Today we're taking a break from firing questions at your favourite indiepop stars, and have handed over the mircophone to Paul Richards from the London club night Scared To Dance. The interview below is an extract from Paul's full interview with Betty and the Werewolves, which you can find in the brand new Scared To Dance summer fanzine! The fanzine also has interviews with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Allo Darlin’, Darren Hayman, Standard Fare and an exclusive free EP by The Understudies.
The best way to pick up the fanzine is to head over to the next Scared To Dance night, which takes place this Saturday 26 June at the King's Cross Social Club in London. They'll be playing an ace mix of indiepop and the guest DJs are Emma and Ian from Pocketbooks. You'll also be able to pick up the fanzine at Indietracks. If you'd like to find out more about Scared To Dance, there's a website , a Facebook group and a Twitter page. Over to you Paul...
Hello Betty and the Werewolves! Tell us about your forthcoming debut album 'Teatime Favourites'.
Hello! Well, we wanted the album to sound a bit like a tea party with a mad aunt who serves teacups of gin in her loveliest china set whilst surrounded by cats, books and cakes.
Will the album feature your two past singles 'Euston Station' and 'David Cassidy' or will it be all new material?
Yes, the two singles will be on it, and our new 7" “Paper Thin”, then eleven other songs - some that we've played at gigs a lot already, and some which are completely new, so new that we've only learnt to play them properly since recording the album...!
You seem to be following in a long line of female dominated groups like The Shop Assistants and Talulah Gosh. Were they influences?
Yes, definitely, as well as bands like Delta 5, Dolly Mixture, Marine Girls. We're influenced a lot by stories and poetry too - Emily Brontë, Keats and T.S. Eliot appear in our songs, and some of our favourite writers pop up in the video for “Paper Thin” as well.
You've got a new single "Paper Thin" out in June on Damaged Goods. There's been a real lack of indie pop videos recently but thankfully you've made one. How much fun did you have shooting it?
A ridiculous amount of fun. Our friend Charlie Phillips made the video and got a group of our friends to dress up like authors. We filmed most of it outside - in the cemetery and the park - but then it got too cold (it was January) and so we smuggled werewolves and authors into Stoke Newington Library for the rest of the filming. We had to pretend that we were there just to borrow books! It was very daring!
Speaking of being on camera, you appeared in the film 1-2-3-4. How did that come about?
The director Giles Borg was looking for a band for one particular scene and got in touch with us through Damaged Goods. We knew that Giles had made some Talulah Gosh videos in the past and so got very excited about it all, and had our fringes trimmed especially.
What does the rest of 2010 have in store for you?
So “Paper Thin” is out in June and our album Teatime Favourites is out in July. As well as Indietracks, we have some fun gigs coming up in London, Cambridge and Nottingham. We'll also be doing a live session for Marc Riley on 6 Music on 5th July.
Great! We'll leave you with the video for Paper Thin.
They don't half run like a bunch of girls....
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