Sunday 29 April 2012

Blog interview 2009

I have excavated another interview here as some of the blogs no longer seem to exist. This one is from October 2009 with a person from a blog called Mistaken Press.

Hello gravetos and Charlie, thanks for the questions - my name's Russell and I'm answering the questions alone (I'm the singer) . So here it is:

 - What inspires your music?
 
 Fashion.

 - Favourite bands?
 
 As you'd expect the different members have
 different choices, but one band we always listen to together
 is this really weird band called Insane Clown Posse. It
 started because I was on holiday on my own on this train in
 Germany, and these really aggressive Austrian men were all
 dancing and singing to this music - when I asked one of them
 who they were doing they said it was this lot - so I when I
 got home I bought a couple of their albums and the others
 all like it.
  
 - How did you guys meet?
 
 I met Abbs Garran at work because he sat opposite me and
 would do all these very new age sort of stretches and
 chants. I thought he was doing a performance art thing so I
 asked him to help me with my poetry - because in order to do
 it live I thought it would need a guitarist to play to fill
 the silences and I'd seen him carrying his guitar around
 the car park. Then James Tranmer heard about the band we'd
 created which was called Henderson Tires (which
 was a pun on a tyre shop where he worked) and said he
 wanted to be involved. I already knew the other two from
 London.
  
 - Any songs that marked you while you were growing up?
 
 I used to listen to the very worst sort of pop party
 sort of music - Agadoo and that sort of thing, Rod Stewart.
 But then my dad had pretty interesting tastes so I kind of
 would interesperse it with his bands - people  like Bjork
 although I went off her quite quickly - she was a bit too shrill for my tastes.
I used to really like the Blue Aeroplanes initially just for the name,
 but then I liked the songs too. My dad had a great record
 collection but I only sort of skimmed it, and would listen
 to all these really bad party songs on the side.

 - Describe your sound
 
 I've always said if people asked that we made punk
 music, hence the sort of generic punk name we've got.
 But then we always intended to do other stuff within that,
 so I suppose punk is sort of a base to work from.

 - Best concert you've ever seen?
 
 I hardly ever went to see live bands when I was
 younger. Although I lived near London I didn't have many
 friends so I didn't really know you could just go to see
 a band. It felt sort of unnatural. Then I went away to study
 but I only really listened to bands who'd split up
 anyway. It was the era of all that forced wackiness like a
 lot of the post hardcore bands. So I just stayed at home and
 watched television.

 - How was your first time on stage?
 
 That was with Abbs Garran and Christian (aka The Octogram)
- who are both in the Pheromoans now.
As some kind of art terrorism thing - it must have been about 2005. Then I
started doing my poetry which as I said earlier sort of
merged into the Pheromoans.
  
 - Any rituals before getting on stage?
 
 It depends when you're on - if you're on first
 just a couple of beers I suppose, but if you're on last
 you tend to spend a lot of time hanging around. You
 don't want to get too drunk, but a few drinks is always
 necessary.

 - Describe yourself (individually) in one word
 
 Confused.

 - What does it mean to be a band in the UK these days? In terms of
 environment, music scene, venues...
  
 I don't know what it means really. I don't
 really feel like we belong in the current musical
 scene. I don't have any preference when it comes to
 venues.

 - Who was your biggest inspiration, musically and career wise, when
 you've started making music?
  
 I don't know if you'd really describe being in
 the Pheromoans as a career! The records I go back to
 regularly are more sort of lyrical people like Robert Wyatt
 or Dan Melchior because I'm interested in finding out
 what the words and songs are about. As I write a lot I'm
 inspired by books, poetry and even things like TV
 sitcoms.

- Since the band started, how many / what kind
 of projects have you realized?
 
 We've got a few 7" singles, and in 2010 an LP
 is coming out on Convulsive. Also a tape is coming out of
 some of our more bedroom-type recordings.

 - If you could live one day as / in any other band, who would that band be
 and why?
 
 Probably one of the party pop bands I mentioned
 earlier, like Jasper Carrot's band or that band who did
 'Saturday Night'. My mum and dad always made me turn
 it off at night because I would upset the cats. If I could
 be an adult and be in that band it would be ok - I could
 come and go as I pleased. I wouldn't want to be in one
 of those bands you get in Shoreditch because the
 other members would be too annoying.
  
 - Any strange habits?
 
 Probably listening to the Insane Clown
 Posse.

 - First thing
 you do when you wake up?
 
 I try and find my cat, Bunty.
  
 - Who would you like to be on tour with?
 
 There's a band in London called the Human RACE who
 are really good. A tour with them would be good fun as we
 know each other anyway.

 - What's missing in today's music?
 
 Probably a tour of the kind mentioned
 above.

 - Where do you see yourself when you're 60?
 
 I think my life will be quite similar to how it is
 now.

 - Where do you think music is going to? (evolving in which
 direction...?)
 
 I suppose the contrived 'lo fi' thing will
 fizzle out thankfully and the bandwagon will move to
 somewhere equally as awful.

 - What music means to you?

 A trip to a converted public toilet where we
 practice.