Interview - Detroit Social Club @ Great Escape 2010

Submitted to mINtSOUTH.com in June 2010 but unpublished
Interview and words - Suzy Sims
(c) Suzy Sims

INTERVIEW - DETROIT SOCIAL CLUB @ THE GREAT ESCAPE 2010

Dale Knight and Johnny Bond

mINtSOUTH: The Great Escape. Did you only get here today?
Johnny: “Yeah.”
Dale: “We saw a bit of Rachelle Van Zanten who was on before us, the slide guitarist from Canada. Her band were quite rootsy.”
Johnny: “We played earlier today at the Queens Hotel.”
mINtSOUTH: What about later tonight?
Johnny: “I want to see Band Of Skulls. They’re on after us, so that’s convenient.”

mINtSOUTH: What do you associate with Brighton?
Dale: “Quadrophenia. Has anyone said rock?”
Johnny: “I don’t really know much about it, I only came here when I was 10. Brighton rock and Quadrophenia, there you go.”

mINtSOUTH: What can people expect to see from you on stage?
Johnny: “We are very loud.”
mINtSOUTH: I figured that when your tour manager gave me earplugs to wear during your soundcheck.
Dale: “Some people say we’re too loud, but I don’t agree.”
Johnny: “The thing about playing live is you’re trying to get across a different side that’s not on the recordings. If you saw us but you listened to the album first, you wouldn’t expect what it sounds like live. If you saw us live first, you’d probably think the album was quite tame and sort of reserved.”
Dale: “It’s a shame when you see a band and it’s as good as the album and there’s nothing more. We try and add stuff.”
Johnny: “It makes it more interesting than just hearing it back as you do on the record.”

mINtSOUTH: Have you got any albums or releases out?
Johnny: “Our first album is out on May 31st and there’s a single, Sunshine People, before that. The album’s called Existence.”

mINtSOUTH: Looking forward to it? Has it been a long time in the making?
Johnny: “It has been a long time. We recorded it last summer, and that’s after spending a year and a half trying to find the right producer to do it. And it was put back another year. It’s been a long time coming. I think it’s good timing though, because people can hear it ready in time for the festivals over the summer. People who have got the album can go and listen and will hopefully learn the words.”
Dale: “We’re looking forward to playing gigs once it’s been released because at the minute you can see people trying to get into it live, but they can’t get involved because they don’t know the album.”
Johnny: “We’re very excited!”

mINtSOUTH: How would you describe your music?
Johnny: “That’s hard to answer because the album’s got a lot of different sounds on it. There are some bits like Silver which is like a hip hop song. It’s got its rocky moments and where it possibly sounds unintentionally mainstream – I think every band’s got songs that just naturally seem more radio friendly. There are quite a lot of experimental songs on the album which probably won’t be in the singles, so if you get the album it’s a good method of getting that side of things.”

mINtSOUTH: Bonus hidden track?
Dale: “There is a hidden track on there. It’s not hard to find, because it’s at the end.”
mINtSOUTH: In my car I’ve got a cassette player, so if I copy the CD then there’s a 20 minute gap.
Johnny: “You need to get with the times. Gramophone in your boot.”

mINtSOUTH: Can you tell me a fact about yourselves?
Johnny: “Dale’s a great spooner. We have to share a room when we go on tour. If it’s a quiet night or a cold evening, just turn to Dale.”
Dale: “Bondy is a budding saxophonist.”
Johnny: “I got given two of them, an alto sax and a tenor sax, about a month ago? Getting there.”

mINtSOUTH: What are your plans for 2010?
Johnny: “Got the festivals coming up. Two gigs at Glastonbury on the John Peel stage and then playing the Queens Head. We’ve got T In The Park and Isle of Wight, should be good.”
Dale: “We’re doing Fuji Rock as well.”
Johnny: “Very excited about that.”
Dale: “It’s going to be a 10 hour flight straight there, play the gig, and straight back.”
Johnny: “We should be doing a tour for the album at some point as well. We’re on this Q Magazine tour at the minute [with Tiffany Page and Goldhawks] which will end in a week and then we’ve got the album coming out so people are going to expect us to tour again. It’s going to be a busy year.”

mINtSOUTH: Gorilla v Bear – who would win?
Dale: “I think a bear would win. But the gorilla’s cleverer.”
Johnny: “I imagine the bear to be like the bad guy in Rocky IV, he’s all brawn and he’d just go raging in.”
Dale: “The gorilla’s got massive claws and massive teeth so I think it’s got a chance.”
Johnny: “I’m going with gorilla.”
Dale: “Deadlock!”
mINtSOUTH: I’ll give you some time to think about it...
Dale: “I want to see some CGI version of this battle now.”

Detroit Social Club

Interview - Pulled Apart By Horses @ Great Escape 2010

Previously published on mINtSOUTH.com in June 2010
Words - Suzy Sims
(c) mINtSOUTH.com

INTERVIEW - PULLED APART BY HORSES @THE GREAT ESCAPE 2010

We first spot Pulled Apart By Horses – Tom (vocals / guitar), Robert (bass), James (guitar), minus Lee (drums) who’s on paternity leave - as they’re sneaking around Brighton Dome, attempting to catch The Cribs in mid-soundcheck. When this fails, we lead them to sit in the park, surrounded by happy toddlers and a man playing the bongos in the near distance. It’s perfectly summery, outdoor beer weather. Let the interview begin:

mINtSOUTH: This is probably going to be the least professional interview you’ve had all day.
PABH: “We’ll we’re the least professional band in the world, so it’ll be fine!”

mINtSOUTH: Can you tell us a fact about yourselves?
Tom: “Robert John Lee - his original name is Robot John Lee, and he’s actually a robot that was made in the mid Nineties. And he runs on oil.”
Rob: “And I was not a body double, but the actual actor that played Robocop.”
James: “You can see the jaw structure there, look. If you shaved Rob’s hair, he’s got a metal helmet.”

mINtSOUTH: The Great Escape... Are you going to have time to stick around and see many bands?
Tom: “It’s really hard because we’re playing at 9 and there’s a few bands we want to see that are all around that sort of time. It’s really annoying.”
James: “We’re really good friends with Blood Red Shoes. They go on at half nine and we go on at quarter past. But we’re going to run over and say hi.”
Rob: “I really want to watch the Cribs. We can get away with it now because normally if Lee was here, our drummer, he’d probably hit us.”
James: “There’s Chickenhawk, they’re playing today. Try and catch them.”

Tom: “The Great Escape’s awesome. Although last time we played it was such a blur. We played at the Sallis Benney at 7pm, and then played the Pav Tav at 12am to a load of drunk people whilst being drunk ourselves, and then the next day played The Hope at 12pm still drunk. By that point we were just on the edge, we had just completely lost it but that added to it.”
James: “Because it was the first time we’d done Great Escape and been down here for it, i think we were having a little bit too much fun as well. There wasn’t much sleep had last year, but a lot of drinking, staying up.”

mINtSOUTH: What can people expect to see from the Pulled Apart By Hoses live experience?
Rob: “There’s the obvious bits which is sweat, sometimes blood. Sick doesn’t happen anymore.”
Tom “Well it does occasionally rear its head.”
Rob: “If you eat an hour before you go on. James usually adds to his collection of knee injuries [James shows off a horrifying bruised scab]

Tom: “That started off with seven stitches. And then we played a couple of gigs at the Camden Crawl.”
James: “There’s only 3 left now. This occurs regularly.”
Tom: “He’s got the knees of a cheap prostitute, from the amount of times he’s landed on them. We are a live band like, since day one we’ve just toured relentlessly and played about 400 gigs in the space of about two years.”

mINtSOUTH: I saw you a couple of times last year, when you were at Southampton Joiners and there was a lot of jumping into the crowd.
Tom: “It’s kind of like unplanned chaos, and that’s the fun of it, Just wait to see what happens and go with the flow. One thing is about Brighton, for a few of the first gigs we played here we realised the crowd are a bit too cool for school sometimes, like everyone just stands there at the back. But last year it was a lot better. It’s probably because people didn’t know us then.”

mINtSOUTH: I think Portsmouth can be worse, you get people stood there arms folded not clapping.
James: “I think it was the Wedgewood Rooms - that was a strange one.”
Tom: “Everyone’s just standing there and you’re like ‘Oh god, this is awful, everyone hates it,’ and then people come up to you after and they’re like ‘Oh that was amazing, we really loved it.’ And you’re like. shake a leg then, go on!”

Rob: “Like Tom said before it’s a case of how the crowd interaction and getting in the crowd is because we consider the crowd to be as much part of the band as we are. A lot of people know the end riff we generally finish on so we’ve had a lot of different people just get onstage. Sometimes if we’re on tour with a band or we’ve got a tech we haven’t used before, we’re like ‘Right, you’re playing.’ We did it in Europe with Blood Red Shoes. Laura-Mary and Steven got up to play at the end of ‘I Punched A Lion’... and Laura said she was more nervous to do that than to actually play the gig herself. I jumped over with my bass like ‘LET’S ROCK OUT! WOOO!’ And she was like ‘Aaargh!’ The other thing we were going to say, we hate that whole idea of there being a barrier between the crowd and the band.”
Tom: “I fucking hate barriers.”

mINtSOUTH: The thing is, the more famous you get, the bigger the gap.
Tom: “I remember we played at Audio with Sky Larkin and it was just a crappy barrier that was set up. I opened it up and then this guy came and shut it, so we ended up pushing it on the floor.”
James: “He was furious, that guy.”
mINtSOUTH snapper Rob: "From a photographer’s point of view, I do like the barriers."
Tom: “That makes sense. Well it’s not going to keep you safe with us lot. We’ll just climb all over it.”

mINtSOUTH: What are your plans for 2010?
Tom: “We’ve got some big plans actually. The first single is coming out on June 14th and we filmed an Evil Dead style rip-off music video for it, and the album comes out a little bit after that.”
Rob: “We’re doing PukkelPop in Belgium so that’s going to be ace.”
PABH: “What else is there – Glastonbury, Truck, Heavy Fest.”
Rob: “{Offset} is pencilled in.”
James: “It was really good though last year.”
Tom: “Although between the main stage and where the crowd were, it felt like it was about a mile. When we were playing I jumped off the stage and I was going to try and get to the crowd and it took me like forever. I was just like, yeah I’m getting there! I’m getting there! And by the time I got there, I couldn’t even sing.”

James: “I think after the summer there’s talk of us doing another tour but maybe a bit bigger than this one we’re doing in June.”
Rob: “And working on album number two. We can’t wait to get another album out.”

mINtSOUTH: Album.
Rob: “I misread that as All Bum first.”
Tom: “It’s self-titled. We were thinking of things to call it and we looked at the song title list and it was like no, our songs are too ridiculously titled.”
Rob: “When we sometimes write out the setlist and we can’t be bothered to write out the full length of the songs, it’ll just say stuff like Fuck, Crap, Meat, Hammer, High Five...”
James: “You get people picking the setlist up off the stage and being like ‘What?’”

Tom: “We [recorded the album] just after Leeds Fest. We had a tiny slot to just bang it out really, but that was the best way for it because we weren’t too precious about it, we just wanted to capture it. We did it in eight days in James Kenosha’s recording studios in Bridlington. Lived off microwave lasagnes from Tesco, and went nuts basically."
James: “I keep on saying it’s like a document of the past two years of being on the road.”
Rob: “And with it being our introduction to the record buying public – all two of them – we want to make it an honest account of what we sound like live and as a band and it’s really kind of stripped back.”

mINtSOUTH Have you gone for any special vinyl editions?
James: “I was adamant it’s got to be on heavyweight vinyl.”
Tom: “We got 11 different artists, some are our friends and some are artists we just really loved, and got them to illustrate each song from the album with the lyrics. Should be a nice little package to hopefully persuade people into buying the album.”
Rob: “It’s a nice thing to own. They’re probably going to download it anyway.”

mINtSOUTH: But they shouldn’t?
Tom: “Depends what you do with it. I download stuff then if I really like it I’ll get it on vinyl anyway, just to have the artwork at the correct size.”
James: “If you download all their stuff, you should go and watch them live. Or buy a t shirt, or a single if you’re skint.”

Tom: “I hope that’s the way that people do it now. I think you get a lot of kids, it’s really good that they’re getting into music that they wouldn’t normally just because it’s available for them, but at the same time I think that the new generation of kids just take it for granted now. They’ll just download the crap out of anything.”
Rob: “You’ve got to look for the positives of it. I guess it puts a lot of emphasis on live bands now which has done us a lot of favours. I should probably go and reintroduce myself to my friends and family at some point.”
Tom: “Say sorry to our girlfriends.”

mINtSOUTH: What do you associate with Brighton?
Rob: “Music, playing gigs, getting very drunk and not being able to remember most of it, but knowing that I should go back because I did really enjoy it... but not being able to quite remember what I enjoyed.”

mINtSOUTH: The more tattoos the better the drummer? Discuss. This was more one for Lee who’s not here.
Tom: “Lee’s like the fastest drummer in the world.”
Rob: “I would say that tattoos and drummers go hand in hand, but our drummer’s only got one hand.”
James: “He was born with a kind of disfigured hand. He’s got missing fingers and half a thumb. He’s got this tattoo and it’s amazing.”
Rob: “One says LOVE on his fingers, and the other says NO ROOM FOR HATE. What it should say is, PENTHOUSE SUITE FOR HATE WITH CHOCOLATES ON THE PILLOWS. He’s an angry motherfucker. But we love him.”

Tom: “I think it gives us a bit more credibility. Like the only thing I’ve got on my body is hair and moles. It looks a bit more interesting when you see some colourful ink on someone’s skin.”
James: “And it’s cool because his tattoos are a document of his life. He doesn’t get them for fashion reasons or anything like that.”

mINtSOUTH: Final one. Gorilla Vs Bear – who would win in a fight?
Rob: “That’s what we’re talking about!”
James: “I think it might be the bear. The bear’s going to be a lot taller.”
Tom: “Maybe a bear that hasn’t eaten for a little bit. Angry dudes, aren’t they.”
Rob: “It depends what context you’re in, because if you’re talking like Yogi Bear versus King Kong, he’s got no chance. King Kong’s got him. I think bear, hands down.”
James: “Bear wins. Gorilla dead.”

Pulled Apart By Horses

Interview - Band Of Skulls

Band Of Skulls have a wicked bluesy rock sounds - go and check them out now, dammit.

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

BAND OF SKULLS - SOUTHSEA FEST 2009

mINtSOUTH: Tell me a bit about yourselves.
Matt: “Me and Russell, when we were little children we were playing music. Same beards - we didn’t really look too much different - beards, sunglasses, hangover. We’ve been playing in various different bands and we met Emma a couple of years ago when Russell went to art college. We had a load of different line ups and this is the final one which we’ve stuck with.”

mINtSOUTH: Can you describe your music?
Band Of Skulls: “Bluesy rock and roll…Garage soul funk.”
Emma: “I suppose the easiest way would be to say that we are a loud rock and roll band, but then everyone thinks different things about what we do.”
Matt: “I think we’re committed. Commited to a mental institution.”
Russell: “In my mind we’re like this Sixties soul girl group.”

mINtSOUTH: How did you choose the name of your band?
Matt: “Our home venue is the Talking Heads in Southampton. We used to run a club night there and we also needed to name our band. Because Talking Heads had already been taken, apparently, by some band in America, we chose Band of Skulls.”
Russell: “That didn’t really explain anything!”
Matt: “There’s a Hamlet-esque painting on the flappy board outside with a skull on it.”

mINtSOUTH: Southsea Fest – have you played yet today?
Matt: “We did an acoustic set, but our show is later on tonight. We’re very excited to play. We’ve just come off a two month tour in the US and this is our first UK gig for a long, long time.”
Russell: “It’s the beginning of our UK tour. It’s just trying to stay off the beers until ten past ten…”
Matt: “Which we’ve already failed at.”

mINtSOUTH: Which band member would you eat first on a desert island?
Russell: “Depending what you wanted, a healthy option would be me.”
Emma: “Matt is a nightclub inside.”
Matt: “If you wanted to get drunk, you’d eat me. You’d have more fun eating me. Russell you’d survive longer and Emma there’s nothing to her so you’d be wasting time.”

mINtSOUTH: Do you support any charities?
Emma: “My uncle once for my birthday present paid for an elephant to be fed and watered for one year. I got a little picture, and I felt good about it.”
Matt: “I understand today is a charitable affair. I guess the main stuff we do is where people ask us to play. When the charity people come up to you in the street, you’re like why are you coming to me man, do I look like I have any cash?”
Russell: “They look at me now - and they look down and walk away.”

mINtSOUTH: Gorilla versus bear – who would win in a fight?
Russell: “That’s a tough one, I don’t know man. Bears would probably get their arms around the back and then snap the neck.”
Matt: “Gorillas are fierce and they’re agile.”
Russell: “And more intelligent – but bears are about three times bigger.”
Emma: “I reckon a bear. Have you seen the size of their claws?”
Russell: “Anyway, it’ll never happen, unless there was a terrible security lapse at a zoo. ‘Oh no, the fence is down!’”
Matt: “It’ll be like Jurassic Park all over again.”
Russell: “We’re going with bear.”

mINtSOUTH: Any onstage antics to get everyone going at the gig tonight?
Russell: “Yes, there’s going to be a fight between a bear and a gorilla.”

Shoutbox – Band of Skulls: “Our album ‘Baby Darling Doll Face Honey’ comes out 21st September in England and we are touring the entire county to support it. Then we’re back to the US after that.”

Band Of Skulls

Interview - Max Raptor

I think this was one of the last interviews I did at Southsea Fest, so by that time I'd spent five hours indoors repeating the same questions. I kind of stopped paying attention to everyone and went a bit stir crazy. Max Raptor were jolly good fun to speak with though.

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

MAX RAPTOR - SOUTHSEA FEST 2009

mINtSOUTH: Tell me a bit about yourselves.
Max Raptor: “We’ve been playing about three, four years. Two years seriously of gig gig gig and just getting it out there.”

mINtSOUTH: Southsea Fest – have you played yet today?
Matt: “We’re playing Southsea Social Club later. It’s got a horrible amount of alliteration in the title, but I’m very much looking forward to it. It’s quite a small stage so I don’t know how crazy we can be.”
Tom: “We normally do the mile run, from one side of the stage to the other, but with it being 40 cm we’re just going to jump up and down.”
Matt: ”We cause a bit of chaos wherever we go anyway.”

mINtSOUTH: Any bands you’re looking forward to seeing?
Max Raptor: “Jumping Ships. Would like to see Blakfish actually. The Black & Reds. Anyone from Birmingham. Neighbours to us.”
Wil: “We’re from the Midlands. Birmingham and Derby, we’re sort of in the middle - the middle of nowhere.”
Max Raptor: “We play Brighton quite a bit, Portsmouth a few times, Southampton a few times, Winchester…”
Tom: “They’re all quite similar. You like your takeaway places, don’t you? There’s loads of that, kebabs and antiques. I’m going to get myself a kebab and a Louis XIV chair.”

mINtSOUTH: How did you choose the name of your band?
Max Raptor: “It’s a character, and all the songs are pretty much based around that character. Max Raptor sounds nice and it looks good written down. It’s a strong word ‘raptor’. It’s quite fierce and stealthy and it kind of jumps up on you. Like our music. In a dark alley!”

mINtSOUTH: How would you describe your music?
Max Raptor: “Energetic, fast, punky, rocky, Buzzcocks, / Clash style with a bit of a modern twist.”
Matt: “It’s like a small hurricane put into a satin bag in your back pocket.”
Wil: “Vietnamese boxing rock.”
Matt: “Are you going to come down later?”

mINtSOUTH: Where are you playing?
Matt: “Ah, I did answer that earlier! Southsea Social Club. I don’t know what time.”
JB: “Before the bingo, probably.”
Matt: “Meat raffle! I passed the most dodgy butchers on the way here. I think it had a barber’s in the front as well. A bit like Sweeney Todd.”
Wil: “But it wasn’t a pie shop…”
[mINtSOUTH was in attendance at the gig, and thoroughly enjoyed it].

mINtSOUTH: Which band member would you eat first on a desert island?
Wil: “We’d have a roast of Matt. There’s loads of him.”
Matt: “There’s a lot of good quality meat on me. I think JB would be able to run away the quickest. He’s free-range.”
Tom: “There’s quite a lot of him so we’ll probably have to chop him into two.”

mINtSOUTH: Gorilla versus bear – who would win in a fight?
Matt: “Neither because a raptor would come down and kill them all.”
Max Raptor: “What type of bear? Grizzly? And if it’s Silverback, Silverback versus grizzly – god only knows.”
JB: “Gorilla, definitely. It’s all about the guns with a gorilla.”
Matt: “But a Silverback is quite placid unless he’s in mating season.”
Tom: “Yeah but still if a bear wandered into his house…”
Matt: “Monkeys have got houses? Good.”

Shoutbox –
Max Raptor: “There is a tour being organised at the end of October, and so we’ll be no doubt here for that. But if that doesn’t happen, I’m sorry for lying. See you there. One two three – bye!”

Max Raptor on MySpace

Interview - The Little Philistines - Southsea Fest

Another of the interviews I carried out in the Kings Theatre's bar during Southsea Fest. Very cheery and charming band.

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

INTERVIEW - THE LITTLE PHILISTINES @ SOUTHSEA FEST 2009

mINtSOUTH: Tell me a bit about yourselves.
Emily: “We all live in London. I’m from Southend which is a seaside town so I kind of have a kindred feeling with Southsea. John and Rob decided to have a new band. John said let’s have Adam, and I wanted to be in the band but they would only let me sing and play violin if I also agreed to play keyboards.”
John: “…And if she brought biscuits.”
Emily: “Then after that had all been sorted we didn’t have a drummer, then at my birthday party one year we did a little gig and Matt begged us to let him play.”

mINtSOUTH: Can you describe your music?
The Little Philistines: “Poppy, indie, guitary, violiny, quirky, banging drumming, harmonies, intelligent lyrics, a bit political. Music to have fun to basically - but also to make you think.”

mINtSOUTH: What do you like your listeners to be doing while they’re listening to you?
Emily: “Hopefully our listeners will be singing along with our music, or dancing, or both. We did an acoustic set for Recharged Radio and it was nice to get instant feedback in the chatroom.”

mINtSOUTH: Southsea Fest – have you played yet today?
The Little Philistines: “We played at the Kings upstairs. It was great. Everyone’s just been really really friendly.” John: “But then I don’t imagine many people are drunk yet, so maybe later it will turn dark…”
Adam: “It’s a great set up having all these venues on the same road. It’s really cool.”

mINtSOUTH: Any bands you’re looking forward to seeing? The Little Philistines: “Tubelord, Anja McCloskey who’s from Haunted Stereo, Strange Death of Liberal England, Beans On Toast.”

mINtSOUTH: What are your plans for the rest of the weekend?
Rob: “That’s very forward of you.”
Matt: “I’ve got to drive to Sheffield tomorrow for my mum’s birthday, so I’m missing all the bands I want to see today. This Town Needs Guns, I wish I were seeing. This City I wish I were seeing, The Xcerts I wish I were seeing.”
John: “Emily, can you go and get the violins?”
Adam: “I’m going to find out where the free drink is. The rest of the weekend may do as it will.”

mINtSOUTH: How did you choose the name of your band?
Emily: "There was a bit of a band name war, it went on for several decades. We ended up with a shortlist and The Little Philistines was on the shortlist because that’s what my dad used to call me and my sister when we were little and we didn’t appreciate culture. It kind of won by default because it was the least unpopular. But actually we’ve quite grown into it now. My dad’s reaction has been fairly non-committal - he just raised his eyebrows.”

mINtSOUTH: Which band member would you eat first on a desert island?
Matt: “I’m the meatiest.”
John: “I think I would go for Emily because I suspect that Emily eats the best out of all of us. We should get the nutrients from what she’s eating.”

mINtSOUTH: Gorilla versus bear – who would win in a fight?
Matt: “Bear. I’ve seen Grizzly Man.”
John: “A Gorilla could knock your head off with one swipe.”
Adam: “If we’re talking a polar bear, they’re huge.”
Matt: “How many bands split up over this question?”

Shoutbox – Single ‘Bus Pass / Judith Cut My Head Off’ is out now on iTunes.

http://www.myspace.com/thelittlephilistines

Interview - The Ramblings - Southsea Fest 2009

One of the 13 interviews I carried out during Southsea Fest 2009.

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

THE RAMBLINGS @ SOUTHSEA FEST 2009

mINtSOUTH: Tell me a bit about yourselves.
Robin: “We’ve been going about two-and-a-half years now. We all went to uni together in Southampton and me and Kooksy just used to get drunk and mess around, he had a little electronic drum-kit, I had my guitar and we were just jamming. Then Johnny got involved, started doing a bit of singing, and then slowly but surely building up to getting everybody in the band. We were together for about a month and we played our first gig, and we’ve just been going ever since really.”

mINtSOUTH: Can you describe your music?
Robin: “I’d say it was like progressive indie. It’s got lots of hidden melodies and lots of structure to it, very floaty vocals over some really harsh vocals, nice piano. Bits and pieces all jammed together.”

mINtSOUTH: Southsea Fest – looking forward to your gig this evening?
Robin: “Yeah, big time. It’s going to be really good.
mINtSOUTH: Have you got any onstage antics to get everyone going?
Robin: “Johnny, our singer, is pretty animated, he always gets the crowd going. Lots of feet stomping, lots of hand clapping, lots of audience participation. We’ve played [in Albert Road] quite a lot. As a street, with all the pubs and everything like that, to put something on like this is great. Proper carnival atmosphere. You couldn’t pull it off in Southampton basically.”

mINtSOUTH: How did you choose the name of your band?
Robin: “That was down to Kooksy. He had to come up with a name and he just said The Ramblings because it gives us the license to say pretty much what we like, to ramble on!”

mINtSOUTH: Gorilla versus bear – who would win in a fight?
Robin: “I reckon a bear’s going to do it. Bears have got big paws and they’re very tall. It would be very close.”

Shoutbox – “We’re launching our single at the Dublin Castle on the 17th October. Everybody’s invited!”

http://www.myspace.com/theramblingslive

Interview - Hold Fast @ Southsea Fest 2009

Right, here we go... Southsea Fest is a wristbanded event which lets you into multiple gigs all round Albert Road. I missed the majority of it because I was sat in the Kings Theatre interviewing bands. 13 bands in under five hours... I never want to do that much transcription ever again! Anyway, Hold Fast are a top band.

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

HOLD FAST

mINtSOUTH: Tell me a bit about yourselves.
Hold Fast: “We’ve been going a couple of years. Had a few change arounds and Adam is the newest member, came in just about a year ago. Used to play reggae fusion, kind of reggae-dance… actually, that wasn’t entirely serious.”

mINtSOUTH: Can you describe your music?
Hold Fast: “It’s post-punk really. Lots of influences thrown in - too long to list. Atmospheric, quite driven, synths, female vocals; call it death pop.”

mINtSOUTH: Southsea Fest – have you played yet today?
Hold Fast: “Yep, we literally just came off stage.”
Mintsouth: How did that go?
Hold Fast: “Really great atmosphere generally today in there, it’s great. Hot and sticky, the way it should be – Little Johnny Sauna!”
Ben Hold Fast: “Amazing. Massive crowd and everyone went nuts.”
Roberta Hold Fast: “A massive thank you to any one who came in and just packed that place out for twenty minutes. It was insane.”

mINtSOUTH: Any onstage antics to get everyone going?
Hold Fast: “We played a bit of Scrabble to warm up. We’re a granddad band.” “We’ve laid off the drinking so far, but now we’re going to get on it.”

mINtSOUTH: Any bands you’re looking forward to seeing?
Hold Fast: “Munroe Effect, we played with them yesterday. Strange Death Of Liberal England are playing in a minute. Fresh Legs, Official Secrets Act, Love Like Fire, B Of The Bang in a sec as well, Kill Em Dead Cowboy. It’s an amazing line up this year. It’s just frustrating having to choose between two bands who are on at the same time. Just run around trying to catch whoever you can.”

mINtSOUTH: Which band member would you eat first on a desert island?
Hold Fast: “Well it’s always got to be the biggest person hasn’t it? Toby, you’ve got the most muscles so you’re it mate. All that drumming… You know Bowling For Soup? They’ve got quite a big guy on guitar. He would be the first. We’d get Bowling For Soup’s guitarist shipped in on a plane.”

mINtSOUTH: What do you like your listeners to be doing while they’re listening to you?
Hold Fast: “Having sex. Ironing – not hoovering, because you can’t hear the music properly. Dancing about, just enjoying it and getting involved.”

mINtSOUTH: Gorilla versus bear – who would win in a fight?
Hold Fast: “Gorillas are probably good at punching but the bear has those big claws and big gnashers. Bear definitely, it would tear your face off. It depends what sort of bear really. If it’s a teddy bear…The panda on the advert, the Knorr Panda might [win], but that’s not real.”

Shoutbox - Hold Fast: “We are playing in 93 Feet East on 26th September. That’s going to be cool, it’s got burlesque, loads of bands, DJs, VJs, trapeze artists, so it’s a crazy event.”

http://www.myspace.com/holdfast

Interview - Athlete

Such nice guys are Athlete. They were clearly thrilled to be releasing a new album and I admire their spirit. After parting ways with their major record label they had gone it alone despite the obvious lack of financial backing they'd had in the past - luckily they still pull in the fans. This was the second time I'd interviewed keyboardist Tim - did it once before at Parlophone headquarters. Guessing I'll be back in another couple of years to haunt him with the same question cards. Credit to Tom Cope for the 'gorilla vs bear' question, one which is now a regular addition to the question pack.

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

INTERVIEW - ATHLETE

Up, Close & Personal is certainly the correct term for Athlete’s show in Southampton. More used to playing venues for a thousand-plus people, the band are playing as part of Wave 105’s series of intimate concerts at the Soul Cellar – and it was certainly a tight squeeze to fit crowd and band into the venue.

Upstairs after the show, Joel Pott (lead vocals, guitar) and Tim Wanstall (keyboards) relax on a sofa as the rest of the band make a quick escape. Switch on the dictaphone, hand out the question cards, and here we go.

“Oh, coloured cards,” notes Joel. Yes, I’ve got a GCSE in Art. Tim is giving me a strange look. He’s suffering minor déjà vu but hasn’t realised this yet....

How are you enjoying Southampton? Joel: “We turned out and we soundchecked and went out for dinner. I went to Buffalo Bill’s and that was really good, was it not?” Tim: “I love coming here. Last time we were here we were at the Guildhall which was memorable because it is such a beautiful venue.” They must enjoy their time here, as they’ll be back in November for a gig at the university student union.

Last CD you bought? “No-one buys CDs anymore!” laughs Joel. “Last CD I bought was Moderat which is a combo of an artist called Apparat and a guy called Modeselektor. I do recommend it if you like electronica.”

Tim: “I think the last CD I bought was the best of Yazoo.” Joel laughs wickedly. “Love it!” Do you want me to edit that out, Tim? “No way, go for it! I’m working through Depeche Mode and I just thought this is part of the story so I checked it out, but I don’t like it as much as Depeche Mode.”

Athlete are lucky to have their own studio. Mintsouth’s wordsmith interviewed Tim a few years back in which he was explaining about the band’s newly built studio. Tim vaguely remembers us from his hazy past. “In Parlophone’s offices? Did we do this?” he keeps asking. Yes we did do this, we’ve practically recycled the same question cards. How has the recent recording gone?

Joel: “We recorded most of the record out in LA but then we came back to London. We also did some where we were in our studio in London and our producer Tom was in LA - but we had some weird voodoo thing going through the computer to link us up real-time so he could be recording us in LA.”

Tim: “As in he would press space bar, and then our computer would start playing.” Joel nods in affirmation. “It is weird.”

Has it been helpful having your own studio? Tim: “It is great, so whenever we fancy doing anything we can just go. I think it’s the way it’s going now; there’s not the money around that there used to be. Loads of studios are shutting down because people can’t afford to go into them so I think every band will have their own studio in the future.” You haven’t been renting yours out to people? “To mates at mates’ rates,” says Joel.

Didn’t you play V Festival this year? “We did.” How was it? “It was amazing,” says Tim. A little bit bigger than the Soul Cellar, one would presume. “It’s so much bigger than the last time we went as well. We had a nice little slot at about 5’o’clock in the afternoon, and it was just like everything aligned and it was perfect. There was a massive crowd and the sun was out.”

Joel agrees. “We were on top of Alisha Dixon and underneath Katy Perry. A good place to be…!” Did you do both or just one of them? asks mintsouth, before realising what we’ve said. We meant the festivals. Athlete knew what we meant but still explode in snorts of laughter, “We did do both of them, yeah,” said Joel after he’s calmed down slightly. “But one was better than the other.”

Tim considers the situation. “At festivals you play slightly shorter sets. It’s great playing festivals on four records because it’s beginning to feel like how Chelsea have to leave a substitute on the bench who’s a little bit too good to be a substitute, and it’s quite nice choosing songs.”

Joel is impressed. “That’s a really nice analogy, I like that.” “It’s like we can’t even play all our singles any more in one go,” says Tim.

Fiction Records is their “new home” since Athlete parted with their previous record label, Parlophone. Joel: “To give you the story, we released our record about two weeks after the stockmarket crash, and then two weeks after that EMI froze all their budgets.” After a bit of consideration, the band and the label went separate ways “so we just got on with making a new record and it was brilliant.”

“Fiction’s great, to be honest I can’t believe we ended up being on a label like that at this moment in time. It’s hard for bands to get signed and a label like Fiction, you’ve got Snow Patrol, Elbow and White Lies, so a really good roster and a really good history as well, like the Cure.”

Tim: ”One of the things I like is that at the point of arriving at Fiction, some of those bands like Snow Patrol and Elbow were a bit like us really, they’d had a few records under their belt. It feels like it’s the kind of label where it’s not about what’s trendy right now, it’s about believing that a good artist can make good records for a long period of time and I think in some ways because money’s tight that’s rarer and rarer these days, so we were really fortunate to find a home like that.”

Athlete has a European tour on the near horizon and will be travelling to all the exciting places like Vienna, Cologne, and… Southampton. Joel: “Copenhagen as well. There’s something really nice about touring Europe at that time of the year, you can still sit outside a bar or a café and have a beer and maybe have some good weather. Nice cities to wander around and sample good alcohol!”

Tim “It always feels like we go to Germany during Christmas time which is always quite magical – they do it a lot better than we do – and this year it’s October, so it’s going to be Oktoberfest – slap your thighs, do all of the German Morris dancing and all that. And then the beer.”

Athlete – make up your own question, we order. Joel puzzles for about two seconds before settling on what is your favourite beer? “It’s getting a bit boring now, but for about a year Sierra Nevada’s been top of the list,” says Tim. “Mine would be a pale ale as well but it would be Farmer’s,” says Joel.

The band have recently put their support behind Save The Children’s Make Your Mark campaign. Joel explains. “There’s just millions and millions of kids who don’t get clean water, something we take for granted, so it’s raising awareness about that and about other things that children around the world have to deal with and the poverty that they live in, and getting people to go ‘I want to voice my concerns about that’. There’s petitions to the government to get them to stick to stuff that they’d promised to do, by putting your thumbprint as part of the petition.”

The band’s latest press release gives a few reasons why such a charity would mean a lot to them. Both Joel and Tim’s partners miscarried around the time of the Wires release (2005) and such major shocks mean they’ve had a rollercoaster few years.

Black Swan moments are the significant lows – and highs - which can quite literally alter your life. Black Swan is also the title of the band’s fourth album. Tim visibly brightens when we ask him about it. “It came out a couple of days ago. It’s really, really exciting because you know, it might not have happened. It’s the fourth record and we made it without a record deal, and you can’t take these things for granted. I’m as excited as I was about putting our first record out.”

“And I read a good article about [a music journalist] where he was saying that melody isn’t really important to the rock critic, which I found quite disappointing because I really like melody in my music! So yeah it’s a record full of melody and it’s got the most amazing artwork ever. I don’t think there’s any way if you went into a record shop right now you would find a cover that looked as good as ours. There’s a special version with a fold out poster, and it’ll be worth buying the vinyl because then the poster is six times bigger.”

We heard it was Ken Bruce’s album of the week on Radio 2 recently. “What a lovely man,” twinkles Joel.

Are there any particular tracks which are standout ones for yourselves? “Black Swan Song. It’s a song about my granddad and his various battles throughout life and triumphs, and I think that is a special song,” says Joel.“ ‘The Getaway’ which is going to be a single, that’s going down really well live which is great. I think one of my favourite little moments is an acoustic song called Love Come Rescue, because it’s just me on my own.” He laughs loudly. Don’t take it personally Tim, but… “Only joking!”

Inspired by all the one-liners floating around the media after the Edinburgh Festival, we ask Joel and Tim to tell us a joke. Joel is not a fan of this question, and Tim picks the first ever joke he learnt: “There are two bowls of sick and they’re leaving a town, off to somewhere else. One of the bowls of sick is crying and the other one says, ‘Why are you crying?’ And he goes ‘I’m really upset.’ ‘Why is that?’ ‘Because we’ve left that town. That’s where I was brought up.’” Groans. “That was terrible!” “But if I was five, you would think it’s quite funny,” says Tim defensively.

“My daughter‘s six now, but when she was about five she went through a stage of Knock Knock jokes but she was just getting the grasp of it. She learnt one which was: Knock Knock - Who’s there? - Big Ish - Big Is-who? and then you go ‘No it’s all right mate, I’ve already got one’.” Tim: “Did she know why it was funny?” “I don’t know,” says Joel. “Because the one after that was: Knock Knock - Who’s there? - Knock Knock – Who’s there?” It’s a classic. It’s the joke that never ends.

Mintsouth tells its only clean joke: Why does Snoop Dogg carry an umbrella? Fo’ drizzle. There is a tumbleweed moment, and we hurriedly move on.

The final question is that perennial puzzler - gorilla versus bear. Who would win in a fight? “Bear every time! Because Steve is our drummer and we refer to him as the bear because he’s a big, cuddly bear,” says Joel instantly.

“What if it was gorilla vs grizzly bear? Then you might go gorilla,” muses Tim. Joel: “Probably. But it depends on my mood. But I’m going for bear because of our bear. Sweet.”

http://www.athlete.mu