/I don’t want to cry my whole life through/I want to do some laughing too/
Got your attention? This is the innate attention grabbing nature of Girls, the San Fransisco duo who are as eye-catching as there are lyrically poignant. Looking not too dissimilar to an American alternative of David Walliams and Matt Lucas, had they of entered some sort of surreal charity shopping and hair backcombing phase.
Yet, Girls are inarguably very talented.
With their debut single “Hellhole Ratrace” crying out to listeners for some TLC and revealing the very human reluctance to get stuck in the monotony of a predictable life, Girls reach out to listeners and reveal a sort of vulnerability that is unavoidably endearing. Whilst, at just under seven minutes in length, the track does lean to the more self-indulgent and unneccessarily long, the ecentric nature of the band in many ways makes it seem more of a showpiece for their creativity rather than evidence of an inability to know when to shut up.
Sounding not unlike the new work of The Horrors with the similarities to Faris’ vocals, entwined with the sort of psychedelic noise rock that The Pixies enhanced endlessly, Girls appear to be the ballsy type of different that should be welcomed with open arms.
Touring with Los Campesinos! and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart throughout the Summer, keep an ear out for their debut LP later this year as if it’s as versatile and complex as this single; 2010 looks set to be a very exciting year for the eclectic duo and their fans.
It’s a sort of understated instrumental frenzy that combines a violin, a mandolin, a glock, a sax, a trumpet, a banjo alongside, of course, the conventional instruments in a way which immediately emulates the drama and beauty of the likes of Arcade Fire and leaves the listener with no misunderstanding about how truly talented the five-piece really are.
This, underpinned with Swedish frontman Simon Balthazar’s vocals sounding like a more sedate and peaceful Win Butler (of Arcade Fire) as he cries out /Why cant they just think like us?/ in a way that is refreshingly simple yet profound. The innate beauty of Balthazar’s delicate vocals are the perfect addition to Cathy Lucas’ faultless violin playing and the lyrics which echo such honesty and a dark rawness that is reminiscent of the likes of Cold War Kids or The Maccabees.
With a headlining tour in June and having already played at SXSW and The Great Escape, Fanfarlo have already began building up a solid fanbase since forming in 2006, no doubt all equally mesmerised by the enchanting layered production of their music.
Fanfarlo has the intoxicating ability to use their charming vocals, precise lyrics and talented instrumental formation to enter the listener and accommodate their desire to be distracted and escape from reality for forty minutes; something that friends of Fanfarlo, the spine-chilling Sigur Ros and Canadian talents, Wintersleep, are similarly renowned for.
Whether it’s the Swedish romanticism, or the natural and low key dramatics, Fanfarlo have an innate beauty that is almost guaranteed to sweep you off your feet with tracks like ‘Comet’ and “Drowning Man”. Step into Fanfarlo’s world, it’s entirely worth it.
Twenty-year-old Matt Abbott makes up one half of the Motown influenced spoken word duo, Skint and Demoralised, and despite his newly acquired acclaim and whirlwind two months – Abbott’s young feet seem pretty firmly fixed to the ground.
For those of you who haven’t heard of Skint and Demoralised (that’s anyone who works during Edith Boman’s daily Radio One stint), Matt Abbott was fresh from the monotony of education in his hometown of Wakefield, Yorkshire, when he started looking to poetry as a way of finding his footing in a dog-eat-dog music industry (“I’m not a singer and I cant play an instrument so I didn’t have any natural path music”)but before long he found his platform alongside producer MiNI dOG:
“I was really inspired by John Cooper Clarke who used to do spoken word before bands like The Fall and The Sex Pistols. I always loved words and language but as a teenager it’s not cool to say you like poetry so I started doing spoken word in pubs and clubs.
“It was just an excuse not to do college work really but I would record it on my mobile and then upload them onto MySpace so people could hear them. Then someone got in touch with me about putting my poetry over music tracks and I thought it’d be a bit of a novelty and agreed. Within a month we had five songs, without even having met, but when we did, we just clicked and after two years, we’re still trying!”
And the trying appears to be paying off with new single ‘Red Lipstick’ out 13th July and already earning the duo a place at some of the most prestigious music festivals around the country over the next few months. Their debut is a three minute ode to the girl next door revealing Abbott’s college penchant for more down to earth girls who apparently like no more than ‘red lipstick, fish and chips, orange juice and trips to the sea-side.’
Whilst this fresh pop track will likely win them some criticism from more ‘serious’ Indie-meets-spoken word fans when compared to the likes of The Streets and Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Matt’s words plummet to further depths than the quirky debut would perhaps lead you to believe; with one poem specifically targeting the errors of the BNP, warranting him a place on stage at Love Music Hate Racism:
“The racism issue has always been important to me and obviously the BNP were elected in Yorkshire and I’m a Yorkshire lad so hopefully I’ve put that point out there. Love Music Hate Racism is important and a good cause because kids don’t listen to politicians and need younger people. Racism is a social and moral issue. I can’t change the world but if I can help, I will do.”
Barely out of his teens, Matt seems to have had quite a impact with his profound words establishing him a firm following, something demonstrated with Skint and Demoralised playing their first headline tour in February earlier this year and all their plans to help them pass the time throughout the usually dubious weather of the English Summer:
We’re doing Bestival, Reading Festival, Wireless, Latitude and now Glastonbury and we’ve got the release of ‘Red Lipstick’. We’ve also got another single coming out in September, a tour around then and then the album will be out 15th October. We’re just taking it one step at a time though. We don’t want to disappear after one single and an album.”
Hopes are also high for their debut album, fusing a sort of 60s soul with Matt’s Mike Skinner-esque observations and his innate balls to be different and veer away from the mainstream:
“Our music is largely inspired by Motown and Northern Soul but we didn’t want to do an Amy Winehouse rip off but we used her band to get that real authentic sound and not a sort of Mark Ronson soul-by-numbers.
“Although a lot of people, like John McClure in Reverend and the Makers, don’t put their spoken word stuff on their albums - we’ve done spoken word interludes on the album. Not like Eminem, but like spoken word with sound affects. It’s a bit weird…but we quite like that it’s a bit strange because it shows people what it is that we do.”
As the interview with Matt comes to an end, three things resound; (1) he chats faster than I thought was humanly possible when his bubbly nature and excitement for his career take over his speech, (2) He does do mainstream, caving to Twitter (and confessing that he is ‘a bit sad’ and does all his updates in rhyme) and (3) Skint and Demoralised are really quite a refreshing addition to the music scene and clearly loving every minute.
As charming and she is enchanting, Soviet born, Regina Spektor, is back with her fifth album “Far”, and true to form, it’s spine-chillingly beautiful.
Throughout the sixteen tracks, Regina characteristically playfully, but precisely, exudes all the words you wish you could have been the first person to articulate, if you’d have realised you felt it. She also maintains her balance of maturity, approaching issues of God and family life, but combining it with a sort of endearing naivety as she effortlessly breaks down even the most complex of emotions into a simplified, often tongue-in-cheek, lyric.
Regina’s classical influences that include the likes of Mozart and Chopin, combine with a plethora of seemingly separate genres from hip hop to jazz, to create the perfect foundation for the new album. Tracks like ‘Folding Chair’ demonstrate Regina’s prowess as a pianist as lyrics like / “I’ve got a perfect body because my eyelashes catch my sweat, yes they do/ playfully bounce along staccato piano chords. That is, before she shows off her trademark quirkiness bursting into an impromptu dolphin impression
Whilst, as with ‘Begin to Hope’ in comparison to it’s predecessor ‘Soviet Kitch’, Regina’s new album demonstrates a more produced and polished finish than her initial fans are perhaps used to. Yet, when the end product still conjures the goose bumps we come to expect of Regina’s beautiful voice juxtaposed by her Bronx twang and storybook-like lyrics that echo her influence on successors such as Kate Nash, it becomes hard to fault.
Forget what the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl tell us every Christmas, the fairytale in New York is Regina Spektor, and it’s bloody good to have her back.
“Last night I got struck by lightening/ While I was trying to swim” From the very first line of the Nottingham five-piece’s debut album, the automatic spine chills that become rather commonplace as the album progresses, are teased through the listener. Enhanced with John Sampson’s gentle vocals sounding like a darker Jack Steadman (of Bombay Bicycle Club) amidst the beautiful eeriness of the likes of The Postal Service; that is, before the first track erupts into a less impressive and more basic style of rock/electronica that also appears to characterise the album.
Yet, to the band’s credit, SWIMMInG don’t combine the two genres in the same way that bands like Head Automatica do so in a bid to reach out to the popular mainstream. Their penchant for the dark static ambience that lies like a shadow over the album’s nine tracks, quite effortlessly exudes the bands influences that include Sonic Youth, Animal Collective and Pixies.
Releasing ‘The Fireflow Trade’ on their own record label, Colourschool, in many ways the band’s album showcases its own innovative brand of post-rock noise that rivals the likes of Do Say Make Think. However, with at times rather monotonous lyrics, which includes 16 consecutive repetitions of the line /Set ablaze a fire/ in the final track and a collage of uninspiring drones, in other ways the album appears to lack the charm and subtly that the opening 30 seconds emptily promises.
However, as a debut album, SWIMMInG has seemingly established a sort of variety throughout the tracks that serves as a platform to show their diverse capabilities and, as with all debuts, will provide an unprecedented opportunity for them to grow as a band and perhaps establish a more certain sound.
”It was the first time I slept in my own bed since last July and I woke up at like 7 in the morning, I looked around and I was like “Where the fuck am I?!” I didn’t have any idea and it took a few minutes and then I was like ‘Oh fuck, I’m home! Oh, alright.”
After nine months on the road that has propelled them all around the world, it is hardly surprising that the travelling circus that The Airborne Toxic Event have become has left lead singer and guitarist, Mikel Jollett, more disorientated than an insomniac on a Ferris Wheel.
The bands whirlwind existence was perhaps paved by its formation and the romantically alternative way that Mikel turned to music. With his DNA undoubtedly laced with an innate creativity, Jollett began with dreams of being a writer. With his dedication to achieve his ambition set in stone, it wasn’t until an unfortunate turn of fate that led Mikel to find escapism and solace within music and song-writing: “I’d been kind of locked in a room for five years just reading and writing and I never had anywhere to be. Like, ever. I would go a week or two without seeing another person. My gas had been turned off most the year and I had to do all this weird shit to try and afford groceries. I hadn’t paid taxes in like 7 years, I defaulted on my student loan, my credit was shot to hell and I just didn’t care.
“I was just writing all the time and I suddenly picked up a guitar, I had no ambition to be a musician, I just wanted to be a writer. I started playing music, I think almost just cause I couldn’t write for a while. I’d gone through some shit and it was hard to concentrate, so I would just play guitar every day and one day became a week, and one week became a month, and a month became a year. And I’d taken this year out to write a novel and after about a year id written about 100 songs, but only about 1500 words of the novel. So at that point I was like ‘Well I guess I’d better form a band, it’s all I’m ever gonna do.’”
This dark time that forced Mikel to re-evaluate his passions (the news that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer and that Jollett himself had developed two genetic diseases) appears to have almost honed his talent for writing lyrics that speak the words you’d wanted to say but had not known how to articulate.
And it seems to have paid off; the band’s new album came out early this year and has already received prestigious reviews from some of the most renowned music press. Yet the album, largely inspired by a bad break up and ex-novelist Mikel’s love of all things erudite, is as genuine and close to the bone as the thirteen tracks of refreshingly un-self indulgent rock would lead you to believe: “A lot of the stuff I was thinking about was stuff I guess I learnt as a writer. I think if you’re any kind of writer, your job is to write stuff that is unpopular but is true - whereas a politician’s job is to say things that are popular but untrue. So for me, I kinda got off on saying things from the perspective of what was actually real or what was actually true. ‘Cause I’d always felt relieved reading about that. I’d actually feel relief when I was reading Phillip Roth or something, and be like ‘Wow look how depraved this is’ it made me feel like ‘Oh good, it’s not just me.’
So having toured all over the world (“We’re like a group of gypsies or something. We just write songs, travel around and play them.”), The Airborne Toxic Event are beginning to taste the rewards of their hard work, particularly over the last year. This is something truly embodied by the difference in experiences at 2008’s SXSW, to this year’s:
“Last year [at SXSW] we played a few shows, I think we were what was called a ‘buzz band’, you know like a lot of industry people with their fucking arms crossed watching from the back of the room, trying to figure out whether or not they should write about us. With the press, I think for us in particular they didn’t really understand us at first because every band is supposed to be trying to do a ‘thing’ and there’s just no fucking irony in our band. ”This year, we played in a place that held about 500 and they turned away 1500 people. The show was crazy, loud and fun; we were up dancing on the bar and jumping around. I stole some vodka and I was pouring people drinks and stuff during the show. After the show I saw the bouncer in the hallway and he had his head in his lap, and I was like ‘You alright, man?’ and he was like ‘That was the worst fucking show I’ve ever worked in my whole life!’ So yeah, it was pretty different from last year.”
Having taken their name from a section of ‘White Noise’, a Don Delillo novel, it was clear from the outset that The Airborne Toxic Event were not just another band. They personify a refreshing sort of 60’s ethos to rock and roll, not one that has become so self indulgent and refined by skinny jeans, a side parting and wearing your little brothers t-shirts. They appear to have a depth that in many ways set them apart from a lot of modern-day alternative bands and without a doubt, echoes the reality that they are destined for great things. “It’s definitely fun to play shows and it’s good that people kinda know who we are. But we haven’t really done anything yet….”
London-based, Fanfarlo, are as charming as they are musically creative. A combination that is impossible not to melt for, as their musical delights alleviate any previous priorities.
The quirky five-piece embody all the understated dramatics of a British Arcade Fire, chucking in drums & percussion, a violin, a mandolin, a glock, a sax, a bass, a guitar, a trumpet, oh and a banjo. All for good measure.
This, alongside the way that lead singer, Amo’s vocals creep into the hearts of the listener as he pleads /Don’t be cross about it/ allows Amo to distract you from what you thought was important and passively demand your attention, bearing much similarity to that of Orlando Weeks (of The Maccabees).
The bands first single release “Drowning Man”/ “Sand and Ice” embody all the previous descriptions which are perfectly complimented by Fanfarlo’s choice of instruments, with Cathy’s violin expertise seeming to carry the listener to somewhere different; something the afore mentioned Arcade Fire, and band friends, Sigur Ros, have down to a fine art.
Fanfarlo look set for success with a UK tour in June, including a number of festivals, to seal the deal.
Pigeon-holing itself as “ambient soul”, SpeckMountain consists of Karl Briedrick and Marie-Claire Balabanian, who have also enlisted the help of an array of other musicians for their second album.
The layering of such a variety of polished and mood-affecting instrumentals mixed with an almost psychedelic overtone, conjures associations with the likes of a mellow, slightly pissed off, Animal Collective. This teamed with an overwhelming sense of sombreness and Marie-Claire’s vocals similarity to Lali Puna and Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, adds an even deeper element of blues.
The solemn mood to the album seems to smother the eleven tracks as they progress over the course of forty minutes. This is undoubtedly the result of the emotional place that the band were at the time of recording, with both Marie-Claire and Karl using the opportunity as a sort of cathartic output of self expression. Admittedly this can work, but unlike the enchantingly chill of Bon Iver productions, the chokehold of moroseness appears to stifle all the necessary charm needed to make the album similarly endearing.
Whilst, the musical talent of the duo and the flawless vocals of Marie-Claire are undisputable, the relevance in today’s music scene may be too populated to recognise such subtleties and indeed, ambience.
Telegraphs are a five-piece from Brighton. Yes, another one. But despite emerging from the sea-side town that appears to distribute an inordinate amount of music scene hopefuls from its Lanes, Telegraphs are dead-set on making a different noise. And a very loud one.
The band formed in late 2005, with their album ‘We Were Ghosts’ out later this month. The Rock/Emo style hybrid laces the bands debut, with their influences of Billy Talent and Biffy Clyro, noticeable not only in terms of intoxicating guitar riffs that pulsate through the listener, but also in Darcy Harrison’s vocals which emulate Ben Kowalewicz (of Billy Talent) meets Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazzara.
The angst and passion felt in lyrics like /How could you know, I could be so, I could be so cold?/ is forced in way that derives from genuine feeling and difficult experiences. None more difficult than the break-up of a relationship, let alone between two of the band’s founding members. Much like the work of The Subways’ Billy Lunn and Charlotte Hooper, the inevitable agony that derives from the final days of being together, was what Darcy Harrison and fiery bassist Hattie Williams transformed into the relatable intensity of the band’s debut album. It is fair to say the turbulence has even enhanced “We Were Ghosts” with Darcy’s chants of /Tell me what’s so good about goodbye/ Give it up son/ She’s gone/, making it nigh on impossible not to be drawn in by the refreshingly truthful vulnerability of Telegraphs.
Whilst at times, the album does lean into a borderline self-indulgence, the genres the eleven tracks find themselves edged into no doubt forgive, and at times even embrace this. It would perhaps be unexpected for Telegraphs to reach the level of their Brighton peers The Maccabees, but with a strong fan-base forming behind them and a wide range of live gigs to go this Summer, the future looks set to steer Telegraphs along similar paths of success.
It’s the tour that all ‘original’ fans begin to dread. The tour that fans fear will see the set list become inaudible because of some screaming nineteen-year old in the crowd behind them shouting the only lyric she knows. It’s the tour where tickets sell out faster than they’ve known because of the success of ‘that song’.
‘That song’ is of course, ‘I’m Yours’, and in the same way that Radio One’s repetition of ‘Sex on Fire’ left Kings of Leon’s long-standing fans feeling like a wife who’s husband suddenly starts getting a lot of female attention, Mraz’s fans seem to mourn the days of intimate gigs when he was their best kept secret.
Yet in Hammersmith, on this uncharacteristically pleasant Sunday evening in April, his audience, both new and long-standing, seem as ready to fall in love with him as ever as Jason starts off his ninety minute set with ‘Song for a Friend’ and intoxicatingly cheerful ‘Dynamo of Volition’.
Amongst a crowd of Jason-inspired-hat toting males, all of course craftily tilted to the side, the atmosphere exudes such adoration for Mraz that the walls seem to bow, or perhaps that’s the floor as a result of the full capacity of the standing area now involved in a mass dance routine to ‘Mary Jane’, choreographed by Jason himself with the hope it’ll continue on London’s streets after the Apollo’s doors have closed.
As soulful as he is charming, Mraz brings on support act, the adorable Norwegian, Marit Larson, to sing with him on ‘Lucky’ before a simplistic and beautiful rendition of ‘Beautiful Mess’ that sees even the audience members who had seemed more interested in watching the gig through the lens of their camera, stop in their tracks.
Jason’s super-band, Sensatious, elevate his second night in Hammersmith to the next level, quite literally during the brass solo of ‘Live High’ which sees the brass section serenade the standing audience from the seated area under spotlight. It is exactly moments like this that demonstrate Mraz’s effortless showmanship and embody what makes Jason so endearing to his his fans.
Bringing the show to a close with ‘Im Yours’, causing as much hysteria as suspected but ever-keen to accommodate for his devoted fans, Jason removes any monotony by turning it into a medley with ‘3 Little Birds’ and ‘Every Little Ending’, to compliment his number one hit. Mraz’s appreciation of his fans is a massively welcomed attribute and something of a seemingly dying out quality in modern music. It is also something further exemplified by the fact that the set list for Sunday’s sold out show is completely different to his previous night in the same venue.
Consequential to the audience’s relentless chanting, on returning to the stage for a four song encore, the band show off their instrumental prowess and the good mood radiates from the stage to the audience and back again. Typically light hearted and tongue-in-cheek, Jason treats his very bewildered but completely impressed audience to a soprano solo during ‘Mr Curiosity’, before ‘Tonight, Not Again’, ‘No Stopping Us’ and ‘Buh Buh Bye (You’ve Got It All)’.
Whilst the secret of Jason Mraz might be out to the possessive regret of some of his long-time fans, the world, or at least Hammersmith on this Sunday night, is undoubtedly a much better place for it.
Welsh or Greek. Whatever her origins, Marina and the Diamonds is the latest in a host of female fronted Indie outfits that are fearlessly infiltrating the alternative music scene and being greeted with much excitement.
Marina, the one-woman band, could have been the implausible love child of Florence Welsh and Kate Bush with her intoxicating vocal prowess and eccentric musical structure.
Obsessions, her debut single, is a three minute ode to the intensity of being in love with someone who is as temperamental as they are bad for you. Lyrics like /Wont you quit your crying I can’t sleep/ one minute I’m little sweetheart and next minute you are an absolute creep/ make lyrical comparisons to the likes of Kate Nash unavoidable as her “realness” makes her similarly endearing.
With her hopes already set on America and MTV Awards, the 23 year old is refreshingly open about her ambitions and determination. This self belief teamed with the topicality and relevance that Marina exudes, means that as with her label mates, Passion Pit, 2009 looks set to be an exciting year for our new favourite female songstress.
/I sit around in my pyjamas/ Eating pear drops and stringing up conkers/ And if I want to feel something I stick pencils up my nose/ I just want to change the world in whatever little way that I can/ With lyrics like this, The Boy Least Likely To seem to be the men most likely to melt the hearts of Indie scenesters all over the country, with their second album release entitled ‘The Law of the Playground’.
Combining instrumentals that are reminiscent of the likes of Badly Drawn Boy had the beanie-toting band had all the endearing zest for life and upbeat ethos’ of The Beatles. Whilst far from as classic as the latter, their chirpy melodies and cheerful harmonies make summertime toe-tapping an unavoidable inevitability of the band’s newest album.
Combining pop, indie and folk, the two-piece consisting of Jof Owen and Pete Hobbs, have endured a pretty bumpy ride to before the release of this thirteen-track treat. With it initially due out in the summer, Owen and Hobbs took their finished album to their record label last year, only to find it was no longer in existence. The band then spent the next few months writing new songs and tweaking their album before its release early this month.
The result; an album with more real depth and emotion than may have prevailed, had the band not hit such walls along the way. Having already toured with Razorlight, fans of the likes of The Shins and afore mentioned should definitely step into the world of The Boy Least Likely To, it looks set to get rather crowded.
Don’t let the adjective fool you, Bonnie Prince Billy really isn’t very bonnie, but he is pretty bloody good. Infusing folk, country and rock, Will Oldham, the mastermind behind the outfit, brings his established fan base a fourth album.
The album mirrors an array of emotions that don’t always translate into vocabulary as easily for the rest of us as they seem to for Oldham, something that is no doubt a result of an innate talent and years of musical experience.
Traditional country tracks such as “Beware Your Only Friend” emulate provocative lyrics like /Watch out for these empty thoughts/ that’s where the seeds of soul sucking grows/ in a way that interrupts and penetrates the listener’s deepest thoughts.
Similarly, tracks like “There is Something I Have to Say” have a more unique blues style and in turn make Bonnie Prince Billy’s heart felt lyrical pleas pluck at the heart strings of anyone who has ever had their heart broken. This combination makes a rather niche genre accessible and refreshingly enjoyable for a more extensive audience.
Though, throughout the course of the thirteen tracks, the average non-country music fan may start to find the tales of loss and depravation a tad draining, Oldham’s musical ability is far from disputable.
Admittedly, Bonnie Prince Billy’s new album will not be the next must-have for fans of mainsteam Ting Tings and whatever else is deemed ‘alternative’ this month, but a refreshing step back from computer-manipulated music and encouraging the broadening of musical tastes is far from a bad thing and something that Oldham effortlessly advocates.
“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.
“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.”
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.
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.
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.
/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.
Starting off with a list of apparent joke-fuelled ambitions may not be the usual progression into success for a band, but from the minute you hear; “She dances like she’s got her feet in her brain/ She dances like she might never again” followed by a sporadic and chaotic guitar riff, it’s clear Pete and The Pirates are no ordinary band. “When we first started we had this sort of five step plan. The first was to play a gig and I think the second was to play a gig in London. The third was to get signed and the fourth step was to play at Reading festival because we’re all from Reading; but those were kind of just jokes. And we’ve obviously done those now. The fifth was to play at Wembley…but that’s a joke too. We just want to make a really good new album that everyone likes.”
The normally tambourine toting, Tom Saunders, vocalist from Pete and The Pirates, is refreshingly humble and chilled out in a way that quick fame and recognition can often destroy; something paradoxically personified by Razorlight’s Johnny Borrell.
But following an epic 2008, his feet remain firmly fixed to his Reading roots, having realised a dream and passion he’s had from the very start; “I’ve always been hitting things and making noise. I’ve never wanted to do anything else. And we all sort of knew each other because we lived close so we started working together. But we all have really different influences. If someone asks us when we’re together, we all just start talking over each other. We all like Sonic Youth and Pavement. A massive influence for me is David Bowie. Not just in terms of song-writing but also just in terms of the standard that I set for myself. Does that make sense? You can re-write this in a way that makes sense!”
Explaining a lot of the band’s eclectic and jangling trademark sound, Tom’s modesty and effortlessly down-to-earth nature is unavoidably endearing. It also, in many ways, along with their talent, reinforces why Pete and The Pirates have such an excitably loyal fanbase. With their debut album, Little Death, released early last year receiving mixed reviews from music journalists, the band went on to play Bestival, Reading and Leeds Festival, demonstrating their unquestionable musical prowess.
“2008 was pretty amazing. Summer was a massive highlight. Tell any band that they’re going to spend the three months going and playing at festivals and they’re gonna love it. At Bestival we were told we wouldn’t be able to play because of the weather. We were gutted so we drowned our sorrows but then found out we could play after all. We were pretty drunk but it was amazing.”
Having seen in the New Year headlining at Camden’s trendy KOKO, the perfect end to an amazing year and the high benchmark for the band in 2009 has well and truly been established: “We were a bit worried because we had all drank a lot but it was great. A surprisingly good way to spend New Years Eve – everyone loved it. I don’t have any new years’ resolutions though. I have very little will power so a while ago I made a resolution not to make any more resolutions.”
But for a band that in have already fulfilled four of their wildest ambitions, with a new album on the way and their new single, Jennifer, out this week, what does the new year have in store for the four Berkshire boys?
“We’re locked in a room at the moment, choosing what songs to put on the new album which is out sometime this year. We want it to make it as good as ‘Little Death’…and better.”
Whatever happens, 2009, for Pete and the Pirates, seems deservedly occupied with an abundance of success, more fulfilled ambitions, festivals and seemingly inevitably…a lot more alcohol - at least if 2008 is anything to go by.
