The Longcut

www.thelongcut.com

The tuneful Manchester based trio The Longcut (featuring Lee: guitar
Jon: bass, Stuart: drums) have been getting heads nodding ever since they caught the attention at an In The City event there, a few years hence. Having drawn comparisons with the likes of The Rapture, The Faint, Radiohead and Massive Attack, this close-knit trio took a brief pit stop on their road to indie glory to talk about their music. Also, they answered the question that has been plaguing scientists (or psychologists for years); what are The Kills really like? 

In my mind the Manchester scene is broad, deep and diverse. Would you agree with this and do you feel that you fit in with this scene? Are you proud to be called a Manchester band, as many critics call you?

Lee: Yes, yes, and we always point out how many bands supposedly from London formed there but aren't from there originally.

You have supported The Kills before, so dish the dirt is this lurid intensity they have on stage an act by VV and Hotel or are they genuine and passionate musos. Did you learn much from them?

Jon: It sounds obvious but we learned a few things by watching them perform really good gigs every night. They've got a very intense stage presence that they work hard on, if it gets disrupted like an amp breaking they would get really unhappy about it.

Your second EP 'A quiet life' is out now. What is the overall mood on this and how is it different from your debut EP; 'Transition'?

Jon: To us it there isn't really a difference because it's coming from a collection of songs that were written about things that happened to us a while ago. When we wrote A Quiet Life we were running a club night with some friends and wanted to make a track that you could play really late and people would dance to. That happened when Transition was released but it wasn't something we intended when we were writing it.

When is the full-length debut album planned for release and what can we expect from it?

Stu: We're planning on recording it in the summer in between festivals and other odd live shows, so we don't spend too long stuck in the studio and can keep the live energy that's important to make a good album. We want to make as diverse an album as we can while still sounding coherent. The dance and instrumental parts of are coming together pretty well so we can't wait to get working on it.

What are the current musical influences?

Lee: A few things. We've been listening to The Fall, Les Savy Fav, Portishead and The Shins a lot recently. We keep forgetting to take Buffalo Springfield's first album out of the car as well.

Finally, if you could change one thing about the music industry what would it be and why?

Everyone: The Killers, for obvious reasons.

David Adair

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Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower

www.blowuptheeiffeltower.com

Some bands just cause a reaction, they can’t help it. With their hardcore music for ADD sufferers, the Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower are making kids flair up, then get down. Do Something Pretty trades cyber-blows with the South California four-piece.

“We have no heroes,” Charles Rowell, the band’s bassist states over the Internet. “We are godless and deranged. Some of us have been prostitutes in the past; some of us were in homeless shelters.”

The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower evidently have no problem with controversy, their third release ‘Love In The Fascist Brothel’ has song titles like ‘Reichstag Rock’ and ‘Love In The Sex Prison’ whilst the artwork is Nazi meets homo-erotic cartoon images, and their music is just as audacious.

“The record is supposed to fuck everybody up,” Charles adds. “Liberal, Conservative and punk, whatever. Punk has no danger anymore; it’s fashion conscious followers of inept politico whistle blowers are so buried they’re practically dead.” 

Whilst this is quite a statement to make, the band has the power to back it up. ‘Love In The Fascist Brothel’ is one of the most anger-charged, schizophrenic records the century’s produced so far. With bass riffs that churn like a butter mill in overdrive, spazo screaming that would make the Locust shit their pants and guitar riffs that chop and change at the drop of an insult, their music is 
like nothing else - and this release is completely different to their last two, as lead singer and sax player Brandon Welchez explains.

“We all have adult ADD. The idea of doing the same record over and over again bores us. The only band that ever pulled off making the same album more than once was the Ramones.”

Their noise explosions have garnered a strong allegiance of fans and, unsurprisingly, enemies. With their musical style jerking and changing with greater pace and ease than a James Chance or Mr Bungle album, people often find it hard to categorise them, though that’s exactly what they want.

“Most people are shocked and a lot of people misunderstand where we’re coming from,” Brandon states.

“But hopefully they get a slight tingling in their nether-regions,” drummer Brian Hall adds. “Perhaps like the feeling one gets the first time they see tranny-porn? I know it fucked with me… in a good way.”

“We don’t have a thirteen point programme on how we run this band though,” Charles concludes. “We know what we like and we especially know what we hate. We take dead aim and try to play as blistering as possible.” 

With such determination and a want to challenge people, their live shows cause sensation wherever they go, and are often dangerous, even when things go well. (Brandon) “The shows can be very bizarre. When crowds like us, I’ll often have my genitals fondled by members of the audience and they’ll try and kiss us or go even further. When the crowds hate us it can turn into a near riot, we caused a riot in Salt Lake City, we were run out of Tallahassee and we’re never allowed back in the city of Baltimore.”

With live shows planned over here in the very near future, and album that will both delight and confuse, expect to hear a lot more of 
this band real soon.

Jonathan Falcone

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Idlewild

www.idlewild.co.uk

A look into The Remote Part of Idlewild (Gavin Fox interview)

The amiable and laid back Irishman Grant Fox, joined Scotland’s Idlewild from Irish rock band Turn, approximately two and a half years ago to replace bassist Bob Fairfoull and has cemented his status as an earnest and genuine member of the band ever since. He kindly took time out from sound checking for their show at the Manchester Academy to give us a peek into the world of one of the UK's most honest and sincere musical outfits. Their fourth and latest album ‘Warnings/Promises’ was the first written collectively as a five piece, opposed to the usual format of front man, Roddy Woomble instigating matters. So do they feel more of a unit and has their song writing process drastically changed?

“We have certainly made a transition, it is two and a half years since Allan (Stewart) and I joined the band. Roddy still approaches the lyrics in the same manner, but it is bound to produce something new with myself and Alan having more of a say in the song writing process.”

This led the discussion neatly onto the topic of the material featured on the new album, as is customary with Idlewild, bucking the musical trends of the time, are they conscious of this? Gavin shrugged his shoulders, but did not hide his sense of pride and maybe even relief at this realisation?

“Yeah, we seem to miss every trend. We don’t look at what popular bands are doing and follow them; it is not our style. The band always puts out a record that the band wants to play and feels comfortable playing.”

What about standout offering; ‘Disconnected’? It appears to me to be a reflection of growing out of your roots, possibly a reaction to long periods of time on tour?

“Roddy wrote it about where he is from up in Scotland, but yeah, returning home from being on tour can be a complete head fuck. You get home and your head is mashed.”

Maybe it was the exalted feeling of leaning on the piano on the stage where Idlewild were to perform later on, as I had a burning desire to delve into the topic of their live sound. They have toured with Pearl Jam and did a friendly and low-key acoustic tour, what did they take as a band from those experiences?

“Touring with Pearl was the greatest three weeks in my careers as a musician. They are humble guys who write songs how they write songs, simply. We loved doing the acoustic tour and showcasing our new material in venues we had never played before.”

I couldn’t resist enquiring as to whether or not it was much different opening for Pearl Jam than touring with Coldplay, a pleasure that has also been theirs in the past? A wry smile preceded the amiable Irishman’s reply.

“Well, I mean Coldplay haven’t been going as long so they don’t have hardcore fans in the sense that Pearl Jam do. We really admire Eddie Vedder and his band they are so self contained, when you are that big you can afford to do it all by yourselves and ignore outside influences.”

I decided to wrap things up by indulging myself with a question about my favourite old song and a very apt one for Manchester; ‘Bronze Medal’ on their ‘100 Broken Windows’ album. This offering demonstrates aptly that Idewild’s glass is not half empty or half full; it is opaque, as the lyrics highlight;

““Nothing but your eyes looking down on the third place. You've got nothing but determination to come in third.”

He agreed with my viewpoint that third prize can be both good and bad; I won a record voucher for finishing third in a race and bought a Sick Of It All album with it and it was my prize position for a few weeks thereafter. Gavin looked proud and a little mischievous before taking on his reply,

“Yeah, there is always that contradiction there. I think that songs sums up Idlewild; Bronze medal.”

Being a proud Manchester City fan I had to ask whether they would dedicate ‘Bronze Medal’ to the Manchester United fans present at the show later. In true diplomatic fashion he simply retorted,

“Well I’ll ask, but won’t we get beaten up?”

David Adair

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Nine Black Alps

www.nineblackalps.net

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN.

If Manchester still has so much to answer for than I guess nobody bothered to ask the right questions. As the city prepares for the latest Oasis comeback, no doubt superseded by a million and one Gallagher impostors, Nine Black Alps have emerged amidst the black smoke and boggy canal like a Glade sponsored breath of fresh air.

The current line-up (Sam Forrest – vocals & guitar, David Jones – guitar, Martin Cohen – bass, James Galley – drums) have been together for around eighteen months now, and in that time the star of Nine Black Alps has shot through the sky like a tornado, culminating in the band signing to Island records after only a handful of shows.

Since then, they’ve released two critically acclaimed and commercially successful singles (‘Cosmopolitan’ and ‘Shot Down’) with the forthcoming three-minute George Harrison meets Kurt Cobain for a mud ride in heaven apocalypse that is ‘Not Everyone’ set to break the band in the upper echelons of the proper charts, with their debut album ‘Everything Is’ set to follow during the first week in June.

Their videos have been on constant rotation on MTV2, who along with Channel 4, also heavily featured their set at the Texas South By South West music conference during their television broadcasts. And on top of all that, none of the music press has had a bad word to say about them yet…

Sam Forrest: “To be honest we don’t really bother too much about that, so then if…or rather when they do slag us off it won’t make a difference 
because we never took that much notice in the first place…”

David Jones:”…and I’m sure they will in about a year or so’s time. I think 
it’s the best thing not to get involved.”

Do you think that one of the reasons why everyone is so positive about the band is because you’re quite difficult to pigeonhole into any current musical scene?  

Sam Forrest: “We never set out to be just A.N.other band following whatever’s trendy at the time. We’ve always made music that sounds right to us and if other people like it too, then, great. I think it’s a really positive 
thing that we’re difficult to pigeonhole because when all the scenesters are gone, we’ll still be here, doing what we’ve always done.”

Being based in Manchester, its fair to say that Nine Black Alps are probably 
as far removed from what the stereotypical Mancunian rock band is expected to be like as it’s possible to be. Along with kindred spirits The Longcut, Nine Black Alps appear to be making a statement that its not all long black 
overcoats and Stone Island jumpers along the M61, which in some ways makes them true outsiders and therefore the living embodiment of an ALTERNATIVE 
to the mainstream.

David Jones: “To be honest, I’ve never owned a Manchester band’s CD anyway…”

Sam Forrest: “I think the first Oasis album is actually quite thrashy, certainly when you compare it to what came afterwards at any rate…”

David Jones: “While we respect what bands like Oasis and the 
Stone Roses have done for the city, they don’t really have any bearing on 
what we’re doing now or what we’re likely to d in the future. Manchester 
just happens to be where we live, nothing else…”

Sam Forrest: “We’ve always liked the idea of being freaks!”

David Jones: “We’re not trying to emulate anybody else. That would just 
be pointless.”

And what about other bands’ reactions towards Nine Black Alps? There have been suggestions that certain other “names” have been a bit resentful about the speed of which Nine Black Alps got themselves a record deal and nationwide media attention whilst never embarking on the “toilet circuit” like most of their contemporaries.

David Jones: “It feels like we’re doing that now!”

Sam Forrest: “I don’t know about that. I mean, we’ve all been in bands before, we’ve all had to get our hands dirty at one time or another and 
we’re all pretty aware of how fickle the music industry can be.”

Martin Cohen: “I think as well that if what you’re doing feels right and 
other people think it sounds right then it shouldn’t make any difference whether you’ve played 1 or 100 gigs.”

Sam Forrest: “I think the hardest part of the process for us is that we’re having to grow up in public now.”

Whilst the band have drawn obvious comparisons with the likes of Nirvana 
and the Pixies to the quiet-loud-quiet-loud structure of their songs and angsty nature of their lyrics, but to these ears, Nine Black Alps are almost like the acceptable face of (and thoroughly British antidote to) skater rock.

Sam Forrest: “None of us have ever owned a skateboard, but I can see 
where you’re coming from…”

David Jones: “The thing is, me and Sam have known each other for a long time and we both got asked to join another band at the same time, which the idea of playing in what we thought was a punk band seemed brilliant at the time, but at the same time we had these songs and we thought why not 
tart a band ourselves…”

Sam Forrest: “Funnily enough, a lot of the songs actually started out as acoustic numbers, but with time they’ve grown and grown into what you’re hearing now.”

David Jones: “It’s weird in a way looking at how the music has developed when you think of each individual’s influences to be honest. I mean, I’m a huge Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Explosions In The Sky fan, and I remember when my friends first came to see us play expecting something along those lines…”

Sam Forrest: “…but instead getting these three minute noise infiltrated pop songs! Some of them haven’t been back since.”

And then of course there’s the band’s name. Sylvia Plath references 
aside, my first impression on hearing that a new band had emerged from Manchester called Nine Black Alps was met with some trepidation as the thought of more Doves-alike slow burners didn’t exactly fill me with much excitement. But then I heard ‘Shot Down’…

Sam Forrest: “Everyone always asks us about the name, but to be 
honest, we weren’t trying to be all clever like “Oh, we read Sylvia Plath every day” or anything. It was more about trying to give ourselves a name that didn’t immediately sound like that of a band. I mean, I like bands such as the Doves…”

David Jones: “…although I’d be worried if people dismissed the name as being that of another Verve rip-off!”

There’s a lot of anger in the songs though, a lot of frustration. For example 
the first line of ‘Over The Ocean’ claims “I don’t wanna be anywhere, I only want to be somewhere”, while the likes of ‘Unsatisfied’ and ‘Not Everyone’ 
also suggest a band not entirely happy with the world around them at the moment.

Sam Forrest: “I guess most of the songs are about alienation. It’s all about the way I’m feeling while I’m writing I suppose, and most of the words tend to subconsciously fit the mood of the song. I mean it’d be nice to say that we’re really complex and there’s a hidden agenda with every song but…again that’s what makes us. I write most of the lyrics and then we just thrash hem out into the course of a song. I guess I’m at my happiest song writing when I’m feeling down!”

Their first single ‘Cosmopolitan’ just missed the Top 40 by a couple of places, while its follow up (‘Shot Down’) almost gatecrashed the Top 20 earlier this year. With the third single about to be released and an album on the way soon after, do Nine Black Alps feel under any pressure from the record company (Island) that they have to go one better in terms of chart positions and ultimately sales returns?

Sam Forrest: “To be honest I never look at chart positions. I have the same opinion about this as I do with the reaction of the music press. So far the record company have been great. They’ve given us total freedom in what we release as singles, total freedom for what goes on the album and what doesn’t, and even our artwork is all done by our friends.”

David Jones: “The only disagreements about what gets released and what doesn’t are between ourselves. Funnily enough ‘Cosmopolitan’ wasn’t originally intended to be a single. It was actually going to be on the b-side to ‘Shot Down’, which was going to be the debut single…”

Sam Forrest: “I hated the original version of that song (‘Cosmopolitan’), so we decided to re-record both that and ‘Shot Down’ and the second version sounded better to be fair but…”

David Jones: “…but Sam got outvoted by the (other) three of us and ‘Cosmopolitan’ came out as the a-side!”

Sam Forrest: “I just think that the other singles were really obvious choices, even the next one (‘Unsatisfied’) seems a logical follow-up to ‘Not Everyone’, but at the time ‘Cosmopolitan’ would have been my last choice for the lead track on the first record.”

But if things were to turn a little sour somewhere down the line and the head honcho from Island Records was to summon you to his office and say, “Now lads, let’s talk about a change of direction…”

David Jones: “There’s no chance of that ever happening. They knew what they’d got when they signed us. If they wanted something more mainstream, blander, there’s plenty of them out there. I’m sure they would have got them first.”

Sam Forrest: “The good thing from our point of view as well is that our manager at the record label used to be in a band so he knows all about the whole issue of being true to yourselves and keeping your own identity. If anything I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how supportive the people at the label have been. We were warned to beware of a lot industry suits 
as an awful lot of backstabbing tends to go off in this business but so far we haven’t seen any of it.”

Before we say our goodbyes, Sam will declare that he wants to film their next promotional video in Chernobyl and hopes none of the band are ever asked to do ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’, as he hates the concept of “Pop stars as celebrities”. Meanwhile, David will admit that although file sharing is 
illegal and could potentially cost the band a substantial amount of revenue in future sales, he does his fair share of downloading so to castigate anyone else for doing the same thing would “just be hypocritical”. Manchester, you have been answered.

Dom Gourlay

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Miss T and the Japanese Tourists

www.misstandjts.com

The colourful leading Lady Miss T and her three fellow babydoll punks;
Gabriel – (lead guitar), Dan (bass guitar) Andy – (drums) have been mesmerizing adventurous music lovers of late, mainly in their London base. Since 2001, Miss T and the Japanese Tourists have been pouring passion; 
lurid provocation and musical know how into their project and much like 
Sven’s England they have dug out a victory against stoic opposition (indie purists) and are on the verge of being signed.

The mercurial Miss T and co took the opportunity to divulge details of their appearance on a compilation CD that is to be released soon by the good 
people of Chromium Records.  Also, they give an insight into the battles that a talented underground band faces in this cut and thrust musical world of ours and most importantly, they entertain us with their wit and wisdom.

Since the inception of your outfit in 2001, you have flitted mainly around 
your home base of London dazzling audiences. The four of you have based your performances on the laudable premise of entertainment & escapism. 
Do you make music to escape and for your audience to escape also is there 
a cathartic element to what you do?

We definitely apply the idea of ‘escapism’ to both the making of our music as well as to the effects it has on our audience. As a band we function in two very different worlds – our day-to-day humdrum of tubes, trains & 
aeroplanes & then our evenings cocooned away in our studio where we can escape to the world of ‘Miss T & the Japanese Tourists’. Just as we are able to lock the world out – so we want to recreate that feeling in our shows for our audiences. A place that they can come to and for ‘X’ amount of time, be transported off into the realms of their shadows to revel & enjoy for a while what your day-to-day routine doesn’t allow for & then we deliver you safely back to your reality… hopefully a little bit changed. 

You have self classified your sound as “Babydoll Punk”, how would you 
define this sound for the initiated? Do you still feel that this term 
summarizes your music or have you changed?

As Gabriel (our lead guitarist) puts it: ‘I think our ‘Babydoll Punk’ has entered its puberty and started to secretly experiment & dabble in a few ‘not so conventional’ things.’ Our music has definitely ‘matured’, we as a band have matured & grown more comfortable & confident with the idea of pushing
things to the edge, even over the edge at times. Trying new techniques, being more unconventional & not giving up when it doesn’t sound right the first time or the 100^th time for that matter. We definitely believe in the old ‘work hard, play hard’ ethic – although having said that it would appear we haven’t quite made it to the ‘play hard’ part of the statement! So yes, I do believe our ‘babydoll’ is growing up – but she will definitely always be there… Somewhere.

There does not seem to a band like you around in London, so is it difficult 
to find bands to play with and how is your sound going down on the London scene?

No, our sound certainly doesn’t fit in with the music & look that’s being 
touted around various music magazines etc…. In one way it works against 
us as there are a lot of bands out there all trying to sound like some or other band & well that doesn’t leave us many options to choose from when playing gigs & more than often we end up playing with bands that are on the other side of the spectrum to us.

At first this was a bit disappointing as it meant we weren’t always reaching our ‘target audience’ but then we started to notice that we were starting to see more & more of the ‘indie’ crowd showing up at our gigs. This was also helped by the fact that John Kennedy (Xfm Radio) played our music quite a 
bit on his shows & then we did some recording with Gordon Raphael – the 
man who discovered, signed & produced The Strokes 1^st & 2^nd albums – which also brought us to the attention of the ‘now’ crowd. The good news is that we believe everyone has a dark side, even ‘indie kids’ & well those of them willing to give us a listen to might be very surprised! We want to use
our sound as a medium between people’s conscious and subconscious 
worlds, as a gate to their imagination. We want our songs to be painting
from Hieronymus Bosch, disturbing & unexplainable at first, but luring one to come closer. We don’t discriminate.     

In my humble opinion your best number thus far is the bold and provocative Blondie crossed with Bjork and splatter of Madonna number ‘Little Girl’. It appears to have a serious message about exploitation do you intend to educate as well entertain with this number?

Educate, entertain, warn and tempt to be precise.

You seem such a close-knit quartet. How do you resolve creative 
differences?

By using them. Coming from four totally different music backgrounds allows 
us the creative freedom of not ape-ing the style of ‘our common Idol’ 
(with the exception of Billy), these differences becoming thus the advantage. We have a tremendous amount of respect both musically & personally for 
each other. Each idea, opinion, comment is tried & tested before we all 
decide which direction the whole unit will progress to.

Describe the song writing process for Miss T and the Japanese Tourists do you all collective input or is each song the brainchild of one member of the group?

In 99% of the songs Miss T is the one who throws the spark of melody or lyrics and the rest of the band just catches the fire. Sometimes the song is
 the product of ‘innocent’ jamming in the studio & sometimes one of us will come with a riff or a beat & we will just work around it until something develops that we all fall in love with. We fall in love quite a bit!

You seem close to getting signed and have contributed a song to a compilation album released by Chromium Records. This is a celebration 
of material from a variety of up and coming bands. What songs have you chosen to put on this album and can we expect a debut single anytime soon?            

The song being featured on the compilation ‘Showcase International’ is called ‘Killing me’ which has been produced by Gordon Raphael. With regards to a debut single being released we hope that the snowball effect will cause an avalanche with a debut single landing on your lap in the near future!

What are your current musical influences?

As different as the past ones, anything from Buddy Holly to Marilyn Manson. Having said that the whole band went to watch Interpol at Brixton Academy this weekend – who we are big fans of & apart from the sound being rather dire we thought they were great.

Many indie & alternative bands are hypocritical in their criticism of manufactured boy and girl bands, as they are manufactured themselves 
with   the use of drum machines, pre-recorded vocals and guitars. 
However, this cannot be said of you, so go nuts?

So you’re saying that Depeche Mode are manufactured? There is only good (honest) music and bad (pre-calculated) music, the means are irrelevant.

How keen are you to exit the congested capital for a while and take your   energetic live shows around the country on a full UK tour? How do want to leave people feeling after witnessing one of your live shows?

Very keen indeed. We would love to get out there & ‘spread the word’! After witnessing one of our shows we want the audience to feel as if they have just been privy to an accidental peep through the keyhole of a forbidden chamber. Exhilarated, breathless, turned on & above all at peace with their darkness.

David Adair

Th' Legendary Shack Shakers

www.cockadoodledont.com

Shake the shack

(Th' Legendary Shack Shakers interview)

“MTV killed Rock ‘N Roll”

This bold and provocative statement was proudly espoused half way through my meeting of minds with the quirky and brazen alternative/punk folkers of Nashville’s Col. JD Wilkes fronted; Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers at the Roadhouse in Manchester.  It epitomises the exuberant way they have of expressing candidness and their heartfelt passion for music. In the opening statement bassist Mark Robinson was responding to a question about what they would change about the modern music industry, as he and the Colonel felt that music videos are pointless and are spoiling the profession. I took issue with this; surely they are ok if done honestly and with respect for the viewer? To which the lead man nodded nonchalantly and replied:

“Yeah, I mean, I like the ‘At The Drive In’ one where they have a collage of shots of them live. That is what our video would be like if we did one.”

He thought for a moment before coming up with a slogan that would make him hot property in this time of electioneering:

“I wish we could go back to producing art for art’s sake. It is all about the money these days.”

The first response from relatively recent recruit; the colourful tattoo laden guitarist John Lee was elicited when he responded to my enquiry about how well their sound is going down with the music lovers of the world. Their music has a southern American folk come C & W base, before exploding into diversions of punk, rock n roll, blues and finished off with a tinge of metal and is most pronounced in their zany and invigorating live shows;

“It has gone down really well. I mean, I would say that it is world folk that we produce, so we have a common ground. Sometimes we go down better in places like Detroit and New York than in the South (of the U.S.A.), as we are unique to the people in cities like that.”

With Blondie’s ‘One Way or Another’ bellowing out in the background it was time to tear into the meaty topic of their records. Latest album ‘Believe’; the guys' debut on Yep Roc is a mixture of serious issues shrouded in a fun bag of whacky accompaniments and playful, yet powerful vocals that highlights their genre busting approach making music. I was intrigued to discover how, in their minds, it differed from previous album Cockadoodledon’t (released through Bloodshot Records) and how they were finding life on Yep Roc? JD took the lead:

“Well, the two albums are both the same in the respect that they were completed before we approached record labels; offering them up as a no compromise package and they were both accepted. We'd had personnel shake ups, so couldn’t really do too much pre-production collaboration on either record.”

‘Our next album will be different’ asserted Mark.

I was curious at this point, as to how they intended to strike the balance between getting down to working on a new offering and preaching the wisdom contained in 'Believe' to the world? J.D. came over quite sullen and expressed bemusement at the mechanics of the music industry:

“It is hard because that is classed as a 2004 release so it isn’t getting much of a hearing now’.

I decided to try and redress the balance by requesting that they verbally dissect a couple of intriguing numbers from their current offering. First up, and for me the number that epitomizes their eccentricity is ‘Cussing In Tongues’, especially the delectable rooster sounds concealed within. After a collective chortle J.D. dispersed the cloud of doubt in my mind:

“You know what that is? It is a Speak N’ Say"

On seeing the look puzzlement on my face similar to that of a The Weakest Link participant responding to a question in which the answer is The Polyphonic Spree, he kindly elaborated:

“It’s a game for kids where a crank turntable lands on an animal and makes an associated noise. A voice announces; aaaannndd the rooster says…’

In order to repress thoughts about my deprived childhood I moved onto a different sort of song completely, the folk blues ballad of ‘The Pony To Bet’ that sees the guys slow down and take on a slightly more mainstream feel, filling hearts with melancholy by proffering a tale about the dreary topic of getting old. Or have I missed the point? J.D.’s face lit up proudly like the Olympic torch before he took on his reply:

“Well, it could be about that. More specifically, it is about a guy who lives near me who gets completely drunk and sits on his horse all day, everyday.

Of course, there is someone like that in every neighbourhood is there not?

It was time for the guys to dust off the cobwebs gathered by sitting around, as they went onto produce a rasping punk spiked set; feeding off the fiery and fun spirit of Col. JD Wilkes. He bounced around the stage of the hallowed hall of the Roadhouse with the energetic exuberance of a deranged Southern U.S.A. type person. In fact, his antics were akin to those you would anticipate Cletus from ‘The Simpsons’ to produce on hearing news that his wife; Brandeen has won Mother of the Year award for showering love upon their extended family.  

David Adair

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www.therakes.co.uk

“The way we write is appealing to a lot of people…even chavs!”
An interview with The Rakes.

If there is a more exciting band taking to the stage than The Rakes at this moment in time then I’ve yet to see them. The Brighton foursome (Alan Donohue, vocals; Matt Swinnerton, guitar & vocals; Jamie Hornsmith, bass; and Lasse Petersen, drums) have been cooking up a storm around the home counties for a while now, but after last year’s ‘Strasbourg’ single gained them a wider audience thanks to it being play listed on by Zane Lowe on both his radio and MTV shows things have taken off at an upwardly vertical pace.

This month (March) sees them embarking on their biggest headline tour to date, and with the imminent chart bothering expected of forthcoming single ‘Retreat’, now seems as good a time as any to find out how the Rakes are coping with all of the attention that’s being thrust on them at the moment…

“It’s been a busy last few days to be honest,” admits the genial guitarist Matt Swinnerton. “We’ve been doing a dozen or so interviews a day in the weeks leading up to this tour so we’re getting good at those now, while the sound checks seem to last longer, more thorough, perhaps?”

Having not been away from their homes for such an extensive period of time, both Matt and lead vocalist Alan Donohue also admit that it can put a strain on their home life, particularly as they’re both in steady, long-term relationships.

“I guess you have to be quite pragmatic about the whole ‘groupie’ thing really if it comes up in conversation,” deadpans Matt all matter-of-factly.

For the Rakes the last 12 months have been like a whirlwind, as the band’s success has seen them give up their day jobs and take on the roles of “serious musicians” for the foreseeable future. So was the ’22 Grand Job’ story a combination of each band member’s experiences?

“Well I was in a job that paid something like that…” admits Matt.
“…But that’s just a coincidence” adds Alan. “I went for a job interview and didn’t get it and I was sitting outside afterwards thinking about the money and…those words just kept swimming around in my head.”

Its fair to say that a large percentage of The Rakes’ output to date is based on personal experiences (‘The Guilt’ and ‘Just Got Paid…’ to name but two), although two of their most raucous and undoubtedly best known songs, ‘Strasbourg’ and ‘Auslandmission’, form an unholy alliance that many years ago in the worlds of Gabriel and Anderson would have sown the seeds for, whisper it, a concept album.

“’Auslandmission’ was written as the sequel to ‘Strasbourg’. The two main characters in it are sort of fictional, although ‘Sally’ is actually the name of my brother’s girlfriend!” declares Matt sheepishly.  
“My brother told me about a few experiences they had on holiday so there is 
a bit of that mixed in with the narrative story as well.”

“So ‘Auslandmission’ is the follow up to ‘Strasbourg’?” asks a startled Lasse Petersen.

“The characters in ‘Auslandmission’ are the son – or the daughter for that matter – of the couple that escaped from the Eastern Bloc in ‘Strasbourg’, 
now grown up and living in the west and having a nostalgic look back really,” adds the guitarist.

So can what can we expect for part three of the story?

“Nothing,” says Phil, “it’s finished now.”
“I guess the concept there just died a death really,” adds Alan.

‘Auslandmission’ stands out as one of the most focal and compelling four minutes of your live set. Have you any plans to release it as a single?

“No, because I tend to sing lead vocals on it, and we don’t feel that’s really representative of us because it’s a bit unusual to have someone else doing the vocals when Alan’s the lead singer so we’d rather concentrate on songs where we’re all bringing to the band what we do best individually,” states a forthright Matt Swinnerton, disappointing yours truly in the process!

So have you any thoughts on what the next single might be?

“It’s hard to say at this moment in time.” admits Matt, “We’ve a lot of songs that form part of the live set that we think would work as singles but it all depends on the way they’re mixed at the end…”

“…And then of course the record label may have other ideas on what they 
want us to release,” adds a tentative Jamie Hornsmith.

“There is a chance that ’22 Grand Job’ may come out again simply because it’s a good song and the original pressing was only limited to 500 copies,” states Alan.

“We’ve re-recorded a slightly different version to the first one as well,” concludes Matt.

The band have also just finished recording the final songs that are set to make it onto their forthcoming album, ‘Electric Fire’, which is set to be released in August. Compared to some of their contemporaries – certainly Bloc Party and the Kaiser Chiefs spring to mind – it seems like a long wait between the band’s initial groundbreaking singles and the release of their debut long player.

“We only just finished it during the middle of last week,” declares a proud Alan Donohue. “I think the next couple of months will be where we’ll get together with Paul (Epworth, producer extraordinaire) and decide what mixes of certain tracks we like and then build up a release schedule from there really.” 
“Probably because we always seem to be playing live and people are getting to know the songs and stuff…that can make it seem like a long time but…I think some bands will start off with an album, promote it and then hopefully get some exposure whereas we got ourselves noticed through our live show…” adds Matt.
“…And also what a lot of people forget is that when we were first getting attention we were unsigned for quite a while after,” finishes Lasse.One thing which helped break the band on a national basis was undoubtedly the ‘Strasbourg’ single, both by way of its frantic burst of sonic post-punk mayhem and also its eye-catching video where the band are seen wearing military uniforms against a backdrop that replicates the collapse of the Berlin Wall. 

“We were pleased with the video”, recalls Alan, “we wanted to make it look as cheap as possible, which I suppose was always going to be a success as the budget only stretched to about £200! Jamie wanted to put the lyrics underneath a bouncing ball at the bottom of the screen but we couldn’t afford to do that so we just filmed it as we were.”

The current single ‘Retreat’ looks like giving The Rakes their first stab at the “proper” charts in a couple of Sunday’s time. How will it feel if you’re invited to play ‘Top Of The Pops’ alongside people like G4?

“Pretty surreal!” laughs Alan, “I wouldn’t mind doing ‘Top Of The Pops’ to be honest…”
“…But it’s not got that much going for it now though has it? Bloc Party didn’t want to do it,” declares Matt, “it’s all about ‘Popworld’ now!”
“I’d definitely do ‘Top Of The Pops’” decides Alan, “and I’d ask for four high stools like G4 use with an acoustic guitar for Matt and I’d be the mad, wacky one wearing white dungarees that were half undone!”

The Rakes have also escaped the wrath of the music press to date, with all three of their singles to date achieving varying degrees of critical acclaim, while their live shows are quickly gaining recognition as “must see” events. How would the band feel if the press turned the tables on them?

“We had a bad review in the Telegraph once” admits Lasse.
“We’ve had a fair few actually”, declares Alan.
“One review that stands out for me though was saying how good we were,” adds Matt. “It was saying that The Rakes have got energy, intelligent lyrics and an amazing stage presence but…they’re just so old! I wouldn’t mind but we’re only in our mid-twenties!”
“I remember another one as well that was saying we were really good but that doesn’t really matter because six months ago they were probably playing Badly Drawn Boy covers!” recalls Alan.
“I think the bottom line is that you’ve got to be ambivalent to people who say you’re bad just as you have to those who say you’re brilliant,” says Matt with a dismissive shrug.

Musically, The Rakes’ sound echoes the post-punk stylings of people like the Fall and Joy Division without ever becoming too close to the bone to ever be considered a pastiche. However, what sets the band apart from most of their current contemporaries is the beguiling mix all four members bring to the party, as Alan Donohue testifies.

“We never actually sat down and said this sounds like U2 or that sounds like The Fall, even though they are two of our favourite artists. A lot of the songs come together as jams and usually if I like it I’ll ask Matt and Jamie to play the same notes again but faster. Its like trial and error most of the time, but never that structured in a way that we’re trying to sound specifically like a certain artist or era. Its quite interesting when people say we sound like The Fall and Joy Division because I hadn’t really heard that much of their stuff before we started the band. I only really knew ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ and then I heard their albums after people started comparing us and…I still don’t know if I really like it that much to be honest. 
For me the biggest similarity we have with Joy Division is that we are both very drum and bass-y, in that we use big bass strums rather than guitar riffs…”

Matt Swinnerton offers his take on the band’s sound: -

“I think the way we write is appealing to a lot of people because it’s delivered in a clinical and intense way but at the same time it also carries a lot of humour. Musically, I think our tracks are instant to the listener because there’s a natural pop sensibility about most of the songs. I don’t think The Rakes have ever tried to be too edgy or too pop. We just make music that you can dance to.”

Drummer Lasse Petersen has the last word: -

“I really like where are music is going in that all different kinds of people are coming to our shows. We get white kids, black kids, Asian kids, older people who’ve been seeing bands for 20 years or so, even chavs…(cue laughter from the other band members)…”

Words: Dom Gourlay
Photograph: Mark Moore

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Randi Russo

www.randirusso.com www.olivejuicemusic.com

Randi’s eloquence and honesty is matchless 

The dexterously talented New York singer and artist; Randi Russo captures mundane life in whatever she does; dusts it off and serves it up as a patently palatable feast. Her last album; ‘Solar Bi Polar’ that was released in 2001, still has people talking and the rustic cathartic nature of it and it has helped people let off more steam than they would have done spending a week in a sauna. Built around slightly curt, yet strangely welcoming and soothing numbers like ‘Matchless’ and the pungently piecing ‘Lucy’s Plan’, saw Randi picking up the gauntlet from Patti Smith and putting a coat of varnish upon it. 

Randi kindly loans some of her time to talk about her new musical direction, as she uses the experience gained from Solar Bi Polar and produced some calmer and more crafted offerings with another album looming on the horizon. As ever the welcoming New Yorker is open and honest, providing a refreshing insight into the grass roots musical world.  

You have finished recording a demo featuring some crisp, enchanting and commanding more pop friendly numbers, than your raw and cathartic anti folk debut album ‘Solar Bipolar’ (S B P). How has your approach to producing music changed since 2001 the year of S B P’s release? 

Well, I’m looking to expand our sound as a band. I want to go deeper, lyrically and musically. My most recent recordings have more instrumentation on it. The songs seem to be darker and deeper (with the exception of Where You Wanna Go, which is somewhat more pop than rock). I’m not afraid to have songs that are over 5 or 6 minutes long, which my rep told me that would be a drawback, since labels want to hear songs that are anywhere from 2-4 minutes long. But I like the ‘epic’ songs… songs that go through a variety of emotions, songs that lyrically dissect opposing emotions and combine these seemingly two different emotions (happy & sad, vulnerable & confident, angry & calm, etc.) within one song. 
 
On the topic of S B P. congratulations on getting a distribution deal for this via Big Daddy Music. Do you think it is important for people to listen to S B P before having a foray into your alluring new material, or does it not matter? 
 
Well, some have told me that SBP is so good and hasn’t gotten the exposure that it deserves, that I should release an EP with new recordings plus a few songs from SBP. I’m actually considering this idea. Perhaps, I’ll put four or five new recordings, along with two SBP songs. I know I would like to put on We Forget (from SBP), because, since it was the last song on the album, I don’t think people always got to it. SBP is a long album (over 52 minutes) and some people just listen to the first few songs over and over again, and never get to the end of the album (I’m guilty of doing this as well with the music I buy). It’s great that SBP got a distribution deal, but without touring, the CDs will just sit on the racks, which doesn’t help much. I want to tour more to get people more aware of my music (both the old and the new stuff), but, financially, that’s not always possible. 
 
Overall, though, I do not think it’s necessary for one to hear SBP before hearing the newer material. It’s nice to have people hear my music grow and change over time, but it’s not necessary. 
 
Two of your new songs have been getting some Radio play over in there in the U.S.A; "Shout Like a Lady" & "Release Me." Are these representatives of the sound you wish to achieve and, how would you describe their sound for the uninitiated? 

I chose these two songs (with the help of my bandmates’ and friends’ opinions) to be released for radio because they show both sides of what I do. Shout Like a Lady is a stark, dark, haunting song that is also quite tender, vulnerable and cerebral. I love the instrumentation on it. Randy Jamrok (drums) does a great marching drumbeat on it; Lenny Molotov (lap steel, bass, keyboards and glockenspiel) makes the song absolutely stunning; and Lafrae Sci adds this great percussion. The song goes from a quiet beginning to a very large, sublime ending. It’s quite gorgeous (mainly due to Lenny’s contributions). 
 
Now, on the other hand, Release Me is a cathartic, bluesy rocker. This is my other side… the less cerebral side and the more urgent, physical side. It’s also quite a spiritual song, in the same way that early blues were spiritual in nature, yet had those ‘sexy’ guitar riffs to accompany the spiritual side. I figured that the radio stations or DJs can choose which song better fits their format. 

How does it feel to be a New Yorker at the moment? Have your views changed over recent years? 

I love being a New Yorker. If you’ve lived here for over a year or two, you find that you become addicted to it (I’ve been here for over 8 years now). There are definitely moments when you hate it (noise, pollution, the busy-ness, the expensiveness of everything, and other stressors), but when you leave New York, you can’t wait to get back. It’s hard to imagine living anywhere else. 
 
My views about NYC have certainly changed since 9-11. The city has become ridiculously uptight about security. A certain amount of security is needed, but to have guys in army fatigues with AK-47s standing around Penn Station is completely laughable; as if their green/khaki camouflaged suits would blend in with the concrete and white walls! It’s all for show. I’m angry that we have a stupid president and governor. Many politicians have exploited 9-11 to take away a lot of our freedoms and to use taxpayer money on defense and security. Also, my awareness of the great divide between the different economic classes in NYC has made me quite upset. It seems to get worse everyday. There is so much greed here, at the expense of hard-working people. I see both worlds everyday. Sometimes I do odd jobs for multi-millionaires (even billionaires who have real Picasso’s and Chagall’s in their homes), and yet, I also know people who live in squats that are scraping to get by. All this exposure to different types of people makes me a better artist/musician/lyricist, so I try to respond to it all objectively, and not judge it. But, sometimes, when you see too much material excess, you can’t help but be disgusted with society. 

One of the mainstays of your band; Randy Jamrok has recently fled the nest to Chicago. Has it been difficult to adapt to life without him in your set up and has your sound changed as a result or is it too early to tell? 

We’ll definitely miss Randy because his style was unique and he was one of the most dedicated and disciplined musicians I had ever met. It will be hard to replace him. However, we did find a new drummer – Pete Hayes of the Figgs. He’s a great drummer and we look forward to playing some shows with him. I’ve toured with him in the UK, while he was playing drums for Steve Shiffman, and I noticed that he’s simply an amazing, naturally talented drummer. I’ve seen him sit-in with bands that he’s never played with before and he just totally rocks and you could not even tell that he was playing with them for the first time. It’s too early to tell how our sound will change once he joins us. 

 What are your current musical influences?? 

I’ve been listening to a lot of Nina Simone lately. I also like to listen to Love (Forever Changes). My neighbor made me this CD of some avant-garde classical music and I’ve been listening to that quite a bit. I’m looking to expand my musical ‘vocabulary’. Of the antifolk scene, Cockroach is still my favorite.  
 
Your last European tour was hailed a success by both yourself and people who went along to the shows, any more plans to visit Europe on tour? 

Yes… I was supposed to go to the UK again in March, but a number of circumstances got in the way (serious health problems, which have now recently healed, and deep financial problems). Now, I’m planning on going in June of this year. Let’s just hope some money falls my way so I can go!!! 
 
If you could change one thing about the music industry what would it be? 

Hmmm… just one thing? Well, I suppose I’d get rid of the big corporate monopolies (or the quintopoly, to be fair… maybe it’s a quadropoly by now?). They have destroyed music. Business people, who think they’re creative and “know” what’s going to be a hit, have no clue as to what constitutes great music. And those songs do become ‘hits’ because that’s all the masses are exposed to. Unless the people have (the expensive) satellite radio, they have but no choice to listen to crap. And the sad part of it is, is that they do not even know what great music exists out there. If you want to hear good music, you really have to search for it, and a lot of people simply don’t have the time to go searching. The major labels are the Wal-Mart’s, Targets, and K-marts of music offering low quality merchandise for the masses.

David Adair

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Nic Armstrong

Armstrong oozes natural flair (Nic Armstrong interview)

“Is any one here from Ireland? Cos, I’m not Irish if that’s what you think”

The unmistakable Geordie wit of Nic Armstrong was charming eager fans awaiting the arrival of Paul Weller at the atmospheric Manchester Apollo Theatre. Nic Armstrong and the Thieves were providing some commanding and clattering entertainment that was given a longing feel by the sporadic use of a howling harmonica. This was aptly demonstrated in second track; ‘I Can’t Stand It’ one of the many highlights from re-released debut album ‘The Greatest White Liar’ (out now on One Little Indian Records).

In the latter end of the set, newer track ‘I Don’t Have The Face’ saw the rest of the band steal in and produce a sprightly pop friendly number that raised smiles with Weller fans. The rasping finale of ‘Broken Mouth Blues’ buzzed around the venue stinging listeners with catchy 70s rock instrumentals and Dylan-esque vocals and lyrics, leaving the lingering sound of Geordie blues rock in the air.

My journey through eager Wellerettes to the backstage area was made interesting with my eager ears picking up their gossip that Peter Kay is in the venue to introduce Weller. I was in a position to confirm that, as Mr. Kay sauntered past, while I was sat waiting for the main man Armstrong to finish his post gig duties of lugging his equipment back to the storage area.

The after show unwind started taking place as Nic sparked up and comfortably lounged Al Bundy like onto a comfy sofa. My first point of enquiry was to find out why he has tagged the term “And The Thieves’ to his title. How did he feel being part of a band did it take the pressure off? Also, I wondered if he missed the creative freedom of being a one-man band, as his E.P.; ‘Broken Mouth Blues’ was a compelling solo effort? The response was preceded by a warm smile that will endear Nic to many people as he climbs the musical ladder,

“I have still got it; creative freedom. It was a natural progression for Johnny (Aitken; percussionist) and I to add to the line up and form a band. We are proud of Broken Mouth Blues, but sometimes it is hard to reproduce that rawer sound.” 

So, you still have freedom and unpredictability? I enquired:

“Yeah, I might produce a tripping techno album under a pseudonym in the future.”

Now that would be intriguing! Feeling that Nic was relaxing and unwinding to the sounds of Paul Weller in the background, I felt it was time to quiz him about one of his earlier songs; ‘Warm As You Are’. This nifty number appears on his four-track ‘Broken Mouth Blues’ EP. I raised the topic of pessimism that this track skirts with. A shrug of the shoulders then a swift and cryptic reply ensued,

“You just gotta live with it; pessimism it is part of life, but I see pessimism as optimism sometimes.”

A pensive and thoughtful look followed by a long smoke before the song ‘Warm As You Are” was succinctly summarized;

 “This song was a reaction to my best mate going crazy and becoming moody all the time. It was a sarcastic wake up call”

Did it work? A sullen shrug and wry smile emphatically answered the question.

It was time to progress onto the meaty topic of debut album, ‘The Greatest White Liar’ that has been re-released now Nic officially has a band behind him. I stated that in my humble opinion the album overall, is crisper and smoother than previous releases especially his raw and alluring debut single; ‘Natural Flair’, as highlight tracks like ‘You Made It True’ and ‘In Your Arms On My Mind’ aptly illuminate. Does he concur?

“Yeah, I mean I was rusty when I first got contacted by a recording company. You have had to get rid of the rust like anything. I think it was a natural progression to become smoother.”

“You won a talent contest in Dazed & Confused didn’t you?” I added.

“Yeah, that’s right my girlfriend sent in one of the demos I produced in my house. It had ‘Too Long For Her’ and ‘I’ll come to you’ on it.

These two tracks made it on to the album and I could see the pride lighting up Nic’s expression. Therefore, I decided to explore his musical roots more and see if hailing from Newcastle had affected his music or did moving to Nottingham have more of an impact on his style?

“I left Newcastle along time ago. Though it did have an impact upon my life and music, it is a two tone place built around work and having fun.”

“Geordies are great people” I hastened to add. What about Nottingham?

“There is an undercurrent of darkness there because of the gun culture and large number of junkies who inhabit the place.”

I nod in agreement as a sullen mood was ensuing,

“I wrote ‘Hero In Life’ (on the ‘Broken Mouth Blues’ EP) there. It is about heroin”

He kindly spelt out the delicious pun; Heroin life, “aagghhhh” I said, hence the line;

“If you want to be a hero in life; you gotta take a shot in the arm”.

Having had a slight insight into the depth of Mr. Nic Armstrong I decided there is only one question suitable for wrapping this meeting up.

“In your honest and humble opinion; what is the meaning of life?”

The amiable Geordie chortled and simply retorted,

Words: David Adair

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Panda Bear

www.paw-tracks.com

The Alternative Language Of Love – Panda Bear’s Young Prayer

The loss of a loved one is the hardest thing to comprehend. The eternal absence of someone whose company and existence had been as engrained into your life as the routine of breathing, is as overwhelming as attempting to comprehend the reality of all that surrounds us. When those routine greetings - at once so casual as to mean nothing but so loaded with affection and trust - are gone, the absence screams, a physical manifestation of agony.

As an artist - a person who has an affinity with, and a love of, unhindered expression - maybe you’re in a position to express yourself on a different plateau. Not a greater one, not at all, but one that, whilst superfluous to personal communication, can express the spirit within that makes up so much of your own being and only takes form through your artistic output – that alternative language of love.

“Young Prayer” is a crushing album, a gradual unfolding of stumbling guitar lines and sky-bound melodies that ramble through darkness to collide fleetingly, releasing small bursts of harmony only to depart and continue their passage.

This music is documented by Noah Lennox, also known as Panda Bear, also known as one of the four members of the Animal Collective. He sits at a table in London’s Spitz bar, buried under a duffle coat and scarf, hand crooked in front of his mouth, shy and quiet.

“I wanted to cheer my Dad up a little bit,” Noah starts. “It was really heavy for him. It’s influenced by him; I wanted to tell him how he’d taught me stuff and how he’d influenced my life in a good way.”

“Young Prayer” was recorded as homage to his late father, who died in their family home after a period of illness. Its frail structures and yearning are pierced by an added sadness with this in mind; loss seems everywhere, yet hope is always out there, resting on the parameter.

“I recorded it in the room my Dad died in. I kind of didn’t want to put it out, it’s intensely personal in a way, and really heavy, so I wasn’t sure people would wanted to listen to that. But some of the Animal Collective guys got involved in the production and after that it sort of made more sense. I was encouraged by other people to put it out.”

When something is so personal it’s often hard to submit it to tape, to say ‘there that’s it, that’s how I feel’ because chances are, that’s not it, that can’t entirely sum up everything. Maybe by doing this though, a certain release is created.

“I wrote all the words first, the words were supposed to be the focus of it and I kind of ducked out on that because I didn’t include the lyrics. I was going to put it in the linear notes, this long poem that was really intense but I decided that was just for him and me. So I didn’t include that. It’s weird because I’ve read reviews saying that I’m not even singing words and stuff like that, but I guess that’s justified because if I listened to it and if I didn’t know those were words I might think I was just singing whatever.”

As Noah explains more, the intricacies and evolutions of the album become evident, an honour is bestowed, as though he’s telling us as much as he can, allowing us to join him in his gamut of emotions as they spiral and regroup.

“The words took a long time, I spent a whole summer starting from when he first got sick. I spent three months writing the words. The music was really quick and recorded in a few days. I always write music quickly, I get bored of stuff so I write a song and record it. If I record half of something it’s really rare that I’ll come back to it and finish it. I guess I’m just the kind of guy that needs to do it in the moment or I’ll never have the interest to complete it.

I guess that’s a big difference between myself and being in the Animal Collective. It’s nice because they’re super quick, Dave especially is with it at arranging things, he can see the big picture whereas with me it’s just, I can’t figure it out. My stuff seems, I don’t want to say amateur, but it’s a lot rougher around the edges. I like that knowing that I also do stuff that’s not that way. I wouldn’t like it if everything I did was unpolished, kind of raw indie stuff.”

Panda Bear had a release out some years ago, a limited album of as he calls it ‘schlocky indie’. Young Prayer is a universe away from this, it’s unique and unrestrained, heart wrenching and blissful and has its glare focused firmly on the upward and onward.

“I’d like it to be a positive experience. I’d like people to have whatever experience they have with it, but overall I’d like it to be a positive, uplifting thing. I wanted that for my father and for me too as it was a rough time and I didn’t want to think of the negative. Every song has really weird structural ideas and every song starts from a lower register and ends up in a higher register so it’s constantly moving up, there’s tonnes of stuff like that, I also took each line of the poem and gave it its own melody. The album is a long series of fragments that I assembled piece by piece. I wanted it to sort of be like a flower opening, this really complex, slow moving thing that grows.

It had to feel natural, but everything was done in threes,” Noah explains. “Each song has three parts. The record overall is made up three parts, that’s a holy number, a spiritual number. I wanted it to be a spiritual record because the music I’ve recorded in the past is very secular, totally different.

I remember thinking at the time that I wanted to sing and play guitar in a way that I hadn’t heard before. I wanted to challenge myself. I feel that the Animal Collective is always in the back of our minds, it’s paramount for us but it wasn’t like I was listening to certain things and was like ‘yeah, I want to play like that’, I wanted to not think like that and come up with something totally new. In a way that’s impossible, but there definitely wasn’t any direct influence in the way it sounded.”

So after the experience of writing such a piece, the process begins again, playing this material live and solo.

“I played the Young Prayer stuff maybe six times live, that was really really intense. I hadn’t even really played by myself in front of an audience before, so it was intense at every show. But I thought that was good for the music I was playing, that style, I thought it served the purpose of the music.

That’s a different thing to playing with the Animal Collective where I’m mostly behind drums and there’s tonnes of effects on everything. So it’s almost like there’s something to hide behind in that music and it’s also going crazy with energy. I guess that’s similar to the new songs I’m playing too in that once I start I stop thinking about everyone else. I don’t think that there are other people in the room or what somebody else is hearing, I’m just totally focused on what’s going on, I can feel everything, which is kind of weird.”

Things constantly change, and Noah finds himself far removed from his Animal Collective peers. They remain in America, he has moved to Portugal with his wife. The pace of life is almost slow motion. It’s an oasis of relief.

“Living in New York is fucking craziness every day, I felt like I had to get out of there. I’m not down on America or anything like that, I’m not really a political person so I’m not ‘America’s so shitty’ and stuff like that. I like New York but it’s not the sort of place I’d want to be every day. Being down by the water is probably the best place for me. Those are the places I tend to gravitate towards, where I lived in Brooklyn was right on the water; it was kind of my refuge.

There’s something about the pace in of life, at least in Lisbon, that suits me much better. It’s really tranquil my life now, it’s something I’ve wanted for a long time, sure I miss being able to speak freely without having to think about it, but that will change. It’s kind of getting worse and worse having to leave home, but for now I still feel good playing with the band.”

It’s as though Noah been through one period of his life, the formation, and now must continue and change. The Animal Collective his still his staple source, a basis of his being, but the nuances are changing. Revelations occur and the past becomes unsustainable. Noah seems to exist in a state of splendid isolation, working with the band then withdrawing, escaping from all the madness and expressing his softer individual nature, as if balancing chi and complying with nature’s cycles, something we all do whether consciously or otherwise. So what will he do once he’s finished the current tour?

“Actually, everything’s planned out until December of next year. There’s this tour, then I’m home for two weeks. Then we’re recording a new Animal Collective record in March, then home again for another two weeks. Then we’re going on tour in April. Then I’m hoping to record the stuff that I’m currently touring with now in the summer, then we’ll probably do a more extensive tour in the Fall to support the new Animal Collective record. I hate having to plan my life out like that, but I guess that’s just the way it is.”

Jonathan Falcone

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Kaiser Chiefs

www.kaiserchiefs.co.uk

“WE’RE LIKE THE BEATLES IN ‘HARD DAY’S NIGHT’ - IT’S HILARIOUS 24-7!”

Ricky Wilson is just like one of us.

He lives, breathes, eats, sleeps and shits music. Today might be the 4th day of the biggest tour of his life but he’s just spent the last hour or so record shopping in Selectadisc for the latest independent import release.

Which is all to be expected for a family tree of post-rock nerd like yours truly but not the kind of preparation you’d expect for someone who is about to experience the real traumas of being a bonafide pop star. Thank God he doesn’t suffer from stage fright.

“It’s all just so exciting!” says the Kaiser Chiefs frontman, bubbling with the excitement of a three-year-old who’s just discovered La-La and Dipsy for the first time. “It’s really weird as well because we’re going on so early and the adrenalin levels seem to be higher when you actually come off! It’s like you feel so hyper that the last thing on your mind is getting an early night…”

Certainly most bands would be disappointed at going on at the ungodly hour of 7:15. After all, the majority of punters are still in the queue or even finishing that last pint in the SU around the corner. Although strangely, that’s the last thing on young Wilson’s mind…

“It would be good to be on later so I could get some proper food…I mean, the catering has been brilliant but…we’re on at just after 7 and dinner starts at 5 and we usually sound check around 5:30 so then I don’t eat ‘til 6 and I mean…Nick (Hodgson, drums) spends the whole time we’re on stage burping! And because I want to jump around that bit more I don’t tend to eat much before we go onstage but…it’s bloody difficult!”

With the Kaisers currently enjoying their stint on the road with kindred spirits Bloc Party, The Futureheads and The Killers, it would have to take something so drastic as mealtime disorientation to cause any sort of upheaval. Not that Ricky sees any disharmony as far as his touring buddies are concerned.

“All of the other three bands on this tour write brilliant pop songs, and that’s what it should always be about – daring to write great pop songs and not be embarrassed about it.”

Since the Drowned In Sound label released their first record ‘Oh My God’, which was subsequently followed by ‘I Predict A Riot’ going overground commercially in November of last year, the Kaiser Chiefs have swiftly collected a growing legion of fans who see them as natural successors to Blur, Supergrass’, and the Kinks before them, desire to write about and shout about the delights and sometimes inadequacies of everyday English life.

While the Kaiser Chiefs frontman isn’t too phased about being compared to Blur (“one of my favourite bands of all time”), he’s also quick to point out that his band are well on the way to developing their own sound.

“I think whenever you hear a Kaiser Chiefs record you can instantly tell it’s us, which is brilliant. All you can hope for in a band. I mean, it would be terrible if someone was listening to the album going Track 1 – Blur, Track 2 – Roxy Music…I mean, how rubbish would that be? It goes back to when we started being ourselves musically. I’m sure you know about Parva…”

I do but if you want to refresh my memory…

“I always felt that as Parva we weren’t always being true to ourselves. I mean, we were a good little garage rock band. That was around the time of the supposed ‘New Rock Revolution’ by the way – and we just thought that was what you had to be to get yourselves noticed and ultimately get signed. And then we tried it, and we didn’t do it very well.  The only way you can be brilliant – and I’m not saying we are – is by being yourself.”

Since then though, the music and the overall image of Ricky and his merry band of troops has changed somewhat dramatically, definitely for the better and without a doubt more comfortably in tune with where he sees both himself and the band heading in the future.

“Everybody reaches a point at some stage in their life where they realise it’s just not going anywhere and that’s when we decided to end Parva.”

So the next step was…?

“Well, when you’re so confused about what to do next, you tend to go away and think about it that little bit more. A lot of bands when they get their first knock back would usually give up there and then and go back to what they were doing before they were in a band. But, we always knew that we wanted to be involved in the music industry and it just took us…When Parva ended it wasn’t like we all just went away and then came back six months later and said ‘Right, let’s start again.’ It was a case of us all agreeing that Parva wasn’t working so at the next band practice, we decided to start again. And if that didn’t work, or the one after, we started again. It was actually quite daunting because at this point we hadn’t got any songs, or a name, or any idea what we were really doing. At the same time though, it felt like the most exciting time in the world – sort of like being 12 years old again when you’re all sat there with jotter pads at school, y’know, writing out names and writing about things we actually knew about…”  

At the same time though, there are similar themes running through the lyrics of ‘Hessles’ by your previous band and ‘I Predict A Riot’, in that it both songs seem to reflect on being an outsider from the expected norm of your hometown community.

“I can’t change the things I worry about but I can change the way I approach them,” offers Ricky Wilson, almost matter-of-factly. “With ‘I Predict A Riot’, some people got the wrong end of the stick the first time we played it. We had people trying to persuade us to use footage of the poll tax riots in the video and CCTV clips showing rioting in town centres during football matches, and in the end we had to stop them. I mean, that song is not meant to be some kind of political statement. I suppose most indie kids can relate to it in that we’ve all experienced hassle from townies at one time or another…”

So are you saying that Leeds is quite a rough place?

“It can be rough but at the same time it’s probably no worse than anywhere else. We played the song recently in Los Angeles and the people there got it and understood what we were singing about. I mean, I can only write about my own experience, i.e. Leeds, but it’s good that the rest of the world gets it. Good pop music is a bit like a good joke. You can tell it to anyone in the world or you can tell it to your mum or some hairdresser in Sydney you might have never met before, and they’d both get it because its universally funny, and I think that the Kaiser Chiefs music is a bit like good joke!”  Wilson declares unintentionally.

“Taking your music seriously is very important but taking yourself seriously is not something you should try and do because who wants to see a band onstage anymore that think they’re cooler than you?”

Which again goes back to the point that Ricky Wilson really isn’t any different from you or me. A fan of pop music who decided the best way to hear his favourite music was to start a band and create it for himself.

“I want to see people sweating and I want to see them enjoying themselves and if I don’t spend half the gig in the audience then it’s not been a good gig really. We’re like the Beatles in ‘Hard Day’s Night’ – it’s hilarious 24-7!”

So with Parva out of the way and several rehearsals down the line, Ricky, the two Nicks (Hodgson and Baines, keyboards), Simon (Rix, bass) and Alan (White, guitar) finally settled on the Kaiser Chiefs. It’s origins? It just happens to be the name of the football club where Leeds United stalwart and South African national team captain Lucas Radebe started his professional football career.  

“We love Leeds United. We don’t go every week – well, two of them 
(Simon Rix and Alan White) do whenever we’re not recording or touring – but we do follow them through thick and thin. I mean, I like football and I enjoy going to matches but I wouldn’t consider myself a fanatic. It rules Whitey and Simon’s lives. If they buy a newspaper they go straight to the back page whereas me, I head straight for the TV guide! At the end of the day I prefer music to football,” admits the singer, as if we didn’t know!

But do you not worry that with songs like ‘I Predict A Riot’ and the band being named after a football team that you might attract scallies and casuals towards your fan base?

“Yeah it could happen, but the thing about us is that we’re never gonna go too far in one direction. The worst thing we could do is call ourselves the Kaiser Chiefs, have a song called ‘I Predict A Riot’ and then be seen wearing Burberry,” admits the frontman, smiling as he clocks my moth-ridden B**b***y scarf. “There are certain bands who do that and dress in a kind of way to promote that image, whereas if a townie came to see us he’d see me 
prancing around like a tit! I’m not hard. In fact, I look a bit gay! But you know, the world needs things mixing up a little bit. It’s not just about going out, drinking beer, trying to get laid, can’t get laid, have a fight, get arrested…”

March 7th sees the release of the Kaiser Chiefs’ eagerly anticipated first long player ‘Employment’, which features both singles to date and the majority of their live set. There are also a couple of theme’s running through some of their other songs, as Ricky sheepishly explains.

“A lot of our songs, sadly, are to do with (Parva) getting dropped and trying really hard to make something new. It wasn’t just about getting signed, but actually making something that really mattered. At the time Parva were 
dropped the music industry’s eyes actually started to turn towards Leeds more, and we noticed a lot of our friends getting record deals. ‘Modern Way’ and ‘Caroline Yes’ are basically about our friends sammyUSA getting signed and we were dead jealous at the time. Not because we wanted them to mess up, but because we wanted to catch up. We were desperate for them not to mess up in the same way Parva did, and then they got dropped and started a new band, Duels, and they’re ten times better. And that’s what you’ve got to do. If it’s not working, don’t just keep plodding away but at the same time don’t give up. ”

A version of ‘Modern Way’ has been available on the Internet for some time. How do you feel about people downloading your songs?  

“It’s a tricky one that because in one aspect it’s good, but then if it’s your own stuff you start to realise that you might not be able to make the second album because no one bought the first one as they all downloaded it. It can ruin the careers of a lot of indie bands; especially ones who are struggling to make ends meet. It would be nice to be able to get to the point one day where you could just give everything away and not have to worry about anything, but that’s just never gonna happen because the record companies won’t put up with it. At the same time, how can you criticise someone for wanting to get free music? I want to get free music, but ultimately being in a band is all about selling records and you wouldn’t be signed if the record company didn’t think they could sell your music so, kids, buy records!”

But at the same time record companies are hindering the progress of struggling bands too. The decision by RCA to release one Elvis Presley record a week for the next four months and the never-ending influx of reality television recording artists are just two examples.

“I don’t know what Elvis would have thought about it, but then he was a businessman so he probably would have loved it. I don’t honestly know how long ‘Pop Idol’ people can do covers for because they’re gonna run out soon. Next year they’ll be doing ‘I Predict A Riot’. Michelle McManus doing ‘I Predict A Riot’. I Predict A Diet’ more like!”

And then there’s Ricky’s ex’s.

“’Born To Be A Dancer’ is about an ex- girlfriend. ‘Every Day I Love You Less And Less’ is about an ex-girlfriend too. She’s called Mandy. I hate her!” says Ricky, a devilish glint radiating from his eyes. “She was my boss for a while.”

How did the album’s title (‘Employment’) come about?

“This is the stupidest thing in the world but money is my biggest worry, and I suppose when you think about it it’s most people’s biggest worry. Some people get into massive amounts of debt, and it doesn’t seem to bother them, which I can never understand. I’m always thinking about where I’m going to get money from to be able to just…exist, and I guess that’s where the title of the album comes from really, in that ‘Employment’ is one way of dealing with money and debts. I think we’ll be alright as long as the next record doesn’t end up being called ‘Unemployment!’”

Even though ‘Employment’ is still a good six weeks away from hitting the shops, Ricky and the Kaisers already have a batch of new ideas for the next album, something that sets them apart from most of their contemporaries.

“We just want to get better with each record” admits the singer. “I mean Super Furry Animals have got better with every album, so have Green Day, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers too. I think if you’re just going to get stuck in a rut doing the same thing with every record it becomes pointless. We haven’t finalised any of the songs (on album no. 2) yet but we’re trying different things out when we get time. “

Dom Gourlay

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 iLiKETRAiNS 

www.iliketrains.co.uk

Leeds seems to be the hip place to be at the moment. With bands getting deals pretty much every week, it’s no surprise that the city is swarming with A&R men.

Few bands get as much praise as iLiKETRAiNS. Confident, intelligent and fiercely passionate, the band are one of the highlights of the live music in Leeds.

In the busy world of the Leeds Music Scene, there’s always a few bands who slip quietly into the main arena, iLT are one of these bands, playing their sometimes gentle, sometimes aggressive, but always beautiful take on post rock theatrics.

With a new CD of songs on the way, I shared some e-mails with Simon and Dave from the band to ask them about music, hecklers, cine cameras and playing live amongst other things…

So the first question is the obvious one...

Where did you guys first meet and what made you decide to be a band?

Dave and Guy go way back to school days. The rest of us have joined one by one over the months and years through university and friends of friends. We thought forming a band would be a good alternative to living in the real world. Then tracked down Ashley, whom we heard was into the visual arts and forced him to join. We learnt that he used to play cornet, and forced him to play that too. Ash's claim to fame is that he once played the cornet solo from Kevin Carter by the Manic Street Preachers live on Radio One. (Loser).

I notice a lot of different elements in your music, especially from the three songs available to download from your website. There's bits of Hood, Radiohead, Hope of the States, and maybe even people like Leonard Cohen. Who would you say most influence you as a band? 

Musically, bands such as Sigur Rós, Múm and the Velvet Underground provide a lot of inspiration. Lyrically our influences include Nick Cave, Morrissey and Pulp. Ashley is mostly influenced in his cornet playing by Roy Castle. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg...   

You guys are a very multimedia outfit, how did the projection stuff come about?

After we had decided to go ahead with live visuals we realised that run of the mill laptop style stuff just wouldn't sit well with our music. We decided to go back to the way it used to be with film and slides. If you look closely at our live shows you'll see Ash frantically rewinding, cutting and splicing films armed with a set of trusty scissors and roll of sellotape, and he also plays cornet at the same time.

With there being a lot of hype and press about music in Leeds and the whole Leeds scene at the moment, what do you guys think about it?

Leeds is pretty exciting at the moment. I think we are very lucky to be in this place at this time with so many good bands about. Ashley is from Rotherham, home of the Chuckle Brothers and Jive Bunny.  If we're honest, Rotherham is the place to be.    

Seeing as how we're in January, how do you see the rest of 2005 for iLiKETRAiNS?

Things are looking pretty good at the moment in the iLiKETRAiNS camp. People are starting to take notice of us and we have high hopes this year.  We will see...

I see you were in Sandman Magazine for this month, how do you deal with the press and exposure aspect of being in a band? Is it something you particularly enjoy?

Well, it hasn't really been an issue quite yet. No paparazzi camping out on our lawns, although Dave and Guy got recognised in the street for the first time recently. Dave is often exposing himself anyway, so it won't be a problem for him. Simon was in an advert for Manning Stainton estate agents.  

Can we expect any new-recorded material soon? How do you record your music, do you produce it all as a band, or does someone take more control than others?

We have been busy recording our new demo, Stainless Steel, in a church and the iLiKETRAiNS cellar. The finishing touches should be completed within the next couple of days, and we are pretty pleased with how it is sounding. You can check out the website shortly for availability (www.iliketrains.co.uk). 

All the music is home-produced, with help from friends when needed, and we like to think of it as a band effort. But in reality it isn't. Guy likes to dominate the recording process.

Do you ever find it difficult to translate your very intimate, fragile even, sounding songs to a live setting?

Before we started performing live, it was certainly a challenge. We used to write and record material simultaneously. We recorded songs with a million different parts that would have required most of Leeds music scene to perform. Since then we have written songs predominantly with live performance in mind. When we come to record them they seem to come together more easily. Less is more as it were.

The question really is how do people react to the more fragile sounding songs in our set. Well, they talk loudly.  People need to learn to moderate their voices with dynamic changes in a set.

Are you looking forward to the Drowned in Sound showcase gig thing down in London next week?

Yes. It's always good to get out and about, and this gig in particular, as our first proper trip to London, promises to be very exciting for us. We have had some good press from the Drowned in Sound article and someone had the big idea to put us on as headline act.  We've only headlined in Leeds once! Whenever we go to Oxford or somewhere like that we're top of the bill and attract a good crowd. This is one of the advantages of being a Leeds band with the cities current musical renaissance I guess.

I have to admit that it was my mate who kept shouting random stuff at you whilst you were playing at the Tea Time Shuffle the other day- how do you usually deal with hecklers? He wasn't being nasty or anything, but he's very animated when he’s had a few...!

We haven't had to deal with any bad hecklers yet. (Touch wood). All the audience ‘participation’ has been pretty amusing so far. There was an interesting debate about Rachel Stevens at one of our shows.

Do you have any favourite bands in Leeds, or anyone you particularly enjoy playing with?

There are lots of fantastic people out there. ¡Forward Russia! and This Et Al, Duels, ThreeKSeven, Drat and Napoleon III are the first to receive the coveted iLiKETRAiNS two thumbs up award. But there are so many bands out there at the moment it is hard to keep up. 

We're a bit slow, and still need to check out I Love Poland (good name!), The Research and many many many many more.

Gavin Miller

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Secret machines

www.thesecretmachines.com www.679recordings.co.uk

FROM OUT OF NOWHERE… An interview with The Secret Machines

Rock City, Nottingham, Sunday 19th December. It’s 5 pm and in little over three hours time, Dallas homeboys cum New York soul savers The Secret Machines will take to the stage for the final time on this tour as openers for fellow NYC mavericks Interpol.

If the sub-zero temperatures have assisted the pre-Christmas sales of mittens and scarves, bass player and songwriter in chief Brandon Curtis hardly notices. “This has to be one of the warmest days we’ve had since we’ve been in your country,” he declares, therefore rendering yours truly to the title of East Midlands Nesh Of The Month December 2004. So much for Robin Hood and the last of the real hardmen then…

“Last night we were in Manchester and it was really cold,” he adds, “and there was so much part nudity and semi nakedness! I mean so many people were wearing like, cropped t-shirts and ripped jeans and not much else.”

For The Secret Machines the last 12 months has seen them emerge from the shadows of several of their more feted contemporaries thanks in no small part to the critical acclaim devoured on their debut long player ‘Now Here Is Nowhere’. As well as Brandon Curtis, there’s his guitarist brother Ben and drummer Josh Garza, and although they are only three in number it would be fair to say the sound they make, as a collective is nothing short of colossal.

Live their shows have been described as spellbinding and austere, culminating in a series of invites to play with such luminaries as the Chemical Brothers, Muse and Interpol.

Having taken the initial steps to becoming established artists, Brandon is more philosophical about the last year. “I think we’re just getting started.”

‘Now Here Is Nowhere’ has been described as one of the last great progressive rock albums, and the band’s English influences are there for all to see throughout the record, whether on the Bunnymen do Hawkwind paranoia of ‘Nowhere Again’ or the Roxy Music tinged epistle that is ‘Sad And Lonely’.

“Its quite flattering to hear those comparisons,” says an elated Brandon Curtis. “I mean we grew up on bands like Hawkwind, Black Sabbath, My Bloody Valentine, The Stone Roses…all of these artists made records that gave us the inspiration to want to be in a band.”

“There’s one or two bands in the US now that are obviously into the same thing as us…I mean, Oneida immediately spring to mind,” adds Ben, “its out there, its definitely out there…”

“…and there’s that band from round here (Nottingham)…” adds Josh Garza with a hint of caution while he recalls their name. “…Six By Seven. I think one thing most of the bands we love have in common is a propensity to play really LOUD, even going back to people like Jimi Hendrix and The Who in the sixties…”

While we’re on the subject of volume, its fair to say that Secret Machines gigs aren’t exactly renowned for being quiet affairs, as Josh Garza will testify…

“The last time we played in Nottingham was at the Social and people were saying that it was one of the loudest shows they’d ever heard, but I think that was more to do with the size of the venue to be honest. I mean we do believe dynamic sound to be important to our show but at the same time I think our music is more suited to areas of wide-open space. We like to think of our music as being more overwhelming than just brutally loud.”

“Its like with Kevin Shields when he was in My Bloody Valentine…” adds Brandon, “he used volume to augment and create the whole sound, which then gives it another dimension of power I suppose. I mean, we don’t really use that much feedback, apart from the odd burst of harmonic distortion between songs. We’re more engaged by pure tones.”  

“We really respect what people are saying and writing about us,” Brandon enthuses, “as it’s as big a representation of us as it is for the thousand people that are gonna hear us play this evening. Potentially five years from now these articles could be the residue that’s cemented our very existence.
If we’re still happening then you’ve got to look back at our earliest reviews as the templates for that.” 

And if a negative article was to be written about the band? 

“We’d commit suicide!” chime all three in unison. 

One of the most striking aspects about ‘Now Here Is Nowhere’ was its almost conceptual arrangement, from the opening bars of ‘First Wave Intact’ to the reprise of the title track, like a recurring theme was omnipresent throughout the whole record. With the band’s growing kinship with people like Matt Bellamy from Muse, how do the Secret Machines view the suggestion that ‘Now Here Is Nowhere’ is a concept album in the same way the 
aforementioned trio’s ‘Absolution’ is cited as being and from a classic rock angle, people like Pink Floyd and Yes earned a crust in the 1970s? 

“It was a concept record but not in the traditional sense,” confesses Brandon. “We had a concept of capturing what we do live and making a statement of proof that we’re capable of creating and engineering and producing a record of music ourselves. It wasn’t a concept where we were trying to tell a story. Our concept is that we know what we’re doing and here it is…musically complete.” 

“All of the songs were written around the same time,” adds Ben, “and since we’ve been living in New York there’ve been one or two experiences that have left us in a certain emotional state.”

“We made the record we wanted to make first and foremost, and whether or not its commercially successful isn’t really our main job,” says Brandon, defiantly.

Having created such a complex album, which appears to have no definitive structure and yet sounds so monumental in its overtures, the art of songwriting for The Secret Machines is perhaps unique to that of most other artists in that their sounds never stop developing. Brandon Curtis takes up the story: -

“I think the most productive part of writing any piece of music is to constantly find ways of expanding either a lyric or a chord change or a melody. Just to build something up and help its growth. Some of the songs from the album when we play them now don’t sound like they did when we recorded them. Its like we operate without a formula. Music shouldn’t be about boundaries and in the Secret Machines there aren’t any…”  

With ‘Now Here Is Nowhere’ taking almost 18 months to complete and the band openly admitting that there is still room for expansion with its contents, how will the Secret Machines be able to approach the daunting prospect of making a follow-up record? 

“We’ve got some songs already,” states a proud looking Brandon Curtis, “and they’re all totally different to anything on ‘Now Here Is Nowhere’. We want to tread careful in that when people hear our records they don’t automatically assume that we’re the same band, if that makes sense…” 

“…a lot of bands say their next record is going to change the world and then they just slip into a formula and five albums down the line its like all you’ve got is a continuation of the first record,” interjects drummer Josh. “There’s no way we’d release another record if we thought we were deliberately repeating what we’ve done in the past.” 

Originally from Dallas, the Secret Machines decided in the summer of 2000 that they would head to the Big Apple in their quest for both musical inspiration and their sanity… 

“For a start if we hadn’t have gone to NYC when we did you’d probably have never heard of us…” admits Josh. “All three of us had played in Dallas-based bands for a few years (Tripping Daisy and Comet to name but two) which had records released but very few people outside of Texas actually heard us, so we decided that to get our music heard we’d got to move somewhere that was more turned on to creativity in the same way we were.” 

Did you not feel though, and particularly with the likes of The Strokes breaking through at the same time, that it would be even more difficult to compete in New York’s “musical market place”? 

“I guess that’s kind of the whole point though really,” declares Brandon, “in that you want to see just what kind of artists you’re up against first hand.” 

“Its not really a competition though,” adds Josh somewhat bemused by the idea. “I mean, if you’re good, then you will get some recognition. The main thing for our band is that people like us enough that we will still be able to make records in ten years time that people want to hear.” 

So is there a long-term plan aimed at ensuring the longevity of the Secret Machines remains intact and incessantly productive? 

“I think we’re in the last year of our five-year plan,” says Brandon exhaustedly. “After that we’ll come up with the next five-year plan and I think at the moment we’re bang on schedule!” concludes a celebratory Josh Garza.

Dom Gourlay 

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Cake

www.cakemusic.com

Producing blissful pop music is a piece of Cake, for some.

Ever since this subtle and seductive Sacramento based quartet whipped up a stirring and crafted self released debut album, ‘Motorcade of Generosity’ in 1994, Cake have sweetened the world with their coated and crisp music. Singer/songwriter John McCrea has always expressed his fervent disliking for what can be termed as the trappings of the industry; this includes working with renowned and respected producers and exhibitionistic guitar playing. However, what he does like and does very well is produce heartening and captivating music that touches the soul. The guys kindly agreed to muse over topics ranging from the role of politics in music to pop music in general.

You hail from Northern California, has where you come from dictated
your style of music and how would you describe the Northern Californian music scene at the moment? How well do you fit in with it?

We've always said we come from a dry and dusty place, and that might come through in the music. We are also working out of the state's capitol, Sacramento, which is a theater of the absurd but also sometimes a very poetic place. The music scene in Northern California is diverse. There are many bands, however, that understand the place that their music comes from.

In my humble opinion 'Pressure Chief' had a trickle of irony running through it like a stream through a country village, i.e., it was well placed. Do you think irony or deadpan wit has much of a part to play in modern music?

Music is certainly a reflection of the way we all approach our worldview or how we behave emotionally. Although there seems to be a tendency in music to express something pure, or untainted, there is also a place to express the middle ground of thought. This kind of writing might actually be more honest about the way life really feels. Sadness is often mixed with humor in real life.

You are about to embark on a European tour. How does your live sound differ from that on your records and how do you want to leave people feeling after witnessing a live Cake show?

The live sound is different from the album because we are actually living the music as we perform it. We might actually sound like more of a "rock" band on stage, compared to the precise feel of a studio recording. The crowd should go away exhilarated, confused, and satisfied that they witnessed a genuine performance.

You have done a cover of the diamond of the disco era hit 'I Will
Survive' in the past. Would you say this is your bands' motto and how have you kept going all these years in this turbulent music industry of ours?

From the start we have appreciated our listeners. We kept a mailing list of people who had shown interest in us, and every month we stamped, addressed, and sent postcards to these people. We have continues that appreciation by providing what we believe is quality music, both in record and live performance.

What are your views on recent attempts by musicians to influence voters in the US Elections? Do you think there was a lack of conviction to some of the attempts (mentioning no names) and it was more bandwagon jumping than a serious desire to bring about change? Do you think music and politics should be kept separate?

We talk politics with each other, so we feel compelled to discuss issues with our listeners through the website (www.cakemusic.com). Everyone seems to want to impress their point of view on others, and musicians are no different.

Which of your songs sum up your current mood and why?

"Wheels" is probably the song that sums up our current mood. Basically, there are a lot of amazing things happening in the world, but still we are destined to go through the same paces that anyone, anywhere, ever has. These are incredibly interesting times, but we all still have the same basic needs that we always have.

What are your aims and plans for 2005?

CAKE plans to tour through the summer of 2005. We have a lot of international touring to look forward to, as well as performing at various festivals in the states.

Finally, if you could change one thing about the music industry what
would it be and why?

Music videos may have altered the course of popular music. To its detriment? We will never know. There does seem to be a lot of posturing involved though.  

David Adair

www.cakemusic.com Check out the live Cake show, as the guy’s head out on European tour:

1/31: Dublin, IrelandVicar Street
2/1: Glasgow, UKThe Garage
2/2: Manchester, UKAcademy II
2/4: London, UKAstoria
2/5: Brugge, BelgiumMaZ
2/7: Copenhagen, DenmarkVega
2/8: Dusseldorf, GermanyZakk
2/9: Darmstadt, GermanyCentralstation
2/10: Munich, GermanyMuffathalle
2/12: Zurich, SwitzerlandX-Tra
2/13: Dijon, FranceLA Vapeur
2/14: Paris, FranceOui FM Private Session
2/15: Lille, FranceLe Grand Mix
2/17: Istanbul, TurkeyLutfu Kirdar Rumeli Hall

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