The Ego Behind England’s House of Love

Guy Chadwick, founder of the English band House of Love, has no qualms about his favorite songwriting topic.

“Me,” he said without hesitation.

“And I don’t have a problem saying that,” he continued. “Why is the singer there in the first place? To project himself or herself. To say, ‘Look at me and listen to me.’ It is a narcissistic art of itself, so it might as well have narcissistic elements.”

That’s something that Chadwick thinks is missing from many new bands, notably the English “shoe-gazers” of the last few years.

“The English guitar bands that keep coming through are getting more introverted, more cluttered,” he said before a recent acoustic performance at the funky L.A. rock club Nomads, previewing the band’s new album, “Babe Rainbow,” which is being released on Monday. “They don’t seem to be going anywhere.”

At 36, Chadwick has a bit of a paternal attitude toward those bands, which tend to mine the same guitar textures as House of Love. In fact, he thinks they owe their very existence to his group.

“House of Love has had a positive effect on music in England,” he boasted bluntly yet affably. “When we came out four years ago, a lot of bands started to sound like us. That’s a positive thing.”

A bit arrogant?

“I don’t think so,” said the singer-songwriter. “There’s lots of bands, like Ride, My Bloody Valentine or the Catherine Wheel. I think they’re good bands.”

In truth, House of Love--which, appropriately, takes its name from the writings of the self-obsessed Anais Nin--did initiate a movement in English rock, with a renewed emphasis on guitar textures and literate imagery.

Its 1988 debut single, “Christine,” was hailed by the English rock press as a breakthrough, combining dark, Jesus and Mary Chain-like density with expansive pop elan akin to Robyn Hitchcock’s.

Chadwick’s own influences came hit-and-miss as he grew up in such exotic locales as Singapore and Malaysia, traveling with his Army father. A stint in an English boarding school and a failed marriage left him “stuck in a dull town in the Midlands” doing odd jobs with little aim or stimulation. It wasn’t until he was in his late 20s that he started pursuing music seriously.

The new album--the band’s third--reveals several musical explorations, but the thrust of the lyrics remains the same, which Chadwick believes gives House of Love a foundation missing from many of the younger bands.

“Recently I spent a whole evening listening to all the House of Love records and it was like listening to my diary,” he said.

“And why not? I had been thinking of changing my lyrical territory, because some people said they couldn’t understand what I was talking about sometimes. But it’s not important what the songs mean, it’s that they leave an impression, so I’m happy for that to be my diary, and artistically it make total sense.”