Andrew and Oliver, Essex boys through and through – how long have you known each other?
Andrew: “Actually we both grew up in Rayleigh which is near Southend on Sea and Ollie is originally from Manchester. But we both live in Southend now. We first met through a mutual friend at our sixth form college. Later I went off to University in Sheffield and then moved to London for a while where we didn’t see each other so often. We’ve been doing music together for about 5 years now. I’d written some music which I thought would suit Ollie’s voice so I gave him a call and we did ‘Superenlightened’ – our first single.”
Your debut album ‘Fear of Night’ which is out on August 31st on Urban Torque, is a real quality piece of work, elements of classic Electro Pop, inventive melodies and lots of messages and thoughtful lyrics about various subjects – obviously close to your hearts – but what were the tunes and artists you were both listening to as kids?
Andrew: “I was really into New Order, the Pet Shop Boys, Electro and House. I’ve always loved the syncopation of electronic music. I also liked indie stuff like the Pixies, The Cure and My Bloody Valentine which opened my mind to alternative music.”
Oliver: “All sorts Dan, Jimi Hendrix, Stone Roses, Sly and the Family Stone, lots of 60s stuff. Anything that caught my ear really.”
You went to college and University and like so many other people at that age – played in various bands, what were they all about?
Andrew: “I sang and played guitar in a band throughout my early 20s. The others in the band really liked The Manic Street Preachers and I didn’t, so I decided I wanted to make dance music instead – and that was the end of it. I think we had some good tunes though – one called ‘Blue Citroen’ was a favourite.”
Oliver: “It was about getting together with a bunch of mates and learning how to emulate the stuff we liked at the time, like the Happy Mondays, the La’s, the Kinks, shoegazing stuff. It was like being in a gang.”
So which dance music legends (thankfully!) turned you towards dance music electronica.
Andrew: “In the 90s there was loads of innovative dance music around and contemporary guitar music was really dull (most of it still is) so it was inevitable that I would gravitate more towards electronic music. Underworld was the big one for me. You could dance to it but it was dark and arty without sounding pretentious. I also really liked Orbital and Carl Craig and I went through a few years of being obsessed with Jeff Mills. I also like quite a lot of Warp stuff like Aphex Twin, Autechre and Plaid.”
Oliver: “Some friends bought me a Junior Boys Own compilation for my birthday, but I already liked Underworld, New Order etc. But I like all sorts of music, not just dance music.”
What are the big tunes on your i-pod at the moment?
Andrew:
Annie ‘Anthonio’
Jon Hopkins ‘Light Through the Veins’
Royksopp ‘The Girl and the Robot’
Junior Boys ‘Parallel Lines’
Flying Lotus ‘RobertaFlack’
Oliver:
“I haven’t got an ipod but if I did it would be…”
Go-Betweens ‘Spring Rain’
Phoenix ‘1901’
Townes van Zandt ‘Kathleen’
Larry Williams and Jonny Watson ‘Too Late’
Pale Fountains ‘Longshot for Your Love’
Your single ‘Superenlightened’, an underground, limited edition debut single was voted The Essential Selection’s Single Of The Week and received some proper props from the likes of course Pete Tong and also Sasha and Laurent Garnier. An amazing start huh?
Andrew: “It was a great start. I remember Pete Tong playing it on Radio 1 and it was so exciting. Ollie came over a few days later to work on some music and we just chatted about being on Radio 1 instead.”
So talk us through the new album, what are your favourite tracks on it?
Andrew: “My favourite is ‘Fear of Night’. When I took that track into the studio there was only the bare elements of it and Richie Kayvan – the producer and I built it up in the studio. The instrumental part was just a 16 bar gap and we had to work out what should go in there. We had all the analogue synths out squelching away. It was great. By the end of the day we were knocked out by how good it was. I like it because to me it sounds contemporary and it feels like it has some depth to it. The lyrics are about how the media can have an affect on your self-perception. It was written about hearing ‘Superenlightened’ on the radio and how strange it felt. I also really like ‘Your Tiny Mind’, it’s been through a few different versions but this version has a new chord sequence in the chorus and when that went in, it just seemed to take off. The lyrics are about religious fundamentalism and how narrow minded those sorts of people can be; the type of people who can’t accept evolution or pre-history. I haven’t got anything against religion in general, I think life can be very hard and if religion helps people then that can be a good thing. But unfortunately there can be a lot of negative aspects to religion and I think we should never be afraid to speak out about it if we feel it is necessary.”
Oliver: “I like Lefty. I like the feel of it; it flows nicely and works well in the context of the album. I also really like ‘Fear of Night’ – I was a bit unsure of the rhythm of it at first but it’s really grown on me. ‘Lowest Common Denominator’ is the sort of pop song that I think anyone could like, I was really happy with my vocal on that one.”
What one artist dead or alive would you like to get into the studio and record with?
Andrew: “Joe Strummer”
Oliver: “Marvin Gaye”
What is the best album ever made?
Andrew: “My favourite three would be Underworld’s Dubnobasswithmyheadman’, ‘Electronic’ by Electronic and ‘Violator’ by Depeche Mode.”
Oliver: “Forever Changes by Love.”
Okay boys, what one song – and why, makes you…
Always makes you dance?
Andrew: “‘Love Action’ by The Human League – I saw them live a couple of years ago, they were great.”
Oliver: “‘All Night Long by Lionel Richie – reminds me of my friend’s stag do last year.”
Want played at your funeral?
Andrew: “I’d actually like to write a piece of music for my funeral. I’ve not done it yet though as I’m not planning on dying for while.”
Oliver: “Something instrumental, Ennio Moricone or Brian Eno because if it had words, people might be thinking it was supposed to have some deep meaning.”
Changed your life
Andrew: “‘True Faith’ by New Order – although they were really popular, they were the first ‘alternative’ band I got into.”
Oliver: “‘Fools Gold’ by the Stone Roses – it got me into non-mainstream music.”
Makes you cringe
Andrew: “‘Everything is Average Nowadays’ by the Kaiser Chiefs, for the lack of irony on their part.
Oliver: “‘Snow Patrol – consummate rip off merchants.”
Always makes you feel good
Andrew: “At the moment, it’s ‘Shoes’ by Tiga. The video is highly entertaining.”
Oliver: “‘Ladyfriend’ by the Byrds – it’s very uplifting.
Makes you want to head to the bedroom!
Andrew: “‘Let’s Go to Bed’ by the Cure, obviously.”
Oliver: “‘Silver Pan’ by Flowered Up.”
Wish that you’d written it
Andrew: “‘The Look of Love’ by Burt Bacharach and Hal David – a beautiful song. Dusty Springfield’s version is very moving.”
Oliver: “‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ by the Beatles – my favourite Beatles song.”
Do you still live in Southend? Bit of shithole eh?
Andrew: “I’ve only lived in Southend for two years after I decided to move out of London. Southend suffers from a complacent Tory Council, which doesn’t give a monkeys about the place and is generally rated quite poorly by central government and in opinion polls. But Southenders still vote them in. I don’t understand it. It’s not the greatest place in the world but I have some good friends and my family here and that’s what counts. We’re only 40 minutes by train from London so it’s not far to go for a bit of culture or a night out. I had to move out of London because as a poor musician I couldn’t afford to live there any more. If we shift a few copies of the album then maybe I’ll move back. I’d like to give living abroad a go though one day. Berlin or Barcelona maybe.”
Oliver: “There are worse places to live than Southend. You are still near London. I wouldn’t say it’s a shit hole, just a bit suburban. Being by the coast gives you a good sense of perspective.”
What did you think about one of the quotes regarding ‘Fear of Night’ – “An Underworld-meets David Byrne soundclash”?
Andrew: “If listeners considered my lyrics to be as good as David Byrne’s, then I would be honoured.
Oliver: “It’s fair enough, the music could be a bit Underworld influenced. I can see the similarity between ‘Superenlightened’ and ‘Lazy’ by Xpress2 and David Byrne – the vocal is in a similar range.”
The first single of the album, ‘Your Tiny Mind’ has some great remixes from various remixers. How did you choose who would get remix duties and can you describe what each of them have done to your tune…
Andrew: “The Lifelike remix was done a couple of years ago but never properly released at the time. To be honest I’d not heard of him when it was commissioned but I’m a bit of a fan now. He took it in a very different direction by changing the chords – it seems a lot sadder. The Laserdisco remix was actually by me. I’d been listening to a bit of dubstep and thought I’d try and do a dubstep remix of it. I really like the Tone Float remix as well. It’s glitchy techno – amazing production and sounds very contemporary.”
And finally, what is coming next from you two?
Andrew: “I am writing some new songs for a second album. I have about six down and I hope to demo them soon. I have a Laserdisco single coming out on Urban Torque later in the year and I’m working on some more new tracks for that project. I also hope to do a second EP for the CR-78 project I started with my friend Graham Boosey. We are also working on the Relation live show. We started as a studio band so we’ve had to work out how to replicate it live. We’ve got a few extra musicians in and we’ve done a couple of low-key shows. It’s early doors but we’ve had good feedback so far.”
Oliver: “We need to wait and see how the album does, we’re working on the live show with some new members of the band and we want to be ready to support the album. If the album does well then hopefully we’ll make another one. I’m looking forward to playing live as we’ve not done that much of it so far.”
