Red Light Company Interview 11/03/2009

Red Light Company Interview 11/03/2009 by Rob Sellars and Daniel Whyley

Is this the first time you’ve played in Newcastle?

Richard (vocals): We actually have played before, and we played at Digital. But we turned up and we were supposed to be supporting and they didn’t realise we were supposed to play, so we had to beg them to let us having driven from London…

Well hopefully The Cluny will work better, are you guys looking forward to the gig?
Richard: Yeah we really like the look of The Cluny. It looks like there’s going to be a lot of people out. It’s been an amazing tour for people coming out, which has been weird but great.

So how do you find the touring experience in general? Do you like being out on the road or do you prefer being in the studio?
Richard: I like being creative, I think creativity is a really important thing with bands, and that’s the reason I got into music, to write. But at the same time, touring you get these moments of absolute elation that you can’t get anywhere else.

Shawn (bass): There is a buzz to it [playing live] as well, like five minutes before going on stage, that’s what it’s all about really.
Richard: It’s amazing just to be seeing the world, and you can’t do that from your studio in London or wherever, so it’s nice when your music can take you places.

The gig tonight is sold out and so a lot of people are coming out tonight to see you, on one of your first big headline tours, so how does that feel?
Richard: We’ve done a couple [of headline tours] before this, and played to literally the amount of people on one whole tour that we’ve played to on one night on this tour. So we’ve done a lot of playing to no one, so its weird to see a lot of sold out venues regularly. It’s an amazing experience actually and something that because we’ve been going out and playing to no one, you really appreciate it when you have an audience.

The new album, Fine Fascination, was out recently, so have you felt there has been a lot of hype since then?
Shawn: I think after the album was released, you start getting feedback, critically and the like, and that has been an interesting experience, and it can get hectic at times, so it can be hard to adjust at times.

To the band, is the first album just the first step on the way to bigger goals, or is it something you’ve had to take a step back and really relish?
Richard: We actually finished the album a year ago, which is different to a lot of bands who get rushed into making a record, so it is something we’re still all very, very proud of, and I think it is a great first record. It’s definitely one of those things with that album, we wanted room to move, which ever direction we wanted to go, we wanted to make records that are interesting in different ways after that. We already have a couple of tracks written for a future record, and I think we have a lot of room to grow, and directions to explore, so I’m excited about writing again.

As the album was finished over a year ago, do you still feel it reflects you as a band?
Richard: It was written over the period of a year when we’d move to London and there were so many changes in our lives over that year, that every song is kind of a microcosm of a couple of months or a couple of weeks of changes in the live, so it wasn’t all written in one batch process, there are a lot of different stories going on, and every song has a different kind of feeling to me.
Shawn: To give you a bit of a timeline, Meccano was one of the first tracks that Richard and I put together, and that reflects a time quite long ago, and New Jersey Television came at the very end of that period for this first album, and I think you can see where it grows.

Heading away from the album and the tour a bit, how did you all meet? Have you been together as a band for long?
Richard: It’s been since 2006, we met when I posted an ad on the Internet looking for a bassist/writer and Shawn replied from Wyoming.
Shawn: I flew over pretty much immediately after we had a little bit of correspondence through email, he [Richard] sent me over some tracks, Scheme Eugene was the first track that I heard and I knew it was great so I flew over, I auditioned, we started writing and it just clicked and we kept spinning songs out. I’d say it was one of the biggest decisions of my life.
Do you all have ambitions to really take this band places then, to bigger and better places?
Richard: Sure, that’s always been there, we wanted to make a record that would take us places, and there was never any doubt that we wanted our songs on the radio. I mean, the music we were listening to at the time was bands like House of Love, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure and things, so we’re very much into that, and it has an innately big sound that seems to be kind of in vogue right now, but really it was just the music that we liked a lot and wanted to make. The album was written with bigger venues in mind, and it feels more comfortable in that setting, but that said smaller venues are great fun, and you can feel close to the crowd as well, which is something I really enjoy.

Do you feel that when you perform live there is a feeling that the crowd get involved with this big sound and enjoy the vibe?
Richard: Yeah sure, and its weird hearing live favourites, seeing which tracks go down best live, because it’s often things that you’d never kind of foresee. It’s a case of people getting the record and making their own minds up, rather than giving them singles and saying this is it. I like having the record out so people can make their own minds up. At the same time it means the set list always annoys someone, because you always have to leave one or two tracks off, you can’t do everything, and you want to fit some b-sides in, so someone always goes home unhappy. Well hopefully happy but wanting more!

So just to finish, a bit more of a trivial question, if you could share a stage with any band right now, who would you choose?
Richard: I’d choose Bowie! I’d love to share a stage with Bowie, that would be fun. He’d upstage me though!
Shawn: I think Radiohead would be pretty cool…
Richard: We did recently support Editors, and that was the first tour that we’d ever done as a band, and we were playing Alexandra Palace [London] and places in Europe. They really took us under their wing and there’s a lot to be said for that.
Shawn: Being able to watch the whole production that goes into Editors really left quite an impression, you could see where they had progressed and how they had grown, taking it to a bigger stage.

General Fiasco Interview – 04/03/2009

General Fiasco Interview with Rob Sellars and Daniel Whyley

This is your first headline tour, so are you excited about that?

Owen (lead vocals/bass): Sure, its good to come to gigs and know people have actually come to see you.

Do you get a lot more freedom on your own tour then?

Stephen: Sure, well we get to play for 20minutes longer, so get about 45minutes now, and get looked after a lot better, (points out the crates of beer stacked to one side…), we get our own room and everything!

How much time do you get to look around the cities you’re playing in, have you had a chance to check Newcastle out at all?

Stephen: Not really unless we get a day off really, then we get a bit of time to knock about a bit, but usually its just about getting there, then sound checking and that.

Owen: You don’t really get to bed too early, so you just kind of end up sleeping your day away then getting up and setting up and everything, so its just kind of sleep then play, sleep then play.

Do you enjoy playing live then, or is it more about the recording with you guys?

Stephen: I think with us, we like it in the studio, getting to see something on tape and being able to hear it back, its really good, but after a while, after these long sessions, its good just to get out and play. We enjoy both, but probably live maybe…

Owen: I think it probably depends on the atmosphere.

Stephen: You can have a really good day in the studio, or a really bad day, but you can have a really good gig, or a really bad gig too… I think live is where it’s at.

Owen: If there’s a good atmosphere and people seem to be enjoying themselves, it makes the gig really fun and easy.

Do you find that normally at your gigs, people do get into it a lot and enjoy the vibe?

Stephen: Sure, people seem to know a lot more of the songs than you might think, seeing as we’ve only put out like one vinyl single and a download, so maybe a bit of file sharing going on! Just weird when people are singing along to these songs, and it’s a bit like, how do you know that, it hasn’t been on the MySpace for over a year…

Owen: It’s an enthusiastic sort of crowd too, usually between like 14 and 19, so everyone’s got plenty of energy and a bit of a spring in their step.

Stephen: We’re pretty enthusiastic sort of guys ourselves as well!

Getting away from the tour for a bit then, how did you guys all meet and how long have you been playing together now?

Stephen: Well these two [Owen and guitarist Enda] are brothers, so [they’ve known each other] most of his life and all of his!

Owen: We met Stephen at school at about 16 when we moved schools, and we’ve been doing this for about two years now, we were all sort of playing in other bands around a similar area. I always wanted to play since I picked up a guitar really, but I guess it never hurts if it impresses the girls too…

We actually discovered you at Leeds Festival last summer, when we heard you playing on the BBC Introducing stage. How big a break was that for you to be picked by the BBC?

Owen: It was amazing, really sort of a surprise.

Stephen: BBC Introducing have been really good to us, like Huw Stephens and Steve Lamacq just started playing us as soon as we gave them stuff.

Owen: They’ve always been behind us, and it was just a big massive push to be involved, and they were the people that got us involved. It was great, we did Leeds and Reading, as Oxegen festival in Ireland, and Bellasonic.

Stephen: We did the BBC Electric Proms as well, which was amazing.

You were also picked by NME as 10 of the acts for the future from Leeds and Reading festivals, how big a surprise was that for you?

Owen: Yeah that was madness, they picked 10 bands from 3 or 4 stages, and we managed to scrape into it, with bands like Twisted Wheel and Fight Like Apes, so it was really unexpected, but obviously a massive boost.

So the last question and a bit of a big one, what are your ambitions for the band, are you taking it one step at a time or are you aiming to go all the way and make a go of it?

Owen: We’d really make to like a go of it. Obviously some bands do it quicker than others, but I think as long as we’re out there touring and releasing things, and being accessible to people, people will come to the gigs and get into the band.

Stephen: We just want to take it as far as we can, and we really appreciate all the stuff we’ve been able to do so far. We’ve already been able to do more than 95% of bands out there ever get to do, and I think if you say you don’t want to be successful then you’re just lying for the sake of being cool.

Owen: I think at the moment it feels like the fan base is getting bigger and bigger, so until that stops, or starts going backwards, we’ll keep on doing it. There is an album coming, but it’s a couple of singles away yet, this is still very early doors for us, but we’re thinking this year sometime, hopefully summer.

Socialist Student Protest Interview

James Meredith goes behind the scenes at the biggest student protest event this term. Click here to hear what he learned about the socialist students aims from occupying a fine art building.

The Hours Interview

Izaac Carlisle cosies up with The Hours in their hotel before their gig in Newcastle. Click to listen/download!

Howling Bells Interview

Mark Reynolds catches up with Howling Bells on their cosy tour bus after a gig at The Cluny. Click here to listen/download!

John McClure (of Mongrel and Reverend and the Makers) Interview 12/03/09

John McClure of Reverend and The Makers is renowned for being anything but tame, and catching up with him to talk about his new ambitious collaboration, Mongrel, is an exhausting experience in itself. The passion and intensity he holds for the new projects he has been a part of is testament to the inevitability of the success of Saturday 7^th March in which their debut album, Better Than Heavy, will be distributed free with The Independent newspaper. The day is a product of the culminating revolution which started shaking long a go and which now, the strong-minded McClure believes, is about to explode in an epiphany of musical gritty reality.

“Music as you know it is dying”, he announces. “There is no way you can justify charging thirteen quid for summit that’s 50p”. Ever the voice of reason, his Yorkshire roots have proved to be swelled with antagonisms for the current apathy in the music scene, which in turn has made him ever the more enthusiastic to shake people up and beat the crowds. He talks a lot about the “former voices of rebellion”: - such as NME, punk bands and old Rock and Roll; all of which have merged into the docile establishment which, despite the masses of cultures, have insisted on ignoring most of them.

“Where is everyone?!” he asks with disbelief lacing every syllable. He waves a Palestine flag and gets ridiculed, he takes a risk and speaks his mind and gets chastised for being loud. In a sentence reminiscent of Marx, he states that “the moment you put making capital above the well-being of human beings and the integrity of journalistic investigation, is the moment you have to be removed”. Well if they say actions speak louder than words then McClure is screaming his way to changing the world.

“What’s rock music?” he probes me, in his idiosyncratic way which I soon see is embalmed in the depths of his soul. He wants to show the world that new music - passionate music - deserves a chance in the everyday world, instead of being confined to certain late hours on the radio. This is why at first glance, the collaborations with some of the best hip hop artists around perhaps seen incongruous for someone hailing from the Sheffield indie scene, but the results are too amazing to ignore. As the Independent on Saturday is thrust in our faces with the Debut of Mongrel, the diverse talent of Britain is thrown along with it and the impact is intense, exciting new music.

The new album is not only about producing fresh music, it is also embedded in the greater atmosphere of rebellion. The Independent newspaper is thus the perfect form of distribution, as McClure makes clear that Mongrel are “not afraid of telling the truth”- just as The Independent voices rebellious opinions and won’t stand short of contention. Is this new teaming of media the beginning of the end of music as we know it? With the credit crunch now in full steam ahead, collaborations such as this don’t seem too daft an idea at all.

See wearemongrel for tour dates and download info.

See instigatedebate and find your voice of contention.

Interview by Eliza Lomas

Grammatics Interview 11/03/09

Click here to listen/download Eliza's interview with Grammatics before their gig at the The Cluny!

Interview by Eliza Lomas

The Chevrolites Interview 11.3.09, The Cluny

L: How did you meet each other?

J: Well, I was writing songs for a while by myself and then was coming up with more, band-type material and I knew Si already so from then on we just needed to find a bass player, and a guitarist.

L: What’s your favourite venue to play in Newcastle? ‘Cos you seem to have played in most of them!

J: The Cluny, just for the size of it. We play a lot of places like Head of Steam that a lot of people go there but you can only fit like, seven people in the place!

S: The Cumberland Arms, I love The Cumberland Arms- we’ve played that place one but was when I had a broken arm

J: Yeah it was after one of the recording sessions

L: How did you do that?

S: Do you really wanna know?

L: Yeah, go on.

S: We were recording in Billingham, and erm I got a little drunk and stumbled away from the crowd and then got jumped on by a bigger crowd and er, they stamped on my arm and broke it.

L: They stamped on your arm?

S: Yeah, they did. I couldn’t play The Cumberland Arms like three days later

L: How do you feel your sound has developed in the last year?

J: We used to have songs, six or seven months ago that were really poppy, like we seem to have sped up a little bit, trying to get a little bit darker,

S: Not darker but..

J: I’m trying to aim at a bigger audience than just 13-14 year olds

L: So was your previous fan base mainly 13-14ish then?

J: A lot of under 16s

S: I don’t know, when we first started out it was more poppy kinda..

J: Then we got a bass player and a lead guitarist and it became more...

S: Less jumpy and poncey

J: like in the last six months we’re trying to get away from that.

S: I think we’re in the right place now

J: We’re in the right direction

L: What would you say are your biggest influences at the moment?

J: Like lyrically?

S: I don’t even know!

J: Just like the social awareness of the population, more heartfelt lyrics. I quite like writing about our home town and our places, real things and real people rather than pretentious...

S: Anyone can write a song about taking drugs and getting drunk, know what I mean?

J: Exactly

L: So for you [Si] who’s your favourite drummer then?

S: It’s got to be Jon Bonham, and then faster stuff like Fab Moretti from The Strokes, like the high-hat really quick sounds really good, makes it sound jumpy.

L: So, I had a look at your myspace and some reviews, do you resent comparisons between say, you and Maximo Park?

J: I don’t mind Maximo Park, it’s the Arctic Monkeys thing

S: I duno you’re always going to be compared to someone

J: It’s just that someone wrote that we sounded like Arctic Monkeys, then every review after that, it seemed like they’d read that review, said a little bit by themselves then jumped on the band wagon.

L: Yeah I read the Maximo Park one and listening to you now, I don’t really see the similarity...

J: I know, it’s always Maximo Park, The Futureheads, The Arctic Monkeys...

L: Basically anyone that’s northern!

J: Yeah! [laughs]

L: So what’s your favourite funny thing that’s been written about you?

J: Probably our last review, about how some girl got up on stage [at a gig]

S: Oh man, I was struggling to get on that stage, right, and this girl was about four foot nothing and got on like that! She was dancing around, she was going mental.

J: And they wrote this massive review about the gig, there were about two lines on the band and the rest of the review was all about that lass...

S: How much of a legend this girl was!

L: If you could play a gig any place anywhere with no limitations, where would you play and why?

S: Good question...I would play on me own, with a bongo, in Maddison Square gardens. And it would sell out.

J: I would say something like Hollywood Bowl, where is that, LA?

S: Hollywood

J: You know, just a massive venue, the biggest place you could play.

L: So you’d rather play big stadiums than smaller venues?

J: Well, that would be the dream.

L: So on that note would you go for stadium rock or the three minute punk song?

J: I like the stadium venues but not the stadium music, I much prefer when like, Maximo Park play really close knit gigs, when the whole place gets steamed...

S: I really like all of that, but I think Kings Of Leon have done the whole stadium rock thing quite well

L: I still prefer the first album though,

J: So do I

S: Everyone does, maybe you should write about that! I would still prefer to play some sweaty little gig than somewhere like Bon Jovi, know what I mean?

L: So what festivals have you played at, if any?

J: Umm we played at this Newcastle one, The Green Gathering

L: I haven’t heard of that one...

S: It’s shit, it was absolutely pissing down with rain

L: What’s your favourite city to play in based on audience reaction?

J: I’d say Teesside really, just ‘cos it’s home. The Teesside crowd have way more energy.

S: ‘Cos you see in Manchester and Liverpool and all, there all standing back and we’re only there as the supporting act anyway...we played in London recently and if you don’t wear drainpipe trousers and pointy shoes then they don’t want to know you.

L: OK, this is quite a strange one; if you could invite any three people living or dead to have dinner with, then who would they be?

S: Ooh, I’ve got two already- Jim Morrison, Jon Bonham...and me Mam

J: Urr

S: You see I got three straight away!

J: John Lennon...

L: Why?

J: Jus ‘cos he’s an absolute legend

S: You’re not even going to ask me why are you? Just ‘cos I said Jim Morrison Jon Bonham and me mother!

L: Why then?!

S: Jon Bonham just to ask him how he did it

J: Can I say mine? Can I have four?

L: Go on then

J: Just ...The Beatles!

S: You’ve gone a bit wrong there- I’ve got me mother in there and you’ve got The Beatles! Oh, can I chuck my mother out and put in someone else?

L: Aw keep her- your poor mum

J: You’ve got to keep her!

S: I’d have Hitler

L: Err, why?

S: Just so I could knock him about

L: So on a similar theme, if you could have been born in any other era which would it have been?

S: The Seventies. I would say I’d want to be born in ’71 so I was like 6 or 7 when punk was born

J: I would like to have been in my prime in the ‘60s

L: I’ve just seen The Watchmen, so if you could be any comic-book hero who would you be?

S: You know Sin City, that really strong bloke, him

J: Wasn’t he played by that guy in The Wrestler?

S:....Mickey Rourke- I got that one for the record!

J: You don’t get many English superheroes, do you.

L: What’s your favourite song to make you cry?

J: I don’t want to say, it’ll be too depressing. I’d say “Time to Say Goodbye” by Andrea Bocelli

S: Mine is “Last Resort” by The Eagles

L: I would’ve said something by Elliott Smith

S: But you could top yourself to any one of his songs!

L: What is your most embarrassing musical moment?

S: I was in my first band when I was 18 and we were playing our third gig and I thought it would be a class idea to, half way through a song, walk round my drum kit and stand on the bass drum to play, leaning over the top- someone came up and poured a vodka and coke down me arse crack! I had a wet patch all the way down and I had to stumble round my kit and carry on with the gig.

That was a pretty good one, beat that!

J: I’m never really embarrassed

S: You’re that cool

L: So, what other instruments did you play before the band?

J: I’ve just always played guitar really.

L: You weren’t forced to play the recorder or anything?

S: I was the only one who wasn’t, my school had like a whole procession of recorder players and I had to sit on my own and watch everyone do it.

L: You didn’t play the triangle?!

S: Yeah I did!

J: I used to play the piano a bit, I dabbled

L: Ok catchy riff vs. Lyrical genius?

S: Lyrical riff

J: I would say lyrical

L: And finally, who were the best band that you’ve been on tour with or played with?

J: Datsuns definitely

S: Who I liked the most were The Datsuns, we played with them here.

L: Well thankyou for the interview

J: It’s been an interesting experience

S: The questions have been good

L: Thanks!

Interview by Louise Morris

Esser Interview 28/2/2009

Christian Allen caught up with Esser at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena to talk arena gigs, influences and 2009

Christian: How are you finding this jump from the venues your used to playing to these arena dates you’re playing on the current tour with The Kaiser Chiefs?

Esser: We've never played to so many people before, the first couple of shows were nerve racking but now I think we’ve really learnt to adapt to the huge venues, and have been able to put our sound across well.

Christian: Who would you cite as your main influences?

Esser: Someone I’ve mentioned a lot recently is Joe Meek (Gloucestershire born 50s and 60s music producer) who’s really influenced me in terms of what he was doing with sounds. Some of my main inspirations are those people who are innovative in different ways.

Christian: With the debut album recorded and mastered, when can we expect it to be released?

Esser: It’s called ‘brave face’ and is due to be released in May. It’s weird because it’s been sitting there for awhile so we’ve been keeping busy working on a new E.P and writing and doing some production with other people. I’m really pleased with the album but also want to keep things moving and show people what I can do.

Christian: Many artists who have been touted for 2009 have a heavy 80s, synth sound…where do you think you fit in?

Esser: When I started writing I wasn’t thinking about how to fit in I just wanted to write pop music. It just seems at the moment there are more artists who are proud to be writing pop tunes, which wasn’t the case a few years ago.

Christian: Who do you suggest people listen to, other than yourself?

Esser: I really like what Fryars and Micachu are doing at the moment. There’s another guy called Danimal Kingdom who’s coming on our headline tour, he’s definitely worth a listen. They’re all acts who haven’t been hugely hyped but are doing interesting and important things.

Christian: It’s important to see that there are exciting bands outside of top 10 ‘ones to watch out for’ lists.

Esser: This is it; you think surely not all these bands can be huge. People just get excited about something being new, regardless of whether it’s good or terrible. It takes 3 albums for band’s to really produce their best material, it’s not always best when everything is so rushed.

Christian: Are there any bands you aspire to tour with in the future?

Esser: I’d love to support blur!

Christian: Complete this sentence ‘students in Newcastle should be involved in music because…’

Esser: Its fun, I think too many people are in bands because they want to be famous and be the biggest band in the world. They forget to enjoy themselves along the way.
Interview by Christian Allen

Wild Beasts Interview 26/2/2009

Christian Allen caught up with Wild Beasts half way through their U.K tour at the End Bar, Newcastle!

(Click here to listen/download the interview!)

Christian: How has the tour been for you so far, do you sense people are enjoying the new songs?

Wild Beasts: It’s gone better then we could have dreamt of, people have been really open minded. It’s important for us to tour, realistically the album may not be out till September but when you’re in a band and you make new music you want people to hear it straight away.

Christian: So you’ve finished recording the new album, that’s a pretty quick turnaround from last year’s ‘Limbo Panto’, pretty prolific.

Wild Beasts: Well that’s our job; it’s easy to get embroiled in other things. But being in the studio recording new music is where we want to be.

Christian: For people who haven’t heard you before can you try and sum up your sound?
Wild Beasts: Fundamentally it’s pop music, 4 minute long songs with verses and choruses. But at the same time we want to think outside the box, and surprise people. We ourselves are very bored of what we’re being force fed.

Christian: What can we expect from the new album then?

Wild Beasts: Musically I think it’s more ‘groovy’ and danceable. More accessible and less of an intense listen from the last album.

Christian: What new releases are you most looking forward to in 2009?

Wild Beasts: One of the most underrated bands around are Junior Boys, they’re on Domino Records and have a new album coming out this year. If it’s anything like the last it will be worth a listen.

Christian: The first time I saw you was a couple of years ago supporting Maximo Park at Gloucester Guildhall and the crowd wasn’t really sure how to take you, is this becoming less the case now?

Wild Beasts: I remember that being a particularly difficult gig but that’s part of what we want, to confront people.

Christian: Any advice for Newcastle Students?
Wild Beasts: Make the most of it. Just keep on having a good time because you won’t get the chance to again.

Interview by Christian Allen