The Duke Spirit Interview

The Duke Spirit has collected fans all over the world with their effervescent live performances and unique blend of squealing guitars, churning riffs, and powerful drumming. Having spent the past eight months nurturing their third album, the Duke Spirit are now ready to unleash it onto the world. We catch up with lead singer Liela Moss ahead of a free acoustic show at HMV Leeds to celebrate the release of ‘Bruiser’.

What can people expect from your new album Bruiser?

I think its pretty obvious sound wise that this is much more focused and profoundly more atmospheric, as a band we are much more galvanised. Things have been bought into a shaper focus on this record, certainly there are moments were there is more space whereas previously we had lots of smashing guitars, its still got a lot of force but perhaps more melody. The record is nursing, it’s sort of traumatic but medicinal at the same time.

We knew we wanted to strip away and make it feel learner and meaner on this trip so that’s what we have done. Rather than having lots of layers of things, which you can get carried away with making music, you want to keep adding. You want to keep playing but we resisted that and we joke that we put these songs on a diet, chopped out anything that wasn’t truly satisfying.

Free Acoustic show at Leeds HMV what was the motivation behind that?

As a fan of music it’s the sort of thing I would have done when I was first getting into music and seeing al lot of gigs before I was in a band. I would have loved that diversity of seeing a band you are going to see that night but see them playing a few shows acoustically. Seeing them in a slightly skewed perspective makes the gig more powerful and weirder. I think its weird seeing bands play in stores but a good weird.

Bombay Bicycle Club Interview

Bombay Bicycle Club burst onto the music scene in 2006 after winning Virgin Mobile’s “Road to V” competition and opening V festival that year as the prize. In the years that have passed the band have gathered critical acclaim, a legion of fans and a host of award nominations and the band are still only in their early 20’s. When we chat to lead singer Jack Steadman he is understandably tired after having just played at a host of festivals but still he manages to talk enthusiastically about the best moments so far and the latest album ‘A different kind of fix’.

How was opening V festival all those years ago?

We didn’t really take it seriously at the time; we were just 16 years old. We entered the competition as a joke; we never thought we would win. When we got there we were just excited to have backstage access, meeting all these people and getting free drinks. It’s difficult to think about, you kind of pretend it’s just any other gig.

Do you think that maybe you were a bit too young for that kind of exposure?

Probably for us, it’s just weird because most people look back to their teenage years they would probably be quite embarrassed. It’s strange to have those years with lots of people interviewing you and filming you. If I listen to the songs we were writing then it’s quite embarrassing.

Even after road to V we weren’t going to quit school and pursue our dream, we were very sensible about it. We were in no rush to do anything quicker than we wanted to. We very much took our time and it was a slow and gradual process for us.

How is the new album different from your first?

Its electric, I guess the biggest difference is we are a lot more confident with the production side of things. Before all we were doing was just writing songs on the guitar and someone else would record them because we didn’t know how to. We have different styles involved and we are doing a lot more on the production side as well.

It’s always good to have another set of ears. I would never like to work without a producer because I think it’s an incredibly important part of writing an album. Having that person there, for us we need someone, we need an authoritative figure. We are unsure of ourselves and not very confident at it so we need someone who can say which parts are good and which parts are bad.

Gary Numan Interview

SYNTHPOP hero Gary Numan sprang to fame in 1979, fronting Tubeway Army. He went on to become one of the biggest stars of British electronic music, scoring No.1 singles with Are ‘Friends’ Electric? and Cars, and chart-topping albums with Replicas and The Pleasure Principle.

Thirty years on his dystopian visions, icy vocals and memorable keyboard riffs still resonate. The 53-year-old father-of-three recently collaborated with US art rock group Battles and is about to release a new album, Dead Son Rising. Next month he’ll be performing in Leeds.

Your latest album is co-written and produced by Ade Fenton. What can people expect from it?

Dead Son Rising is a side project collaboration that started out as something quite different to the way it ended up. Initially it was a batch of songs that I didn’t use on the last two or three albums but still liked and so wanted to finish off and release. But, the end result has almost none of those original songs; in fact at least 95% of it is entirely new. With my conventional studio albums I have a clear aim from the outset, a clear direction that I want to follow and this gives those albums parameters that the songs have to fit into. I didn’t have that with Dead Son Rising and so it enabled me to be more varied and more experimental. I’m not saying it’s a better way to go about making albums; it’s just different to the way I usually do things. It is not the huge gathering of riffs and soaring choruses of my last three or four albums, although it has moments of that, but it is strange in places. Lyrically it covers a wider range of subjects than I usually look at and musically it’s definitely a step sideways.

How is the latest album different from Jagged?

My album Splinter will be the follow up to Jagged and I think the progression will be more obvious between those two. Dead Son Rising has given me the chance to move away a little from what I’ve been doing, but still want to do in the future I hasten to add. Jagged was, as will Splinter be, an album of huge grooves and choruses as epic as I can make them, with great chasms between the loud bits and the quiet bits, a very wide dynamic range. Dead Son Rising is more eerie, overall it has less in your face power but far more variation than Jagged.

The Wanted Interview

Last year when The Wanted played Party in the Park they were a band at the very start of their pop career, in fact it was the same day that their debut single went to number 1 in the UK. In the year since the band have embarked on a gruelling schedule including releasing their debut album that went platinum, a UK tour, releasing a book, performed on the X Factor and a host of other shows and are just putting the finishing touches to their second album. When we catch up with what has been called the “best looking boy band around” they have just finished a radio tour and are just about to start rehearsals for T4 on the beach. Max George has a few minutes to talk about the new album and who is the messiest in the band.

Do you ever get any time to yourselves?

No not at the minute, I don’t even know when we have got a day off. We have the new single coming out soon so it’s just really hectic at the minute.

It’s barely been a year since the first single came out, has the success sunk in yet?

No not really, we still feel the same as we did a year ago like. It still feels like it’s the start and that we have a long way to go yet. I don’t think we really have got that far, we don’t feel any different and don’t feel like super stars or anything like that, we just want to keep going and be the best that we possibly can.

You were put together through an open audition, how was that experience?

 It was all right. We all got on at the auditions and that took nine months, over that time we got to know each other so by the time us five were picked we were all getting on anyway. We got pushed straight in a house and we got on fine straight away. We are best mates.

Bright Eyes at Leeds O2 Academy - 13th July 2011

It’s been 3 years since Coner Oberst lasted toured in the UK under the moniker of Bright Eyes, the longest running of his several collaborations. There have been rumours that Bright Eyes is being retired, but there isn’t a hint of staleness from the performers tonight. It’s not easy to pinpoint a suitable genre; country intonations come from pedal steel guitar, folk reflections with an accordion and heavy electric guitars and ethereal keyboards give the music a rock edge and darkness. On the louder songs, drums beat out the same rhythm as the heart when it experiences anxiety, on the stripped back tracks Obersts voices quivers impeccably and echo’s like a lie. 

The pulsating lights give fleeting images of the stage just as the lyrics give you fragmented glimpses of Oberst psyche. He has been compared to Neil Young for his poetic style, they are both storytellers, letting the lyrics paint the picture and using the instrumentation as decoration. Anger often fuelled by hypocrisy, is counterbalanced with a child like love for the beauty in life. Oberst celebrates the differences in people not the similarities in songs that urge you to be yourself.

Oberst moves around the stage awkwardly, his arms create angular shapes making him look as if he is a puppet with an angry master pulling the strings. His movements are in complete contrast to his attitude, which is anything but conformist. The stage bares no glistening props and Oberst looks like you have just disturbed him at home. He doesn’t talk much throughout the set but lets him emotions unravel through his lyrics. Not only is the gig a display of superb musicianship but also a glimpse of a songwriter that doesn’t correspond to what is expected of him. 


Printed in Yorkshire Evening Post 

Warpaint Interview

Warpaint is an all-girl quartet hailing from Los Angeles, with music encapsulating elements of experiment rock, laden with hypnotic vocals, intricate melodies and accomplished guitars. After several years dazzling audiences the band are getting the recognition they deserve and will be cropping up all over the festival scene in the summer after the successful release of their album ‘The Fool’ in 2010. I spoke to Theresa Wayman (vocals and guitars) to find out about her experiences in a band that are currently making the music scene take notice.  

For those people who haven't heard any of Warpaint’s music how do you describe it to people?

It's a party of quirky, melodic, groovy, roll and rock and everyone is invited!

How did the band meet?

Meeting the girls of Warpaint was a breath of fresh air...we had all recently moved to LA and as you can imagine there are many people here that are difficult to relate to...LA has a strong Barbie culture.  So anyway, we were immediately drawn to each other.  We all played music individually so it only seemed natural to try playing together. It turned out we all approached music similarly...in an organic, let's see what comes out naturally without preconceptions kind of way. From the first time we played together it was on!

Where does the name Warpaint come from?

 It's the spirit of our music...seemed the only thing to call ourselves. 

Brother Interview

New band ‘Brothers’ have barely had time to take in all the great reception they have been getting from the media, they have been described as “the future of music” and “saviours of rock’n’roll” before they have even realised their debut album. In little under a year they have gone from playing one of their very first gigs at Slough train station to playing Glastonbury and supporting Morrissey. When I get to catch up with them they are rehearsing for their new tour and enjoying the glorious weather but lead singer Leonard Newell takes some time to talk about their incredible year.

How did the band get together?

We have known each other for about five or six years. We started playing in local bands when we were kids and we got together about two years ago. We decided that the only way we were going to make anything of ourselves and get out of Slough was to start a band. We got together and we rented out an apartment for a couple of years and I wrote these songs. About 8 months ago we put our songs online and Zane Lowe put them on the radio and we got signed within two months of us really existing, which was pretty exciting.

We have been in bands our whole lives, we have been in local bands touring for five or six years and once they had sort of finished we started this one and it happened relatively quickly, I like to think we put in the ground work.

What was it like playing at Slough Train Station?

It was one of the first things we did with the band so it was more of a statement of us and how we are and how we wanted to do things are way and play no matter what. It was quite nerve wracking and it was a bit different. I enjoyed it though it’s basically like Hollywood.

Right Said Fred Interview

Forget what you think you know about Right Said Fred, they are not just shirt stripping, bulging muscle exposing, pop tune touting brothers. Bursting onto the music scene in 1991 with the legendary ‘I’m Too Sexy’ which reached number 1 in 32 countries, earned them the first of 2 Ivor Novello awards and made them the first UK artist since the Beatles to reach number 1 in the US with a debut single. They have gone on to sell 4 million records, played

all over the world and have just released their 8^th studio album. Ahead of their UK tour we talk to the Lead singer Richard Fairbrass to find out about the person behind the public persona.

What should people expect from the latest album ‘Stop the World’?

I think it’s more in keeping with the very first album it’s got more of an English sound to it than some of the stuff we have done previously.

What’s the tour like?

For the tour we are doing an acoustic show but we didn’t just want to do a plug in and play sort of thing. In the last couple of years we have got a new manger and we have been telling him stories. One evening he said why not do an acoustic show but tell some of the stories that are funny. It’s more like an audience with, but on the road. It’s very different to what we have done before.

Is there as much taking your shirts off?

No we did a lot of that in Europe between 2001 to 2008, but the image of the band was very party driven, very glossy and body driven. We were doing some really big festivals and that was part of what we were doing. I think we were beginning to get tired of the same routine and wanted to try something different. This show that we are currently doing wouldn’t work abroad, it’s very language driven so it has to be in a language that’s understood or we would have to learn all these different languages, by the time I had learnt all these languages I would be dead. Plus in an acoustic show it’s just not fitting to ponce about in a skin tight t-shirt, we have dressed it down, it’s classical us.

Katy B Interview

Katy B has just finished supporting Tinie Tempah on his tour when I get to catch up with her. As she sits on her sofa relaxing she talks about her experiences at Brit school, her up and coming tour starting on 29^th April and her long awaited debut album ‘On a Mission’ which was released on 4^th April.

How was it supporting Tinie Tepah?

It was so much fun, he is such a nice guy and I sung a song with him ‘let go’ off his album. I just learnt a lot, it gave me a lot of experience of what it means to go on tour.

You have collaborated with Magnetic Man and Ms. Dynamite, who else would you like to work with?

I have been saying in a lot of interviews that I would love to work with Cee Lo Green, he’s cool.

How did the album come about?

I just started singing on anything I could get my hands on. If someone needed backing vocals, I would do it. If someone needed someone to sing on one of their tunes, I would do it. I sung on one of my friend’s brother’s tunes and it started getting played on pirate (radio). Once I did that tune and people heard me I started doing PA’s and stuff and I did other tunes with other producers and those tunes got played on Rinse FM. They approached me to do an album where they were going to get all the producers from Rinse FM on it. Their DJ’s are all producers so they wanted to make this compilation album and I was going to sing across all the tunes to link them together as they were all different genres but in the end it turned into the Katy B album.

Clare Maguire Interview

For Clare Maguire music was always her dream, her calling. She wrote her first song at the age of seven, at the age of twenty she signed to Universal Music and her debut album ‘Light After Dark’ was released in February. In between all that she has partied with Kayne West, met with Rick Ruben and been cited by BBC and MTV as one to watch for 2011.

You seem like a really driven person was there ever a time when you thought you wouldn’t make it in music?

Not at all, I am a very driven, positive person and very obsessive about music. It was never about wanting to be extraordinarily successful or anything I just wanted to make music and I never thought for one minute that couldn’t happen because I think if you want to do something then you can do it.

Was there anything you had to give up in order to pursue your dream?

I had to be away from family and friends, I suppose I had to give up a certain life to try and pursue another.

Do you think it is important to be London for a music career?

I think there is more room now for people not to have to be in London because of the Internet. People can make a success of themselves with Youtube, Myspace, Facebook and Twitter so it’s not that essential anymore to move to London.

Glasvegas Interview

Scottish rock band Glasvegas are just starting a European tour promoting their second album Euphoric /// Heartbreak \\\. I wanted to find out what it was really like for a rock band on tour, so spoke to bassist Paul Donoghue to find out.

What the best thing about touring?

That’s such a hard question as there are so many good things about it. Getting to travel around the world, we are lucky enough that what we do for a living takes us around the globe. There was a time two years ago when we did festivals in ten different countries in nine days. You get to see quite a bit of the world, though usually from the window of a tour bus.

New York has always held a place close to my heart. We recorded the first album there and as soon as I got off the plane it was just like everything you see in films. An hour after we arrived we had sore necks as you are constantly looking at skyscrapers. When we went there people were saying we would really hate it because it’s so fake but we actually liked it so I don’t know what that says about us.

Who has got the worst habits on your tour bus?

At the moment Rab keeps beating me at football on the Xbox and he keeps gloating so that’s probably the worst habit. That and I’m apparently quite smelly, I don’t mind that though.

What can’t you live without on a tour bus?

One thing is definitely a laptop, if you don’t have a laptop you are kind of cut off from the rest of the world. We have internet on the bus so we can find out what’s happening with music and watch films. If we didn’t have laptops we would have to talk to one another and nobody would like doing that!

The Unthanks Interview

It’s an exciting time for The Unthanks, a sister folk group from Northumberland. They have just come back from Australia, are about to begin a UK tour and their fourth album ‘Last’ has just been released. If that wasn’t enough to keep them busy Becky, the younger sister, got engaged just before Christmas and Rachel and her husband (Adrian McNally - who plays the piano, drums, is the arranger and manager) are expecting their first child. I spoke to Becky who was jubilant and animated as she talked about her love of folk music and clog dancing.

The band is quite a family affair how does that work?

Ever since we were kids I would never sing without Rachel, I just didn’t see the point and was very shy. I used to go to this summer school where you go for a week and stay in the halls of Durham University. There was always a concert where people would get up and I would make Rachel come especially for that concert to sing with me. I never really wanted to sing because I wanted to show off my voice it was just about us singing together. I think we are really lucky that we work together. My boss is basically my brother in law, when we are on the road and missing home it’s really nice to have that comfort and have that solid unit of having Rachel and Adrian around. I think you also become like a family when you are in a band, you spend so much time together that it either works or it doesn’t and if it does you become a family unit.

Your parents were both singers did that inspire you?

They have always loved to sing, my dad sings in a shanty group as well as other things and my mum sings in choirs. Its not like they have ever done it professionally but they have always just had a love for singing and encouraged us to sing. I think its good for the soul. We have always sung at family parties and on the way to festivals. It has always been something we have loved to do; my parents have definitely influenced us and inspired us.

The Wombats Interview

When I speak to The Wombats Tord Øverland-Knudsen, he is in Liverpool helping to get all the gear ready for the bands run of live shows. The next few months will see the release of their second album ‘This Modern Glitch’, a tour encompassing Europe and Australia and a host of festivals, they just can’t announces which ones yet.

What can people expect from one of your live shows?

It’s quite an energetic live show; it’s going be quite a bit different with the new songs. The first album was quite punk heavy and the songs very guitar driven. With the new songs it is going to be a more synth orientated. We are also working on the visual element. It’s going to be quite impressive to see and listen to.

With the first album doing so well, reaching number 11 in the UK album chart, do you feel any pressure for this album to do better?

I think we have felt a pressure the whole way through, especially from the label early on. We just carried on writing song after song. There is a lot of pressure from ourselves as well as we want to do well. We want this album to do as well as our first record and hopefully better. I think we are onto a winner, hopefully.

Early on in your career did you ever imagine you would have the kind of success you have had with The Wombats?

I come from a little town in Norway and always wanted to be in a band. I was in loads of bands from when I was thirteen. I guess it was always a dream that I would be able to do music full time, but on this sort of scale I had never even dreamed of it. We are really lucky to be doing music on the level we are doing.

Jamie Woon Interview

You might not have heard about Jamie Woon yet but that’s all set to change with the release of his debut album (scheduled for April) and coming forth on the BBC’s sound of 2011 list. Ahead of his latest tour I chatted to him about his inspirations and hopes for the year ahead.

For people that haven’t heard your music before how would you describe it?

I call it R&B because its groove led and it’s inspired by R&B, old and new. It’s quite atmospheric and sort of quite mellow. It’s got a sort of melancholy to it, which just comes from living in England. There are so many genres it could fit into.

What can people expect at one of your live shows?

On this tour I have a four-piece band, to an extent. I’m sort of manipulating my voice with electronics, playing guitar that adds some more textural stuff. There are electronic and organic drums, sort of a hybrid kit, its very clever. Guitar, keyboards, it’s a pretty traditional band set up. It’s all about trying to use those sounds to create more processed sounds and not letting that detract from the connection with the audience. I haven’t really been on the road the last few years so now I have a chance to get in the groove, which I am really looking forward to.

Your mum is a Celtic folk legend (Mae McKenna sung backing vocals for Bjork, Michael Jackson and Kylie Minogue and has appeared on more than 20 number one songs) would you say music is in your blood?

I always liked singing, when I was about 15 I decided to pick up the guitar, I just got really into it then got into music college and that was it, I didn’t really think about anything else after that. I was always encouraged to sing, everyone in my family sings, that’s a big part of my make up and my mum is my biggest influence, she was signing while I was in her stomach.

KT Tunstall Interview

KT Tunstall’s UK tour starts in a matter of days and she is understandably excited. After catching her big break on Later with Jools Holland in 2004, her first album ‘Eye to the Telescope’ went platinum five times over. With her third album released late last year she talked me through her lyric writing style and travelling around the world.

How has your style developed from ‘eye to the telescope’ to ‘tiger suit’?

I think I have got a much healthier relationship with the studio now. I always found it quite difficult to perform when I was recording stuff because it was such a weird environment when there is no audience. I think there is a confidence in my performance when I record that I didn’t have before. I have really developed a taste for experimenting in the studio; the introduction of electronica on the new record was quite a step forward. I think I have all round improved in what I do as I am playing so much. You just develop better skills at what you do. Touring is great because, especially at festivals you see a lot of other acts and get quite inspired by what they are doing and it leads you to discover new music and discover what other people are up to. It’s a real continual learning curve of finding out what turns you on and you can try really.

What is it like to have your husband Luke Bulllen as the drummer in your band and tour together?

I think that if I wasn’t in a relationship with someone that I worked with I would definitely be single. It’s so difficult with what I do I just wouldn’t see him at all as I’m hardly ever in one place. He is fantastic, he is really brilliant, a world-class drummer. I’m just really grateful that he feels he is able to do what he should be doing within my music. He also makes his own music and he’s got a bunch of electronica that he is working on. He is also the musical director of the band so he is really key, a pivotal part of it all working. He can get the band up to speed with the gigs while I go off and promote the records. It’s a real partnership working together and we are just really lucky that the chemistry works. I think there would be a lot more problems not seeing each other than seeing each other too much.

Jim Noir Interview

Jim Noir has been somewhat dormant for a few years, keeping his unique brand of psychedelic pop electronica hidden away under his bowler hat. After releasing Zooper Dooper late last year he is embarking on a tour to see what people make of it. He is effortlessly funny and self-deprecating but during our chat I managed to find out what made him get into music and what he thinks about being labelled an odd ball.

For people out there that haven’t heard you music how would you describe it?

It’s an amalgamation of all the influences I have, all my record collection and everything like 
that. I have never really sat down and decided to sound like anything, I have just let it go where it has wanted to go. I guess it’s pop in a slightly non-pop way.

You started making music at a very young age, being in a band at age 9, has it always 
been what you have wanted to do?

I wouldn’t have called it a band at the time but it’s certainly the start of my interest in music. 
I’ve always liked music and was always into instruments. After leaving secondary school, 
I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I was at a bit of a lost as to what I wanted to do as 
job; I ended up signing up to a college course about sound engineering, learnt how to use the 
equipment and now here I am.

White Lies Interview

White Lies have become a firm favourite in the music scene and over the last few years they have toured with Kings of Leon, Snow Patrol, Coldplay and Muse. There second album ‘Ritual’ has just hit the shelves so I had a chat with drummer Jack Lawrence-Brown to find out what they make of their journey so far.

Your second album was released on Monday, can you tell us a bit about it?

I think the record is essentially a rock record, certainly more than the first. It has a lot more forays into electronic music and touches of electronic music that we have picked up over the last few years since touring the first record which I think was probably more straight forward than this one. It’s been an exciting few days, having to wait so long with it already finished and finally getting to release it was a great feeling as we have been sitting on it for about six months. It makes a difference for the live shows; it makes a difference for ticket sales and all that kind of stuff so it’s good that it’s finally come out.

You have been playing gigs all over the world, where have you had the best reaction?           

The best shows are often the ones were you’re not really expecting much or you don’t really know what to expect. I think we have had amazing shows in Poland, the first time we went there we were blown away. We weren’t really expecting much at all as we had never played there so we were really shocked at the reception over there, the same in Russia. The same with Holland, its one of our biggest markets which is kind of bizarre. I think it’s usually the ones where you’re not really sure what’s going to happen and then if you have a good show you’re much more surprised by it. We could go and play a show tomorrow in Glasgow and we know it would be an amazing show as it’s always an amazing show there. If you’ve never been somewhere and you have no real idea of how its going turn out they tend to be the best ones.

Professor Green Interview

Professor Green has just finished the Blackberry Live and Lost tour and isn’t very well at the moment; he has been stuck down with the sore throat illness that seems to be getting everybody at this time of year. When asked how he is doing rather than moan the Hackney rapper – born Stephen Manderson - simply states: “Yeah it’s not ideal but life must go on.” Considering he nearly died last year after being stabbed in the neck, a sore throat must seem wholly insignificant.

How was the Live and Lost tour?

Strange, I have looked after myself since my mid teens and I have been responsible for myself for an awful long time. To have that taken away from me and to be dependant on others, on people I don’t know was quite odd, I don’t even like asking people I know for things. It was strange but before doing that tour I wasn’t in a good place, I was stressed and there was a lot going round my head. Weirdly, not that it would ever be the type of holiday I would pay to go on, but it almost was like a holiday. I didn’t have the time to think about work or any other stresses, it was just about what I was doing so it actually helped me quite a lot. I met some people that I still keep in touch with now.

It’s been a successful couple of years for you, with ups and downs, what’s been the best moment?

There have been loads; the two last shows I did with Lilly Allen. One where she was supporting Muse at Wembley Stadium and the other was when she came out during my last show at Coco. A lot of this started because of her, when she jumped on the ‘Just be good to green’ track and she took me on tour with her. If you look old footage and the progression in the performance from then till now and peoples awareness of me as well, they were definite high moments. The album going in at number 2 the first single going in at number 3. The festivals I did, all of them; it’s been a really cool time this year.

The Drums Interview

2010 has been an eventful year for The Drums, at the start of the year they were highlighted by NME and Clash magazine as ones to watch. In the summer they were regulars on the festival circuit, playing at Leeds, Reading and Glastonbury as well as embarking on a tour encompassing Europe, America and Japan. I chatted to the extremely polite drummer Connor Hanwick while the band were on their way down to London to play a couple of gigs at the tail end of their mammoth tour.

For anybody who hasn’t heard of the band how do you describe yourselves?

I guess that’s a good question, I don’t know, I probably wouldn’t go around telling people to listen to my own band but I guess we are a pop band. We are a rock and roll band in the traditional sense and we are a pop band in terms of our accessibility.

It’s not really been the ‘in’ thing for a band to come along and say, “we are a pop band” so its quite refreshing for a band to do that.

We certainly don’t try and hide anything, whether or not it’s the cool thing to call yourselves that. While we are making music we certainly aren’t concerned about what the hip thing is right now. We are just writing pop songs, if you listen to our record its very traditional rock and roll, partly in the vain of the Zombies while also being very pop driven.

Athlete at Leeds O2 Academy - 27th Nov 2010

A large black banner hangs on the back of the stage with the graphic for the latest album black swan. The emblem encapsulates the whole of the gigs, simple, well thought-out and extremely effective. Stage props come in the form of huge globe like half lanterns and super watt floodlights that pulsate occasionally to the music. It is a simple stage set up showing the underlying confidence that the band have within themselves. They don’t need fancy props or an elaborate costumes to keep the audiences attention, it is exactly how rock gigs should be: energetic and unadulterated.

Paul Smith Interview

He became the lead singer for Maximo Park after one of the bands girlfriend’s heard him singing in a club, the band ended up being nominated for the Mercury prise and had two of their three albums go double platinum. After ten years and three studio albums Paul Smith is going it alone with his debut album Margins, a European tour and a photographic book entitled ‘Thinking in Pictures’. I caught up with him ahead of his first UK show to discus the tour, the album viewing the world in a magical way.

How’s the tour going?

It’s going really well, we have just come back from mainland Europe and we played 6 shows in Germany, three in Italy, three in Switzerland and Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam. It’s been fun being on tour with a whole bunch of new people and just experiencing it all again, its like starting again in some ways, its been quite exciting doing something that I’m not really used to but you have to challenge yourself at various points in your life and I’m really enjoying this one.

How does doing a solo tour compare to gigging with Maximo Park, does it feel a bit more exposed?

Yeah it does but I think the songs respond to it. The places that I’m playing and the way I am playing the songs are just stripped down, just me and my guitar and it feels appropriate to the songs. I realise that with Maximo Park, when I’m on stage I respond to the songs and because the songs with the band are very energetic and full on, my behaviour and performance was in keeping with that. The songs on Margins, are quite different, so with each one I try and approach it afresh and try and do the song justice to connect with the emotions that are inherent in the song, for me its been more exposed but not in a bad way, it feels like the right thing to do.

Athlete Interview

Black Swan is the fourth album by Athlete and its one that is a "musical summary" of everything the band have been through over the last few years. Having gone back to being an unsigned band, experienced suffering and joy, love and loss, the band have come back philosophical, excited and driven for their latest tour. I spoke to singer and guitarist Joel Pott before they hit the road.

How has the music industry changed for better or worse since you started out?

It's a different world now. There's less money being made. People don't buy records in the same way they used to and even those CDs are £8 when they used to be £15. Now you can download an album for £5. The thing is that you don't really hear loads of musicians complain about it (apart from Lars Ulrich) because the artists and bands never got a good deal from the music industry anyway. Cash flow and financial targets have never inspired a great record or your favorite song. 


Do you agree with giving away your music for free?

I think artists should have the choice whether their music is available for free or not. It would be unfair to take anyone's art or creation without paying what that person wants to charge for it. I do like the way that so many people are giving away free downloads though. I've bought whole albums after downloading a free giveaway song from band or artist. 

The Coral at Leeds O2 Academy - 14th Nov 2010

It’s a damp, dark and dreary night in Leeds but there is still a hub of excitement at the O2 Academy tonight. The Coral are back with their original line up and the crowd are drunk off the anticipation. Cherry Ghost was the main support and they put on an authentic show, full of elation and desolation in equal measures. One member of the audience is fervently trying to spoil it for them with constant heckles but they handle them with the grace of seasoned performers.