A New Band A Day! » Featured

INTERVIEW // Islet – Out There, Somewhere

Joe Sparrow — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:30:25 +0000

Islet are a new band. That much is obvious. Less obvious is the route they took before emergence, which is suddenly, strangely radical. And they don’t even know they’re doing it.

I know you’re out there
I know you’re gone
You can’t say that’s fair
Can’t you be wrong?

-Dinosaur Jr., Out There, 1993

Islet are a band who have done it differently without even trying, and the story is not so much a breath of fresh air as a huge, Mistral-sized gust of clean, sweet change.

There was a time when the act of discovering a new band was thus: after hearing a snatch of a song on a late-night radio show, and assuming you were lucky enough to hear the DJ announce their name afterwards, you would spend the following weeks scouring the NME, Melody Maker and fanzines for more.

More information was the desired booty – words, pictures, gossip, anything. A gig review if you were lucky. Glueing oneself to the same radio show, finger poised over the REC button on the tape deck, hoping the DJ would play it again. Such behaviour seems archaic now, but this, remember, was the norm only just over a decade ago.

Now recognise this new route: band records song, band uploads song to Myspace, Bandcamp and Soundcloud, band blogs about the minutiae of their nascent musical lives, band immediately gets all the information you could ever need out there, the public consume ravenously.

This sounds perfect. It is not. Once you’re out there, mystique dies. Putting it all out there is too easy, too neat, too perfect. It’s even easier than total obscurity: after a while, someone will put it all out there for you. Craving information with such bludgeoning hunger ensures that something important – an emotional connection maybe – is lost.

Psychologists bemoan the impact that readily available pornography has had on teenage boys – their initial contact with sex is of the type that they will never see in real life. Real sex will always be tainted with lingering disappointment.

Like the teenage boy disappointed by a virginal girl’s stubborn reluctance to engage in sexual theatricality, witness the fans who dump a band after one album and move on, gobbling up more and more of the temptingly shiny and new.

If a fan knows everything about a band from the start, we all lose that something. The bands, the fans, labels, everyone. Islet gave nothing away.

Until their website was launched a month ago, Islet have existed in rumour, tip-offs and gossip alone. Their music wasn’t online. The band wasn’t online. The music only existed on the stage. If you wanted more, it had to be from fan sites, from excited reviews, from camera-phone videos.

I wanted to speak to Islet about their strange introduction to the public, and how it felt to be most well known for what they haven’t done rather than what they have.

And yet Islet, apparently, are unaware of all of this. When I spoke to Isleteer Mark, he was – understandably – more concerned with the pile of old merchandise that the Super Furry Animals had given him in a Cardiff recording studio just moments before. I tore him away from the Furry sun-visors:

ANBAD: Islet seem to, for once, have been overtaken by hype on the internet, rather than cultivating it yourselves. You’re one of the few bands who may have been surprised by the online reaction. How does this feel? Did it catch you unaware?

Mark: I don’t really know where the online reaction is to be honest. We’re always more interested in how people react in the real world, at a gig than in the realms of The Internet. It’s a shame that the word ‘hoopla’ isn’t used instead of hype, it’s more fun.

Was your ‘internet silence’ a very deliberate ploy – a rejection of the taken-as-read idea of an all-important online presence – or laziness, or a land-grab at a new gimmick, or was it just something that you didn’t see value in at that time?

To begin with we just started a band and when we had enough material and felt like it, we started doing gigs. We thought that we might as well wait until we have recordings before we make a website – so that’s what we did. People got a bit carried away with it, we’ve never proclaimed ourselves to be anti internet, I’m on the internet now, I was on the internet then and we all regularly utilise its many facilities.

New Music Strategist Andrew Dubber took a shine to you and set up your fanpage – how did you feel about that? Did you think it was – not a ploy so much – but as much of a demonstration of his own new band promo ethos (the Posterous account, selling the fan T-shirts, etc) as his genuinely enthusiastic appreciation of you?

We found it quite funny at the time, mainly because he and his friend Ben set it up straight after a gig in Swansea, of all places. You will have to ask them about their genuine enthusiastic appreciation of us. Mine and Bunters’ (also in Islet) older brother Lee hilariously bought us both a T-shirt from the fanpage, I’m yet to wear it.

The no-mp3, no-download, no-Myspace way of operating found an enthusiastic fan base. I really like that idea of a band having an air of mystery – is that part of the reasoning? Do you like that too? Do new bands who give everything to their fans from day one lose something special?

I think yes to all of the questions. At the moment we don’t feel the need to constantly tell the world where we are, what films we have watched and what we had for breakfast. Though who knows, one day we might feel that urge. The ‘no Myspace’ thing has got out of hand – to me it’s like caring whether or not we eat at McDonald’s. I do think that people in general give too much away about themselves on the internet, not just bands.

Is it becoming OK for bands to want to have success and money? For a long time, rock was very deliberately anti-corporate, anti-big business – whereas even young bands are now eager to sign deals that would have been entirely gauche just a few years ago.

I think it’s always OK for bands to want ‘success’. I think it’d be very difficult to start a band and not want any form of success, it depends how you measure it. We felt very successful when we finished our first song and got our first gig. We haven’t licensed any tracks as yet [for use in advertising] but we’ve not been asked to. We have no rules, we just deal with things as they come.

And that was it. The band are tired of discussing the hows and the whys – they just want their music to do the talking. This is clearly a tough task to undertake in such stubbornly chattering times.

Yet they determinedly persist in protecting their reputation. When Islet first got in touch with me, it was to politely but firmly refute a claim I’d made – a rumour I’d heard rubbishing their DIY ethos.

Islet’s anachronism makes life hard. Blab everything, and their fun dissolves; keep their lips nipped tight and idiots like me propagate bitter rumours because I’ve got nothing else to go on. When it comes to controlling their self-image, it turns out that they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t; they’re even damned if they try neither, or both.

In the end, all this will pass, and it’ll be what remains – the songs – that will be left out there, surrounded by the debris, and they are what will count. It’s always the songs. And Islet’s songs aren’t an anachronism at all – they’re more daring, more exhilarating and more uncannily new than any other band’s for a very long time.

I know a few women who are Burlesque dancers. Their chosen sport is the art of the tease – not quite giving the whooping crowd what they want, but giving them enough to want more, more, more. And every time they return to dance, the crowds get bigger.

Islet have unwittingly joined their leggy troupe; sequins, corsets and pasties switched for guitars, raw musical talent and a gut faith in human nature, desire and curiosity. Every time they play a gig, a little more of them is out there. But only a little. And yet the crowds keep getting bigger.

isletislet.com

RADIO SHOW // The Best New Bands From June

Joe Sparrow — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:13:06 +0000

Wow, that was a two month gap wasn’t it? Stupid me. I can blame a few things for the absence of ANBAD vocal stylings, and indeed, if you listen to the show below, such excuses will be lamely put to you.

But despite such jabbering it’s very much worth a listen, because there are some brilliant bands from last month, plus HOT CHAT in between.

Like a great new band iPod, set to shuffle, with interfering chinwagging in-between. Good times. Get clicking!

ANBAD RADIO SHOW // The Best Bands From June 2010

Links mentioned in the show:

THE TOP FIVE BANDS IN JUNE:

Wild Nothing // B-Lock And The Girl // Li Diaguo // Mariee Sioux // Prince Rama

AN INTERVIEW WITH ME, WITH A MAN CALLED HAGOP:

Joe, Hagop, and 30 minutes of HOT BLOG CHAT

RADIO INTERVIEW WITH IDIOT BLOGGER

Joe Sparrow — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:32:51 +0000

***BONUS THURSDAY POST***

My friend Hagop – crazy name, crazy guy – is setting up a website to help people who are starting new bands. He’s one of those ultra-hyper people who has boundless energy and a zillion interesting stories to tell – he was in a band who played to tens of thousands, he worked with Hot Chip, yadda yadda.

Funnily enough, his fatal flaw is to believe that I have something of use to tell the rest of the world, and so he interviewed me. We talked excitedly, and at peculiar length, about how bands can help promote themselves to music bloggers.

The result was actually interesting, and strangely useful if you’re in a new band:

Interview With Joe Sparrow From A New Band A Day

Reciprocal Promo Bit: Hagop’s new website starts today! and it’s specifically designed to help new bands ‘niche’ there way through the nascent stages. He has a ton of material, like this interview, about helping your band get to where you want to go. Have a look here

Brand New Blog Ahoy: BAD COVER VERSIONS!

Joe Sparrow — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 16:39:12 +0000

A New Band A Day celebrates creativity, daring and cunning.

Rock, however, doesn’t do a lot of cunning, and even less creativity.

What it does do is a lot of is stupid, as demonstrated by the truly dreadful decisions made when bands start to cover other band’s songs.

Evidence? Take Duran Duran, surely one of the more feeble bands to ever attain worldwide adoration – and consider: would you ever recommend to Le Bon and co that covering Public Enemy‘s 911 Is A Joke was a good idea?

No, neither would I – however, thankfully, someone did – and as such we can now revel in the video footage of what must be the most ridiculous cover version of all time.

Stupidity of this magnitude would arouse anyone’s curiosity, and so here is the result: www.badcoverversions.com. It’s a blog that wholeheartedly celebrates the stupid, the misguided and the rankly moronic in rock, and acts as a handy repository of videos of the dumbest covers ever whelped.

Dip in, and luxuriate in other such mind-boggling covers as Sting turning a two-minute Jimi Hendrix song into a ten-minute atrocity, rap-frat-idiots Limp Bizkit making George Michael’s Faith even worse than it already was, and – coming very soon – a country and western version of Fight For Your Right To Party, an 80′s teen idol performing a jazz-funk cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart, and much, much worse.

Share and enjoy!

Joe // www.badcoverversions.com

INTERVIEW // Dutch Uncles

Joe Sparrow — Sat, 29 May 2010 09:03:58 +0000

Dutch Uncles, like Egyptian Hip Hop, are another exciting new Manchester-based band that has chosen a name which guarantees career-long facile questions: whether any band member is Dutch, or is an uncle, or indeed has an uncle from the Netherlands. Maybe it’s why Wu Lyf keep such a low profile.

Either way, these universally strange monikers do highlight the skewed thinking and deliberately obtuse nature of Manchester’s newest crop of bands. Hiding complex musical arrangements behind breathless pop songs and charity shop shirts, Dutch Uncles are more obtuse than most, and all the better for it.

I grappled manfully with lead singer Duncan Wallis on a day off from the Duncles’ support slot on the Futureheads tour. Their new single, The Ink, is out on Monday. It’s quite clearly brilliant to me – but what have the band’s peers thought?

Duncan, cagily: “We actually gathered all of our friends round the house on Sunday and played them the song on repeat. It was unanimously agreed that people like music.”

So how does a song like this emerge? The balance between melody and yet retaining the winsome off-kilter quality must be akin to spinning musical plates. Or maybe old 12″ records…

“The piano riff came first and pretty much told us what to do. We’re quite separate in our writing, so our influences between music and words are never the same. The words come last so its more about relating it all together at that point, but we never give ourselves much time on it because the idea can lose its popularity very quickly with us… unless its a stonker like The Ink.”

Despite having chosen to take a more singular route through rock, Dutch Uncles‘ pace is quickening. They’re still, Duncan says, taking it one single at a time, but more than a hint of pride and urgency lingers:

“Recording an album within the first 4 months of being Dutch Uncles was quite a feat at the time. However, putting all of our cards on the table so soon without a proper “campaign” has probably delayed our progress longer than we’d like to think.”

Having splurged forth from the unexpectedly potent rock gene pool of Marple along with contemporaries Egyptian Hip Hop, Delphic and Maple State, they’ve managed to retain a unique sound. These bands are notably very different to one another, and yet an element of cohesion remains.

Do they influence each other in any way? The idea of the bands meeting up once a week for tea, cakes and a chat about time signatures appeals.

“I don’t think we influence each other much, but we certainly inspire one another. Its all just a contest to be the best band at ‘Winter Wonderland’ [a possibly imaginary gig] at the Royal Scot [their local pub]. That said, the ‘Myspace plays’ competition has been a depressing game of late…”

If the confidence and clamour around the band keeps building, how ‘big’ would they like to become? Does this even cross a young band’s mind? Is the band’s size and status even an ambition at all, or a happy side-product?

“If it wasn’t a career prospect then we wouldn’t do it is the truth. But we don’t plan on getting elevators in our house from it…do we? Apart from ‘Winter Wonderland’ we can only work towards getting more of our music released.”

And like that – poof – he was gone. I didn’t even get time to ask the questions about Holland and the band members’ familial roles.

The brilliant single The Ink is out on 31st May.

www.myspace.com/dutchuncles

Clash Gig London photo by Jessie Hutchings, other photo by Katie Greswell

The View From… Stoke-On-Trent

Joe Sparrow — Sat, 22 May 2010 09:05:59 +0000

Dan Grose is a student in the dubious confines of Stoke-On-Trent, a grimy town now more famous for its extreme right-wing politicians and absence of job prospects than its music scene.

It’s also my home town – one that I left years ago – and I was interested to hear what was happening there now, and what an outsider thought. Dan spies the glint of treasure in the Potteries’ slag heap…

Nestled just inside the North West Staffordshire border, Stoke-On-Trent is often regarded as the ugly, deformed cousin of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham when it comes to music.

Yet beauty lies beneath the surface, and there is considerably more to the scene than meets the eye. Boasting a rich and diverse musical history, there are many strings to Stoke’s bow to this day.

One of the thriving hubs of Northern Soul in the late 70′s and playing host to the likes of Led Zepplin in the early 80′s, there is still plenty alive in the current decade.

One thing you will get in abundance is passion. Travel to any gig with a local contingent and you will find a crowd full of enthusiasm and energy. Playing host to some of the best up and coming bands the country has to offer, The Sugarmill is the home of the Stoke music scene.

At a four hundred capacity it is by no means the biggest venue in the world, yet when packed to the rafters there are few to rival it’s atmosphere.

Swing across the town centre and you will find the rather dishevelled but undeniably charming Underground. Reportedly one of Pete Doherty‘s favourite UK venues, it holds few and boasts one of the stickiest floors you are likely to find. But again, much like the ‘Mill, fill it with a few hundred locals and a loud band and you’ve got yourself an evening.

Although very few local acts are on the brink of prominence, the quality and enthusiasm of many cannot be faulted. Travel to either of the aforementioned venues to see an established band and you are guaranteed to witness one if not two promising local support acts.

Often guitar driven – it seems to be a northern favourite – they regularly command a better crowd reaction than the main event.

A prime example are The Control; short, snappy and roguishly charming they are supporting the beleaguered Automatic later this month. With astute lyrics and catchy melodies they have already flirted with 6 Music and, no doubt, will command more respect than the headliners.

Yet diversity is also present amongst the endless supply of Indie bands, and none more so than the very talented Daniel J. Nixon. Stripped down acoustic at it’s best, Nixon regularly inhabits the Sugarmill whilst playing various venues across the North West. Blessed with a voice to melt the heart, his live shows are captivating and popular amongst the locals.

And as if that is not enough, the city’s history still thrives beneath the surface, with Northern Soul nights regularly happening across the area. Far from being sedate jaunts down memory lane, they remain the chaotic all – nighters they always were, attracting seasoned fans and young enthusiasts alike.

Yes, Stoke-on-Trent, may not have the pedigree or chiselled bone structure of it’s Northern relatives, but you cannot fault it for endeavour and substance alike. For passion, enthusiasm and commitment, you could do a lot worse than the Potteries.

INTERVIEW // My Awesome Mixtape

Joe Sparrow — Sat, 15 May 2010 08:18:34 +0000

Their Mixtape: Awesome

My Awesome Mixtape were reviewed on ANBAD to fairly rapturous acclaim back in November.

I was so taken with their delightful song, I quickly collared them (virtually, of course – they’re based in Bologna) for an interview. Which I then promptly forgot about.

Here it is then, charming pigeon-English intact, a couple* of months late. It turns out they are not only purveyors of lovely, multi-faceted pop songs, but wholeheartedly nice people to boot. Nice people, who, hopefully, will forgive my forgetful indiscretion…

Hi My Awesome Mixtape! How are you? Where are you in the world right now? What you see? And what is good about that place?

Hey mate! Here’s all fine, right now we are spending our coldy winter in Bologna, our hometown, the city that has seen us growing up and getting older and older!

In my review, I was surprised at your sound: an unusual blend of Indie-Pop shyness, disco beats and Pop luxury. How did the band arrive at such an interesting combination of sounds?

My Awesome Mixtape // Me And The Washing Machine

Actually, we are not so concious about the sounds we create, mainly because the My Awesome Mixtape‘s aim in making music is the most natural and spontaneous one.

The only thing I could say is that we are 5 guys coming from different musical backgrounds. The results in mood could be explained as a perfect mixture between the different musical tastes we have.

Why are you called My Awesome Mixtape? Mixtapes are seen as a kind of old idea now, in the era of Spotify and iTunes – what do you like so much about mixtapes?

Actually the name was caught in a “Boogie Night” film frame. In that scene was framed an audiocassete titled “My Awesome Mixtape n° 6″. We found the term “My Awesome Mixtape” so damned catchy that we decide to take it as the band name…

There is no link between the ancient art of making mixtapes and the band name; but personally speaking I think that most of the time old objects such as vinyl, audiocassettes, cds were definitely preferable.

How has the experience of being a new band been?

We feel ourselves really lucky! It is not so common to travel the world with a van and see so many places, visit so many cities all over Europe, and know tons of people getting in contact with an enormous variety of cultures…that’s probably the most exciting thing I could ever experienced.

What about the Italian music scene? I was in Bologna a couple of months ago: it was a wonderful place – traditional and beautiful but youthful too. However, I wasn’t there for long enough to get a real grip on the music scene – what is it like?

Bologna is mostly famous for the university ( apart from Spaghetti Bolognese and the ham), that’s why you found it youthful! Cultural and musical life here is commonly widespread all over the youngest inhabitants, in fact here in Bologna there are a lot of wonderful bands: Blake/e/e/e, Settlefish, A Classic Education, Buzz Aldrin, Nervous Kid, and many, many more.

What is the Italian Indie music scene like? What is good about it? What is bad? Is it big or small – do you or bands like you get a lot of exposure in the media? And how do you fit into the music scene?

Italy, as you know, is a really small country, so the musical scene is small too! All the bands know each other and most of the time there is a “brotherhood” mood among them…

Of course there are problems, Italy is probably one of the worst European country in terms of politics and cultural broadcasting…that means that most of the Italian music remains unknown even at Italians too!

Basically, our aim is to reach the most distant place from our home, play there and have fun!

And finally: If you could meet any musical hero, who would it be,
what one question would you ask them, and what drink would you buy them?

Probably Ian Mackaye, after offering him a Chinotto (a typical Italian soda) I would ask him what does he think about the nowadays musical scene

*or three**

**OK, four

INTERVIEW // Run Toto Run

Joe Sparrow — Sat, 08 May 2010 09:53:04 +0000

Run Toto Run: devoid of necks

Matt shakes his head, raises a fist to the blue, vapour-trail-free sky, and shouts “Damn you!” in mock-anguish. He has no-one in particular to be angry with, but is still frustrated – and for good reason.

He ought to be in New York, playing the violin; instead, Eyjafjallajokull’s petulant ash-gasm means all flights are nixed – so he’s stuck in gloomy Manchester, and nursing a heavy cold to boot.

He shrugs. “Oh well,” he grins, after his momentary release of steam, “what can you do?” Bandmate Rachael suggests that we can go for a coffee, and we all agree that this seems as good a solution to the problem as any. Such is the cheery outlook of Manchester band Run Toto Run.

After de-camping to a noisy coffee shop, we sit and we talk about change.

When Run Toto Run were first featured on ANBAD back in December 2008, they were a delightful, sunny, folky quartet producing delightful, sunny, folky songs. Yesterday, I listened to their new single. Things are different now.

Run Toto Run // Hater

“It’s been a year since we were on A New Band A Day,” mentions Rachael. “That was a double bass ago,” adds Matt, thoughtfully.

That instrument’s cruel axing is indicative of their subsequent mutation. Matt joining the group was the catalyst, bringing the electronic expertise that Rachael longed for. Change was quickly afoot. Or perhaps, not so quickly.

“We were then writing songs that were still very acoustic, but heavily influenced by electronic music. We’d sample violin lines and vocals, then mess around with them live.”

That sounds exciting, I venture. The pain of a resurfaced bad memory is etched on Matt’s face. “Yeah – but it was massively, massively impractical. Stressful.”

In RTR’s new music, wistfulness has been replaced by introspection, and stringed plucking now a mere bit-part, demoted by a surge of technological burbling. The only constant is Rachael’s dreamy voice, clutching firmly on centre-billing as always. What has brought about this stylistic volte-face?

“We all used to work full-time jobs, and when we started we were pushed in front of the industry at the 2008 In The City music conference, we weren’t ready.

“We didn’t have enough time to work on the band in the way we wanted. The sound we made wasn’t really what we were interested in. What really focussed our progression was me losing my job.”

Like the volcano’s grip over flight arrangements, events out of the band’s control gave rise to an opportunity of a lifetime.

The event in question was the economy disappearing down the toilet, and the resultant time ‘in between roles’ allowed Rachael and Matt, RTR‘s creative duo, to step off the new-band carousel and breathe deeply.

Rachael is only grateful for the delay. “It gave us an opportunity that most bands never have. We could solidly focus on the band, and in that time, we wrote a whole album and changed our sound completely.

“]

[No caption necessary

“If we’d been signed earlier, we would have been pushed down a route dictated by the sound we had then, and not been able to experiment. We’re really lucky to now be in a position where we’re writing songs that we would choose to listen to.”

Relief, hope, pleasure. Most new bands collapse in the vacuum that forms after being rushed into releasing the first record too soon. How many bands get a chance like this?

Matt’s eyes widen: “It was a scary step for the band to take. Because everything was learnt again, even the simple things were new. We went from plugging our instruments in and playing to having huge diagrams showing where cables went for the new equipment. Now, when we play live using samplers, we’re adjusting and changing the sound organically – and that’s how we’ve written too.”

Thanks to the twin resources of time and determination, the resultant sound is no clumsy mashing together of tech and folk, but a complex melding that belies its organic growth.

“It’s the fusion of different ideas – you can listen to the old songs and the new songs and tell that they’re by the same band, even though the sound is massively different. By combining the two different songwriting approaches – the old and the new – we can record quickly, then email songs out and recieve feedback just as fast.”

Feedback from the top, too. Rachael: “One day we decided to record a cover of a Bombay Bicycle Club song, and later that night Steve Lamacq played it on his radio show. It’s so exciting – the technology gives you the means to do fantastic things.”

“It’s interesting to see what will happen now – because there are so few limitations. The more time we have, the more things grow. Every gig we’re doing at the moment, we’re giving away a five track demo to give away for free, which builds a following who we get a lot of feedback from. We feel like we’re making friends, and we’ve learnt a lot very quickly by doing this.”

Everyone’s happy. Matt’s so happy, his subconscious is clawing through the ether to help out.

He recounts a story of how he’d sent himself a text message whilst on a night out, which was subsequently lost in a boozy miasma. The next morning, he discovered it, and read the words, ‘Music sounds fasterer when you’re drunk.’

“Perhaps it’s true…” he ponders. They decide that this ought to be explored further – and this seems to be a good time to allow them to retreat into the exciting new world of sonic adventure. And, presumably, booze.

Run Toto Run‘s new single, Hater, is out on the 24th May. Buy it from www.runtotorun.co.uk, and listen to more here: www.myspace.com/runtotomusic

Photography by Karen McBride

MIDWEEK MIXTAPE // April 21st 2010

Joe Sparrow — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 10:11:55 +0000

This week, I have been mostly listening to LCD Soundsystem‘s clunkily-named new album, This Is Happening. It’s streaming on their website, and it’s reasonably brilliant.

If you want an in-depth review, with lots of important words, go to Pitchfork, not ANBAD. OK, one more smidgen of info: the LCD album is chock-a-block with songs that vary in style and, in honesty, quality.

Which is quite appropriate, because here, sidling quietly through the side door is the ANBAD Midweek Mixtape, the cheap ‘n’ cheerful virtual new bands C90 Cassette:

FIRST! Mission Control sent me an email saying that they’d discovered Friends Of ANBAD and all round-good guys Egyptian Hip Hop via this very website. Perhaps they’re saying this to every website, like brazen hussies, but I for one am prepared to believe them, because it massages my fragile and needy ego.

Egyptian Hip Hop // Wild Human Child (Mission Control Remixxxxxx)

It’s a great remix that takes the best bits of the original, amplifies them and extrudes it all to the point where it appears to be on the verge of falling apart at the seams, but never does. Great.

SECOND! Cocos Lovers are delightful. There, I said it. Comprising a complex web of husband/wife/sister/brother relationships, which must give live gigs an added frisson of excitement when someone plays a duff note, they make delightful folky shambling songs. And they’re yet another band that are happy to admit that they’ve toured with Mumford and Sons. Make of that what you will. Lovely warm songs.

THIRD! Windsor Bellephone can play more instruments than you. I’m confident of that. He lists 12 on his Myspace page, which probably gives Prince a run for his multi-instrumentalist money. I presume he doesn’t play them all at once, unless he’s found a novel way of playing the theremin with his buttocks. While he’s not fitting instruments to parts of his body that shouldn’t have instruments attached, he makes quirky, spooky, shanty-ish pop. Quirky and charming.

FOURTH! Bromheads have half-inched the Ramones’ haircuts and play songs in libraries. This seems like a reasonable niche market. I bet the sound absorption is good, what with all those books, so perhaps their thumpy, raw and happy songs will sound even better there. Shhhhh!

FINALLY! Vacuum Spasm Babies were always going to make it onto ANBAD because of their frankly ludicrous and brilliant name. Songs like Science Division are crazy and endearingly dizzy – any song that uses “science division/echo delta/extra ninja” as a chorus will get my vote, time after time. Other songs are quite gentle, thoughtful and beautiful. Crazy, curious, clattering.

ENOUGH! Indeed.

INTERVIEW // The Circus Sands

Joe Sparrow — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 10:59:10 +0000

Once again, our intrepid and talented southern-UK reporter Sarah Stead has filed a report that delves into the grimy madness at the heart of a young rock band.

She spoke to The Circus Sands, a young, exhilarating rock group from the south-east about sweat, ceilings bowing from the weight of the moshpit and the vital importance of whether T-Rex was an influence (or not)…

The first time I interviewed The Circus Sands, front man Simon Corcoran was hungover, wearing a strip of material as a tie and there was an earring holding his shirt together.

This time, seven months later, things are looking a whole lot better.

The band – who hail from Reading and Newbury – have been gigging non-stop since then, including slots at a few summer festivals, and at the end of November they released their first EP, Dr Death.

Circus Sands // Dr Death

“The EP has been around for a long time,” said Corky.

“We recorded it in September 2008 but it’s just taken this long to get the money together to get the CDs made.”

Playground magazine recently gave away 15,000 copies of the EP’s title track to accompany an interview and review, but there are only 200 copies of the EP itself, which are almost all sold out already.

It’s a foot-stomping four track introduction to the band, whose scuzzy, lip-biting rock and roll is reminiscent of a less explicit Louis XIV, or a less Swedish Hives. And sometimes it’s arty, but arty like Tracy Emin is arty.

“I don’t think anybody’s ever said they don’t like it…” said Corky.

The three-piece play raw, hip shaking, danceable rock but, by and large, are taking a break from performing at the moment.

“It’s been a busy year for us,” said bassist James Hallett. “We must have played at least 60 gigs, it felt right to stop for a while. We’ve been playing the same songs for a year so it was time to have a little break and write some new stuff which we’re hoping to record later this month so we can release two more EPs next year. You could say the band is pregnant at the moment!”

A few days later I learned that by ‘pregnant at the moment’ Hallett actually meant they were about to announce they’d grown a fourth member, Jake Ambridge, but weren’t going to tell me about it. Cheers mate.

Anyway, back at the interview and, as the empty Bulmers bottles stacked up, I asked Corky how the music has evolved since the Dr Death EP was recorded.

“Well, we’ve got a lot of new guitar pedals!” he said. “We’ve tried to get a bit more experimental, we’re aiming for nice melodies and songs you can sing to but keeping the dirty, sexy element to it.

“We’re trying to get away from the garage rock sound, though. We’d like to be a bit more ‘out there’ and a bit more weird sounding, but keeping the melodies.”

Chris said, “The thing is that we’ve stuck to our guns and we’re not just going for what’s cool now.

“We’re rock and roll. There’s a lot of nu rave stuff around but we keep doing what we’re doing. “So many bands think they’re the next big thing but don’t put the legwork in, like travelling back from a gig til 3am then getting up for work the next day.”

Despite a prestigious slot at Basingstoke Festival in July (“We were the act on before Chipmunk so technically we can say we supported him,” said Hallett), Corky said the highlight of the year was gigs in Taunton and Brighton on consecutive days.

The band are nothing if not hardworking. They have gigged all over the South and their live shows are always high-octane, energetic and sweaty.

Chris – who is without fail totally drenched in his own sweat after each gig – recalled with a proud grin, “At one place we played in Bristol it was so hot I passed out afterwards.

“At Birdcage in Portsmouth we had about 150 in this room upstairs, and the ceiling was bowing in the room below.That was a brilliant night!”

In between Chris and Hallett arguing about the band’s influences (“T Rex,” “We’re not influenced by T Rex at all,” “I am,” “But we’re not even slightly glam,” “I am.”), telling bad jokes, slagging off bands that ‘don’t work hard enough’ and debating how old Ian Curtis was when he died, we somehow got an interview done.

The Circus Sands are one of my favourite Reading bands to hang out with. Like their music they’re dirty and sexy and, as Corky said, they’re always up for the after parties. Bring it!

Download the Dr Death EP on iTunes and listen at www.myspace.com/thecircussands