Interview - Fresh Legs

They're a good band, are Fresh Legs. We got them to sign a postcard proclaiming their love for Tom. It's currently on display in my car, alongside a random piece of sparkly jewellery and a Pigeon Detectives keyring. My car is indie as.

Previously published on mINtSOUTH.com in October 2009
Words - Suzy Sims
Editor - Rob Ball
(c) mINtSOUTH.com

FRESH LEGS - SOUTHSEA FEST 2009

mINtSOUTH: Tell me a bit about yourselves.
Carl: “We’ve been going for about three years. Myself, Thom and Karlos were in a band in school called Gravy Boat, it was good fun.”
Thom: “It was very awful.”
Carl: “We went to South Downs College. There was an enrichment course called Rock Band just to play music, and eventually form a band to play a showcase at the Wedge. Me and Thom wanted to start playing together in this Rock Band group and then we invited Karlos to come along and drum because the drummers were rubbish. Karlos knew Ella from PE class so he invited her to come to sing, and then we started practising in rehearsal rooms, started making our own songs, and then gradually got a gig, and we’ve been doing it ever since. Just having fun, making music with your friends.”

mINtSOUTH: Can you describe your music?
Thom: “We try to write pop songs because they’re what we enjoy to listen to and enjoy to play. There’s no need to stray from pop, if that’s what you like doing and it sounds good.”
Carl: “It’s pop but with some quirks in the song to make it a bit different.”

mINtSOUTH: Southsea Fest – discuss.
Thom: “We’re playing at the Wedgewood Rooms.”
Carl: “We played last year and the first year as well. It was supposed to be a mini music festival, you know, a couple of venues along the street. We played at Havana Bar. And then the following year it was absolutely brilliant, absolutely loved it. It was nice to see Albert Road filled with people here to get drunk and listen to music, it just was a unity, we really liked it and we’re glad to be back.”

mINtSOUTH: Any onstage antics to get everyone going?
Carl: “We just played Bestival last weekend, and we all had gold suits on, like all-in-one suits.”
Thom: “Spandex. It looked all right on him but I looked horrible. I looked like a saggy elephant.”
Carl: “Our friend Gary made these pink legs with Fresh Legs written up them, so we’ve got them with us as well which is nice.”

mINtSOUTH: Which band member would you eat first on a desert island?
Carl: “Our drummer Karlos. He has pain au chocolat for breakfast every day.”
Thom: “Definitely Karlos. He’d be lovely. We could all each eat a little bit of ourselves, like cut off our toes.”
Carl: “I would really like to eat my thigh.”
Thom: “I always think that. If you had your leg amputated, would you be allowed to keep it afterwards? And cook it up?”

mINtSOUTH: Do you support any charities?
Carl: “I work for charity. I’m the really annoying person that comes to your door – ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ – stupidly enthusiastic, may I add. I’ve done the Medical Foundation, which is for victims of torture, I’ve also done Scope, which is for disabled peoples, and I’m now doing CARE, which is the world’s largest development charity, working all over the world, in places of conflict, natural disasters and third world countries. Shall I do a pitch?”

mINtSOUTH: How did you choose the name of your band?
Thom: “We didn’t know what to call our band and then me and Carl were sat in a car outside a school and then some girls walked past. You could tell they were going to grow into very attractive women and Carl just went, ‘Fresh legs!’ and we thought we could use that for a while. We didn’t realise it was a sporting term, like ‘Fresh legs on at half time’.”
Carl: “We were going to be called Wellington, which I still really like. But Fresh Legs sort of stuck - it’s a bit embarrassing.”

mINtSOUTH: Gorilla versus bear – who would win in a fight?
Thom: [very excitedly] “I’ve been asking myself this for years! I was watching this video and it was basically gorilla versus bear and the bear was winning, but then the gorilla picked up a stick and just battered him with it. I think the gorilla would win because of its intellect. The bear would just lash out, whereas the gorilla would think ‘Wait, I can see its weak points…’”
Carl: “I agree with that. I think the gorilla would win hands-down.”

Shoutbox – Fresh Legs: “We have an EP – Julian - coming out October 4th. It’s a four track EP, all new songs. We’ve sent a copy to Rob da Bank who’s like a fan of ours. Every track we’ve sent him he’s played on his radio show on Radio 1 which is well nice, so hopefully he can do the same with some tracks from our EP.”

Fresh Legs - MySpace