NOIZEMAKESENEMIES.CO.UK

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW // WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS

2009-06-29T21:57:00.001+01:00

After meeting at high school in Edinburgh with a collective interest in contemporary indie music, four young bairns by the name of Adam Thompson (guitar/vocals), Sean Smith (bass), Michael Palmer (guitar) and Darren Lackie (drums) started We Were Promised Jetpacks – Fat Cat Records’ latest acquisition from the ever-burgeoning Scottish music scene.
On one of the finest days Glasgow has witnessed in 2009, I was joined by three-quarters of WWPJ in Adam, Sean and Michael. Rather than sitting in the sun kissed Botanic Gardens only five minutes walk away, we descended on the bands local, which also happened to be the West End’s finest old person’s pub, fully equipped with horse racing on the big screen.

After three-quarters of the band relocated to Glasgow for university, WWPJ began to tear the roofs from many of Glasgow’s finest little venues, slowly developing a hype that has landed the band where they stand now – on the cusp of a debut album release and a UK headlining tour to boot. WWPJ can now sit gleefully on Fat Cat’s increasingly impressive repertoire of Scottish talent (alongside friends Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad), albeit only following some friendly tip-offs and record label patience in abundance.

We Were Promised Jetpacks have a sound oh-so recognisable and is heavily influenced by a range of music dating back to bands youth. Debut album These Four Walls underpins the bands influence of late nineties Britpop, combined with the style of granduesque musicianship familiar with Mogwai and modern indie markers such as The Futureheads and Bloc Party. For an album recorded in just eight days, These Four Walls is undoubtedly something to be proud of, and looks sure to propel the band to greater heights. Recorded with Ken Thomas (Sigur Ros, David Bowie), the band conceded that the initial response to Thomas’s mixes was rather sceptical, which led to Peter Katis (Interpol, Frightened Rabbit), a close associate of Fat Cat, taking the reigns.

The concept of the debut album and the necessity to ‘nail it or else’, was something that was trailing through the inexperienced minds of the band, although they insist that the end product has been wholly worth it. “The recording of the album was both relaxing and stressful,” explains Adam. “The whole time we were there I was convinced that this was our one chance to get our first album right, and sometimes I felt we hadn’t prepared enough. Now we just can’t wait to go record the second album”

Not many bands are fortunate enough to find themselves in the position that We Were Promised Jetpacks ended up in, mainly due to the patience and commitment of Fat Cat Records. “When the deal with Fat Cat came up in April 2008, our drummer was in Germany studying for five months,” explains Adam. “The label wanted to see us live before we could go ahead with anything, which of course was impossible for a few months. We asked if it would be possible to hold it off and finish university, which the label was totally fine with.” The hype that began to develop about the band following the discussions with Fat Cat, as Sean explains, was possibly the bands best period in terms of generating a fan base. “When everybody heard about the Fat Cat thing, they couldn’t actually see us live for months,” he said. “We built up this snow-ball effect type following without really having to do any work whatsoever. It was odd, yet possibly our most successful period!”

Additionally, there are not many bands that, having yet to release any material at all, would get the chance to perform at SXSW (South by South-West Festival) in Austin, Texas with fellow Scots Primal Scream and Glasvegas, as well as a gig at New York’s infamous Bowery Ballroom. Having received praising reviews from publications such as The Fly and Vanity Fair, the band admitted that they often had to question whether everything was genuinely happening. “When I was standing tuning my guitar in New York, the thought of ‘what the hell are we doing here?’ hit me pretty hard,” explains Adam. “We had never released anything and we were playing this lovely big venue in New York. It was crazy.”

Prior to the discussions with Fat Cat and the recording of These Four Walls, the band developed a admiration and friendship with Scottish label counterparts Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad. Being two highly successful bands, WWPJ may find themselves often being compared to their labelmates, although this is something that they insist does not worry them. “People who say that we are a rip-off of these two bands don’t actually realise that we were listening to their music long before Fat Cat ever became involved,” says Adam. “Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad were major influences long before any of this happened. I honestly would not compare our sound to either of them.” Sean added: “Because we have so much personal respect for the two bands, had we to put an album out on any other label at any other time, we would have been aspiring to make it as good as them.”

These Four Walls is available to buy now on Fat Cat Records.

By Andrew Burns

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW // FRAZER KING: DRUNK AND (NOT SO) INCAPABLE

2009-06-11T23:02:00.002+01:00

I’ve often thought that inebriation is as much a state of mind as it is a physical affliction. Of course there is undeniable evidence that excess consumption of alcohol directly affects movement, speech, memory and common sense, but how often do you find yourself sobering up when another one of your drunken companions falls into trouble?
Or what about those among us who can pretend to be sober even though we’re 8 pints gone? (Thus tricking your parents, who are giving you a lift home, that all you drank was coke all evening). It’s all about channeling the excess into something else, mind over matter and all that. Like David Blaine freezing himself in a block of ice for three days, he channeled all that excess cold into, um, not feeling cold.

But anyway, I hope you understand my point - and none more so is all of this evident than in the music industry. There are some really, really drunk bands out there, but who also make really great music and perform unforgettable (for all the right reasons) live shows. They channel all that overindulgence into making something really amazing. Iggy Pop, off the top of my head, was probably really drunk when he performed with The Stooges that first time he decided to roll around in broken glass and stage dive. Amy Winehouse, although having as many bad drunk performances as she has good ones, is also someone who has channeled excess into genius. The Gallagher brothers have probably performed gigs they don’t even remember doing and have had them heralded a triumph.

And so it was on the weekend of 29-31 May that I witnessed this phenomenon in all its beery, sweaty, foul-mouthed glory. Unsigned Manchester band Frazer King were playing a set on the Doghouse Promotions stage at Wychwood Festival, and it was like nothing I’d ever seen or heard before. The band consists of six members, all of whom sing and contribute a vocal part in some form or another. Singer/guitarist Nathan McIlroy has the most distinctive Mancurian vocal - a sort of fine gravelly wail that is contrasted dramatically with other front-man Jack Mahoney’s dirty blues growl - the dirtiest in fact this side of what would be created if Northern England relocated to New Orleans. Co-front man Tony Boardman and backing vocalist/drummer Jack Hardiker complete the main harmonic lineup, accompanied by a frenzied array of noise that is manipulated into a skippy mix of folk, country, skiffle, blues and rock n’ roll indie. Followed by a large vodka chaser.

Today’s performance was no exception - mercilessly driven by what seemed like four nights worth of consumption, they shuffled around the stage producing the most amazing musical spectacle. Singer Nathan, between songs, was warbling incoherently at the audience in a broad Manchester dialect, while during, threw himself at the front row, attempted some sort of pole-dance with part of the tent rigging, and at the end fell off the back of the stage in a most spectacular arrangement of limbs. He returned a few minutes later, apparently unhurt, to rapturous applause from the crowd – only to thank us by mooning.
But this was no one off – in an interview with the Manchester Evening News, journalist David Sue describes them as having “a natural mindset of 3am inebriation, about to sink their twelfth Guinness… and an appetite for self-destructive alcoholism”.

But today, instead of sounding like an absolute shambles, vomiting and passing out on stage, it was actually a very well put together, cogent sounding set – despite the big mish-mash of influences, it all came together remarkably well.

At the end of their gig I managed to grab a few words with who I thought looked one of the most sober out of the band, but according to this, apparently not. Jack Mahoney (the one with the dirty bluesy vocal) was standing at the side of stage having what looked like a very sensible conversation with two others. However, as I got closer, his words began to be more audibly slurred and his standing position not so stable. This was going to be interesting…

Noize: So tell me a bit about your band, where are you from and how did you get together?

Jack: Unfortunately we’re from Manchester, the desolate musical landscape that that is. It’s full of people who either want to be Tom Waits or… err… Oasis. Thing is, the Tom Waits people really believe that they are!

Noize: And what do you want to be?

Jack: What do I wanna be? (There’s a long pause as he looks up to wonder, his eyes noticeable rolling to the back of his head.) Happy mostly… I don’t care much.

Noize: Are you playing any more festivals or gigs over the summer?

Jack: I don’t know anything (long pause)… I don’t know why I’m here! They lured me into the band with a can of Stella. Apparently that’s the way I was born. The doctor lured me out of my mother’s vagina with some chocolates.

Noize: … So not beer?

Jack: (Ignores what I’ve just said) Apparently I just popped right out!

Noize: Wow (stunned silence).

Jack: … I burnt my thumb with a cigarette (shows me his thumb and looks forlorn). It wasn’t my fault though, it was that knobhead who fell off the back of the stage!

Noize: He spilt his beer over you as well.

Jack: I know… I spilt my beer all over the DI box, but ssshhh…!

At this point I thought it was time to say our goodbyes and leave it at that. He shook my hand and looked at me as though I’d just walked up to him. “We’re usually better and less pissed!” he finally slurred out as his departing comment.

In short, I cannot recommend this band enough - if you ever get the chance to see them live please do. Their myspace is www.myspace.com/frazerking where you can listen to their tracks. There’s not much talk of a demo or EP at the moment because their agent left them for another artist (or so I could decipher from part of the above interview), so they really need a strong fan base to lift them into the exposure they deserve. And if beer be the fuel of greatness, then drink on.*

*NB not applicable in all cases.

By Josie Allchin

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW // TAWNY OWL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY

2009-05-21T22:09:00.003+01:00

Tawny Owl And The Birds Of Prey are a delightfully eerie alt-pop outfit from Norwich. Mixing genres and drawing influences from genres and musical movements spanning decades, the band offer a diverse and eclectic range of harmonies and technical chord structures that are commercially appealing enough to project the bands talent across a wide field without jeopardizing the bands dark underground credibility.
Jack began as a solo artist performing under the stage name Tawny Owl, but the recent decision to take on a band (The Birds Of Prey) has resulted in the outfit you hear today. Speaking to Jack you really get a feel of his intelligence and the marvel behind the obvious technical ability that went into producing the music becomes apparent.

NOIZE: Describe your sound.

TAWNY OWL: Thurston forms a band backed by The Funk Brothers but with Norwich teenagers instead of music Gods. We like pop music and really loud guitars. Lots of close three / four part harmony and strange harmonies, creepy sounds, feedback, and Phil Spector produced songs.

NOIZE: What inspires you as an artist when it comes to song writing?

TAWNY OWL: I take a lot of influence from books. I read a lot and I think that filters through into our song writing. Some of my lyrics are paraphrased ideas from what other people have said, and lyrically I like my song structures to be a kind of slide show of ideas and images that come together to represent something. Wow pretentious. My background as a musician also has something to do with it, I tend towards cluster chords and complicated lines, but I really love 60s pop and that is a definite influence. I think the 60s pop thing is probably my biggest inspiration for writing music, a lot of it is so sad lyrically but so upbeat. Like that first song by Phil Spector - To Know Him Is To Love Him, it’s this beautiful ballad but the title takes its name from Spector’s Dad’s grave inscription. And lines like “Everyone says there’ll come a day / When I’ll walk alongside of him” are just amazingly sad when thought of in context. It’s easy to just go aww cute pop song but it’s so dark.

I also feel drawn to scary things. I love horror movies and creepy Victorian waltzes. Halloween is definitely my favourite holiday, spooky Xmas right? I definitely elicit a response from the listener on some level and shock, suspense and surprise are my preferred techniques. That doesn’t mean I’m going to be up on stage doing an Iggy Pop but I definitely like to keep the listener guessing.

Finally the Tawny Owl thing is a real aid to my song writing. I’m a pretty normal person really. I’m quite boring so writing as a different person is my liberation. I can say, paradoxically, what I really feel and what I mean in a way I might find interesting and hope that others will be interested too.

NOIZE: How did the band come together? How did you meet?

TAWNY OWL: I was doing solo stuff around Norwich and I decided to form a band. I’d just gotten noticed by team Milkbar and kind of wanted to broaden my palette a bit. Drums were a big thing. I basically got Alex Carson very early on; he runs Barefeet Records and does his own thing. He went about snapping up Lucy Burns from Francis and Louis, Lydia Walker who he knew to be a talented singer, guitarist, violinist and songwriter in her own right. After that we worked through some drummers including Fab from the Kabeedies until we found Hector who also plays for Magpied. His tightness from Magpied was allowed to run free a little bit in our more fluid and improvisational songs. Finally, and just recently, we recruited Sam Hill who does an incredible solo ambient project. We were looking for someone who could do bass and laptop / synth but not indie synth and the way he uses his mandolin is kind of exactly what we had in mind. The addition of bass is pretty handy too.

Basically we were all just musicians and everybody still had their solo or other group stuff still going on but we were liked playing together and worked well as a band, we’re all very much looking forward to a few weeks’ intense rehearsals.

NOIZE: You originally started as a solo artist what made you want to take on a band?

TAWNY OWL: Well like I said I wanted to extend the sound a bit more, I started doing this with a laptop but I wanted lots of live drums. I really like some very drum heavy albums like Liars Drums Not Dead and the stuff by Boredoms. Also I was trying to do harmonies with pitch shifters and stuff and it sounded absolutely crazy when all I really wanted was a couple of female vocalists. More musicians just meant that songs were given a bit more breathing room. Also being in a band is so much more fun than being a solo artist.

NOIZE: Congratulations on signing to Milkbar. How did this come about? Are you happy about the way things are going so far?

TAWNY OWL: It’s been great! I get on with Lewis and Jake and all the other bands. More people have heard of us, we play more gigs and we got some stellar recordings down with Jeremy Warmsley. It’s also a bit of a community feel. I DJ for the Milkbar club night and run House of Dolls with Lewis, Jake and my friend Joe. The entire bands club together, we come to each others shows and like one another’s music. Well I hope they like my music, I like theirs at any rate. I’m gutted that Cold Hands are on hiatus at the moment but Lunaire are a definite must see. Incredible live band. This year, since January, has been one of the best times of my life, it’s kind of weird cause of all my friends are in bands or involved in music in some way so my social life and band life are really one and the same. Pretty sweet.

NOIZE: Double A side Ghost Writer / Cinema is out in June. Could you tell us a bit about this? Talk us through the production of the single.

TAWNY OWL: We spent four days in London with Jeremy Warmsley who had seen us at the Arts Centre in Norwich when he opened the Milkbar label. I guess he was impressed with our show because he offered to work with us on our single. We kind of leapt at Jeremy’s offer and in March of this year cut the tracks. It was recorded at House of Strange and in Jeremy’s house. House of Strange has been the studio at which a lot of our favourites have been recorded, people like Emmy the Great and Noah and the Whale. We sound very different to those bands but we were really psyched to be there. On a personal level it was so fulfilling to watch these songs get recorded because they’ve been with me so long, been through so many permutations and so on. I’ve nearly killed off Tawny Owl a couple of times but getting a decent recording done felt like the perfect justification for sticking with it in spite of the number of shitty gigs I played solo or the self doubt I feel when writing music.

The actual recording process was really fun, really hectic and quite a bonding experience. I found out Alex spends like twenty minutes a day on his hair, him and Hector were like the pimps of Covent Garden, never have I seen women flock to the two in Norwich. Apart from Hector. I think he has the lynx effect. Lydia was like the one take wonder, she nailed it every time. And Lucy as ever, was there to calm me down when I got stressed or pissed off. She’s pretty good at helping me not smoke to keep the old voice box in working order. It was fun and we’re really happy with the results.

NOIZE: Are there any artists / bands / producers you would really love to work with?

TAWNY OWL: Christ so many. Hmm. Phil Spector definitely. I’d love to work with people like Diplo or Bangladesh as I love their music but don’t write that kind of thing at all. It would be interesting to see how it came out. I would love to work with Clipse or JME or Bun B but I can’t really see it happening some how. Also hip hop indie cross over is generally shit but we could make something good. Maybe. In Norwich there are people I’d love to work with, Check Out Girls and Mat Riviere spring to mind. I think I’m playing trumpet for Francis and Louis and Alex Carson’s next recordings and I’m psyched about that. I definitely would like to work with someone who does a lot of electronic stuff. Burial, Four Tet, The Knife… These are all dream people it’s hardly like I have them on speed dial. Also other dream people to work with are Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Thurston Moore and Animal Collective.

I’d like to collaborate with writers too. I’d like to nab Phillip Roth; Ghost Writer is very much inspired by his book of the same name. And Cormac McCarthy, we could do like this badass dessert surf shit but really creepy and he could read like the opening to All The Pretty Horses, it would be incredible. Again this almost certainly won’t happen. Or a poet like John Cooper Clarke or someone like Simon Armitage.

NOIZE: Going by your gig listing you don’t seem to be touring much is there a reason for this and are there any plans to get out there in the future?

TAWNY OWL: We were all at school / uni right now. As soon as exam time is out of the way we’re going to be playing lots more gigs luckily it coincides with single release time. So all is good.

NOIZE: What has been the best show you’ve played so far and why?

TAWNY OWL: There’s been a few crackers. I really enjoyed a gig for Something Good which was in a scout hut in Norwich. Lots of my favourite bands were there like the aforementioned Check Out Girls, plus the Balky Mule from Fat Cat records played. It was organized by my friend Grace of the Middle Ones and it was a really nice chilled out spring day. Lots of ice cold beer and good vibes and I thought we played well, also all morning before we played the whole band were round my house with some friends. Everyone was hung over as a wolverine and we just sat with a few hair of the dog beers watching trashy b movies squished on the sofa, I think we watched this awesome Troma movie called Class of Nuke Em High. Its soooooo good. We ran through some songs and stuff. Lewis from the label was sick in my bathroom. It was such a good day.

Some of the Milkbar gigs stand out too. The first one with Warmsley at the Arts Centre in Norwich was fun, that was the first one we played as a band and we were all pretty nervous but the audience were really receptive. There was one we played at the Marquee we played in Norwich too. Alex was ill and couldn’t make it and I was like smashing my guitar against the amp and stuff. It was one of those really scrappy, aggressive gigs where nothing goes too wrong.

I really like playing in Norwich, you tend to know like half of the audience and everyone else is in a band too, it’s a cool environment.

NOIZE: And the worst?

TAWNY OWL: Hmm some of my acoustic were pretty shocking. There was one in a really horrible bar in Norwich which I won’t name because I think its run by Russian mafiosos or something. It was fucking crazy. I was in one of those open acoustic showcase things and everyone rambling through Dylan and Oasis covers. I get on and my music is a bit strange sometimes, so I’m sat convulsing and screaming and thrashing the shit out of my guitar and some guy starts heckling me and I can’t hear him cause I’m all in a jazz trance and have my eyes closed and everything. Anyway so he’s like “Oi gay boy get off the fucking stage you poncy cunt” and all this, and my friend Fuchsia, who is a bona fide badass rolls up to this guy and goes “fuck off” and smashes the pint out of his hand covering him in beer. Now he’s about to smack her in the face but realises she’s a hot girl, he faces a moral conundrum, should he hit her and be damned or should he do something not entirely wrong in every sense of the word? I stop playing cause I can hear there’s this massive commotion by the bar and everybody’s screaming and pushing and some of the people are right in some of the other people’s faces and it’s all about to kick off. Fuchsia just walks out of the pub unscathed, however some of our friends are there and this one lad Josh, who is pissed as arseholes, sidles up to the bloke and is like “yeah?” This guy is some kind of sixth foot four mother fucker with like skins tattooed on his forehead and HATE and shit all on his knuckles, he has a tattoo of two tears coming from his eye. He is clearly not someone to fuck with. Anyway, my boy Joe rolls in and is all like “alright everybody chill the fuck out” they nip outside and Joe starts handing out cigarettes. I quietly walk off stage into a now entirely empty pub. Some other weird shit happened that night too but it’s a really really long story, involving pro plus, the police and a man unable to urinate.

NOIZE: Any regrets so far?

TAWNY OWL: I smashed a really nice on stage once. Wish I hadn’t.

NOIZE: What are your plans for the future? Album, touring etc…

TAWNY OWL: Well it depends really. I’m going to keep that under my hat for now. Suffice to say I’ll be playing plenty of gigs this summer.

NOIZE: What are you doing right now?

TAWNY OWL: Right this second? I’m in the library. Tonight I’m going to see a secret gig in Norwich, makes me feel really cool! I have some work and some revision to do and then I’m going to grab some food. Probably a pie.

By David Kendall

www.myspace.com/tawnyowlband

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW // THE AVALON

2009-05-21T21:07:00.002+01:00

The Avalon are a five piece South West technical alt-rock band with underlying hints of post hardcore. Coming across as something like a cross between Thursday and Yourcodenameis:milo, the band throw out a progressive sound with plenty of twisting guitar sections, spiky drums and more vocal harmonies than you can shake a stick at.
For a band that claims not to be “another scene band” I don’t really see anything truly ground breaking here, however, there are plenty of positive points that carry The Avalon through with heaps of credibility and musical talent. With plans to Tour coming up very soon I believe this will truly test the bands Staying power and their ability to appeal to people outside of their home town.

NOIZE: Describe your sound.

THE AVALON: Our sound is hard to describe, a few people have compared us to bands such as Thursday and minus the bear. We usually just describe ourselves as an alternative rock band.

NOIZE: What would you say to people who just see you as another ‘scene’ band?

THE AVALON: I’m hoping that after people hear our tracks or see us live they will see that we aren’t another band trying to fit a certain scene or trend. But at the same time we are trying very hard to make our music appealing to everyone.

NOIZE: Do you think that you are doing anything different as artists when it comes to the scene that the band is a part of?

THE AVALON: We all have such different music tastes that the songs are usually a blend of everything, from bands like bloc party and editors to bands such as flood of red and misery signals, we don’t want to try and write music just to be cool, we would much prefer to write songs we enjoy writing and playing to a smaller audience of people who actually care, rather than a large audience of people who are only there because its cool to be.

NOIZE: How did you all meet? How did the band come together?

THE AVALON: The current line up consists of members of past local bands; anyone from Plymouth may be familiar with Box Socials, Elenor/Fall For Freedom and Aim For Grace. So a few of us met just from gigging with each other, but the original members of The Avalon (me, Carl and Ant) have all been friends for years, and myself and Ant have been writing music together since we were 13.

NOIZE: How did you come up with the band name? Does it mean anything?

THE AVALON: It took us months to think of a name, and for a while we left it hoping that out of the blue it would just come to us, but it didn’t. For a while we were going to settle on The Everlong, but we quickly grew to hate it. The Avalon comes from the name of Anthony Green’s debut album called ‘Avalon’ which he named after a place her recorded. We are all huge fans of the work Anthony Green does with his band Circa Survive and his solo/other projects; it seemed like a good way to go for a name.

NOIZE: Although you are a relatively new band you seem to be sticking to local shows at the minute. Are there any plans to take The Avalon further afield?

THE AVALON: YES! Of course. We have a U.K tour booked for June and are currently working on setting up 2 or 3 more U.K tours with various local bands, slowly but surely we want to try and gain as many fans as possible over the next few years. We are extremely keen on trying to turn the South West into the music scene that Wales has for itself, where all the bands help each other out. If one band makes it, then try and help the rest of the southwest out.

NOIZE: You aren’t signed at the minute. Is signing to a label something that’s on your mind, or are you taking things as they go?

THE AVALON: There are a lot of labels out there now, and it’s a lot easier for bands to get signed with these small Indie labels floating about, the trick is finding one that will work with you and actually project you further. We are much keener on trying to get a booking agent and even a manager before we think about going for a label. We are a very DIY band and unless we find the right label it will be very difficult to work with someone who doesn’t share the same views as us.

NOIZE: What’s the best show you’ve played so far and why?

THE AVALON: we have supported some awesome bands so far such as The Blackout and Exit Ten, and those shows usually have an awesome turn out, but there was a show we played with Brotherhood of the lake at the white rabbit on the 20th of march, which was such a fun show, we opened with a Limp Bizkit cover and our drummer also turned 21 that night so it meant a lot of partying. We also filmed a bunch of crazy antics with Brotherhood of the lake, which was a lot of fun.

NOIZE: What’s the worst?

THE AVALON: A show we were meant to play at The Hippo in March. We were asked to play an extremely last minute show at the local venue, so we decided to help out by popping down and playing as they were a few bands short, we lagged all our equipment down, dragged it all in to the venue for them t turn around and say they didn’t want us to play anymore. Luckily they covered petrol costs, but the staff were rude, and because of it we won’t play there again.

NOIZE: Any regrets so far?

THE AVALON: There aren’t any regrets as such, but it took us a long time to find the right line up, we tried 2 drummers previous to this line up and it just didn’t work out, so our bassist decided to step up and change rolls, he adapted to the drums really quickly and finding a bass player and 2nd guitarist was fairly easy.

NOIZE: What are your plans for the future? Where do you see things going?

THE AVALON: For the moment we are just going to see where things take us, we don’t want to run before we can walk. But we have been talking about doing a debut album in 2010, and maybe attempting to get over to Europe in the summer of that year as well, but for this year its just writing and demoing as much as possible with a few U.K tours to start getting our name around.

NOIZE: What are you doing right now?

THE AVALON: Drinking some of Sainsbury’s finest cranberry and raspberry juice but also writing a whole bunch of new songs which we will be demoing through out the year.

NOIZE: Plug any EP / album / tour you may be working on?

THE AVALON: We will be touring the U.K in June this year, you can check out all our dates on our MySpace page www.myspace.com/TheAvalonUK. We are also going to be compiling an EP with all the Demo’s we have done so far, we are making 100 hand numbered copies and it will feature 4 tracks, that will be available from us for £1 on the tour and anytime afterwards.

By David Kendall

www.myspace.com/theavalonuk

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW // CRAZY ARM

2009-05-10T21:19:00.003+01:00

Formed in 2005 as an amalgamation of The Once Over Twice and Plymouth ska-core legends No Comply, folk fused punk rockers Crazy Arm have finally embarked on their journey to reach the masses after signing to Xtra Mile (Rueben, The Xerts).
Politically charged and passionately driven by their beliefs and world views, the band have really stepped up their game recently with an album due out on June the 8th and a string of live dates to promote it across the country. Talking to Darren Johns (singer/guitarist), you really get a sense of the genuine love he has for what he believes in and the way his frontline insight into a world that most would choose to ignore shapes him as a person as well as an artist. With single Broken By The Wheel out on the 25th May on 7” as well as being digitally released, you are bound to come across the band sooner or later and they are definitely worth checking out.

NOIZE: Your sound is quite unique, how would you describe it?

I hate pigeonholing ourselves but when I’m forced to I usually say that we’re a punk band with bits of outlaw country and late-‘60s rock thrown in for good measure. It all falls a bit short though as there are plenty of other styles floating about when we play. Although we play in folk-style open tunings, we never set out to sound like anything. It’s all rock’n’roll to me.

NOIZE: Could you tell us a little about how the band came together?

I was still singer/guitarist in The Once Over Twice, and Simon [Marsh, drums] and Jon [Dailey, bass] were still in NoComply when we started the band, back in May 2005. We were hanging out together all the time so it made sense to play music together. At first, it was just a casual, but no less enjoyable, thing. When our ‘first’ bands split up a year later, Crazy Arm took on a life of its own, especially with the inclusion of Dan Couling on second guitar and backing vocals. The rest is whisky-fuelled history.

NOIZE: Congratulations on signing with Xtra Mile Recordings. Is there any advice you would give to bands when pursuing a contract?

Thanks. My advice would be to not pursue a contract. Pursue music! Pursue writing the best songs that you can with the right people, regardless of what anyone else thinks! Pursue giving meaning to what you do! And make sure you OWN your own songs. Bands that form with the sole intention of getting signed and being famous are useless. All they’ll ever amount to is a cash cow for someone else’s ambitions. Once you’ve put the work in, labels will appreciate it and eventually come to you. If they don’t, fuck ‘em. Put it out yourself. All you need is a distributor, loads of contacts and serious dedication.

NOIZE: You have your debut single out at the end of the month. Could you tell us a bit about this?

‘Broken By The Wheel’ comes out on 25th May on 7” vinyl through Seven Inch Records, which is a small indie label based in Chepstow. It’s a limited edition run, 500 copies, on coloured vinyl. Xtra Mile are doing the digital side of the release. The song title is a method of medieval torture and is also a term used to describe people who violently oppose change in society; for example, the BNP. The b-side is ‘British Steel’, an old song of ours which sounds a lot different, although it has been a crowd favourite over the years.

NOIZE: As individuals you all have strong political and personal views. Does this contribute to who you are as a band and does it drive you in any way?

It certainly drives me, and it drives the ethos of the band on a day-to-day level. As well as communicating ideas through the songs, we strive to work with people that reflect our ideas, and we channel our beliefs through the band. We do benefit shows whenever we can, especially for groups/individuals who are less likely to achieve popular support; from Palestine Solidarity to anarchist-orientated activists, to organisations that work with asylum seekers and help to dispel the myths surrounding immigration. I’d love to be in a position where we could afford to do a whole benefit tour. On the album sleeve, we’ve published a list of 50 websites of groups/campaigns that we identify with: including anarchist, animal liberation, feminist, anti-war, ecological, refugee and pro-independence struggles.

NOIZE: How do you maintain this without sounding like one of those ‘Rock Against Bush’ clichés?

Well, I certainly prefer those leftist clichés to the reactionary conservative clichés of the Jeremy Clarkson-loving brigade! I’ve been actively involved in radical politics, to a greater or lesser extent, for a quarter of a century so the notion of appearing clichéd, or of following the crowd, just doesn’t wash. There’s a colourful history of revolutionary, grass-roots resistance to corrupt governments, bosses and institutions that stretches back for hundreds and hundreds of years. I’m simply not interested in entering a discourse with critics who really don’t give a shit about anything and just want to justify their own apathy.

NOIZE: Let us know a little about your June tour?

It’s coming on nicely. We’re trying to self-book about 15 dates – currently we have about 10 confirmed. The tour coincides with the album release and we’ll have copies of the single too. So, at last, we’ll have some music that people can actually walk away with. Hopefully we’ll be finishing the tour with a few dates alongside our friends, the awesome Failsafe. We’re still waiting to see what happens.

NOIZE: The album is also released in June. Are you happy with the way it came out?

Very much so. It’s been a long time coming! Unfortunately, we had to scrap recordings we’d done previously at a local studio as we kept outgrowing the songs and writing new ones. So when we had the opportunity to do a session with a friend, Peter Miles, at his new studio in Ashburton, on the edge of Dartmoor, we jumped at it. Pete brought out the best in us in every sense. The sound was amazing, the environment, the energy, the dynamics between us all… and Pete’s vegan cuisine was awesome.

NOIZE: Are there any bands/artists/producers that you would really like to work with?

Obviously there are other producers who’ve made fucking great records but we’d have to like them as people, first and foremost, before committing to anything. I’m much happier when I’m recording in my comfort zone with someone who knows us well and who lives nearby. As for bands, it wouldn’t be very realistic of me to say that we want to do a split album with, say, The Constantines or Fleet Foxes! There are plenty of bands we’d like to tour with which could be achievable, and plenty that we already have. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists and Baroness would be top of the wish-list. Having said that, we went out with Bangers in March and, to be honest, I can’t imagine a nicer band to tour with.

NOIZE: What are your plans for the future as a band? Where do you see things going in the next two years?

All we’ve been talking about really. We want to see how far we can go with this. It’s my last-chance-saloon as far as playing in a rock’n’roll band goes. The other three are in their prime. Well, nearly all of them! In the immediate future: see how well the album and single do. Hopefully it’ll help us to book bigger tours and shows, and get some good support slots. We should be playing some European dates in August too. Longer-term plans are to keep the ball rolling, release more singles and EPs, record another album in a year’s time – we’ve got more than enough songs for it, play on every continent, talk to lots of people and share ideas, raise funds for grass-roots organisations, carpet the walls of the van with fake fur, make mistakes and learn from them. Keep busy, in a nutshell.

NOIZE: Plug your single, album and tour!

Single ‘Broken By The Wheel’ out on Seven Inch Records, 25th May! It rocks!
Album ‘Born To Ruin’ out on Xtra Mile Recordings, 8th June! It rocks some more!

By Dave Kendall

June / album launch tour dates so far:
2nd – Cavern, Exeter with NEW BRUISES
6th – Hobos, Bridgend with A NEW DAY (tbc)
7th – Fawcett Inn, Portsmouth with ASTPAI
9th – Farmhouse, Canterbury with RENTOKILL
11th – King Alfs, Southampton with NEW BRUISES
12th – White Rabbit, Plymouth with FAILSAFE
14th – Prince Albert, Brighton with LEMURIA
16th – Portland Arms, Cambridge
17th – Purple Turtle, London with MISCHIEF BREW
19th – The Xoo Club, Peterborough with LAUGHING IN THE FACE OF
20th – Cricketers, Keighley with SOUNDS OF SWAMI
21st – Packhorse, Leeds with SOUNDS OF SWAMI (tbc)
23rd – Preston with FAILSAFE (tbc)

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW // BROTHERHOOD OF THE LAKE

2009-05-10T21:14:00.002+01:00

Whilst some would question the South West metal scene at the moment, I for one still remain confident in the fact that we have a lot to offer. Despite so many bands popping up like weeds and consisting of floppy black haired fashion core ‘scenesters’, Plymouth’s Brotherhood of the Lake are a true-to-self, no nonsense outfit that have a genuine passion for what they do.
Casting aside the shackles of the current grind/death scene, Brotherhood manage to pull off an intelligent, innovative sound that doesn’t sacrifice talent for gore. Rusty and Grant’s sporadic guitars, Adam’s floor shaking bass lines and Lee’s highly technical drums, are all complimented fully by the raw, passionate and gut wrenching vocals of their lead singer Rob.

Having been thrown in at the deep end very early on supporting Arizona legends The Bled on their tour with Johnny Truant, and since gracing the stage with top metal and hardcore bands such as Misery Signals, Terror, Devil Sold His Soul, Protest the Hero and many more, Brotherhood have certainly taken their experiences on board and learnt every step of the way.

After chopping and changing the line-up recently, BOTL have finally found the perfect mix to bring out the bands full potential. Drawing talent from other heavyweight Plymouth Bands such as Castor:Troy, Youth Gone Wrong and Death of Lola Rose, Brotherhood have laid the foundations on which to build a solid outfit that, in my opinion, is unmovable.

You need only to attend any one of the bands numerous shows across the country to see what I mean here. Whether it is hanging off the ceiling rails or jumping around the stage drenched in sweat, Brotherhood's stage presence is an art that has been mastered, and their skills honed through constant touring and live performance.

Headlining large shows and touring themselves, this is definitely a band that is to be experienced live. Stage presence, technical ability and a genuine appreciation and passion for the music make this band what it is! Fresh back from a headlining tour with Brace For A Fall, BOTL are determined to get their name out there and will stop at nothing to ensure that they are noticed - quite rightly so.

NOIZE: When and how did you all get together?

Russell: I was living in Wiltshire at the time and I was about to move back to Plymouth so I put the feelers out on a Plymouth Music Forum looking for a vocalist and Rob replied. So we basically wrote an entire set over MSN. I wrote and recorded the music in my spare room, sent it down to Rob and he put the vocals on and sent it back for me to mix. When I finally moved down to Plymouth we filled in the gaps in the line up with a couple of guys Rob knew (Robin and James).

NOIZE: Describe your sound.

Russell: Well the idea is to sound like a band in a room not so much a digital sound but more organic. I like to think we are kind of a massively heavy rock band but it’s blatantly metal.

NOIZE: Let’s get to know you all, Give the best and worst points of each band member.

Russell: Rob - We are pretty close being the founder members of the band he's pretty easy going with a really annoying sense of humor. Adam-Mellow chap, completely in love with the old school Black Flag, Vans shoes and Calculator watches! Lee- Loves playing, loves music, Panics a lot, Hairiest arms ever - Awesome dude though. Grant- He's a catch! We've been looking for the right second guitarist since we started we needed someone who could play really well, but not a widdler who over plays everything, a massive knowledge of music in general and we found him! Awesome!

NOIZE: Who is Mr. sensible and the first to bed?

Russell: Lee blatantly he's got his drums in the car and the merch off the wall before we've packed up!

NOIZE: Who is the party animal?

Russell: It’s a Grant/Adam split they take it to a new level!

NOIZE: Best gig so far and why?

Russell: We did one at Maker festival in Cornwall that was Awesome but I think it was Bournemouth Opera House with The Bled and Johnny Truant. We had an awesome night with the Bled drinking and ended up at a Foam Party dancing to techno with them, I've never seen someone laugh as much as James Munoz (vocalist with the bled) Making foam afros on everyone! It ruled

NOIZE: Worst gig or event that your band have been involved in and why?

Russell: We played a festival in Bristol where the promoter put in a lot of work to make it happen and get people in, but it was just one of those things! I think we played to 9 people and a fuse went in my amp? Brilliant!

NOIZE: Why should people check you out?

Russell: Because we mean it! Plain and simple! We want to make the best music we can, not the best music in a genre we can, It happens to be metal be that’s what comes out of us! I know it’s a cliché to say but it’s not about fads and haircuts it’s about the hairs standing up on the back of your neck when you're playing. It's already changing and developing from this EP the new material different and more musical, it’s still monstrously heavy - just in a different way. We want to be around for a while and to do that it needs to have substance not just the guitar stunts and million MPH kick drums!

NOIZE: Who do you most commonly get compared to? Do you agree with the comparisons?

Russell: Olly Mitchell (Johnny Truant) once said Norma Jean\Slayer I'm happy with that. But we don't really get much in the way of comparisons.

NOIZE: Which one of your songs would you want someone to hear first and why?

Russell: "50 Owls in one house" it’s why we put it on the EP first, I think it's got Hooks, melody and a massive outro, Awesome!

NOIZE: You were on tour with The Bled and Johnny Truant as your first tour. Was it intimidating playing with well established bands so early on?

Russell: Yes on that first date in Portsmouth when we loaded the gear in and The Bled were sound checking we we're like "HOLY SHIT! We are out of our depth here!" It was cool with the truants because we we're fiends with them way before the tour, But it turned out that The Bled are the nicest and most down to earth dudes ever so we had a load of beers with them on the first night and we got on like a house on fire so it was all cool from then on, and they made a point of bigging us up every night on stage so that was more than we could ever ask for.

NOIZE: What did you learn and would you like to take these experiences back and do it again as the band you are now?

Russell: We learned that if you are nice and respectful to people you'll get the same back. There’s always bitchiness in any scene and it sucks! I still can't believe people have a problem with other people because they play/like a style of music that they don’t? It's bizarre to me. Everyone has little niggles with music but don't fall out about it! It's not worth it. We wouldn't do anything different though, it ruled!!

NOIZE: Dream venue or festival you’d love to play?

Russell: Vans Warped tour USA, Download, Reading!

NOIZE: How do you keep tour life fresh and fun?

Russell: Really annoying in jokes that only we find funny? But I think that would be the same answer for every band. Oh Gaffa Tape Spa (Basically removing hair with gaffa tape). And 2 Dabs (Bite the top off of a flying saucer and remove the sherbert contents with only 2 dabs of your tongue! (Scooping is frowned upon.)

NOIZE: Dream gig Line-up?

Russell: Mastodon, The Chariot, The Bled, Brotherhood of the lake.

NOIZE: What is your band’s motto or ethos?

Russell: KISF (Keep It Super Friendly) it's the way forward!

NOIZE: What would you like people to say about your band?

Russell: Awesome band, sound a bit different from the norm. Really nice dudes!

NOIZE: What are the best and worst things you’ve heard said about your band?

Russell: One of the reviews recently said "Let Brotherhood of the lake into your life and let them reshape it!" Holy shit that’s mental! But another review said we sounded like "A slowed down Cradle of Filth with a 15 year old singing" Which when I think about it would sound awesome hahaha!

NOIZE: Any message to your fans?

Russell: Come and say hello

NOIZE: What are your next goals as a band?

Russell: Tour and Festivals through the summer, fingers crossed. We are writing at the mo for a full length Album and the plan is to record in November and hopefully get it put out as soon as we can.

NOIZE: Plug your album, EP, tour!

Russell: We are touring in April and May come out and see us and come and say hello!
The EP is in stores now and on iTunes. Go buy it so we can afford to carry on making and recording music for you!

You can buy Brotherhood of the Lake’s debut EP which is released on Glasstone Records in HMV stores across the country, and download tracks on iTunes. Keep a lookout for the excellent split EP with Castor:Troy available alongside official merchandise from all shows.

By Dave Kendall

www.myspace.com/brotherhoodofthelake

NEW NOIZE MAKERS: JESSE QUIN & THE METS – DEMO REVIEW

2009-03-30T16:47:00.001+01:00

Hiding on the peripheries of the recent renaissance that folk music in this county has been enjoying of late is a little known group of London based musicians known as Jesse Quin & The Mets. On paper Mr Quin’s credentials look superb, having previously been a member of both Noah and the Whale and Laura Marling’s band.
Despite this live performances have been few and far between, as well as recorded output it would seem. This CD I have to review features 3 tracks available to download from Rawrip.com (follow the link off their MySpace page) but having had a look there it would seem there is no official release forthcoming just yet.

Jesse Quin & The Mets offer up some delightful soothing folk pop songs. The opening track is a mid tempo ballad complete with gentle string and piano accompaniment. His vocal delivery puts me in mind of a more folky Kings of Leon. Lyrically it may not be the most impressive thing you’ve ever heard, the opening line being a somewhat predictable rhyming couplet along the lines of “Switch on the morning news / Seems like the whole world’s got the blues”, but it’s nonetheless the enjoyable. The second track, The Race starts off slowly, again with more of the same achingly predictable lyrical compositions. However half way through the song really comes alive with female backing chorus and a subtle disco-esque drum beat with a few catchy hand claps thrown in for good measure. To round things off is a nice bit of catchy finger picking guitar along the lines of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly on the final track Sirens in the City.

Overall an enjoyable effort for first batch of recorded material, look out for more to come from this band in the future.

By Adam Tolladay

Rating: 6/10
Format: Demo
Label: Unsigned
www.myspace.com/jessequinandthemets

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW: THE HOT TODDIES

2009-03-17T23:13:00.002Z

Host to a Mediterranean climate, it’s easy to see how Oakland, West-Coast USA influences all-girl troupe The Hot Toddies to be so goddamn happy. In the bleak climates of England, their h-a-p-p-y approach to EVERYTHING seems almost alien, but that doesn’t mean The Toddies won’t manage to win us all round.
You can almost hear the Pacific Ocean lap upon the Californian coast in ‘The Surf Song’; they’re the little sisters The Beach Boys never had, the 60s hipsters forty years later. Better late than never though, and showcasing themselves in support slots with those such as Art Brut, when they finally reach the UK in April you know that all you indie fans with a penchant for “chorus’ so sweet you can lose your teeth to them” will fall head over heels in love. We caught up with The Toddies before they travel over the pond; to chat album, tour and climate…

NOIZE: First off, who's in the group and what do they do within The Toddies?

THT: The Hot Toddies is made up of: Heidi Bodeson (bass, guitar, and vocals), Erin Skidmore (guitar, bass, and vocals), Sylvia Hurtado (drums and some vocals) and Jessica Wright (keyboard, guitar, and some vocals). We are an all-girl indie rock band and we live in Oakland, California.

N: You recently completed your debut album 'Smell The Mitten', how did you find the recording process and the outcome?

THT: Smell the Mitten was great. It was a lot of hard work but of course very satisfying to finish it all. We recorded the drums in a regular studio but finished the rest in our engineer's apartment - which was actually really fun! We got to drink a lot of whiskey and wine and play with his cats in between takes. The vocals were even recorded in a closet that was converted to a recording booth. So yeah, we had a blast! That was over a year ago now and [we] are already working on the next one which should be finished sometime this spring/summer depending on how fast we are.

N: What influences your music? The dee-wop, surf pop of the 60s shines through for me...

THT: Most people definitely notice the "oldies" style of our music, probably because of all the harmonies. Overall though, our influences range from older stuff like the Beatles and the Ramones to newer bands like The Decemberists and Mates of State. In between, each of us have been into pretty much every style of music - punk, metal, classic rock, classical piano, even some country. If it's got harmonies, we've probably sung along at some point!

N: You'll be supporting Art Brut for your Exeter date in Britain, are you fans?

THT: We're REALLY excited to be playing with them! It was totally unexpected and fantastic!

N: What American acts would you suggest for us British readers, and simultaneously, which British artists are you feeling right now?

THT: Some of the bands we really like from the US are good friends of ours: Audrye Sessions from Oakland play beautiful indie rock melodies, Judgement Day is an amazing classical metal trio of drums, cello and violin, and Tea Cozies from Seattle are 3 ladies and one gent who play awesome garage girl rock. Dr. Dog is another recent favourite from the East Coast that has killer harmonies. We're super excited to meet a lot more British bands along this tour like Foxes! from Brighton who we're touring with, and also Town Bike who looked like so much fun that we had to email them to play with us in Liverpool. Oh we've got a thing for The Magic Numbers too.

N: How do you think the optimistic out-look in your music is for the new America, post-Obama election?

THT: We love Obama and we're very optimistic about the future of America right now. Musically, we haven't written any political songs (so far, maybe we'll write a song for the Obama’s) so there's not really a direct connection to The Hot Toddies music. One thing we do have in common with him is that we like to keep it real. Some people seemed shocked that we sing about things like sex and drinking, but really most girls feel the same way we do. Why shouldn't we talk about it?

N: This is you're first time coming to England as a band, how do you feel about the trip? Expecting anything from an English crowd?

THT: Well, as you may guess, we're really excited about the beer and the whiskey... and hoping it will be mostly free, with the economy the way that it is. We love travelling, and drinking, and music so whenever we can combine all three it's definitely going to be a great time. We've heard some rumours that the English can really hold their booze? So we've been training for the tour just to make sure we can keep up with you guys. Really can't wait to get on that plane and come visit!

N: Coming from the 'Orange County', you must be dreading the classic British weather...

THT: Well actually, we come from a bit further north - the San Francisco Bay Area, which gets its fair share of fog and rain in the winter. We do love the sunshine though and hopefully it won't be TOO dreary the whole time we're there.

There you have it, the band so up-beat you’ll think you’re on a pogo stick while you listen to them. Forget our low-swung grey skyline and catch The Toddies on their ‘Binary Tour’ with Foxes at the following dates for some auditory sun, surfing USA style.

2 Apr - Latest Bar (formerly Joogleberry) Brighton
3 Apr - The Lexington - White Light London
4 Apr - Edge of the Wedge - Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth
5 Apr - The Phoenix Exeter
6 Apr - Mother’s Ruin Bristol
7 Apr - Bar Fresa Liverpool
8 Apr - Mad Ferret - HED Preston
9 Apr - The Cellar Oxford
10 Apr - Met Lounge Peterborough

By Nicholas Burman

www.myspace.com/thehottoddies

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW: SERGEANT

2009-03-14T21:19:00.002Z

With their Gallagher-like, parka-wrapped Britpop swagger well boosted off the back of a recent tour support slot with “heroes” Oasis, these Scotch lads are well setup for the big things which surely await. Let's find out some all important background info.
NOIZE: Hey guys, how's the Sergeant crew today, what are you up to?

SERGEANT: We are currently on tour. Having been round the country we are back in Scotland now for a mass of dates.

N: Well, firstly, for those who don't yet know, can you give us the back story? How did you guys all meet up and what made you form Sergeant?

S: We’ve been together for 4 years. We met at school and started the band and here we are.

N: So the 3rd single release, 'Swiftly Does It' is imminent. Can you tell us a bit more about the song and what inspired it?

S: The song was written in my head while i was on holiday a few years back. It was one of the first we did as a band. It’s just about a time of excitement.

N: You decided to use live footage for the video as opposed to filming a specific video for the single, what made you decide to do that?

S: We wanted people to see what its like to come to one of our gigs. A little snapshot.

N: So 3 singles down, are plans for the album coming along now and if so, how near do you think it's release is?

S: It will be out by the end of the summer definitely. They have just been little limited edition singles so we will do a full release then album. We can’t wait till it’s out.

N: You supported Oasis back in October, that must have been quite and experience! How did it go and what was it like?

S: They say meeting your heroes is always a disappointment, but we couldn't have asked for anything more. They welcomed us with open arms and let us have a chance to turn 10,000 people to our music every night.

N: Speaking of Oasis, there seems to be a distinct Britpop / 90s influence to you guys both in sound and style. Would you say that was a fair observation? Was that an intentional thing because you're all Britpop fans or just the way the band evolved?

S: Its just the way we evolved. Britpop was heavily influenced by the 60s and the 60s is what we loved first. And because we grew up in the 90s as well, it’s just what's got inside us. The two best decades for music I’d say. Style-wise we look like any other lads in a city centre that go watch the football and then got to the pub on a Saturday. It’s just what we are and what we’ve always been.

N: You’re out on the road as we speak, has it been an exciting touring stint so far? Any highlights or dates you're particularly looking forward to?

S: Manchester was quality as was Glasgow and Edinburgh. Looking forward to going up to the Highlands. It’s always mad up there.

N: Do you prefer touring round your native Scotland, if given a choice, to the rest of the UK?

S: We prefer the rest of the UK because you get to play to more people.

N: So what is life on tour like for Sergeant If you were to write a tour bus survival guide, what key things would have to go in it?

S: Laughter, sleep and tolerance.

N: Speaking of the tour bus stereo, what's been on it lately, what have you been listening to and enjoying most recently?

S: See this causes too many arguments, so I tend to just stick my iPod on. The streets and film soundtracks like Lost In Translation and Pulp Fiction have been on it most.

N: So what are the plans now for the rest of 2009, any festivals lined up or any more big tours?

S: Hopefully some festivals and hopefully other countries.

By Martin Kendrick

www.myspace.com/sergeantmusic

NEW NOIZE MAKERS: PEPOLOGY

2009-03-07T21:30:00.001Z

Pepology is a project run by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Peppi Knott. Don’t be fooled by “singer/songwriter”, she writes and sings songs, but is in a genre far superior to acoustic guitars and open mic nights.
They are a blend of chill out and electronica with clear jazz influences and a resonance of Massive Attack and Flobots. The finished product is the kind of music you can listen to any time of the day no matter what mood you are in; it’s really that good. It’s also full of soul, a factor all music should have, and you can really hear the love and attention that went into writing and recording their songs. This is just from listening to their demo.

Pepology like to dig into the realms of many genres and aren’t afraid to experiment or push their own boundaries. “A Modern Plague of Tiredness” is quite melancholic and simplistic but very together, tight and really displays Knott’s vocal talent. “Distortion of Senses” is a mix of electronica and reggae and displays Pepology’s use of technology and production. “Menacing Times” goes the other way and is more basic, acoustic guitar based song – the closest Pepology get to being “singer/songwriter” but it’s still miles in front of the dull open mic night Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan wannabes.

Pepology is very refreshing, original and inspiring. Peppi Knott has some very good ideas which she executes brilliantly. They really are worth checking out, but to really appreciate them they might require a few listens first, just to let the music sink in.

By Josh Charig

www.myspace.com/peppiknott

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW: POST WAR YEARS

2009-02-25T20:59:00.003Z

Fresh off the still-warm-from-an-early-White-Lies-release conveyor belt of the impeccable Chess Club Records, come four off-kilter Londoners eager to follow in their footsteps. We talk to the lads to see what happens during the post war years.
NOIZE: Hello, Post War Years, what’s been happening in your world since the New Year?

POST WAR YEARS: Hello. It's been a busy time since new year, mixing and shooting the video for 'Whole World On Its Head' and then finishing up the mixes for our debut album. It's been non-stop, but we'd rather that than let our minds rot with inactivity. It's all done now so we're really excited about getting on with the live show.

N: Some reviews have described you as part of the electro / indie bunch. Do you think this is a fair category to put you in?

PWY: Yeah, I think that's fair, but I'd like to think that we do our own thing within that genre. There's no specific formula to our music, we just like to use as many different sounds as possible and that has inevitably led to the use of electronics and sampling.

N: How did the recording of your debut album go? How do you think the songs have turned out?

PWY: It's been quite a long process in which we've picked, what we consider to be the best, from a list of about 30 songs. We're really happy with the way it's all come out though. We recorded all of it ourselves and have experimented as we've gone along, which I think has culminated in a good mixture of pop songs and experimentalism. A lot of the songs on the album were actually written in the last couple of weeks of recording, probably because we started to feel a bit more comfortable with the direction we wanted to take the music by that point.

N: You’ve just been doing post-production work with Graeme Stewart, how did you find working with him?

PWY: Graeme's a genuine legend. With three songwriters in the band, there are a lot of different opinions and I think he mediated that perfectly. He's definitely stamped his style on the album, while creating exactly what we asked of him.

N: How would describe your debut record?

PWY: It's a very varied record. There are moments of madness and also slower more melancholic songs to rest your ears to. We've had complete creative control, so we've pretty much run riot with it. It's heavy with synths, vocal harmonies and big beats. Hopefully, people will find it an exciting listen.

N: When will it [debut] be released? What is it called? And any other details…

PWY: It's due for release in late May and we think that it's to be called "Mezz".

N: ‘Whole World On It’s Head’ is your next single from the LP. Explain your reasons behind choosing this as the lead release…

PWY: We chose "Whole World On Its Head" because we felt it was a good indicator for the rest of the album. There are a lot of ideas on this tune, while our debut single "Black Morning" was probably a slightly more straightforward affair, so it was exciting for us to show people how we've progressed since that single. Chess Club also expressed an interest in the song, which helped us to make the decision.

N: You’ve got a packed calendar heading up to summer, which shows are you excited about playing?

PWY: We're very excited to be flying out to SXSW. It's our first time playing in America and a number of other bands that we're friends with our going to be out there, so it should be a lot of fun. It will also be amazing to tour with James Yuill and Wave Machines in the UK as we are both fans and good friends.

N: If you believe the rumours, indie is dead, how would argue for/against this statement?

PWY: I'd like to think that 'indie' in the true sense of the word is stronger than ever. Some of the indie labels at the moment are putting out some amazing music, such as Chess Club, Moshi Moshi and Salvia. Indie music has definitely moved on from the bland Brit Pop period that we grew up with. Good times!

N: One last thing, anything else we should know about Post War Years?

PWY: In the event of a full moon on a Friday, we become compelled to perform outdoors in a woodland area to become one with nature.

By Nick Burman

www.myspace.com/thempostwaryears

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON THIS ARTIST

SONGS FROM THE TREE OF LIFE: VOLUNTARY BUTLER SCHEME INTERVIEW

2009-02-17T00:49:00.004Z

“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.”

By Laura Routledge

www.myspace.com/thevoluntarybutlerscheme

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON THIS ARTIST

NEW NOIZE MAKERS: THE BALKY MULE

2009-02-03T21:26:00.002Z

Currently residing in Melbourne, Australia, The Balky Mule is the alias of UK ex-pat Sam Jones, a highly talented, self-taught multi-instrumentalist, who over the past decade or more has been a key figure in Bristol’s vibrant post-rock scene, playing alongside his brother Matt in both Crescent (guitar / drums) and Movietone (guitar), as well as in Flying Saucer Attack (guitar), Minotaur Shock (bass / marimba), and Third Eye Foundation (echoes / samples).
Whilst also active as The Balky Mule throughout this time, Sam’s home-recorded material (almost entirely instrumental) had been confined to just one self-released album (an eponymous debut in a small edition on Sam and Matt's Archipelago label in 2000), small runs of CDRs pressed on request and tapes swapped amongst friends, plus a handful of remixes (for Pram and Vase) and tracks for compilations.

Sam has never stopped making his own music, but has either remained shy about it, or not felt a need to share it and thus 'finish' things into a releasable form. Self-recorded either side of a 2006 move from the UK to Australia, latest offering and first physical release in 8 years, ‘The Length of the Rail’ is a beautifully balanced, intelligent and captivating album that sounds like little else right now. A fully coherent, organic mix of acoustic and electric instruments and neat electronic detail, it marks the start of a more focused, significant period of activity for The Balky Mule.

Created over a period of 5 years, most of the songs here grew out of a library of existing short sound-snippets Sam built up from experimenting with old boot sale-find keyboards, analogue synths and scavenged electronic kit (Arp Axxe, Casio SK1, Rhythmatix analogue drum machine) - guided by their inherent personalities and discovering what sounds could be coaxed from these manual-less and sometimes malfunctioning objects. Attracted to the notion of lost / redundant technology, some of the album’s sounds came from a Bentley Carousel - a huge home organ bought from a charity shop and left in a shared house he moved into. A minidisc of odd noises and collaborations with these idiosyncratic machines slowly accumulated, before Sam’s impending relocation to Australia acted as a deadline, prompting a push to finish things off and finally utilize these sound fragments. Listening through them, certain little melodies or rhythms suggested themselves, and to complement these Sam had a final play on the instruments he'd gathered (acoustic and electric guitars, drums and percussion, zither, harmonica, sampler and keyboards, Copycat echo box). The recorded results soon began to sound more like songs in need of words. Intentionally separating this next phase, Sam decided to add words on the other side of his journey, occasionally transplanting lyrics from previous songs that he felt fitted the mood or rhythm of one of these newer tracks.

The Balky Mule can be placed within a rich vein of very British outsiders like Hood, Pram, Disco Inferno, Bark Psychosis, Talk Talk, The Pastels, Robert Wyatt and Syd Barrett. Sam’s vocal is unmistakably English, its grain / tone recalling The Kinks’ Ray Davies, whilst lyrically it’s close to Syd Barrett’s everyday references. Like Crescent and Movietone, there’s a very tactile, weathered, home-baked feel to the music and a similarly grounded lyrical impressionism. Yet it’s both musically more electronic and quite a bit more upbeat / lighter and more humorous.

www.myspace.com/thebalkymule

NEW NOIZE MAKERS: STÓRSVEIT NIX NOLTES

2009-02-03T21:20:00.005Z

Stórsveit Nix Noltes was founded in the Autumn of 2004 by nine musicians living in Reykjavik whose vision was to make folk music from Bulgaria and the Balkan regions but with their own arrangements.
Although most members had participated in various bands and experiments before (and continue to do so, including founding members of múm, Benni Hemm Hemm, Lost in Hildurness, rúnk, Kanada and Hestbak among others), it was actually a class in balkan music at the local art school with guitarist Hilmar Jensson that brought them together.

After an intense concert period in every other venue in Reykjavik and some in New York that winter, they recorded the album Orkídeur Havaí in an old farmhouse in Borgarfjörður, Iceland. Orkídeur Havaí was released on the Icelandic 12 Tónar label in 2005 as well on Bubblecore Records the following year. After touring Europe and the US in 2005 and 2006 the group recorded their second album, now with eleven members, during the last few summer days of an extraordinary sunny August 2006 in a small studio outside Reykjavik called The Hot Tub. Recorded live to 1" 16 track tape in an extremely small cottage with a room that paradoxically barely fit all of the members at once, the album was mixed in various locations in Reykjavík; in rehearsal spaces and parent's living rooms.

THE MEMBERS OF STÓRSVEIT NIX NOLTES:
Áki Ásgeirsson (trumpet, cornetto and computer), Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson (trumpet – mum / Sigur Ros) Ingi Garðar Erlendsson (trombone, sousaphone and euphonium - Benni Hemm Hemm), Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir (accordion – mum / Animal Collective / Mice Parade / Kria Brekkan), Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir (violin), Hildur Ingveldard Guðnadóttir (cello – mum / Lost In Hidurness / Pan Sonic), Gestur Guðnason (electric guitar), Hallvarður Ásgeirsson (electric guitar, banjo), Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson (electric guitar, acoustic guitar), Páll Ivan Pálsson (double bass), and Ólafur Björn Ólafsson (drums, melodica).

www.myspace.com/storsveitnixnoltes

NEW NOIZE MAKERS: THE DØ

2009-02-03T13:05:00.001Z

The dø is Paris based duo, Dan and Olivia. He is French and she is half Finnish. Having embarked on a marathon French tour over the course of 2008, playing 100+ dates from the club scene up to the biggest French festivals, The dø have become one of the most talked about new bands in France and continental Europe.
Dan and Olivia explore everything from rock to folk, hip-hop to soul. Together they composed, arranged, played and recorded the whole of their debut album 'On My Shoulders' in their own studio in the suburbs of Paris. Sweeping strings, backwards guitar loops, constant unexpected twists at every turn and Olivia’s sumptuous vocals, provide the backdrop for a duo that demand experiencing for yourself.

The band met while working on a soundtrack and musically fell for each other. They recorded at home while working on different projects. At this stage, Dan had never picked up a bass outside of the studio or ever stepped on stage, whilst Olivia had never played electric guitar. In trying to experiment with a formula that would keep the essence of their music live, a drummer was called in and Olivia started playing the electric guitar while Dan covered bass and keyboards. Soon enough they found a formula that would become their live show.

www.myspace.com/thedoband

A VOICE FOR THE FUTURE: EMMA RICE

2009-02-03T09:01:00.002Z

There is generally always an intriguing history behind artists, and in terms of this statement, Emma Rice is no different. Full of journeys and events, her history engages the audience to offer an array of excitement.
So you say, what is the significance of this information? For you see, Miss Rice is only a recent 15 years of age. So, whilst reading this piece, imagine the future of this young talent, of which there is vast amounts. So, whilst reading this piece, take into consideration the already great achievements of Miss Rice... and triple them.

Living as a true bumpkin in the ‘depths’ of the countryside, Emma knows how difficult it is going to be to break into the industry. But would this stunt her motivation? Would this shake her inspiration? ‘Lost’, ‘These Are The Days’, and ‘Blue Eyes’ all reinforce the answer to this question: never. This would be the part where I would attempt to describe the aforementioned tracks, but thinking about it, it would be unjust to pick apart these splendours into mere words. It would be unjust to strip them down into an article. These tracks require first-hand experience. So if you are lucky enough to get a chance to see Emma Rice, take it... take it twice.

So instead of describing to you her tracks, instead of stripping them down, instead of describing what you should feel, what you should experience... I shall tell you what I felt upon my first experience of Emma Rice.

I find myself at an intimate event with an array of performances, and all so far have been quite impressive. But then Miss Rice appeared, and it was clear there was something different about her. Some could argue it was the comparison; some could argue it was the lighting; some could argue it was the professionalism; but none could argue with my feeling, for it was an obvious one of amazement. Miss Rice’s musical presence was, to me, none other than overwhelming – but not in an intimidating way. Everything was beautiful, the musical creation, herself, and the atmosphere.

And now the afterthought (once awe had escaped my facial expression): the current tracks Miss Rice offer are all lyrical masterpieces, and showcase undoubtedly amazing talent and passion. At the tender age of 15, the foundations have already been laid for an extremely bright future. Emma Rice produces a beautiful acoustic mix of her voice and the guitar, with no commercial gimmicks or additives – what you see, really is what you get... singing in her lovely Southern accent, opposed to the almost fake Americanised tone many artists seem to adopt. In summary, Emma Rice is overwhelming – watch this space.

By Jamie Bowman

www.myspace.com/emmaricemusic

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW: THE LOW ANTHEM

2009-01-27T22:00:00.002Z

Meet the Low Anthem from Providence, Rhode Island. Having opened for Bon Iver and Elvis Perkins and already being compared to last years folky wonders - Fleet Foxes - this threesome come on like a road trippers dream - landscapes come into view and broken hearts aren't mended as much as revered - all on the way "To Ohio."
Wanderlust is felt on the track "Charlie Darwin", which will be released on the 200th Anniversary of Darwin's Birth (12th Feb). Why you ask? All this and more is explained below by frontman Ben Knox Miller.

NOIZE: So first of all, can you describe how you guys met and formed your sound?

Ben Knox Miller: Jeff and I met as freshmen in college in '02. We spun a free-form graveyard shift jazz show on WBRU and played on a Providence baseball team in a wood bat summer league. Jeff came from jazz and I from folk. We played in a dozen nameless bands before Low Anthem began to get traction creatively and otherwise. In '07 we added Jocie, who until then had only played clarinet and composed in the classical world.

N: What collective influences do you share as a band, are there any artists you're all huge fans of that always make the tour bus stereo?

BKM: Waits, Neil, Dylan, Cohen

N: Speaking of the tour bus stereo, what's been on it lately or at least what have you been listening to and enjoying most recently?

BKM: Michael Hurley, Skip James, Son House, Graham Parsons

N: If you had to chose 5 albums you could not live without, which would they be and why?

BKM: Dylan's first four records are on a level unto themselves.

N: What was the inspiration behind 'Charlie Darwin', and also the idea to release it on Darwin Day?

BKM: Darwin Day is just a coincidence that End of the Road noticed. It's fitting though. Darwin is a great hero of mine. Everybody knows what he did for science, but more interesting to me is how he shakes up our values and our sense of purpose. The idea that value and meaning are created by the process of survival of the fittest changes everything. The church with the best missionary wing will spread its seed. The historian with the best distribution deal will shape our sense of where we come from. This idea that our values are circumstantial and not foundational comes from Darwin. It's terrifying and it's liberating and it's beautiful.

N: Can I also ask what the inspiration behind 'To Ohio' was?

BKM: Jeff wrote this song. It's right out of American History with Ohio representing a certain freedom, but also an uprootedness and need to start anew. Think Dred Scott.

N: You recently toured with Rachel Yamagata, what was that experience like and what was she like to tour with?

BKM: Rachael was fun to tour with. We got to play larger venues than we're used to and her crowd very was generous to us. Engaged and whatnot. We were touched.

N: So what is life generally like on tour for The Low Anthem? If you were to write a tour bus survival guide, what key things would have to go in it?

BKM: I'm an SPK junkie (Sour Patch Kids) and Jeff needs his New York Times or he gets real cranky. We just got a Rock'em Sock'em Robots set for the van too. Can't wait to set that up.

N: You're set to tour Europe and the UK later this year. Am I right in thinking this will be your first time over here as a band? What most excited you about the prospect of touring Europe?

BKM: We are very excited about touring Europe! A large portion of the CD sales from our website ship to the UK and the Netherlands, which is really cool, because we've never even been over to promote the music. People just seem to have picked up on it naturally somehow. So we're excited about the climate over your way. We hope we'll be able to connect and make some magic happen.

N: You're being tipped by many as one of the bands to watch this year. How you feel about things like that, about having hype built up around you? Do you take much notice of it?

BKM: None of us like hype. Hype is deception. The idea that anybody who's to be hip these days must turn their ear to one band this week and another the next is ludicrous. We don't listen to "buzz" bands. Admittedly, that's a bit of a highwire act since we'd like for folks to listen to us. But hopefully, when folks hear our records and see us live they can tell for themselves. We're not out to fool anyone. Who wants to be a fad?

N: Do you think that bands like yourselves are getting more attention from the media because of Fleet Foxes success last year?

BKM: No, I think it hasn't got anything to do with Fleet Foxes success. Bands like FF and ourselves have had success because the arts media has been decentralized. It turns out that people can tell when their music press is dumbed down to the point of irrelevance. The last ten years set the high watermark for American complacency and the mainstream press reflected it. There's an awakening going on across this country right now and blogs are at the heart of it. Individuals are reclaiming culture from corporations. It's beautiful. But in a decentralized media culture hype is still dangerous. Hype is people not thinking for themselves, isn't it?

N: 2009 is looking like an exciting one for you, apart from the Europe tour, what do you have planned and what are you most looking forward to?

BKM: We'll be trying reach new ears. We'll apply to some of the big festivals in the US, Europe and Canada. We've got a couple more big support tours coming up. And we're crafting new songs all the time. We're glimpsing vague visions of our next recordings.

By Lauren Mooney
Photo by Dan Miller

www.myspace.com/lowanthem

NEW NOIZE MAKERS: FAVOURS FOR SAILORS

2009-01-27T21:30:00.001Z

The story of how Favours for Sailors came to be, begins not in the murky confines of a Cornish tavern, but when Alex Bratt (bass) arrives in London with a rucksack full of dreams and is reunited with university friend Jon Crawford (guitar and vocals), who had recently arrived in the capital after securing a lucrative editorial job with The Methodist Recorder.
The two start playing together in a disused leather factory, forging an early post-hardcore sound of unplayable, mathy songs about chance encounters between witches and cowboys. Slowly this sound matures into something leaner and more melodic as they channel their collective love of The Cars and Television into gleaming power-pop.

The band takes shape as they are joined by full-time guitar hero Matthew Hayward (aka Maltese Falcon). Shows with the likes of Foals and Islands follow, and the band’s line up is cemented with the addition of drummer Daniel Starza Smith.

Debut release, mini-album 'Furious Sons', was recorded with Rory Brattwell (ex-Test Icicles) and is released on Tough Love Records (HEALTH, Situationists and William). Six distinct songs, all of which hit the mark. The poppiness of the songs conceals the world-weary sadness of Jon’s lyrics which are brimming with colourful imagery and rendered optimistic by the band’s uplifting, melodic instincts. Crashing guitars, anthemic choruses and periodic shouts define the sound of 'Furious Sons'. The record bursts open with 'Erode My Empire', a song that begins with a nod to the band’s more hardcore roots (a screamed “BA-BOOM!), before morphing into wistful power-pop pegged to the opening lyrical gem: “Empires erode from the coastline in / and I'll be left in the square metre in the middle / probably in Nottingham”.

'I Dreamt That I Dreamt That You Loved Me In Your Dreams' mixes snarling Undertones riffs with super-size helpings of Weezer love, as Jon’s lyrics tell the story of how, “Under stress and duress / I told the criminal Irishmen the value of the shipment / to halt my execution and save from retribution / I almost told the truth”.

Shy Times softens the tone with staccato guitar lines, whereas the record’s closer Our Name brings something different with its hip hop-esque opening resplendent in strings and Timpani drums.

Scottish fight-pop tykes Dananananaykroyd handpicked Favours' to tour with them on the southern leg of their recent tour and there's every chance we'll be loving these four London Weezer-alikes just as much before long.

UPCOMING UK SHOWS:
19th Feb - Tap House, Kidderminster
21st Feb - Island Bar, Birmingham
2nd March – Mini-album launch party @ Old Blue Last, London

FAVOURS FOR SAILORS ARE:
Alex Bratt – bass/vox
Jon Crawford – guitar/vox
Daniel Starza Smith – drums
Matthew Hayward – guitar/vox

www.myspace.com/favours4sailors

NEW NOIZE MAKERS: HERE THERE BE MONSTERS

2009-01-24T19:59:00.001Z

On Brighton’s ever growing metal scene, an act has emerged and anchored itself into the very core of this setting. With powerful tunes to fuel high energy shows, Here There Be Monsters will go from strength to strength.
The guitar chugs away like a heavy machine gun and the vocals are gritty and fierce. Their songs are short two to three minute violent stabs of post-punk hardcore at its very best. With only a few demo CDs produced so far in terms of their discography, they have to be seen live for their message to be clear.

HTBM are a no nonsense band who care little for image and are out to write and perform heavy songs. Even though they don’t have long hair, matching shoelaces and whatever else bands do to support their image, HTBM definitely look the part on stage and the listener is won over by good music instead of shiny T-shirts.

After many intimate gigs and the occasional European tour, their fan base is pretty dedicated. The result is a moshpit as vivacious as the band. After seeing them live it’s no surprise why their names are on every live metal night poster in Brighton, from small clubs to the infamous Concorde 2.

By Josh Charig

www.myspace.com/htbm

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW: TIRED IRIE

2009-01-17T21:17:00.002Z

From the ever impressive former home of Foals, Try Harder Records, come four Leicester boys making impressive dreamscape indie with a Friendly Fires / Hot Chip dance edge. Where did they come from, why are they here? Well let's find out from the gents themselves.
NOIZE: For someone who has never heard of the band, briefly how would you describe yourselves?

TIRED IRIE: Like a buzzsaw cutting through early Madonna records then glueing it back together with Mantronix breaks and dressing it up with a bit of Duran Duran.

N: How did the band come together?

TI: After college and through university we had a lot of spare time and were all into the same music. We've all been in bands before and we live together so the transition was an obvious one.

N: Where did your name come from?

TI: A typical house party situation...our former bandmate just randomly wrote TIRED IRIE in shaving foam on the wall. Its seemed quite fitting at the time.

N: How does a typical song come together?

TI: There have been many methods we've experimented with when it comes to songwriting. Normally I (Mark) would have a basic structure I would conjure up on whatever I could find like a guitar/keyboard/dictaphone on my mobile etc. Then in rehearsal everyone would have different avenues and ideas to explore that would make the song Irie.

N: Are there any bands (present or past) who particularly inspire you?

TI: Our influences often have an effect on our songwriting. Queen springs to mind. Kate Bush is just bliss. MC5 just for kicks.

N: Do you have any particular band rituals pre-gig?

TI: Well we don't huddle round and whisper a load of jargen then hold hands and shout "ooohwaaay!" or anything. We're a band who like a little Dutch courage but nothing too weird or outrageous.

N: Describe your dream gig (can be anywhere, real or imaginary)

TI: In Stephen Fry's living room. I'd like to see how many books he's got.

N: What’s your favourite/ least favourite thing about touring?

Favourite: That would be the adventure of waking up in a different place everyday. Least favourite: Getting "beards" instead of "beers" on the rider.

N: What do you think of the current state of the music industry and where it’s going?

TI: Its Fucked. No band can really pick up a hefty advance and record in LA straight away. Bands have to work their trade. Its good in a way cos the bands that pull through the shit of trying to get recognized are the ones that truly deserve it. Having that "big break" is rare nowadays.

N: Can you think of any gigs that particularly stick in your minds for good/ bad reasons?

TI: Lemington Spa. That was magic. I think it was Halloween. Lemington is crazy, it was like walking around a small dead town in Southern America. We were convinced no one would show up but we were lucky to play the only hip place for all those college students to go to other than they're students union.

N: Do you feel coming from Leicester and not somewhere like London has been a help / hindrance?

TI: Its definitely helped us. London would have swallowed us up and spat us out. In Leicester there's not many distractions, there's just a junk circuit that people ride on that gets rather boring. So writing songs seems to work for us and Leicester keeps us focused for now.

N: Electronic based music has had allot of mainstream exposure recently (IE Foals and Klaxons) do you feel this is helpful or does it lead to damaging stereotypes?

TI: Well we have nothing to do with those bands in mainstream exposure. We're our own thing and our thing is using electronics as well as traditional instruments. Its what you do with it that makes the difference. Anyone can make a synth waveform sound like a siren and hit a disco beat BPM of 130, combine it with some guitar riffs and call it "indie electro". Of course the stereotypes are annoying but I don't feel it hinders us at all. We know exactly what we're doing and if people want to pigeonhole us then we're prepared for that. All you need is love.

N: Based on your experiences does the current musical environment in the UK seem like a healthy place for new music?

TI: Yes. The music industry is booming full of new bands that get discovered everyday. The turnover for new genres is incredible. Its hard to keep up sometimes, but that's a great challenge to face. The UK is a powerful engine for new music but there is so much out there in other countries that no one here knows about.

N: What does the next year have in store for you and your fans?

TI: More gigs, more releases, more of Simon's hair, more vitamins, more interviews, more receipts, more songs and more Tangerine Dream soundscapes

By Ollie Millington
Photo by Suzi Corker

www.myspace.com/tiredirie

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON THIS ARTIST

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW: DAN BLACK

2009-01-12T22:45:00.003Z

Dan Black came to the scene way back in August with his ‘introducing…’ demo. It featured ‘HYPNTZ’; Biggie Smalls’ ‘Hypnotize’ sung by Black over a sample of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’.
It was a success in terms of getting industry hype with Zane Lowe featuring the track on his ever-popular Radio 1 show and eventually led to his singing to A&M a mere month later (on the 10th of September, to be exact.) I caught up with him just before the New Year kicked in to see what he was getting up to and to gain some info on his up-coming debut…

NOIZE: Now you’ve been signed do you feel like a more legitimate artist?

Dan Black: I wouldn't say more legitimate. More empowered in some ways, I have a bit of money to do some exciting creative things with - but then the step up in pressure and the sudden lack of time you would like for everything creative is pretty dramatically worse. I certainly feel I need to step up my game, but hey, bring it on baby!

N: Since you've been signed you've been working on your new album. How's that going? Any updates on what it's called, working titles, songs etc?

Dan Black: I just did some mixing yesterday actually which is sounding really, really cool. Up till now I have been doing everything totally on my own. So to have someone come in and put their grubby fingers all over my nearly finished babies was kind of traumatic at first but surprisingly exciting once I listened back. I have still got masses to do. No Christmas for this boy. I will be chained to my studio for the next month. I think the hardest thing will be choosing which songs to stick on - I have too many to choose from. Also I need to make sure I don't go too nuts - days and days pouring over a hot Mac, on your own, is NOT the best thing for a balanced mind.

N: YOURS' is the first proper single from the album - any reason for that?

Dan Black: Who said it will be on the album? It was basically something that was kind of simple and ready to go and seemed like a good bridge between ‘HYPNTZ’ and the proper assault in 2009.

N: Your debut demos 'HYPNTZ' and 'TTTT' were sample-heavy affairs. How, if at all, does your new material differ?

Dan Black: Well the principle is the same for me. The only difference is that with those two tracks it was pretty obvious what the samples were. But with my other stuff either the samples are mangled out of all recognition, are very obscure or I made them totally from scratch myself. And obviously they have my lyrics, not just my melodies as with HYPNTZ and TTTT.

N: Describe yourself in five coherent words...

Dan Black: Today: bedraggled. Excited. Resolute. Joyful. Under-slept (that's kind of one word!)

And so he scrambled off back to his Parisian den to complete work on the fast approaching album which will include tracks such as ‘Cocoon’, ‘Ecstasy’ and ‘Polar Bears’. He also has plans for getting on the festival circuit in the summer and headlining the Wonky Pop tour throughout February and March; all these plans are sure to make Dan Black one name you’ll be hard to avoid in 09. But with such contagious electro/pop beauties already in the bag (check out his current single ‘Yours’), why would you want to?

By Nick Burman

www.myspace.com/danblacksound

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON THIS ARTIST

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW: PLAYDOE

2009-01-12T22:38:00.002Z

Based in Johannesburg, this duo is made of electro induced hip-hop beat maker DJ Fuck (silly, I know) and old school LA styled MC Spoek. Playdoe are exciting, engaging, fun and have songs as likely to ignite parties as well as bring attention to the social deprivation situation of their home town.
There were a few hip-hop acts in 08 shouting about ‘bringing hip-hop back’ in the liberal music press but these eventually revealed themselves as nothing but tokens of the genre for DJs who wanted a few throw-away-able party tunes for indie discos. Playdoe might repeat that tragedy, or they might become the heads of the real underground renaissance scene in hip-hop. Fingers crossed it’s the latter.

NOIZE: You’re both from Johannesburg, how did growing up in a city like that affect your music?

MC Spoek: [It has] a cool mash of culture...even just in terms of South African black people, its a place of Zulus, Sothos, Xhosas… all mashed and mixed as opposed to a lot of the other towns which are quite homogenised.

DJ Fuck: To be honest I was very embarrassed for my country [when I was a kid], I couldn't believe I had come from a country with such a fucked up history.

MC Spoek: [I enjoyed the]the taboo fun and naivety of it [hip-hop]...to the mischievous gangsta rap years in the suburbs shoplifting porn and bubblegum...to the hermit years of trying to find the strangest music possible from avant jazz, noise to avant rap. Also it's quite a charged place...with the politics and crime and poverty...the fag part of me is totally escapist and likes to build a place to hide in dreams.

N: You've recently been on tours of France and England - how did those shows go?

MC Spoek: Most went really well...some went horribly...in the end it was a lotta fun. We won. Even the worst shit is super funny. Like playing on a farm in France...there was a dog on the dance floor! On the other hand we got to play and hang out with some rad characters that I have been a huge fan of for a minute like Antipop Consortium, Why, Otto Von Schirach and Cadence Weapon. That's my favourite part of the whole tour thing.

N: Over here Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip have said some very nice things about you. How is your music going down at home?

DJ Fuck: We did our first show here on the 15th November 2008... we had a pyramid with a laser coming out its eye ball. My mom's very proud of me... she comes to all my shows.

N: How does DJ Fuck create those awesome beats and backing tracks?

MC Spoek: He records everything so footsteps turn to bass drums, raindrops to hi hats...for bass lines what he'll do is fill a bowl with peanut butter and yoghurt and put it in his microwave for 20 seconds... sometimes he'll throw bricks at his car for that club siren noise he loves bending...he's a crafty chap.

DJ Fuck: I once froze a pair of underpants and then snapped them for a snare the underpants were dirty, and so was the track.

N: Your sound reminds me of the fun of Spank Rock, but with the lyrical content of old school hip-hop artists. How would you describe your music?

DJ Fuck: [Spoek’s old school flow]that’s kind of my fault... one day in the studio Spoek and I were really taking the piss and laughing after every take, I kept pushing him into an old school flow, it was so funny and I like to laugh so he kept doing it... now he's fucked, he forgot how to rap new school. The basis to all my production is to put different rhythms into other rhythms... most of them come from the indicator sound on my car or my scooter click, tap, tap, click, tap, tap.... that’s how I make tracks.

MC Spoek: Afrikan post hip-hop new wave ridiculousness maybe... I wanna break new ground. I get a bit sad at people just being retrospective as if inventiveness is over...fuck that, let's break into the year 4000 and have fun doing it.

By Nick Burman

www.myspace.com/fuckplaydoe

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON THIS ARTIST

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW: KREEPS

2009-01-12T22:32:00.003Z

We meet up with Faris Rotter's favourite new band to talk death, grime and Hearse driving. Don't worry, their a lovely bunch really.
NOIZE: Hello Kreeps. A lot of your songs involve something related to death. 'Everyone I Went To School With Is Dead' especially; is there a mental fraction within Kreeps we should be wary of?

Kreeps: Well, there's been a lot of death surrounding Kreeps really - since we started we've lost a keys player in an epic crash, I worked for a while in a Morgue, during the making of the album we all had family deaths, one of my best friends is a mortician and I've personally had a lot of near death scrapes over the years due to accidents and such so you could say so. I've been stuck back together quite a bit over the years. Been to a lot of funerals and the like. Plus there have been events in the neighbourhood recently of a more unsavoury nature - murders and such. Death is pretty fascinating in a way though and along with our love of horror films and the respective soundtracks I guess it feeds into what we do, musically speaking.

N: No ones too sure who you are exactly, how would you describe Kreeps.

Kreeps: We're a gang of misfits, misanthropes and awkward agoraphobics. It shouldn't work - but it does.

N: Faris Rotter is a huge fan apparently, this would make some people a bit presumptuous. Do you feel connected to any scene, or do you see yourselves, creatively, as an island?

Kreeps: It's true - Faris is really keen on the band - then again, he has fairly wide ranging tastes - our first single was one of his chosen floor fillers at DJ sets and after that they asked us to tour with them which we did last year. In terms of scenes though we feel pretty isolated. People have a hard time trying to pigeonhole us and we're just a naturally eclectic band so we don't seem to fall into one camp or another. We've always just made music we wanted to make regardless of what people expect from us. It's the very fact of not fitting in with whatever the crowd is doing that makes us do this. We couldn't get with the hipsters so I guess we formed our own club.

N: You spend half your time in England, the other in America. What do you get up to when you're across the pond - and which side of it do you prefer staying on?

Kreeps: Well, Dom is a member of a Detroit based gang over there (he even has the gang tattoo) so we'll leave that one to your imagination. The states is also good for record digging and collecting oddities - dragging around in the Kreeps hearse (yes - there is a 67' cadillac Kreeps Hearse - complete with plates) - picking up weird instruments. Picking up weird women...

N: Kreeps have that 'classic', grimey late 60s grind house feel. Intentional?

Kreeps: We definitely love that grind house vibe. Part of the thing was to make unapologetic music and we had to make it very cheaply because we were all broke. I guess that's part of the grind house ethics of Kreeps if you will. But on top of that most of the music we love is from that era from the early fifties to the late 60's. Allot of those garage, surf and rockabilly records just emanate this vibe that most music doesn’t these days - and they were made pretty cheap too - and full of mistakes that make them even more endearing. Sonically we definitely live in that world, so to speak

N: What does 2009 mean for yourselves?

Kreeps: Most of the time it's hard to tell what the year means or has meant until you've passed it and had time to reflect - but in 09 we'll hopefully tour again - work will begin on the second album, more Radio Kreeps (Dom's radio show on Samurai F.M) and there's some soundtrack stuff in the pipeline too, so stay tuned...

By Nick Burman

www.myspace.com/kreepsmusic

NEW NOIZE MAKERS INTERVIEW: ANIA ET LE PROGRAMMEUR

2009-01-07T13:06:00.004Z

Take Crystal Castles and add some Kitsune Parisian cool and a dose of Berlin techno to create a part French, part German boy / girl combo moulding progressive and aggressive electronic sonic assults. Meet the fascinating and exciting Ania and Hanri, the programmer.
Noize: Hanri and Ania, hello! How are you both and what is happening in your world today?

Hanri: Hi, I am fine thanks, can’t wait to go back home in Berlin tomorrow starting work again. I want to write new songs and find new ways of making it for recording sessions and live shows.

Ania: I am fine too, we ’re finally back in Berlin after ten days in Paris. We also have to work on the release for January and and the live shows the next months shows around Europe.

N: So let's start at the beginning. You formed the band nearly four years ago now in Paris, what was it that brought you together and gave birth to this band?

H: We met a long time ago, I was singing and playing the guitar in a band. I moved to Paris for Art School and started a new project with computers. After few months working on it and looking for people it became clear that we wanted to do it together. Ania never did music but I needed to do it with somebody I could trust. We started to rehearse a few days before our first gig in Paris.

A: We know each other from High School, we spent a lot of time together doing this and that, I never played in a band before, but when Hanri talked about making it together it was an exciting thing and I began working with machines and computers, programming and sampling. The band was, for me, a new way of sharing something with him, playing loud and rough and travelling.

N: Am I right in thinking the name is as literal meaning as it sounds, Ania and the programmer, (Hanri being the programmer) or is my high school French leading me astray on this one?

A: Yes it is. Hanri writes and programs the songs, and I make it happen. When it’s loud for the live, I work on the colour and the shape!

H: No no, your High school French is good.. it can be literal because it is off course, but not only to me. I like the literal meaning of this name, but I like it more when I hear it said by non-French people, because it becomes something else. But when people see that Ania makes the beats and electro, and that I am singing and playing the guitar, lots of people ask, “hey, who is Ania who is le programmeur “…

N: You're based both in Paris and Berlin. There seems to be a stronger German influence to your music overall then the French, do you think that Berlin's culture and the predominantly harder electronic music scene there is more of an influence and inspiration for you than Paris' culture and music scene?

A: I really share my life between the both, I’m always going and coming back. I really like the contrast between Paris and Berlin, it brings me to have a new feeling with them each time I’m here or there. So I would say that it must be the same for the music influence, some inspiration in the German scene and some other one in the Paris’ culture, and those both bring together give something interesting to me.

H: I spend more time in Berlin, I’m in love with this town, I think we programmed most of our electro in Berlin and so off course there was an influence of this culture. But the last years I’ve been listening to a lot of music in clubs, from French music to techno in the both towns and I was always thinking about mixing different ways. I wanted to hear the hard electro put in a rock song with French lyrics… I think there a stronger influence of German hard electro just because we agree with this way of making sound.

N: If I was asked to compare you to one band I think I would have to go for Crystal Castles both from a musical and image / stylistic perspective. Do you think that's a fair comparison?

H: I like this band, saw them live with drums and I thought the mix they did, bringing their electro set to something more rock live was something interesting. Our beats sound like a mix between techno and acoustic drums samples, and we play rough and loud on stage too, they are one boy one girl too, but here the boy is singing, and the girl playing the machines so …

A: I know them a little bit, I like their sound.

N: You both have vibrant musical lives outside of the band, DJing in an intriguing range of venues and you each have side projects, Crashcomputer and Metropyramide. Can you give us a bit more insight into these projects and what they're about?

H: These two side projects make clear the different approaches we want to have for Ania et le programmeur. Everything we could do with it at time help us writing songs using two ways, crashcomputer is about crashing programs and processors to find random ways of writing music and beats. Metropyramide is a human played way of composing electro. We'd like to release some stuff with it soon, something more experimental…

A: We have it in mind for long time now and it’s really like two different ways of composing music to me too. I spend a lot of time in Berlin now, it’s getting interesting, we have a new studio where we can play loud night and day with machines, acoustic drums and instruments. I think it's a new step to making it happen.

N: You're self releasing your album DIE KIR(S)CHE AUF DEM KOPF in January. Firstly, excuse my ignorance, can you tell us what the title would be in English translation and it's meaning in German?

A: hmmm ask Hanri … I think it's about this Christmas, a cherry and a church on my head…

H: Die kir(s)che auf dem kopf, once more, is literal but not only how it could sound like, the church, the cherry, on my head, on my face, it means nothing… but I think it has more something to do with having hair, walking in the street with bald people around …

N: While on the subject of Language, you're lyrics tend to flow between English, French and German. What is it that makes you decide when you use which language in a song?

H: We met a lot of people from different countries the last years. French is our mother language but I hear German and I speak English everyday with the people I know here, and it became normal to write in both these languages. We use it in the music because we use it everyday. But I don’t know what makes the choice for the songs, I write a lot of text and ideas in French and English, a bit less in German. I think I use French when I want something stronger, it's like a game with the meaning and the sound. But I never think about it, the idea comes with the language because it’s like a game, when I say “I am not from London”, I say it in English off course.

A: Ohhh I don’t write the lyrics; but I guess it’s like being in Babylon, I am lost with it …in Babylon …

N: Right, back to the album. Can you give us some background on the making of it and the inspiration behind the songs and the overall vision you had for this album?

H: I wrote lots of songs with an acoustic guitar two years ago, we recorded a lot of demos before finding the way we wanted it to sound. As I said I was listening to this and that, electro and rock music, and we tried to do our own mix… We played many times in Italy and we had the chance to meet Ebo who makes a kind of monstrous electro music and has his own studio. We spent time there to mix what we recorded in Paris and Berlin, and so it happened

A: We started with his and made it stronger and bigger for the stage. It was like working on and enhancing, on one hand, the melodic side and on the other the physical side of the sound. We decided to catch these two dimensions on the album.

N: There's an eclectic mix of influences on show from across the electronic to rock, industrial and even metal spectrums. Are both you're musical tastes as eclectic as this would suggest? Do you both share any musical loves or loathes?

A: I’m always trying to find with the music, what I can feel with literature and philosophy. It’s more about a point of view. We’ re working on the architecture of sounds, its physical dimension, and this by making rock songs. I love to be under this huge “Arche de la défense” having vertigo and I don’t like when the firework is only 5 meters high. I mean the influences are not only in the music.

H: I listen to a lot of music, I can stay hours watching a metal band drummer for the skill or listening to a folk singer for his way of bringing his vocals with the music. I like some for the words, many for the sound, and other for the songs. I think we share the loves, as she said, also for the architectural, physical part of the sound, and then it's more like sharing points of view. But in the end we like things with bones.

N: Touring is a big part of what you do, having toured across Europe extensively. Do you have any plans to come to the UK to tour with this album?

A: Yes, we’ d like to…

H: Oh no we have to… We played and have to play around in Europe but we’ve never played in the UK and we’re really excited to come. I hope we can make it this year!!!

N: So where do you hope to take the band as we fast approach 2009? What plans are there for the future of ANIA ET LE PROGRAMMEUR?

H: We have a lot to do, we release the album in January and working on a vinyl release for the next months on a French label. We're also working on a new live set, an electro set too and we're remixing bands. We have a lot of new songs, we have to plan recording sessions for the next months and we would like to tour a lot …

A: We would like to make a new album in 2009, playing and travelling a lot, meeting people, working on it lots and lots …

By Martin Kendrick

www.myspace.com/aniaetleprogrammeur

ONES TO WATCH: LARKIN GRIMM

2009-01-05T16:20:00.002Z

She's got an elemental voice that comes from somewhere under the earth. She alternately moans like a woman-in-full orgasmic release, wails like a banshee, or coos like a crazed little girl, depending on her mood. In addition to singing and writing Larkin plays acoustic guitar, banjo, decrepit Casio, Chinese harp, and mountain dulcimer.
Larkin Grimm was born 26 years ago in Memphis TN to hippie devotees of the religious sect The Holy Order Of MANS - her parents were runaway kids that met in San Francisco in the late 60's and eventually found their way into the group, which later moved to Memphis. Larkin spent her early years in this communal environment, raised by several "parents" at once.

When the cult disbanded Larkin was 6, and her nuclear family moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Georgia and quickly grew to include 5 siblings. Larkin says she ran wild in the mountains and was "raised by the family dog." Larkin got her taste for music from her fiddling, singing father and folkie mother. She stopped going to school at age 10 and didn't return till she was 12. At 13, she was sent to boarding school (courtesy of Coca Cola, which funds this school to help gifted Appalachian children). Larkin excelled, (though her hormones and wild imagination were already erupting) and she won a full scholarship to Yale to study art. She spent a while there then freaked out at the elitism of the place, eventually leaving and returning several times.

She soon found herself in Thailand, where she studied Thai healing massage and "befriended strippers and watched them being humiliated and abused by sex tourists." Then she bummed around Guatemala. Finally she wound up hitchhiking through southern Alaska until she came upon a place "so beautiful I couldn't leave, camped out there in my tent for about 2 months with the plan to starve to death, get eaten, or get enlightened." Larkin says a Cherokee shaman named Jezebel Crow found her on the mountaintop and lured her to her truck with the promise of maple syrup and sausages. She became her "first great teacher, initiating me into the shamanic practice of using natural hallucinogens to gain spiritual wisdom. On one such trip, I got my first jolt of golden light to the brain and was possessed by a forest spirit who taught me to sing." Jezebel drove her down to her commune in Olympia, Washington, where she would live off and on for a few years, soon hanging out with "eco-warriors, vagabonds, sexual deviants and various other miscreants."

Jezebel encouraged Larkin to go back to Yale and when she returned Larkin started incorporating singing into her art practice, which led her finally to decide to become "a real musician". Back at Yale for the last time (eventually "graduating" with one credit left to go) Larkin met Dave Longstreth and became a member of Dirty Projectors for a time. When she left that band she joined up with the Providence RI Noise/Art scene and was active in arranging gigs and festivals there, as well as working on her own music. Larkin soon made 3 self-recorded albums of freeform, improvisational songs (or "acoustic noise" as she calls it), 2 of which were released by Secret Eye (Harpoon, and The Last Tree).

These days, Larkin books her own tours, travels constantly, and has by her own force of will, itinerant nature, and sense of reckless adventure managed to build a supportive network of friends and fan around Europe and the US/Canada. Larkin has shared bills with Devendra Banhart, Spires that in the Sunset Rise, Espers, Mi and L'au, Brightblack Morning Light, Entrance, Viking Moses, the Microphones, and Old Time Relijun. She has no permanent address (and doesn't want one), but in the warm summer months can usually be found living in a tent in the woods.

www.myspace.com/larkingrimm