Then the call to prayer went out across the village. It was the night time prayer, and I said, “Are you going?” And he went pffff….

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[Röportajın Türkçe çevirisine sitenin .pdf sayfasından ulaşabilirsiniz.]

I interviewed Justin Sullivan of New Model Army right before the band’s Vancouver show at The Rickshaw on October 8th, 2009. The interview took place inside the band’s tour bus, since the vehicle seemed to be the only quiet place around. Within the 45-minute interview, Sullivan talked about a wide range of issues, including but not limited to (1) the way the band writes music, (2) the relations between the West and the Muslims in the post-9/11 world, (3) the Ani Ruins in Kars, (4) the Turkish political culture, and (5) Turkey in general. Furthermore, he once again amazed me with his humility – visible not only in his words but also in his manners in general.

Serdar Kaya: Let’s get started… You once said in an interview, June 18th, 2001…

Justin Sullivan: … oh, never quote me, I always forget, but go on, what did I say?

S.K.: Let me try… “If you’re prepared to follow a band who do not belong to any musical category, and are largely ignored by the media, then you already have an independent mind.” Do you deny that?

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