“Never has this writer been so amazed and enthralled by a singer/songwriter as I am by one, Ben Sommers. Naturally gifted and with such a wild imagination, Ben has put together one of the most ambitious projects I think I have ever encountered. The album is called ‘Avocado Chip’ and with it’s post-apocalyptic imagery and Orwellian subtext, you can’t help but be totally seduced by this bleak and tragic world that Ben has created”.
‘A Town Called Starving Jane’ is the starting point of the Avocado Chip saga. CLICK HERE for to read the Ben Sommers NEN, interview.
Elephant Stone get with the program and do the ‘Sourmash’ 10 question challenge…
1. Hi Elephant Stone! Firstly can I say what a great show it was at The Macbeth in London, you guys sounded magical. Has it always been an ambition to get over to the UK and do some shows?
We love the UK. All our favourite music came from here… Beatles, The Who, Kinks, Teenage Fanclub, Cornershop…. this list goes on!
2. With the recent release of your glorious EP, The Glass Box, did anything in particular inspire the songwriting process?
I guess the birth of my daughter was a big inspiration. Also, I wanted to see if I could write and record a record in a month; The Seven Seas took a while to put together, so I wanted to do something more immediate.
3. You hear bands talk about how their local towns/cities play a big part in their music, has Montreal been an influence on you guys?
Montreal has definitely been a big influence on us. There’s so much music and arts in Montreal, so it has definitely left it’s imprint on us.
4. I believe The Glass Box was recorded entirely on analogue, how did that come about and what was the experience like?
The engineer, David Smith, and I wanted to do a very raw and real recording. It’s been a while since I recorded all analog. So, basically, this ep was a huge experiment for me: write it in two weeks and record/mix in the next two weeks… just like they did in the ‘60s. Also, I wanted to have a limit and on we could add to the recording by only using 16 tracks for the recording process.
5. Rishi, it says on the bands MySpace that you are a multi-instrumentalist, what do you play?
in the band I play bass, sitar, guitar. I also play some tabla (very poorly) and keyboards (also poorly).
6. I obviously saw the inclusion of live sitar playing from yourself Rishi, what is it about classical Indian music that you like so much?
I grew up with classical Indian music… so playing the sitar was a natural progression. I’ve been taking lessons for the last 10 years. The thing that grabs me about classical music is that it is so different from rock’n'roll (very meticulous and requires a lot of focus), but at the same time, it shares a lot of the raw passion.
7. There is obviously a strong psychedelic influence in your music, what Psych bands inspire you guys the most?
Pretty Things, Beatles, Who, Flaming Lips, Kinks
8. Am I right in thinking that the name Elephant Stone is a nod to The Stone Roses? If so, have British Indie bands been an influence on the band?
I’m a huge stone roses fan. However, I originally wanted to call the band “Elephan”, but there’s already a band with that name. I have a stone statue of Ganesha at home… and the name “Elephant Stone” came up… very simple word association. Also, the stone roses reference didn’t hurt.
9. Being immersed in the Montreal music scene, are there any bands/artists that you feel deserve a mention?
The Besnard Lakes are definitely my favourite Montreal band.
10. So what is next for Elephant Stone?
More music, more shows. Would be great to do another UK/Euro tour in the fall!
Mozzy Green are Ben Sommers and Anna Scott, and they make sublime, intense, delicate and powerful music that’ll invade your ears, brain and heart.
Recently featured in Cent magazine alongside Mumford & Sons and Jay Jay Pistolet, as the artists at the forefront of the current nu-folk boom, we sat the dup down and interrogated them on a number of subjects…
Q1: Where did you get that name?
Anna: The Mozzy were an ancient race, inhabiting our earth circa 600BC. They were an advanced but vertically challenged group of beings. Early drawings found indicated that they were a hybrid race, with features found in humans, droids and nanny goats. They were fearsome warriors and the ‘Mozzy Green’ is the name given to their most famous battle (the stories of which Homer recited, but they were deemed too stupid when compared next to the Odyssey, so were never published) for the then sought after material of the era – the pea. The Mozzy were triumphant, but the battlefield was a mess, ironically culling any pea growth the two sides were fighting to control. The Mozzy were left stained green, and the subsequent, albeit last generation of the Mozzy, were born green. This pigmentation alteration remains a mystery to this day, but scientists are currently investigating into whether this case could throw some light on to what happened to the smurfs.
Ben: It’s the name of an ancient medicinal drink used by a small tribe of transvestite hunters who were based near to junction 23 of the M25. Obviously before the M25 was built, but in that general area. Apparently the soil is extremely fertile around there. We saw the name in a book and liked it.
Q2: Tell us a little bit about the band’s formation and history.
Anna: We’ve had a few incarnations, I joined in 2005 when we were about 6 strong. Since then we’ve slimmed down – not on purpose, but we are now a duo with a drummer for the bigger gigs.
Ben: There has been many line ups over the years. I began recording under the name Mozzy Green in 2004 and later met Anna around 2005. In between then and now we have had around fifteen different band members. We moved to London in 2007 and gigged solidly for two years. It’s an ever changing vessel and I think I like it that way.
Q3: Your influences are not immediately apparent. Who would you cite?
Anna: We’ve both got a wide range and lots of differing influences, mine range from Bach, Palestrina, Shostakovitch, Stravinsky, Debussy, to various D&B artists, trad and modern folk, various types of jazz, Indian Arabic and Russian folk, lots & lots…
Ben: Imitation is not something we want to do as a band and so there are no immediate influences we would cite to describe to somebody what we sound like. I guess our main influences are the sounds of our instruments that make the feelings we have inside of us come out when we write. Artistic influences for me personally include Syd Barrett, Tom Waits, Peter Gabriel…
Q4: What are you currently doing, and what are your plans for 2010?
Anna: We’re recording an EP at the moment, and have some good gigs lined up – we’re on at the Junction Cambs in June. We also have a plan to turn the entire population green (like the Mozzy of old) but that’s on the backburner at the moment.
Ben: Currently Mozzy Green are writing and recording for a debut EP. Both of us have solo projects and working with other bands. Myself, I’m working on a project called Avocado Chip which will be coming out on 360. It’s a pretty big project so keep your ears peeled for details. Anna is recording solo material and also working with a few bands, namely Underground Railroad who are signed to One Little Indian.
Q5: Are there any bands and artists currently playing that you like?
Anna: Unfortunately I live on a forced diet of Radio 2 at work at the moment, nothing that inspiring on there, but I do like Ruth Theodore, Bat for Lashes, Gogol Bordello, The Strangerhood are awesome, Imogen Heap, to name but a few…
Anna: That depends…the voice that musicians have to say what they need to say is so very important and should never be censored (like the Dixie Chicks were..) but if you mean ”politics” in the industry, then no, but anything that generates revenue will always attract situations where politics will arise. Music in an ideal world would be pure and free of greed and vanity, but as soon as it becomes a living, the politics begins. I think that’s got a lot to do with why there’s been a shift towards more independent models: you’ll find a little less politics and more creative freedom.
Ben: If a person has an opinion on a subject then I think they have the right to express it, no matter what they do for a living. Would you ask ‘does politics belong in plumbing?’ Well as long as the plumber does his job and fixes your sink then it’s your choice if you want to make him a cup of coffee and chat to him about the Labour party for half an hour. The same applies to music. If an artist feels compelled to campaign about things they feel strongly about then who am I to say that they shouldn’t. It’s my choice to listen or not listen. Music should be a free for all for any subject or feeling or anything the artist wants to express. There is far too much focus on ‘Oh, I hate that band, they always rant on about the church, or love, or grapefruits, etc etc.. fuck it, don’t listen to them then if it pisses you off. I take my hat off to any band or artist who honestly writes about what they actually feel. So yes, politics does have a place in music. As much as anything else does.
Q7: The music business, such as it is, appears to be populated by opportunists, sharks and leeches. How do you navigate these treacherous waters?
Anna: Trial and error I think! You listen closely to what fellow musicians say and experience, and you have to research but ultimately go with your gut instinct. There are so many bands and artists who can be romanced by the idea of a quick rise to success, and there will always be people ready to exploit that. I think you have to become business savvy and not get excited about seemingly good opportunities that could come back to bite you later. We all still fall to exploitation when playing live for free, because if we didn’t do it, there would be a queue of other bands who would. It will take all the bands on the live circuit to stand up and refuse to play unless promoters and venues start to pay the bands who generate them money.
Ben: We bought guns.
Q8: Obama or David Icke?
Anna: David Icke, Crazy (or at least that’s what we’re meant to think) but inspiring.
Ben: Both are good at talking bullshit for hours. Although David’s is more often entertaining and I’m positive – he’s the more honest of the two. All Obama is, is a charismatic actor to charm the masses. He works for the banks, not the people. So fuck him.
Q9: Coca Cola offer you £500,000 for the use of a song for their ad campaign. What do you do?
Anna: Tell them to p**s off.
Ben: Now how do I answer this? We could say ‘no way would we ever work with a corporate company like Coca Cola. It would destroy our credibility among our peers and we’d be forever labeled a sell out by future generations’. Or we could say, ‘hell yeah, £500,000? For that money we’d write a song for Pepsi’. Ah, I don’t know. Depends how hungry I was on the day. As I’m writing this I’ve not long finished my dinner. So today I’ll say no.
Q10: London: hell hole or paradise?
Anna: Bit of both really, I used to live there and it sapped the energy out of me, I didn’t bounce off the wonderful hive of creativity like I hoped, but now when I visit for gigs or generally, it’s inspiring and full of life. I always go back to the sticks feeling revived and full of ideas. It’s an amazing city, I think sometimes you can become blind to what’s around you if you’re there for a while.
STROLL ON INTERVIEW HAPPY BIRTHDAY - One of our favourite bands of recent months have just released their self titled debut album, a stunning collection of great pop songs. We decided to interview them, here’s is the outcome…
1. You guys have released your debut album on Sub Pop. How it come about you signing with them?
I met some people from the label at SXSW in Austin, namely Dean Hudson. They came to see me play as King Tuff because they liked my album. We started talking and the relationship blossomed into them putting out our record. I really didn’t have any other labels talking to me, and I like the label so it just seemed like a good match.
2. On you’re your debut record, there seems to be a lot of different influences. Who would you say are the bands influences collectively?
We all love The Beatles. I had a ton of unfinished songs in my head for a long time and they were all really different from each other. Once we started the band we just kinda randomly decided which ones we wanted to work on, so that’s why it’s all over the place.
3. There seems to be a very special scene in the US at the moment including bands like you guys, Vivian Girls, Real Estate and Tune-Yards – there is a very communal feeling about it, how do you think this has come about?
Well I have known Katy from the Vivian Girls for a really long time, and obviously Tune-Yards is Ruth’s sister. Once you start playing shows you realize that all these bands know each other and are friends because we’re all in it together. Most of us were teenage punx, and I think its more acceptable nowadays to have a more DIY approach. Of course it all gets lumped together as “lo-fi” but its not true, most of these recordings actually are pretty clear sounding.
4. When did you guys start? And what made you want to be in a band and make music?
We’ve all been playing together for a long time, first in Feathers in 2004. I was in punk bands before that and I made my solo albums but didn’t have a band. It’s really cool to play with other people because they always have ideas you never would have thought of. I just always wanted to be a musician and be in a band since I was a kid, I can’t really do anything else except draw dots on everything.
5. Where do you see the band in 5 years?
I just want to be able to support myself from my music. I don’t need to be rich, I’d just like to pay rent and eat sometimes. I hope that happens sooner than 5 years from now.
1. You guys have finished recording your new record now? When can we expect to hear some of the new material?
Brandon: We’ve finished tracking everything, but it all still needs to be mixed. We’ll have the first single ready soon and that should be out hopefully by mid June or something like that. As for the actual album – due to touring commitments, we won’t be able to mix it properly until probably July, so hopefully the album will be out by the fall.
Charles: Either on tour- there are 5 new songs in the set and we’ll be touring the uk beginning next week- or when our album comes out in August!
2. I’ve heard you being compared to bands like the Velvet Underground and Jesus & Mary Chain – but who do you think of as your influences and who are you currently listening to?
Brandon: Both those bands we would consider influences, particularly Velvet Underground. We listen to a lot of stuff but I think our actual songwriting, when you strip it down and just play it on guitar and sing, is mostly influenced by 60′s pop music and garage rock. We write those kinds of songs and then try to put it through a weirdo filter of all the other stuff we like; krautrock, suicide, dub, spacemen 3, early punk – all that stuff.
Charles: I think our influences change all the time, Brandon and I are always getting each other into cool stuff. German prog rock like Neu, Harmonia, and Cluster are always around, so is Frankie Valli and Bo Diddley and the Mamas and Papas and the Sex Pistols (of course)!
3. Does the recording process just involve the two of you? If so, how do you make the transition from studio to live show?
Brandon: Our friend Jon Greene has always been an integral part of recording. He’s produced everything we’ve done so far with us. James Ford produced the newest album, but Jon was with us engineering everything and we’ll be mixing the record ourselves with Jon. As far as instrumentation and tracking stuff, it’s 90% Charles and I but James Ford, Jon Greene and our touring organ player, Robin Eisenberg, have all contributed bits here and there. When we record we don’t really worry too much about how we’ll be able to replicate something live, we just try and get it too sound as interesting to us as it can. When we assemble a live band we try our best to match what we’ve recorded but part of the fun of it is changing it around so that it’s do-able live. It doesn’t always sound 100% the same as the recordings, but to us that makes it a lot more interesting.
Charles: It is mainly the two of us but we get by with a little help from our friends! Jon Greene is the “3rd Crocodile” and he produces most of our recordings and helps us attain a lot of great sounds- this process we call “screaming chrome”. When it comes time to work the songs into the live set, he helps us with that too- seeing as he is a very capable sound engineer as well. As of late, Robin Eisenberg, our touring keyboardist, has been playing on all of our recordings. She is an incredible talent and can nail whatever style of playing were looking for, plus she is one of the most enthusiastic people you’ll ever meet. While the writing will always remain Brandon and I’s thing, we are always happy to have great people around us helping to make something wicked.
4. There seems to be a very special scene in the US at the moment including bands like you guys, Best Coast, Woven Bones and Dum Dum Girls – there is a very communal feeling about it, how do you think this has come about?
Brandon: Over the past few years we’ve all just met each other through touring and playing shows. Me and Dee Dee from Dum Dum Girls have been married since before either of our bands have been around, so I’m not counting that obviously. But as far as Best Coast or Woven Bones go, we’ve just met them through playing together and mutual appreciation of what the other are doing. Same as everywhere else, there is an overwhelming amount of crappy music here. So when we find kindred spirits we try our best to make friends and engender a coalition.
Charles: It’s wicked! All of these bands, I’m sure get posed with this question a lot, can remember the early stages of their friend’s bands and now for instance a lot of us are playing Primavera this year. In 2008 when Crocs started touring and having 7″s released we played with our friends a lot, as we were all starting out. I’m sure there was a feeling that came across, I know I felt it when I saw them, (this includes Cold Cave and Reading Rainbow and Beaters) that we were all excited to be out of our towns, playing and having fun with likeminded people. I can’t really explain it. But its cool. And completely unforseen.
5. A recurring theme amongst a lot of the bands on the scene over the past couple of years is the DIY ethos. You yourselves tend to release a lot of one off singles with different indie labels. Is this independent / DIY ethos something you believe in?
Brandon: We’ve both been involved in punk since we were teenagers. It’s the culture we feel most a part of and at home in. Small labels and self releases are things that we are used to and comfortable with and it means a lot to us to be able to keep some semblance of control over what we are doing. Obviously there is a point where you need the money and assistance that only a bigger label can offer but we would never divorce ourselves from the culture that we feel a part of. And even when we’re working with bigger labels, I have a small label with Dee Dee so that we can release our friends bands and solo stuff.
Charles: Absolutely, no one’s gonna do you any favors especially when you’re brand new and no one knows who you are. Reverting back to your last question, all of these bands just started booking tours and releasing singles however means possible and eventually they worked hard enough and got somewhere and now they can steer the path a little more and give themselves more freedom to create whatever it is they see their music being.
6. Where do you see the band in 5 years?
Brandon: I don’t even know where we’ll be in 5 months
Charles: Hopefully releasing singles and albums and touring just like we are now!
360 Degree Music began working with Inwits in September 2009, and the band have been busy writing and rehearsing ever since, breaking only to play the odd show, with a particular highlight being their stunning performance at the Stroll On Christmas Party in December.
On March 28th they head off to Edinburgh to play their biggest gig yet, supporting Idlewild in the 1500 capacity HMV Picturehouse. This gig is actually just one part of the Haddow Festival taking place in venues all over the city on the day, and promises to be a humdinger!
We caught up with the lads for a chat prior to this momentous occasion:
Q1: Where did you get the name from?
Ah well if we were to tell you too much it might defeat the object of its meaning. Our inner wit chose it really. Inwit is a word that’s fallen out of use in the English Language over thousands of years so it’s both old and new – a lot like our musical influences. A certain Irish novelist resurrects it in his novel Ulysses, quite possibly the greatest artistic statement of the last century. The plan is for our record to achieve that status for this one!
Q2: What are you currently up to, and what are your plans and goals for 2010?
Currently shooting the breeze, but the breeze has been colder than usual of late so also making a point of keeping warm in the rehearsal room and learning a few new chords. We’re now on C#m… Our plan and goal and dream will always be to make great music, then release it and hopefully play it to more people. The exciting thing about 2010 is we can actually realise that dream this year, so I guess that’s the first plan and goal. From there we just want to play our instruments more and more till we need a breather.
Q3: Tell us about the four guys in the bands?
Buskers. Schemers. Full-Time Dreamers. The sum is most definitely greater than its parts.
Q4: Who are your influences, musical and otherwise?
Anything or Anyone with Soul. It’s getting harder to find.
Q5: Jazz or Electro?
Both are extremely exciting and there’s nothing like a dirty electro beat to get down to. But programmed beats are one thing, “The Freedom Rider” by Art Blakey is quite another. Jazz was, is, and always will be the coolest genre of music known to man. That’s coming from a guitar band. Socially it’s as important to black America as the blues (and we love the blues), musically it pisses all over most things with still a fair bit left in the tank. Finally, and most importantly, it’s unquestionably the sexiest sound going. Getting sexy to a jazz groove takes the word living to a whole new level. Miles Davis over Little Boots any day.
Q6: England or somewhere else?
England is where we’re from, and is obviously important to us. As an English band you can’t help but inject an element of Englishness into the music you make, especially with the rich musical history Englishness entails, particularly over the last fifty years. We’re all products of our time and place so obviously our songs brim with references to London, because that’s our experience. But at the same time we’re all citizens of the world and there’s much to see! James Joyce wrote masterpieces about his homeland from Paris, Zurich and Trieste. We want to be on stage playing music wherever that stage is. There’s six and a half billion people scattered around this globe and we want to play to as many of them as possible, be they in England or indeed somewhere else.
Q7: On your MySpace page, you claim that ‘attitude breeds creation’. How so?
Attitude channeled in the right manner breeds creation, those who can appreciate that whatever they’re doing in their own life will understand the meaning of that statement. Those who can’t, well essentially their the type who channel their attitude into hitting people with bottles on a Friday night, and spend the majority of their adult lives doing coke in the toilet of the same pub they’ve been drinking in since they were sixteen. We stopped worrying about those people a long time ago.
We don’t care he supports Tottenham. Jokes Dave! He’s a good lad from the north side of town with an eye for a garment and an ear for a melody. He and his sidekick Michael Warren have hit on a type of melancholia most of these idiot fashionista bands would remove the entire stitching of their skinniest pair of jeans for.
Q9: Is there ever anything good on the telly? If so, what?
Depends what you’re into. In fairness though some of the documentaries that have hit the small screen in the last few months have been nothing short of superb. Berlin, Making of Modern Britain, The Bible and How Earth Made Us to name but a few. It’s been a while now since it finished but Bruce Parry’s Amazon showed us all what traveling should be about. (No offence to the millions of Brits on tour in Australia). James reckons Gordon Ramsey puts on a good show whatever anyone says about his wrinkles or extra-marital activities, where as Joseph is more of a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall man! But you can’t beat the political parlance of This Week with the unholy triumvirate of Andrew Neil, Dianne Abbot and Michael Portillo late of a Thursday night.
Q10: Name five great movies.
Citizen Kane - Stonewall classic.
Un Prophet – French gangster masterpiece currently up for an Oscar.
The Big Lebowski - Comedy genius from the Coen Brothers.
Apocalypse Now – Vietnam epic based on Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness.
The Last Waltz – Swansong of The Band, with greats like Dylan, Van Morrison, Dr. John, Clapton…
Q1: Have The Supernovas been back to the studio recently?
Joei: Yeah we were back in Sunshine Corner with Smiley in Fleet at the end of last year. We recorded drums, bass and guitars for 10 tracks so we’ve got plenty of work to be getting on with at the moment!
Q2: How did your debut single do?
Joei: I’m really happy with the progress we’ve as a band as a result of it. We sold around 300 vinyl copies, I’m not sure how many downloads there were on top of that but it was a good start. Just looking forward to the next step now and releasing Slaughter In The Gaza!
Q3: When can we expect that?
Joei: We’re hoping to release Slaughter In The Gaza in March as a Download-only and then follow it up with a full hard copy release of City Of Smoke in the summer.
Q4: The band have been playing all over the country, tell us about that.
Joei: It’s been good over the last year. We’ve really taken it up a gear. No more being stuck in a rut playing the same London shows over and over again. We’ve actually been able to go and visit different places around the country that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise.
I think the main highlights have been the Bournemouth and Portsmouth shows although the Babyshambles supports in Cardiff, Southampton and Manchester were amazing.
Q5: Do you feel any kinship with any other bands or artists currently playing?
Joei: Well, being on the same label as Inwits and Krakatoa has definitely given us a sort of gang mentality when we’re out playing together. David McSherry would definitely be a part of that gang as well.
Q6: Who would you choose to run the country?
Joei: Tony Benn. Hands down winner. Easy choice.
Q7: Do politics have a place in music anymore?
Joei: Most definitely. I think that one of the reasons that music has hit a patch of boredom or mediocrity, or whatever you wanna call it, is that no-one seems to have anything to say anymore. I mean Lady Gaga is supposed to be the most offensive one out there and all I’ve heard her say is that she’s bluffin’ with her muffin! I like to invite her round for a couple of hands of Poker one day – I bet she’d catch a fuckin’ cold!
Q8: Are there any heroes left, musical or otherwise?
Joei: They are few and far between but they’re not all dead yet.
Q9: What are the worst and best things about being in your band?
Joei: The best thing about being in The Supernovas is the belief I have in the music we make and the boys as individuals. The worst thing about being in The Supernovas is the amount of fried chicken we eat when we’re on the road together.
Q10: You go to Austin, Texas in March, what are your plans for your first American trip?
Joei: To cause a fuckin’ stir… I like the fact that we’ll have Slaughter In The Gaza out for then. I think it should turn a few heads out there. I’m hoping that by the end of our first song, half the crowd will have walked out and the remainder will be up for it. That’s like ‘my vision’ of the gig haha!
Ben: In early 2008 we started ‘jamming’ at ‘The Toilet Factory’, a squat in Camberwell on Sundays. Our first proper gig was on 28th June at The Wilmington Arms.
Q2: Your first EP came out at the end of 2009, what’s next?
Ben: The next EP ‘Alchemy’ is nearly ready and will be coming out in the spring. There’s talk of doing a Steve Lamacq session around that time too. In the meantime we’ll keep writing, rehearsing and gigging hard.
Alex: Alchemy is a lot more ‘us’, the sound of it is what we have been working towards, it has really come together on this EP.
Alfie: We’ve got loads of gigs coming up. We really want to play some festivals in the Summer too.
John: I want to play as many festivals as possible this summer, maybe get a little European jaunt together too.
Q3: The band play a lot of shows in the London area, do you plan to travel further afield?
Ben: Of course. It’s simply a question of finances. We can’t afford to underwrite our touring costs as we are all poor!
Alfie: We do have gigs coming up around the UK in March and April though and maybe even some in Europe too!
Alex: Yes, we have plans for Europe and hopefully New York in the near future. We would love to record out there as well as play gigs.
Q4: The lyrics of the songs are very poetic, where does the influence and inspiration come from?
Alfie: Books.
Ben: Ask John!
John: Most of my lyrics are introspective I suppose. I try to avoid the whole ‘we’re getting drunk on a Friday night’ kind of stuff. Maybe people relate to them, maybe they don’t, but writing is a lot cheaper than therapy! I read a fair bit too, as I think everyone in this band does, and it’s bound to have an effect on how I write. Rather than taking direct inspiration, I seem to reference certain books or poems, and use them to enhance the ideas I have.
Q5: Steve Lamacq appears to have picked up on the band, having played ‘Jumbo Jet’ on his show a few times. This must have been helpful?
Alex: It’s more than we could have hoped for, it’s come at a perfect time for us, just as we are in the flow of releasing stuff and getting used to recording with each other, it’s a good sign of things to come I think.
Ben: We’ll find out in time just how ‘helpful’ it’s been. It’s certainly good to know that he likes our music though.
Alfie: Lammo is a great ally to have, and he knows his music. The good thing about him is he plays what he likes, and is not governed by traditional radio playlist restrictions.
John: Every band wants to get on the radio, so from that point of view it’s great.
Q6: Shakespeare or The Smiths?
Ben: Why choose. They have both had a huge impact on me.
Alfie: We like Shakespeare’s music, the early stuff mind, he got a little bit wayward towards the end, and of course The Smiths wrote some smashing plays.
Q7: The band have a very distinctive sound, what are the individual band influences?
Ben: Thanks. We try not to think too much about influences when writing songs. Whatever serves the melody and the moment is right. We never set out to write a song that sounds like this or that. We’re not that cynical.
Alex: I love ‘80s indie: Echo And The Bunnymen, The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Smiths, but I’m a sucker for drum & bass, breaks, dub and dub step, these are the things I seem to be listening to a lot at the moment. We like to draw inspiration from all sorts of places, me and Alfie were listening to Disney songs last night……..
Alfie: Whatever serves the melody in that moment is right. We never set out to write a song that sounds like this or that. We’re not such cynical songwriters. As far as our individual influences go, I like Family, Curtis Mayfield, most things on the Motown label, not that Bruce Willis album though. “I didn’t like that one bit, apart from his shoes on the cover.”
Alex: …also Ian Dury and The Fall!
John: John Martyn, Dylan, Captain Beefheart, Kate Bush…
Q8: Alcohol or records?
Ben: Again, why choose. We spend most of our money unwisely. Let’s just leave it at that.
Alex: I think that’s the hardest question I have ever been asked, they go hand in hand, don’t they?
Alfie: How can you choose between the two things that make wedding receptions worth going to?
Q9: Do the band have a political standpoint?
Ben: We don’t like to force our political beliefs down people’s throat. Our music is about escapism and enjoyment. We just live our way and lead by example.
Alex: I don’t personally, I’ve never been hot on politics.
John: I try not to get too involved in this kind of thing, especially regarding lyrics. I think I’ll leave that to people who know what they’re talking about. We are, after all, a band not the panel of Question time, and music, especially our music, is all about escapism rather than getting bogged down in things beyond our control.
Alfie: Get rid of Boris Johnson, he’s funny on ‘Have I Got News For You’ but that’s about it. If he gets rid of bendy buses, Alex wont be able to get to gigs!
Q10: Who would you most like to work with, in terms of a producer and musicians?
Ben: Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Captain Beefheart, Prince, Armand Van Helden.
Alex: Producer would be Rick Rubin, just to see what the hype is really about. I think Jack White would also be a good for me in the studio, trying out loads of guitar effects, nah actually, fuck it, Dr. Dre or RZA! Musician wise, that’s tough. Maybe Thom Yorke, I would love to know what goes through his head when he’s making music. The obvious ones for me would be Johnny Marr, I’m a big fan, maybe he’d be a good bet for a producer…
John: The m*therf***in’ D R E, and Quincy Jones. Plus Paul Tipler who’s very much into what we’re doing and has produced some great bands like Eighties Matchbox b-line Disaster.
Alfie: We would all love to work with up and coming producer Ben Bones, as most big name producers are normally judged on the amazing projects they worked on in the past when they were establishing themselves. Bones has a great career ahead of him, and we would love to be one of the great projects HE has worked on. Have always wanted to work with Snoop, standard.
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