Ahh, I do like those Young Knives. Their PR got very excited that he was included in the opening few lines and sent me an emailing declaring he was famous, bless him. Drummer Oliver Askew was a very friendly chappy (plus his name is fantastic), and he did laugh most of the way through our chat. In case you're wondering which one he is, my colleagues looked at the accompanying press photo and announced he was the 'non-scary looking one'. So that's how you can tell.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in October 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
OLIVER ASKEW - THE YOUNG KNIVES
At first glance, The Young Knives appear to be one of those frighteningly arty, super-intelligent types. They live in Oxford, are famed for wearing sensible tweed and their videos are a masterclass in deadpan expressions. However, their PR assured us they are all ‘so funny’ and this was found to be truthful when we rang drummer Oliver Askew, who spent much of the interview giggling down the phone.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch’s finest, The Young Knives release the crashing, surreal oddpop single ‘Terra Firma’ next week and are preparing to get back on tour. The drummer is walking down the street as we speak to him, so his voice is occasionally muffled by an exciting buzz of background sounds and chatter.
Hello Oliver. How are you doing?
Pretty good. I’ve been on a bus for the last half hour. Just got off, so I’m walking down through the centre of Oxford.
What’s it like there today?
It’s pretty busy. A lot of tourists. You can probably hear someone playing a xylophone [he’s walking past and the noise is getting louder] There’s Oxford for you.
I’m just getting over a cold. What would you recommend?
Echinacea tea bags, and slow-release Vitamin C and zinc.
I thought I’d start with that one so if I start coughing down the phone, you know why.
[laughs]
Your new single ‘Terra Firma’ – what’s it about?
When we wrote it, it had no meaning and it was just some words that we liked – fake rabbit, real snake. We have since written a meaning into it.
Is that because people kept asking you what it meant?
[laughs] Well we decided that we really needed to work out the meaning of it. I’m just saying goodbye to Thomas. See you later Tom! Sorry, I was walking alongside the bassist. We decided the snake’s a metaphor for bad drug experiences and the rabbit’s the thing you want the drug to be. Not that we’re particularly druggy people, and it’s not about us anyway, even if you took it literally. But there you go, there’s the meaning. We decided last week. [laughs]
I was enjoying the video earlier. Whose fake rabbit was that?
I don’t know who brought that into the video shoot, I think it was probably the director.
It’s not a Young Knives mascot or anything?
[laughs] The snake’s the real thing. People keep saying “Is that snake fake?” No, it cost lots of money! We had a snake handler and everything.
I thought it was fake.
Oh no! I think that’s just ‘cause it didn’t really move around, even though we poked it quite a bit.
None of you were showing any fear.
[laughs] Even though he denies it, Henry was really, really scared of that snake.
You’re on tour at the moment aren’t you?
On Friday we start in Cambridge. We’ve been practicing this week, we had our last practice today, re-learning how to play the new songs. We can’t wait to get on tour really. It’s been a while.
I have to confess I missed you last time round. I bought a ticket, forgot what day it was and remembered the day after.
Oh no! No worries, it was probably a rubbish gig.
Your support bands, did you choose those yourself?
Yeah we do. We like going on tour, and we rarely get to see gigs when we’re at home, so we always try and choose the bands we really like so at least we get to see them loads of times. Pete and the Pirates, I like them. Ungdomskulen, we first met them the first time we went to Norway. And they’re amazing, so we look forward to getting blown off stage every night by them.
Have you got any hi-jinks planned for your onstage activities?
I’m not sure what the Dartnall brothers are doing. They might fight onstage, they did that about a month ago. One of them kicked the other one and a little bit of fisticuffs - not fisticuffs, but a little bit of a moment where they almost killed each other. The angle was real. I saw it in their eyes. I get the good deal, hiding behind the drums. I’m not sure, I just think a lot of drinking, and it’ll be good to see our crew again, ‘cause we haven’t seen them for a few months and we like them.
And you’re going to Butlins as well aren’t you?
We did Butlins last year as well, a similar time of year and it’s really strange. It’s sort of out-of-season and really cold, and they give you a chalet which is really nice and loads of beer. That should be a funny gig.
Do any of you order diva-like riders on tour?
We should have redesigned our rider for this tour. We’ve still got socks on it, we’ve upped it from three pairs to eight. There’s nothing quite like discarding your old socks at a smelly venue and putting new ones on. It’s like Christmas Day
But apart from that, we’ve got nothing very rock and roll and exciting. I think Tom put on the rider local interest postcards and some stamps, send it home as a sort of a diary of that particular place. We’re not very rock and roll, we’ve just got loads of booze, loads of salad and stuff on there, pre-packed sandwiches plus spirits. I think our crew drink much more than us.
The Mercury Music Awards (The Young Knives were nominated) – who did you put your money on?
Well I thought it was going to go to Bat For Lashes. But I wanted Maps to win because I think it’s highly interesting. I’m kind of glad [Klaxons] did, above The View, ‘cause if The View had won, then what’s that about?
But did you enjoy yourselves there?
We didn’t realise it was going to be as corporate as it was. When we turned up it was a bit of a shock. Me and Tom used to work at HMV and every year when the nominations would come out you were really excited and you thought it stood for something, you know. It’s different when you get there and you realise it’s a sort of corporate do and a bit of a jolly for all these executives, you realise it doesn’t really mean very much. Well obviously it would have been brilliant winning, ‘cause you get loads of exposure and record deals and stuff, but I think it would have been silly if we’d won. I think it should have gone probably to a small act like Maps, you know something which would have made a difference to them.
That was for ‘Voices of Animals and Men’ and you’ve got your new album coming out early next year?
Yeah, we haven’t got a title for it yet. It’s really annoying and we can’t think of anything. We really liked the title of the first album and I can’t think of anything that’s good so we might just opt for something rubbish. You’ll know when you see it.
You launched ‘Voices of Animals and Men’ with a village fete, have you got anything similar in mind for the next album?
We were talking about it yesterday actually. We recently toyed with the idea of getting like a tractor and a trailer and doing a gig through the streets of Oxford or something, but we realised that’s still a little bit village fete-y, so we don’t want to do that again. And then I was toying with the idea of the Post Office Tower in London, [which] occasionally opens its restaurant to do gigs and stuff and I thought that would be nice, to do a really high gig in London.
But no, we’ve not really decided what we’re doing. I think we’ll probably do it in Oxford somewhere. There’s a road called Cowley Road and it’s nice, kind of multi-cultural and quite friendly, and yeah, hope to do a gig down there somewhere.
Have you written the whole album now?
It’s all done yeah, it’s all finished. It’s sounding pretty good actually. In a weird sort of way, we’re more pleased with this than the last album, I don’t know, I guess that’s what a lot of bands say, “second album, really pleased with it.” I can’t really listen to the other album anymore, ‘cause I’m sick of it. This one’s a bit more interesting, I think it stands up to repeated listens as what it is.
Are there any particular songs we should listen out for?
I think that the next single after ‘Terra Firma’ will probably be ‘Up All Night.’ Even though there’s a Razorlight song called ‘Up All Night’.
They stole the idea off you?
Exactly. And there’s other things, quite dark songs like ‘Current Of The River’ and ‘Mummy Light The Fire’. Quite slow, mesmerising songs.
I nicked a question off your forum. What are you currently listening to?
The new Robert Wyatt album’s very good. Future Of The Left, made up of members of mclusky and Jarcrew, both bands we’ve played with before. They’re sort of a supergroup and they’re really good. Foals are a band on our label, I think they’re really going to be massive next year.
I saw on your MySpace you’ve got a competition where your fans can win dinner with you?
Oh yeah.
You almost sounded like you were looking forward to that.
I am actually really looking forward to it. Initially when it was thought up we thought we were going to have to go regardless of where that person was, and then it was decided we should go somewhere relatively central. It’s going to be a boozy do. It’ll be really nice, we’ll do some acoustic songs, just get really full. I think we’ve half decided on a restaurant, I don’t think it’s anything like Italian, I think it’s kind of a neutral foodstuff restaurant so everything should be on offer. I’m a veggie but the Dartnall brothers eat loads of meat.
It’s made me think of that old question, if you could have anyone at a dinner party, alive or dead, who would you choose?
Probably somebody like Bill Hicks. Although I’m not sure, he might be nasty. Musician-wise, someone like Frank Black. Although he would eat all the food, so perhaps not.
What are you getting up to for the rest of today?
Well I’m just walking back towards my flat in Oxford, have some food, relax, probably listen to music. We’ve been practicing all week so we’ve given ourselves the afternoon off and it’s Henry’s wedding anniversary tomorrow. I don’t really know what to do. This always happens to us, when we’re not rehearsing or touring, we’re sort of lost.
Is that why you’re currently wandering aimlessly round Oxford?
[laughs] I might go to my local shop.
You should set up a xylophone and play in the middle of town, I hear that goes down quite well.
[laughs] Yeah. I’ll think of something.
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The Young Knives release single 'Terra Firma' on October 29th through Transgressive. The band are touring the UK in November, starting at Leeds Cockpit on the 2nd and finishing at London Dingwalls on the 13th
The Young Knives
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