Interview with Mark Dolan - Entertainment Newsline

“I’ve got a proper bloomin’ Hollywood smile now; I’m going to have to drink a few cups of black coffee to balance it out!”; As charming as he is funny, Mark Dolan’s effortlessly likeable nature emanates from him as he tells of his earlier dentist appointment.
Talking of how his career got started as a radio producer after working for free at a woman’s radio station, Viva!, it's clear that Mark’s passion for comedy and broadcasting was something deeply set from the start:

“I have always had a passion for people and entertainment is basically a people industry. Your main job is to hopefully, or at least sometimes, to make the audience have a good time when you’re there and that’s just something I’ve always found incredibly alluring.”

“It started as a desire to have an audience. I’ve always been drawn to a crowd and even though I was also quite a shy child, which is ironic, but also perhaps the reason that people become performers. Sort of a strange mixture of an appetite for attention mixed with shyness, I think is often a formula that leads to a performer.”

Sticking at comedy whilst earning a living from producing, Mark soon made the final of Channel Four’s ‘So You Think You’re Funny?’ at Edinburgh Festival. Being praised by the show’s experienced judges not only helped eradicate some of Mark’s humble uncertainty of his talent, but also was a platform for his long-running relationship with the channel:

“You know when people say that if you get through the semi final of something and you go to the final – you’ve already won - although it’s corny, I think in my case looking back on it, it was true.

“It was the first time in my life when I allowed myself to consider this as a career option. One of the hardest things about live comedy is that when a gig goes well you think you’re a genius and when a gig goes badly you think you’re the least funny person on the face of the earth…And there’s very little that can dissuade you either way. You’re a sort of emotional pinball in the machine that is the will of the audience.”

With a new sense of purpose, Mark continued gigging on the London circuit and soon was approached by two people from the television industry looking for faces for a new channel, E4. From that, Mark got his big break on a new show called ‘Show Me The Funny. Mark went on to make his name whilst presenting Channel Four’s ‘Balls of Steel’:

"Balls of Steel was a big highlight because it is a show that is so passionately loved by its fans and I get so much feedback from people wanting to to tell me how much they are entertained by it. I’m very impressed by the popular response to it."

Before long, Mark got offered the opportunity to present the new 2008 series ‘The World’s Most...and Me’. The show took him all over the world to find some of the most exceptional record-breakers; ranging from the world’s biggest pet, to the world’s smallest man. Although it was his first documentary series, he couldn’t have been keener to get involved:

“I grabbed it with both hands because it didn’t seem like too much of a leap for me. Although tonally different to a lot of the comedy I do, it still amounts to the same thing -which is people. And I’ve said before, I think comedy is a people business and my documentaries are about people and also still about entertaining the audience, as well as informing them. I really relished the opportunity and I was very enthusiastic about the subject matter.”

Having finished the second series, Mark reflects on what working on such innovative programme has meant for him:

“I think it taught me to be very open minded and less judgemental. I’ve often approached stories with a set of views and had to go back on the plane home, feeling very chasten having judged somebody before having met them, which is obviously what the audience and all human beings do too. One of the challenges of the show was to get out there and have my feelings changed.

“The other thing I’ve learnt is about the fortitude of the human spirit, particularly in the first series. Meeting the tallest women in the world, some of whom are extremely poorly, having severe health issues. Indeed, Sandy Allen, who was the tallest woman in the world, passed away a couple of months after the show was broadcast and she, along with a lot of the other physically extraordinary characters I met, had a wonderful mixture of vulnerability and strength.”

The popular series has meant that Mark has met some of the world’s most extraordinary people and visited some of the world’s most remote and unique places. But this has its pitfalls for the devoted dad of one:

“Being away from the family is the only downside of the job really because I am a very hands on and very attached dad. I’m one of these sort of new men that changes nappies and stuff. But it is very affirming about how much I care for them and sometimes, well just put it this way, I don’t think my wife minds a little bit of space…she doesn’t see to be complaining too hard!

“It’s also a great opportunity for me to assess what kind of parent I am and what I should be aiming for as a parent. Meeting the cleverest children in the world certainly showed me that a child’s intellectual potential is infinite and without wishing, from coming back from meeting Adora Svitak, to suddenly give my son a 12 hour academic day, it was hugely inspiring for me as a dad.”

With the latest series coming to an end earlier this month, Mark isn’t ruling out any more convention-breaking programmes for the future, remaining characteristically open-minded:

“I think if my wife can stand it, I certainly wouldn’t be adverse to a bit more globe trotting because I still think there are some amazing stories out there. Luckily we’re dealing with the human race so we could run forever frankly. I’m also looking to continue more live comedy. I’ve got a weekly residency at a comedy club in Soho on Saturdays and looking to expand that and hopefully do a solo show next year.”

Mark's innate ability to make people laugh and make people feel instantly comfortable is no doubt something that has driven his success and is a factor that means an exciting future for one of Britain's most loved funny men and broadcasters.

Voluntary Butler Scheme Interview - Noize Makes Enemies

“I was at a social gathering the other day and a guy I don't know was there - he'd come straight from work and he had dust all over his clothes and kept talking about sanding wood – I felt jealous for the first time in ages!! So I'm starting to think I'd like to do something with wood if the music looks grim...”

Swittching from tunes to timber? No, perhaps not your normal choice of career path, but Rob Jones is not exactly your generic music artist. Describing his music as “a zesty, slightly under-bombastic, ooh-that-sounds-a-bit-like-the-old-days-but-newer kind of pop”, his natural laid back approach to what he does and eccentric tendencies are a refreshing change to the standardized musical packages that the industry churns out with the aim to just make money. Something that is reiterated by Rob releasing his last EP, The Vol-Au-Vent EP, as a free download:

“I remember on this day thinking - right, I’m gonna write four mini tunes today on my lunch break and record them after work tomorrow night and just give it away. So it was intentional and quite liberating to be so flippant about finishing them. I think you can't take writing too seriously - and sometimes it gets dead serious in your head and you have to slap that out of you by doing something that's not precious. But then that stuff ends up being the precious stuff.”

And precious it seems to be, with The Voluntary Butler Scheme’s new single being hailed as Q website’s Track of the Day. ‘Multiplayer’ is out early March and incorporates typically quirky lyrics like ‘I’m gonna get my hair cut, even if I have to cut it myself.” Rob explains his inspiration:

“ I wanted to write a tune that sounded a bit like a 70's Nick Lowe thing, mixed with Saturday night fever and modern Kylie - but with my shitty voice singing evasive love lyrics - and I think I got there.“

Rob’s humble take on his musical capability may because his one-man-band is only a year old. After being unintentionally spotted last year on his MySpace page, and then asked to do a gig in West Midlands, the wheels of the Voluntary Butler Scheme were set into motion;

“I had some tunes on MySpace under the VBS name - with no intention of doing much, but I got asked to do a gig in Birmingham through the MySpace. I sherked it for ages, but decided to do it cause it was local. I'd never sang in public before and I didn't invite anyone. There were about 12 people there, I only had 6 songs and I was 'headlining'. I came away from the gig thinking 'I enjoyed singing, but I think all my songs might be shit?' So for weeks I wrote intensively trying to write some tunes I'd be proud of singing...the rest is history...but I doubt it'll ever be in a history book? Or taught in history lessons at schools…?”

And once it all kicked off, 2008 had plenty of exciting points for Rob:

“It was amazing! It was my first year of doing this and I got to do some amazing things. Highlights were defo touring with Duke Special, doing a session on the Dermot O’Leary show, BBC Maida Vale session, Marc Riley session, getting asked to support James on their Isle Of Wight warm-up show as personal request from the bass player, making a video, getting a bit of airplay out my first single, playing the Lattitude festival...loads!”

Whilst inspired by the likes of Granddaddy, Flaming Lips and Slade, the ever-relaxed Rob has no plans to follow in their footsteps and form a band:

“I really struggle with taking it too seriously. The thing I most enjoy about doing it on my own is - if I don't feel like doing it, I just don't. If I haven't got any ideas I like I just don't record. But when you're in bands it all gets a bit 'Right, we'll record some new stuff on Sunday' and I don't think I can write like that.”

Yet, Rob does have some plans for a change in direction for the future:

“I defo wanna do something more collaborative at some point. I've been getting some remixes in of 'Tabasco Sole' which is the next single. One has some amazing semi-rapping on - and that made think how much I'd love to do something colourful and beatsy with some rap on. But I don't wanna rap so it'll have to be a more collaborative thing. I'm jealous of all the hip hop sounds! I wanna work with whoever's hogging the hip hop sounds - I'm starting to sound like Elton John over here without you!”

Whilst his hip hop leanings may be a while off (…not to mention Rob’s potential carpentry career!) with an upcoming tour with Brakes in April and the new single out in March – the immediate future is looking quite exciting for the Voluntary Butler Scheme, even if Rob is characteristically humble about it:

“I was a really really ambitious 20 year old! I'm a slightly less ambitious and slightly more beaten down 23 year old now - but i have still have a positive streak keeping me going. In ten years I’d still like to be in contact with music - even if it's just hip hop at weekends you know.”

Single Review - Sky Larkin - Beeline - Noize Makes Enemies

As Katie Harkin’s vocals, reminiscent of Ida Maria meets Bjork, burst through your speakers at the start of ‘Beeline’, over guitars that make it impossible for your body not to react, it is clear that Sky Larkin are onto a winning formula.

Made up of two men and one girl, the Leeds three-piece has attributes similar to their label mates Those Dancing Days and Los Campensinos! with their charismatic female lead vocalist, simplified lyrics and demanding guitar chords.

The new single ‘Beeline’ embodies all the above characteristics and is the perfect taster for what their new album ‘The Golden Spike’, out Monday 9th February, has to offer. But squeezing into the already populated female Indie niche - bustling with the likes of Lykelli and Florence and The Machine - will be the biggest test for Sky Larkin as Harkin’s striking similarity to the likes of Ida Maria and the band’s rather nostalgic structure will have a lot to compete with.

Yet touring in SXSW around Texas in March and having already appeared with bands as renowned as Broken Social Scene, the Northern lovelies seem to already have a lot of the fight that they’re going to need in them.

Album Review - Spencer McGarry Season - Episode 1 - Noize Makes Enemies

Spencer McGarry Season is a Welsh trio with a rather different approach to music. Infused with a sort of amateur dramatics and in the same way that a stage school child can be spotted a mile off - doing star jumps and striving for attention - Spencer McGarry’s background in theatrics prevails in his band’s music, and indeed with their innovative style to creating music.

‘Episode 1’ is exactly what it says on the tin, the first episode of a six part series of albums from the three-piece, all with a different inspiration and theme. Their re-released new album pays homage to all of McGarry’s favourite Rock bands from the 1960s,1970s and 1980s. McGarry’s fundamental influences from these eras including The Who, Talking Heads and The Kinks are effortlessly portrayed in each guitar chord sequence and throughout the twelve tracks.

Hailed unofficially by Wales Online as the best album of the week, the band’s maturity and somewhat Hard Fi –esque social awareness, with lines like /I thought about saving but it never rains/ and /Success is always measured by stress/ You know my body loves stress/ will always appeal to audiences who find the words that they fail to articulate in the band’s lyrics.

Whilst the album is unlikely to stir up a musical frenzy with its seen-before style lacking any real current relevance to the music industry, Spencer McGarry Season’s top secret and innovative Star Wars-inspired approach to album production makes them one to watch throughout 2009.

EP Review - Sunny Day Sets Fire - Adrenaline - Noize Makes Enemies

After hearing that they chose their name from an internet band name generator, any hopes that Sunny Day Sets Fire would be something innovative and different to pin your lugholes back for may have been dashed. Yet, what’s in a name? Not a lot it would appear, as you delve deeper into the bands biography and music.

Like a poster child for greater ethnic diversity, the band bring together four different countries; Canada, Hong Kong, Italy and the UK, but the result is not a confused and over-compensated-for sound, instead, this multi-cultural angle appears to add depth to their musical style.

Their EP, released Monday, a fortnight before their debut UK album ‘Summer Place’, has qualities of bands such as Those Dancing Days, with a contagious combination of up-tempo beats, childlike claps and endearingly simplified lyrics in tracks like ‘Adrenaline’ such as /I always walk very fast, if you don’t like it you can rest./

Whilst ‘The Rescue’ and ‘Lack of View’ showcases Onyee’s vocal similarity to Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and the more electro strand to the band’s variety, the tracks fail to conjure a trademark sound that often a new band need in order to render a sturdy fanbase. Yet, hard to judge a band on three tracks and a remix, this is something the band’s debut album could further demonstrate, particularly as the band’s talent; playing around seven instruments between them, is not in dispute.

Watching bands develop and find a sound that categorically embodies what they’re about is often one of the best things about finding new music, so if you’re into eclectic bands or those aforementioned, keep an eye out for the Sunny Day Sets Fire debut album at the end of the month as their EP ‘Adrenaline’ shows the band’s deep-rooted capability and potential.

Album Review - Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion - Noize Makes Enemies

/If I could leave my body for the night…/ Step into the world of Animal Collective. A sort of psychedelic mammal mishmash that conjures images of an Alice In Wonderland inspired paradise. The eleven tracks of their new album engulf and transfer the listener into a refreshingly different place in a way that makes it hard to step back into reality.

The four-piece, all school friends hailing from Baltimore, are as innovative and unique as their take on music. Their adopted pseudonyms; Geologist, Panda Bear, Avey Tare and Deakin (or Brian, Noah, David and Josh..) connote that, much like the likes of Florence Welsh, the band really live and breathe this fantasy noise rock haven – as oppose to it being some fickle and cynical marketing ploy.

The album is the band’s fourth release since 2000 and typically unconventionally, each track may have been made of any combination of the four members. Tracks like ‘ My Girls’, first release from the album, and ‘In the Flowers’ stand out, with their trademark style- as with most of the album - sounding like the endearing vocals and electro persuasions of bands like Hot Chip and MGMT, had they been remixed by dark electronica songwriter Leila.

With tracks about lions in comas and lyrics like /I’m getting lost in your curls/ the bands experimental take on electro and bubble of creativity is difficult not to be intoxicated by. Similarly, Merriweather Post Pavilion’s description as ‘Best Album of 2009’ from many critics, whilst seemingly premature as we’re only one month in to the New Year, seems well deserved.

As Animal Collective embark on an intense tour across the US, UK and Europe from the end of February right up to headlining New York’s All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival in September, their unusual whirlwind world will no doubt bring a welcomed dose of unreality to the rest of us.