The 1979 Era - 2
JAMES: We got a lot more writing done when we weren’t trying to tear each other’s throats out.
And funnily enough, the debate of the album being too sad fizzled out.
REMUS: After they stopped fighting, it finally occurred to them that they could write sad lyrics with happy music. Idiots.
PETER: They didn’t tell us they had made up. Was I expecting a statement from them? No.
But I was really hungover when I came home and saw them talking with no death glares. I thought I was dying.
SIRIUS: With James and Reg on good terms again, it was like we could all relax.
I feel like people forget that we’re family too, and we were family before the band. Arguments were really common, and I don’t want to make it seem like James and Reg were always being difficult.
I mean, Remus and I squabbled all the time, and you did not want to be around Peter when he was hungover.
JAMES: Peter once threatened to stuff my pockets with rocks and throw me into the nearest body of water if I didn’t stop walking loudly because he was trying to rest. It was 3pm and I was wearing socks.
PETER: I was young and hot. Of course I was hungover in the afternoon.
SIRIUS: We all fought. The tabloids used to go crazy about James and Reg’s fights, but we all fought.
REGULUS: The first song we finished after our argument was “Is It Over Now?”. I had written the chorus when we were fighting, and the morning after we made up, he sat down in the living room with his guitar and sang a few lines he’d come up with.
JAMES: Once we figured out the lyrics and the general sound of the music, we’d surrender it to Sirius, Remus, and Peter. I knew nothing about their instruments, and I wasn't going to tell them what to do.
REMUS: That’s not common for a lot of bands. Sometimes, the songwriters are so strict about every little detail, but what was so great about Regulus and James is that they’d play it once or twice and then send us on our way. We’d spent a good chunk of time in the recording studio, and they’d be at the flat, writing.
REGULUS: “Is It Over Now?” is about both John and Lily, as many of the songs on 1979 are. It’s about wondering when this relationship will end when you keep crawling back.
JAMES: “Style” and “All You Had To Do Was Stay” were both cranked out a few days after “Is It Over Now?”
“Style” is one I wrote when I had hope that Lily and I would get back together. I was convinced that we were something that… Well, that would never go out of style.
And I put in James Dean because I was named after him. Every Potter is a James Dean fan.
REGULUS: After “All You Had To Do Was Stay”, we hit a roadblock. We had a lot of ideas, but we weren’t able to crank out material together.
So I suggested we both take about a couple of days to generate stuff on our own and we could see what we liked.
JAMES: I locked myself in my room and tried to think about what I wanted to write. I knew I sounded like a broken record writing about Lily, but I was still so hurt. She was a huge part of my life, and the way it ended… It broke me.
All that thinking led to me wallowing, and I ended up looking through the shoebox of things I kept from our relationship. One of them was a newspaper cutting of her leaving her first big celebrity party. I was with her, trailing behind.
I remember that night and… Lils was so nervous. She was so nervous the whole time, asking me if she thought people would like her. I told her there was no reason they wouldn’t like her, and she just laughed at me and said, “Not all of us are the sun personified”.
LILY: I meant it in the best way possible. James… James is one of those people that you just can’t hate. And I know I’m not one of those people. Most people aren’t like that.
James is always happy, even when he isn’t. Honestly, that bit of his personality isn’t exactly healthy, but it’s who he’s always been. Always happy and friendly and bubbly.
I used to tell him he was so friendly he could befriend a paper bag. And it’s still true. He’s never mean.
Unless you’re mean to people he cares about.
Then, he can be a real dick.
JAMES: Anyway, she would always get really anxious about these celebrity parties and events. She’s no introvert, and she doesn’t really care what people think, so I’m still not really sure why she’d get so anxious.
LILY: I was young and new to the music scene, and I could just feel everybody staring at me. My debut album was such a success, and people were asking me how I was going to top it. I was really worried I’d be a one-hit wonder.
And I mean, it’s different for girls. You always have to go above and beyond to be considered good—more than a man would have to do. And then you have to be better than that to be the best of the girls. It was exhausting. It is exhausting.
I didn’t like admitting it, though. James was the only one who knew.
JAMES: I was kind of smug about it when we broke up. I was hoping she’d realize she needed me by her side—arrogant, I know. But I’d still see pictures of her at these parties, and instead of her looking uncomfortable, she was having a blast. She was all these people drinking and laughing and having the time of her life.
Without me.
LILY: I knew “Fearless” was going to be so much bigger than my debut. Poppy kept telling me that.
POPPY: I told Lily Evans the truth. I told her “Fearless” would be bigger than “Lily Evans”, and that the album after that would be bigger than “Fearless”. I told Lily Evans she was going to be a star.
LILY: My confidence was skyrocketing. So I was enjoying these parties now. I was having fun.
PETRA INGLEWOOD (author of Lily Evans: The Music Industry): If you were growing up at the time that Lily Evans was about to release “Fearless”, then you idolized Lily Evans. You either wanted to be her or be with her. Or both. And of course you did.
You’ve got this beautiful girl with copper hair and siren eyes so green they look like emeralds. Actually, right before she released “Fearless”, she chopped her waist-length hair to her shoulders and got bangs. Everyone followed her lead. She’s got a killer voice and the way she dresses is greens and purples and blues—anything that brings out her hair and eyes.
And she’s young, fun, and most of all, successful. She’s making a splash in the music industry. You saw those pictures of her partying with movie stars' arms around her waist.
She was—and still is—an icon.
JAMES: I had seen pictures of Lily at some party with Mary McDonald and the entire cast of Junnipeg. She was holding a bottle of beer and her hair, which she had cut, was barely hitting her shoulders. And she was laughing, and every single eye was on her.
I thought I still knew her. I was so sad that all these people got to look at her, got to be with her, but they didn’t know her. They didn’t know her like I did. I loved her more than I had ever loved anyone. I was so convinced that we were going to get married, that she would be the mother of my children.
It sounds terrible, but I would have given anything up for her. I would have left the band in a heartbeat.
LILY: He told me once that he would leave for me. That if I wanted him to follow me around and do nothing for the rest of his life, he would.
I didn’t want that. And neither did he. We both knew it. But we both also knew he would leave. So me breaking up with him was also me preventing that.
JAMES: She wouldn’t let me. Thank God she didn’t let me leave. Because then where would I be now? I love my life. But back then, her refusing me was salt in the wound.
So I wrote. I wrote “Now That We Don’t Talk” in one sitting.
That was one of the only songs that kept all its original lyrics. Reg came in and helped me add that last bit when we were polishing every song off. To this day, it’s probably one of my favorite songs I’ve written. I love that song. But…
[laughs] God, I needed to be humbled.