Apologies for the lack of band links at the end... Blogspot decided it was going to have one or two issues...
Previously published on mINtSOUTH.com in January 2010
Words - Suzy Sims
(c) mINtSOUTH
HAUNTED STEREO CURATES @ HAMPTONS 16/01/2010 - MONEYTREE, THE MOPES, SO SAY SO, THE LITTLE PHILISTINES, NOT MADE IN CHINA
Haunted Stereo are looking nervous. It’s Saturday night in Southampton. They’ve put together a splendid gig line up, but now the sky is emptying bucketloads. It’s not the sort of weather you really want to go out in, unless perhaps your shower is broken. “I’m hoping all our friends turn up and the weather won’t have put people off,” frets Haunted Stereo’s Andy Harris, shortly before the first band take the stage.
The opening act of the night is Not Made In China. This name sounds a little more exotic than Made In Bournemouth, where the band have kindly travelled all the way from tonight. It wasn’t too much trouble to come all this way. Nothing seems too much trouble for them and they look eager to please. The band themselves don’t sound very exotic, just terribly, terribly nice, or “about as edgy as a muffin,” as mINtSOUTH’s snapper remarks. Not Made In China are full of goodness and jangly Rickenbacker rhythms. They’re very chirpy and keen and keep grinning. Charming as it is to begin, the flat pleasantries are a little wearing.
Things perk up a bit as The Little Philistines cram onto the stage with guitars, drums, violin and trumpet. They’re louder and brisker with tales of ‘complications when communicating in relationships’ and muggings, with some warmly amusing banter and onstage personality shining through. Love Explodes is a highlight of the set, bursting out with brash guitars and a lovely melody. What I particularly enjoy about the band is that they haven’t forgotten that a memorable tune is a fairly important thing, and they do their best to pop it up but without taking themselves too seriously. A joy to catch.
Trendy types So Say So also feature a girl with a violin. I feel a bit left out, as I failed to bring one with me tonight. The mood gets a bit darker as they flood Hamptons with the cool sound of electronic angst, tipped with a dash of optimism and hidden beneath some very Eighties t shirts. The male keyboardist plays with a twisted and focused expression, like he is trapped in his very own glass case of emotion. “Please buy a t shirt – we need to cover the petrol back to London!” they beg. (I almost do, but there’s only so many white-band-t-shirts-with-black-writing that a person can have. If there had been a tipping bowl, I would have left enough money for them to have a service station Ginsters between them). So Say So were something a bit different, and my favourite band of the night.
I was slightly disappointed by The Mopes. They’re a motley crew but they impressed everyone with their lively set, although my ‘scary instrument radar’ started bleeping when some miniature maracas and an accordion were pulled out. I was half fearing some bagpipes would be foisted on us as well, but luckily the band play a lot of blues and foot-stamping country folk, which doesn’t often call for the pipes. It looks like most of the crowd have seen them before and are pleased to welcome them back – there’s a handful at the front dancing. The band can sense the love in the air. “Can anyone buy seven people a drink?” they ask hopefully. The Mopes seemed very experienced and professional, but struggled to capture and hold my full attention.
Moneytree look familiar, probably because half the band had been stood next to me, energetically throwing shapes to the electro music that was pounding out the speaker between acts. “This band are so good, they literally shit music!” enthuse an over-excited Haunted Stereo as the headliners take to the stage and cheerfully power out a set including singles, b-sides and a ‘three-quarters finished draft’, where they appear to repeat a large chunk because everyone is enjoying it so much. Moneytree are currently one of the top acts in Southampton, mainly owing to likeable frontman Campbell Austin, who is in fine voice tonight. I don’t quite agree with the curators’ opinion – Moneytree are a good band, but not life-changing - but their polished indie rock is a big step above the quality of your average local music scene. It doesn’t matter that they get everyone’s names wrong when trying to thank them (“The Small Philisteens! Sorry, the Little Philistines... Say So Say! Oh wait, no, So Say So...”) because tonight they are amongst friends.
Moneytree
The Mopes
So Say So
The Little Philistines
Not Made In China
Showing posts with label southampton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label southampton. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Friday, 16 October 2009
Live Review - Athlete @ Soul Cellar
Previously published on mINtSOUTH.com in September 2009
Words: Suzy Sims
Editor: Rob Ball
(c) mINtSOUTH.com
LIVE REVIEW - ATHLETE, LOZ BRIDGE, GARY MUNDAY, IDOL RICH, THE L.C.D. + BRYONY MARIE FRY @ THE SOUL CELLAR, SOUTHAMPTON 26/08/09
Words: Suzy Sims
Editor: Rob Ball
(c) mINtSOUTH.com
LIVE REVIEW - ATHLETE, LOZ BRIDGE, GARY MUNDAY, IDOL RICH, THE L.C.D. + BRYONY MARIE FRY @ THE SOUL CELLAR, SOUTHAMPTON 26/08/09
It’s like musical Tetris, trying to fit Athlete onstage; band members, roadies and Wave 105 presenters are carefully being dropped into place between keyboards and amps and guitars and drums and more guitars and more people.
Wave 105 are there because it’s Their Night at the Soul Cellar. Athlete are there because they have been picked to play Wave 105’s Up, Close and Personal series of gigs which have previously hosted the likes of Frankmusik and Sharleen Spiteri. The roadies are there, because that’s what they do. Never underestimate the power of a good roadie.
It takes roughly an hour for people to filter upstairs until everyone is crammed up close. There is no warm up act, though temperature-wise it couldn’t get much hotter without the fans and competition winners starting to wilt a bit.
Standing front left, just underneath the speaker, I struggle to see most of Athlete hiding behind their equipment. There’s singer Joel Pott in a red checked shirt. Serious-faced keyboardist Tim Wanstall is shielding his eyes as he motions to the soundman to adjust a few settings. Drummer Stephen Roberts is completely out of sight, and I can’t work out how many other guitarists they have onstage.
The setlist takes a few tracks from the band’s latest album, Black Swan, including the beautiful title track which Joel dedicates to his granddad, and the fantastic singalong of The Getaway. Longer-term fans aren’t disappointed either, with Vehicles & Animals’ Beautiful and radio-friendly You Got The Style, and a couple of tracks from Tourist including Half Light thrown into the mix. Throughout the night, the band are friendly and relaxed, though leaving their frontman to do most of the banter with the audience. They’re often criticised for not having much of an edge, but Athlete are always a welcome pleasure to listen to.
The band have always been one for mature epics, and the set closes with a stripped down version of powerful tearjerker Wires, with the rest of the band leaving Joel alone to face the crowd chanting “I see it in your eyes / You’ll be all right.”
The set is sadly over after what seems like a short time. It’s no rest for the wicked though, as mintsouth then hotfoot it across the stage and disappear behind the scenes to interview the band.
http://www.mintsouth.com/2009/09/minterview-athlete/
Afterwards we take a short trip downstairs to see what mintsouth have to offer in the way of acoustic acts. Loz Bridge is just finishing his set as we descend; he’s very intense and the sounds seems to completely fill the small room. Up next are the multiple personas of Gary Munday which keep switching back and forth– Gary#1 is a slightly muffled deep voice, while Gary#2 has a belting voice which wakes everyone up. The acoustic is nicely sparse, but the voice is too shouty. Idol Rich is incredibly understated, so understated in fact he’s almost lost beneath the chattering post-Athlete crowd. He’s very bluesy and beautifully mellow, covering a few songs including ‘Walking The Dog’ and ‘I Just Wanna Make Love To You.’
Next up is The L.C.D. and his incredibly quick tongue. The guitar is almost incidental to this street / beat poet who performs a curious cover of Bohemian Rhapsody. The final act we manage to catch before sloping away is the lovely Bryony Marie Fry whose voice is sweet and spot on; easily the best singer of the night.
Often a little mournful musically but always heartwarming, it’s been a successful night for Athlete. And the drinks were cheap. Hurrah.
Athlete
Wave 105
Loz Bridge
Gary Munday
The L.C.D.
Bryony Marie Fry
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
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.muEP Review - Jazica 'Illusions'
The first few lines were written by Tom Cope, my long-term male companion (six months is a long time, right?) and partner-in-crime in what we jokingly refer to as 'The South Coast's Premier Review Team' (I do words, he does pictures). He was meant to be writing the whole review but put so much effort into the opener he wore himself out and I had to finish the rest.
Previously published on mINtSOUTH.com in June 2009
Words - Suzy Sims
Editor - Rob Ball
(c) mINtSOUTH.com
EP REVIEW - JAZICA 'ILLUSIONS'
The year: 1982. Across a smoky, sweaty bar, an electric guitar and a synthesizer lock eyes...
Fast forward to the present day. The product of that unholy union is Jazica, a confusingly named pop quartet based in Southampton. Jazica display good timing. Not only has their profile been raised with their entry into the Road To V competition, but my copy of the 'Illusions' demo mini-album arrived on my doormat on my birthday. Thanks guys.
There are two sides to the Jazica coin – the soft acoustic thoughts of the singer/songwriter, and the frenetic electro pop charging headlong synth-first into things.
The title track is a surprisingly downbeat electro with Frankie sounding quite angry in places. 'Come, come, come, stay over'. It’s very frothy in the chorus, with wailing synth sirens and unexpectedly raw rock guitar. The band might be labeled as ‘pop’, but that doesn’t mean they’re wet, and this guitar line stamps its feet and demands attention.
I’m a big fan of the delightful rainbow electronics present on 'Arp Attack' with softly sauntering vocals. However I wasn't too big on the Rhys-mix version for a couple of reasons, a) I don't really like remixes. Sorry, and b) there wasn't any major difference to the original. Also 'Keep Up' doesn’t quite hit the same mark. It’s a bit all over the place, with rushed sounds and densely huddled keyboards which sound slightly out of step. 'Flash Flash' has a very Eighties power ballad start and dark overtones countering the colourful hyperactivity.
The gentler sounds include the looped vocals over and over in ‘Boy’, with its soft percussion and childishly naive keyboard hoops. 'Never Never Never' is a sort of personal note, almost like the band aren’t expecting anyone to be listening in to their inner musical thoughts. 'Dreamer' is relaxed summer pop, fluffy clouds held down by the gravitational pull of the deep bass; the sort of tune you listen to while slumped in the garden not doing very much, watching the fluffy clouds overhead.
‘Illusions’ is primarily charming and innocent electro pop, with some raucous anger and a bittersweet slice of melancholy pie. The ‘Illusions’ mini album isn’t an official release, but it can be purchased at gigs. With their entry in The Road To V competition the band is pretty much jumping up and down waving while trying to bring attention to the South Coast music scene, and may they get everyone’s attention doing so.
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Interview - Delays
Delays are one of those bands who should be more popular than they are. Singer Greg has an amazingly pure singing voice. One of my colleagues loves them and stole any related CDs off my desk. Cheers mate.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in December 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
GREG GILBERT - DELAYS
It’s been rather quiet on the Delays front since last Christmas. After their fresh summery indie rock/pop streamed into the lives of many through ‘Faded Seaside Glamour’ (2004) and ‘You See Colours’ (2006), not a lot seems to have happened. They sold out Southampton Guildhall last December in a show which one of my colleagues claims is one of his top gigs ever. Then, silence.
But Delays – vocalist/guitarist Greg Gilbert, keyboardist/vocalist Aaron Gilbert, bassist/vocalist Colin Fox and drummer Rowly - have not been in hibernation, far from it. They’ve been scurrying to Spain and back preparing their next album. We phoned up friendly frontman Greg Gilbert for a chat.
Delays are eagerly anticipating their November mini tour and have been playing a couple of low key gigs to warm up, which they enjoyed because of the lack of pressure. First of all was one for Oxjam – they weren’t on the bill but “muscled our way in, we’ve got big friends,” jokes Greg – and then one for their family and friends at Southampton Joiners on Halloween. The night saw an appropriate theme, with the band dressed in neon skeleton outfits, although the hot nylon outfits almost caused a different scare.
“Halfway through the gig I had to call my mate on stage to cut me out this suit because I was going to pass out or something ridiculous,” remembers Greg. “There were a few witches’ hats bobbing about. It was a good atmosphere, it was a good way to do our first gig with a not-too-serious vibe.”
So that meant you avoided hassle from trick or treaters? “I got accosted by some 14 year old kids on the way out and they were like ‘You’re lucky, you’re just leaving’. I went ‘Yeah, I saw you coming’ and they were like ‘Oh nice one!’ I sounded like Larry David you know, proper grumpy. I wasn’t wearing [the neon skeleton outfit] which was lucky. That would have been a bit of a kick in the shins for them really, what with denying the treats and yet wearing the outfit. I was just normalled up.”
If you’re lucky to be seeing them on their mini tour, make sure you grab a copy of super limited EP ‘Love Made Visible.’ “We’re just reintroducing ourselves a little, get back into it,” explains Greg.
If you haven’t seen the ‘Love Made Visible’ video, go and view it. Things got very messy indeed. Was that Delays' proper equipment, because it looked like they might have ruined it? “I was up for that until they actually started to put paint on the guitar, and I started to get a bit ‘Oh shit man!’ I’m not one of them people who likes to trash gear. We didn’t have the money to buy a lot of new gear for such a long time. That’s the guitar I’m actually using live now. Someone stood off camera waiting with a rag ready to wash it as soon as it was done. Ruined our clothes though," Greg says.
Coming up at some point in the future is ‘Everything But The Rush’, the follow up to ‘You See Colours.’ "There’s big change in the fact that everything’s been recorded in a much much rawer, quicker way. We literally went in and just recorded one track each day, vocals and all the little guitar bits just made them up on the day. ‘You See Colours’ was quite laboured over which at the time wasn’t intended, it was meant to be a rawer record, but it didn’t turn out quite like that.”
And no-one lost any discs of tracks this time round? “No, that didn’t happen this time round. So much of it was made up in the studio this time round and you can hear it in the record, it’s a much more vibrant, warmer record.”
Any tracks you like in particular? “I like them all [laughs] ‘Hurray’ is going to be the first single, and that’s kind of about OCD. I found myself tidying up and just doing ridiculous little routines before I was able to go to bed, it got a bit out of hand, and the song’s actually about that, about celebrating getting through a night without it going on. I don’t know if anybody realises that when they’re hearing it live.
”There’s a song called ‘Pieces’ on the album which was actually written ten years ago, one of the first songs we ever did. I don’t know why we didn’t do it previous to this. It’s got an orchestra on it, there’s three or four tracks on the album that had the full orchestra treatment. We’ve got film footage of us playing it like nine years ago and you could put together a really neat video compilation of the evolution of the song. That’s gratifying that that’s on the album.”
'Everything But The Rush' will be their first full-length release on Fiction Records, which they signed to after leaving Rough Trade. Greg tells me why they switched labels: “It just got to the point where we both thought we’d both gone as far as we were gonna go really. It just felt necessary as well. Being without a deal, everything felt fresher. It felt like a whole new chapter opening up, everything just felt like a different colour and Aaron and I had the whole of that from December all the way up to recording this in April. You don’t feel any pressure to write any kinds of songs. It’s a strange kind of freeing up.”
A complete change of tack - I was looking on the Delays' forum and someone started a thread version of Room 101 so I asked Greg what he'd put in there. He starts worrying that he can’t think of any immediate answers.
Place: “Sellafield. I’m kind of an old fashioned kind of a guy. It’s not old fashioned, I hate nuclear power.”
Bands/pop stars: “Thing is all the people you’re unsure about they all turn out to be all right. It’s more the people behind the scenes you’d want to put into Room 101, the Svengali-type people. They’re just manipulative, taking advantage of people with ambition… they’re told what to do what to say what to wear and then they’re discarded. How many disillusioned people do you see on TV, do you know what I mean? Those Svengalis, they’re assholes.”
On the non-Room 101 side of things (if there’s a name for a room containing Good Stuff), Greg has recently been listening to Ray Charles, glam rock such as The Sweet and The Move, and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. “I don’t think that documentary [DiG!] does them much justice actually,” says Greg. “It’s fascinating, it’s like a soap opera really, but you come away from it just thinking Anton’s this kind of loose cannon. The records are absolutely fantastic, you get no idea how good the records are from it.”
Back onto Delays' mini tour in November, which sold out pretty fast. The band had been playing Guildhalls, Leadmills, Sugarmills and Opera Houses around the country, but this new tour takes in Barflys and other places roughly a quarter of the size they were at last year. “Oh man. The weird thing is [there’s] so, so much confidence about this album but at the same time you don’t take anything for granted. And the gigs did sell out super-quick and we never advertised it or anything, just kind of on the website, but I think we’re just desperate to get out there and play the new songs to everybody.” Greg points out that the Joiners gig this time round will not involve skeleton outfits, so don’t wear yours or you’ll feel a little awkward.
Do you think you’ll be back at the festivals next year? “Oh yeah. We’re made for festivals, we’re all about the love.” And the burgers, and the mud. “Oh I don’t know, apparently burgers are cancerous aren’t they? That’s what I saw on the news. Don’t eat any red meat or anything like that. But then you again you hear things like last week tea’s bad for you but then tea’s good for you.”
I’m just going to eat chocolate and have done with it. “Why not. That’s all I’ve got in my house at the moment, I’ve got to go shopping. All I’ve had today is two Triples. That was my breakfast. It’s not good. Triples are amazing, they’re the Pelé of chocolate.”
Apart from stocking up your cupboard, what plans do Delays have for 2008? “My main ambition is to get a full cupboard,” jokes Greg. “Next year’s going to be all totally about the album really. We feel that because of circumstances we never got to do justice to ‘You See Colours’ at all and I think there’s so much belief in Fiction, things are already being put in place, more plans than we’ve ever had, more idea about what we’re actually going to be doing.”
There might be dates abroad, but the band will concentrate on the UK first. Greg says the label organises the tour dates and locations, confessing he’d be rubbish at it.
“I have no sense of geography and no sense of mathematics. That’s why I’m a musician.” Thank goodness for that.
--------
Delays' mini tour starts at Cardiff Barfly on Nov 7th and finishes at Hoxton Bar & Grill on 15th Nov. The 'Love Made Visible' EP is released from November 12th
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in December 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
GREG GILBERT - DELAYS
It’s been rather quiet on the Delays front since last Christmas. After their fresh summery indie rock/pop streamed into the lives of many through ‘Faded Seaside Glamour’ (2004) and ‘You See Colours’ (2006), not a lot seems to have happened. They sold out Southampton Guildhall last December in a show which one of my colleagues claims is one of his top gigs ever. Then, silence.
But Delays – vocalist/guitarist Greg Gilbert, keyboardist/vocalist Aaron Gilbert, bassist/vocalist Colin Fox and drummer Rowly - have not been in hibernation, far from it. They’ve been scurrying to Spain and back preparing their next album. We phoned up friendly frontman Greg Gilbert for a chat.
Delays are eagerly anticipating their November mini tour and have been playing a couple of low key gigs to warm up, which they enjoyed because of the lack of pressure. First of all was one for Oxjam – they weren’t on the bill but “muscled our way in, we’ve got big friends,” jokes Greg – and then one for their family and friends at Southampton Joiners on Halloween. The night saw an appropriate theme, with the band dressed in neon skeleton outfits, although the hot nylon outfits almost caused a different scare.
“Halfway through the gig I had to call my mate on stage to cut me out this suit because I was going to pass out or something ridiculous,” remembers Greg. “There were a few witches’ hats bobbing about. It was a good atmosphere, it was a good way to do our first gig with a not-too-serious vibe.”
So that meant you avoided hassle from trick or treaters? “I got accosted by some 14 year old kids on the way out and they were like ‘You’re lucky, you’re just leaving’. I went ‘Yeah, I saw you coming’ and they were like ‘Oh nice one!’ I sounded like Larry David you know, proper grumpy. I wasn’t wearing [the neon skeleton outfit] which was lucky. That would have been a bit of a kick in the shins for them really, what with denying the treats and yet wearing the outfit. I was just normalled up.”
If you’re lucky to be seeing them on their mini tour, make sure you grab a copy of super limited EP ‘Love Made Visible.’ “We’re just reintroducing ourselves a little, get back into it,” explains Greg.
If you haven’t seen the ‘Love Made Visible’ video, go and view it. Things got very messy indeed. Was that Delays' proper equipment, because it looked like they might have ruined it? “I was up for that until they actually started to put paint on the guitar, and I started to get a bit ‘Oh shit man!’ I’m not one of them people who likes to trash gear. We didn’t have the money to buy a lot of new gear for such a long time. That’s the guitar I’m actually using live now. Someone stood off camera waiting with a rag ready to wash it as soon as it was done. Ruined our clothes though," Greg says.
Coming up at some point in the future is ‘Everything But The Rush’, the follow up to ‘You See Colours.’ "There’s big change in the fact that everything’s been recorded in a much much rawer, quicker way. We literally went in and just recorded one track each day, vocals and all the little guitar bits just made them up on the day. ‘You See Colours’ was quite laboured over which at the time wasn’t intended, it was meant to be a rawer record, but it didn’t turn out quite like that.”
And no-one lost any discs of tracks this time round? “No, that didn’t happen this time round. So much of it was made up in the studio this time round and you can hear it in the record, it’s a much more vibrant, warmer record.”
Any tracks you like in particular? “I like them all [laughs] ‘Hurray’ is going to be the first single, and that’s kind of about OCD. I found myself tidying up and just doing ridiculous little routines before I was able to go to bed, it got a bit out of hand, and the song’s actually about that, about celebrating getting through a night without it going on. I don’t know if anybody realises that when they’re hearing it live.
”There’s a song called ‘Pieces’ on the album which was actually written ten years ago, one of the first songs we ever did. I don’t know why we didn’t do it previous to this. It’s got an orchestra on it, there’s three or four tracks on the album that had the full orchestra treatment. We’ve got film footage of us playing it like nine years ago and you could put together a really neat video compilation of the evolution of the song. That’s gratifying that that’s on the album.”
'Everything But The Rush' will be their first full-length release on Fiction Records, which they signed to after leaving Rough Trade. Greg tells me why they switched labels: “It just got to the point where we both thought we’d both gone as far as we were gonna go really. It just felt necessary as well. Being without a deal, everything felt fresher. It felt like a whole new chapter opening up, everything just felt like a different colour and Aaron and I had the whole of that from December all the way up to recording this in April. You don’t feel any pressure to write any kinds of songs. It’s a strange kind of freeing up.”
A complete change of tack - I was looking on the Delays' forum and someone started a thread version of Room 101 so I asked Greg what he'd put in there. He starts worrying that he can’t think of any immediate answers.
Place: “Sellafield. I’m kind of an old fashioned kind of a guy. It’s not old fashioned, I hate nuclear power.”
Bands/pop stars: “Thing is all the people you’re unsure about they all turn out to be all right. It’s more the people behind the scenes you’d want to put into Room 101, the Svengali-type people. They’re just manipulative, taking advantage of people with ambition… they’re told what to do what to say what to wear and then they’re discarded. How many disillusioned people do you see on TV, do you know what I mean? Those Svengalis, they’re assholes.”
On the non-Room 101 side of things (if there’s a name for a room containing Good Stuff), Greg has recently been listening to Ray Charles, glam rock such as The Sweet and The Move, and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. “I don’t think that documentary [DiG!] does them much justice actually,” says Greg. “It’s fascinating, it’s like a soap opera really, but you come away from it just thinking Anton’s this kind of loose cannon. The records are absolutely fantastic, you get no idea how good the records are from it.”
Back onto Delays' mini tour in November, which sold out pretty fast. The band had been playing Guildhalls, Leadmills, Sugarmills and Opera Houses around the country, but this new tour takes in Barflys and other places roughly a quarter of the size they were at last year. “Oh man. The weird thing is [there’s] so, so much confidence about this album but at the same time you don’t take anything for granted. And the gigs did sell out super-quick and we never advertised it or anything, just kind of on the website, but I think we’re just desperate to get out there and play the new songs to everybody.” Greg points out that the Joiners gig this time round will not involve skeleton outfits, so don’t wear yours or you’ll feel a little awkward.
Do you think you’ll be back at the festivals next year? “Oh yeah. We’re made for festivals, we’re all about the love.” And the burgers, and the mud. “Oh I don’t know, apparently burgers are cancerous aren’t they? That’s what I saw on the news. Don’t eat any red meat or anything like that. But then you again you hear things like last week tea’s bad for you but then tea’s good for you.”
I’m just going to eat chocolate and have done with it. “Why not. That’s all I’ve got in my house at the moment, I’ve got to go shopping. All I’ve had today is two Triples. That was my breakfast. It’s not good. Triples are amazing, they’re the Pelé of chocolate.”
Apart from stocking up your cupboard, what plans do Delays have for 2008? “My main ambition is to get a full cupboard,” jokes Greg. “Next year’s going to be all totally about the album really. We feel that because of circumstances we never got to do justice to ‘You See Colours’ at all and I think there’s so much belief in Fiction, things are already being put in place, more plans than we’ve ever had, more idea about what we’re actually going to be doing.”
There might be dates abroad, but the band will concentrate on the UK first. Greg says the label organises the tour dates and locations, confessing he’d be rubbish at it.
“I have no sense of geography and no sense of mathematics. That’s why I’m a musician.” Thank goodness for that.
--------
Delays' mini tour starts at Cardiff Barfly on Nov 7th and finishes at Hoxton Bar & Grill on 15th Nov. The 'Love Made Visible' EP is released from November 12th
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Interview - Rick McMurray, Ash
For me, this was one of the biggies. I grew up listening to Ash and reading about their tours etc in Smash Hits. It was my day off when their PR called and said if I still wanted to interview in Southampton, I was welcome to. I had three hours' notice to drive into town, do some research, create some question cards and drive to Southampton. (I usually do about 2/3 hours of research alone, forget travelling. With a band as established as Ash, there's no way you can do the 'How did you meet? What was your first gig like?). I was unprepared and also terrified I was going to have to face the lot of them. Instead I was just given the one, Rick, a lovely patient man. Thank goodness for that.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in Mar 07
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
RICK MCMURRAY - ASH
Tim Wheeler - vocals, guitar
Mark Hamilton - bass
Rick McMurray - drums
Native had a quick chat with Rick McMurray, drummer with Ash, shortly before their gig in Southampton. Shame he’s not allowed to talk about everything…
A couple of girls overtake me as I’m walking to Southampton University Student Union. “I saw them ten years ago, they were amazing…” one of them was saying. I smile to myself. They’re obviously talking about Ash, playing a sold out gig here tonight. If they knew Tim Wheeler, Rick McMurray and Mark Whatsit (Hamilton; sorry, had to look that one up) were sat literally a minute away, they would probably turn a bit giggly.
I bought ‘Goldfinger’ when it came out - on cassette - from a long-closed branch of Our Price. But I don’t really know much about Ash from the mid-90s onwards. They did a song for Ewan McGregor flick ‘A Life Less Ordinary’ (guess what it was called), guitarist Charlotte Hatherley came and went, and I was into classic rock at the time and missed everything. At the time of writing, the band were playing a Higher Education tour of universities. They’re obviously popular today; Tim and Mark are in different interviews in different corners of the room. I barely recognise any of them and have a sudden fear that the person I say ‘Would you be so kind as to take my coat, young man?’ to may turn out to be a disgruntled pop star, so I keep my mouth shut.
Rick McMurray walks towards me, dressed solemnly in black and sporting a wide-brimmed hat. He also has neatly trimmed facial hair and greets me very cordially.
Have Ash got any festivals lined up for this year? “Yes we have, unfortunately we can’t talk about very many of them. But I can talk about the one closest to here, which I think we’re all quite excited about, the Isle of Wight Festival.”
Rick is softly spoken and it seems nothing can faze him. “I think we played the first time it sort of reinvented itself, about five years ago I think it was. We played it then. It was really cool, kind of small, but I think in the intervening years it’s really grown as big as any of the other festivals. It’s already sold out, which is amazing.” And the Rolling Stones are playing, you might get to catch them. “That would be great because I’ve never seen them before, so… could be my last chance!” You can perch on the side of the stage and watch them, I say, my Saarthern vowels sounding harsh and mangled in front of his Northern Irish lilt. Not as in the soft drink; the other lilt.
“The rumour is they’re playing on the Sunday and I think we’re on the Friday, so…” Can you get a weekend ticket as a band? You should go for that. “Yeah. It’ll be the first time we’ve stayed at a festival for the whole weekend, the whole time, but that will be cool.”
Have you got any festivals abroad, or can you not really talk about them yet? “We’ve got a few, we can’t really talk about them yet. I think we’re looking at Fuji in Japan, but yeah we’ll be doing some in the UK, just ones we can’t say yet. But they’ll be towards the end of the summer,” he adds, dropping a large hint. And indeed Ash have now been confirmed for Reading and Leeds, one of the rockier festivals.
Rick likes it rocky. “I’ve been listening to a lot of Cure, a lot of Depeche Mode, The Knife, Nine Inch Nails… that’s what I’ve listened to today. Led Zeppelin, some reggae, but I’ve been listening to some darker electro stuff today.” To get you in the mood for tonight? “Yeah,” Rick smiles. Is it going to be dark and electro? “Not really,” he says and lets out a small giggle. Hope he doesn’t think I was being serious. “You don’t want to rehearse with the same stuff you’re doing on stage, you want a bit of a change. I just kind of use my iPod, I just plug it in and warm up with a pair of sticks. I listen to a lot of music these days.”
Southampton is in the ‘last little bit’ of their tour. “We had a day off in Southampton yesterday, then we’ve got Exeter tomorrow and one or two more shows. And that’s it done. So yeah, it’s gone really well. I mean we were totally shocked, ‘cause we’d been away so long we’re kind of reinventing ourselves. It was kind of like ‘how’s this going to go, back to a three piece, a lot of change’. We thought we’ll see how ticket figures are in the first week and actually we found out we’d sold out in one day pretty much, which was amazing. We did start off thinking about doing a small venues tour once we finished the album, but this time it was kind of the bigger venues, like tonight’s 800 and normally we’d play like 4-500.
“I think we were relieved actually that they went so well, we were totally shocked because we thought we were going to be starting again from scratch and building up. It’s been great, we’ve had some amazing audiences so far, like Sheffield and Glasgow have been the highlights.”
Who’s your support and have they been with you all tour? “We’ve got V Formation?” he says as a question, asking if I’ve heard of them (I have, but their name’s all I know) “…supporting us. I think they’re like Pixies influence but with Nick Cave thrown in there as well. So yeah, they’re pretty cool.”
It’s a busy year ahead for the band. As well as all the festival appearances they’re not allowed to mention, single ‘You Can’t Have It All’ has an April release date with their album following in the summer. They’re a little impatient on that front – it’s been ready since January and they’re keen to get it out there. He mentions some possible shows in the autumn and adds with a laugh: “Notice that I didn’t say ‘the fall’ as I don’t live in America.” Well done, Rick. “So yeah I think it’s going to be a great year. I think we’re playing really well, we’re back as a three-piece which is very different.”
The three-piece is the classic Ash line up. “It was great having Charlotte in the band for the time she was there. But communication-wise, I think the three of us were always kind of headed in the same direction. Charlotte always had her other stuff to do. We feel a bit more focused. We were kind of worried about how other fans would react ‘cause there were a lot of fans initially when Charlotte joined the band, kind of sceptical…” Sort of ‘There’s a girl! What’s that?’ I say, remembering the sort of comments flying round my school at the time. The guy up at the computer laughs quietly. I squint a bit. Is that Mark? I can’t be too sure as he's not facing me.
“We don’t seem to have suffered from any of that really,” says Rick. “A lot of people on the message board were saying it’s good getting back to a three-piece. That’s a relief because we were kind of worried about it when we did our first show, back in September last year. It was in New York in this tiny little place, a secret show, and there were a few people around saying are you sure you’re going to be able to do this as a three-piece and we were like ‘I don’t know, but we’re going to try.’ And it ended up sounding great and it was a huge weight off.”
I’m very wary about asking questions on Ash’s early years, due to the fact they must have been answered several hundred million times over the last ten years or so, so I ask Rick about Downpatrick in Northern Ireland, his old stomping ground as a lad.
"That’s where I went to school. Where we’re from is a very small town, I haven’t been back in a very long time.” I take it you’re not missing the area that much? “No, not that much. Mark's got a few friends who live around that area, he goes back there a lot but I don’t. Strange little town.”
He wakes up slightly. “It was kinda weird when we were first starting out because there were so many bands. Right around the grunge explosion there were about 14, 15 of us. There were like 20 bands at one point in a single area, you know?” he says with a smile.
“That was pretty cool. But unfortunately I don’t think any of them really went on, because it’s kind of a hard place to get out of. A lot of luck was involved with us getting signed. There was a lot of talent there but I think Northern Ireland’s always a bit… (he pauses) because it’s separated by the sea…” People sort of forget about it. “Yeah. A lot of bands won’t bother going or they stop at Belfast. Well Belfast is only about 20 miles or so away from us. I think certainly when we were growing up there were very few bands who would come over. It’s difficult for bands to cross the water and tour the UK.”
Tell me about Britpop. “Ehhh!” he shudders and laughs quietly. “Nothing to do with me!” Fair enough. “It’s kind of weird because Britpop came along and we were having our success at the same time. I guess it was good in the sense that there were a lot of people who listening more to guitar-oriented music.” Anything with a guitar in that period and Britpop was tagged onto it, I think. “Yeah. We were far removed, all our influences were really American, like Nirvana, the Pixies, the Stooges and stuff like that. We never really felt like we fitted in and we didn’t want to fit in.
"We were kind of upset when people lumped us in with it. So few of those bands have survived from that time, you know? I guess we always felt like we had our own path to follow but we consider ourselves lucky that we managed to steer clear of Britpop just enough I think.” Well you were playing in your own style rather than just following the crowds, so I think that saw you in good stead. “And we’re not British either,” he reminds me with a chuckle. “We’re Irish!”
Let’s hear some more about ‘You Can’t Have It All’, not to be confused with Kaiser Chiefs’ one with a similar name and very different tune. It’s an immense song with dirty riffs, sexy basslines and singalong ‘Oh’s. “We can go back and talk about that,” says Rick graciously with a smile. Er, thanks. “It’s quite a different song,” he continues. “Are you at the gig tonight?” I couldn’t get tickets, I say in a small voice. “We’re going to play it tonight. It’s weird, it’s almost got a disco feel to the verse of it, but it’s just so kind of recognisable Ash, I think Tim had written it back when we were doing the last album but it didn’t really fit with it because it had a different feel but then chorus-wise, it originally had this kind of acoustic-y chorus to it, just Tim strumming the guitar, but then we rocked it up. It’s something the fans are really into, we get a really good reaction live.” So it’s still very new to play, you’re not fed up of it yet. “No, no, it’s good. Well all the old stuff is feeling fresh as well on the tour. It all feels like new after having such a long break from it.”
The single was first played on Jo Whiley’s show “at 10.55am.” That’s very specific. “She had the exclusive, so she plays it first and then after that anyone can play it." The date of transmission was for the following day, and Rick said they’d be listening “if we get out of bed in time.” That is quite early. “It is for me these days,” he sighs.
Is there much of a divide between your old fans and your new ones? “I don’t think so… well obviously new fans are much younger and a lot more excitable so they’re the ones down the front. It was kind of weird the first gig we played in Preston, it was like the first time we really noticed the audience was a lot younger than us.” Rick’s hardly old, but as anyone who’s been to a gig and been pushed out the way by yapping 15 year olds will know there seems to be a huge difference in just a few years. “That was kind of like ‘woah, that’s weird.’ ‘Cause through our career the audience has been kind of the same age, and this was the first time we realised we’re getting older! There doesn’t seem to be any rivalry, I haven’t noted any. They all get along very well. Seemingly…”
So: ‘TOTI’. “Oh, we can’t talk about that,” says Rick with another chuckle. Oh, you tease. Mention the new Ash album, and ‘TOTI’ is it. Possibly, though they can’t say much. It’s a mysterious abbreviation. “Mark takes care of our MySpace and he decided to play a game a bit of a Hangman game, so the fans get a certain bunch of letters to pick from every week and they vote for the letters and then whether they get them right or wrong.” That sounds cool, and it could probably keep you going until 2009. “I don’t know. They seem to be getting quite close, so we’re getting a bit nervous, we don’t want to release it too soon. I’m sure they’ll work it out pretty soon. It’s a long wait until it comes out, but I guess it’ll fly.”
Time to go. The tour manager collars Rick and they carry some equipment out the room. “Here, let me get that,” I say and hold the door open. Rick thanks me and heads off on his merry way. I hold back so it doesn’t look like I’m stalking him through the corridor, then walk slowly down the stairs. Two guys and a girl in their early 20s turn shining faces on me, then look mildly disappointed and keep looking around.
“It was him, he was right there in his hat!” says one of the guys. “I can’t believe he just walked straight past us. I’m going to have to go and have a drink now.” Was tempted to say “Tim will be down in a minute,” and scarper, but I don’t. Get halfway across the street and realise I’ve left my hat on the back of the chair, so I sheepishly go back for it. Fans on the band's forum described the gig as ‘awesome’ and it was a shame I missed it. Past it they are not - welcome back, Ash.
Ash
MySpace
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in Mar 07
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
RICK MCMURRAY - ASH
Tim Wheeler - vocals, guitar
Mark Hamilton - bass
Rick McMurray - drums
Native had a quick chat with Rick McMurray, drummer with Ash, shortly before their gig in Southampton. Shame he’s not allowed to talk about everything…
A couple of girls overtake me as I’m walking to Southampton University Student Union. “I saw them ten years ago, they were amazing…” one of them was saying. I smile to myself. They’re obviously talking about Ash, playing a sold out gig here tonight. If they knew Tim Wheeler, Rick McMurray and Mark Whatsit (Hamilton; sorry, had to look that one up) were sat literally a minute away, they would probably turn a bit giggly.
I bought ‘Goldfinger’ when it came out - on cassette - from a long-closed branch of Our Price. But I don’t really know much about Ash from the mid-90s onwards. They did a song for Ewan McGregor flick ‘A Life Less Ordinary’ (guess what it was called), guitarist Charlotte Hatherley came and went, and I was into classic rock at the time and missed everything. At the time of writing, the band were playing a Higher Education tour of universities. They’re obviously popular today; Tim and Mark are in different interviews in different corners of the room. I barely recognise any of them and have a sudden fear that the person I say ‘Would you be so kind as to take my coat, young man?’ to may turn out to be a disgruntled pop star, so I keep my mouth shut.
Rick McMurray walks towards me, dressed solemnly in black and sporting a wide-brimmed hat. He also has neatly trimmed facial hair and greets me very cordially.
Have Ash got any festivals lined up for this year? “Yes we have, unfortunately we can’t talk about very many of them. But I can talk about the one closest to here, which I think we’re all quite excited about, the Isle of Wight Festival.”
Rick is softly spoken and it seems nothing can faze him. “I think we played the first time it sort of reinvented itself, about five years ago I think it was. We played it then. It was really cool, kind of small, but I think in the intervening years it’s really grown as big as any of the other festivals. It’s already sold out, which is amazing.” And the Rolling Stones are playing, you might get to catch them. “That would be great because I’ve never seen them before, so… could be my last chance!” You can perch on the side of the stage and watch them, I say, my Saarthern vowels sounding harsh and mangled in front of his Northern Irish lilt. Not as in the soft drink; the other lilt.
“The rumour is they’re playing on the Sunday and I think we’re on the Friday, so…” Can you get a weekend ticket as a band? You should go for that. “Yeah. It’ll be the first time we’ve stayed at a festival for the whole weekend, the whole time, but that will be cool.”
Have you got any festivals abroad, or can you not really talk about them yet? “We’ve got a few, we can’t really talk about them yet. I think we’re looking at Fuji in Japan, but yeah we’ll be doing some in the UK, just ones we can’t say yet. But they’ll be towards the end of the summer,” he adds, dropping a large hint. And indeed Ash have now been confirmed for Reading and Leeds, one of the rockier festivals.
Rick likes it rocky. “I’ve been listening to a lot of Cure, a lot of Depeche Mode, The Knife, Nine Inch Nails… that’s what I’ve listened to today. Led Zeppelin, some reggae, but I’ve been listening to some darker electro stuff today.” To get you in the mood for tonight? “Yeah,” Rick smiles. Is it going to be dark and electro? “Not really,” he says and lets out a small giggle. Hope he doesn’t think I was being serious. “You don’t want to rehearse with the same stuff you’re doing on stage, you want a bit of a change. I just kind of use my iPod, I just plug it in and warm up with a pair of sticks. I listen to a lot of music these days.”
Southampton is in the ‘last little bit’ of their tour. “We had a day off in Southampton yesterday, then we’ve got Exeter tomorrow and one or two more shows. And that’s it done. So yeah, it’s gone really well. I mean we were totally shocked, ‘cause we’d been away so long we’re kind of reinventing ourselves. It was kind of like ‘how’s this going to go, back to a three piece, a lot of change’. We thought we’ll see how ticket figures are in the first week and actually we found out we’d sold out in one day pretty much, which was amazing. We did start off thinking about doing a small venues tour once we finished the album, but this time it was kind of the bigger venues, like tonight’s 800 and normally we’d play like 4-500.
“I think we were relieved actually that they went so well, we were totally shocked because we thought we were going to be starting again from scratch and building up. It’s been great, we’ve had some amazing audiences so far, like Sheffield and Glasgow have been the highlights.”
Who’s your support and have they been with you all tour? “We’ve got V Formation?” he says as a question, asking if I’ve heard of them (I have, but their name’s all I know) “…supporting us. I think they’re like Pixies influence but with Nick Cave thrown in there as well. So yeah, they’re pretty cool.”
It’s a busy year ahead for the band. As well as all the festival appearances they’re not allowed to mention, single ‘You Can’t Have It All’ has an April release date with their album following in the summer. They’re a little impatient on that front – it’s been ready since January and they’re keen to get it out there. He mentions some possible shows in the autumn and adds with a laugh: “Notice that I didn’t say ‘the fall’ as I don’t live in America.” Well done, Rick. “So yeah I think it’s going to be a great year. I think we’re playing really well, we’re back as a three-piece which is very different.”
The three-piece is the classic Ash line up. “It was great having Charlotte in the band for the time she was there. But communication-wise, I think the three of us were always kind of headed in the same direction. Charlotte always had her other stuff to do. We feel a bit more focused. We were kind of worried about how other fans would react ‘cause there were a lot of fans initially when Charlotte joined the band, kind of sceptical…” Sort of ‘There’s a girl! What’s that?’ I say, remembering the sort of comments flying round my school at the time. The guy up at the computer laughs quietly. I squint a bit. Is that Mark? I can’t be too sure as he's not facing me.
“We don’t seem to have suffered from any of that really,” says Rick. “A lot of people on the message board were saying it’s good getting back to a three-piece. That’s a relief because we were kind of worried about it when we did our first show, back in September last year. It was in New York in this tiny little place, a secret show, and there were a few people around saying are you sure you’re going to be able to do this as a three-piece and we were like ‘I don’t know, but we’re going to try.’ And it ended up sounding great and it was a huge weight off.”
I’m very wary about asking questions on Ash’s early years, due to the fact they must have been answered several hundred million times over the last ten years or so, so I ask Rick about Downpatrick in Northern Ireland, his old stomping ground as a lad.
"That’s where I went to school. Where we’re from is a very small town, I haven’t been back in a very long time.” I take it you’re not missing the area that much? “No, not that much. Mark's got a few friends who live around that area, he goes back there a lot but I don’t. Strange little town.”
He wakes up slightly. “It was kinda weird when we were first starting out because there were so many bands. Right around the grunge explosion there were about 14, 15 of us. There were like 20 bands at one point in a single area, you know?” he says with a smile.
“That was pretty cool. But unfortunately I don’t think any of them really went on, because it’s kind of a hard place to get out of. A lot of luck was involved with us getting signed. There was a lot of talent there but I think Northern Ireland’s always a bit… (he pauses) because it’s separated by the sea…” People sort of forget about it. “Yeah. A lot of bands won’t bother going or they stop at Belfast. Well Belfast is only about 20 miles or so away from us. I think certainly when we were growing up there were very few bands who would come over. It’s difficult for bands to cross the water and tour the UK.”
Tell me about Britpop. “Ehhh!” he shudders and laughs quietly. “Nothing to do with me!” Fair enough. “It’s kind of weird because Britpop came along and we were having our success at the same time. I guess it was good in the sense that there were a lot of people who listening more to guitar-oriented music.” Anything with a guitar in that period and Britpop was tagged onto it, I think. “Yeah. We were far removed, all our influences were really American, like Nirvana, the Pixies, the Stooges and stuff like that. We never really felt like we fitted in and we didn’t want to fit in.
"We were kind of upset when people lumped us in with it. So few of those bands have survived from that time, you know? I guess we always felt like we had our own path to follow but we consider ourselves lucky that we managed to steer clear of Britpop just enough I think.” Well you were playing in your own style rather than just following the crowds, so I think that saw you in good stead. “And we’re not British either,” he reminds me with a chuckle. “We’re Irish!”
Let’s hear some more about ‘You Can’t Have It All’, not to be confused with Kaiser Chiefs’ one with a similar name and very different tune. It’s an immense song with dirty riffs, sexy basslines and singalong ‘Oh’s. “We can go back and talk about that,” says Rick graciously with a smile. Er, thanks. “It’s quite a different song,” he continues. “Are you at the gig tonight?” I couldn’t get tickets, I say in a small voice. “We’re going to play it tonight. It’s weird, it’s almost got a disco feel to the verse of it, but it’s just so kind of recognisable Ash, I think Tim had written it back when we were doing the last album but it didn’t really fit with it because it had a different feel but then chorus-wise, it originally had this kind of acoustic-y chorus to it, just Tim strumming the guitar, but then we rocked it up. It’s something the fans are really into, we get a really good reaction live.” So it’s still very new to play, you’re not fed up of it yet. “No, no, it’s good. Well all the old stuff is feeling fresh as well on the tour. It all feels like new after having such a long break from it.”
The single was first played on Jo Whiley’s show “at 10.55am.” That’s very specific. “She had the exclusive, so she plays it first and then after that anyone can play it." The date of transmission was for the following day, and Rick said they’d be listening “if we get out of bed in time.” That is quite early. “It is for me these days,” he sighs.
Is there much of a divide between your old fans and your new ones? “I don’t think so… well obviously new fans are much younger and a lot more excitable so they’re the ones down the front. It was kind of weird the first gig we played in Preston, it was like the first time we really noticed the audience was a lot younger than us.” Rick’s hardly old, but as anyone who’s been to a gig and been pushed out the way by yapping 15 year olds will know there seems to be a huge difference in just a few years. “That was kind of like ‘woah, that’s weird.’ ‘Cause through our career the audience has been kind of the same age, and this was the first time we realised we’re getting older! There doesn’t seem to be any rivalry, I haven’t noted any. They all get along very well. Seemingly…”
So: ‘TOTI’. “Oh, we can’t talk about that,” says Rick with another chuckle. Oh, you tease. Mention the new Ash album, and ‘TOTI’ is it. Possibly, though they can’t say much. It’s a mysterious abbreviation. “Mark takes care of our MySpace and he decided to play a game a bit of a Hangman game, so the fans get a certain bunch of letters to pick from every week and they vote for the letters and then whether they get them right or wrong.” That sounds cool, and it could probably keep you going until 2009. “I don’t know. They seem to be getting quite close, so we’re getting a bit nervous, we don’t want to release it too soon. I’m sure they’ll work it out pretty soon. It’s a long wait until it comes out, but I guess it’ll fly.”
Time to go. The tour manager collars Rick and they carry some equipment out the room. “Here, let me get that,” I say and hold the door open. Rick thanks me and heads off on his merry way. I hold back so it doesn’t look like I’m stalking him through the corridor, then walk slowly down the stairs. Two guys and a girl in their early 20s turn shining faces on me, then look mildly disappointed and keep looking around.
“It was him, he was right there in his hat!” says one of the guys. “I can’t believe he just walked straight past us. I’m going to have to go and have a drink now.” Was tempted to say “Tim will be down in a minute,” and scarper, but I don’t. Get halfway across the street and realise I’ve left my hat on the back of the chair, so I sheepishly go back for it. Fans on the band's forum described the gig as ‘awesome’ and it was a shame I missed it. Past it they are not - welcome back, Ash.
Ash
MySpace
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)