Third time unlucky. After mentioning that I'd interviewed the Pigeon Detectives a couple of times, I was asked to get them again for Sheffield/Yorkshire music website Square Indie. I felt so bad going back; like they don't see enough of me in their audiences already. However all went well and they seemed fairly relaxed.
I had to edit this heavily because the word count was considerably shorter than I'm used to, which was a bit annoying because I wanted to keep in all their banter and jokey quarrels with each other. Ah well, but I think it reads more intelligently as a result. This interview scared me a bit because it was the first I'd done since early December, almost six months previously.
Dave said he was pleased I left in the bit about his domestic skills because it would impress his girlfriend. I haven't quite worked out if he was being sarcastic.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Square Indie http://www.squareindie.co.uk in June 2008
(c) Square Indie
THE PIGEON DETECTIVES
@ Portsmouth Guldhall, 27th May 2008
I’m backstage with four-fifths of the Pigeon Detectives, in a small room decorated with scattered songsheets. They’re due onstage in just over three hours. Singer Matt Bowman is absent; probably receiving the physiotherapy he’s needed after badly injuring the ligaments in his leg, ironically during a performance which included This Is An Emergency. Guitarist Ryan Wilson is sitting by the window softly strumming an acoustic. Drummer Jimmi Naylor is confusingly also on guitar, while bassist Dave Best is on the iron because guitarist Oli Main can’t quite work out how to un-crease his shirt.
The Pigeon Detectives are currently touring to promote their second album, Emergency. Everyone keeps asking why it’s been released just a year after their debut. “Because we wanted to,” says Oli.
“It’s just because the last God-knows-how-many years, it’s become the norm to have the two year break but we just thought sod it, we can write the songs, let’s do another album,” says Ryan.
The recording studio was in the Welsh valleys and the band relaxed by quad-biking and clay pigeon shooting. “We just didn’t want the distractions of any major city so we just went away,” says Ryan. “And it’s a really reputable studio. Oasis have recorded there, Stereophonics, Black Sabbath. The View are recording their second album right now in there. It had a really good history and good equipment, so we thought, why not?”
Oli has been labelled as the band’s chief songwriter. “Apparently. No, I am.” Are there any themes running through Emergency? “Not particularly. I don’t know what half the songs are about anyway. It’s not like a happy album or owt like that.”
I think it’s a bit more bitter than the last one. “I wouldn’t say bitter, I’d say maybe cynical or something like that.” Is that because you’re a cynical person? “No, I just had a really bad mood for them three weeks we were doing it.”
If you listen to the album’s close, you’ll hear Jimmi get insulted. “I thought we’d finished recording. I was on the phone for about an hour to my bird and come downstairs and I was like, what the fuck’s going on? I went in and started singing when everyone started to whistle, and then I just thought I’d carry on and Matt went ‘Oh, you bell-end!’”
Although their lively, punchy indie rock has won the band masses of airplay and plenty of excitable fans, some critics haven’t received Emergency as warmly as Wait For Me, with the Guardian dismissing its appeal as ‘Granada Men and Motors indie.’ Are the band aware of this slating? “I don’t think I should read it,” says Dave. “I tend to get a bit angry.”
Jimmi’s seen it: “I stayed in a hotel and ordered paper for next morning, fucking opened it up and it absolutely tore into [Emergency]!” he laughs. “I wouldn’t take that to heart.”
“Have you heard the album? Do you like it?” Ryan asks sternly. “That isn’t friendly is it Ryan!” chides Dave.
Oli’s reading what it says about him in the aforementioned review. “Apparently I ‘feel obliged to take someone down a peg or two, which he does using his reliably devastating oh-so technique, ‘you think you’re oh-so clever’ or ‘oh-so petty and so pretentious.’’ None of them were my lines.” We suggest he sues, but he ain’t fussed. “It’s a funny read.”
The Pigeon Detectives won’t be taking it easy this year. “I guess one of the big aims is just to do well outside of the UK,” says Oli. In the pipeline are various festivals, shows in Europe, a month in America around September time, and then another UK tour towards the backend of the year.
How’s the current tour going? “It’s going pretty good actually. I hear every night’s sold out, bar one,” says Ryan. “Crowds have been good so can’t complain really.”
Did you think it would be cancelled when Matt hurt his leg? “We thought it might be delayed. We had to cancel Ireland, we had a couple of gigs up there. We’ll be back again at some point,” says Ryan.
What songs are getting the best audience reaction on tour at the moment? “Take Her Back and I’m Not Sorry.” Out of the Emergency tracks, I’m Not Gonna Take This and You Don’t Need It are going down well, though it always takes people a while to get used to new songs. “There’s a clear difference between the songs they know and the songs they’re kind of listening to,” says Jimmi. “But they’re still giving good cheers after.”
“I think we knacker our crowd out quite early on, like we proper hammer out some big songs,” says Ryan.
The Pigeon Detectives’ walk on song for the Emergency tour is The Who’s Baba O’Riley. The band find it harder to choose their intro music than to pick their setlist.
“You can’t have it build too early, it’s got to kick in as the band walk out,” says Ryan. “And a lot of songs that you find don’t kick in strong enough. We had us last intro music [Telstar, originally by The Tornadoes]. It was quite cool, with all helicopter type things going on at the beginning.”
There’s a sharp intake of breath. “I burnt me finger,” says Dave, who’s still ironing Oli’s shirt. “I feel like singing I Want To Break Free by Queen.” You’re not wearing girly clothes under that coat, are you? “Wouldn’t you like to know…”
“Suspenders,” suggests Oli.
“You need to look after Oli because he comes very scruffy on tour so you need to iron his clothes and hang up his underwear,” retorts Dave.
“I’ve been wearing these same clothes since Cambridge I think,” says Oli. He then realises some items may have stayed on since Manchester, five days previously. He inspects his white t shirt. It looks fairly clean. “It’s not!”
What’s the best and worst thing about being a Pigeon Detective?
“David Best is the worst,” says Oli. David Best looks unimpressed.
“The best is playing big gigs, playing festivals and making albums. The worst is travelling, getting on very early plane journeys,” says Jimmi.
”I think the best can also be travelling as well,” pipes up Dave. “Seeing all different places.” Including every service station in Britain, according to Oli.
“When we used to be in our Transit van, that’s all we used to be doing, going to service stations,” says Jimmi. Occasionally shoplifting from them, because they had no money. “I’ve nicked pasties before, Ginster’s pasties.”
“It’s like Robin Hood, stealing from the rich to feed us, the poor,” Ryan confirms.
“We’d paid for that many pasties that we deserved some free ones,” says Dave. Fair enough.
The band is widely and commercially successful now, but do they still see themselves as part of the Yorkshire scene?
“[The New Yorkshire scene] were just a bit before us,” says Ryan. “Black Wire, The Cribs, Forward Russia and stuff were all part of that but we just missed that boat and so we’ve never really classed ourselves as in that New Yorkshire thing. We got tagged a little bit about it, like “it’s another band from Yorkshire,” like Arctic Monkeys and Milburn.”
“It’s not a scene though, it’s not like we’re all friends or anything,” says Oli. “We hardly know any of them bands. The only bands we know from Yorkshire - we only know them a little bit - are Sunshine Underground, Kaiser Chiefs and Forward Russia. It’s not like we all go out to Joseph’s Well for drinks and stuff.”
Are there any local bands they can recommend? “The Wallbirds, they’re from Doncaster. Although we don’t like Doncaster,” says Ryan, remembering a recent play-off result that saddened Leeds United fans. “They’re pretty good. Grammatics, but I’ve not seen them properly.”
One of the highlights from the West Yorks gigging calendar this year has to be the two sold-out nights the Pigeon Detectives played at Millennium Square in their home city of Leeds. “It were good, weren’t it,” says Ryan. His bandmates consider this a slight understatement.
“First night, it felt like a moment, when we looked at crowd,” remembers Jimmi.
“Summat happened with the PA. So it cut the intro music,” says Ryan. “The crowd started booing, and then we kind of walked on to boos. Not aimed at us!” The first night’s supports proved popular, but the Pigeon Detectives think the second night was a better gig, performance-wise for them.
“We’d not really played that many gigs leading up to that, like now we’re in the middle of a tour and you kind of get used to it. So I got quite anxious and nervous,” continues Ryan. “I think Matt gets nervous.”
Moving on, and lucky Jimmi gets the special Mystery Prize question card which wins him a bottle of Jack Daniels. He’s very pleased. “Thank you very much. I’ll drink that tonight. We’ve had Corona for a while and we’re getting a bit sick of that. We’re moving to Peroni.”
“A lot of bands have weird stuff, but we’re just beer and cider and vodka and red bull,” says Ryan.
Weird stuff? “A lot of bands have a different spirit for each band member, like Kaisers have. Peanut likes rum so they get him a big bottle of rum every gig,” explains Dave, who is now tapping away with a pair of drumsticks.
Do you have any pre-gig superstitions? “We generally stick our iPod on and listen to a load of music before we go on,” says Ryan. “Some bands do huddles and high fives. We’re not like that.”
“I always walk out first,” says Jimmi. “It feels weird if I don’t.” Troublemaker Oli decides he’s going to walk out first at that night’s gig, like he did in Manchester “because [Jimmi] took his time… You can’t stop me.” The drummer makes it clear he won’t let this happen.
“I’m not going to start walking on too early! But it were weird when you walked on, I don’t know why. It didn’t ruin my gig. No-one can ruin my gig.”
Eagle-eyed gig goers may have noticed that night, as Baba O’Riley started, Jimmi suddenly lurched in front of the curtain before scurrying back behind it. It was almost as if one of his bandmates had pushed him on early for a laugh…
The Pigeon Detectives released Emergency on 26th May.
Monday, 16 June 2008
Gig Review - The Pigeon Detectives @ Astoria
I was going to this gig anyway, so was asked to do some work instead of just enjoying myself. I believed the published version was edited down a bit, but this is the full length blah.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Square Indie http://www.squareindie.co.uk in March 2008
(c) Square Indie
The Pigeon Detectives / Black Kids / The Rascals / Grammatics
@ Astoria, London 7th Feb
When you’re sandwiched against the barrier and the call of ‘Let’s go fucking mental!’ goes up behind you, either it’s going to be a good night or an unscheduled trip to A&E is just around the corner.
The NME/Shockwaves gig at London’s Astoria, headlined by the Pigeon Detectives, was the first of the Awards shows to sell out and the band’s first gig since mid-December.
First support came courtesy of Grammatics, whose jerky indie pop is given a strong backbone through the imposing cello. Opening with previous single ‘Shadow Committee’, they also played ‘Broken Wing’ (introduced as their version of a power ballad). Owen Brinley’s high voice seems to float above the rest of the band and they were an interestingly quirky start for the people who had bothered to turn up early.
Next up were The Rascals, whose echoing and pounding lad rock has real potential to get a crowd hurling beer cans all over the place. It’s too early for that tonight however. Their deafening tunes contain psychedelic echoes and swirls similar to labelmates the Dead 60s. They have cracking songs although some have a feeling of ‘did I hear this one already?’ At the moment it’s impossible to mention The Rascals without also namedropping their similar-sounding mates, the Arctic Monkeys. But if you hadn’t considered them in the same breath before, the sight of Alex Turner stepping onto the stage, guitar in hand to join in music and vocal duties on ‘Is It Too Late?’ will change that. The Astoria erupted, but it won’t be the music The Rascals are remembered for tonight.
Black Kids were the scenesters’ band of the night (bright clothes – check. Korgs – check. Topshop/Vice Tour – check). They’ve travelled over from Florida for a handful of key shows to whip up UK interest before embarking on Sons & Daughters and Kate Nash support slots. They were on a mission to get everyone dancing with their optimistic, poppy tracks whose melodies pleasingly reminded me of Operator Please. Sadly the girls’ voices were almost inaudible above the music so that extra dimension was lost, but it was still entertaining.
Last year was an immense one for the Pigeon Detectives and saw them described by hosts NME as ‘band of the summer’ and ‘undisputed dons of the festival circuit’ (and ‘sexist’, but presumably they forgot to mention that when booking for tonight). Joking that The Rascals might have had Alex Turner but they had Bono hidden backstage, they played songs including ‘I Found Out’, ‘Romantic Type’, ‘Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye’ and ‘Stop Or Go’. Singer Matt Bowman pointed out this was their first gig for a few months and promptly forgot the lyrics to ‘Take Her Back’.
After spending some weeks recording their new album, the Pigeon Detectives tried out a handful of new tracks - ‘I’m A Liar’, ‘Say It Like You Mean It’ and ‘I’m Not Gonna Take This’, angrily-named songs full of a darker energy and the band’s trademark singalong choruses.
The band were high-spirited throughout, with Bowman laughing as he untangled the mic lead from guitarist Oli Main and occasionally throwing water at drummer Jimmi Naylor. The audience was equally up for it, with plenty of sweaty crowdsurfing. I got clipped on the head with a stray beer can. It hurt.
The show closed with ‘I’m Not Sorry’, though I missed half of that one because Bowman and a couple of randoms were crowdsurfing on my head. The crowd was bouncing along, I didn’t go to A&E, and it was a good night. May we see more of all four bands this year.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Square Indie http://www.squareindie.co.uk in March 2008
(c) Square Indie
The Pigeon Detectives / Black Kids / The Rascals / Grammatics
@ Astoria, London 7th Feb
When you’re sandwiched against the barrier and the call of ‘Let’s go fucking mental!’ goes up behind you, either it’s going to be a good night or an unscheduled trip to A&E is just around the corner.
The NME/Shockwaves gig at London’s Astoria, headlined by the Pigeon Detectives, was the first of the Awards shows to sell out and the band’s first gig since mid-December.
First support came courtesy of Grammatics, whose jerky indie pop is given a strong backbone through the imposing cello. Opening with previous single ‘Shadow Committee’, they also played ‘Broken Wing’ (introduced as their version of a power ballad). Owen Brinley’s high voice seems to float above the rest of the band and they were an interestingly quirky start for the people who had bothered to turn up early.
Next up were The Rascals, whose echoing and pounding lad rock has real potential to get a crowd hurling beer cans all over the place. It’s too early for that tonight however. Their deafening tunes contain psychedelic echoes and swirls similar to labelmates the Dead 60s. They have cracking songs although some have a feeling of ‘did I hear this one already?’ At the moment it’s impossible to mention The Rascals without also namedropping their similar-sounding mates, the Arctic Monkeys. But if you hadn’t considered them in the same breath before, the sight of Alex Turner stepping onto the stage, guitar in hand to join in music and vocal duties on ‘Is It Too Late?’ will change that. The Astoria erupted, but it won’t be the music The Rascals are remembered for tonight.
Black Kids were the scenesters’ band of the night (bright clothes – check. Korgs – check. Topshop/Vice Tour – check). They’ve travelled over from Florida for a handful of key shows to whip up UK interest before embarking on Sons & Daughters and Kate Nash support slots. They were on a mission to get everyone dancing with their optimistic, poppy tracks whose melodies pleasingly reminded me of Operator Please. Sadly the girls’ voices were almost inaudible above the music so that extra dimension was lost, but it was still entertaining.
Last year was an immense one for the Pigeon Detectives and saw them described by hosts NME as ‘band of the summer’ and ‘undisputed dons of the festival circuit’ (and ‘sexist’, but presumably they forgot to mention that when booking for tonight). Joking that The Rascals might have had Alex Turner but they had Bono hidden backstage, they played songs including ‘I Found Out’, ‘Romantic Type’, ‘Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye’ and ‘Stop Or Go’. Singer Matt Bowman pointed out this was their first gig for a few months and promptly forgot the lyrics to ‘Take Her Back’.
After spending some weeks recording their new album, the Pigeon Detectives tried out a handful of new tracks - ‘I’m A Liar’, ‘Say It Like You Mean It’ and ‘I’m Not Gonna Take This’, angrily-named songs full of a darker energy and the band’s trademark singalong choruses.
The band were high-spirited throughout, with Bowman laughing as he untangled the mic lead from guitarist Oli Main and occasionally throwing water at drummer Jimmi Naylor. The audience was equally up for it, with plenty of sweaty crowdsurfing. I got clipped on the head with a stray beer can. It hurt.
The show closed with ‘I’m Not Sorry’, though I missed half of that one because Bowman and a couple of randoms were crowdsurfing on my head. The crowd was bouncing along, I didn’t go to A&E, and it was a good night. May we see more of all four bands this year.
Track Review - Subliminal Girls
This originally appeared on Native.tv but were also reproduced on 21st Century Music, thanks to the lovely Ray.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in January 2008
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
Subliminal Girls - Hungry Like The Wolf / Self Obsession Is An Art Form
We’ve been told off for not putting Subliminal Girls in our recent Ones To Watch In 2008 section at Native.tv, so sorry about that. They’re on the hunt, they’re after you, so be on the lookout. If you also know the words to “Hungry Like The Wolf” you have either a) been subjecting your friends and neighbours to SingStar Party far too much, or b) you’re a major Duran Duran fan.
I’m not sure what the reasons are for covering this track, but never mind. It’s been turned from a slightly clumsy electropop track into a thoroughly enjoyable, fast paced, fizzy glam Britpop anthem – think Pulp’s “Disco 2000″ (the single version if you’re being fussy) for the general joyful feel. It’s played by some energetic Girls (boys) dosed up on sugary orangeade with a dash of vodka in there.
The vocals occasionally get lost in the hearty cheerfulness, but apart from that it’s three-and-a-half minutes of colourful bouncy pop. It’s a double A-side to “Self Obsession Is An Art Form”, a song which made me think of “Everyday Is Like Sunday”. This track shows a more vulnerable and relaxed-sounding side: “You are going to eat me alive” is set to a warm grey cloud of music. ‘Tis very nice, but ‘Hungry…’ is the most enjoyable of the two.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in January 2008
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
Subliminal Girls - Hungry Like The Wolf / Self Obsession Is An Art Form
We’ve been told off for not putting Subliminal Girls in our recent Ones To Watch In 2008 section at Native.tv, so sorry about that. They’re on the hunt, they’re after you, so be on the lookout. If you also know the words to “Hungry Like The Wolf” you have either a) been subjecting your friends and neighbours to SingStar Party far too much, or b) you’re a major Duran Duran fan.
I’m not sure what the reasons are for covering this track, but never mind. It’s been turned from a slightly clumsy electropop track into a thoroughly enjoyable, fast paced, fizzy glam Britpop anthem – think Pulp’s “Disco 2000″ (the single version if you’re being fussy) for the general joyful feel. It’s played by some energetic Girls (boys) dosed up on sugary orangeade with a dash of vodka in there.
The vocals occasionally get lost in the hearty cheerfulness, but apart from that it’s three-and-a-half minutes of colourful bouncy pop. It’s a double A-side to “Self Obsession Is An Art Form”, a song which made me think of “Everyday Is Like Sunday”. This track shows a more vulnerable and relaxed-sounding side: “You are going to eat me alive” is set to a warm grey cloud of music. ‘Tis very nice, but ‘Hungry…’ is the most enjoyable of the two.
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Interviews - Christmas 2007
Another seasonal question special. This time I asked recent interviewees some festive questions for a Native.tv Christmas special.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in December 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
CHRISTMAS 2007
Greg Gilbert (vocals, guitar) - Delays
Where were you last Christmas?
In Southampton. It’s a total family time for me. I just love it. I love doing the whole cliché thing, I love being with my family eating dinner and getting drunk and sitting in front of crap TV falling asleep, paper hat on my head.
What’s the best present you received?
I got the James Bond DVD set one Christmas. The trouble is with DVDs is I have to be in the right frame of mind. I channelsurf endlessly. Sometimes I put a DVD on and think oh there must be something great on, but Bond is great comfort on lonely nights.
What’s your best and worst Christmas songs?
Best Christmas song is either Roy Wood or Slade, I’m a big fan of all those glammy Christmas, Life On Mars kind of era. I didn’t like Paul McCartney’s Christmas song. That’s not one of my favourites.
What’s your New Year’s resolution? Or have you not got one yet because we’re asking you this on November 1st?
Let me think of one. My New Year’s resolution is to try and find as many things funny as possible. I think when you find something so funny you belly laugh, there’s absolutely nothing better.
Tom Baxter
What are your favourite and least favourite Christmas songs?
You know what, I really like that George Michael song ‘Last Christmas’, I think that’s a really good song. I always feel sorry for the guys in Slade because they’re just labelled a Christmas band. The Cliff Richard stuff I don’t really like, that just drives me up the wall a little. It’s all a little bit insipid and milky for me.
How did you celebrate New Year last year?
Oh God, where was I? For the life of me, I can’t remember. The last Christmas I did, I had a house party so I was very drunk and then I had to go to Argentina the following day so I was a bit worse for wear.
What’s the worse thing about Christmas?
It’s just like a false sense of family sometimes, and I think that’s a real shame. I think sometimes particularly in this country we don’t make enough effort to just be a family. It’s all so split up. So I think that it can be quite a lonely time for people can’t it, if you haven’t got family and if you don’t get on with your family.
Do you have a New Year’s resolution?
My New Year’s resolution is just like everyone else’s, to get fit actually. I just haven’t been to the gym for so long.
Matt Bowman (vocals) and Oli Main (guitar) – The Pigeon Detectives
Best Christmas present you’ve got?
Oli: A guitar.
Matt: Pair of rollerskates.
What’s your New Year’s resolution?
Matt: Mine’s going to be smoke more. Just to say ‘Fuck you’ to those that are trying to ban it.
Oli: Smoke indoors more.
Matt: That’s for both of us, that.
What’s the worst thing about Christmas?
Matt: Buying Christmas presents. Not made of money.
Oli: I fucking hate Christmas, everything about it.
Best and worst Christmas songs?
Matt: Worst one was that Darkness effort.
Oli: Slade’s is the best one.
Matt: Yeah, obviously Slade.
What did you do last New Year?
Matt: Played a gig at the Faversham in Leeds. It was excellent. Drank lots of beer, got paid, and…
Oli: Fell over a wall.
Matt: Fell over a wall. Probably. [thinks] No, that weren’t then...
Stine Bramson – Alphabeat
Best and worst Christmas songs?
[Favourite] Wham! ‘Last Christmas’. That’s always good. I love that, I love Wham! in general. [Least favourite] That’s probably mostly Danish ones. The silly ones that don’t really have a good melody and sung by kids always.
What do you eat at your Christmas meal?
We have duck at home with everything that comes with that.
Where were you last New Year?
I actually had dinner with the friend who’s over at my place right now. Then we went to a big private party at a friend’s house in Copenhagen.
Greg Churchouse – Scouting For Girls
Where did you spend last Christmas?
Last Christmas, I was pretty much working most of it. Myself and Roy both worked in shops, so Christmas time was always the busiest time of the year. We literally got Christmas Day off, and it was working til 10, 11pm on Christmas Eve and then back to work on Boxing Day. This is going to be the first Christmas we’ve both not been working since we left school which is going to be absolutely lovely stuff.
What’s the best present you received?
Blimey. That’s a tricky one. I’d say when I was like 14 Roy persuaded to get an acoustic guitar for Christmas instead of a Megadrive. Quite lucky he did otherwise who knows what would have happened, I’d have been sitting at home, being a computer geek, as opposed to sitting in the back of a freezing cold tour bus somewhere in Scotland!
What’s your New Years resolution?
I would say I’d like to get fitter. But as I’ve never ever stuck to a New Years resolution in my life for more than, say, a day, I doubt it’s really going to happen.
What are you best and worst Christmas songs?
Best Christmas song would be ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! I don’t know what the worst Christmas song would be actually. [laughs] Roy just said ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! It’s a double-edge sword. I was personally going to go for ‘Mistletoe & Wine’ by Cliff Richard.
David Guetta
I’m going to ask you some cheesy Christmas questions, if that’s all right.
Bring on the cheese!
Where were you last New Year?
I was in Dubai.
How do you celebrate Christmas?
Really classic, you know family, tree, my wife is totally into that, she’s like really excited and we have a boy, he’s three and a half years, so we’re gonna wait for Father Christmas to come and say hello and everything.
What are your best and worst Christmas songs?
I think that is more of a UK thing because we don’t have that so much in France. I’ve seen that you have a lot of that here and it’s all a big deal but we don’t really. ‘Baby When The Light’ is number one on the airplay and it will be for Christmas. We don’t have special Christmas music. I think it’s a good thing!
Have you got a New Year’s resolution?
Yes I do. I’m going to go back to the gym, I’m going to eat healthy, I’m going to start some proper music lessons – harmony, piano lessons, percussion lessons, guitar lessons. Today I’ve done this today, it was a great experience, I’ve done this show for Channel 4 called ‘Freshly Squeezed’ and we’ve done an acoustic version of ‘Baby When The Light’. It was really exciting, I was like I wanna do this more, I need to come back home. I programme so I can play keyboard but not that good, and I want to learn how to play the real thing. That’s my resolution for next year.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in December 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
CHRISTMAS 2007
Greg Gilbert (vocals, guitar) - Delays
Where were you last Christmas?
In Southampton. It’s a total family time for me. I just love it. I love doing the whole cliché thing, I love being with my family eating dinner and getting drunk and sitting in front of crap TV falling asleep, paper hat on my head.
What’s the best present you received?
I got the James Bond DVD set one Christmas. The trouble is with DVDs is I have to be in the right frame of mind. I channelsurf endlessly. Sometimes I put a DVD on and think oh there must be something great on, but Bond is great comfort on lonely nights.
What’s your best and worst Christmas songs?
Best Christmas song is either Roy Wood or Slade, I’m a big fan of all those glammy Christmas, Life On Mars kind of era. I didn’t like Paul McCartney’s Christmas song. That’s not one of my favourites.
What’s your New Year’s resolution? Or have you not got one yet because we’re asking you this on November 1st?
Let me think of one. My New Year’s resolution is to try and find as many things funny as possible. I think when you find something so funny you belly laugh, there’s absolutely nothing better.
Tom Baxter
What are your favourite and least favourite Christmas songs?
You know what, I really like that George Michael song ‘Last Christmas’, I think that’s a really good song. I always feel sorry for the guys in Slade because they’re just labelled a Christmas band. The Cliff Richard stuff I don’t really like, that just drives me up the wall a little. It’s all a little bit insipid and milky for me.
How did you celebrate New Year last year?
Oh God, where was I? For the life of me, I can’t remember. The last Christmas I did, I had a house party so I was very drunk and then I had to go to Argentina the following day so I was a bit worse for wear.
What’s the worse thing about Christmas?
It’s just like a false sense of family sometimes, and I think that’s a real shame. I think sometimes particularly in this country we don’t make enough effort to just be a family. It’s all so split up. So I think that it can be quite a lonely time for people can’t it, if you haven’t got family and if you don’t get on with your family.
Do you have a New Year’s resolution?
My New Year’s resolution is just like everyone else’s, to get fit actually. I just haven’t been to the gym for so long.
Matt Bowman (vocals) and Oli Main (guitar) – The Pigeon Detectives
Best Christmas present you’ve got?
Oli: A guitar.
Matt: Pair of rollerskates.
What’s your New Year’s resolution?
Matt: Mine’s going to be smoke more. Just to say ‘Fuck you’ to those that are trying to ban it.
Oli: Smoke indoors more.
Matt: That’s for both of us, that.
What’s the worst thing about Christmas?
Matt: Buying Christmas presents. Not made of money.
Oli: I fucking hate Christmas, everything about it.
Best and worst Christmas songs?
Matt: Worst one was that Darkness effort.
Oli: Slade’s is the best one.
Matt: Yeah, obviously Slade.
What did you do last New Year?
Matt: Played a gig at the Faversham in Leeds. It was excellent. Drank lots of beer, got paid, and…
Oli: Fell over a wall.
Matt: Fell over a wall. Probably. [thinks] No, that weren’t then...
Stine Bramson – Alphabeat
Best and worst Christmas songs?
[Favourite] Wham! ‘Last Christmas’. That’s always good. I love that, I love Wham! in general. [Least favourite] That’s probably mostly Danish ones. The silly ones that don’t really have a good melody and sung by kids always.
What do you eat at your Christmas meal?
We have duck at home with everything that comes with that.
Where were you last New Year?
I actually had dinner with the friend who’s over at my place right now. Then we went to a big private party at a friend’s house in Copenhagen.
Greg Churchouse – Scouting For Girls
Where did you spend last Christmas?
Last Christmas, I was pretty much working most of it. Myself and Roy both worked in shops, so Christmas time was always the busiest time of the year. We literally got Christmas Day off, and it was working til 10, 11pm on Christmas Eve and then back to work on Boxing Day. This is going to be the first Christmas we’ve both not been working since we left school which is going to be absolutely lovely stuff.
What’s the best present you received?
Blimey. That’s a tricky one. I’d say when I was like 14 Roy persuaded to get an acoustic guitar for Christmas instead of a Megadrive. Quite lucky he did otherwise who knows what would have happened, I’d have been sitting at home, being a computer geek, as opposed to sitting in the back of a freezing cold tour bus somewhere in Scotland!
What’s your New Years resolution?
I would say I’d like to get fitter. But as I’ve never ever stuck to a New Years resolution in my life for more than, say, a day, I doubt it’s really going to happen.
What are you best and worst Christmas songs?
Best Christmas song would be ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! I don’t know what the worst Christmas song would be actually. [laughs] Roy just said ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! It’s a double-edge sword. I was personally going to go for ‘Mistletoe & Wine’ by Cliff Richard.
David Guetta
I’m going to ask you some cheesy Christmas questions, if that’s all right.
Bring on the cheese!
Where were you last New Year?
I was in Dubai.
How do you celebrate Christmas?
Really classic, you know family, tree, my wife is totally into that, she’s like really excited and we have a boy, he’s three and a half years, so we’re gonna wait for Father Christmas to come and say hello and everything.
What are your best and worst Christmas songs?
I think that is more of a UK thing because we don’t have that so much in France. I’ve seen that you have a lot of that here and it’s all a big deal but we don’t really. ‘Baby When The Light’ is number one on the airplay and it will be for Christmas. We don’t have special Christmas music. I think it’s a good thing!
Have you got a New Year’s resolution?
Yes I do. I’m going to go back to the gym, I’m going to eat healthy, I’m going to start some proper music lessons – harmony, piano lessons, percussion lessons, guitar lessons. Today I’ve done this today, it was a great experience, I’ve done this show for Channel 4 called ‘Freshly Squeezed’ and we’ve done an acoustic version of ‘Baby When The Light’. It was really exciting, I was like I wanna do this more, I need to come back home. I programme so I can play keyboard but not that good, and I want to learn how to play the real thing. That’s my resolution for next year.
Interviews - Star Students
It was 'going back to school/college/university' time, so I asked recent interviewees some vaguely study related subjects, proper Smash Hits style.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in September 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
STAR STUDENTS
ROONEY
What was your best subject?
Louie: I took some music classes, that was my most enjoyable subject.
Matthew: I did well in English and History.
Ned: I enjoyed Spells and Dark Arts at Hogwarts. I was also into History and English.
Have you got any advice for people going off to university this year?
Louie: Buck up and get it done.
Taylor: Quit your crying.
Louie: Put it behind you, don’t look back.
Taylor: If it takes a few extra years, that’s ok. Don’t get down. It’s not about how long it takes. It’s about completion.
Ned: I agree. Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses.
Did you have any part time jobs when you were students?
Matt: Aside from an internship I have, this is the only job I’ve ever had. We all were pretty spoilt!
Any advice for students?
Louie: Sometimes if you can start a relationship with one of your teachers, that can ease the burden of your homework load a little bit.
Ned: An intimate relationship.
Louie: I’m talking about a full contact relationship with a teacher.
Taylor: Any teacher whose course you may be struggling in is the teacher you should be getting a full contact relationship with.
AMY MACDONALD
What was your best subject when you were studying?
It was geography. My geography teacher was my favourite teacher ever of anything I’ve ever done, it just made me have a passion for the subject by having a good teacher.
Where did you hang out at breaktimes?
We had a room called the Crash Hall, which was just a big massive hall with vending machines and benches where everyone could sit or you could go outside but we always chose to stay in.
Have you got any advice for people starting new courses?
Just keep at it and try not to fall asleep!
KENNEDY
What were your best subjects?
Kennedy: I was really good at biology. And I’m still pretty good at biology.
Did you ever get detention?
Kennedy: I got detention once and I got suspended once. I shot this spitball at this girl, because I had a crush on her – it’s still the way I date – but the wind took it and it carried it and it hit the vice principal on the back of the head. And so I got suspended.
I think that’s something you should be proud of.
Kennedy: At the time I was like ‘This is the end of my life! It’s all over!’ and now I’m like ‘I’m glad I did it.’
You go back to your locker at the end of the year and you find something which you left in there at the start of the year and forgot about. What it is?
Kennedy: Oh that’s probably my lunch. And it’s probably got mushrooms growing in it.
Your mum would be so upset with you.
Kennedy: My mum was the noon duty aid, you know the lady who like punishes people? She’s kind of in charge of the yard while everyone’s at recess. She made my life miserable because she was just punishing everybody. Everybody hated me because I was her son. But then to make it even more amazingly weird, she had some weird surgery on her face, and she couldn’t be in the direct sunlight for about three months, and she wore this bag over her head for three months with this happy face on it. It was like I can’t believe this is really happening.
Have you got any advice for freshers?
Kennedy: Don’t smoke. And stay in school.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in September 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
STAR STUDENTS
ROONEY
What was your best subject?
Louie: I took some music classes, that was my most enjoyable subject.
Matthew: I did well in English and History.
Ned: I enjoyed Spells and Dark Arts at Hogwarts. I was also into History and English.
Have you got any advice for people going off to university this year?
Louie: Buck up and get it done.
Taylor: Quit your crying.
Louie: Put it behind you, don’t look back.
Taylor: If it takes a few extra years, that’s ok. Don’t get down. It’s not about how long it takes. It’s about completion.
Ned: I agree. Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses.
Did you have any part time jobs when you were students?
Matt: Aside from an internship I have, this is the only job I’ve ever had. We all were pretty spoilt!
Any advice for students?
Louie: Sometimes if you can start a relationship with one of your teachers, that can ease the burden of your homework load a little bit.
Ned: An intimate relationship.
Louie: I’m talking about a full contact relationship with a teacher.
Taylor: Any teacher whose course you may be struggling in is the teacher you should be getting a full contact relationship with.
AMY MACDONALD
What was your best subject when you were studying?
It was geography. My geography teacher was my favourite teacher ever of anything I’ve ever done, it just made me have a passion for the subject by having a good teacher.
Where did you hang out at breaktimes?
We had a room called the Crash Hall, which was just a big massive hall with vending machines and benches where everyone could sit or you could go outside but we always chose to stay in.
Have you got any advice for people starting new courses?
Just keep at it and try not to fall asleep!
KENNEDY
What were your best subjects?
Kennedy: I was really good at biology. And I’m still pretty good at biology.
Did you ever get detention?
Kennedy: I got detention once and I got suspended once. I shot this spitball at this girl, because I had a crush on her – it’s still the way I date – but the wind took it and it carried it and it hit the vice principal on the back of the head. And so I got suspended.
I think that’s something you should be proud of.
Kennedy: At the time I was like ‘This is the end of my life! It’s all over!’ and now I’m like ‘I’m glad I did it.’
You go back to your locker at the end of the year and you find something which you left in there at the start of the year and forgot about. What it is?
Kennedy: Oh that’s probably my lunch. And it’s probably got mushrooms growing in it.
Your mum would be so upset with you.
Kennedy: My mum was the noon duty aid, you know the lady who like punishes people? She’s kind of in charge of the yard while everyone’s at recess. She made my life miserable because she was just punishing everybody. Everybody hated me because I was her son. But then to make it even more amazingly weird, she had some weird surgery on her face, and she couldn’t be in the direct sunlight for about three months, and she wore this bag over her head for three months with this happy face on it. It was like I can’t believe this is really happening.
Have you got any advice for freshers?
Kennedy: Don’t smoke. And stay in school.
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
Interview - Scouting For Girls
This interview was delayed by a week or so after the PR originally phoned me when I was on a train. Attempting to put the dictaphone next to my mobile while trying to shut the carriage up wouldn't have been successful, so we agreed I would speak to Roy Stride later on. Imagine my surprise when I didn't speak to him at all. This involved some frantic question rewrites...
Be Prepared – The motto of The Scouts
That’s not the motto of this website though, although perhaps it should be. Having originally been told we’d be speaking to Roy Stride, we answered the phone with “Hello Roy,” only to find that a rescheduled interview date had also given us an entirely different band member, ie Greg Churchouse. Apologies and brief panic flowed from our end of the phone line. Luckily he didn’t sound offended.
There are currently few bands more cheerful-sounding than Scouting For Girls. Made up of childhood friends Roy Stride (vocals/keyboards), Greg Churchouse (bass and vocals) and Peter Ellard (drums). Making charmingly friendly and cheeky, catchy pop, they give off an air of being incredibly nice and polite in general. The sort of band you could invite out for a drink and they’d talk to all your friends, share their crisps and even join in a game of darts, unlike other musicians who would steal your pint before drunkenly relieving themselves on the snooker table. That’s not Scouting For Girls’ style. They’re too well-behaved for that. Or so they sound.
How are you, Greg?
“Not too bad. Please excuse me if the phone goes a bit funny, we’re currently driving from Inverness to Edinburgh. The phone coverage isn’t the greatest.”
How was the gig last night?
“The gig in Inverness was amazing. One of our managers actually comes from Inverness so I think half the crowd was probably made up of his family.”
So long as they all paid to get in.
“Oh yes. The guestlist was rather short surprisingly.”
Scouting For Girls picked up their name partly on the cheeky wordplay, partly on their love of innocent childhood times spent with their Scout chums. Dib dib dib and all that. Surprisingly – nay, shockingly – Greg was not a member of the Scouts. He was however in the supremely cooler Air Cadets “because it was much more fun to fly planes and stuff.”
Did you actually get to fly planes in the Air Cadets?
“Yeah, we used to go gliding every other weekend. And every now and then we got to go and fly those little Chipmunk planes which was quite good fun. But Roy and Pete actually met when they were six at Cubs.”
So they were building their campfires and you were flying overhead laughing at them?
“Yeah exactly. They were camping out in their tents and I’m flying round, having lots of japes and larks.”
You didn’t have to do badges or tasks or anything like that did you?
“We had little exams and tests and things but they were just about performing the basics like about planes stay in the air and how to polish your boots.”
One of the things setting Scouting For Girls apart from their contemporaries is their fanbase in the Wolfcub Club. Greg explains it began as a way of enticing people onto their mailing list “by giving away a little badge and a membership card, much like the Dennis The Menace fan club when we were kids. We were all members of that, and it’s just a really great way of keeping in touch with people, and giving a little bit back and starting a little club and it took off really well.”
Members now also receive a special CD, a handy handbook, and a secret code to write in. “Apparently it’s a lot easier to decipher than it is to write things in the code. It takes us absolutely forever to actually write anything down and then people have figured it out within a couple of minutes [laughs].”
Were you in any band fan clubs when you were younger?
“Not really, I just preferred just listening to the music. Most of my favourite bands I probably couldn’t name half the people in them you know, and yet I can name the songs and the albums. I think Roy was in the REM fan club, he’s a huge REM fan.”
It’s been an incredibly hectic year for the band. Since signing to their record label on Valentine’s Day, their EP ‘It’s Not About You’ managed to become the highest charting limited edition EP – not bad, considering ‘limited edition’ generally means there aren’t that many of them. They’ve been given strong radio support (“Huw Stephens on Radio 1 gave us a Maida Vale session before we got signed, Marsha and John Kennedy on XFM have just been absolutely amazing,”) which can't have hurt matters.
Scouting For Girls are currently busying themselves on tour, from the middle of November to December, across the length of the UK. Most of this tour has sold out, so if you didn’t get tickets, consider yourselves lucky there are plenty more dates around the corner. ”The crowds have been absolutely amazing every night, we’ve been very very well received and we most definitely appreciate it.”
Scotland has been a particular high, with Glasgow seeing the best fans. “Pretty much anywhere in Glasgow, you’re always onto a winner. The crowds are always just phenomenal, I thought my ears were going to start bleeding at one point because of the crowd screaming. And I’m really looking forward to playing KOKO in London, ‘cause that’s like coming back to your home crowd, which is always lovely.”
Support this time round is from The Sonic Hearts, who Greg describes as “a lovely bunch of guys and girls. Nice melodies, nice jangly guitars, which really complements us, and they’ve been well received which is always wicked.”On this tour it’s been really weird because people have been singing along to pretty much every song, and they seem to know the words better than Roy does. Just listening to the guys singing it back to you; you can’t describe the feeling, it’s just amazing.”The newer dates will take in much larger venues. Greg says “I can’t wait it’s going to be wicked.”
The band recently played their first show abroad, at London Calling in Amsterdam. “It was absolutely amazing. We were on tenterhooks as to how the crowd would take to us, but they seemed to really enjoy it. Can’t wait to hopefully get out there and do it again. Hopefully early next year we’re going to get over and do a few dates in Ireland, and then if we’re lucky, we’re still waiting to hear back on South By Southwest in Texas, which would be absolutely awesome. I’ve never been to the States so it’ll be an adventure. Oh God I can tell you, we could do with some sun. It’s absolutely freezing in Scotland. It’s really quite sunny out there but absolutely freezing.”
Scouting For Girls debut album is cleverly titled ‘Scouting For Girls’. This is so as not to confuse people. I once asked my mum to buy me Ocean Colour Scene ‘Moseley Shoals’ and she nearly bought me ‘Ocean Drive’ by the Lighthouse Family. Anyway…
Are you pleased at how successful it’s been?
“Yeah we’ve all been bedazzled by how well it’s been going. We’ve been in bands together since we were at school, and we’re so proud of the album and so glad that people seem to really like it.”
How long was it in the making for, has it been sort of kicking around for a while?
“Some of the songs on there are like a year old and another couple of tracks are like ten years old. It’s been a long hard process but we picked the songs that work quite nicely in the album and we were just so happy with the way it turned out, I can’t tell you [laughs].
“I’m still finding it quite hard to figure out which one my favourite track is, I mean I love ‘James Bond’ but anything which mention James Bond is always a winner with me. I do quite like the secret track ‘Michaela Strachan’.”
Would you be offended if I said ‘She’s So Lovely’ was getting slightly overplayed on the radio?
“Not at all. I heartily apologise!”
It’s not your fault, you don’t do the playlists.
“I don’t listen to the radio too much so it hasn’t annoyed me yet but yeah we have heard a couple of comments [laughs] Hopefully they won’t do the same thing to ‘Elvis [Ain’t Dead]’. We were really surprised at the success and how well ‘She’s So Lovely’ did, we weren’t expecting Top 10 at all. Top 40 would have been nice but to get it up into the Top 10 for six weeks, it was amazing.”
The band are currently doing the rounds to promote new single ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’, which obviously is not really about Elvis.
“No, it’s a common misconception. It’s actually about unrequited love, when someone leaves you and you think they’re going to come back but you’re just deluding yourself. Roy was reading an article in the newspaper about some Elvis fans in America who kind of believed The King wasn’t dead and he was kicking around somewhere in Idaho working in a burger bar, and no matter if you showed them the corpse of Elvis they’d still go ‘No, he’s still alive’. It’s a really nice kind of metaphor for a kind of first love and first loss.
“I think with a lot of our songs sometimes the subject matter can be heavy, but it’s always wrapped up in a nice bouncy sound. We’re a feelgood kind of band.”
Back to Elvis: “It would be really nice if he was [alive] you know. But if you were going to fake your own death, dying on the toilet, you’d pick something a bit more glamorous than that. He’ll always live on in his music because it’s just phenomenal. I think Elvis will carry on being huge for years and years.”
Time will tell if Scouting For Girls do the same, but they’ve certainly made an encouraging start.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in December 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
Be Prepared – The motto of The Scouts
That’s not the motto of this website though, although perhaps it should be. Having originally been told we’d be speaking to Roy Stride, we answered the phone with “Hello Roy,” only to find that a rescheduled interview date had also given us an entirely different band member, ie Greg Churchouse. Apologies and brief panic flowed from our end of the phone line. Luckily he didn’t sound offended.
There are currently few bands more cheerful-sounding than Scouting For Girls. Made up of childhood friends Roy Stride (vocals/keyboards), Greg Churchouse (bass and vocals) and Peter Ellard (drums). Making charmingly friendly and cheeky, catchy pop, they give off an air of being incredibly nice and polite in general. The sort of band you could invite out for a drink and they’d talk to all your friends, share their crisps and even join in a game of darts, unlike other musicians who would steal your pint before drunkenly relieving themselves on the snooker table. That’s not Scouting For Girls’ style. They’re too well-behaved for that. Or so they sound.
How are you, Greg?
“Not too bad. Please excuse me if the phone goes a bit funny, we’re currently driving from Inverness to Edinburgh. The phone coverage isn’t the greatest.”
How was the gig last night?
“The gig in Inverness was amazing. One of our managers actually comes from Inverness so I think half the crowd was probably made up of his family.”
So long as they all paid to get in.
“Oh yes. The guestlist was rather short surprisingly.”
Scouting For Girls picked up their name partly on the cheeky wordplay, partly on their love of innocent childhood times spent with their Scout chums. Dib dib dib and all that. Surprisingly – nay, shockingly – Greg was not a member of the Scouts. He was however in the supremely cooler Air Cadets “because it was much more fun to fly planes and stuff.”
Did you actually get to fly planes in the Air Cadets?
“Yeah, we used to go gliding every other weekend. And every now and then we got to go and fly those little Chipmunk planes which was quite good fun. But Roy and Pete actually met when they were six at Cubs.”
So they were building their campfires and you were flying overhead laughing at them?
“Yeah exactly. They were camping out in their tents and I’m flying round, having lots of japes and larks.”
You didn’t have to do badges or tasks or anything like that did you?
“We had little exams and tests and things but they were just about performing the basics like about planes stay in the air and how to polish your boots.”
One of the things setting Scouting For Girls apart from their contemporaries is their fanbase in the Wolfcub Club. Greg explains it began as a way of enticing people onto their mailing list “by giving away a little badge and a membership card, much like the Dennis The Menace fan club when we were kids. We were all members of that, and it’s just a really great way of keeping in touch with people, and giving a little bit back and starting a little club and it took off really well.”
Members now also receive a special CD, a handy handbook, and a secret code to write in. “Apparently it’s a lot easier to decipher than it is to write things in the code. It takes us absolutely forever to actually write anything down and then people have figured it out within a couple of minutes [laughs].”
Were you in any band fan clubs when you were younger?
“Not really, I just preferred just listening to the music. Most of my favourite bands I probably couldn’t name half the people in them you know, and yet I can name the songs and the albums. I think Roy was in the REM fan club, he’s a huge REM fan.”
It’s been an incredibly hectic year for the band. Since signing to their record label on Valentine’s Day, their EP ‘It’s Not About You’ managed to become the highest charting limited edition EP – not bad, considering ‘limited edition’ generally means there aren’t that many of them. They’ve been given strong radio support (“Huw Stephens on Radio 1 gave us a Maida Vale session before we got signed, Marsha and John Kennedy on XFM have just been absolutely amazing,”) which can't have hurt matters.
Scouting For Girls are currently busying themselves on tour, from the middle of November to December, across the length of the UK. Most of this tour has sold out, so if you didn’t get tickets, consider yourselves lucky there are plenty more dates around the corner. ”The crowds have been absolutely amazing every night, we’ve been very very well received and we most definitely appreciate it.”
Scotland has been a particular high, with Glasgow seeing the best fans. “Pretty much anywhere in Glasgow, you’re always onto a winner. The crowds are always just phenomenal, I thought my ears were going to start bleeding at one point because of the crowd screaming. And I’m really looking forward to playing KOKO in London, ‘cause that’s like coming back to your home crowd, which is always lovely.”
Support this time round is from The Sonic Hearts, who Greg describes as “a lovely bunch of guys and girls. Nice melodies, nice jangly guitars, which really complements us, and they’ve been well received which is always wicked.”On this tour it’s been really weird because people have been singing along to pretty much every song, and they seem to know the words better than Roy does. Just listening to the guys singing it back to you; you can’t describe the feeling, it’s just amazing.”The newer dates will take in much larger venues. Greg says “I can’t wait it’s going to be wicked.”
The band recently played their first show abroad, at London Calling in Amsterdam. “It was absolutely amazing. We were on tenterhooks as to how the crowd would take to us, but they seemed to really enjoy it. Can’t wait to hopefully get out there and do it again. Hopefully early next year we’re going to get over and do a few dates in Ireland, and then if we’re lucky, we’re still waiting to hear back on South By Southwest in Texas, which would be absolutely awesome. I’ve never been to the States so it’ll be an adventure. Oh God I can tell you, we could do with some sun. It’s absolutely freezing in Scotland. It’s really quite sunny out there but absolutely freezing.”
Scouting For Girls debut album is cleverly titled ‘Scouting For Girls’. This is so as not to confuse people. I once asked my mum to buy me Ocean Colour Scene ‘Moseley Shoals’ and she nearly bought me ‘Ocean Drive’ by the Lighthouse Family. Anyway…
Are you pleased at how successful it’s been?
“Yeah we’ve all been bedazzled by how well it’s been going. We’ve been in bands together since we were at school, and we’re so proud of the album and so glad that people seem to really like it.”
How long was it in the making for, has it been sort of kicking around for a while?
“Some of the songs on there are like a year old and another couple of tracks are like ten years old. It’s been a long hard process but we picked the songs that work quite nicely in the album and we were just so happy with the way it turned out, I can’t tell you [laughs].
“I’m still finding it quite hard to figure out which one my favourite track is, I mean I love ‘James Bond’ but anything which mention James Bond is always a winner with me. I do quite like the secret track ‘Michaela Strachan’.”
Would you be offended if I said ‘She’s So Lovely’ was getting slightly overplayed on the radio?
“Not at all. I heartily apologise!”
It’s not your fault, you don’t do the playlists.
“I don’t listen to the radio too much so it hasn’t annoyed me yet but yeah we have heard a couple of comments [laughs] Hopefully they won’t do the same thing to ‘Elvis [Ain’t Dead]’. We were really surprised at the success and how well ‘She’s So Lovely’ did, we weren’t expecting Top 10 at all. Top 40 would have been nice but to get it up into the Top 10 for six weeks, it was amazing.”
The band are currently doing the rounds to promote new single ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’, which obviously is not really about Elvis.
“No, it’s a common misconception. It’s actually about unrequited love, when someone leaves you and you think they’re going to come back but you’re just deluding yourself. Roy was reading an article in the newspaper about some Elvis fans in America who kind of believed The King wasn’t dead and he was kicking around somewhere in Idaho working in a burger bar, and no matter if you showed them the corpse of Elvis they’d still go ‘No, he’s still alive’. It’s a really nice kind of metaphor for a kind of first love and first loss.
“I think with a lot of our songs sometimes the subject matter can be heavy, but it’s always wrapped up in a nice bouncy sound. We’re a feelgood kind of band.”
Back to Elvis: “It would be really nice if he was [alive] you know. But if you were going to fake your own death, dying on the toilet, you’d pick something a bit more glamorous than that. He’ll always live on in his music because it’s just phenomenal. I think Elvis will carry on being huge for years and years.”
Time will tell if Scouting For Girls do the same, but they’ve certainly made an encouraging start.
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