Interview : King Blues

Where did you get your name from?

There are some large rizzla's called King Blues, haha striking preferences

You are a self made group that gained your initial success from self promotion, how does it feel to finally be recognised?

It's cool, I mean for us it has built up very organically, we haven't kind of suddenly become famous; we have done everything in baby steps. We have done it the old school way of just going out and playing all the time and getting people to see us like that! Even when there were only two of us and we were just going round playing squats we wanted to be the biggest band in the world, and we wanted to change the world. I think we show if you genuinely believe you will get there. Every band needs to be two things, you need to be a good band live and a good band on a record, one without the other will definitely hold you back.

What do you think of the current punk scene; do you believe punk culture is still alive?

Yeah without s shadow of a doubt, I mean we grew up in the punk scene long after it was supposedly dead! I mean every city we go to we are just so amazed at how big it still is. I mean we were lucky growing up under the radar of punk as it is so underground, that it went we had time to develop rather than being snapped up straight away by a team of people, we had time to grow and poke our heads out when we were finally ready! Yeah the punk spirit is definitely still alive and kicking, I think British punk has finally found its own voice after mimicking the American scene for so long. Yeah it never went away it may have gone underground for a while but it definitely never went away.

What message do you hope to convey through your music? What are your primary concerns with society?

It's not like one message or anything that can be summed up in a kind of sound bite. We are tapping into the mentality of truths that have lasted since the start of time, eternal truths like love, peace, hope and soul. In a sense it's about unity.

Do you not think that your message of peace and anti-racism is very different from old punk's message of anarchy and against all authority?

Oh no I think the two go very much hand in hand, I mean anarchy is all about equality! I mean breaking down any barriers and against hierarchy in every sense, against all forms of oppression, and believing that we are all equal and that no-one is worth any more than anyone else. At the moment we are in a country, which I believe is being run more like a business. I mean profit comes first over people! For us it is not one issue, I mean yeah we are anti-racist and yeah we are anti-fascist but we are real people and express every single feeling and emotion that we have through our music. We are not a one trick pony there is a lot of give to us!

Do you feel like music has lost much of its message from the days when hip hop and punk were a form of resistance?

I mean mainstream yeah but underground there are still great artists like in hip-hop Immortal Technique yeah that whole UK hip-hop thing has fortunately been very conscious from day one and that is fantastic. I mean at the moment the whole music industry is f****d and no one is buying any records everyone is just downloading songs. I mean so there is kind of no money to be made in it. I mean now no one wants to take any risks on a band that has anything controversial to say as it may not sell.

Do you think that the music industry resembles the film industry where Hollywood dominates and European Cinema has no chance to compete?

Yeah kind of but then again at the same time a band like us that has no right to be in the mainstream whatever we have no place being on radio one, but we are purely because we hustled. That makes us feeling like we are utterly blessed to be in the position that we are in, but if we had first started out to be in the charts we would never have formed this kind of band! We never thought if we added in a hip- hop beat then these kids will like it and if we add in a ska beat these kids will like it, we are those kids you see. We just played what we wanted to hear! So from doing that and being a political band I think it has set us apart from other bands, it has worked to our favour.

Do you believe people today are too un-political?

No, not at all I believe that is a common misconception that young people don't care about politics. Well we have the largest anti-war policies of all time, I think it shows that people do care; it's just its not being represented by the mainstream media. People do care what's going on and I think our band somehow proves that!

Your music is not just straight punk it crosses between hip hop, reggae, ska, rock. In some ways you remind me of Sublime. Are they an influence on you and what are your main influences?

Yes without a shadow of a doubt, I mean musically Sublime are a massive influence. But at the same thing as there are so many of us and we are all into very different things musically, but I mean spiritually the influence of bands such as Rage Against the Machine, The Clash, Asian Dub Foundation, Immortal Technique these kinds of groups really speak to us. People who have just innovated and tried to be themselves rather than trying to be a part of something.

What are your plans for the future?

Well we finished this tour today. We have been on the road for three weeks, and this was our second headline tour and the obviously today opening for Rancid it has been amazing. We have a few shows dotted around London coming up and then we have a short 3 day tour. Then after that just gonna start writing again, we don't want it to be like 2 years again before we release another record!

Interview by Lizze Goodman

Interview : Shammi Pithia

With influences from a range of musical genres while growing up and studying a degree in Music Technology and Innovation, Shammi Pithia is a composer and producer bringing a fresh sound to the British Asian music scene. His E.P ‘Cinema for the Ears’ is composed of five tracks, each individually creating different moods and emotions left to the listeners imagination. Nitin Sawhney most definitely comes to mind with key elements of Indian classical music beautifully blended with contemporary instruments and vocals giving great depth to each track. To find out more and listen to the originality of Shammi Pithia’s creations check out www.myspace.com/shammipithia OR www.shammipithia.com

What influenced you into producing your own music?

I suppose I’ve always been surrounded by music. I grew up with a lot of Bollywood music as well as popular western music. In school I had the chance to have a play on some instruments and it kind of took off from there. When I reached college I heard the brilliant music of people like Nitin Sawhney, this really inspired me to further my musical skills and take it seriously. A bit later on down the line I got really interested in classical Indian music, listening to greats like Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia. From then I really started to focus on my compositional style and started to properly produce the music I do now.

What inspires you when producing?

Anything! Sometimes you find yourself just making a piece of music. I could be jamming on the keyboard and something would naturally develop. But there are also many moments where I actually think about what I want to compose about. There could be a recent event, or a hypothetical incident. I’m really interested in music and emotion, so sometimes I just chose an emotion that looks interesting to me at that time and try and make a piece of music based on it! Inspiration comes from everywhere, my own thoughts, what I’ve seen/heard, the people I’m working with, and the music I’ve listened to.

How would you describe the tracks on your E.P and what can we expect from the upcoming album?

Each track on the E.P tries to explore something different. Tracks like Poem Without Words, Compassion and Interruption of Peace explore emotions. For example, in Poem without Words I’ve tried to evoke the atmosphere of tenderness. Without leaning to either end, I’ve tried to show shades of sadness and romanticism. I tried to compose the track so that the listeners own emotions interact with the mood created to give them their own interpretation of the song. Other songs such as the Dream are based on Hindu philosophy. This song looks at the world, and then looks at the spiritual world. This takes places within the context of a dream.
This E.P was just a taster; it serves as an introduction to me and my music. The album is much bigger and has a lot more depth. It explores specific emotions like the E.P. and also explores events and life moments. There are some amazing new musicians featuring on the album as well as contributions from the great musicians on my E.P. I’m really proud of the album so far, if anybody likes the E.P. Then I’m sure you will like the album! I hope to have it all wrapped up early next year!

The best thing about university in your opinion?

The education of course! I really enjoyed my courses, they really helped me to think creatively and widen my musical knowledge. But the social life and its benefits can’t be underestimated!

Any tips for aspiring artists?

Keep doing it! The music industry has changed from what it was 10 years ago. Before it was all about ‘getting signed’ or getting a record deal, it’s not about that now. New media allows us to be much more self efficient, you can now record all your music yourself at a low cost. You can make the music available for people to hear all over the world and you can promote yourself for free (to a certain extent). I think people need to do things for themselves, don’t rely on others to do things for you. If you want it, take it.

Interview by Sunni Sharma

Interview : Red Light Company

Having seen the recent tour posters for the Red Light Company I was a little apprehensive at the prospect of meeting them, seeing as they look rather scary. But when finally I got the chance to sit down with the lead singer Richard Frenneaux you soon realise that he’s not scary, in fact he’s a rather nice guy!

So Rich your new single (Scheme Eugene) is coming out soon (Nov 3RD), how do you feel the whole process has gone?

It’s interesting because we put two singles out and they were kinda fairly limited…so kinda this is our first proper, proper single that we have put out…so there is a lot of pressure on us [and] we tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves.

You have had loads of radio play recently and NME have done loads of stuff on you, did you like working with them [NME]?

Yeah, we did a Jack Daniels session with them which was pretty good fun and actually we met the video director for our Scheme Eugene video on that set so it worked out for us really well.

Well the video looks quality and different, is it important to you guys to be different?

Definitely…in the UK there have been a lot of guitar bands um there was an influx of it for a long time and that was all good but I think it became stale…so I got really sick of it actually. Like everything new things come up and then they are replicated and new things become old hat so we’re just trying to do something new. It’s really important to be proactive.

You're completely different from what I was expecting having seen your tour poster because you look pretty scary. What’s the idea behind that?

It’s my pet thing I like to stare at people. I think it’s born out of trying to get peoples attention. We have done quite a lot of supports so you need something to make you stand out. It does make me come across as a sort of child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but that’s the fun of being in a band you can be whoever you want to be.

Red Light Company’s sound may be an acquired taste and like all change is difficult at first to acclimatise to but if you get the chance, as they are currently touring the country, they are a really impressive live band definitely worth checking out.
www.myspace.com/redlightcompany

Interview By Lee Hall

Interview : Mystery Jets

First of all, welcome back to the North.

Isn’t this technically the midlands?

Yeah but we’re north of many places. Welcome back to the East Midlands. How does it feel to be back? Full of East Midlands soul?

It feels great. Nottingham is always really good fun. We’ve done some of my favourite gigs here actually, at Stealth and the Social back in the day. Nottingham has always been an important date on our tour. I like Liars Club and Rescue. I like Rock City because its so wide and wherever you are you can see.

You’re known as being a band of myriad ever-fluctuating influences. What’s influencing you right now?

At the moment we’re all starting to think about our second album so we’re all dipping our wicks in different areas of music. I think disco is definitely something we’ve all been thinking about, especially after working with Erol (Alkan, electronic super-producer who produced the band’s second album). I don’t think we are going to go down that disco road but I think it’s always quite fun and interesting to borrow production values from an area of music which is quite alien to you. Disco is one of those things that people always joke about and people always associate it with hen nights and YMCA, but there’s also loads of amazing Italo-Disco and some good underground disco some from the eighties which has never really been celebrated very much.

So, having previously lived and worked with Erol Alkan, would you say that you’ve learned anything from him which you’ll carry forward on to the next record?

Yeah, I think so. When we first thought about working with Erol our thoughts were about that we’ve never really been a dance band, we’ve never thought our songs could do that, they were just pop songs with a beat that would compliment the song whereas when we started working with Erol we started thinking a lot more consciously about what would work on a dance floor. I came out of the other side realising that beneath that layer of a dance orientated song there needs to be a melody and something memorable. You can dance to anything if you try as long as its got that solid foundation. So I think establishing that on our next record is going to be at the top of our agenda. Just those songs which at their core are the best songs we’ve ever written, whether or not they fall into a dance category.




There’s a great deal of growth between your first album and your most recent release. How would you say the band is growing towards the next album?

When we started off we were very stuck in our minds on being this pastiche-y prog rock band on the lead up to our first album, then on our first album we found we had all these messages and influences and by the second album we realised that there were probably too many. We realised that sometimes its much better to say one thing really well rather than ten things not so well. You can say them in a sentence which is five words long but it may not really say as much as a sentence which is one word. And we realised that its often harder to work with less words to say the same message. We do wanna puish the boundaries of what can be called a pop song, we do what put ourselves outside of our comfort zones as well. To me the most exciting bands around at the moment are those like MGMT, Foals and Vampire Weekend. It’s definitely pop music but it isn’t pop music which is at the top of that charts, it’s resculpting the idea of pop music. They can still sell loads of records and sell out massive venues but they don’t have to sound like a Kylie record; it can sound like whatever the f*ck they want. Foals and Vampire Weekend are very influenced by African music and I think it’s amazing that they can use that foreign influence. I think its fun to bring back these forgotten influences into pop music. Vampire Weekend for example, I wouldn’t say that what they’re doing is completely new but they have the nerve and the talent to bring that influence back into pop music and lots of people are doing that, like Beirut can whack Eastern folk music into the mix and make an amazing record.

Do you think you’ll ever become satisfied in trying to find that perfect edgy pop song?

I think we’re satisfied in between writing the song, when you think it’s the best thing you’ve ever written, and then you put the record out and you find that you’ll probably never listen to the song again. And then after touring it for a year you’ll find that you’ll probably f*cking hate it. The rating of that song in your mind goes from quite high to really low in the course of a year. I don’t think that means that the song is shit, just imagine if you were an author and you had to read a passage of your back to audiences around the world over and over again, you’d get f*cking sick of it. So I don’t that that speaks for the song I think that speaks for you getting tired of stuff which I think anybody would. Radiohead only started playing ‘Creep’ again after ten years of not playing it. Good questions by the way, good questions. We’ve had a lot of the same old shitty ones recently.




How would you say that always having been such a tight knit unit effects you as a band and the way you write etc?

When we started we wrote as a unit a lot more, like William would come a long with a guitar part and we’d embellish it, whereas now we write a lot more on our own. I don’t think that’s a bad thing I think its good that we’ve all grown into songwriters which we didn’t really known how to do before. We’ve grown separately as songwriters because we’ve become more mature as people and more confident as people. Individually we’ve come a lot closer to what we want to say, when I write a song I want t say something – I wouldn’t feel fulfilled if I was just throwing some keyboard parts over the top of a guitar line. I don’t think I’d be doing justice to what the other guys are doing either because I don’t think that would be me at my best. To be at our best is for us all to sit down and actually do some songwriting, because we’re all songwriters, that’s what makes our albums fun to play, rather than just playing awful songs with a backing band.

So it’s symbiotic?

Yeah, good word.

It’s one of my favourite words. So do you know what each other is thinking when you’re in the studio?

No, we’re actually quite secretive about how we write. Well, me and my dad are quite honest and up front with each other and we write a lot of lyrics together, or he’ll write a complete song and I’ll help him with his lyrics. Generally speaking we are quite secretive but I think that’s quite cool because you don’t want to know what each other is thinking because then there are no surprises when you do get into the studio. I think that creative, not jealousy but, creative competition and curiosity is what drives this band. When I know that whatever he’s working on is quite interesting but I may not hear it for a couple of weeks, I’m always waiting for the moment when he invites me to listen to it and vice versa. It does get very competitive because me, William and Kai have all been friends since we were young so it’s always quite competitive but still cool.



We were talking to Jeremy Warmsley the other week and he was quite quick to dismiss himself as part of any kind of London songwriting scene. How would you describe the scene?

Jeremy is someone who we’ve been friends with for a very long time and I’m surprised he’d say that because we played on one of his songs about three months ago. I don’t think I’d call it a ‘scene’ as such. We used to do parties and invite a bunch of our friends down, and that’s probably the closest we’ve been to being part of a scene. I quite enjoy not feeling part of a scene because when you think back to Britpop you always think of the main Britpop bands, you never think of great bands like Sleeper and Shed 7. In twenty years time people aren’t going to realise that they were this huge bands that sold thousands of records, just because they’re buried and overshadowed by the bigger bands on the scene. Being part of a scene but not as successful as the other bands on the scene is quite detrimental so we’ve always tried to distance ourselves from other bands. My favourite bands are always outsider bands, Late of The Pier for example. They don’t sound like anything else, people will say “Oh this is like, the second wave of new rave”, but new rave is just a fashion term, not of those bands actually sounded alike. Late of The Pier are the modern day Roxy Music, they’re like musical chameleons. Bless them, they’ll probably never have a single in the top 40 but who gives a shit? The Ramones never had a record in the top 100, it doesn’t matter, they’ll still be remembered. So, scenes aren’t really that important, only to those bands who need to ride on other bands’ coattails but we’ve never done that.




Interview and photos by Andy Trendell

Review : Kid British - Stealth - 8/11/08

The sound of Manchester’s Kid British is a combo of funky ska/reggae guitar with simple pop beats, generally lacking in diversity. Vocally, when lead singer James Mayer wasn't doing his rap-like thing, he sang with a conventionally in-your-face accent, à la most modern “indie” pop. So on the contrary, these limited musical combinations form only a small scope of music, and this is what comprised the set: from the boppy beats of “Elizabeth”, to the rapped over cover of Madness’s “Our House” [a band which strikes as a significant influence] to the clangy guitars and catchy harmonies of “She Will Leave”. A tight performance, nonetheless.

But what made this band shrine through was their fun-loving energy and sense of togetherness. Jumping about like lunatics on stage, arms around each other, a warm sense of euphoria rose into the air climaxing with teams of intoxicated students flooding the stage.

Certainly, this isn’t for everyone. However with their identifiable, down to earth lyrics and infectious energy, they are an ideal mainstream-student band. I doubt many who find themselves well into the popular rock scene would be disappointed; however look elsewhere if you enjoy something a bit more out-there and unique. Saying that, I don’t think they’re trying to be either of those things.

Review by Lewis Townsend

Interview: Black Kids

To us the public, it would almost seem as if you came out of nowhere with arguably one of the singles of the year. What was the transition like into the mainstream market?

KEVIN: “Yeah it was very surreal. Reggie, Owen and myself have been playing together for in complete obscurity in our home town of Jacksonville Florida. But yeah, To go from playing to nobody, to all of a sudden being in the main stream audience, it is a mind f**k, but it’s exciting and it’ what we’ve been working hard at for years”

When I first heard ‘I’m Not Gonna’ Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You,’ I couldn’t really liken it to anything past or present. I couldn’t pin point any specific influences. Would you care to enlighten us?

KEVIN: “That song has been very kind to us and it came very quickly and easily. As far as influences go, when we started the band we decided to kind of cherry pick our favourite parts from across different genre’s. On the record there is Motown girl group stuff, disco, funk and a lot of British bands throughout the 80’s and 90’s, like Pulp, stuff like that.

In the U.K in particular, your songs get a lot of exposure and plays in clubs and o dance floors. Is that an intention of yours when you’re writing songs? ‘Lets write a song that’s going to fill a dance floor?’

KEVIN: “Yeah it has been thus far. One of the elements that we’ve always wanted in our songs has been that dance element. We’ve been influenced by music we were listening to when we were out getting trashed on the dance floor. We don’t strictly want to limit it to that, but we want something that you can at least move to.”

I had a friend of mine who had the mentality that if you do something that you love for a living, then it’s not like ‘work,’ obviously a lot of hard work’s gone in to what you guys have done, but do you agree with that ethic?

KEVIN: “I don’t really agree with that, cos’ there’s been a lot of hard work gone into this. I mean we obviously love the nature of the work, but it’s still work. Doing interviews is great, playing shows is great, but there’s other things you just have to do which aren’t so great. It’s one of the aspects being in a full time touring band. There’s been times over this past year when we’ve been exhausted and needed a couple of fays off. But we’re not complaining.”

How are you finding the U.K audience?

KEVIN: “We were back here in July/August. The U.K audience has been one of the best. The U.K was the first to pick up on us, I don’t know if it’s because the music lends itself more to the British ear or what? Stuff considered indie in the U.S is a lot more main stream over here, so we get a lot of exposure in the U.K.”

What’s the plan for 2009? Do you have any idea where you want to take the sound?

KEVIN: “We definitely want to do a new record next year, and we want to do an E.P for January. We’ve been playing around with some new tunes. We don’t want to stray too far from that dance/pop music element.”

From a man who’s effectively found his calling, any advice for the student readers close to entering the big bad world?

KEVIN: “We’re all in our mid to late 20’s, and there were times when we were close to calling it quits. So my advice would be stick with what you really want to do, your dream. We’ve been playing and failing in bands since we were 15, and it was a matter of sticking with it and being dedicated to it.


Interview By Graham Turner

Interview The View

Before performing to a sell-out crowd at The Social, Platform caught up with Scottish indie-terriers Pete Reilly and Steven Morrison of The View to talk second albums, male to female ratios and the current state of our class system. All in days work really…

You’ve made quite a name for yourselves as a festival band; do you enjoy the big stage or think it’s equally important to do smaller venues like The Social?

Pete: I like the intimacy of ones like this, that’s lovely. It’s always good to do that. I’d say we’re half and half, like last night was amazing, you just can’t create an atmosphere like that on the big stage. I probably like the smaller venues better to be honest. It’s because they’re right there, they’re right in your face.
Steven: It’s a different kind of buzz.
P: It’s because they’re just there, and you can see there faces. They can shout out at you, it’s really personal.

You’re just tackling the notoriously tricky second album, how are you feeling about it? Did you go all rock star and escape to a cabin somewhere?

S: No we went to Wales!

That’s not very glamorous…

P: We recorded in this valley where some of the best music ever has been recorded. Queen wrote Bohemian Rhapsody there, Oasis recorded What’s the Story Morning Glory? It’s a bit of a legendary studio but it was a walk in the park really. It wasn’t that tricky, it just came naturally. Some of the tunes we wrote when we were in the studio.
S: You’ve got the best equipment there as well.
P: It just came naturally.

Any tracks that you are especially proud of that we need to look out for?

P: I’d say Shock Horror. It’s a tune; it’s going to be our second single. Your favourite chops and changes though.
S: You need a bit of Shock Horror when you’re out with your mates.

Does the new album have a different kind of vibe or sound?

P: You can still tell it’s us, it’s just a bit more adventurous. If we needed piano or a wee bit of strings or whatever we had the freedom just do that. We weren’t held back. We could do what we wanted to do and that’s the best way to record for me.

What advice would you give to emerging bands? You made it pretty much on your own merit; do you think that’s the best way to go about it?

S: Don’t stop enjoying it.
P: Don’t stop believing.

For you was there a big defining moment where you thought “Yeah this is definitely going to happen for us”?

P: We’re still waiting to wake up from this big dream really.
S: I’d say it was the NME awards, our first red carpet. All these flashes going off and you just think; “Yeah this is pretty cool!” Yeah that was my moment!

The first album had a bit of a Libertines feel to it, how did it feel being signed to the same label as them? That must have been a pretty big moment.

P: It was cool man, it was good. We definitely signed to the right label. Even though they left us in the dark for the second album like! Fuck it; they were too busy looking after the fucking Metros! Don’t look after your band that’s had a fucking number one album, oh no keep going with your middle class South East London wankers!

We did a little feature about things in music that really annoy, any personal pet hates?

P: That’s really annoying! What really annoys me are The Metros!

Pet hates?

P: Fucking middle class shit! Anyway that’s enough Metro bashing.

So are they a shared pet hate?
S: Oh no I love them.

You did the 2007 NME tour here in Nottingham, how do you find our fair city?

P: We’ve pretty much been chasing our tails since then! Now we’re back playing here… We must be on the way down again. It’s the end for The View!

Nottingham is very much a student orientated city; do you get a different response from gigs in student cities?

P: Is it not like 7 women to one man here?

Yes, apparently so.

Support band: It’s only blondes on the guest list!

Is that why I’m on the guest list?

S: Yes.

So that’s the reason you like Nottingham, the women to men ratio?

P: It’s an all female gig tonight isn’t it?

So… are The View still on fire?

P: Smoking hot.

Interview By Lucy Knighton

Interview : Elliot Minor

Which three words would you use to describe your music?

Rock, Pop and Classical Do you find it hard being constantly compared to other bands? We don't really care, people can compare us to anyone they want. It is a compliment really. Make your own mind up really! Usually people don't compare our music; it is normally about our image. If you think about the bands you like it is normally because your friend likes them, or you like the image they portray, but I think if people actually listen to our music they would be surprised.

I read that you were classically trained and went to choir school, what made you decide to make the transition to pop-rock?

We went to music school and were all music students, we were all singing in choirs and playing in orchestra's every day and it just got a bit dull really! Classical is the kinda music we were bought up on and in to originally.

In a previous interview you described your school as sheltered, was it intimidating going from that to a career in the limelight?

It was quite weird yeah. We used to play in shows just to our friends and stuff, but once you play a gig to other people it is totally different. When we were in choirs we had to perform to a large group of people but it was different.

How much has your life changed since the band got big?

Big? Ha ha, we are not really big, we are trying, we only really get recognised at our own shows! Well it has changed in the sense that we don't go to Uni and stuff anymore. I mean talking to our friends now and they have all graduated, and got jobs, now they only get like four days off and Christmas, made us realise how different our lifestyles are. I mean if it ended it would be hard to get used to a normal lifestyle again.

Which band or artist would you most like to perform with?

Kid Rock, Green Day or Hanna Montana.

What are your plans for the future?

Probably gunna be a Plumber or something, ha ha, yeah like when all this dies down.

Where would you most like to play what would be your most desired outcome from the band?

Start touring America really. Yeah to make it big in America.

www.myspace.com/elliotminor

Interview by Lizzee Goodman

Interview : Jeremy Warmsley

HEAD TO BALLS

How would you best describe/define your own music?

I think that in a lot of modern pop music there’s this weird dichotomy between music that is intended for general mass consumption, for like, people to dance to, and enjoy in public like Britney Spears or Kaiser Chiefs, and then there’s music for people to geek out to in their own privacy and enjoy in their own heads; stuff like Tom Waits or Radiohead. It’s very rare for one of those artists to be successful. Someone like David Bowie, one of the most popular artists of all time who simultaneously just made absolute head music. I do enjoy both kinds of music and my goal is to make music that does both. Music that gets you by the balls and the brains. That’s what I’m trying, but failing to do.

The labels ‘folk’ and even ‘folktronica’ get thrown around an awful lot. How do you react to these labels? Do you reject labels in general?

I don’t give a damn, people can call it what they want, as long as they don’t call it to my face. What critics find difficult is that I tend to make music that is different from track to track. Like I’ll have a heavy chorus and a cheesy R n B verse and then a critic will try to put a label on it. Or I’ll just get thrown in with the London scene of singer songwriters like Laura Marling and Noah and The Whale, and I love those bands but musically we’re so different. So that’s why its so hard for critics because I’m always striving to throw different influences into the mix. It’s very easy to just pick one of the things that I’m doing and try to apply that label to me, which I don’t think is correct but I don’t really have a problem with.

When we spoke to Lightspeed Champion he said it wrote this grunge record and in production it went through this sort of pop machine and the end result wasn’t what he expected at all. Do you ever feel the same way about your records?

On this new record I’d say 10 of them are so are essentially the same as the demos except a few technical and production details. Except for ‘Lose My Cool’, that changed completely throughout the whole process. I’m not the kind of person who fannies about with 100 different ideas for a song. If I have the right song then I have a really clear idea of the direction that I want to take it. I don’t ever find that difficult.

So it’s just sort of a practical evolution?

Yeah, this is gunna sound wanky and pretentious but I think one of my philosophies of the way I approach my own creativity is that I’m a real pragmatist. I try and do things based around the effect that they’re going to have on the people who are listening, and often but not always, the best way to do that is just to express that true emotion that you were first gripped by. Sometimes the best way to effect someone is to work backwards from the emotion you were feeling. If you write very direct lyrics like in track like ‘if it breaks your heart’ which is very clear what the songs about, and those kinds of songs draw more from experience than others. Songs like that are very easy to write because it’s just about being in love with a girl who goes off with someone else and its all just about expressing those feelings of pure hatred and abject violence. It’s really easy to get that out because we’ve all been there. It’s just a matter of writing it down. Then there’s a song like ‘How We Became’ which is the exact opposite, it’s about feeling so vague and whispy that trying to explain what it’s about gets me tongue twisted. The only way to understand is to like, take it line by line, like a jigsaw puzzle of an expressionist painting. You have these little bits, none of them make sense on their own but when you put them all together it’s still not their but you’ve got something interesting.

How do you translate the electronic elements from songs into a live environment?

I’ve got through a lot of permutations live. I used to think that my job was to try and challenge the audience when playing live. I used to want to make people think abut what they’ve done and question their values! All of this ridiculous and preposterous stuff that was never going to happen. Now my aim is just to leave people feeling like they’ve had a damn good time. Fuck it man, we all need a good time. We don’t make any effort at all to translate the electronic elements because life is too short, we just play the songs. I think it’s just boring to watch a band playing to a backing track realising that half of what you’re hearing is coming from a little chip. So we just play the songs and have a good time. There’s also no soul of character. A laptop might not understand that you want to play the 2nd verse twice or whatever for whatever reason. If you’re going to do an electronic show then you need to have someone that’s really really good at it as well as taking advantage of all aspects of technology. The set up we have is so wonderfully precise. We can fit everything we’re doing into one Range Rover. All of our guitars and amps and everything. In the current musical climate no one is spending any money; the labels have all locked up their piggy banks and the venues are halving everyone’s’ fees and doing it this way I’m only losing like £10 a gig. I know that’s a very everyday pragmatic thing that shouldn’t effect art, but if I wanted to put on an amazing show with like lights blazing and fireworks going off, that would be amazing, but let’s be realistic that’s not going to happen when I’m playing to about forty people at the Bodega. The important thing is to play the songs as well as you can fucking play them, and leave people with a warm feeling at the root of their spine. Which I could achieve by blowing gently but that’s not very practical and I’m a very practical person.

Would you say being half French is at all intrinsic to your identity as a musician?

No.

What role would you say narrative structure plays in your songs?

I’d say about 30% of my songs are stories with a beginning, a middle and an end, and you know 70% of them aren’t. Stories in songs are great but it would just be boring if all of your songs were stories, well it wouldn’t be boring but I couldn’t do it. I mean, one day I might do an acoustic album where every song is a story but not now. I think it’s a shame that more people don’t write songs where you can actually follow what’s going on. I mean, if you listen to an Oasis song, it’s literally just a bunch of words that rhyme. I admire artists like Joanna Newsom, you’re induced and you dive in and absorb the lyrics and there’s always a story there. There’s always something happening and that’s great. Then there’s a band like Radiohead, who aren’t doing that, they’re just expressing a feeling or intangibles and that’s great too, and I love doing both.

When you do write songs of a narrative nature is it largely instinctual or do you draw much influence from other great narrative song writers like Tom Waits, Nick Cave etc.?

I don’t directly draw inspiration. The way I write those songs is always accidental. I write a song that I’d like to hear in a song, then another, then I realise that say these three lines go together like this, where’s it going to go from here? A story is like a mathematical formula, there’s only one way to connect it and that’s with an equals sign. I write the more emotive songs in the exact same way. A song like ‘Crane Flies’ I knew exactly what I was trying to express and I just happened to have the right words.

What did you learn from playing with Daniel Johnston?

I didn’t learn anything that I can apply to my own music. It was a wonderful experience but it wasn’t in any way a learning experience. The guy’s just a performer you know, he does what he does and he can’t control it. He’s a wonderful human being but a mentor.

Your recent single ‘Boat Song’, is a duet with Emmy The Great, how did you come to work with her? She’s also recorded with Lightspeed Champion among others. Is there some kind of relationship/network of British singer songwriters like Lightspeed Champion, Patrick Wolf, Laura Marling etc?

We’re old friends, we’ve known each other since we were both unsigned. I recorded a single with her back in 2004 and then last year we recorded a Christmas EP over at my house. Then, I think on the new album, I did the string arrangements for a few songs, but I’m not even sure if they made it onto the album. She was all over my first album as well, she did a lot of backing vocals. She’s a great songwriter, a great performer and another wonderful human being. I’d love to work with her again. For the single, I was round at her house and she had a verse and we strung something together and I recorded it for a laugh, thinking it would be a B-side then the label wanted it as a single and that’s how it happened. We’ve got another song we wrote together about sloths but that was kind of a joke.

Emmy and I are great friends, Johnny Flynn and I used to live together, I’ve known Mystery Jets and Noah And The Whale for yonks, Slow Club are good friends. Etc. etc. I know all these guys and I love what they’re doing and I’m proud to be counted among them, but I see that something most of them have in common is that they’re all based around acoustic guitars and all serve a pretty strong folk element, I occasionally do a bit of that but I don’t really see those elements as being integral to my music, it’s just another part of my musical palette. So I don’t really see myself as part of it, although I do love everything that’s going on in that scene at the moment. One of my favourite bands that might be counted among them at the moment is a band called Gossamer Albatross (http://www.myspace.com/gossameralbatross) who are a bunch of eighteen year olds from Hereford.


Any other bands you’d recommend?

There’s a band called Three Trapped Tigers (www.myspace.com/threetrappedtigers)– they make the most fucked up electronica imaginable. You listen to them and you think it’s all synthesizers and drum machines but they actually use piano and live drum kits to make most of their sound. There’s a band called Akira – they’re this really crazy glitch-pop band, really funny, really out there, just great melodies. House of Strange are a great psychedelic-prog band from East London.

Interview by Andy Trendell

Photos by Lucy Bridger(
www.flickr.com/lucybridger)

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/JEREMYWARMSLEY

Interview : Natty

2008’s obviously been a successful year for you as an artist, getting signed to a major label. How did that come about? Wasn’t from it from a club night you were running?

Yeah, ‘Vibes and pressure.’ But not only from the club night but from all the gigs I was doing, I was doing loads and loads of gigs at the time and I found that I was the only artist there that people were really in to. Everyone else was all generic, and I just wanted to create a night where things were less generic. It was all off the live thing where it all happened.

It was Atlantic that got interested wasn’t it?

Yeah Atlantic, they showed a lot of interest, and they were the one’s that I was interested in. At one point there could be about 50 A and R guys there at one time.

What was that transition like? Surreal?

Yeah it was surreal. But you can’t look it as surreal; otherwise you’ll get caught up in the hype. The way I see it, some people like my music and they want to put it out there. Let’s move with it. If they want to’ give me some money, so I can by a house, then you know, that’ll be fine with me.

I read on your myspace page that you’re ‘living the dream.’ I had a friend that used to say if you found something you love, and you can do that for a living, then it’s not like work. Do you agree with that?

Yeah of course. I mean, if I was to take my shades off now, you’d see I have bags under my eyes. I’m real tired. But I’m loving it. The other night I was playing, and I didn’t have to sing cos’ the crowd all were. How you not gonna’ love that sh*t?

When it comes to writing lyrics, is it a case ‘I’ve got this tune, now I need some lyrics, what’s on my mind?’ Or do you approach it with an intended meaning to a song?

Both, it just comes how it comes. Either a whole song or just little bits, there’s no rules to this shit. Anything goes. I could have an entire chord progression with no lyrics, or I could find lyrics I wrote three years ago and use them. It just happens.

The album sounds like a personal account and expression, is it a buzz to know that people can derive their own meaning from what your saying?

It‘s personal to the point where pretty much everybody goes through this shit. Its from my perspective but people can relate. I guess that‘s why I‘m doing well.

What’s the plan for 2009?

I’m going to America, then Europe. Germany, then this festival in Holland, and towards the end of the year, I want to look at recording a new album. I’ve already started writing it.

Any advice for our student readers who are close to entering the big bad world?

Yeah don’t listen to anyone. Listen to your heart. A lot of people go by what there friends are doing, or what their parents say. I’m not saying don’t listen to what they’ve got to say, you’ve jus got to make your own way, walk your own path.

Interview By Graham Turner