More including The Wombats, Three Trapped Tigers and two Young Knives interviews.
— The Wombats
Where are you from and how did you meet?
Me and Dan knew each other from a while ago and we got together after a few hazy nights and started writing songs about goats and things. We’ll play you our first song…
I’m a goat,
Sit on my own all day and eat some grass,
I like grass,
Sitting in my field,
Milk’s my only yield,
What a joke,
I’m a goat,
I’m just a goat,
Just a stinking little crappy fucking bollocks of a goat,
And it’s really shit being a goat,
And I stink of shit,
And I can’t wipe my arse because I’ve got no hands (or opposable thumbs),
What is your favourite film?
The last film I saw was ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ which is a Studio Ghibli film. I liked that, it took me into a world where emotions flourish. I would say probably ‘Aladdin’. I’m into more Norwegian films, ‘Jonny Vnag’, It’s about this guy who owns a worm farm. It’s amazing.
How are you finding Rockness?
It’s very idyillic. It’s a very pretty scene for a festival, looking over Loch Ness.
What is your new single ‘Kill The Director About’?
It’s about a film called ‘The Holiday’. It’s a Christmas film with Cameron Diaz and Jack Black. It’s about the paradox between the film and the real life events that were going on at the time.
Have you got an album coming out?
We start recording on Saturday 30th June and hopefully it should be out on Monday 1st October.
Have you thought of a name for it yet?
We’ve been thinking but we haven’t come up with a good one yet. Nessie?!
What’s your next single going to be?
It’s ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ I think or ‘Moving To New York’. We’re not sure which one yet. It kind of depends how well this one does really.
How was SXSW?
It was amazing. Bar bar bar bar band band band band. It’s hard to see everything you want to, there’s too much to do really. You know when you walk down the street and you see four people and they’ve all got leathers on or whatever and you think ‘that’s a band’, well when SXSW’s on, you see a few people in normal clothes and you think ‘that’s not a band’!
http://www.houseoftracks.co.uk
Shoving brand spanking new tracks into your face.
— The Young Knives
Where are you from?
Ashby-de-la-Zouch which is nearest to Derby I guess. Well we lived in a village inbetween Ashby and Loughborough so we’re like right in the middle of nowhere which was a bit shit. Oliver lived in Ashby.
How did you meet?
Well we are brothers (Henry and House) but we met Oliver at school.
Your latest single ‘She’s Attracted To’ is brilliant. What’s it about?
It’s about meeting your girlfriends parents (Henry). We wrote it quite a while ago, it’s a little bit like something that we would never write again. It’s a bit immature. A lot of the things that I wrote in it are taken from people I used to work with. My manager once took me into a room and told me I was a terrorist. I wasn’t really that bad, he just wanted to use the word.
We all love your track ‘Elaine’ in the House of Tracks office but who is she?
She is no one. We wrote it when we where about 15. It’s a strange name, there aren’t actually many people called Elaine except for your mums friends and that’s why I like it. It harps back to something old. It’s about being a bit of a fuck up yourself, the song’s not about her at all, she’s a sounding board for your stupidity.
You are on Transgressive records but how do you imagine your music will transgress in the future?
Ahhh whaow! It’s difficult to know what’s going to last (House). I think the Libertines will be listened to in the future but I don’t think the Dirty Pretty Things will. I think it’s a mistake to think you can start up a new band, give it a new name and do the same thing (Henry). I just don’t see the point. I think they should have tried to do something else. I don’t know, the second album might be different. That’s what they need to do.
Your new album ‘Voices Of Animals And Men’ comes out in August. What tracks do you most enjoy playing live?
I like playing ‘Loughbrough Suicide’ (House) and only just because of the groove. It’s probably the most anthemic in a funny kind of way, even though it’s quite depressing. I enjoy playing the B-Sides (Henry). They’re tracks we probably shouldn’t have put out as B-Sides but they were written after the album was recorded.
Where do you most enjoy playing live?
We played some wicked gigs in Sunderland (Oliver). We had a good gig in Telford (House). Some kid from school just put on a gig down the pub and all his mates turned up. I did enjoy playing Shepherd’s Bush Empire (Henry). It doesn’t matter about the venue, it matters whether people are up for it.
Who are your favorite new bands?
I like Rumble Strips (Howard). Cold War Kids (House). Cold War Kids, fucking hell! We went to Austin Texas and we went to a party and there was this band playing called Cold War Kids which is a shit name for a band. They were unbelievable, they were actually unbelievable. There was a song called ‘Hospital Beds’ it’s reminiscent of 1920’s music, not even that, it’s like spiritual chanting. It’s very American but it’s tight and punchy as fuck aswell. Tuneful, very tuneful.
You are The Young Knives but if you were actually knives, what substances would you cut?
Marzipan (Oliver). I’d cut through the administrative syrup (Henry). I’d cut the tension (House). I’d cut your fucking throat (Henry to House).
http://www.houseoftracks.co.uk
Shoving brand spanking new tracks into your face.
— The Young Knives 2
How was SXSW festival?
Hard work, not a lot of fun to be had there. Last year we had a great time but this year we just did a shit load of gigs. We had a really good time it was just absolutely exhausting.
Oh no, how many gigs did you do?
Eight over four days. You’ll do things like a radio session, it’s only five or six songs but you have to get your voice warmed up and when you hit third set up of the day you just think ‘Oh god’ but it’s always good fun you get back into the mode of it.
What bands did you get to see?
We missed all the buzz bands like Bat For Lashes. There’s no way I’m ever going to be organised enough to get to anything early enough to get in. I saw Foals and all of the Transgressive bands. I saw Cold War Kids again, they’re so good live, and they’re serious musicians who love doing it. You can tell that they’re really putting the effort in to make it interesting and new. I saw Daniel Johnston ‘cause I really wanted to see him. He writes all his songs about one girl and he’s a big fatty and he’s got this crap backing band but really nice tunes but he’s just slightly mad. Robin Hitchcock I saw. I saw some utter crap.
What was New York like?
There’s bits of it I really like, the sightseeing bits are really good, but fucking hell, the people are miserable some of them. Taxi drivers see you standing on the side of the street with your guitars and they just shake their head. How do you run a business like that? There’s enough people I suppose, people are so rude.
What was your favourite place in America?
I liked LA because the audience was really good and it was just a place that I didn’t fully understand I know I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time there but I liked the whole experience of being there. I really liked Chicago and Boston as well but probably Chicago was the nicest place just in terms of friendliness, I understood it a bit more it seemed to have a bit more culture and a big music town as well, I thought that place seemed pretty cool.
Are there any bad states?
I get worn down by it, we did quite a lot of flying so it wasn’t that relaxing anyway. I get worn down by being in a different culture. The food is always full of shit, your palette doesn’t have to grow up in America at all, you can eat sweet shit for as long as you like, if you have lamb and mint sauce you don’t expect the mint sauce to be sweet like toothpaste. Everything’s really sweet and really full of fat. You end up eating out a lot, if you ask for a salad you get one in a serving bowl and it’ll have cheese and stuff and be the least healthy salad you’ve ever eaten. I had quail, they brought out three quails. It was lovely but three birds died for my lunch, there was a lot of meat and it was a fiver, which is ridiculous. I have the post war mentality, which my mum gave me, which was eat everything on your plate, waste not want not.
In October last year, Transgressive records announced that you’d hidden a ‘seriously fantastic prize’ somewhere in the UK, we went looking for it but couldn’t find it. You’re not going to tell us anything so the question is, is it still there?
Yes. I think giving anything away ruins it. I know that it is still there. Loads of people have emailed me about it. I’ve got a friend who knows where it is, he/she checks it. If someone took it and didn’t do anything with it or a wild animal stole it then what can you do?
You’re playing Nottingham Rock City here tonight, are you excited?
We’ve done it once before with The Rakes. I’ve played it in a band on a big day of bands when I was about 17 or 16. It’s a good place to headline. It feels a bit weird cause we’re doing a last tour of this album so it feels a little bit like the tail end of all the excitement. At the same time it’s the first time we’ve done all these big venues.
I’ve heard a couple of your new tracks, I especially like that one that goes ‘Turn Tail And Run Away’, Is that going to be your next single?
I don’t know, depends on how it comes out, it’s not really finished as you can probably tell ‘La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la’ lots of that. We can’t really leave that in, there’s a few songs like that, you can’t do it too many times.
Is there a deadline for your album, do you need to rush through it?
I don’t want to, we don’t know who we’re going to have producing it, we’ve got some ideas, we might try something out with Ian Brody but he might be completely wrong. I sort of like the idea of it but I’m also quite frightened because he’s done some things that I’m not a big fan of but he’s done some things that I think are good. Andy Gill did some things that I didn’t like as well. It’s going to be a bit more natural sounding than the last one, a bit less cut up.
I think Ian Brody’s idea is that we’re quite capable of doing it anyway so it should hopefully be a bit more experimental in a way, that’ll probably mean we’ll spend more time on it. Something not too downbeat but we haven’t necessarily got it all written, we’ve got a lot of stuff written but it isn’t all necessarily going to go on.
We’ve got a bit of time in April to do a bit more. Maybe a single for the end of the summer, Reading/Leeds sort of time and then the album probably won’t come out until the New Year. It should be finished this year but they hold it.
Have you got a title for it?
It depends on what songs we put on, the title is a last minute thing for us, people get stuck on them. Bloc Party knew the title of their second album before they’d even written any of it (Henry).
‘A Weekend In The City’ what a crap name for an album. They’re all meaningless anyway. If you’ve got one and you’ve agreed on it you might as well just roll with it rather than thinking about it too much (House). I like thinking about it too much, that’s where the good ones come from, eventually you’ll get one that pops up. If you just come up with one and go ‘Yea, go on then’, it’s boring. You know we’re going to think about it too hard anyway (Henry). I think we should just go for the first thing we think of (House). It’s never going to happen (Henry).
Get someone else to do it.
Get Roger McGough to do it (House). Who’s Poet Laureate at the moment?* Some twat, get him to do it, or her, do they have women poet laureates? Or is there some old rule that says you can’t have them? You never know with this country do you (Henry)?
I’m in two minds whether or not to mention Human Knives, do you think it should have been pink vinyl instead of red vinyl?
I like it red. I haven’t got a copy of it yet, Tim and Toby said they’d send us some. I think it’s good for us, it’s kind of like a curio, that’s associated with the album. I like it, I think it’s good.
What’s your favourite biscuit?
Malted Milk (House). I’m not a big fan, I like those Hovis ones that you have in a cheese box that are a bit like digestives but you’re supposed to have with cheese, I like them. Ritz crackers are good, mini cheddars (Henry).
http://www.houseoftracks.co.uk
Shoving brand spanking new tracks into your face.
— Three Trapped Tigers
How did you three meet?
Friends of friends of friends basically. I was playing in a band whose bassist played in a band with Betts who was living with Matt. Those two met at music college. So the three of us knew each other for quite a while before we ‘formed’ and for the record originally it was meant to be a five-piece band with two drummers!
I read that your third gig as Three Trapped Tigers was at Reading Festival. What was that like?
Ha, well Reading was awesome obviously. I don’t think Matt and I could quite believe that we got to do that so early on. But it was pretty weird, and sketchy. It’s the only gig we’ve ever done with a different drummer as Betts was unavailable so we trained up his flatmate Blease who learnt the parts (incredibly) in two sessions. And it was our first gig without a bassist - ie. as a 3-piece which is what we remain.
What’s been your favourite gig so far?
I don’t know but they do seem to keep getting better the more confident we get. Technology no longer seems to break, and we’re taking more risks in the music now, which is great. So probably the last one.
How did you get signed to Blood and Biscuits records?
Ha, well Blood and Biscuits is a front organisation for our own self-promotion. Basically, a couple of friends of ours who work for another label came to our early shows and started to champion us and so when we made a record and no one came forward to put it out, they offered to set up their own label specially, using their knowledge/experience etc. So it was pretty simple really, and it’s worked well. We’ll take some persuading not to do the same thing again for the next EP.
Your songs get quite complicated at times with time signature shifts and unexpected breaks. How do you keep together when you play live?
Er, all the complex stuff is (obviously) written so there’s no secret here, it’s just a case of following the music/knowing the music. Betts played in a hardcore band for 5 years with the craziest time changes, and Matt is semi-autistic when it comes to memory and rhythmic feel - in his own music he specialises in music that grooves but that places the feel in the wrong place so you end up counting it but the numbers are in the wrong order.
Squarepusher is one of your top friends on myspace and I can definitely hear Squarepusher influences in your sound (particularly Matt’s acid synth part in ‘Untitled 3’). Do you know Squarepusher?
Not personally (I know someone who played in a wedding band with him when they were teenagers.) but obviously we all three of us know and love Squarepusher’s music intimately, and he was absolutely one of the top influences we were hoping to explore when we started. All the Warp crowd remain to me some of the most progressive music there is, as well as music I have a real emotional connection with to do with the time of my life when I got into them, etc. Matt will be very pleased you picked out his synth part as that is clearly his model. It’s all about that 101 sound.
You are regularly likened to Warp artists such as Battles, Pivot and Aphex Twin. Do you take these associations as compliments and would you sign to Warp if they were to offer?
Well, see above. One thing to clarify though is that I feel far more strongly about Aphex than I do about Battles and Pivot. We don’t really liken ourselves to Battles and Pivot even though we’re a live band, as we feel like we’re doing something qualitatively different. It’s difficult to explain, and no doubt we really respect Battles and like their music, but I don’t think of us as being part of the same crowd. As for Warp offering, I guess we’ll cross that bridge if it comes. I’m a big Grizzly Bear fan, I think Hudson Mohawke is excellent, Gang Gang Dance are interesting, but other labels have caught up with them when it comes to that kind of breadth and vision.
The guitar effect on ‘Untitled 1’ sounds amazing, what pedal are you using?
Not telling. (because I don’t know)
Are you writing any new material and have you got any future releases planned?
Yes, we’re working on the next EP already and have a rough schedule to get that out in the summer, and a third EP before the end of the year. I’m trying not to think about albums yet.
What festival would you most like to play?
Er for me personally it would probably be Neil Young’s one on his ranch in Canada which raises money for charity, not least because the only way you can get on the bill is for Ol’ Shakey to invite you personally.
http://www.houseoftracks.co.uk
Shoving brand spanking new tracks into your face.
— Tim Ten Yen
When did you become Tim Ten Yen?
It was probably about three or four years ago. I kind of gradually started doing it. A friend of mine who was gigging, kind of gave me no other option than to support him at his shows. So I sort of drifted incongruously into the London scene and ummm, it was terrible to begin with. So I basically learnt my craft, supporting this guy, my friend (Jake Rodriguez).
How did you meet the Sinister cat and how did you cope with the kidnapping of him?
Well, he just kind of appeared. He was the perfect thing to have onstage with me, he’s basically kind of like a rock. Although it sounds daft as I’m a solo performer, but having a cat on stage (I know it sounds daft and stupid) but even before I’m on stage he’s there, sitting next to the keyboard, it’s kind of comforting. As soon as I come on his job is over. But yeah, the kidnapping, he got stolen at a gig in St Martins college, after the show. So I put a curse on the kidnapper the next day, just really angry about it, and I think maybe the kidnapper read the curse. I put it on myspace, this whole list of things basically to make her a bad artist.
Are you sure it was one of the students?
Yes, I think they were a student, because about three weeks later, a myspace page appeared of a real cat, with photos of the cat and the Sinister cat together, in poses, kissing each other and stuff. This whole love affair had been concocted between the Sinister Cat and this other cat, ‘Catty Anne’.
Do you think maybe they did it as some kind of stupid bet?
I think they were just absolutely hammered, really drunk. So basically I put lots of demands on the kidnapper to break the curse, so she had to go round buying a bag of salt and vinegar crisps from all these different supermarkets, and take photographs of it, make me a card to saying sorry. She did all these things, put them in a box and sent me a parcel. I wanted to waste her time, as much as she’d wasted mine, that’s why there were all the supermarkets. She still didn’t do everything, so the curse isn’t lifted yet. There’s two more items she’s missed out, actually three items, a guitar string, a plectrum, and a bottle of Erdinger beer. So there you go ‘crime doesn’t pay!’.
It’s all about karma.
How did you get signed to Fleet St Records?
Fleet St Records is run by (and was set up by) a guitar band called Apartment. It’s probably a good time to announce they’ve gone bust, so I’m now without a label. But they were fantastic, it was basically just bad luck. That’s why no-one’s heard my single on the radio, but these things happen. They were great up to that point. They’re really good friends of mine.
Your debut single is called ‘Girl Number One’, what’s it about?
It’s kinda about lots of things, it’s centred around one girl as the main focus, my girlfriend at the time. But it’s a complicated whirling dervish of stuff, I kind of wanted to make it lyrically so you can’t pin it down, what it’s about. Emotionally you kinda get it but, each time you listen to it depending on the mood you’re in. It’s almost just the sound of the words and what they trigger off. I kind of wanted it to be not mysterious but so you can listen to it again and again and not get it.
Would you say that was true of most of your songs, as they tend to take the shape of curious little stories.
Yeah, I kinda make records that I’d like to hear. You want to have it so you don’t get it the first time, that’s the whole point, any record ¯ you should never get it, you wanna keep coming back to it. It’s like a puzzle, once you get it, then that’s it, it’s done.
When does the album come out?
How we’re doing it, as there’s no label, is we’re trying to do it so the album is ready under its own steam. So my friend and my producer Joe Webb, we’re basically just doing it in his studio, he’s producing it. We’re, I guess about two thirds-ish the way through doing the album.
You played Reading last year, how was that as your first experience playing a festival?
It was amazing. It was good.. it’s quite funny cos I haven’t got any festivals this year, as my profile’s been zero, single not happening..But Reading last year was fantastic. There was a culmination of strange events that got me to being booked. Biggest crowd I ever played to ¯ it was the Cabaret tent, really good, cos people in there have got quite an open mind anyway. And they’re expecting comedy, and I’m not comedy but hopefully uplifting, but not novelty or whatever. They had a really good dj on before me, I mean, I nearly threw up when I went on stage to put my gear on..cos there were a coupla thousand people all jumping up and down to this dj. By far the biggest crowd I’d ever played to, and I was thinking ‘how the hell’s this gonna go?’
And it went brilliantly of course.
Are you playing any festivals this year?
I might be playing Lode Star, it’s the festival in East Anglia. It’s only just been announced. 6 music are involved with that, so hopefully that’ll work out.
I hear that Steve Lamacq booked you as one of the opening acts for the Club Fandango Christmas party last year? It must be great to have that kind of support.
Yeah it’s great cos what I’m doing is pop music, and he’s like the ‘King of Indie’. I think it adds towards the indie-er side of what I’ve done, so I mean he played the b-side of ‘Girl Number One’ which is ‘The Song That Applies To You’ which I guess it a little bit indie-er sounding.
Describe the strange emotional reaction you had when Rob da Bank played you for the first time.
It’s an emotion I haven’t felt since like being a child or something. Just cos it’s very weird as an adult to have something so exciting. It’s almost like Christmas morning, when it’s something you want, and you never thought you’d get it as well and, as they say ‘there’s nothing like the first time.’
Your aim is to write ‘genuinely happy music’ but what kind of music do you listen to that inspires you?
It’s a tough one, but (dodging the question slightly) I just listen to the radio a lot. I love the whole romanticism of listening to the radio, I always loved that as a kid. I don’t like to mention my influences cos people grab onto them straight away, but you might not sound anything like that.
Like, I love Nirvana ‘Nevermind’, it was just so exciting, I get shivery up the spine when I think I was around for that era and of course, I sound nothing like Nirvana so that’s always a good example.
So it’s more about the energy behind the music.
Yeah, it’s the vibe. It’s the end result of the music,.you can sometimes take a winding journey to get there, and mine tends to always come out as pop, cos I want it to be all accelerated.
I’ve heard you’re a bit of a Neil Diamond fan, and he could possibly be an influence, would you agree?
Yeah I do like Neil Diamond, the thing about Neil Diamond is that he writes his own songs, and there’s nothing like seeing a singer sing his own songs. He’s got soul too.
Being a ‘dancing salaryman’ who sings karaoke pop - when are you going to Japan? They’d love you.
Oh, I’d love to go..,I think it would be quite funny, I’m gonna go there and they’re not gonna like me. They’re just gonna look at me and think ‘What’s this? Go home.’ But I would so like to go and do some decent shows.. release a record there. I’d love a jumpsuit, one of those suits with studs and sequins on it to change into halfway through,.. it wouldn’t be til next year, but we will see.
If you were a superhero, what superpower would you have?
Oooh…
Choose carefully.
I would have the power to fly.
http://www.houseoftracks.co.uk
Shoving brand spanking new tracks into your face.
