Full blown interviews / Q&A's with the following...

Daniel Land & The Modern Painters - April 2010

Black Soul Strangers - April 2010

The 99's - August 2010

Calamateur - September 2010

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Daniel Land and The Modern Painters

Q, A while ago you wrote a cracking piece on the shoegaze scene, we're guessing then if you had to pick a musical genre in which to pigeon hole yourself you'd go for that?

Well, our favourite modern bands working in the shoegaze area are the ones who take elements of the original shoegaze style and try to combine it with other things or update it. I suppose we want to be like that in some ways; there's a shoegazey base to our stuff, but there's also a lot of other things in there as well, like country music especially. In fact a large part of the record could be described as being ambient country really, not shoegaze.

We wouldn't be really happy to pigeon-hole ourselves in any genre. Do genres even exist any more, in the same defined way they used to? My impression is that the digitisation of music has meant that everyone's pretty much listening to everything these days - all music is in the present, whether it's at the cutting edge, or whether it was recorded thirty years ago. Anyone making music in these conditions just ring-fences a certain area and says, "This is the kind of stuff we chose to make at the moment", and you can infer certain assumptions from that. But it will grow and it will change; it already has. We're definitely not one of those bands that exclusively listens to other shoegaze bands or anything like that.

Q, You are based in Manchester, have you ever felt that there's a preconception that every band from the city should be the 'new' Stone Roses and did your sound turn a few heads?

That surprises me. I'm not aware of that preconception to be honest. I've certainly never felt any pressure to be the new Stone Roses. It would be difficult anyway; the days when a band like the Roses could break through to that level of success are over I think; that career path doesn't exist any more.

I think the thing with Manchester as well, anyone living in Manchester, all that Factory stuff seems like ancient history now. It was all twenty years ago. It's okay to respect it and take certain things from it, but people are more concerned with what's happening musically now - there's a thriving independent music scene in Manchester if people are happy to look for it.

Q, How would you describe shoegaze? Is it a sound or more a collection of bands with a similar vision? Also do you prefer the prefix shoegaze or dreampop or would you plump for something else?

It probably was a collection of bands with a similar vision, back in 1991, but it's not now. I think that now, "shoegaze" is such a broad term that it's almost meaningless. It can describe bands as varied as Auburn Lull and Amusement Parks on Fire; anyone who's familiar with those bands will know that they're at completely the opposite ends of the musical spectrum. The word "shoegaze" can refer to as wide a range of things as the word "acoustic" - so it's really just a descriptive term in the way "ambient" is now, I think.

Q, You've just released your debut album 'Love songs for the chemical generation'. Firstly how can people get hold of a copy, secondly that's a cracking title what inspired it & thirdly what can we expect on it?

Thanks very much! Well the title is one that I've kept for about ten years I think, right back to the days when I used to spend a lot of time clubbing in Manchester's Canal Street. I always had this idea that I wanted to make the perfect chillout music not the wishy-washy things like Zero 7 or Morcheeba that people used to listen to back in those days, but something that managed to combine the 'chilled' aspect of those with lyrics that directly referred to the kind of lifestyle that would, erm, lead to you to still be awake at 8 in the morning after clubbing. Hahaha.

What can you expect on it? A chilled and slightly kinky hybrid of shoegaze, country music, and occasional Doves-esque pop. You can get the album from many places including iTunes and our own CD store: www.danielland.bigcartel.com

Q, What has been the fans and music press' reaction to the album?

The fan reaction has been overwhelming; it really took us by surprise. The response of the music press, by and large, has been generally good. We have had some blindingly good reviews, but just as many reviewers only talked about it in the context of the shoegaze revival, which is depressing. We thought that the fusion of country and shoegaze we do, plus the kinds of things I'm things that I'm singing about, and the fact that I don't have the usual kind of singing style you hear on a lot of shoegaze records, we all thought these factors would mean we were doing something different enough to warrant a bit of attention, but not many reviewers picked up on those things to be honest. It makes me wonder sometimes whether some reviewers have skimmed it, and missed some of the subtleties going on in the album.

That's kind of fine though, we knew that this resurgence in shoegaze music was a bit of a bubble, and we sensed the press turning against shoegaze as early as a year before the album came out. We knew that most critics would be negative about the shoegaze thing. It's sad, but a fact of life.

Q, Now there has been a little time after the release of the album; how happy are you with it, did you achieve everything musically with it you set out to achieve and is there anything you'd change about it?

It's a nice question, but I think it's kind of a myth that you 'set out' to achieve something musically with an album. You have an idea in your head of what the album will be, the shape and size of it, but if the process is successful this will change as time goes on. In fact the mark of whether a record is successful, artistically I mean, is if it takes the makers somewhere they hadn't anticipated, a new location, somewhere surprising. All you can really do throughout the process is to pay attention to what works and what doesn't, and to notice the tiny little buds of ideas that might blossom into something surprising. Hopefully you'll end up somewhere new.

Q, Have you a favourite song on the album and if so what is it and why?

I can't really answer that. It's all still so close to me, in time, it still feels like we only just finished it! I really do love the last track though, the instrumental one, "Lighting Out For The Territories", mainly because of Russell Smith's amazing pedal steel playing on it.

Q, Like some other 'shoegaze' albums (not notably Slowdive's debut) sometimes the vocals are kinda dreamy and indecipherable. Would you agree? If so was it planned to be this way and do you feel it adds to the atmosphere of the album?

I think the vocals are sometimes indecipherable but this is by accident rather than design really. It is mainly because of my writing style I think. I play quite a lot of linguistic games, and throw in a few puns and coded slang and allusions to works of literature or art which I feel are connect thematically with the song. So all of these things combined tends to mean that my lyrics are quite hard to pick out, and quite bizarre compared to the usual lyrics in psychedelic-type music. There was a jokey line we used once that said the words Sky and High were not used anywhere in this particular shoegaze album!

Q, We also believe there was an unusual pre-order scheme, how did that work and was it successful?

Yeah, we appealed to all of our mailing list and said, if you pay for your album up front, two months in advance, we'll put your name on the CD cover in the thanks section. Enough people did it for us to be able to fund the manufacturing of the album, without having to delve into our tour funds. It was great. We love having people involved like that anyway, we like feeling that we've got a kind of a community going on with our fans.

Q, Has this led to the album been released away from a traditional label and do you feel the old fashioned band and record label relationship has now gone for good?

We've done the self-release thing first, and the album will be reissued on a proper label at some point in the near future, hopefully. The old fashioned label/band relationship has definitely gone for good.  You have to put yourself out there first, sell some CDs, tour, and prove yourself, before a label will take you on. At least at our level anyway. The old days, where a label would take a fledgling talent and nurture it, and bring it the public's attention when it was fully formed, are gone. Except for the very, very lucky and rare 0.01% of cases. I think this could be a healthy situation though, it means only the very dedicated people will make it. People getting involved in music for dubious reasons and motivations won't stay the course.

Q, How much do you feel the internet / downloads changed this and do you think it's all for the good?

The internet and downloads didn't change this, they caused this. But they are both the cause of and the solution to the crisis, if bands know how to exploit it.

Q, Following on from this where can we find your website / facebook / myspace page and what's on there?

We only use Facebook and Myspace, we don't have a website. You can find us at www.facebook.com/daniellandandthemodernpainters and www.myspace.com/danielland

Q, You've recently toured, how would you describe Daniel Land & the Modern Painters Live?

We like playing live and we're very relaxed about it. It's quite intense at times, and we're e a lot louder live than on the record, which I suppose is as it should be really. But we also like to have a good laugh with the audience as well and to lighten things up with a bit of humour. We're not all serious and po-faced.

Q, What's the weirdest gig you've played and what makes the perfect gig for you?

The weirdest gig we ever played was in the local pub next to where I live and where we record. We rehearse opposite the pub as well, and they kept on asking us to play in there, which we were a little bit reticent to do, but they seemed keen so we ended up playing there one August bank holiday. The pub, well, it's a bit like the pub in Shameless if you've ever seen that. Lots of very drunk Mancunians who had never heard of shoegaze before. People smoking weed in front of the pub, right out on the street. It really could have gone either way, but they loved us, and they keep asking us to go back and play. It was bizarre though, we did a big, noisy, Spiritualized-esque feedback freak-out at the end for ten minutes or so, Forget ten; you couldn't describe this in a thousand words!

and as soon as we were finished doing that, the landlord came out with a pot of stew and dumplings for the crowd. It was hilarious.

Q, You may have done this already, but it's our stock final question so here we go... In ten words write your own press release (swearing is definitely allowed!).

Ah God, I hate this question, I can't think of a single good thing to say in response to it.

'Forget ten; you couldn't describe this in a thousand words'.

Fuck it. Cheating, but that was ten!

April 2010

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Black Soul Strangers

Q, Who are Black Soul Strangers?

Black Soul Strangers are: Barry Gorey, Brendan O'Mahony, James O'Brien, Philip Justin Wyer

Q, You are from Donegal via Dublin, how did you get together and to be fair you’re not the traditional Irish band are you!

Myself and Brendan met in our late teens in Dublin and we met James and Phil through mutual friends in the Irish music scene. Dublin has a huge amount of great musicians and bands at the moment.. It’s only now that we are starting to make some noise in the UK.

Q, We found reference points like The Boxer Rebellion and Placebo, is that fair?

Ehhh... I have never listened to either of those bands. Honestly. Are they any good? I hope so..

Q, That said if you had to pick a musical genre in which to pigeon hole yourself which one would you go for?

Alternative Indie Pop...

Q, According to your press people you are creating quite a buzz at the moment, does it feel that way to you?

Yeah definitely! It’s amazing to hear our songs being played on BBC radio and on Tv. We finished making our album nearly a year ago and we felt so proud and excited. It’s only now that other people are getting to hear it and write good things about us (thank you).

Q, In fact what’s the best and worst things you seen written about the band?

You guys were one of the first to review our album, so that’s quite special. Some other loser.. which I will name Richard Oldale, wrote some crap about us and was extremely rude. If he gets to read this, we would love him to come to one of our shows.

Q, You’ve got your debut album ‘Animate’ in the can, we love it, what can people expect?

It’s our debut album, the first picture everyone will see of our band. We are very excited and anxious. It’s called 'Animate' because we wanted to create a colourful, intriguing piece of work. It has quite a personal meaning, but we really want people to hear it and make there own connection with it. My favourite albums are the ones that create a picture in my head or a memory.

Q, What’s the reaction been so far to it (bearing in mind we’ve given it a glowing review already!)…

It's been great; it adds fuel to the fire! Our live shows have been getting better and bigger over the past few months; we can’t wait for the album to come out.

Q, Have you a favourite song on the album? And if you could ‘steal’ one song from somebody else which would it be?

My favourite song is 'Tristia'. It started off as a very simple song on one acoustic guitar and when we went to record it, it transformed into a completely different animal. We had so much fun recording it. It's got this 'electronic' crescendo towards the end of the track that I really love.

Q, Judging by the pictures on your website you’ve got quite a strong band image, is that fair?

It’s definitely not something we set out to achieve. We haven't got any egos at all.. It's an Irish thing. We are very modest.

Q, Talking of it, where can we find your website / facebook / myspace page and what’s on there (free plug time)?

You can go to our website for some free download tracks and videos ..www.blacksoulstrangers.com

Myspace - www.myspace.com/blacksoulstrangers

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Black-Soul-Strangers/71523114200?ref=nf

Twitter - www.twitter.com/b_s_s

Q, Some people say the internet is a good thing. Some people say the internet is a bad thing….. What’s your take especially how it’s changing the shape of music?

It’s a great thing. It’s a direct route to our fans. We have been able to organise secret shows throughout London in fans houses and some gardens. We send out directions and details week-by-week through our facebook page. We hope to have one coming up soon.

Q, Talking of the shape of the music industry you’ve been pretty vocal in defence of 6 Music, why’s that and do you feel its threat of closure has wider implications to radio and the music industry?

We just feel it’s a very important part of British music.

Q, On a lighter note what song gets you dancing and why?

Animal Collective - My Girls. Great dancing song! And about time

Q, And what’s the most embarrassing song in your collection and why on earth did you buy it… please be honest here!

The first song I bought was on vinyl... I was a very trendy child. It was Shakin Stevens 'Merry Christmas Everyone'. I have no idea why I bought it, I probably liked the jumper he was wearing on the sleeve.

Q, What was the last song you listened to and why?

Villagers - Becoming a Jackal. Conor's old band 'The Immediate' were fantastic and this is his new venture. Just watched him on Jools Holland last night, brilliant

Q, Can you list your five favourite songs of all time and if so what are they?

Neil Young - Hey Hey, My My

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

David Bowie – Heroes

The Beatles - A Day In The Life

Super Furry Animals - Ice Hockey Hair

Q, John, Paul, George or Ringo? Who would you be & why?

Ringo - He seemed to have the most fun.

Q, Our stock final question (we love it). In ten words write your own press release (swearing is definitely allowed!)…

WE ARE BLACK SOUL STRANGERS. COME SEE US LIVE.

April 2010

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The 99's 

So were you named after an ice cream them? We kind of know you’ re not so where did the name come from and do a lot of people get the wrong idea?

We don’t mind the ice cream association. But in fact when our drummer Adam was five he ran out in front of an ice cream van which hit him. He still has a phobia to this day, so we’re called The 99s to relieve his fears.

And who are The 99’s?

Johnny West (singer & guitars), James Loughlin (Bass & backing vocals), Adam Quigley (Drums, percussion & french horn)

You’re from Saddleworth which is not known its music but darker events, does this hang like a shadow over the town?

Not really. The events your are referring to happened long before we were even born. Saddleworth is such a place of natural beauty people don’t dwell on what happened. People are too busy drinking ale, morris dancing & marching with brass bands. Any excuse for a piss up round here.

We’ve seen a promo pic of the band jumping midair over the moor, is this an actual picture of have you been superimposed? Is it a statement you wanted to make?

It most certainly is a real photograph!! It took us around eighty attempts of jumping off rocks like a bunch of idiots to get the right image. The photographer was a chap called Dario and the jumping thing was his idea. It hurt the next day when we couldn’t walk. But it is sort of a statement. We wanted to be pictured in the place we are from, rather than get some moody looking band pictures of us swaggering round a council estate. It’s already been done, so we’d rather be true to where we are from.

Anyway, you’ve recorded your debut album, what’s it called and what can we expect?

It’s called The 99s. Very imaginative we think. And you can expect to pay £5.99 on iTunes for it. Go download it….Seriously though, we’re very proud of it and we expect that it’s going to get people’s toes tapping. People who listen to the songs like Oh Me Oh My think that they’ve heard it before because it’s so damn catchy.

Indie Anthems… fair description?

Not really. It’s what pop should be I suppose. It’s not indie. It’s not quite rock. It’s not country. But it’s a blend of all of those. Indie is full of dicks in tight pants with a synth these days. We just write 3 minute tunes that stick in your head. Maybe tight pants and synths will creep into our band for the difficult third album.

How can joe public get hold of a copy, you can plug websites / myspace / facebook etc if you wish!

iTunes is your best bet. £5.99 is a bargain for the tunes you’ll find on there. We may do a limited edition pressing of the album to sell physically but only at one of our gigs!! Also check out www.myspace.com/the99smusic for gig listings and hear a sample of our album. And see how we made our album here…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReJtgzLf69k

Anyone you’d cite as a major influence?

What, apart from The Beatles?? The harmonies of The Eagles, guitar sounds of Johnny Marr, the song writing ability of Neil Young, the drums from Busted. The list is endless……

As city fans we were dismayed to find out you’d been voted ‘best band’ on MUTV, how did this come about?

Firstly, commiserations on being City fans. But do City even have a TV channel??! Massive club them. We’d probably be the best band on that anyway. MUTV gets about 70 million viewers, so we wanted to maximize our audience.

Have you ever seen the ‘Sunshine in anyone’s eyes’? And obviously did it inspire the track ‘Sunshine’?

Good question!! You been listening to the album?? The ‘Sunshine’ behind a person’s eyes is referring to the light within them that’s shining out onto us.

In fact do you write from personal experiences or do you ‘write stories’ to music?

It depends on the song and what mood you’re in when you sit down to write. I have never ever sat down to write and thought ‘I’m going to write a song about this or that’. I’ve also never thought, ‘right then, better write a rock song’. They just come out. Usually the best tracks are written in a very short time and the words come at the same time as the music. Lyrically I suppose you write about what ever has been on your mind perhaps subconsciously. For instance we wrote ‘Miles Apart’ on the album about us having all our musical gear robbed from our practice room. And ‘Say A Prayer’ is incredibly personal and something you’ll only understand if you hear it on the album.

What do you think makes the perfect pop song? Have you, in your view, written one?

Yes. Have you not heard the album?? Haha. A perfect pop song is anything that sticks in people’s heads after they have heard it. And in our own humble opinion we have a few of them. Check out “Oh Me Oh My”, it is about as poppy as we get!

What is you favourite song you’ve written & why? What song would you have loved to have written?

You’d have to ask each of us in turn and you’d probably get 3 different answers. Maybe “Eymet” though to give a quick answer. Very proud of how that turned out on the album with such warm brass. Perfect way to end the album.

As for songs we wish we’d written…..

For No One – The Beatles

Waltz #2 – Elliot Smith

Anything off After The Gold Rush – Neil Young

Anything Jeff Tweedy has ever written from Wilco

Miss you Loads – Bluebird Kid Clark

Jacqueline – The Coral. That will do for now.

Vinyl, Cd or Download??

We’d have to say download for now as our album is available on iTunes. If we had the money we’d probably release a Limited Edition picture Vinyl. I used to love raiding my Dads old vinyl collection though. It’s probably how we got into music.

What was the last song you listened to and why?

Jacqueline by The Coral because John is sat next to me playing his guitar. See previous question as for why he is playing that.

What’s the best and worst thing you’ve ever seen written about you?

We haven’t really had any bad press. But there is always time yet…..And you may be about to write the best thing about us??

In ten words write your own press release (swearing is definitely allowed!)…

The 99s debut album, buy it, its good!

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Calamateur isn’t your name, who are you and who / what is Calamateur?

My name is Andrew Howie and I started making music using the moniker Calamateur about 10 years ago. For a long time it was just me on my own, doing everything myself, but I've recently realised the music sounds a whole lot better when there's other people involved as well :-)

Your album ‘Each Dirty Letter’ was released recently (which we loved by the way) how would you describe it?

It's made up of ten songs, written over the last few years, about love, death, faith, honesty, regrets - all the light-hearted frivolous topics :-) . All the songs were written on the acoustic guitar, then fleshed out by a full band. It was produced by the amazing Iain Hutchison and is almost as much his album as it is mine.

Judging by the sleeve pictures it looks like it was recorded in a chapel, is this correct?

Well spotted! We recorded most of the album at Glo-Worm studio in Glasgow, but we recorded the piano and organ parts at a church just around the corner from the studio.

How can ‘joe public’ get hold of a copy? You can plug websites / myspace / facebook etc etc at this point.

You can get the album from my website - www.calamateur.com , and from the usual digital outlets as well: iTunes, eMusic etc.

The album sleeve has some excellent artwork, was this done by you or if not who is the artist responsible?

Yes, the artwork is indeed amazing! The drawings were done by my good friend and amazing artist Derek Steele. You can see more of his stuff here:

http://mosteverybodylivestheirlives.blogspot.com/

And the overall design was done by another good friend, Al MacInnes, who is part of the art-duo DUFI:

http://dufi-art.blogspot.com/

The artwork has a ‘DIY’ feel was this intentional?

Not particularly - I just liked the work I'd seen both Al and Derek do in the past and trusted them to come up with something good. I sent them both the finished album and asked them to do whatever they liked regarding the artwork and design. If I'm getting other people involved I like to give them the freedom to do what they want, as I think they'll enjoy it more and the results are likely to be far more interesting.

What has been the press / fan reaction to the album?

There have been quite a few very positive reviews for the album so far which is always encouraging. And the people who've bought it so far have all seemed to like it as well.

By all accounts ‘Each Dirty Letter’ isn’t your first long player, what else should we be looking out for?

Indeed, E.D.L. is my 3rd album and my 14th (!) collection of songs. My album before this one was called 'Jesus is for Losers' which I released last year. My entire back catalogue is available to download from my website for whatever anyone wants to pay for it. Just go here:

http://music.calamateur.com

You are based in Inverness, what’s the scene up there like? Does been as far away from places like Glasgow / Edinburgh (or even London) help or hamper you music?

I'd say it hampers more than helps, although there is something nice about being set apart from any particular scene. I'm originally from Glasgow so have done my fair share of gigs down there. I've played up here plenty of times as well but don't do it much nowadays. I'm more and more attracted to the whole 'living room gig' idea and want to explore that a bit more in the future.

Who would you cite as major influences on your music? Was there any one band / artist who made you want to pick up a guitar?

There is a singer-songwriter called Iain Archer who was definitely one of the main people who made me want to pick up a guitar. He used to be in Snow Patrol and is in Tired Pony, Gary Lightbody's current side project. I first saw him play in the mid-90's and have loved everything he's done since. Other bands/artists who've influenced me are Sparklehorse, Juliana Hatfield, Craig B of Aereogramme and The Unwinding Hours, Moby, U2, American Music Club....the list goes on :-)

What is you favourite song you’ve written & why? What song would you have loved to have written?

My favourite song I've written is usually the one I'm writing at the time! My favourite song I've recorded is probably 'Retreat' which features Jo Mango and is on my new album. The song I would have liked to have written is 'Jesus is for Losers' by Steve Taylor, which I recorded a cover of on my album of the same name from last year. It touches on a lot of ideas that are important to me - faith & doubt, success & failure, and the choices we make in life related to those issues.

Vinyl, Cd or Download??

I still buy CDs all the time. I download music regularly and I also have a big collection of vinyl which I can't imagine ever parting with but never make the time to listen to :-(

What was the last song you listened to and why?

The last song I listened to was the last song on an album by Mark Eitzel which I got for my birthday last week. It's called 'Ronald Koal Was a Rock Star' and it's from his album 'Klamath' - really lovely stuff.

In ten words write your own press release (swearing is definitely allowed!)…

Please buy my album, it's good and I need money :-))

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(September 2010)

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