Indietracks interview #10: Love Is All

Here at Indietracks Towers, we’re usually awoken by the sunlight streaming through the curtains, the morning call of bluebirds, squirrels foraging for nuts, the sound of bicycle bells frightening pedestrians off the pavement, the joyful screech of a joyrider’s tyres, cats fighting viciously for territory (well, we think that’s what they’re doing!) or the next door neighbours watching horror movies at 3am in unnecessary surround sound. Mostly the last one. Today, however, it was the brutal knock of the postman. After several attempts, it became clear that the only way to cease this cruel interruption was by actually answering the door, where, lo and behold, we were presented with the first instalment of Indietracks flyers! Beautifully designed by our Emma in this season’s hippest colours (it’s all about yellow and black this year), we think these are going to adorn many a fridge door, scrapbook or those cork boards that you see in student halls of residence for years to come. Keep an eye out for them, they’ll be coming to a gig, record shop or street near you soon!

And, of course, one of the names on the aforementioned flyers is today’s interviewees, Love Is All!

Love Is All have picked up plaudits for their blend of art punk and indie rock since they formed from the ashes of indiepop group Girlfriendo in 2005. Pitchfork included their debut album 'Nine Times That Same Song' among their favourites of 2005, while NME named their song 'Make Out Fall Out Make Up' as a single of the week. The band’s new album ‘Two Thousand and Ten Injuries’ is an unconstrained and celebratory affair, combining punk guitars, saxophones, disco beats and melodic harmonies and is already being hailed as one of the best albums of the year.

Josephine from the band has joined us for today’s interview.

Hi Josephine, tell us a little bit about Love Is All

Hum, we're five people from Gothenburg, Sweden who have been playing together for a small eternity. We are very much in to doing things ourselves and have mixed and recorded all our music in our own space together with Wyatt Cusick. I'm making all the artwork myself and most of the videos. It's not so much a statement as it is us just being bad with trusting outside ideas. I think we can be a pain to work with sometimes.

We haven't toured Europe nearly as much as we've toured the US and therefore we are really excited to play Indietracks this summer.

What music are you enjoying at the moment?

I'm really digging the new Ariel Pink record. Such perfect music for the summer.

Tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past

I feel like we haven't played anywhere too exotic or unusual. We did a small tour of Brazil, that must be the most unusual place we've played. We managed to combine the tour with two weeks of vacation, which made the whole trip amazing.

Do you have any exciting plans for the rest of the year?

Exciting... I don't know. There will probably be plenty more touring and some recordings. Right now I'm mostly excited about summer being around the corner, I can't wait to go swimming and grilling and all those summery things.

Do any band members have any particular skills, hobbies or claims to fame you wish to share?

Johan and Markus know pretty much every Beatles song ever recorded and will sing them to you in perfect harmonies if you buy them a couple of glasses of Pastis.

What's going to be on your compilation tapes as you travel down to Indietracks?

Ariel Pink. That's all I can think of right now, sorry.

What attracted you to play at Indietracks?

Last year some of my friends went and they came back talking about what a great festival it was, insisting that we should try to play there. Of course I forgot all about it, but when the Indietracks festival asked us if we wanted to play I got really excited and instantly knew that I wanted to do it.

Thanks Josephine!

xxx

Indietracks interview #27: The Smittens

The Smittens are a six-piece indiepop band from Burlington, Vermont and a DIY twee pop explosion. Formed in 2002, The Smittens have been winning the hearts and minds of indiepop fans and discerning critics in the U.S. and abroad with an impressive and rapidly expanding catalog of fresh and fancy bubblegum-inspired revolutionary twee pop.

Accomplished songsmiths all, the six Smittens Max Andrucki, Colin Clary, Dana Kaplan, Holly Chagnon, David Zacharis and their newest member Emily Hilliard - switch instruments and songwriting to create brilliantly lyrical and hyper-catchy pop songs of all colours, shapes and sizes. The band's third album, 'The Coolest Thing About Love', is out now on Athens, Georgia’s indie institution Happy Happy Birthday To Me.

Today we're joined by Max from the band, and be warned, there's a surprising amount of swearing in this (ie, some swearing).

Hi Max, tell us a little bit about The Smittens
We're all white. Except that Dana is Jewish. And David is Greek.

What music are you enjoying at the moment?
Swedish dance pop, anything WeePop puts out, The Chiffons, The Free Design, M.I.A., The Just Joans, Suburban Kids with Biblical Names, and along with all the other "Brooklyn" hipsters, we kinda like The Drums.

Tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past?
On a mother-f__kin' BOAT. In Bristol, UK. And at a kickball game.

Do you have any exciting plans for the rest of the year?
Sweden. and two inter-band weddings. and Max is gonna finish his PhD. And have lots of crazy sex. And as a band, we are doing some recording soon - a Tullycraft cover for a tribute comp, and some songs of our own... yet to be written. We are playing with the following song titles: 'F__ you and your crafts', 'Drama queen', and 'Whack it 'til the candy comes out'.

Do any band members have any particular skills, hobbies or claims to fame you wish to share?
We are really good at impromptu kitchen dance parties, and nonviolent interpersonal communication.

What's going to be on your compilation tapes as you travel down to Indietracks?
Half a bottle of franks red hot.

And finally, do you have any surprises planned for the Indietracks festival?
No. In a good way!

Great - thanks Max.

Indietracks interview #26: Downdime

Downdime are a noisy, psychedelic indiepop band formed in Leeds in 2004. Taking inspiration from the C86/indiepop bands of the 1980s and 90s such as Rocketship, My Bloody Valentine and The Wedding Present. They have so far released two 7" singles: Seeds of Hopelessness (Squirrel Records, 2005) and Hate the Morning/Joanne (Squirrel Records, 2006), and their debut album Knowing Too Much is out now, also on Squirrel Records.

Interesting pop fact: singer/guitarist Ged played drums with indie stalwarts Boyracer for several years in the 1990s.

Hiya, tell us a little bit about yourselves

We are an indie pop band from Leeds that likes to play joyous full-on noise with occasional quieter interludes. We’re into bands like The Wedding Present and Action Painting! Ged sings while he fights his guitar into submission. Ste apparently plays bass like he’s being electrocuted. Liz was once described as aloof but has since figured out how to rock it without getting her hair tangled in the keys. Eddy is our dependable metronome as long as no-one feeds him nuts right before a gig (this happened once. Not fun, but he lived to tell the tale). Having released a couple of singles (Seeds of Hopelessness; Hate The Morning/Joanne), we recorded our debut album ‘Knowing Too Much’ in the Brudenell Social Club, which is practically our living room and one of our favourite gig venues. The album was released on Squirrel Records earlier this year. Onstage we’re upbeat, loud and occasionally a little ramshackle so expect some feedback and maybe some falling over.

Tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past

We just played a gig with Jeffrey Lewis and The Junkyard at The Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds, the only gas lit cinema still in use in the UK. The four of us were balanced in a row on a narrow strip between the footlights and the screen. The crowd had to sit and listen quietly; it was great to have a captive audience where the only thing distracting them from watching us was their huge buckets of pop corn. It was a really memorable experience, with the added bonus of then watching Jeff perform with his homemade videos projected onto the big screen.

Do any band members have any particular skills, hobbies or claims to fame you wish to share?

Ged: I am a trained tight rope walker, my dad has worked in the circus for many years and he taught me this very useful skill. Thanks Dad.Liz: I once performed in The Royal Albert Hall. I was seven years old, and I was dressed as a parrot.Ste: I swore onboard the pope mobile.Eddy: My dad runs a religious cult with Blondie's Gary Valentine and Jah Wobble.

What attracted you to play the Indietracks festival?

Indie pop and steam trains, what’s not to love about that? We haven’t been along before, but friends who have say we will fit in well, and lots of them are going again this year so we’re looking forward to having a really good time together. We love indie pop and the people involved; more and more great bands have been added to the bill, so it just keeps getting better. We’re going to fit in as much free train travel as humanly possible. It’d be rude not to...

Exactly! And here's a free Downdime MP3 to download: Knowing Too Much

Indietracks interview #25: Nick Garrie

Three days to go until the festival: three interviews left to bring you! Nick Garrie-Hamilton, better known as Nick Garrie, is a British singer-songwriter best known for his extremely rare 1969 debut album, 'The Nightmare of JB Stanislas', which is considered by many to be an exemplary piece of psychedelic baroque pop. Original copies of the album, which was reportedly only available in France, are known to have been very expensive, and it wasn’t until 2005, when Rev-ola Records issued it, that it was available on CD.

Forty years after this debut, Nick Garrie is back with '49 Arlington Gardens', his long-awaited new album, released on Elefant Records. Nick will play on the outdoor stage on the Sunday afternoon of the festival.

Hi Nick, Indietracks is a pretty unique location - tell us about an unusual place you've played a show in the past
I seem to have played in unusual places most of my life, on mountain tops in the cold setting sun, in little portugese cafes lapped by the sea and last night in a solitary petrol station to a homesick Sri lankan.

Tell us about your plans for this year

September will be 40 years since I recorded Stanislas and Elefant are re-releasing it along with "the cuts" - six songs which never made it onto the album. I've also been recording with Duglas and the BMX Bandits; one session was finished in a little studio up in the hills in northern Portugal and the rest was done in Glasgow over the recent half-term week. It will also include a short memoir I've written called 'I'll read the book'

Do you have any surprises planned for the festival?
If enough kids turn up I'm going to bring them on stage to sing The Clockmaker. And if my lovely daughter is brave enough (from the Twilight video) she'll sing When Evening Comes with me.. a lot of ifs!

What are you looking forward to at the festival?
I'm really looking forward to it and grateful to Luis for asking me. I've played everywhere except festivals and I hope my little songs don't get blown away. I went to boarding school on steam trains and wrote 'Twilight' and 'Nook and Cranny' on trains. I'm looking forward to hearing every band at Indietracks and I wish us all well.

Indietracks interview #24: Le Man Avec Les Lunettes

Le Man Avec Les Lunettes is an Italian project, born in the winter of 2004, arranged as a six-piece band that plays sweet POP with awesome melodies! They have toured Italy and Europe extensively, including trips to France, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

In 2008, after some EPs, split singles, and compilations in different formats, Le Man Avec Les Lunettes released their debut album Plaskaplaskabombelibom in Italy on My Honey records and Zahr records, and in Germany by Cake and Coffee records. We're joined by Alessandro for a quick interview.

Hi, tell us a little bit about yourselves
We started four years ago. In the beginning there was only two people, Ale and Fab. They met during a boring universitylesson and they found they had the same musical taste. Actually we're six in total... with a cello, synths, accordions and so on. So we're happy because now it's much easier to reproduce live the layers of sounds that you can hear in our records !

Tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past
We played at "Tjuren - camp" at the Emmaboda festival 2007 with Utah Rangers/Salty Pirates, g.o.o.f, Emil from Scaredycat, Lätt som en plätt, Milkman, Klas, The Young Untold, The Besties, Rough Bunnies, Kin and The Faintest Ideas (we found the list on Nils Folke Valdemar's website). It was so nice cause we played among tents and all theartists were almost also the audience. During this "handmade" festival there was sun interrupted by rain and then sun again, so artists were in a tent during the rain and outside during the sun - it was really funny!

What exciting things have you been up to so far this year?
Well... in April we toured the UK for the first time (thanks to Liz from the amazing band The School). Also there was a Japanese release of our album "Plaskaplaskabombelibom" in April by Friend of Mine Records. So our plan for the autumn is to organize a tour in Japan... awesome!!!

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at the Indietracks festival?
La Casa Azul, Speedmarket Avenue, Pocketbooks, Camera Obscura, Emmy the Great, Fitness Forever, One Happy Island, Lucky Soul, Little My, and lots more!

Great - see you next weekend!

Indietracks interview #23: Bonne Idée

Formed in a Gothenburg basement in 2006, Bonne Idée are an unsigned band with a modest but promising output. They haven’t released an EP or album yet, and there are only a few songs on their MySpace page which are sung in Swedish and English. ‘Glassbåten’, which can be found on the Birdsongs, Beesongs... Volume A compilation, has an intro that sounds like it could have been lifted straight from Nico’s Chelsea Girl LP as the song has a wonderful melody and delightful accordion. ‘It Will Be Back’, soars with a delightful chorus sung in French complete with ‘ba-ba-ba-ba’s’ bouncing along until the songs end. They are playing a handful of London dates before Indietracks at the Goonite Club, Fortuna Pop and Twee as F....

Hi guys, tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past
At the beginning of the year we played our song Glassbåten in a tram. Trams a bit of a symbol for Gothenburg, where we all live. For us it is the most common way to transport ourself. Here is the video:



Do any band members have any particular skills, hobbies or claims to fame you wish to share?
Olle, the bass player, works as a tramdriver.

What's going to be on your compilation tapes as you travel down to Indietracks?
Abba - Dancing queen, Ted Gärdestad - Fånga en ängel, Håkan Hellström - Himmel blå, himmel blå, Steely Dan - Peg, Studio total - Oh no, El perro del mar - Coming down the hill, The Velvet Underground - There she goes again, Orange juice - Rip it up,

Thanks - look forward to seeing you at the festival!

Indietracks interview #22: Alaska

Alaksa are Torben, Christoph, Patrick, Björn and Carsten, and are based in Hamburg, Germany. They released their debut album 'Nouveau Liberty' on the influential Marsh-Marigold record label in 2005, and also released an EP 'Kings of the Class' on the same label in 1999. The band have dedicated themselves to the fine popsong as a sensitive carrier of beauty and memories. Having said that, Torben's singing is perhaps reminiscent more of the young Billy Corgan than of Stuart Murdoch or even Nick Drake. Torben has joined us today for a quick interview.

Hi, tell us a little bit about yourselves

We are the band Alaska from Hamburg (as there are several bands with the same name all over the world). We started in 1994 (under the name Mrs. Wallace). In 1999 we signed to Marsh-Marigold Records (Hamburg´s eldest indie-pop label). On stage we present a classical line-up (including drums, bass, two guitars, organs). We were influenced by bands such as The Beatles, all bands from Sarah records, The Cure, Belle & Sebastian, The BMX Bandits, Cinerama, The Delgados etc...

What music are you enjoying at the moment?

At the moment we love to listen to: The Draytones, MGMT, The Morning Benders, Friska Viljor, Guillemots, The Divine Comedy, Cinerama, Get Well Soon, Camera Obscura, Pelle Carlberg, Belle & Sebastian, Eugene McGuiness, The Bishops, Benjamin Gibbard, The Deadly Syndrome, The Delgados, Catatonia etc.

Tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past
We once played in the engine's area of an old fire brigade ship at the Hamburg harbour!

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at the Indietracks festival, and why?

We are really looking forward to seeing The BMX Bandits and Camera Obscura, because we love their music and we are big fans. And of course "Nick Garrie" - no explanation needed ;)

Thanks Torben. And here's a free MP3 from the band's 1999 Marsh-Marigold EP: Kings of the Class

Indietracks interview #21: Pocketbooks

You might have spotted that we recently published a full schedule for the festival, so you can see when each band is playing and plan your weekends. The festival will have four stages (including the trains), workshops, a selection of discos after the bands, stalls, and 50+ bands ranging from bright new indiepop bands like Northern Portrait and Bonne Idee to household names like Teenage Fanclub and Camera Obscura. Phew! All things considered, it’s been quite a journey since the first Indietracks event in April 2007, when Slow Down Tallahassee, Tottie and today’s interviewees Pocketbooks played to a hundred or so people on the Ripley station platform.

Pocketbooks will be returning to the festival to play on the indoor stage this year. They’re a pop band from London who recall the melodic sounds of bands like the Housemartins and The Sundays. The band has just released their debut album, Flight Paths (How Does It Feel To Be Loved?), as well as a recent single ‘Footsteps’, which they’re giving away as a free MP3 below.

Hi Emma and Dan, tell us a little bit about the band

Emma: We’re two parts Geordie, one part Haddock, one part typical 1930s suburbia and one part wherever Jonny appeared from. We've been playing as a band for a few years now and even managed to get an album together which is coming out this week just in time for Indietracks (massive plug!).

What music are you enjoying at the moment?

Emma: I can’t stop listening to the new Liechtenstein album - it’s brilliant! But apart from that, a lot of rockabilly stuff.

Dan: I have been listening to "the poor man's Captain Beefheart" Tom Waits, getting my ear bent for not listening to Liechtenstein enough and fixating on 60s pop (again...).

Tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past

Dan: We recently played at the Big Pink Cake indiepop weekender, which was in a cinema. We had the film "Bicyclettes de Belsize" showing on a big screen behind us as we played. It was really exciting to have them allow us to do that, the film felt as though it was made just for us to play along to!

Emma: Except we all had our backs to the audience at certain points because we wanted to watch the film! We also played out the front of Hornsey Town Hall once, to an assortment of bemused Saturday shoppers and confused kids. Oh, and Jonny has played a rendition of the Bob The Builder song to primary school kids!

Do you have any exciting plans for the rest of the year?

Dan: Well there’s the aforementioned album coming out. Then we’re recording a Jonathan Richman cover, and off to do some shows in Berlin, Glasgow and Nottingham. Then maybe we’ll have a bit of a rest to watch some telly.

Do any band members have any particular skills, hobbies or claims to fame you wish to share?

Dan: Emma can mimic any TV advert jingle you should choose. My favourite is Calgon.

Emma: Dan has an ability to make ageing rock stars laugh, most recently Robert Plant.

What's going to be on your compilation tapes as you travel down to Indietracks?

Emma: Hmm, probably the Indietracks compilation, so I can sing along to the bands and look all knowledgeable at the festival!

Dan: I'll be revisiting some old favourites from the nuggets set, maybe a bit of Slade and some old ska records.

Do you have any surprises planned for the Indietracks festival?

Emma: We have a special guest joining us on tambourine this year. If you knew who it was, you might understand how this could potentially steal the show!

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at the Indietracks festival, and why?

Emma: Art Brut, Mighty Mighty, Teenage Fanclub, Northern Portrait, The Specific Heats, Friends, The Smittens, and the lovely Elefant bands of course. Just about everyone really! Oh, and my entire family, who have all decided to come along this year and pull faces at me from the audience.

Thanks! And here’s a free MP3 of their recent single: Footsteps

Indietracks interview #20: The Understudies

It's now just over a week the festival opens its gates! Hopefully you've now booked those travel tickets, blagged the Friday off work, and found somewhere to sleep (not forgetting our handy accommodation quiz of course). So you can now sit back and relax as we continue to get you better acquainted with some of this year’s line-up.

The Understudies are Brian, Bree, Graeme and Kris; a London collective, by way of Scotland, who make the kind of dreamy indiepop that Felt peddled in their prime, tinged with a caustic wit last seen dribbling from Luke Haines’ mouth. The band released a single, Flicknives, on Cloudberry Records which was described by Indie MP3 as follows: “"If you have ever fallen for bands like The Magnetic Fields, Camera Obscura and Butcher Boy - you'll be right at home with The Understudies and their beautifully presented indiepop. 'Flicknives' is one of those pop songs that manages to drill itself into your brain - making itself comfortable and refusing to leave - it's fabulous little song and one I can't stop listening to. They're a cracking little band"

Graeme and Bree have kindly popped by to answer a few questions:

Hi, tell us a bit about yourselves...

Graeme: The Understudies are Anglo-Scottish melodic indie pop, we're still unsure if twee is an insult. Bree does have a stuffed fox but the rest of us fantasise about being in Grinderman, we have a glock but Brian has a big muff. Our influences go from Arab Strap to Sixties girl groups to Scott Walker, and Brian likes Guns and Roses but we don't talk about that.

Bree: Graeme and I met working in a bookshop, actually that's a bit of a Rock Family Tree story as there are three other people playing this year's Indietracks who have worked there too, bizarre! A railway-related Understudies fact is that singer Brian works on South-West trains when he's not being a quiffed rock god, so if any of the steam train drivers need a hand.....maybe not a good idea after too much fizzy pop though. To sum up, I think that if The Understudies were a song we'd probably be The Rubettes by The Auteurs.

What music are you enjoying at the moment?

Bree: Some of the bands I'm enjoying at the moment have ended up playing Indietracks, which is really exciting for me, like Cats on Fire and Wake the President. I've also just bought The Leisure Society, Grizzly Bear and Jarvis' new album. I have to have a physical copy, I've never downloaded anything in my life, I can't bear not having an inlay card to obsess over.

Do any band members have any particular skills, hobbies or claims to fame you wish to share?

Bree:

I ended up joining Aberfeldy a few years ago when the girls in the band left. I helped them out with some summer festivals in Scotland but, what with me living in London, logistics meant that it wasn't to be. I was a massive fan so it felt very odd but I had an amazing time. It's always funny when I hear Summer's Gone on that bingo advert now....

Graeme: Many years ago I once went on holiday to France with a group of people including Eddie Izzard. I chronically name dropped him for years afterwards until one day I saw him walking towards me down the street, I ran into a nearby hat shop because I was scared he would or maybe wouldn't recognise me. He followed me in and started looking at trilbys. I bravely looked at some bowlers for ten minutes. Moral: never go on holiday with your heroes.

What attracted you to play the Indietracks festival?

Bree: Indie pop and steam trains, are you kidding?! We love the sentiment behind the whole thing as well, it just seems really down-to-earth. There are so many great bands out there who don't get the exposure they deserve and not everyone wants to go and not-quite-see The Killers whilst being crushed and sodden. Brian got in contact last year and we nearly ended up playing but missed out. I was having kittens when we were asked to play this year, I still can't believe it. It's going to be an amazing weekend!

Indietracks interview # 16: Camera Obscura

Today’s the first day of July, which means that the festival is taking place this month! It seems like forever ago when we announced back in February that Camera Obscura would be one of this year’s headliners, so it’s brilliant that we only have to wait another few more weeks to see them play as the sun sets on the Saturday night.

Camera Obscura have become such household names that on a recent trip to the US, we found a feature on them in every newspaper we looked at (here's Tracyanne on the cover of the Boston Metro!). The band were formed in 1996 by Tracyanne Campbell, John Henderson, and Gavin Dunbar, and have since received high acclaim for their sophisticated, melancholic and uplifting pop songs. They released their debut album Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi in 2001, and a second album, Underachievers Please Try Harder, on Elefant Records the following year.

In 2006, the band released Let’s Get out of This Country, produced by Jari Haapalainen and again released on Elefant Records. The album appeared high up in many critical lists of the ‘best albums of 2006’ and featured the classic floor-filling pop anthem Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken. In February 2009, it was announced that Camera Obscura had signed to the legendary indie label 4AD, who released their fourth album, called My Maudlin Career, in April 2009.

Gavin Dunbar, the band’s bassist (and guest DJ at a 2007 Indietracks Christmas event!), joins us for today’s interview.

Hi Gavin, Elefant Records are curating a stage at this year's festival. What was it like being part of the Elefant family?
We felt very lucky when we signed to Elefant, they were big fans of our first record, having licensed it for Spain, and welcomed us into the label. They became good friends of ours. It is inspiring to see people so genuinely enthusiastic about music and the bands they release records by. They put in so much effort to what they do, and you can tell that from the artwork of the releases and packaging to they way they keep in touch with the fans of the label. It really is like a family there.

How did you approach the recording of the new album, following the success of Let's Get Out Of This Country?
We knew we'd made a substantial jump forward with Let's Get Out Of This Country, being the first time we'd made a whole album with a producer, and feeling that we'd progressed a fair bit both as a band and as players. The basic approach was the same as it usually is, getting a collection of songs we're happy with together and rehearsing them up to the point where we feel ready to go into a studio. We knew we wanted to work with Jari the producer again, partly because we felt he brought out the best in us, and partly because we knew he wouldn't want to just make another record the same as the last. We worked away on the songs in Glasgow and then Jari came over a few times for pre-production work in rehearsals, and suggested a few things, then it was off to Sweden to record over a fairly intense two week period. We've always basically recorded live, and then added a few overdubs if they were required, so we're quite used to going in and getting the basic tracks down as live takes, including the vocals. It seems the best way to work for us, you can tell fairly quickly when you get a take with the best feel for the song.

You're very active Tweeters! Has the relationship between the band and its fans changed as a result?
I think we've always been quite good at trying to keep in touch with the folk who come and see us or buy the records. I guess as ways to keep fans up to date with what you're up to evolve, it’s nice to be on top of them. We do like to have active myspace, facebook and twitter things going on as well as the band website. And for those people not keen on technology, we still keep the snail mail PO Box alive so folk can correspond to us in the old fashioned way.

We hear the band have recently given up their jobs to pursue the band full-time. How easy has it been to adapt to being a full-time band?
It’s been great for us. We've been through long period of basically being full-time, but also trying to juggle full and part-time jobs on top of the band, that’s the hard thing. Being full-time with the band and not having to fit in another job on top is fantastic. We actually get to sleep sometimes now.

What music are you enjoying at the moment?
The new M Ward album has been enjoyed by the band. We're loving playing with Agent Ribbons who have been supporting us in the States this tour, we'd highly recommend checking them out, and we're looking forward to playing with Anni Rossi on the second leg of the trip, we really enjoyed playing with her recently in New York.

What attracted the band to play the Indietracks festival?
It’s such a great grassroots festival, organized by people who have a real love of the bands they ask to play, and the people that go to the festival are real music fans, the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly plus you get a go on the steam trains. Who wouldn't want to play. We were disappointed not to have been able to play the last couple of years, but band weddings and pre-booked Spanish festivals meant we weren't able to. I did come down to DJ at the Christmas event in 2007, which was great fun. We're really looking forward to getting down and having a hang about.

Do you approach playing at festivals in a different way to other gigs?
I guess you have to a wee bit. I think we've got better at festival sets over the past couple of years, you don't want it to be all upbeat fast pop songs, you like a bit of variety, but it makes sense at festivals to build a set round the songs you know the people who like you really want to hear, and people who maybe don't know are going to enjoy hearing for the first time.

What's the most unusual place you've played a gig in the past?
It’s got to be the venue we played in Mexico City in 2007, the Polyforum. We played inside the world's largest mural, which was pretty amazing as a backdrop all round us, and we hadn't really known what to expect when we arrived, and the place was rammed to the rafters, so a fantastic night was had by all.

Thanks Gavin – look forward to seeing you at the festival!

Indietracks interview #11: BMX Bandits

Wow, what a week it's been! First, we were able to share with you the great news that Teenage Fanclub will be headlining the Sunday night on the outdoor (Elefant) stage at the festival. Then, last night BBC Radio 1's Huw Stephens played a few tracks from this year's Indietracks compilation on his show. The compilation is available now from Make Do And Mend Records, which was Huw's DIY label of the week this week!

And, if that's not enough, today we are joined for an interview by Duglas T. Stewart from Glaswegian 60s-influenced guitar pop legends BMX Bandits! The band have been making music from 1986 to the present day, and have shared members with other Bellshill bands, including Teenage Fanclub and The Soup Dragons. The band were formed by Duglas (songwriter and lead singer) out of the ashes of The Pretty Flowers, a group in which he played alongside Frances McKee (later of The Vaselines), Sean Dickson and Norman Blake. The group have had many line up changes throughout the years. Their songs mix melodic qualities and humour with, at times, raw and heartbreaking pathos. Stewart has written many of the group’s works solo including “Your Class”, “The Sailor’s Song” and “Doorways” but also has collaborated with many of the other members.

The group’s most celebrated song is perhaps the autobiographical “Serious Drugs”, recorded in 1991 but not released until 1993. The song featured in the movie This Year’s Love and was covered by American stadium power pop group Gigolo Aunts. Oasis did their first UK tour dates supporting the Bandits as a favour from Stewart to Creation label boss Alan McGee. BMX Bandits admirers include Kurt Cobain who was photographed wearing a BMX Bandits T shirt. Cobain claimed on a New York radio show that if he could be in any other band it would be BMX Bandits.

The band released their 15th album 'Bee Stings' in 2007, and will release a retrospective compilation later this year.

Hi Duglas, you're releasing a compilation this year with some new and old songs. Why did you feel now is the right time for a retrospective?
Well a few years ago there was a retrospective album of "the best of" the stuff we did while on Creation records but that is only 4 years out of 24 years of BMX Bandits history so I wanted to release something that covered the times before then and after. A lot of those early tracks are no longer available and it seems that there are some people who haven't got those recordings who want them. I wanted to put some other things on there that I love that we've done but weren't part of an album. The compilation is called The Rise and Fall of Bmx Bandits because it's the tracks that lead us from obscurity to being on Creation and Sony, but also the tracks after we left Creation and went back into obscurity. I think we're very lucky to be back in the fringes where we can do what we want to do, what we believe in and not having the pressure of a label asking "where are the hits?".

Tell us about the current line-up of BMX Bandits.
BMX Bandits has always been more like an extended family of musical family rather than the conventional of these four or five people are the group. There are people who play with the group regularly but it's not always exactly the same people doing the same thing. I like that, it keeps shows feeling fresh. A few years ago Rachel became the first lady Bandit and it also meant I don't feel so lonely now out on the front of the stage. I have a friend there with me.

What music are you enjoying at the moment?
A lot of my favourite current music comes from Japan. I particularly love Tenniscoats, Nikaidoh Kazumi and a group called Eddie Marcon. I also listen to lots Brazilian, Italian and French pop from the late 60s and early 70s. I'm a big fan of a lot of songs originally written for children, stuff from early Disney things, Schoolhouse Rock educational songs, the Muppets and Sesame Street.
I love Cineplexx from Spain and a singer from Korea called YeonGene. I'm very happy because I've been lucky enough to work with some of these people.

What's the most unusual place you've played a gig in the past?
In 1995 we played in Barlinie Prison in Glasgow to some of the prisoners. The week before that we played in a Cathedral with the cathedral choir and organist and the week after we played to a conference of Japanese business men in Glasgow. Those three concerts were pretty surreal. The cathedral one was brilliant, the other two were less brilliant but still fun.

What attracted you to play the Indietracks festival?
We learned about it from Luis at Elefant Records and the type of location and bands playing seemed to be very appropriate to us. I don't like these big corporate festivals where it seems at least 75% of the people don't care about music and are just there to say they were there and to get wasted.

Do you have any surprises planned for the festival?
Yes, but they wouldn't be surprises if I told you now.

Thanks Duglas! And here's an MP3 he's kindly made available for you to download: Do You Really Love Me

Indietracks interview #10: The Lovely Eggs

This week brings the publication of the final issue of the Plan B magazine. They’ve been fantastically supportive of our festival over the last couple of years, and really understood what we we’re trying to do, so we’re very sorry to see them go and wish everyone there all the best. The final issue even includes an Indietracks-related interview with our Saturday headliners Camera Obscura on the festival previews page!

And, coincidentally, the last issue of Plan B also carries an album review of today’s blog interviewees, The Lovely Eggs! David and Holly played their first ever gig in New York City about two years ago and since then have played across the UK, USA and Europe, including on the steam train at Indietracks in 2007. Their song "I Like Birds but I Like Other Animals Too" received airplay on some top BBC radio shows, including Huw Stephens, Steve Lamacq, Rob Da Bank and Marc Riley (who invited them down to record a live session).

Holly used to be in the all-girl indiepop band Angelica, who received massive acclaim for songs like "Teenage Girl Crush,", and who once recorded a session for John Peel. The Lovely Eggs’ debut CD album, If You Were Fruit, was released on Cherryade Records this week!

Hi, tell us a little bit about The Lovely Eggs
The Lovely Eggs are David and Holly. We started playing music together in Paris when we discovered a pigeon had laid two lovely eggs in an abandoned nest on Holly’s windowsill. When the eggs finally hatched, we travelled to live above a jewellery shop in Lancaster in the North West of England, where we formed The Lovely Eggs! We played our first ever gig in New York in 2006. David travels around with a unique drumcycle with handlebars on the front so he can drum and bike at the same time. He also plays the bicycle bell and squeaky horn and things like the glockenspiel, ukelele and slightly wonky recorders. Holly sings and plays the guitar. And sometimes she hits a drum with a wooden stick with wool tied around the end. David made it for her because he likes making things.Last year we released 2 vinyl EPs (one split called 'I Like Birds But I Like Other Animals Too' on Filthy Little Angels and one called 'Have You Ever Heard The Lovely Eggs?' on Cherryade Records.) We played quite a few gigs and drunk too much cider and then recovered and wrote and recorded a new album called 'If You Were Fruit' which came out on Cherryade Records at the start of June, where we will get back on the wheel all over again and go on tour and drink too much cider and torture our brains and make our ribs ache with laughing! Incidentally, we are both addicted in an unhealthy way to Garstang Blue cheese.

Tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past
The most unusual place we have ever played is in a scrap yard in Los Angeles. We got asked to play this gig at a place called the Death Shack. Naturally we said yes, yes yes! To cut a long story short, when we arrived at the place it was like this big party in a scrap yard! There was junk all over the place like Steptoe's yard and we had to stop ourselves shouting 'ragbone!' all the time. They had a barbeque and there was shrimp tacos and it was dark like in a David Lynch film and then David went missing for like nearly and hour and I (Holly) was having kittens about where he was. I was having a cold sweat and having visions of him being murdered by those American serial killers of theirs who so often frequent american scrap yards called The Death Shack! But eventually I found him in a man's gem rock museum which was hidden away from the scrapyard in disguise! The man gave David a volcano bubble which he smashed and there was all these sparkly crystals inside and we had a yatter about dinosaurs and things of yore. Yes that gig was quite unusual that one was!

Do any band members have any particular skills, hobbies or claims to fame you wish to share?
Well David once went out with a girl who used to be in the St Winifred’s School Choir who did Grandma We Love You! and Holly can make her tongue go in the shape of a shamrock for good luck!

What attracted you to play the Indietracks festival?
Well we played the very first Indietracks fest. We think it was one of our first gigs when we were just hatching. We remember seeing it advertised and really, really liking the cut of its jib and wanting to play so we emailed Stuart and asked to play at short notice and the man from Del Monte said yes! And we ended up playing a little set on one of the steam trains. It was ace. We saw so many good bands playing there and the ambience was fan dabby dosey! We love drinking Strongbow on trains so it suited us down to the ground. We camped it up on the campsite down the road and met some lovely people, including a fab couple called Helen and Steve who we bonded with over a love of the Mike Leigh film Nuts in May. In fact Helen makes all our stuff for The Lovely Eggs Post Office. Last year we were away in America when the festival was happening but we made sure we were around for it this year. We suppose we just love the smallness of it and the music of course and the trains and its obscureness. We wouldn't miss it for two dozen corn on the cobs with red sauce on top!

Thanks very much - see you at the festival!

Indietracks interview #9: Cooper

Well, by the time you read this, June will probably have arrived, which means that the festival is next month! So we’ve only a short space of time to bring you all the important news, silly quizzes, fun interviews and other random offerings we have planned for the blog between now and the start of the festival. Let’s crack on sharpish then, starting with one of the fantastic collection of Spanish bands that will be performing on the Elefant Records stage in July.

Cooper is the solo project of Alex Diez, who previously led Spain’s premier mod-beat band, Los Flechazos, during the 1990s. The band released six LPs, including two on the Elefant label, made sixty television appearances and played concerts and festivals across Europe. They achieved huge popularity in Spain with their mixture of 60s pop and American soul complete with Spanish lyrics.

Since the band split, Alex has continued to make music, releasing two albums and eight singles on Elefant under the name Cooper. A third album, Aeropuerto, will be released this year.

Hi Alex, tell us a little bit about yourself.
I live in Leon, Spain, and in the 80s/90s I was in a mod/sixties band called Los Flechazos (we even released two 7”s on the Detour label). In 2000, I started this solo project, Cooper, with my friends. We play powerpop with a strong sixties feel and lots of vocal harmonies, but with a contemporary sound, I guess. To make things a bit clearer, when we toured Germany the owner of a club in Ulm told us: “You are great, you sound so English, well… Scottish actually!”. I play guitar, Mario is the other guitar player, Dani plays bass and Nacho is the drummer. We all sing. We’ve released records on Elefant - mostly EPs and singles - and we’ll be coming to Indietracks with a new album, called Aeropuerto.

What music are you enjoying at the moment?
Ben Kweller, Panic at the Disco, Brendan Benson, Last Shadow Puppets, Josh Rosue, Jellybricks… and we also love older records from Mayflies USA, Teenage Fanclub, Velvet Crush, Lemonheads, The Lolas…

Tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past
We have played in open air festivals, clubs, TV and radio sets, theatres and discos, but probably the most unusual place is an old church in the beautiful city of Toledo.

Do you have any exciting plans for the rest of the year?
2009 is the 20th anniversary of Elefant, the 10th anniversary of Cooper and my personal anniversary of 25 years playing in bands. We are doing all the pop summer festivals in Spain plus Indietracks, which will be a highlight for sure. We are also planning a crazy “virtual” tour - a web tour of eight dates with special videos shown on music websites -and releasing our first DVD for Christmas.

Do any band members have any particular skills, hobbies or claims to fame you wish to share?
Well, Mario can dance northern soul with a pint of beer ON his head, and Dani is able to travel more than four hours in the van without saying a word. Nacho spends at least 40 minutes arranging his hairdo (and sideburns!!). I am a dull and simple lad, cannot tell water from champagne.

What's going to be on your compilation tapes as you travel down to Indietracks?
Badfinger, Small Faces, Belle and Sebastian, The Action, The Delgados, Buzzcocks, Fountains of Wayne, Gigolo Aunts, Primary Five, Rubinoos, Whiteout….

Do you have any surprises planned for the Indietracks festival?
As our set is completely in Spanish, we will play two or three songs in English for your audience.

What attracted you to play the Indietracks festival?
First of all the festival itself, and it will be a very special celebration for Luis and Montse from Elefant, we are very happy for them. And it will be an adventure, a kaleidoscopic trip from the sun to the fun.

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at the Indietracks festival, and why?
We always love to play with our friends Cola Jet Set, who are great, and La Casa Azul, another terrific act from Barcelona. And we love Lucky Soul and Camera Obscura. We will check the other bands on Myspace to have more information in advance, so we can enjoy ourselves 100%.

Great, thanks Alex. Look forward to seeing you at the festival!

Indietracks interview #6: Butcher Boy

Phew, it's been a busy few weeks at Indietracks towers. You'll hopefully have seen the recent additions to the line-up and we've also announced which bands are playing on which days. And, we've announced the details of this year's Indietracks compilation CD (44 tracks for just £6!). It's just ten weeks to the festival now, and we've lots more interviews, quizzes, announcements and features to bring you on the blog before then, so do stay around!

Today we're joined by Basil, guitarist from ornate orchestral octet Butcher Boy. The band has existed in its current form since early 2005, but lead singer John Blain Hunt has played in various incarnations of the band since the late 1990s. In 2006, the band recorded their debut album at CaVa Sound in Glasgow with Geoff Allan, and the band were signed to London label How Does It Feel To Be Loved? in the same year. They appeared on the 2006 HDIF compliation, 'The Kids At The Club', and their debut album, 'Profit In Your Poetry', followed in March that year. Earlier this year, the band released their second album “React Or Die” in April to genuine acclaim - not least the 5/5 reviews in the Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph!


Hi Basil, tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past

Butcher Boy kind of specialise in playing unusual places as getting away from regular music venues can make the experience better for everyone involved – hence the attraction of Indietracks. One of the favourite places we’ve played is the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall in Glasgow. Opened in the 1880s the music hall lay derelict from 1937 until the mid 1990s when a trust was set up to restore it to use. In it’s heyday it ran variety bills and was one of the first theatres in Glasgow to show movies – it wasn’t the most genteel of places and the audiences were notorious for being extremely boisterous. Today you enter the Panopticon via an amusement arcade at street level, like a seaside pier stranded in the middle of town, and that journey from the street, through the arcade and up the staircase to the theatre quickly re-sets your perceptions and prepares you for a world of other possibilities….

It’s wonderfully atmospheric place and even in its partially-restored state you can still get a sense of what it must have been like in its heyday. The house piano is a haunted pianola named George that slams it’s lid on the fingers of people it doesn’t like. Our Alison got on fine with George… We filmed the end sequence of the video to our song ‘A Better Ghost’ there – it felt really special to have the theatre to ourselves that day. You can just see in the video that we were blindfolded while ‘playing’ for the dancing couple, like some elaborate knife throwing act.

There’s always something worth seeing at the Panopticon, in particular the regular Laurel & Hardy film nights – Stan Laurel famously made his stage debut there, so check it out if you’re in town! http://www.britanniapanopticon.org/

Do you have any exciting plans for the rest of the year?

We haven’t thought much beyond Indietracks this summer, but before then we have a very special event booked. Our John is a real cineaste and on June 14th we combine his two great interests when we play a live score to the movie ‘Chick’s Day’* at the Glasgow Film Theatre Chick’s Day is the work of the largely forgotten Scots/Italian amateur film maker Enrico Cocozza. Cocozza made around sixty short films in the late 1950s/early 1960s that were self funded, with performers and technicians drawn from his home town of Wishaw. All the films were silent, although occasionally dialogue was dubbed on later. Many of the films were comic; however Chick’s Day is a seriously adult-themed piece that reminds me of elements of the film adaptations of Allan Sillitoe’s novels, but with a touch of surrealism. The score is being specially written for the film and we’ll play a set of songs afterwards. Being able to do this is a real treat as the GFT is a great favourite of the band. Tickets available now… just go to June 14th here: https://tickets.glasgowfilmtickets.org.uk/public/

*Chick is a common Scottish diminution of Charles – nothing to do with the ladies…although guys that get called Chick do tend to be a bit on the wide side.

Do any band members have any particular skills, hobbies or claims to fame you wish to share?

Special Indietracks railway-related Butcher Boy facts:

1. Basil once worked for British Rail in the signal & telegraph stores at Irvine and that job paid for his Guild Duane Eddy guitar.
2. The Glasgow subway runs directly under Alison’s house, and she often dreams about it. Once, she dreamed that she got to ride in the cab of a subway train, and to see the mysterious depot... which turned out to be a gigantic subterranean funfair, all decorated in the standard
beige-and-brown. Once they got to the depot, the trains turned into rollercoasters, corkscrewing and looping-the-loop over the heads of the drivers who were on their lunch breaks below. And then the trains would slow down, go back into the tunnels and roll along to Govan station as if were the most boring thing in the world.
3. Findlay is a railway poster nut and subscribes to Railwayana Magazine to feed his addiction.
4. Fraser was born in Milngavie to the North of Glasgow, the home of the George Bennie Railplane – a crazy-looking prototype propeller-driven monorail built in 1930. It never took off (in the metaphorical sense).
5. John is hopelessly romantic about train travel and insisted that Butcher Boy travelled to their first two London shows by train.
6. Aoife’s viola predates the invention of the steam train (tenuous)
7. Robert gets the train to work (struggling now)
8. Maya can whistle the tune Casey Jones backwards (ok, I made up that one)


What attracted you to play the Indietracks festival?

We needed to get out more. And our Fraser played Indietracks last year with The Just Joans and said we’d enjoy it, that it was our kind of thing - a bit quirky, honest fun - so when the call came we couldn’t say no. And name another festival that puts on steam train rides?

Thanks Basil. And the band have kindly given us a free song for you to download: Carve A Pattern


Next up: Roy Moller

Indietracks interview #5: Ste McCabe

May has now arrived, and hopefully you’ve all had a fantastic bank holiday weekend. We spent Sunday in the park catching up with the papers, and were pleased to see one of our Indietracks headliners Au Revoir Simone getting high praise from the NME and single of the week in the Guardian. (Actually, we saw the NME item when browsing the shelves of the local library. And by library, we actually mean Tesco Local. But, hey, it still counts!). Au Revior Simone are playing at Bush Hall on Wednesday, so keep your peepers peeled for the Indietracks flyering team!

Today, our series of interviews continues with Ste McCabe. Ste blends big punk guitars and retro-style beats/electro with a sarcastic, angry, and often hilarious view of the world. His debut album Hate Mail wowed musos and audiences around the country, full to the brim with homophobe-baiting, pro-feminist, anti-church, fun and angry pop music.

Hi Ste, tell us a little bit about yourself

I am a one-man, political queer-feminist drum machine/distorted guitar/musical terrorist from Liverpool, based in Manchester. I sing songs about racist chavs, murderous religious folk and anyone else of a narrow-minded, homophobic, sexist persuasion in the hope of making them cry, and I am proud to say that I have, hooray!

Tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past

I played Homotopia gay arts festival in Liverpool last year with two drag queens, one who was dressed as a cabbage singing Shirley Basset songs and another one who's head was on fire. Needless to say I was the odd one out.

Do you have any exciting plans for the rest of the year?

My second album called "Murder Music" is coming out on Cherryade in September. I am sure the politically correct will accuse me of religious ignorance on this record, but I figure if Christians can claim that discriminating against gay people is a basic human right and Islamic states can legalise my throat being cut for being queer then I have the right to respond. I plan some very fetching dressing up in religious clothing with Hitler moustaches on the record sleeve, and I can't wait for the Daily Mail to review it.

And finally, who are you most looking forward to seeing at the Indietracks festival, and why?

That has got to be The Lovely Eggs. I've seen them lots of times and played with them once or twice, but they are one of the few bands I know who are truly original and so much fun live. They're lovely people too, what more could you want?

Thanks very much! And Ste’s kindly provided a free MP3 which you can download from the following link: Huyton Scum

Next up: Butcher Boy