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.

Thanks to Kyle for answering the questions!

Crocodiles Interview via Stroll On

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.

Q8: Who is David McSherry?

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…

Inwits x

You can get a FREE Inwits download HERE

I first found out about Fool’s Gold about 6 months among a bunch of other new bands, at first I didn’t really get it, but recently I went on a whim and got the album. It is a wonderful record, very reminiscent of the debut Yeasayer album but with it’s own Jewish twist. Full of exciting and interesting instruments and sounds, this is truly an inspiring album. My favourite track has to be the epic ‘Yam Lo Moshech’, a piece of incomparable pop perfection. Having seen them live at White Heat at Madame Jo Jo’s a few weeks back, my love for them is secured, their live show is a better version of the record and a more exciting one. They caused the crowd to dance along as well as getting into the audience and almost causing a conga! I can’t wait to see them when they are next over and I recommend that you do too…

James (Stroll On)

The first gig of the year took place at Proud Galleries in Camden, I can still recall the walk from the tube station to the Lock, on a freezing cold evening when I saw just one person on my way to the gig. Camden a ghost town? It really was that night, but forty or so brave souls showed up to see Krakatoa play a set that soon warmed the crowd up.

Fast forward three and a half months to a beautiful spring day in April. 360 Degree Music are hosting the Camden Crawl at Tommy Flynn’s, a hostelry situated between Mornington Crescent and Camden stations. Actually, it’s the Camden Trawl, as the venue is not officially part of the Crawl, but that doesn’t stop us from having bigger crowds than many of the official venues.

Thirteen bands play in twelve hours, everyone goes on at the scheduled time, there are only three minor skirmishes, no ones head gets busted, and stars of the day are Krakatoa, (yes it’s them again, and this time they are headlining this extravaganza); The Supernovas, (a storming set that wins the best reception of the day on their North London home turf); Rum Shebeen, (proving once again what a great band they are, but why only one single in three years?); a wonderful debut set by Savants; Reader’s Wives’ London debut, which is a totally assured, singalong affair; a rollicking, Beatlesque, Motown meets the modern age set by Inwits; and a sparse solo performance from Paul Liddell, which wins plaudits from journalist Gavin Martin.

Stroll On’s remarkable residency at central London’s The Social provided several highlights of the year, with The Metros’ penultimate gig in March, which drew a sellout crowd by 9.30; Mozzy Green’s beautiful intensity enrapturing the audience in April, and an astonishing aural barrage/sonic symphony from Screaming Tea Party in June. Later in the year, Gringo Star ,The Supernovas and Yves Klein Blue gave garland winning performances on a glorious night in November.

Also in November, Reader’s Wives returned to London with storming sets at two packed-to-the-rafters gigs at Peter Parker’s in old Tin Pan Alley, and Tommy Flynn’s (I see a theme developing here…). The same week bore witness to three shows from Sweden’s psychsters Mono Stereo, who played a fine show at Kentish Town’s Flowerpot, and an absolute stormer supporting Violens at Proud Galleries.

Upon returning to Dublin, Reader’s Wives played a launch show, in support of their ‘Secrecy & Sex’ EP, at Dublin’s stunning Odessa Club. Contraceptives were dispatched into the crowd from the stage, people drank and danced, and a jolly good time was had by all. Support band Mozzy Green were disappointed with their own performance, but they were the only ones, and they received a warm reception from a very warm and appreciative audience (that’s Dublin for ya!).

Talking of Dublin, Krakatoa and The Supernovas both visited the fair city in July for their debut Irish shows, both winning many fans and compliments. Both bands also followed their return to London with single launches, Krakatoa selling out the Legion on a warm July night, and The Supernovas repeating the feat in a sweaty night at The Social at the beginning of August.

Oh, did I mention that Krakatoa played 18 gigs in 18 nights, supporting Alabama 3 on a trek that took in the length and breadth of the country. And Gaoler’s Daughter and The Supernovas playing high profile support slots with Babyshambles?

2009’s live activity ends with a show at the Stroll On Christmas party, at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on Monday 22^nd December. Krakatoa, The Supernovas and Inwits will all play – IT’S GONNA GO OFF!

BIG Question: Who is going to make your band truly great and get you where you rightly belong?

Answer below…

First, please go though this seven-question checklist and as long as you answer yes to all of them you’ll be fine.

Question 1: Do you have good songs?
Including…
Time to rehearse those good songs (regularly)
Time to book gigs, (and not just in the street you live) get to those gigs and play those good songs live.

Question 2:  Can you communicate well?
Here is a small sample of people who you may need to communicate well with. Please feel free to make notes.

The band; People who like the band; People who are helping the band; Friends of the band; Fans of the band; Manager of the band; Promoters, and on the periphery a vast array of people who can assist the band to complete this questionnaire.

Question 3:  Do you collectively have chemistry – do all of the members of a band add up to a giant great mass of greatness?
As Spock said “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one”
Translated. If you aren’t all pulling one way, for the collective good and looking after each other, with respect you are fucked!

Question 4:  Do you have good looks and style?
Including, but in no particular order, good hair, Twitter fingers, Blog-ability, a love of fried chicken and cheap lager, big moustache (you know who you are!), sex appeal, charisma and a vacant stare.

Question 5:  Do you have a powerful desire?
Also phrased as, how bad do you want it?

Including…
(a) Will you sleep in a van, telephone box or friendly police cell if you need to?

(b) Can you sponge off your girlfriends, for as long as they’ll have you and then move on to fried chicken in another part of town?

(c) Can you drop everything for an opportunity?

(d) Can you dig deep when you need to?

Question 6:  Are you happy to…
Do a gig, then give out flyers with your web address on or tell someone to sign up to your mailing list, sell a CD or a 7″, stick a sticker in places you shouldn’t stick a sticker and finally talk to people about your question 1’s. If you are lucky, later you’ll get to show off your question 5, but don’t piss the fans off along the way.
You need them more than they need you and you never know, one of them might turn into a 5b.

Question 7:  Do you understand facts?

E.g.  iTunes has more than 10,000,000 tracks within it’s walls. Most of which don’t even sell one copy.
Great to be there but if SJ decides to dump music you’re gone.

MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdoch – yes that old music lover.
Use it please do, but don’t rely on it solely because if Newscorp decides to dump you you is dumped.

Facebook is owned by some bloke/corporation who pretends he listens.
See MySpace.

Xfactor is not about music.
Power Rangers.

Bread has loads of salt in it.
Toast is good…..crumpets are better.

BIG Answer: Obviously it’s you. Right?

This is not meant to be a lecture, although I guess it could read like one. The truth is there is so much competition out there that you just have to do more, be better than and be more flexible and creative than the rest.

You need to make your own story before anyone will read you.

Write, get better, play, write, get better, play, communicate, get up as early as possible, email people, tell them how good you are, ask them for opportunities, drop the cunts that use you, dump the dodgy promoters and then start again.

Please do:

Get a web domain of your own and collect data. Be nice to that data.

Use MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the other social networking sites smartly while they are there because sure enough they’ll fuck you in the end.

Find good people to moan at you like: www.360degreemusic.com

Find great promoters like:.myspace.com/strollonnights

Read stuff like:

Music Think Tank: www.musicthinktank.com/

Lefsetz: www.lefsetz.com/

Seth Godin: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

1000 true fans: www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php

Add to this list and tell your mates.

Remember when Paula Radcliffe stopped for a piss?
You need to piss on the go in this world to get in front.

Be careful out there…

Cassie from The Vivian Girls was kind enough to answer the following questions today (6th March 2009), here they are:

DO THE VIVIAN GIRLS HAVE A MISSON STATEMENT?
“Vivian Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”

A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THAT YOUR MUSIC SOUNDS LIKE A MIX BETWEEN THE RAMONES, BEACH BOYS AND THE RONETTES. BUT WHO ARE YOUR ACTUAL INFLUENCES?
You’re not too far off actually. Our main influences are the Wipers, Nirvana and the Shangri-las, as well as Burt Bacharach and 60’s surf.

YOU’RE SIGNED TO A VERY SMALL INDIE LABEL. WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER SIGNING TO A MAJOR LABEL OR DO YOU PREFER THE PERSONAL FEELING OF AN INDIE?
We never want to sign to a major label, to us they are scary and care too much about money and too little about the actual music. We love In The Red, the label we’re on right now.

YOU SEEM TO PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO YOUR PHYSICAL ITEMS, FOR EXAMPLE, YOUR 7″s ARE ALWAYS REALLY SPECIAL AND YOU DO LIMITED TOUR POSTERS ETC. ARE YOU FANS OF THE COLLECTABILITY ASPECT OF THINGS?
Sometimes! We like it when some records are limited but we also think that if someone wants to have the music, they should be able to.

WHICH CONTEMPORARY BANDS / ARTISTS ARE YOU FANS OF?
So many! Nodzzz, Woods, Cause Co-Motion, Crystal Stilts, Yellow Fever, Fucked Up, The Carrots, and Ariel Pink are all bands that we are huge fans of.

YOU HAVE TOURED ALL OVER THE WORLD NOW, WHAT IS THE BEST PLACE YOU HAVE BEEN SO FAR AND WHERE HAVE YOU HAD THE BEST REACTIONS / WORST REACTIONS?
We like pretty much everywhere we go. Cities like LA and London are really fun because there’s a lot to do there and a lot of people come to the shows. Smaller cities, like Pensacola Florida, Lawrence Kansas and Athens Ohio, are also really fun because there aren’t as many kids and bands don’t go through as often – so the scene is really united and everyone has a blast at shows.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE NEXT RECORD?
We’re recording it next week. It’s going to be a little longer than the first record and also a little darker – there are a lot more “Tell The World”s and “I Believe in Nothing”s than on the first record.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE BAND IN 5 YEARS?
Hopefully doing exactly what we’re doing now – writing music we really like and touring a bunch.

SO X

Reblogged from Stroll On