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1.A lot of music fans will be aware of Late Of The Pier from the
initial press coverage that you received a couple of years ago. But
how do you feel that you’ve changed both as a group and personally
since that time?
“Well, that’s a really strange concept, because what this
tour feels like for us, is almost like our first kind of tour in a strange
way. Like you have about 3 years of initiation where you start a band
and get spoken about, but basically, you’re not really poking your
head out into the mainstream until you’ve had press coverage for
a year or two. So, I guess we’ve kind of changed in that respect,
and these crowds are a hell of a lot different to the audiences we used
to play to. Obviously, 3 years is a long time, like you start a band
because it’s fun and it’s your way out of going to University
or whatever. But after a while, you actually realise that this is a
job, like we have a salary and we have all of the trimmings of a professional
outfit. So it’s almost battling against that professionalism, still
delivering something creative and still being an artist, rather than
a performer. That’s what this period feels like for us now, so
that’s the difference I guess.”
2.Do you believe that rock ‘n’ roll is at its most interesting,
when it incorporates other musical genres and pushes boundaries?
“I don’t really think anyone knows what rock ‘n’
roll is – but I think to us, rock ‘n’ roll is just doing
something really kind of different and doing it with a lot of conviction.
I think rock ‘n’ roll is more of a conviction thing, rather
than an attitude thing or a sound thing. Like you say, incorporating
different things – I guess nowadays that’s what the new rock
‘n’ roll is, it’s kind of creating your own niche and
doing it with a hell of a lot of belief and gusto! I don’t think
it matters if you use different instruments and stuff, I think it’s
just about being different and being really strong with it.”
3.Of all the records that you own, which do you tend to go back to more
– the ones that were instant, or the ones that took time to grow
on you?
“Oh definitely the ones that took time to grow on me. I mean even
some stuff like the Pixies, like when I first listened to them, it kind
of annoyed me (laughing), because there’s lots of really grating
noises there and it’s really kind of pokey. I guess it’s similar
to us in that respect. But, something drags you back to it and the more
you listen to it, the better it gets! Some records are really cool like
that (smiling).”
4.Are there any records that you would like to see dissected track-by-track
as part of the ‘Classic Albums’ TV Series, whereby musicians,
producers, engineers etc. talk in detail about the making of an LP now
considered to be a masterpiece?
“Um (thinking), well I’ve recently got into this Greek avant-garde
composer called Vangelis. He’s recorded lots and lots of really,
really strange stuff and when you listen to it, you don’t understand
how he made it. With a lot of great music, you kind of think, “How
the fuck did this thing become a song?” Like what things were put
into it, how did they do it? It just baffles you and as a musician,
that kind of music is just brilliant and Vangelis is really strange
to me. It’s a really organic thing, but it’s all made on synths
and it’s incredible how it sounds so earthy and natural. So, I’d
like to see one of Vangelis’ albums dissected.”
5.As a band, what was the first song that you ever played together,
and how long after this was it until you realised that you had something
special / that there was a chemistry between you all?
“The first song we played together, was called Wasted Intellectual
(smiling) – it would be really funny if people listened to it now!
Basically, we’d just get out of school and write something stupid
(laughing), but that was the song that made us pick up instruments and
play along. We rarely did covers strangely enough, I remember covering
The Beatles’ Birthday once, but that was pretty much it really,
we more-or-less got together and made our own songs.”
6.How closely do your songs match what’s in your head?
“With every creative art, that’s the real hard thing, jumping
over that hurdle – having a bead of inspiration and having this
idea in your head and getting that out through your fingers. It’s
never realised, because I think if it was realised, we’d all get
a lot of satisfaction from what we’re doing and feel invincible
in a strange way, but I guess it’s close. It’s like one of
those things where you try and translate something, and even if you
get it wrong, you can find a result that’s kind of different but
still embracing.”
7.If you were asked to edit a music / culture webzine, what features
would you commission?
“I guess if you were doing something quite big and you had quite
a big platform to speak from, you’d maybe water it down a little
bit and try to get people into music that’s just on the edges of
what they’re listening to. Because if you went straight onto NME.COM
and spoke about Vangelis, nobody would really get it (laughing). There’s
lots of really, really interesting music in the world, but I’ve
lost my laptop at the minute – I put my finger through the screen,
so I’m like 2 months out-of-touch. But there’s this really
good band called Pink Stallone and there’s a really, really good
scene in America called ‘The Wham City Scene’, which is based
in Baltimore (pausing), Baltimore’s a really rough, dangerous place,
but there’s this incredible community there of avant-garde artists.
All of the stuff is really experimental, but it sounds really childish
and it kind of encompasses musicians, artists and video directors. It’s
really cool, so I’d probably commission a feature about that.”
8.What have been some of your personal highlights so far?
“Um (thinking), well we played in Manchester last night and there
was a guy outside selling fake bootleg Late Of The Pier T-shirts –
I thought, “We’ve made it (laughing)!” It was really
strange, because now I know that we’ve got people copying our T-shirts
and selling them, trying to make money out of us (laughing). But performance-wise,
Japan was really good, because there were about 10,000 people all moving
in-unison and they were really enthusiastic and excited, so that was
really cool (smiling)!”
9.And what do you most dislike about The Music Industry?
“It’s an Industry for one – it is a money-making venture
and that’s always going to have some trappings of negativity, or
it’s going to feel slightly (pausing), I don’t know, there’s
a lot hidden in it and a lot of bravado like, “We say this, but
we’ll do something else.” There are a lot of nasty undercurrents,
but on its face it’s lovely – everyone’s really friendly
and everyone’s really nice, but you know deep-down, that quite
a lot of them are lying. It’s that kind of mistrust which is nasty
about The Music Industry.”
10.A new record label called Bandstocks www.bandstocks.com was launched
in August 2008 by Music Business Lawyer, Andrew Lewis, and enables music
fans to invest in new and semi-established artists. In return, getting
a share of any profit, your name in the sleevenotes, album progress
reports, priority gig tickets and exclusive merchandise. What are your
feelings on this concept?
“I think as a fan, it’s really, really cool to feel like you
own something – it’s that act of ownership that makes it really
cool! Like if you get into bands and nobody else is into them when they’re
really small, you kind of feel like you own them in a strange way. It’s
kind of like on the complete other end of the scale isn’t it? You
actually own shares in a band! I guess instead of buying a record, you’d
be a lot more into it and you’d feel that you’ve given a lot
more to this person – you’re kind of giving yourself away
to an artist, which is a really cool thing to do (smiling)!”
11.If you were the CEO of a successful record label, which artists /
bands would you most like to have signed to your roster?
“We’ve got our own little record label and it’s just
basically our friends really – really interesting small little
things. There’s a guy who lives near Oxford actually, called The
Power Cosmic, who basically just gets tape loops and all of his music
has this beautiful message and openness – he’s really nerdy
and he’s really geeky and he’s a devout Christian as well,
but he’s a really, really cool guy. It’s just music with feeling
and people who are doing something different and exciting (pausing),
I’d really love to sign Dan Deacon on a permanent basis, that would
be amazing! Yeah, there are lots and lots of really good bands –
you could go on forever really, but it wouldn’t just be one particular
genre, it would be all over the place.”
12.What would be the first thing that you’d do if you won millions
on The Lottery?
“I’d go on holiday at the minute (laughing). I would really
like to travel, but I’d like to have people in cities or a travel
guide to show me around, and I’d give money to all of the people
I met along the way and maybe hypnotise them… in a good way (laughing),
in a good way!”
13.How does it feel all living in the same house together?
“Well, we kind of done that for about a year-and-a-half, but we’re
on tour so much now, that when we do go home, we kind of go to our respected
girlfriends and kind of runaway from each other for a few weeks (laughing).
Like I’ve moved in with my girlfriend and Sam’s moved in with
his girlfriend, and the other two are finding houses now. So that period
is over, yeah.”
14.When playing live, do you feel a synergy between the band and the
audience?
“Yeah, good gigs you do, bad gigs you don’t. Automatically,
that’s what you’re trying to attain – that’s more-or-less
like the goal of a gig, to make a bond with the audience and all feel
at one and all be involved in the same party. That’s what makes
a good gig and when you don’t reach that, it’s a bad gig.
An average gig is when you kind of have it sometimes and don’t
other times. Yeah, it’s pretty much the judge of a good or a bad
gig really.”
15.Some groups talk of how they wish they could watch one of their
own gigs in the crowd, to experience what their fans do. But do you
ever watch video clips of your live performances out of curiosity?
“Not really, because they’re always filmed really boringly
to be honest. I like what The Beastie Boys did, where they gave everyone
a camera and basically they just cut it between shots. That’s really
cool, but I think if I was just seeing it from one viewpoint (pausing),
I’ve more-or-less seen it from where I stand on stage about 200
times now, and I think I would be a little bit bored. I don’t know,
maybe if you got a good director to do it, like Michel Gondry, he could
set up a wheel and strap cameras to it, or film it through a kaleidoscope
lens, something like that (laughing).”
16.Can you tell us more about your warehouse gigs across the UK?
“Yeah, they were really cool! Basically, we got the chance to programme
the line-up and we took Micachu, Digitalism and there’s this guy
called Simon Bookish, who’s been a real silent hero of ours for
ages – he’s always been making really interesting and challenging
music. We just played with really good line-ups – it was like walking
into your iPod or something, apart from you had people there (laughing)!
We played really late at every one of those gigs, we were playing at
3 o’clock in the morning and stuff, and the crowd were just in
a different state of mind and that’s ultimately what we wanted!
We were bored of Barfly’s and dare I say it, O2 Academy’s
(laughing), and we just wanted something fresh and to feel different
on stage, and we got that, so we were happy with it!”
17.What’s the best and the worst dressing room that you’ve
ever been given at a venue?
“Oh My God, we were in an amazing one in Glasgow the other day
(excitedly). I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Scottish
author Alisdair Gray? He kind of part-owns this church in Scotland and
the dressing room is in his private loft, and you go in and there’s
like wood-panelling, there’s deer heads on the wall, beautiful
leather seats and a really big boardroom table, a Last Supper kind of
one. But even the worst dressing rooms are kind of fun sometimes (laughing),
because basically, if you’re in a bad place, you can do what you
want – you can do bad things in a bad place (laughing)!”
18.Do you have any interesting tales from your time on the road,
and what has been your most rock ‘n’ roll moment to date?
“Yeah (laughing), it used to be a lot more fun when we drove round
ourselves – we had this really long Citroën Estate and we
used to get our friend to drive us around, she used to pretend to be
our Tour Manager (laughing)! I mean we broke down quite a lot (pausing),
we met some really interesting Russian breakdown drivers who smoked
pipes and told us these strange stories that I probably can’t repeat
in an interview (laughing). There’s other times, where we’d
play a gig and driving home we’d be tired, so we’d find a
forest and sleep in the forest – and one time, we woke up and saw
a guy wearing a mask holding a gun! We shook if off and then he’d
gone (laughing). There are some really good stories and you kind of
miss that a little bit when you have a bus, it’s that whole thing
of being professional again, which we’re fighting against at the
minute.”
19.There seems to be a real community amongst musicians these days
– do you think this is a healthy way of nurturing new talent?
“I don’t think there’s really that much of a community.
I mean we haven’t really felt it anyway (pausing), we’ve toured
with people and we’ve been friends with them, but I don’t
think there’s a solidarity kind of thing – like everyone being
in-tune with each other. I think bands strive so hard to be different
these days, that there’s a little bit of one-upmanship between
bands. So no, the thought of a community isn’t really there –
I think people may think that there’s one, simply because of scenes
and stuff.”
20.Are there any musicians who you would like to play an instrument
as well as?
“Yeah, obviously Hendrix (without any hesitation)! Our sound guy
was showing us this other musician who he was really inspired by, who’s
called (pausing), I’ve forgotten his name, but he was a left-handed
guitarist as well and he used a right-handed guitar. I was watching
that Hendrix Woodstock thing and seeing him playing with his mouth wide
open, it’s that really kind of instinctive thing, where it doesn’t
even seem like a skill. It just seems like something they have deep
inside of them that they’re kind of doing, and that’s really
admirable and really desirable – it’s something I really wish
I had. But Hendrix is a really obvious example (pausing), there’s
also this guy called Gonzalez and he’s a real eccentric, he’s
done a lot of really weird things. He did this one album called Solo
Piano and it’s just really touching, to hear someone play an instrument
with so much grace. Yeah, that’s amazing!”
21.And are there any artists or bands that you really dislike, but can’t
help liking one of their songs?
“There aren’t really any bands that I really dislike, but
I do have some guilty pleasures (smiling). Like there’s a lot of
really good pop music (pausing), The Bee Gees, a lot of that is beautifully
written – there’s a lot of soul in there for white people
I think (laughing)."
22.I really love your promo videos, but if you were put in charge of
an MTV Takeover, of all your favourite music videos, which ones would
you absolutely have to play?
“There’s this really dirty, but really good video by a band
called Add N to (X). It’s called Metal Fingers In My Body and it’s
just a disgusting video! There’s also this guy from Canada called
Prurient – he hasn’t actually made any videos – but he
basically plays topless and he’s all about noise and feedback.
He thrashes about on stage just hurting everyone around him, and you
see loads of punks at his shows cheering him on and he’s just a
skinny white guy hurting himself! It’s really interesting.”
23.If you could collaborate with any dance act or DJ to create a
Late Of The Pier Vs. crossover track, who would it be?
“It’s funny that you should say that, because we try and do
that with our music anyway – we kind of see it as a crossover,
we’re more like an electro band with a DJ kind of thing. There
are some really, really talented people out there, and dance music has
been the area pushing it a lot more than guitar-based music for like
the last 5, maybe 10 years anyway. So yeah, there’s loads of people…”
24.What are your hopes for Late Of The Pier’s future?
“I think we just think short-term really – the long-term is
just something that happens and I think it’s best to be like that.
Obviously, you have deep-down hopes and ambitions and stuff, but they
might not be realised and (pausing), I don’t know, I think it’s
good just to be incredible in the short-term and hopefully that will
ripple onto the future. But if it doesn’t and you make a massive
poke or an impact, what more do you really want?”
25.Lastly, chips or cream buns?
“Ooh, cream buns are so much more exciting (pausing), why isn’t
there a kind of savoury snack with the extravagance and fun of a cream
bun? Well, there’s your answer! Maybe it’s because people
think sugar is fun, but I think savoury things are fun as well (laughing)!”
A very special thanks to Sam, to Late Of The Pier’s
Tour Manager Rob and to Mike @ Infected, for all of their time and help.
Oxford Set List
Space Intro
Space
Heartbeat
Random
Broken
Whitesnake
VW
Bears
The Enemy
Mad Dogs
Focker
Bathroom (w/ remix)
www.lateofthepier.com
www.myspace.com/lateofthepier
“Pineapple pieces in brine
Fucking around with your mind”
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usicm
the 3rd album?