More House of Tracks interviews including The Kooks, The Maccabees and The Noisettes.
— The Kooks
What one track most inspired your style?
There’s not really one track. I think you can tell our music has been influenced by lots of different styles. From ‘Guns of Brixton’ by The Clash to Bob Dylan. Mat’s really into phunkadelic, I’m more into my sweet folk music, Paul’s into his 80’s new wave.
Are you doing any covers tonight?
Yes, ‘California’ by Macy Gennings but we do it in kind of a ska style.
What is your favorite guitar pedal?
Well I only use one, the Boss Blues Driver. I’m not really to into effects to be honest.
Who is your favorite Radio 1 DJ?
I don’t really listen to the radio that much but I do really like Jo Whiley. She’s a really nice person and her husband used to work for our label.
Have any of you ever broken a bone?
I broken my little finger and I’m pretty sure Max has broken most of the bones in his body.
Naive is a brilliant track, is it your favorite track on the album?
No not at all, I don’t really have a favorite. ‘Naive’ was one song I really didn’t think was going to get on the record to be honest. I’m pleased with it now, I think it’s one of the records that works but we had severe arguments with out producer Tony about recording it. I’d written it and it’s a good song but when we started doing it with the band I thought this is so fucking cheesy, I don’t want to sing it. Anyway, after a while Tony said ‘Listen, you’re full of shit, go and record it and if you don’t like it after it doesn’t have to be on the record’. So we did it and afterwards I was like, fuck it we’ll leave it on the album and it turned out to be most people’s favorite song.
What is your favorite meat?
I like lamb.
Do you get recognised in the street?
Not at all really to be honest with you, which is quite nice. It does get hasselling after gigs, you know, people can be quite full on. Everyone wants your picture on their fucking camera phones.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
I was just walking past the Albert hall and it was just one of those really weird moments, I wasn’t going to this gig and some tout was like ‘tickets for Van Morrison’ so we where like, fuck it let’s do it. There were three of us and we paid this guy like £40 for these tickets and we went in thinking these are so fake but we sat in the fucking box, they were tickets for the box and it was amazing, such a great night.
What do you think of the new Popworld with Alex and Alexa?
I don’t really watch much television so I haven’t seen it but I like Alex Zane. He’s better than that dickhead.
http://www.houseoftracks.co.uk
Shoving brand spanking new tracks into your face.
— The Maccabees
How’s the tour going?
It’s going good, every night’s been sold out so far, the crowds have been good. We’ve only done four dates so far, we had a month and a half off so we’re trying to get back into being on the road again.
How was your month of?
A bit boring, we couldn’t rehearse or anything because our guitarist had his tonsils out. He had a hemorrhage so it prolonged getting back into it. He’d never been into an operating theater before so he was really scared about it.
Your album ‘Colour It In’ was released for download before for reals, what made you do it this way?
A couple of reasons, the main one was because the album got leaked, which is always a problem, people want it without paying for it so we put it on before it’s physical release date. It’s done it’s job, it’s doing pretty well at the moment.
What do you think of downloading music?
I don’t know how to do it to be honest. I like going out and buying it, getting the booklet and the pictures. You lose a lot by just downloading the tracks. It’s laziness (Robert). My brothers live in the middle of nowhere in the countryside, they have to travel an hour and a half to get into town, I guess it’s alright for that (Rupert). I haven’t got anything against it, just for the record (Robert).
What are your favourite tracks on the album?
My personal favourite is probably ‘All In Your Rows’. The rest of them we’ve been playing for two years so we get a bit bored. It’s not that we dislike the other songs but we’re obviously going to like the ones we’ve written recently the most.
Your single ‘Precious Time’ is released soon, what’s that about?
About taking your time over things, little things that mean a lot. It’s about taking your time about things and making sure you get it right.
Any idea which your single after that will be?
Either ‘Lego’ or ‘X-Ray’, we haven’t decided yet. Personally I think it should be ‘X-Ray’ (Rupert). I personally like ‘Lego’. We might have to do rock paper scissors to decide (Robert).
Who did your artwork?
Orlando and a guy called Matthew. They do most of our artwork together, it’s pretty cool, it keeps it in the band. Orlando did illustration at University so it worked out pretty well for us. I’m rubbish at art, I have no artistic flare at all. Musically but not drawing (Rupert). He spends a lot of his time doing the artwork. It’s a lot of work for him to do.
He’s got to do all the singles, the album artwork. Matt takes Orlando’s drawings and turns them into the graphics on the computer.
Does Matt work with your videos aswell?
He’s been involved in a couple, ‘X-Ray’ and ‘Latchmere’. We got a guy called Terry Hall to do the first lot. ‘About Your Dress’ was done by Orlando and his mate Robin with finger puppets. That’s Orlando’s artistic flare coming in there. Matt has worked on a couple of videos, he’s been there right from the start. It’s nice to get our friends in on the action and give them some work. We give them a foot in the door, Matt’s got a job at a record label doing some graphics.
Are you going to The Great Escape Festival in Brighton?
I think we’re playing it. It was up in the air until quite recently but it’s been advertised that we’re doing it. We’re playing a club that’s normally chav central but it’s quite a good venue. I think Willy Mason is playing it this year, I really want to see him. We’ve just done two gigs in Brighton, which was pretty cool.
Oh yeah, there was a riot wasn’t there?
I don’t know if you’d call it a riot. It got blown out of proportion a lot, there wasn’t a riot, it was a mix up between bouncers and fans. Everything’s all good in Brighton now.
What’s your favourite planet?
I like the one with the rings, Saturn (Robert). I think Mars is my favourite, they’ve sent a few things to Mars (Rupert). Found some martians and that, you never know (Robert).
Jack Penate is supporting you tonight, are you mates with him?
Felix used to be in a band with Jack called Jack’s Basement. We supported them in London, Jack went one way and Felix joined us. It’s amazing he’s doing so well, we’re all really proud to have him with us.
You’re supporting Bloc Party in America? How do you feel about that?
Very excited, I’m a massive fan of Bloc Party. It’s a pleasure when you go on tour with a band that you’ve admired a lot. It’s the same with Jamie T, being in the crowd able watch every night.
Where are your favourite places to go in London?
Brixton Academy. If we ever get to headline there it’ll be a really big achievement. It’s the best venue in the country. I used to go to Drum n Bass nights there. There’s a really good seating area and a massive dance floor.
http://www.houseoftracks.co.uk
Shoving brand spanking new tracks into your face.
— The Noisettes
What inspired your sound?
All of our favourite music, and least favourite aswell. That’s what made us want to start making music. (Dan)
You released ‘The Three Moods Of The Noisettes’ on Low Altitude in April last year but what are your three moods?
Well really, three moods is referring to us three being quite different people. Sometimes people can’t believe we’re in a band together. When we went through the airport, the security guard walked up to me and Jamie and said are you two together and Shingai had to say ‘I’m with them too!’
You released ‘IWA’ on Transgressive Records. How did Toby and Tim discover you?
Basicly, Tim was writing for rockfeedback.co.uk and he put us on at The Buffalo Bar after The Mystery Jets where raving about us. (Shingai)
What have your favorite festivals been so far?
Bestival
Yeah that was mine too, I saw you play the Rock n Roll stage.
Yeah, I love Bestival. Lost Vagueness at Glastonbury was good too. The thing with Glastonbury is that it’s so big that it’s like a town and with towns, you need to find a corner and we stayed around Lost Vagueness. The Healing Fields are always good too.
My favorite’s The Glade i think.
Yeah, well it’s all in that sort of area. The North East of Glastonbury. (Shingai)
You supported Muse on their massive, sell out UK tour!
Yeah, it was amazing. Very epic. Our record company gave us a camcorder and we shot the tour bus, that was actually parked inside the venue next to eight stage trucks and I was like ‘Oh my God!’. I couldn’t get my head around the trucks being in the building. (Dan)
But like, when you support a band it takes a while to get into the craft of being a good support band. Especially when you support a band that’s as well established as Muse. But after a while we got the hang of it and they were very nice to tour with.
Yeah, they seem like cool guys.
It was a good experience.
Your new single ‘Sister Rosetta (Capture The Spirit)’ was out on Monday. Is there a story behind it?
Well, the title comes from a gospel singer and guitar player from the 40s called Stster Rosetta Tharpe. She came to England and she was one of the most amazing guitar players and she inspired all the people like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Peter Green and Jimmy Page.
There’s some footage of her on youtube and she’s just amazing and she’s what inspired the guitar riff in the song.
Your new album ‘What’s The Time Mr. Wolf?’ is out on 5th but what is the time Mr. Wolf?
It’s Chico Time! (Dan)
That’s got to be the cheeseyest answer we’ve ever had!
Ha ha ha ha ha, Chico Time! (Shingai)
The last time I saw you guys live was that legendary Christmas party at The Lock Tavern in Camden but do you prefer London gigs to other gigs?
No, the opposite actually. London gigs are always fun because you sometimes see a lot of your friends and family there but I suppose it depends what you’re doing. If you’re supporting, it can be like any other gigs but if you’re headlining it can be really good. I always prefer gigs in places I’ve never been before. (Dan)
Some of our best gigs have been in Poole, Manchester, Cardiff, The Austrian Alps!
What’s your favorite guitar pedal?
The Tuner because I can mute the guitar and not have to play! (Shingai)
Mine’s the Octave pedal. It makes a guitar sound like a bass and a guitar and it’s got two outputs, one for the bass amp and one for the guitar amp. (Dan)
My friend Deede sent me a question for you, Shingai. Your voice has been described as a mix of Erica Badu, Billy Holiday and Bjork but who are your favorite singers?
Oh, I thought you where going to make me choose a favorite. It’s not like I’m trying to be different but I can’t have a favorite.
I like singers that sound like instruments. I like Nina Simone’s voice because she sounds like a tennor saxaphone. It’s doesn’t sound like she’s changed by trends or current tastes. I think she just wanted the sound that was best for the song. But I have things that I really love about singers and that’s when they can transform themselves into a character.
There’s this Egyptian singer who died about fifteen years ago called Om Kalsoum and she sings, mostly in Arabic but also but sometimes in French and other North East African languages.
Her voice is really captivating and sounds really timeless but there’s also a lot of pain behind it. I wouldn’t listen to it all the time but there are some days when I couldn’t listen to anything else. But those three that your friend said are very good. I like those too.
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Shoving brand spanking new tracks into your face.
— The Pigeon Detectives
You’re from Leeds but what makes a good night out in Leeds?
Going to the Faversham and drinking Dooleys. We like going to the Cockpit, we go to gigs at the Met and we go to Porter. Porter’s a nice bar that we go in quite a bit. It’s not a shit hole and it’s not chavvy. It’s just a nice little bar.
Your new single ‘Romantic Type’ is out on Monday but what is it about?
It’s about being misinterpreted or misunderstood. People think they know you but they don’t. It’s not about romance in the boy/girl sense of the word but it kind of is. You know how you can romanticise about anything for example people romanticise the fact that Pete Doherty’s a smack head. It’s that kind of romance.
You performed a brilliant set last night at The Wolverhampton Civic Hall supporting the Kaiser Chiefs. What did you think of it?
I actually really enjoyed it last night. We used setlist A in the end.
What’s your album called and when is it coming out?
It’s going to be called ‘Wait For Me’ and it’s going to come out in the beginning of May.
What’s your next single going to be?
Yeah, after this single we’re bringing ‘I’m Not Sorry’ out probably about two weeks before the album.
What are your favourite festivals?
I think to play, O2 Wireless was good because we got free hair cuts and a massage parlor. They didn’t spare any expense for that but at Leeds/Reading Festival we went to Leeds as punters for about five or six years so to actually get around to playing there, that was a big occasion for us.
What stage were you on?
We were on at The Carling stage and it was brilliant, the tent was pretty much full for both gigs.
What is your favourite pizza topping?
Chicken (Jimmi) No, chicken’s too dry on pizza! (Matt)
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Shoving brand spanking new tracks into your face.
— The Pipettes
Where are you from and how did you meet?
We are from Brighton, Gwenno is from Cardiff. We met in Brighton about a year and a half before Gwenno joined the band. The previous girl left because she wanted to concentrate on her own band ‘The Deligates’.
What inspired The Pipettes?
It was a cross between Julia who left and Bobby and they got together in a pub, came up with this ridiculous idea that they never thought would work, roped in a load of fools to see it though and the rest is history.
Your album ‘We Are The Pipettes’ came out last month. What are your favorite album tracks?
‘Winter’s Sky’. I think that’s the one song that is so different from everything else. It really stands out as a good song. Each song is really special but we go through phases of liking totally different songs and thinking that’s the best one off the album. I never thought of it in terms of best and worst because we didn’t want to put anything on there that we didn’t like. I feel quite protective over all of them.
You are on at The Tales Of The Jackalope festival tomorrow.
We don’t know anything about it! Luckily for us we’re on at half seven so the nice thing is we get to play fairly early, then stay and get drunk. Woo Hoo!
Who are you most looking forward to seeing?
We don’t know who’s playing.
Klaxons, White Rose Movement, JoJo De Freq, Shitdisco, Gucci Soundsystem…
I’m quite interested in seeing the Klaxons because I can’t make my mind up about them. I really like one their songs. I like their neon, 80’s, vomit enducing, florescent clothes.
Your video to ‘Pull Shapes’ takes place in a 60’s night club. Was it fun putting it together?
Yeah, it was really good fun. It was based on a Rus Meyer film called ‘Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls’. We basically took this one segment of the film and recreated it but we replaced the band in the film with us. We had extras that were made to look like extras in the film and it was really funny. It was a very long day and we drunk a lot of wine.
Where do you get your clothes?
We get them made. They’re costumes rather than outfits.
What is your favorite dance move?
I think it’s the power grab. The power grab or the shimmy, shimmy, the titty dance as we like to call it, it works with the arse aswell. Top or bottom action.
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— The Pipettes 2
Hi Rose. How are you?
I’m good thanks.
I first interviewed you guys at The Underground in Stoke the day before you played at Tales Of The Jackalope. How did you feel Tales went?
Yeah, It was really good actually. There were more people than we expected there. It was quite an unknown event so we weren’t sure how we would go down but it went really well.
You also played the ‘Rock N Roll’ tent at Bestival last weekend. How was that?
It was great. The tent was completely full and we had a really fun time.
Did you manage to see any other bands at Bestival?
Not really, no. I managed to see a bit of The Pet Shop Boys. I also saw a band called Grizzly Bear who I really like a lot. One of the guys from the band cut my hair in France which was quite funny.
Your single ‘Judy’ is brilliant. Is it based on anyone you know?
Yeah loosely. It’s sort of based on a couple of people who were at school at the time. There is no one called Judy.
The video is in a comic strip style. Was that your idea and was it fun to make?
We were working with a company who were really cool and we told them what we wanted and what we didn’t want and they made it a lot better than we would have thought up probably.
Was it the same people who did your video for ‘Pull Shapes’?
No it was a different one based in Liverpool. They’ve done a lot of work for The Zutons and stuff like that.
What’s your next single going to be?
Oh god! We don’t know yet. We’ve still got to get this one out first.
Are you going to release a Christmas single?
Possibly. We’ve got a few songs that we’ve been writing. We might do it in a number of ways, we might do a digital EP or something like that but we’re not sure yet.
You’ve recently been to Stockholm to do a pop show.
Yeah, it was a bit weird. It was like a Swedish Pop Idol.
Was it really cheesy?
Yeah, but we liked it. We quite like to be versatile in that sense.
You’re playing Birmingham Academy 2 tonight. Are you excited?
Yeah, well it’s the first night of the tour and it sold out so it’s off to a good start and we’re really looking forward to it. We’ve even got a new song.
Is it one from your myspace?
No, well one of them is but there’s another one that we’ve never played live before so it could all go totally wrong.
Good luck.
Cheers.
Gweno is always coming up with a hilarious introduction to ‘Because It’s Not Love But It’s Still A Feeling’. Has there been one that’s just cracked you up so much that you couldn’t perform the song?
No, well the good thing about that is that there’s this 10 second bass intro bit that comes in so I don’t actually have to start singing until a little bit later into the song. I always have time to recover.
Last time I interviewed you, I asked you if there was anything you wanted House of Tracks to ask Klaxons and you asked me to ask them if they wear florescent clothes all the time. Anyway, I interviewed them at Bestival and they told me to tell you (Rose) to dump your drummer boyfriend and go out with them.
Then they said 077*****888 I am constantly waiting for you.
Ha ha ha!
Apparently they got in touch with you on myspace aswell.
Yeah, I thought they were taking the piss! Anyway, it’s very nice of them to say that. I’ll have to meet them and I’m sure I’ll shatter all illusions.
What do you think has been the stand out track of 2006?
Oh God! I don’t know. I’m really bad at thinking of things. ‘Bump’ by Shank Rock is really good, I really like that one.
Sarah Hendy of E4 Music said ‘Naive’ by The Kooks.
Yeah, I wouldn’t say them personally. I’m sure there’s been loads of stuff that I’m just not remembering but The Kooks certainly wouldn’t be best track of the year. Oh, Peter Bjorn And John ‘Young Ones’. I’ve kind of heard that too many times now but it probably will remind me of this year.
Yeah, everyone was whistling that at Bestival.
What’s your favourite Ice Cream flavor?
Strawberry.
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— The Remote
Where are you from and how did you meet?
I met Ben Lost while I was djing at London’s Heaven nightclub in 1999. He was chatting up my ex-girlfriend, I told her not to talk to weirdos. I met Asad Rizvi after I’d been playing his productions wherever I dj’d, groovy tripped out affairs with strange vocals.
What bands are you into at the moment?
I’m really into Maximo Park. I love their Englishness, they sound like a mixture of the Smiths, Dexys Midnight Runners and the Human League.
What is your favorite synth?
I love the Roland SH-101, great for big basslines as is the Yamaha DX-100.
Your album ‘Too Low To Miss’ is out next month, what are your favorite tracks from it?
I’ve gone through a few favorites while making the album. ‘Please Change your Mind’ is our claim to the 3 minute perfect pop mantle. ‘Play it Rosa’ is great too.
What is your favorite pudding?
It would have to be chocolate ice cream. Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie to be precise.
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— The Ripps
How did you all meet?
We’re brothers (Patch and Raul) and we met Rachel at school. We all went to Finham Park Secondary School in Coventry (Rachel). We got talking about the band at Reading festival many moons ago. Patch was telling me that they got some studio space but they needed a drummer and I was excited by it (Rachel). We auditioned loads of shit drummers, Rachel came along and she was really good (Raul). I was shit but I had a nice dress on (Rachel)!
Where are the best places to go out in Coventry?
That’s easy. The only place to go out is The Colosseum.
How did you get signed to Catskills Records?
It was really strange how it came about. I went out one night and was chatting to someone, I didn’t know that he was one of the partners of the label. He was told by his sister in law that we were a band and that we were really good. He came to see us the following day and he left us a card, we passed it on to our manager not thinking it would amount to anything and then it just happened.
What are your favourite tracks from your album ‘Long Live The Ripps’?
My favourite is ‘Vampires’ because it reminds me of the old 70s punky bands. It’s a bit of a Rutts rip off really but they’re a really good band. I like ‘Loco’ as well, that’s been on the football advert (Patch). I like ‘You Don’t Even Care’, that’s about Patch wanking, I find it amusing (Rachel).
The video for your single ‘Loco’ takes place in the Urban Village in Coventry. How did that come about?
The owner, Frank the Tank, is our manager (Raul). I used to work with him at his shop in Leamington Spa and I used to bug him and he used to talk about all of these contacts he had and I just thought he was bullshitting. Anyway, I invited him to one of our gigs, we were pretty serious by then, and he took us on basically and we’ve been together ever since (Rachel).
You’re playing Barfly Birmingham tonight as part of the club night ‘Panic’.
Yeah, Panic is a wicked night out. It’s kind of like The Colosseum but bigger and with more Brummies. It’s just a shame we’re playing at one in the morning because we can’t really get pissed (Raul). We’re not really a drinking band, it’s not cool and it’s not clever (Rachel). Not very much, a couple maybe (Patch).
What was headlining the BBC Introducing tent at Glastonbury like?
A blur (Rachel). It was cool but it was a blur, we drank a lot of Red Stripe that weekend (Patch). I was amazed because in the BBC tent, all of the broadcasters, producers and DJs were just smashed! It’s like their job to get smashed and talk to bands (Raul)! I was chuffed because I met Terry Hall, I was wearing a Specials t-shirt when I met him as well. I was like “Hi Terry!”
You’re playing at our magazine launch party on Sunday 25th November.
Yes at The Luminaire on the 25th November (Raul)! We’ve been there before. We’ve played loads of London gigs. It’s always good to play London because you do get a really good mix of people. But some of our friends have played there a few times and it’s always highly recommended so we’re looking forward to it (Patch).
What’s your favourite pizza topping?
That’s easy because we eat a lot of pizza (Rachel). I quite like fishy pizza (Patch). Anchovies (Raul). I like fish but I’m more of a Hawaiian girl. I like garlic sauce (Rachel). Garlic sauce is like a universal thing (Patch). I think to be fair, it’s a bit of an over simplified question because there are so many factors to take into account. Sometimes you want a bit of a crispy base but sometimes you have the meat cravings (Raul). Sometimes you just want four cheeses (Rachel).
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— The Shins
Where are you from and how did you all meet?
I think everybody else in the band was born in Albuquerque and I was born in Hawaii and moved around like crazy because my dad was in the airforce. I went to high school in Suffolk county here and then moved to Albuquerque because there’s a big airforce base there and that’s how I met those guys.
How long were you in Suffolk for?
Three years. The last three years of high school.
What inspired your sound?
A lot of things. Mainly the music I fell in love with while in high school in England. There’s a lot of brit pop influence in us, but my dad was a country and western style night club singer so there was a lot of country and western music in the house.
Your new album ‘Wincing The Night Away’ was out on Transgressive via Sub Pop on 23rd January this year but why ‘Wincing The Night Away’?
I have a hard time sleeping sometimes and it came to me that what I end up doing when I have a hard time sleeping is stressing out. Like I end up thinking of some embarrassing thing that I did or just something stressful. So it popped into my head as a sort of ironic phrase.
What are your favourite tracks from it?
I like ‘Australia’ and ‘A Comet Appears’ right now.
My favourite has to be ‘Spilt Needles’. It’s amazing.
Yeah, that’s Marty doing that. What we used was a Melotron emulator called M-Tron from M-Audio so Marty was playing the melody and I was using the mouse and messing with the wow and flutter and it makes the computer glitch out. That’s what gave it that weird stilted thing, it’s a total accident and it’s one of my favourite things on the record.
Who did the artwork and what is it meant to be?
That’s my brother, Robert Mercer did it. We talked about diatoms, you know the small microscopic animals that live in the ocean and he just started going off and just making up all of these crazy things sort of based on sea anenomes.
I really like your track ‘Australia’. Is it about the country?
Not really. I actually came up with the main hook for that while on tour in Australia so that was the working title and I planned on changing it but then it just stuck and somehow it works I think.
What do you think of the Transgressive boys Toby and Tim?
Cool guys. We met them the last time we were here. They took us out for Mexican food and got us food poisoning. Literally. Four of us came down with food poisoning. Have you ever had food poisoning?
Yeah, it’s like dieing!
It is. You wish you were dieing!
One of your songs features in ‘Garden State’ (the film) where it recieves the detailed review ‘It’s good, I like it’ from Zach Braff. Did they approach you when they were putting it together and tell you about it?
They did. I recieved a description of the scene in 2002 and it was before they had any funding or anything so I OKed it and had sort of forgotten about it but when it came out it was a big success and it was good for us.
Your single ‘Phantom Limb’ is amazing. I’ve tried playing it on my guitar but there are so many chords. How do you remember them all?
It’s funny. That chord progression is loads of chords and I had that chord progression seriously like eight years ago but there were a couple of chords jumbled up and it was ruining it. But a year ago when I started to work on this record, I switched around a couple of chords and it worked really well.
What will your next single be?
The next single here is going to be ‘Australia’ but in the states it’s going to be ‘Turn On Me’.
We saw your NME awards show at The Astoria on Sunday and it was almost a greatest hits show. Is it annoying having such a large back catalogue of anthems when when trying to push a new album?
I hadn’t thought of it. It’s probably a good thing but one of the great things about having a new record out is that you get to pick your favourites from the old records and throw away some that you maybe don’t enjoy playing as much.
How do UK audiences compare to American ones?
I think the UK is catching up with the states for us it seems. Playing a big show at The Astoria is like New York or something.
What is your favourite pudding?
I like pudding actually. Pudding here means dessert right? So my favourite dessert is Tiramisu.
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Shoving brand spanking new tracks into your face.
— The Victorian English Gentlemans Club
How did you get signed to Fantastic Plastic records?
We sent off demos to them ‘cause we liked them. They came to watch us at a gig and shebang. They liked us.
Your album came out in August last year, which are your favourite tracks to play live?
‘Ban The Gin’, we always cock it up every single time. In the seventeenth century at some point they banned gin in England because they thought it caused a lot of problems like people getting raped. They got it into their heads that it was because of gin so they banned it. Hence ‘Ban The Gin’. Adam learnt about it on the morning we were going to record that song, we had no lyrics for it so it was quite ad lib. A guy from our label was like ‘fucking hell man, that’s amazing, I saw a documentary on tele it was exactly what you were saying.’ He thought it was some mad coincidence.
Any plans for the next single?
It’s going to be a double A side with one of the new songs. ‘Stupid As Wood’, which we didn’t play tonight and another one. We get really bored of the tracks really fast. If we could we’d play brand new tracks every single night but we’d probably get heckled.
Are you playing any festivals this year?
Some stuff in Germany. At The Great Escape I think we’re doing something with Artrocker. We were meant to be doing something with ‘Untitled Musical Project’, on the same stage on the same night. They’re just sitting over there.
What was touring with The Noisettes like?
Amazing, we really enjoyed it. It was a really good tour they’re really nice people. Good crowds to play with really. The Zodiac was really good. The Noisettes are quite similar to us with an indie twist.
You start your set by ringing a bell, does that mean anything?
It means it’s time to finish your drinks at the bar and watch The Victorian English Gentlemens Club.
What’s your favourite planet?
Earth. There’s the brand new one they found.
You sometimes introduce yourself as coming from Germany but where are you really from?
Cardiff. I felt rotten because some German girls came up and said something in German. We have the German flag on stage because we played this gig in Germany, we were hanging around the next day waiting for the plane, we were quite bored so going in the tourist shops, we bought this German flag so that comes on tour with us. Germany’s more funny than Cardiff.
Where are the good places to go out in Cardiff?
Not the Barfly. You could probably come round to our house, we’re indoor people, Adam will cook you some food, a nice lasagne or something, have some wine (Emma). Probably Clwb Ifor Bach, it means Little Irish Club in English. It’s probably the best place to go in Cardiff. Like an indie club and they have bands, it’s not shit.
What’s the pedal you’ve got on your bass guitar that makes it go ‘baowm’?
It’s an SYB3. Boss. I’m surprised you noticed it, I can never hear it. A lot of people notice it though. When I bought it the guy in the shop said they made the entire series of the original Doctor Who just using that pedal for the sound effects (Louise). Even though it wasn’t invented then (Adam).
On your album sleeve notes you’ve got the numbers one to eleven but there’s no ten, where’s the ten?
Behind the boy’s head (Louise). Bad graphics I think by Louise, I’d like to think there’s a mystical reason (Adam).
I thought it might be under a picture of some yews because of the song.
Good effort (Louise).
Any rude questions you want to ask us (Adam)?
What animal would you most like to have sex with?
A humanimal (Emma). A mermaid (Adam). Where would you fit it? What did they do on that film? How did they have sex on Splash? What about a mermaid where the top half was fish and the bottom half was human (Emma).
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