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EDITORIAL LETTER
WELCOME TO FAUX SURE, WE WERE STARTED AS AN OUTLET FOR NEW TALLENT AND PRIDE OURSELVES ON PROMOTING JOURNALISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS AND ILLUSTRATORS, AMONGST OTHERS. FAUX SURE AIMS TO COMMUNICATE THE LATEST IN NEW MUSIC, FASHION AND STUFF FROM THE ARTWORLD AND WELCOMES FEEDBACK FROM YOU, THE READER. WE HOPE YOU FIND OUR CONTENT BOTH ENDERING AND INVIGORATING AND GROW A LITTLE WITH US AS WE BEGIN THIS exhilarating journey into the unknown.
Chief editor, Jack Mitchell x
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S T N E T N O C GOOD SHOES P13-18 THE GOOD NATURED P27/28
KATE TEMPEST P23-26
MEET THE TEAM P4/5 TWISTED WHEEL P6-12
WE HAVE BAND P19-22 LIBERTINES REFORM P65-68 two
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BIKE POLO P54-56 FIXED GEAR P47-52 VAS KARPETES P53
TINHEAD P35-42
REVIEWS P69-73 TAPEDECK P74
BLACKPOOL IN COLOUR P43-46
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MEET THE TEAM
Possessing an unhealthy obsession of all vehicles two wheeled and engineless, Jack Mitchell works part time courier full time diary keeper. Fresh out of education Jack is as yet unsullied from a journalistic career and begins his journey here with us.
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A misleading photograph of Faux Sure’s most introvert contributor. Whilst Jack Mitchell would love to take you to Pleasure Island he’ll more then likely bail, offering instead, detailed directions and factual knowledge of local landmarks along the way. He is our in house photographer.
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Whilst many describe those who sport the goatee as ‘daring’ Faux Sure’s word of choice, whilst also beginning with a D shall not be printed. A bold look, unarguably, Jack Mitchell puts his facial muff to good use, scouring bushes from here to Timbuktu in search of that rarest of finds, fellow exhibitionists.
Equal opportunities - the newest buzz phrase. We want to play along too, so here he is, our very own 1980’s gym hound. Sporting daily, a batwing t-shirt and sweatband, Jack Mitchell, along with his throwback tash, motivates the office into a fast food based diet. [well it beats looking like a twat] five
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INTERVIEW TWISTED WHEEL LIVERPOOL ACADEMY 3RD APRIL 2010 After being welcomed into the changing room of the most opinionated band in modern music the interview begins somewhat accidently as I’m told to grab myself a beer from their rider.
Its a year since your debut album came out, what have you been up to?
So it’s making its way into the set still? Adam: Yeah, erm we’ve been on tour all year really started off in Japan erm we supported Jet for a week in Japan then our own show at the end of it in Tokyo and the we got home, had a few days off and been doing this tour ever since really, got about another four weeks of this left and then we’re going into the studio demoing our new album, sorting out what’s going on what’s not going on
Rick: Yeah yeah yeah, people who were there at the beginning, they still love it and that Adam: Sometimes it’s just good bringing old songs back in ‘cos it’s like (…ponders for a second, as if something meaningful may spew from his facial cavity) I dunno, why not? What’s your favourite song to play live?
[this next statement highlights the importance of extensive research prior to an interview] Your new song, Big Issue Adam: …That’s an old choon that people just don’t know it ‘cos like it’s a really really old one that’s never really… we’ve just started doing it again, No plans to add it in on the new album? Adam: (shouts) Has big issue ever been on anything? Rick: It was a B-side on the first ever single we did which was like a limited edition vinyl sort
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of thing, so it’s not that well known really
Adam: It changes from night to night really, you go through like phases of liking different choons, but I think ‘Oh what have you done’ is definitely a favourite one, ‘you stole the sun’ is like a proper crowd pleaser, that’s quite an early choon as well but, I think, me personally, I’m more into the punk stuff at the moment Do you find the home support of a Manchester crowd more supporting? Adam: Erm, yeah it’s really good ‘cos it’s like your own crowd, its like an instant easy gig though innit ‘cos you’ve just got tons of people who’ve like followed you round for years but
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music it’s always good to play at home definitely Rick: Sometimes when you play in like weird places, like we played in Elgin in Scotland last week and that was just like a small town right in the north of Scotland and that was just fuckin’ mental, ‘cos they don’t really get that many bands there, like we played in Margate as well and everyone just goes fuckin’ mad, it’s top, they love it you know, they really appreciate bands goin’ round those sort of places Your first album was recorded in L.A and produced by Dave Sardy, how much influence did he have over the final product? Adam: Erm… I think every producer’s gunna have an influence on your final sound, we wanted a stripped down sound, we dint want you know, loadsa synthesizers on it, you know too much over does it, he’s definitely put his sound on it but it’s quite raw and stripped back anyway so Following on from your EPs the album sounds less stripped down Rick: I dunno, I just think that’s how, I don’t think that was him tryna make it like a false sound, I just think that’s where we were at that moment of time and that’s just what, you know, the natural progression of the band and that’s the sort of direction we went in You’ve supported some pretty big acts Oasis and Paul Weller to name a few - How did the Oasis gigs at Heaton Park come about? Adam: Err, noel saw us on channel M which is a Manchester based TV program, which basically showcase bands and stuff like that and he saw us on that and invited us on so, yeah Are you mates with them?
all we did last year was supported so it’s good to do our own stuff, we get local bands in and just like give everyone a go at it, ‘cos we get like a lot of requests constantly, like ‘can we support you, can you support us?’ like Facebook and Myspace and like get as many bands in as we can really, it’s better that way really Rick: It was hard when we were startin’ out we were always tryna get support gigs and that wi’ touring bands and we never really got the chance ‘cos it were really hard to get on ‘em so we always say we’ll give people a chance and help new bands out and that
announce them
Do you pick your own support?
Jonny: Jack, Jonny, [offering a hand shake] nice to meet you
Rick: Yeah yeah, we just, loads of people contact us and we sort of go through ‘em and see what you think would go down best and that and the sort of stuff we like People compare you to the Jam, a massive compliment, you also get mentioned alongside the Courteeners, with your sounds being very different does this irritate you?
Rick: Not really Not compared to as such, but it seems impossible for people to mention one without mentioning the other Rick: Yeah, I just think it’s ‘cos we both came out at the same time, both from the same place, I think if they were from London or what ‘av ya then we wouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath you know Your debut album was self-titled, is there a reason behind this?
Rick: Yeah
Is there anyone you’d love to support or have support you?
You’ve played Leeds fest and Glastonbury in the past, any festival plans this summer?
Adam: Erm, have support us or us support? Err I don’t know really
Adam: Err
Adam: We’ve supported to many people now,
Jonny: Sorry mate you’re here for the interview right? Yeah yeah, no worries Rick: That’s jack
[The interview continues] What’s your most memorable gig? Jonny: Gmex with the Mondays, first big gig we ever did, you know the Gmex in Manchester? [I nod in agreement]
Adam: Us and them are very different sounding bands, there’s… you can… I dunno, there’s a comparison in that we’re from the same city but not really like I dunno… have we ever been compared to the Couteeners?
Adam: I don’t go round there’s for like a brew or owt, but no, we were on tour with ‘em for like 2 months so, yeah, it was like, ‘cos you’re eatin’ food, you all go to the catering at the same time and sit round and that so chat about stuff then, they’re all dead nice guys like, they probably wouldn’t wanna hang round with me
Rick: I think, we’ve supported that many
[Jonny burst through the door in an apologetic manner [several minutes late, I think I’m more embarrassed that I the interview began somewhat accidently in his absence]]
Adam: No [laughs] I don’t think…we just weren’t in the mood to come up with some clever arsed like…thing for it, there just didn’t seem the need
Rick: Erm, not sure yet, not sure, got a few like few smaller ones like Dot to Dot and Why not festival, but erm, they’re always quite good but err I dunno about the big ones yet, can’t
That’s good, it’s a venue I always wanted to play like, saw oasis there in ’96 when they were just massive and they had all the lights and all that, we played there, that was the first gig, just before we got a record deal that we didn’t realize how big our following was though at the time, we just walked on to the stage and the whole place just roared for us like Do you feel a difference playing the big venues to the small ones? Jonny: Yeah, like when you’re in small venues it’s like shit sound and it’s hot and sweaty but its mint ‘cos you’ve got people who are right in your face and that and you can buzz off, you feed off the people you know off like, at one minute near the end of the gig you’ve done like an hour set and you get a bit tired and you just look at some guy at the front goin’ mad and you just liven up again Adam: ‘Cos Heaton Park was probably the best gig we’ve even done ‘cos of the size of the park, that gig was amazing but the crowd was so far away that that wasn’t there at all it was just that complete alienation Yeah, i was in the front section there was still a mile away from the stage! Adam: Obviously there’s like a difference isn’t there but we buzz off doing both Jonny: You get a good sound doing the big places though, usually though you’re doing like
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somewhere, most of the big places have good setup and you get good monitors, when you can hear yourself you just enjoy the gig even if the crowd don’t enjoy it ‘cos you’re just buzzin’ off the choons and that Have you had a gig that’s gone terribly badly? Jonny: [mouth full of banana – and they said rock ‘n’ roll was dead] Yeah last year right Adam: [laughs as no one can make out what Jonny’s banana filled mouth is attempting to utter] Just like little disasters with gear usually like stuff will break down or amp will go or stuff like that like, nothing like, nothing major’s ever happened Jonny: Usually bad ones it’s like say something for the record label like before you’ve got a deal with the record label they come in and… Adam: … You can do ten REALLY good gigs and the one they come to everything fucks up Jonny: But yeah it could be down to pressure but it’s usually not it’s just like fucking Adam: Sods law [laughs]
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Do you ever crowd surf yourself? Jonny: Shit happens to ya, but I think every band has that really like You said you relish the madness of the smaller crowd, does it bother you if they come up on stage? Jonny: Nah, it don’t bother me, if they stand on me foot peddle and wreck me equipment or Adam: We’re just worried about john’s front teeth
Adam: Used to when I was little yeah Jonny: You’d get your shoes on with gaffer tape then go and watch like punk gigs and that and tape your fuckin’ shoes on just so no one would nick ‘em and that’s what you do at a gig you got at a gig to crowd surf to the front, get pulled down fuckin’ run to the back fuckin’ crowd surf again, you won’t even watch the band half the time Does bad press affest you at all?
Rick: [laughs] Adam: Quite a lot of mic stands you know what I mean Jonny: I’m an expert at dodging mics though you know what I mean or cans or bottles ‘ve just got good at bein’ able to see ‘em comin’ but, usually if someone just jumps on stage then pegs it across and jumps into the crowd it’s like fuckin’ good on ya, you know what I mean, you got away with it, if someone jumps on stage and starts fuckin’ goin’ for your neck and that it’s like, fuck off!
Adam: Err, no, it gets you on the day like if you think about it and that like but I don’t know likes its funny with like journalism innit ‘cos like at the end of the day a lot of the time they’re not even talkin’ about the music, you listen to live reviews, they just like slag you off ‘cos of the people that come to your gig or, you know what I mean it’s just Jonny: It complete fucks me off I hope they all fucking die me I hope they all die of cancer I think they’re absolute cunts, I think they’re absolute twats and they shouldn’t even be writing about music ‘cos none of ‘em even listen to
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music, it’s the sort of people who were at school who were into fuckin’ like computer games and fuckin’ football and then left school and met someone at college into music and now they think they’re fuckin’ like some journo and they don’t even fuckin’ know who Lou Reed is half the time and fuckin’ great artists who inspire thousands of people so, it’s sickenin’, no you don’t take it to heart but it just pisses you off that people can write things like that about you but you just gotta keep doin’ what you do and think positive and keep writin’ music and not let it get in the way and Adam: You do it for yourself don’t ya, fuck them What inspires your writing? Jonny: Everything man! Love, life, death, drugs, girls, healthiness you know, sorry [fumbles through his pocket as his phone rings, he puts it down and continues] just doing everyday things, everyday people inspire you most like, the more you get in a band and start doing this like you sorta stop, you’re not doing a nine to five job and doing the normal things that a lot of people do so then you’re talking to friends and just whatever in the pub and all
types of people and they’re going like ‘ I just got fired from my job’ and that and that makes me wanna write something for them so I suppose, I, I wanna give them summat to make ‘em feel positive and make ‘em feel a bit maybe happy ‘cos they’re feeling a bit down or whatever, that’s always inspiring, but then just listening to music and that, when you listen like to the Beatles and how they, how they progressed to doing what they did and just that sorta like power the music had, that’s inspiring you know and then just being on stage and playing your guitar everyday of your life you know
it and then summats gunna happen and that’ll be like the main basis of the song or that’ll be the title or that’s what that songs about so sometimes it’ll happen like that in bits or sometimes you’ve thought summats pissed you off or summit good’s happened think right I’m gunna write a song about that and you just go home and do it
How do you go about penning your tracks?
Jonny: I write the words and like we used to just sort of write songs on acoustic and blend ‘em and now we sort of do a bit of both like we’ll have a samp done or we’ll have a bit done and everyone will put a bit in or someone else will have a little riff and we’ll just sort of work on it like that
Jonny: It’s always been different erm when I started writing its just like you get a guitar, get a piece of paper and sit there and write the song but I suppose as times gone on more now its like you just wait, you’re waiting for somethin’ to come in your head and you’re reading somethin’, news paper, or you’re watching TV or you’re out and summat and that thoughts in your head and if it’s a good one and sometimes it is a good one but it’ll stick in your head and you just keep it there then and then summat else will happen and you’re just buildin’ up on
Do you all have input over the lyrics? Adam: That’s john that Rick: Yeah [agreeing with Adam]
Adam:: There’s no like you know like sorta set down sort of rule to it I think, it’d wrong to really Jonny: Its good though ‘cos you’ll have songs that’ll last you and you’ll keep doin’ them at
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music gigs and then you’ll have songs that you’ll just do a, you know, you have songs you’ll record put on an album, then you have songs you put on a B-side then you have some songs you might just gig and they’re the songs that’re getting’ through the next songs you know what I mean? You can’t see every song as this has gotta be a single and this has gotta be an album this has gotta be… its part of your creativity coming out as a piece of art like a painters paint a picture, paints more pictures then eventually he paints his Mona Lisa or whatever, so you just keep doin’ ‘em and you know, you’re finding different things about yourself and different things comin’ out of ya you know? Does your set list change gig on gig? Jonny: Yeah, ‘cos I always play fuckin’ whatever I wanna play [chuckles] usually, I’m not meant to
Jonny: We have done a few choons but like [the door goes with the in house drug dealer – he waits outside] we’ve recorded a few songs, we did ‘em and they’re recorded now and they were only rough demo’s so we don’t really know what to do with ‘em now, they might end up bein’ on the album, we’ve got this track that we’re gunna give away free called ‘tell the world’ that comes out in two weeks, it’s a free download, it’s just to give to the fans really for supportin’ us and buying the album, it’s a good song its not like, the usual song, we’ve been doing sort of fast rock ‘n’ roll choons, its quite slow, ballady, its about love and shit like that, which we don’t usually write about, I do write about it we don’t bring it out as a band as much that’s all I’m saying, so it’s a bit of a different angle and it’s a different…how do you say part of…it’s a different dynamic of me maybe, or whatever they say Adam: A different shade of brown!
Adam: Nah, we write a list out and then john’ll get bored about three songs in and he’ll change it Rick: Yeah he’ll pick whatever Jonny: Sometimes it’s just like you feel in the moment of the gig Adam: You think right, it should be this song next Jonny: Its like say you was runnin’ down the wing wi’ the ball and like right shall I pass it to fuckin’ Rooney or shall I fuckin’ belt it in the goal or whatever, it’s just you’re on that sorta vibe, its like this is like what I feel like doin’ now you know and I like it like that, I suppose when you become more established and you’ve got like you know like you’ve got four albums of tracks and you know age ranges from ten year olds to sixty year old people coming to the gigs you might have a bit more order in the set you know but when you’re just doin’ punk gigs it’s like fuckin’ hell do that now, do that, you know what I mean? If a track was going well would you stretch it out? Rick: Yeah yeah Adam: With certain songs there’s bits you can do it in, some songs are quite sort of structured in the fact it would be quite hard to add riffs in but some songs have got bits in that it’s dead easy to do that yeah, it depends on the choon sometimes, but definitely, we do do it and would do it yeah Have you got anything penned out for the new album?
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[the room laughs] Jonny: So yeah, we’ve got a load of new songs, I’ve got a load of new songs, I’m gunna go away and write fuckin’ write the rest of the album, Have any made it into the set yet? Adam: Yeah, a couple keep comin’ in and goin’ out yeah Jonny: But we’re just gunna go, like last time we did the record I just sorta went away for a week, completely on my own and wrote fuckin’ most of the record, you’ve just got that time to sit away from the world you know what I mean and not have people ringin’ you up goin’ “Are you comin’ out?” or people bein’ negative you just sort of you know, write and you just do it you know what I mean? Do you relish feedback - good or bad? Jonny: Not so much from friends ‘cos friends just always wanna believe in what you do don’t they and that and its not like they’re just bein’ nice to be nice to you, it’s just friends will just believe in you, you do get a few mates who are honest but then again that’s just their opinion, what do they know, You know? So you let, you let the fuckin’ masses decide rather then one persons opinion so Have you got a date for the release of the album yet? Jonny: It won’t be a date but hopefully it’ll be in September, that’s gunna be my aim to get it out, but to say we haven’t recorded anythin’
properly yet, its not far away Adam: We’re gunna do it on our own as much as we can, we wanna do it ourselves yeah, we wanna do maybe like the opposite of what we did last time, ‘cos we’ve been a band for like three years now and we’ve learnt loads of stuff and we think we know now what we want it to sound like ourselves, so we might just have like a shit engineer who knows his way around the studio to get the sorta sound we want or we might get someone to come in a few days and listen to it and put some ideas in but dunno yet, but why not Jonny: Its good like because now we’ve done it before and now we’ve worked in a studio we’re sorta not as, I wouldn’t say nervous but we sorta, we know how it works now we know how it works in a studio n what you need to be doin’ and, so all we need really is someone to work all the computers and do all the boffiny stuff so we don’t have to worry about that and if you’ve got somebody producing who’s done loads of stuff sometimes they can have to much say or whatever, but its also good to have someone’s opinion so maybe do it ourselves and get… Adam: …Get a few people with respect in to come in for a day, we need two or three people Jonny: You know “What do you think of this?” you don’t necessarily have to go with what they say but, now we know some good people, we’ve got a lot of good people around us to ask advice from you know and maybe do that, or maybe just lock ourselves in a room and just do it with the three of us You’ve played with both Oasis and Ian Brown, they both did a track together, would you ever consider doing something along them lines? Jonny: Yeah yeah, I were speakin’ to Kyle from the view the other day, about doin’ a cover, we’re gunna do a Beatles cover together, maybe just acoustic, or, or maybe, I can play a bit of drums and that and he can play bass so whatever, maybe just record it ourselves, just when we’ve got a bit of time just do that, he’s just got a new house in London so we were thinkin’ of doin’ summat there, but I mean like Rick’s put some bass down on err Danny Mahon, who’s a singer/song writer from Manchester who’s doin’ really well at the minute, his EP’s just com out, Rick put the bass down on that and Ads put drums down on this singer/song writer from where we live err called STEPHEN POPE so things like that happen you know and you just sort of get on with ‘em but it’d be nice to work with someone
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music like Noel Gallagher or Paul Weller one day you know, that’d be a dream come true So have you all moved down to London? Adam: No no, none of us SORRY, I thought you just said you’d moved down there [looking at Jonny] Adam: No no, Kyle from the view’s just got an house down there Jonny: He’s got an house with a studio in it and all that so he’s on about goin’ down and doin’ a cover ‘n’ that So you’re still living in Saddleworth? Adam: Yeah yeah, you’re the first person who ever actually said that, most people say Manchester [Seeming happy with the acknowledgement of his home village] yeah Rick: [laughs] Yeah I know Jonny: I, I, I think if we sold like millions of copies of the second album I’d like to have summat down in London just to be down there where you know, you can contact people, you spend two years of your life down there, you come back, go and live wherever you want, you’ve got all them contacts for people for future you know what I mean? But, it’s to hectic in London I think for me, I don’t think I’d wanna be there all the time you know, but I would like, I like the idea it’s a bit of a mission down there Adam: We could do like a mad year there sort of Jonny: It’s a bit of a quest down there innit like what can I do while I’m down there ‘cos that’s, people go to the big city to fuckin’ make summat of ‘emselves don’t they, but I like the fact that were I lives’ quite quiet, but I think it does get just a bit, you know like you’re in a bubble all the time you know what I mean? Do you get recognised ever? Jonny [nodding with a cheesy grin as he opens another Becks] Yeah yeah, but its not a bad thing like, just every time you go to the shop to get some cigs you fuckin’ take an hour to get fuckin’ back, talking’ to people in queue, you think right, I’m gunna get home now then someone else pops round the corner, but that’s nice in a way though innit? Adam: Its just not nice when you’ve been up on the piss the night and you feel like shit and
you just wanna do a quick in an’ out mission Jonny: you get people like walkin’ round with there heads down thinkin’ I wish someone would talk to me so not gunna complain about people Adam: Its good anyway. n
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GOOD SHOES
For anyone that doesn’t know Good Shoes, how would you describe yourself as a band?
Rhys: yeah yeah, ‘cos we did it in a really lo-fi way the second album but it’s good that you think that
MANCHESTER
Rhys: Erm, I guess we’re an indie band and we play intricate pop music, that’s probably how I’d describe it erm, yeah I think it’s pop music, so it would be classified as pop, it’s quite complicated in a way but I don’t really know, it’s a hard one to describe your own music
28TH APRIL 2010
No Hope No Future feels a lot more together then your debut album, do you feel you have developed more as a band?
Rhys: erm, we recorded it in Morden ‘n’ Dalston, in Morden at a mates studio and in Dalston at err a place we know that some artists run it’s like a, it’s a nice place and then in some people’s houses as well, like overdubbin’ and stuff just, we recorded err it cost hardly any money to record so
Rhys: Together, You mean it feels more like an album then a collection of songs?
Under control sounds like it’s about sex, is this the case?
In a way, but also just the sound, it sounds more finished
Rhys: Yeah man
DEAF INSTITURE
Jack Mitchell met up with the four strong pop group’s front man Rhys Jones inside Manchester’s Deaf Institute ahead of the evenings gig, for what was a genuinly pleasent if somewhat subdued first acquaintance.
What was the idea behind the video? Rhys: Yeah I don’t really erm, I guess, we haven’t really thought about it too much, we just recorded the songs it was pretty much done in the same fashion as the, as the first album, but, it’s the first time anyone’s said that too me really like erm, I think the first album’s more produced Do you think?
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Where was it recorded?
Rhys: Oh it, just, it’s just erm [laughing] err, the people that urgh what the fuck is that? [discovering some form of insect crawling across his arm – he flicks it away and continues] the people that directed the video erm, err they’re this comp, they’re these guys called tash and they make music videos err they make adverts and they liked our songs and asked to
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do a video and, and they just found these clips on youtube and it sort of fits it works man It does yeah, so you didn’t film it especially for the track? Rhys: Oh no we did yeah yeah cos they found the clips on the internet but it was too much money for us to buy so we just had to do it ourselves so and there’s like a load of female body builders in erm in, in the UK if you search for them so Is it anything to do with feeling inadequate? Rhys: No, no, it’s just there was no, I was just tryna be really dirty ‘cos I read this interview with Kelly from Bloc Party and erm, and he was sayin’ that Banquet was meana be about sex, like, not advertently but, tryna be subtle but then if you read the lyrics it’d be really, sorta graphic and I read the lyrics and I thought it was shit, like not shit but the songs really good but I thought the lyrics like aren’t dirty at all so, I thought I’d try and write the dirtiest song I could possibly write With the video, are they all women?
Rhys: Oh yeah yeah yeah they’re all women but they’re just… The third one that comes on Rhys: Yeah she looks a bit…yeah Steve went to the filming of, I didn’t get to go ‘cos I had meetings about the album artwork that day but, but erm Steve went along, said they were all really nice Did you find the second album easier to write then your first? Rhys: Err I think it would have been tough but we just changed our whole set up, so we changed managers and we, we were out of contract with our record label, so we recorded the album ourselves and then resigned to them so, licensed it to them and erm, so we really took away all the pressure that would have been on us if erm, if we’d been still on like, well on a major label Did you have more freedom over the final sound with not being signed? Rhys: Oh yeah we just, we don’t erm, no one gets to have any input apart from the four of us on the music and the producer and the mixer
so erm it like, it’s all our decision, everything Your videos are all quite fun and active, while this mimics your sound, does it mimic you? Rhys: Oh yeah yeah like we, I’d like to think that we’re fun and lively we erm, on tour we err, we party a lot and we have a lot of, just, really nice time but yeah, it’s erm, being on tour, when I’m back in London I’m completely different though, I’m very, like, I dunno, take it easy and stuff Do you prefer touring Europe or the UK? Rhys: Europe and like mainland Europe it’s, people are a lot easier goin’ in like Germany and stuff like, they’ll just dance straight away and they won’t, I think people, you know the sort of stereotype of English people being or British people being sort of reserved and not really dancing about, I think that’s pretty true ‘cos in Germany they just go for it You ask the fans to get involved with ‘The Photos On My Wall” having them send in artwork to accompany the track, would you consider doing something along these lines
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music again? Rhys: erm not on this ‘cos the artwork on this erm on these singles is all photography like erm, like the album cover is all one photograph and the singles all have the same style and like the guy I do it with we, we like used one of the stills from the video for the first video for under control and we used one of my photographs for the most recent one, so we wanna keep it lookin’ all, all like glossy, one, no gatefold just one with err type across and just close up yeah, it’s hard to explain but Who was the photographer for the album? Rhys: Erm John Offenbach took the photo but and then all the in booklet photos are my photos, in the booklet yeah and John Offenbach he’s just a really nice guy he did it for free ‘cos, erm, err, my brain, our label manager is his brother and I really like swimming and he really likes swimming John Offenbach so he just did it for free yeah man it’s cool What do you see as your most successful track to date? Rhys: Under Control maybe and then erm I think on the first album there’s, I dunno, it’s hard to say really, Morden maybe Was the “All In My Head” video shot in one take? Rhys: Erm quite a lot of it was done really quickly, the one with the erm pen goin across the table was done first time, yeah but erm then Joel our bass player tried to do it like sixteen more times and couldn’t do it The paper plane one seems like it must have taken a while Rhys: No it that like ‘cos we just, [finally gets it together] straight away, first time and then it like yeah What’s your favourite track to perform live? Rhys: I dunno, the singles off the first album and the singles off the new album are my favourites, like Under Control, erm Under Control is one of my favourites to play What’s tonight’s set list made up of? Rhys: Half and half, like more new then old but half and half [yawns] yeah we had a really big night last night in erm Wolverhampton it was fuc…[smiles as he almost swears] it was really fun yeah
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If you could play alongside anybody who would it be? Rhys: I’d like to play with Phoenix at the moment, I really like playing with Is Tropical who are err touring with us at the moment and The Shark are really good friends of mine and so I like playing with them, Grizzly Bear or Dirty Projectors or, who massive would I like to play with? Radiohead! Radiohead would be good What’s your most memorable gig? Rhys: Erm, London last week was really amazin’ erm Dockville festival last year was pretty amazin’ I was just really drunk and went a bit, went out in the crowd, like we were playin’ cricket with Metronomy and just erm, yeah just stupid really Where would you most like to gig? Rhys: I’d love to go to Japan, we’re just chattin’ about maybe releasin’ the album in Australia like, someone just said they wanna release it so, so erm Do you have much of a fan base out there? Rhys: I dunno, dunno but erm I think we’ll probably go to Australia, I’d just love to go to America, I’d love to go to Japan and Australia, anywhere we haven’t been I just wanna go Do you find your home crowd reacts better then any other?
then I do but yeah we still You have a remix page along side your regular Myspace, is there anyone you’d love to have remix your work? Rhys: Remix on of ours? I dunno really, erm Metronomy did a remix of us and it was really good I thought, I dunno really like erm who do I really like at the moment? I dunno, I don’t really like our tracks bein’ remixed though, prefer like, we’ve only had two remixes done so, you have to really trust someone but maybe Is Tropical would be good to try and do one Good Shoes, What are your most treasured footwear? Rhys: Most treasured, we get given free shoes by Reebok and I got given a really nice pair of Reebok’s recently, but my most favourite I’ve got these brogues that I got in the Isle of White when I was nineteen and they’re my favourites Who came up with the name of the band? Rhys: We were chattin’ about this earlier [addressing Stephen who’s sat in the kitchen area nursing a hangover with a cup of black tea] it was just erm we were at a house party and one of my friends said he’s gunna start a band called Good Shoes and I was like no you’re not, I am [laughs] So you stole it?
Rhys: Yeah they just go nuts straight away, like we erm, yeah, we play to more people in London as well, but then, I dunno, any main city like Berlin they go nuts like erm we haven’t done a headline show in Paris in a while but
Rhys: Yeah just stole it, but he never started a band! So, but yeah, I’m note sure if I like the name Good Shoes anymore, I think it’s catchy but
Where do Good Shoes perform best?
Rhys: No no, but the name Is Tropical is great, yeah, I dunno [ponders]
Rhys: Like this size venue, it’s more exposed, no barrier between the crowd like, just go in the crowd and just it’s much more fun, on this tour we’re doin’ a lot of songs where I have to play guitar so I don’t really get to go in the crowd as much but What’s the deal with Joel Cos leaving? Rhys: Err, he just didn’t really wanna do it anymore and he had his own music and we were takin’ ages to record the second album and so, so erm Do you still stay in touch? Rhys: Err, yeah, I saw him, we played football a few weeks ago, I think Steve sees him more
Would you consider changing it at all?
Would you ever consider doing a side project? Rhys: Yeah I think, we all make music separately as well as in Good Shoes so, Tom records a lot of stuff with one of this friends so, yeah, it’s just, probably would consider it Who has the most input over your sound? Rhys: Erm it’s all equal like, we’ll come up with all parts separately like say like Steve came up with lots of the songs, like parts on the second album then I’d like structure them ‘n’ write the lyrics over ‘em then we’d all, but the sound is kinda defined by like the instruments we use, we just use two guitars a bass, yeah, I
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music Rhys: Just like my life, just like, livin’ they’re all like stuff that happens, but I only write when I’m a bit down so they end up bein’ a bit depressin’ A contradiction from the overall sound then Rhys: What, that it’s quite upliftin’ the sound and the you read the lyrics and it’s depressin’ yeah, exactly, [Morden] it’s just like a bit grim, probably, but it’s just that that song is sayin’ that everywhere’s the same really, like it could be about any town in the UK, like every where’s good and shit like but erm it just says so much things wrong with the country we live in, but you can’t really do anythin’ about it to change it What do you see as your most successful video? Rhys: Erm, my favourite , I directed a couple but I don’t think they’re my favorites, ‘All in My Head’ is probably our best video, my favorite would be, I dunno, there’s no one I would say is my favourite favourite Who directed all in my head? Rhys: This guy called Saam he’s a video director and he did like Klaxons’ first video, just like Is he a mate of yours? Rhys: Erm, he is now, not at first, he was just working for a company called Partizan which is owned my Michelle Gondry and we just got err introduced, he got sent a song and he liked it so then I went to his flat and then talked about ideas with him and that’s how it all came about, it’s weird ‘cos he lived in this flat and we went to visit it and we went to erm it’s so weird, to go and talk about the video in his flat and now I live on the same road as where we met and maybe filmed some of the video, it’s weird for me to think, I can picture that so vividly, it’s so weird man Who was the artist for ‘We Are Not The Same”?
write all the lyrics like I dunno, erm its like quite personal isn’t it and I feel like I can do a good job, I could never write with someone else I don’t think, unless it was for pop music
or something What inspires your writing?
Rhys: That’s my ex girlfriend Hannah Waldron and me did it together so, yeah, she’s really good you should check it out hannahwaldron.co.uk she erm, she’s a fantastic illustrator yeah, she’s really cool, she helped with the Morden video with the set for the Morden video and she erm she does like lots of illustration like, not many music videos. n
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INTERVIEW WE HAVE BAND LIVERPOOL MELLO MELLO 2ND APRIL 2010 Faux Sure caught up with the band behind the most exiting sound this side of pop, days before their debut album hit shelves, after a heavy home coming gig in Manchester, hours before attempting the same in Liverpool. 8teen
We’re welcomed in Mello Mello by We Have Band ahead of their intimate gig at the city’s Kazimier venue. As Thomas and DeDe receive their fair trade coffees, Darren is still waiting on his tea and softly states “everybody needs to calm down”. Mello Mello appearing an aptly named venue serving a relaxed atmosphere, mirrored by the lackadaisical trio. Tea having arrived and Sainsbury’s’ finest pastries unwrapped [brought along as though they’ve packed for a fieldtrip] the mood is cosy and the interview seamlessly begins.
thought we’d start with these two and let people build into it. It sort of was deliberate but not in any pointed way
Your debut album begins very subdued, was the track listing purposely manipulated as such?
[debate over how many singles have actually been released]
Thomas: (speaking with a mouth full of pan eu chocolate) yes I think. That’s one way to look at it and it’s a perfectly good way to look at it, some people would put those on their to say oh look we do something else, that really isn’t what we were ding, it was more just making the album work, and what would not work would be putting the slower things maybe in the middle, because the maybe get lost, then at the end is fine but we really wanted to end on the track we end on (hero no’s) because, we just like the way that songs quite epic, so we
DeDe: well you know, you can’t really put them songs in the middle, you can’t put piano in the middle, that’s not really gunna work is it, so really we was either gunna put it at the end or at the beginning, we tried at the end but we preferred it at the beginning You’ve released 5 EPs (one was a re-release with a b-side)
Darren: Things have been all over the place we don’t really know what’s going on Well the thing is, what we did, it’s a bit weird, Oh came out, oh and you both came out, but on small labels a In many ways Devisive was really the first single Thomas: Honeytrap Darren: well Honeytrap yeah, true, but that was just a giveaway
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music Dede: Just a free download for people to you know Is there anymore off the album that you’re considering releasing? Thomas: yeah hopefully Darren: yeah there’ll be some more over the summer we’re not sure exactly what yet but there’ll be some more Thomas: hopefully another one or two others, Cos I think bands like, bands that aren’t signed to big labels, for us, I you just get stuff out in a way that feels natural to introduce you to people, to hopefully sell an album and people buy gig tickets, the whole you know singles don’t exist any more, you don’t go to Woolworths anymore, as soon as the album’s out anyone can download anything as we all know, its just, which is the best way to get your band across, now for a band like, I dunno, Gorrillaz, they might wanna go for a big single, put a big push behind it everyone will play it and talk about it, have a big video, for us it was more about just filtering things out over a period of time, getting it into peoples heads and hopefully Darren: singles are quite nice you know for people who are REALLY into the band, you know if you wanna get a vinyl of the single or you’re really interested in all the art work and stuff and the remixes are really good for singles, so they’re important but they play a slightly different roll maybe then what they used to. People say the single is dead but actually they’ve worked really well for us but in a very different way
how did the bloc party remix come about? Darren: I don’t know Thomas I think they (Wichita) just came to us and asked us, we did one for Peter Bjorn and John as well also on Wichita so maybe they heard some stuff and just Darren: It varies from band to band, like people like michachu we know her quite personally, so we just ask each other for things, but stuff like that comes through the label, I don’t quite know how it works with a band like that, maybe they asked several people I don’t know how they decided, maybe the band decided what actually went onto the album but it was cool we were quite pleased to do it Thomas: It was nice Did they ask you to amend it at all? Thomas: well they did actually, we had to slow it down because it was quite fast the original and I think the idea we had was a bit more like it was, a bit more dubby and a bit more sorta spacey and I think we turned it into a bit of a dub and made it a bit more sparse vocally and musically a bit heavier and a bit more dubby and yeah they really liked it
Favourite memorable gig Thomas: we had some crazy shows in Russia we went to Russia twice last year and played in Moscow twice and St Petersburg once and the kids there were just insane, they were just devouring music and us and I’m sure they’re like that with, and that’s like the next level and Moscow which is kinda harder to get to then berlin then they look out for you and just kinda go for it in St Petersburg the promoter was crowd serving and it was just insane Darren: they didn’t come on stage with us, we have quite a lot of equipment at the front I think if they could of they would of Thomas in Switzerland there was this art festival and these two girls got on stage and I think they thought it was about them, one of them paid a ridiculous amount for a piece of art and we ended up being their backing band in a way
How’s your current tour going? (4th uk tour) Darren: quite early Thomas: it’s quite early but we’ve got about half way through the uk we’ve go Glasgow Edinburgh London Bristol Nottingham and then we’re off to Europe in the middle of april
Is it better to release limited vinyl’s to push sales?
Do you find that you’re welcomed throughout Europe then the UK?
Thomas: Yeah I think it makes people talk about it and it’s nice to get it on ebay and people get exited and yeah
Darren: errrr there scenes quite different in general I think. I think some how its bigger I dunno like
Darren: Also, its kinda a practical thing, bottom line is 20,000 people aren’t gunna want a vinyl single so it’s quite a practical thing too, but like a lot of the labels like 50 bones who put our first one out, they just really did it for love, they’re certainly making no money so to be honest they and we couldn’t really afford to do anymore its more just like they’re a label that loves new music and they just wanna put some stuff out so, its just that thing, no one was really making any money from it, it was just about getting some stuff out there which you know, is quite nice, they did they same thing for little boots and some other bands
Thomas: I think if you’re a band that’s managed to get over the channel and play to a few places in Europe they kind of they’re looking for you to come back, where as in the UK they’re so spoilt for choice that every venue in every city’s got 10/20 great bands playing any night of the week where as Europe it’s a bit more …it’s definitely a different feeling, the UK’s a lot harder work but maybe more rewarding as well, we had a great show last night in Manchester
[dede uses coffee as a radiator]
get accepted if you like onto the rest of Europe, so already, you’ve kind of gone up a level already if you’ve made it across in the first place, we see a lot of the same bands around (the XX, Wild Beasts, Micachu, Friendly Fires) we’re all playing the same festivals in the rest of Europe but it’s almost, you’re playing the rest of Europe or you’re not, it’s a different ball game….. we’re very very lucky
Darren: in the UK like, tonight there must be god knows how many gigs going on Its quite easssy (said with caution) to get a gig but if we go , like tomorrow we’re playing a festival in France and there’s only a few UK bands who
Darren: its just the atmosphere of the night I mean we’ve had some bloody Bristol there’s a place called Thekla in Bristol like this boat that you play on, absolutely mental, with a band like us its all about what kind of mood the audience is in and what kind of night it is, for our kind of music you’ve got to be quite loose, quite up for it and it’s difficult if people aren’t so you know anywhere in the world it could be really good if people are up for it and that’s the thing about last night people were really up for it, but it depends on a lot of things, you know, it depends on the night the time of the month, you know what it’s like, you love a band but if you’re knackered and you go and see em, but last night was Thursday, bank holiday, people obviously went for it and we played the Manchester card a lot Dede: it’s about us and we feel our gigs are quite interactive so it’s about us and the audience and we feel like we’re in it together and all of us will make it a good night so we all need to do it Do you connect with the fans after the gig? Thomas: yeah we do and it’s really nice, it’s nice to go out and have people say, we saw you at Glastonbury or we saw you at this festival Dede: or we couldn’t hear you, you know just
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feedback, the sound was really bad, I stood there or I stood there and it sounded shit, you need this kind of feed back
bookers so the booker for the dance stage was like oh I’d like you to play on my stage as well, basically we just said yes to everything last year, it was fun though
Darren: people say the funniest things, sometimes people say that, I mean it sounded terrible tonight….thanks
Dede: it was fun but it was pretty full on, you’re like yeah I wanna go for it at Shangri La tonight then you get there at 11 and are like I am knackered I was up I was on stage at 12 I am knackered, you’re mates are there like lets go for it, your like, actually I’d rather just have a cup of tea
You mentioned festivals there; you’re down for a few already any more planned? Darren: yep (with much eagerness and excitement) Glastonbury’s coming in the next few days! We were quite exited cos people kept asking us and we were like can’t say anything can’t say anything but we know it’s coming
Who’s the ball breaker in you guys? Darren: we sort of take turns… Thomas: are you kidding I’m the ball breaker!
Thomas: there’ll be two or three shows hopefully, we’d like Park or Queens Head or John Peel Darren: last year we did John Peel and Queens Head and the Guardian tent and the dance tent the only other ones we think we could do that we didn’t do are the Park and with us, last year we won this Glastonbury emerging talent thing (nicely slipped in there) because we won it we got to play on John Peel but also the judges for the thing are like the
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Dede: he’s the ball breaker (leaning into the mic – for the record that was Thomas, Thomas is the ball breaker)
working, got rid of it and we’ve just rearranged it and its just come back in the set, like literally a few gigs ago, so we’re a bit like, we just know it a bit less, we’re a bit rusty on it but I quite enjoy it still, although it was really shambolic last night Thomas: it’s more interesting playing it, its more fun to play, it’s more of a challenge Dede: I like playing time after time Darren oh yeah this is one that’s not on the album, if we’re luck enough to get an encore we usually do that, we sometimes get forced to play a track again, in the early days when we were just starting out we didn’t have that many songs we were playing this festival in France and the Michael Evis fella of this festival, John Wee – trans musica, it was a really great festival and he was basically like back on! We were like we have got any other songs, he said just do one again! As if we were stupid
Do you have a favourite track to play live? Thomas: we like playing Oh live, we like You Came Out
Dede: like it was a stupid question, he said just do that one you’ve done! We were like ooookkkkk
Darren: Hero Knows we sort of started playing it playing it a long time ago, wasn’t really
Thomas: alright John Your debut album WHB is it self titled?
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music Thomas: well WHB was the first song we wrote Darren: I wouldn’t say the album is self titled, I don’t feel it is Thomas: it’s kinda named after the first song we wrote which is called WHB which was originally called Darren and the wine stain (they met, got pissed, Darren tipped over red wine and they promptly tidied up with Vanish, the conversation takes a strange turn into the time allowed between spilling and cleaning with alternative solutions being discussed including cut and shut) Your videos mimic you’re sound in their minimalistic and artistic approach is this anyone in particular influence Thomas: the videos we usually we like to have some sort of input but generally we work with people who’ve got good ideas so if someone’s got a good idea we’re gunna think yeah that’s good we’ll do that we haven’t really tried to control that or direct the way the video’s go, it’s more we’ve chosen ones we think are going to be good and fortunately, yeah, they’ve all turned out really good, the last one for Divisive we didn’t really know how it was going to end up cos it was done by these French guys and communication wasn’t ideal before we started the video Dede: you came out, took two day, very long days very painful, chapped faces 4800 and a few more photo’s Darren: we’re quite open, we’ve been talking about another video lately with some directors, we set the scene in as much as we want a really interesting idea, I thought most bands would be like that but the director keeps saying to us ‘oh that’s good a lot of bands are like we want this we want that’ but we’re just like, do what you like Thomas: you can’t control everything, in a band you have to control some things, mainly sound and so it’s nice to let go of a few things and let other people run with it Dede: just to trust somebody with an idea and to let them run away with it and see what happens If you could play a gig with anyone, who would it be? Darren: we wouldn’t mind having a go with LCD Soundsystem Dede: We’d like James Murphy to drum
Thomas: Prince! I’d share a stage with prince, could you imagine?! That’d be amazing! Darren: yeah we’d share the stage with prince, the thing is you’d just feel like, I can’t do anything, he’d be all over the place Thomas: he’d be touching us all inappropriately Darren: he’d be grinding on you, I’d be like, I dunno what to do! What do I do?! You’d wanna grind back but you wouldn’t really know what to do, he’s like ‘no! I grind on you, you don’t touch me’….who else do we like? Thomas: MIA she could Darren: we’d like MIA to do a guest spot on a song Dede: we supported peaches in Geneva and that was good, she is incredible, we thought that was cool, she’s very very nice back stage,
she put some make up one my face, she put some of her make up, on my face , that was very nice, but I think I’d like to play with James Murphy Guilty pleasures Thomas: we dj a bit we play some silly stuff like Voyage Voyage - Desireless (breaks into song) what else do we like (looking at dede) you like some rubbish, what was the one you had in the car the other day that was a new version of some 80’s song? Dede: I like a lot of rubbish, that was erm… I quite like disco so I might get quite exited if I’m in the mood for dancing by the Nolan sisters came on, I would loose it, I would run to find my disco pants [Thomas sings us out with an impromptu rendition of I’m in the mood for dancing] n
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INTERVIEW KATE TEMPEST SPOKEN WORD
The spoken word scene has seen increased attention over the last few years. The most exiting talent to emerge is without a doubt Kate Tempest, her potency on stage is second to none. Speaking with an abundance of knowledge her work is complimented by a truthfully fierce southeast London accent. twenty2
Growing up in southeast London, Excentral Tempest was a young writer/performer. At the age of sixteen she began competing on rap battles, developing both her freestyle and writing talents. Eight years on she’s dropped her previous alias, accusing years of mispronunciation and a belief that life works in six-year chunks for her decision. Feeling more confident as both a writer and a performer Kate now prefixes her on name to her on stage title to be known as Kate Tempest. The current six-year section of her life has seen her perform on BBC4 in a series titled Why Poetry Matters and the release of her debut album, a limited print of 300 comprising of a live show recorded at Pure Groove. Her work offers a stunning collection of illustrations along with a quill and tattoo transfers “I wanted it to be a really beautiful item that people wanted to own, something special, and something that gave them a part of me.” It’s nice to see the effort gone into creating as she says, a part of her. “Music is downloadable, and I believe in it being available freely for those that know how to get it. I wanted to create something more tangible than a few downloaded tracks.” Working with her
was record company Pure Groove and close friend Luke Eastop “they really helped me turn an idea that I had into a very beautiful product. Luke especially.” Possessing such a talent, one could be forgiven for being a little self-indulgent but Kate seems somewhat unassuming of her talent “there's no aim. I write, it just happens. I perform and if an audience is motivated then that’s wonderful, or if awareness is raised that’s wonderful too”. Her modesty follows her onstage, moments of speech sit between the tracks on her album and shows genuine appreciation of the audiences warmness, whilst she stutters in moments of speech due to her own bashfulness. Whilst her album is still being unwrapped from its cellophane wrapper Kate seems to see room for improvement “I think the most successful track is always the track you're working on right now. The next track.” Growing up surround by rappers and freestyling herself, Kate feels most comfortable performing to such an audience, perhaps a feeling of judgment is easier to come by surrounded by familiarity “I play in a lot of different environments”
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Performing Hip Hop, Spoken Word and Live sets with her band Sound of Rum “Within each genre there is some variation in the audience, but mostly - because I play different kinds of gigs, I get to play to different kinds of people.” The varied audiences act as motivation for Kate, whilst Sound of Rum features a vast majority of her solo work, the way in which her work is conveyed delivers a different preference, audience dependant. “With sound of rum I love playing all the tracks, when I’m telling poems my favorite ones to perform are always the ones I’ve just written. I’d like people to hear both.” The spoken word scene is currently thriving, thanks in some part I’m sure, to Scroobius Pips moderate chart success in recent years “I think more people are aware of spoken word than they used to be”. Showing visible passion for spoken word “It is a wicked scene, with some amazing talent. And I think people are happy to stumble across it when they find it, and they tend to come back for more.“ Kate admits she prefers performing on stage with her band “Its not that I feel more comfortable with the band, its just a lot more enjoyable to play with sound of rum than it
is to stand on a stage alone and essentially talk at people for 20 minutes.” Conscious of an audiences judgment Kate prefers to spread the attention of her act “Although it is very enjoyable doing spoken word, I just feel sometimes it can be a little self-indulgent.” Far from self-indulgent her spoken word work is truly compelling, judgment is more likely made by the audience upon themselves, the main agitation their inability to consume her words with the same sharpness she delivers them. Having performed at festivals including Glastonbury and Secret Garden Party, Kate suggests her most memorable gig took place at Bestival ’09 “it was pissing down with rain, we were on a really small outdoors stage and the rain was coming through the roof and the people that ran the stage were coming on with buckets to catch the rain before it hit the amps, there was a crowd of maybe 30 people maximum, but they stayed and got rained on and watched the whole set and got into it. it was a very beautiful gig.” And while Kate confess’ to preferring a smaller audience, she isn’t afraid of tackling larger crowds “We played Koko in Camden with Scroobius Pip and Dan le
Sac, that was amazing, I came out onstage and told a poem, and when I finished the lighting guys put the house lights up and I just couldn’t believe how many people were there. I’ve seen some of my heroes on that stage, so it was mental to be stood up there.” At the tender age of 24 Kate is anything but immature, while insisting her style is still developing she has very clear aspirations on what she wants to achieve, “I’m working on a book. I want to write poems that work on the page. It’s a way off, but I’d like to step my writing up and see if I’ve got what it takes to write stuff that doesn’t need me ranting away screaming it off a stage to reach people”. Understanding the difficulty in place Kate isn’t taking to this task likely and admits it’ll take time to get it right. With a wealth of knowledge including Ancient Greek mythology and Philosophy Kate’s acquaintance with such subjects is purely through enjoyment, suggesting in some part her love of a subject. Having studied History at university Kate profess’ she wasn’t a fan, surrounded by supposed intellectuals she spent the time feeling inferior where knowledge in considered. She instead read for enjoyment,
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Kate Tempest and bandmates [sound of rum] for self-enlightenment, Blake and Socrates stated in her lyrics as scripts of choice and in doing so prospered with knowledge, amending her style accordingly. While Kate currently performs with a two strong band, Archie [Marsh] and Ferry [Lawrenson] she has her sights aimed high. “There's loads of rappers I’d love to perform alongside, RZA and GZA from Wutang, Buhamadia, MF Doom, Chester P, also would love to do something with Bjork - and before he died, I would have said Michael Jackson. I’d love to collaborate with anyone that is lyrically exciting and is performing from a genuine place”. Gaining inspiration from artists that have succeeded before her Kate’s library of motivation is vast and varied “Bob Dylan a lot, and Janis Joplin and Cannibal Ox and Pharoe Monch and WuTand and Mos Def and the Fugees and John Coltrane.” Having such a diverse array of inspiration may go someway to explaining Kate’s own talent, writing often moving material her delivery could be accountable to the liking of Mos
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Def and WuTang Clan. Kate’s influences aren’t limited to musicians, “My family have always been very influential, my dad especially, and my friends are a massive influence.” Growing up in southeast London surrounded by an abundance of rappers, poets and artists also had some influence over her work “Hiphop was probably the strongest influence in getting me moving and writing and giving me my passion for performance.” And texts also proved inspirational to the spoken word artist and her constant endeavor to improve “William Blake, great writers, they make me wanna get better.” While admitting she writes for herself and no one else she would like an audience to be moved upon hearing her performance. “Hopefully they'll leave feeling inspired.” And inspired they shall be, it’s impossible not to be, those who are unfamiliar or have an unfavorable view of spoken word will at the very least be intrigued. Kate’s passion whilst in speech is gripping, each poem is
delivered with a fierce tongue, brandishing speed and perfection throughout. Between works, while communicating with the crowd Kate displays a coyness which proves endearing. Armed with a simple but educated moral “Without contraries is no progression - William Blake wrote that.” Kate [with the help of Blake] makes the suggestion that debate improves our own self-enlightenment and growth. Perhaps we’ll take up battle rapping to test this theory. And with that, our email correspondence ends. n
myspace.com/katetempestwords soundofrum.com myspace.com/soundofrumband
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INTERVIEW THE GOOD NATURED Pops latest arrival answered a few questions for Faux Sure via several email correspondence it’s like our very own pen pal!
Female artists are currently in abundance, since Lily Allen and Kate Nash emerged back in ‘05/’06 respectively, many chose to adorn a Landan tawn tinge to their vocals, real or not. While initially this gimmick paid off it grated pretty quickly and threatened the success of emerging artists. Luckily they seem to have learned their lesson and, with the help of Florence Welch and La Roux we’re seeing ever more variation in the female vocalist. Armed with a keyboard and a two strong band Sarah McIntosh aka The Good Natured delivers delicately confined vocals over an electro backing, offering a unique and highly likeable sound. How did the good natured begin? Sarah McIntosh: I guess it began when I was about 17, I wrote some demos on my keyboard and set up my Myspace. One of my demos was picked up by Radio 1 so that gave me a lot of confidence to continue to write, I have been doing it for about 2 years now. Does your band (Hamish and George) have any input into the sound/lyrics?
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Sarah: The lyrics no, I write them all. I think they do have an input in the live sound very much, there aren’t live drums on any of my recordings so the live set is really different. You’ve been dubbed the next big thing by Q how do you react to such positive press? Sarah: I am just really happy! You describe yourself and electo / Japanese pop, what exactly is Japanese pop? Sarah: There are elements in the music which are perhaps slightly oriental, for example some of the sounds and scales. You’ve started playing further afield, out of your London comfort zone; do you notice a difference with the crowds reception? Sarah: Its really nice to play in loads of different places and to different age groups. I think it depends on the night as to what reception you get, rather than the location. London has offered several talented individual females in recent years, most notably
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Kate Nash and Florence Welch, as your fan base grows are you worried of being group with such acts?
Sarah: Yeah we are doing V, Isle of Wight and Latitude. Hoping to do some more but not sure yet!
Sarah: No not really. I think some shallow people group all female artists together, but drawing comparisons to Florence/Kate could actually be a positive thing. Fans of their music might be more inclined to listen to mine.
You released you EP (correct me if I’m wrong please) off your own back, would you consider releasing an album the same way or are you holding off till you’re signed?
Which do you see as your most successful track to date? Sarah: Your Body Is A Machine
pretty boring choice but I have been to so many gigs there and it would be amazing if w e played there one day! n
Sarah: It depends. I think its great to do it yourself like I did with my EP, but a label gives you more support. If you could play alongside/support anyone, who would it be?
Which song do you most enjoy playing live? Sarah: Oh gosh that’s a tough question! Sarah: Either Red Skin or Kissing the Wall, they are the most upbeat!
Do you have plans to release any further EPs in the near future?
Most memorable gig? Sarah: The Plug Sheffield, was a great reception. Or The Skins House Party because everyone was dancing. You have a few festival slots planned over summer, are there more in the pipeline?
Sarah: My single Your Body Is A Machine is being released on Kitsune in June. If you could play any venue, where would it be? Sarah: Maybe he Hexagon in Reading. A
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POSSIBLE FUTURE[FOALS[ thirty4
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INTERVIEW
TINHEAD ILLUSTRATOR
Having studied illustration at Brighton University, Christopher Wright works under the alias Tinhead [a name he gained through riding BMX, his mother making him wear a chrome lid] his work is probably best known from the album cover of Foals – Antidotes and the surrounding singles. His work is both peculiar and infatuating often fucking about with existing images creating a bizarre sense of none reality and obscured realism. Communicating via email we caught up with Tinhead just as he announced a new venture creating clothes “I’m starting it with my friend William Jarrett”. The chosen name for this new venture, Race Plain [the street on which Jarrett grew up in Salisbury] and as Tinhead explains it signifies “Racing green, tweed wearing, drink driving expensive cars. But mainly British made.” An exiting prospect for a print screening venture, one hopes for a bizarre take on tweed and with work already underway Tinhead’s
attention will undoubtedly be split, however is isn’t fazed by the workload “I’ll still be doin’ illustration work and commissions but also running a clothing label. It’s gunna be ace.” Tinhead’s interest in illustrating stems back to childhood “I first became interested in illustration or art at a very young age as my Nan used to babysit my brother and I. She was an art teacher and a tough woman, an artist and naturally encouraged us to draw.” Having initially studied fine art he returned to university to take up illustration, denouncing an ill-informed judgment for not clicking with his initial choice. His work today retains a childlike quality through its simplicity and use of bright and abstract colours, attacking public figures in a fashion reminiscent of a kid with a biro and a copy of the day’s paper. Most notable he amended an image of
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BUNNIE BOYS [FOALS[ the royal family, applying sections of make up to each of their faces suggestive of a clown. Freshly out of uni Tinhead was offered the opportunity to work with Foals, having studied a foundation course with Jack [Bevan] and Walter [Gervers] he was introduced to Yannis. The collaboration lent itself well to both parties, with foals being new money was tight but also their unique and playful sound warranted some individual artwork. For Tinhead it offered him the opportunity to make a name for himself, all the more remarkable as he admits “To be honest I didn’t do well at a level or uni with art, just struggled through.” Having worked for sometime as a bin man his break came as a welcomed change and his work was welcomed with mass appraisal. Armed with a seemingly endless list of contacts Tinhead has
been asked to deign everything from T-shirts to tattoos, his own clothing brand coming as a result of a collaboration with Jarret for a fashion show. Using Will’s [Jarret] family crest as the basis for the design Tinheads screen prints obviously came out as planned and subsequently he was asked to go into business on their combine venture [Race Plain]. With Foals currently working on their second album, Tinhead has once again been asked to present the artwork for use with record, the bands success will obviously [one would have thought] have an agreeable effect on Tinheads own success. A smart move creating T-Shirts around the same time the band’s releasing their work! Music has offered other opportunities to the illustrator, also designing artwork for Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaur. Displaying his work online Tinhead does a lot of personal work and has recently began selling
screen prints via his blog and welcomes suggestions of other works he might venture into. When asked via his site to create a tattoo he quickly took up the challenge and two days after the request the ink was set. While his work is diverse in terms of outlets Tinhead maintains a love of ink on paper art forms, citing his favourite work as “the image I made of two cowboys entering the wilderness of Marlboro county.” Not content with his standard of work the illustrator freely admits he hasn’t always delivered great work “I went through a stage of quantity not quality. I just do whatever I feel like.” Suggesting his later work is more grown up Tinhead seems to have developed a maturity through his endless projects. Along with Race Plain Tinhead is currently planning a project on the Rose [pub] in London Bridge, along with another exhibition and a short film with Dave Ma. Having ex-
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panded his interests to photography and film making Tinhead relishes the variation and the creative freedom each outlet allows. Working with Foals saw Tinhead’s more notable method of work, using markings as though ticking off time on a prison wall. “I like image mark making and iconography a line is one of the simplest icons its like a spear or something shooting at you, also looks like you’re behind bars or it’s raining. I used it a lot when I was down, I like the rain.” While these lines suggest a bleakness through their repetition they’re contradicted through the use of vibrant colouring. Growing up without a computer caused Tinhead to accept and even appreciate fuck ups with his work and offers an explanation into his often-oblique view of finished works. Without the option or ease of editing that a
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computer allows Tinhead learned to “evolve the piece of work or just run with it, balance the piece out, or leave the piece unbalanced to give it a disjointed feel.” A feel, which is apparent in many of his works. In a collaboration with Undercurrent Mag. Tinhead created a piece which included the words “A BURNED HOUSE IN THE”. Having fucked up his original idea Tinhead merely scribbled through the words and left them be, the finished piece seemingly benefitting from his mistake. Recently incorporating Photoshop into the postproduction of his work Tinhead still insists everything is drawn by hand “up until this year I did everything with hand and glue and collage.” [Faux Sure’s finest collage was amassed beneath a bed of glue, never could get the ratio right] Whilst his work may not have won any formal awards Tinheads efforts are being recognized
boatmen[foals[
“Foals album has gone gold so I’ll get a gold disc with the artwork and creative review said it was one of the best album artwork of 2008.” Not expectant of much Tinhead seems somewhat cynical “Maybe I’m out of art prison I might get a handshake one day.” But with the constant flow of requests for his efforts on collaborations Tinhead’s rapidly expanding portfolio seems to be his biggest reward of all. Not content with his workload Tinhead confess’ he’d like to enter yet another district, workin with “Big advertising firms like AMV BBDO” and affirming a film is in the works with Dave Ma Faux Sure wishes him the best of look with all future endeavours’. n
tinhead.co.uk iamtinhead.blogspot.com twitter.com/Tinheadman
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self portrates are difficult when you love your bike more thAn you love yourself
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FIXED GEAR FIXED GEAR
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Charge Plug Branded as the simplest and most forgiving form of transport, fixed gear cycling has seen a steady rise in followers in recent years, its pure simplicity going someway to cementing a scene like fan base. Where as ‘regular’ bikes with gears allow the rider to free wheel [rest ones legs once they become restless – the wheels spin while the feet sit still] fixed gear of ‘fixies’ require the riders legs to be in constant motion, not the most appealing of prospects granted, especially when heading down hill at speed with traffic. However, despite this San Francisco boasts one of the largest fixed gear communities and, over here, London’s somewhat sole grip over the fixie forty8
scene is spreading fast and northwards. Intrigued by the minimalism of fixed gear bikes I finally took the plunge after a year of careful consideration, my ride of choice, a navy Charge Plug [with some less then pleasing modifications]. I had spent the best part of a year scouring the Internet for information on fixed gear, London Fixed-Gear and Single-Speed [lfgss.com] proving an immensely useful site. As a newcomer I found it a little daunting at first, the subcategories are vast and while there is a search bar available it returns an abundance of results, so one is still required to scour through. Having said that, the advice
proves both useful and friendly, members welcome questions and always respond promptly offering recommendations and suggesting you contact them if you require further guidance. I had come across Charge’s Plug [chargebikes.com] around the same time I fell in love with the idea of fixed gear, it offers a crispness through its simplicity, the frames smoothness benefitted by removing anything considered excess [such as water bottle brackets and attached break cables] basically the bike is smooth and looks fuckin’ sweet! I began my research off the back of this and basically found that there were two
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Bianchi Pista ways to go for a new comer, buy an old school road frame and build it from scratch, scavenging as many parts as possible to keep the cost down. The most notable pro to this being the finished articles uniqueness, main problem being old school road frames find themselves with the attached heading ‘possible fixie’ bumping them up the list on Ebays biggest fuckin’ cons. Second option, buy new but basic, you’re gunna end up customizing the bike anyway [createbikes.com] offers an appealing combination, cheap bikes with limited customization available before purchasing. The bikes pretty simple but the company supplies them with deep v rims in an array of colours, shocking frame colours and a
choice of tyre, a steal at £200 for the original design with the mk2 [featuring deeper v rims] priced at £247.
offerings. I’m gunna place vanity as the main reason for snubbing this from the off, the colour combination is just ghastly.
I’d set my limit at £500, a ridiculous amount for a first time fixed gear, granted, the only reason behind this being it was the cost of a Charge Plug. Looking for bikes in this price range was pretty nice though, they’re plentiful and each comes with a profusion of support and criticism. Already familiar with the Plug, many comments compared it to the Bianchi Pista. A similarly pleasing sight, featuring dropped bars and a delightful chrome frame, the Kona Paddy Wagon was also mentioned in sentences surrounding these two
Ebay held the main focus of my search, weekly, building to daily searches for second hand Plugs, which, as it turns out are pretty easy to come by, about five a week. The only problem here, as with many fixed gear offerings on Ebay, is that they come with a pick up only option and tend to be in and around the London area. Eventually I came across a plug up on Ebay from Liverpool but it had an attached ‘buy it now’ price of £350. Following my research and, subsequently spending my student loan on beer and fast food forty9
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My Charge Plug I’d dropped my original limit from £500 to free. However I was prepared to negotiate. The Plug came and went, then came back again…then went… then back again, in fact I must have seen it on Ebay about six times, it was like the last mongrel puppy from a litter of pedigree and whilst I felt sorry for it I was a bit weary incase it still needed its jabs or had some long underlying illness that was gunna show itself several months down the line. I made a cheeky offer of £200 if the seller didn’t shift it on the seventh time of asking, still with his optimistic ‘buy it now’ price. He agreed. The bike didn’t sell, then two days later it reappeared with a reduced asking price of fifty
£300, the cheeky bastard had agreed, ok, by email, but still, he’d agreed £200 if it didn’t sell. He removed it from the auction two days later without any interception from me, he then contacted me and we settled on £200, again! I picked the bike up a few days later, it looked better then the pictures had suggested [the handle bars and peddles weren’t original and to be honest will be getting changed, but for my first fixed gear I was delighted] and was in pristine condition, a steal I reckon, or perhaps its charge stealing with their ridiculous RRP! The bike [my bike!] was set
up for fixed [the rear hub is flip flop offering fixed gear or single speed depending which way round you attach it] and so I walked it the 30ft to the train platform and the same at the other end until the passengers had disbursed and I was in the presence of no one [falling was a possibility]. I have to say though I shocked myself, having researched in quite some depth I was prepared for a difficult transition, it wasn’t. The kid I stole it off had left the rear break on, not a clue as to his reasoning [a lot leave the front break on for rapid stopping, legs work the back wheel speed] but I was pretty thankful he had, my legs proved far weaker then I had
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fixed fact he cycled past with relative ease, it was the look of sheer disgust that I’d opted for no gears that got me. I upped the pace a little and, despite being new to fixed still managed to over take him with the same ease he’d passed me with moments earlier. I think the utter jubilation I felt at that moment was made ever greater in the knowledge he’d have returned home, looked in the mirror and thought ‘I’m not Lance Armstrong, why the fuck am I wearing a full body condom’.
What Can Be Achieve - Charge Plug [with white deep v rims pink grips and chain] kidded myself they were. I’ve left the set up as is so far and a month in I’m loving it to fucking pieces. Reviews kept saying the bike was fast, “fast, it’s fixed gear it’s only as fast as your legs, surely?” bollocks! It’s rapid. I’m still unsure how the speed works itself out, but on flat you don’t feel overstretched to keep your legs in motion. Things change a little when you’re heading downhill, its possible to stem the acceleration for a while but you get bored, or you spot a gap in the traffic and think ‘fuck this, I’m goin’ for it!’ It’s for these reasons I’ve thus far stuck with the rear break. I’ve got to say the best
thing about fixed [given the simplicity and excitement are given] has to be, without doubt, over taking a road cyclist. Mountain bikes on roads are a ridiculous combination and so over taking them is mandatory, but road cyclists, as a generalization despise fixed gear bikes, so it’s nice to see their smug Oakley donning faces drop as you pass them. I’d only had the bike a few days when this first happened, we were still in the awkward stages of dating, the getting to know you part, the uncomfortable mid section where farting confirms or breaks the relationship. The sun was out and things were good, then a road cyclist showed up wedged from head to toe in nipple strangling Lycra, it wasn’t the
Having accustomed myself to my bike I think the most surprising thing is the ease at which you can climb hills on fixed, I never get off and walk with it [like I had previously believed was necessary]. If anything I reckon fixed might be easier with hills, it keeps a constant rhythm to your cycling which proves beneficial, you know you cant take a break part way through [which usually fucks you over] and on the flat you just tear up the tarmac with ease, there’s truth in what many fixed gear riders say, you have a greater feel of what the bike is actually doing, you feel more connected with the tarmac [and I don’t mean through face planting it ever time you forget your feet are strapped in]. I feel competent enough to start customizing my ride now and aim to get it looking similar to this. I recon if all riders rode fixed they’d be a lot fucking happier, there’s as much joy in customizing your bike as there is in riding it. In short, fixed is fucking fabulous. n fifty1
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Fixed Gear
Vas Karpetas
Vas Karpetas is an avid fixed gear rider, having kindly offered photographs of his rides he’s kindly agreed to speak to Faux Sure When did you first make the leap from gears to fixed? Vas: I made the leap 3 years ago to single speed and now two years riding fixed
my frame with the carbon forks
Tokyo fixed gear
The most cherished part on your bike?
Do you ever stop updating components?
Vas: My rear wheel it’s a FFWD just in love with it
Vas: Never I always keep updating
Your most expensive component?
Dropped bars or flats?
Vas: The Ergostem
Vas: Drops for my Figmo build and 3 inch rise bars for my 14co build never been a fan of flat bars
Do you ever go to meets with other fixie riders? Vas: Yes I do events with 14bike and Tokyo Fixed Gear and with my mates they all ride fixed
Vas: I ride on a 46 to a 17 What’d you make of the 'fixie scene' is it purely about aesthetics? Vas: Its about riding and for the love of bikes and yeah of course we all like having a cool bike
The most important part of a bike as you see it?
How many fixies have you owned?
Vas: The most important would be
Vas: I own 2 a 14bikeco custom made and a Figmo build from
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What size cog/sprocket do you ride?
Peddle straps or clip ins? Vas: Straps for 14co build and cages for the Figmo Brakes, smart move or do they spoil the look? Vas: Smart move yeah but they spoil the look I ride brakeless I prefer it that way. n
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Bike polo sees two teams consisting of three riders each take to a court with games lasting fifteen minutes or five goals, whichever comes first. Throw ins are friendly games in which anyone wanting to play will throw their mallet into the centre of the court. Six mallets are then selected, three for each team, this offers a randomness to proceedings. Each rider possesses a mallet with which they attempt place the ball in their opponents net. Riders must have at least one brake [with fixed gear riding counting as a brake[ Each team begins the game from behind their own goal, the ref counts down from three with players heading to the centre [where the ball is placed from the off[ on hearing “Go!” EHBPC [European Hard-court Bike Polo Championship[ are the official rules of choice. The London Bike Polo League makes only on change to the rules, having cones act as nets as opposed to the small-netted goals the EHBPC state. There are three games to be played per fixture with the winning team being that which has won the greatest number of games. Obviously! A ‘Hit’ is only made from the end of the player’s mallet. Using the broad side of the mallet is known as a ‘Shuffle’, an offensive shuffle will not count as a goal. After scoring a goal the scoring team must return to their own goal area. They cannot return past centre court until either the ball or any player from the conceding team has passed centre court. Before the conceding team can pass centre court as least two members of the scoring team must have passed back to their half. A rider’s foot can not touch the ground at any point. A foot touching a mallet is classed as a foot down and the offending player must partake in a tap out. This involves the player touching either sideline of centre court. The player must tap out immediately and not purposefully obstruct play in the process. Strong penalties can be called for foul play including elbowing, grabbing, pushing with hands or feet, kicking, you get the picture. In extreme cases public humiliation can be considered proper punishment for offenders.
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Dan Smith is an avid bike polo player; based in Birmingham he has a connection with the London fixed gear community. How did you get in to fixed gear riding? Dan: I worked for cycle surgery for a year, and experimented with a few bikes – which inevitably got me hooked. What makes fixed better then geared bikes? Dan: Fixed gear holds loads of appeal for me for a few reasons. It enables me to be more in touch with the bike, allowing slight increases/decreases in speed/power, whilst maintaining a fluid-like motion. Gears make cycling easier too – and I’m all about pain and difficulty!
months ago. Is it as simple as 3 fixie riders turning up and becoming a team? Dan: We operate a seeding system, where seeded players are automatically considered for tournaments, with the option to use lower seeded players as a second team, or back up.
hicle) What tyres do you run on? Dan: (Vittoria’s 23c for road/track – Continentals 28c for POLO) Most important part on a fixed gear?
Best polo team in London?
Dan: Position! Hubs are key.
Dan: Cosmic or Rotten Apples
Your most coveted component?
Is there a league?
Dan: Phil Woods hubs or Sugino 75 cranks with Zen ring.
Dan: how many teams in it, how does it work, points n that? Where I am based there are not yet enough players to create a league – but all in good time!! First fixed gear bike? Dan: An old Bianchi conversion.
When did you start playing bike polo?
What's your ride atm?
Dan: Initially 12 months ago – I joined in a few games in Seattle, but let it slide for a while. Got back into it a few
Dan: Surly Steamroller (day to day fixed gear commuting), Dolan Track Champion (track) and Raleigh Conversion (as POLO ve-
What size chain ring/sprocket do you ride? Dan: It has to be low for POLO – 34x18. 50x15 for track. 47x17 for commuting Best way to go about getting into bike polo? Dan: Turn up to local courts and join the throw-ins. Run a low gear and prepare for colliding! n
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THE REFORMATION OF THE
LIBERTINES
Written by Jack Mitchell
30th August 2004, fiercely believed by many to be on the verge on something big the Libertines unleash their self-titled second album to rapturous acclaim. While friendships were volatile and meals were being supplemented by eighths – chosen method of prescription, injection – the album tickled the testicles of NME moguls, topping UK charts. December 2004, after months or tribulation and misguided decisions – most notably Pete Doherty burgling best mate, Carl Barrat’s pad – the libertines call it a day. While communications in the spoken form
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had clearly seen brighter afternoons, their music was deserving of far more then centre stage at an NME gangbang. A mildly obsessive affixation with a junkie rocker is what every fifteen-year-old lad needs, possessing all the bad traits you wished you possessed but didn’t have the balls to carry off. The truthfulness, the excitement, the joy, the pitiful drone of an Englishman’s heart strings plucked vigorously as the cry out to be liked is an overplayed but winning combination. The Libertines were what the nations youth craved, Britpop had long
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faded away and between phases we were faced with a difficult decision, which album of Americanized shite do we not buy, always a tricky one. The Libertines had their critics, more then some it could be said, Pete’s less then choirboy vocals seemed the least of bad jibes, drugs seemed to overshadow anything the band attempted to do and remained the main attention following the bands initial demise. But drugs and British music go hand in hand, England as a country is a pretty dire place to spawn, clouds piss down seemingly none stop
from birth till death, holidays in the countryside are wet, miserable and result in shit covered shoes as you trundle through cow ridden fields avoiding the angry stare of the head honcho. Seaside holidays are wet, miserable and result in shit-covered shoes as you wade through shit stained water, used Durex indicating some possibility as to the waters high salt content. And this– this is the point of true British music, call the Libertines punk, call them indie, call them shite, whatever your stance of Doherty’s and Barrat’s somewhat volatile relationship they conveyed the message of a love and togeth-
erness, at times and offered a soundtrack to a decades teenage heartache. In the half-decade past since the Libertines split, Babyshambles have rambled on receiving only moderate success. Their main wrong doing, attempting to imitate the success the Libertines never found, playing sell arena shows, the fans dully disappointed when their optimism failed them, along with Doherty’s appearance and they realized that the thirty quid ticket was a fucking rip off as they stare blankly at nothing more then a high school project band sixty5
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which stares aimlessly back at them, lost without their front man. Having said this, I have to confess that I did see the Libertines play, Doherty showed up and seemed relatively clean, the gig was immense but it was a rarity. Whilst Doherty was enjoying numerous narcotics with his back of the bike sheds, Lucky Strike smoking band mates, Barrat had set up Dirty Pretty things along with Gary Powell, Libertines drummer. For once the nation seemed collective in their thoughts - “Shit!–. They initially conned us they were good, –Bang Bang, You’re Dead’ sixty6
the bands debut single reached five, and, to be fair was rather catchy, second single –Deadwood’ topped out at twenty and, that was that. For two songs we were blinded, lost and dazed as our water logged eyes struggled with the loss of the Libertines, our ears seemingly affected. The Dirty Pretty Things project was a short-lived one, thank fuck. In October ’08 Barrat finally did the honourable thing and announced they had split.
Grace/Wastelands was released March ’09 offering a collection of Doherty’s work both old and new, –Last of the English Roses’ was the finest moment on a pretty miserable album, both album and singles failed to wow audiences and quickly fell into obscurity. The album though once again exited people over a potential reunion as –A Little Death Between the Eyes’ featured vocals from Barrat, sparking rumours that their friendship was once again reconciled.
While the public was once again hopeful of a reunion Doherty was busy working on a solo album, his first.
31st March 2010, Boogaloo, Camden, London, as people had long since given up hope and lost a little inter-
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est in proceedings, sat facing the nations press the Libertines, as a four, address praying eyes– they are back! Met with “oh, ok– as opposed to cheers “YES! Get in!– the Libertines may have overplayed the split up card. The on off story turning many fans off, however, having said this there is once again a sense of optimism in the air. The group has matured and so too the fans, no longer the teenagers filled with admiration seeping through puppy dog eyes, their support now the critics professionally passing on judgment to a new wave of teenager. The Libertines originally possessed a simplicity, they were
young and na–ve and that was part of the appeal, I only hope that, for the fans with fond memories the £1.5 million pay packet doesn’t complicate things. Lets hope they do a reunion justice, I for one remain optimistic, but do wonder, if a third album is subsequently on the cards, what Doherty could write about now Kate Moss has been out of his life for some years. Perhaps we’ll yet see them adorn crowns of greatness as they attain what they should have first time round, perhaps. n
sixty7
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review
DAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP THE LOGIC OF CHANCE SUNDAY BEST
wagon they once so strongly opposed. Gone are the thought provoking lyrical renditions, replaced instead with dance floor beats and mindless chorus’ “I’m from a little place called great Britain, but I don’t know if I love or hate Britain”. Given, the chorus of great Britain is catchy, but unfortunately so, particularly when compared to the depth the debut offered.
^^^^^
The spoken word scene has flourished in recent times, thanks in part to the musical pairing of Le Sac and Pip. In short their collaborations prove to be nothing short of genius. True, their debut proved a little dark in places, tracks of suicide are as welcome in the charts as Ian Huntly would be on a Come Dine With Me ‘Celebrity’ Special. Despite the darkness their debut proved both deep and moving, beginning with a live recording of ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’. Pip welcomes the audience with a speech in which he states his intentions “I aint gunna take it no more, soulless music, artless lyrics, goalless movements, heartless gimmicks…if this is the big life well I aint lookin’ to live it”. It’s a sorry sight to behold then that two years on they’ve conformed to the bandsixty8
I really wanted to like this album and while it’s enjoyable at face value that’s all you’ll get from it. After making such a strong and powerful album first time round I was hopeful of a comparable intensity this time round. It’s upsetting to think that Pip felt the need to dumb it down, seemingly seeking success over lyrical fulfillment, having said that the album does see more of an input from Le Sac. Whereas as their first album acted as a collaboration, this appears to be a proper joint project, rightfully so considering some of Le Sac’s astonishing side project remixes. In parts the album displays some promise ‘Cowboi’ featuring Kid Carpet is the slowest track off the album. Reminiscent of their first album this track is profound, it draws out the goose bumps that stood throughout their debut. Track five seems to sit in limbo, offering a monotonous chorus which
chants ‘Get better, get better, get better, get better” the verses seem to offer an enthusiasm to succeed to an unmotivated youth. Seemingly acting as a spokesman for an apathetic audience Pip affirms, “Whether you have, or you have not wealth, the system might fail you, but don’t fail yourself”. Stake a Claim is potentially the most memorable track, once again seeing Pip act as a voice for the people he expresses his frustration with the government “In this democracy the Government is accountable to us, the People”. Symptomatic of the beginnings of a cult Pip could be seen as an outlet of frustration, conveying the thoughts of a mass through his knowledgeable and sharp lyrics.n
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review
KATE TEMPEST BROKEN HERD PURE GROOVE
the more potent by the sheer silence of the room, which timidly congratulates each track with applause suggesting they don’t feel the right to pass judgment [good or bad] on such a talent.
^^^^^
This 300-limited gem is incredible in every sense, the tracks are immense but the case in which Tempest delivers her work is just as impressive. A DVD case sized card box opens like a book to reveal a crisp looking CD which is accompanied by an illustrated book of lyrics, a sheet of tattoo transfers and potentially most apt. a quill. It’s a beautiful parcel hiding a stunning arrangement of work. Tempest delivers each spiel [if it isn’t an insult to call them such] with immense passion, her words nothing short of profound as each track emits an intensity that’s second to none. The EP was recorded at Pure Groove before a live audience, Tempests work seeming all
The album opens with a guest appearance from Scroobius Pip, welcoming the room with ease in a lighthearted manner that differs immensely from the work about to be displayed. A noticeably anxious Tempest makes a somewhat shaky introduction, which comes across more humbling then ill prepared. She breaks into her first track almost immediately and instantaneously transforms from a timid female, unassuming of her talent into a fierce lyricist, spitting out rhymes with ferocious precision. Life Of A Scribe, the albums first offering depicts Tempests style entirely, her fast flowing rhymes are delivered with a violent accuracy. At times it seems the audience are deeper in thought then Tempest, the ease with which the words seem to flow, it’s impossible to listen to this album assuming the same ease is achievable. Between tracks lie interludes in which tempest converses with the audience, contrasting from her initial apprehension Tempest quickly settles down, gaining laughs from the audience as she talks deeply and passionately about the purpose of the
evening. In describing the intention of the recording there is genuine passion to be heard, she often seems over excited and never fails to thank those who have helped her, the animation in her voice is truly humbling. Balance is the albums second track, describing the conflicting interests of Ambition, Pride, Talent and Envy through the stance of four friends. Potentially the most motivating of Tempests work, it succeeds in highlighting the importance of working hard to achieve your goals, don’t sit back and expect but similarly don’t envy those who have what you desire. The album may only be nine tracks in length but to be honest I think the brain would melt if asked to apply the same amount of attention to anymore. It’s a glorious collection of work that more then makes up for the shit MC’s that constantly plague the charts. For a change we have lyrics that mean something and not only to their writer, with their blisteringly intense honesty each track could be used as a voice for the youthful generation. Intentional or not Tempest work succeeds in motivating one to improve.n
sixty9
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review
THE XX XX
YOUNG TURKS/XL RECORDINGS more relaxed fashion then is normal but is clearly visible. Listened to in its entirety this work lends itself to the act of lovemaking, it seduces whilst subtly transcending one into a state of pure ecstasy. For the times when words elude over pleasure this album offers the perfect accompaniment.
^^^^^
The debut album from the southwest [once quartette, freshly turned trio] Londoners is well and truly beauty personified. Heartwarming and melodic backbeats induce a trance like state whilst the simplistically perfect lyrics elate a sense of euphoria. The combination of Romy (Madley-Croft) and Oliver’s (Sim) twin vocals are truly stunning. Friends since childhood, the pair harmonize vocals with perfection, conveying a bond which is truly endearing. Beginning with the somewhat apt titled ‘Intro’ [a two minute track which offers nothing in the way of lyrics] the pair hum in a tribal like fashion, illustrating a dream like abstraction which plays well to the rest of the album. The pair’s love of Dub Step is communicated in a seventy
VCR is potentially the albums finest moment, however it is difficult to place one track above the rest. Beginning with what resembles a xylophone the track stunningly reminisces about childhood friendships “because you, you just know, you just do” suggests an unconditional love between the pair in what sounds like a honest insight into their own friendship. It’s difficult to criticize such an immense offering of work and while there have been suggestions it’s difficult to listen to with being so relaxing, the context in which you listen could affect this. This is an astonishing debut album which falls short at no level, accompanying the youthful passion of a sex fueled evening this work, like candles, will only improve the situation. The backbeats whistle sweetly as the soft tones of Romy and Oliver’s voices work in conjunction with the sole aim of seducing the ears of the listener. For the times when the
words are eluded over actions this album plays the perfect partner, offering forty minutes of pleasure in which to fulfill your every desire. The album plays out with stars, beautifully delicate track about sex in which Sim claims “I can give it all on a first date” playing out like the breathless comedown after orgasm, the track gently fades leaving your both elated and sleepy. Stunning. n
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review
REVIEWS opener. Front man Ezra Koenig formulates a chorus from an array of bemusing sounds, which proves delightfully catchy. Potentially the most enjoyable track from the album, its more refrained approach proving far easier on the ear when faced multiple listens then ‘Cousins’, the albums initial single release.
^^^^^
VAMPIRE WEEKEND CONTRA XL RECORDINGS Two years after their self titled debut the American four piece indie outfit return with an exceptional follow up. Continuing with the same format [like they say, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it] Contra offers up fun, bouncy pop music that can’t fail in bringing a smile to your face.
The albums second released single ‘Giving up the Gun’ welcomes audience participation, featuring a choir like chorus we see growth from the immature and somewhat limited debut. The work lacks some of the immaturity of the first album but maintains the bands pleasurably pleasing lightness. The album feels fresh throughout and while they have taken the leap into and surpassed the three minute song barrier the tracks offer an ease with which they can be listened. In parts the album lends itself well to a photo album montage, which could also be said is true of the first. I strongly believe that every summer should be accompanied by a sound track and this year that album features the pop perfection of Koenig and gang. n
The group seems to have matured slightly second time round, there seems more depth in the music and they seem to have learnt variation, changing the tune and even the chords from song to song, well, it was about time. Second track in - White Sky – offers a cleaver and enjoyable sound which proves far more enjoyable then the
^^^^^
PLAN B THE DEFAMATION OF STRICKLAND BANKS 679/ Atlantic A thoroughly unmoving album which sounds like a regurgitation of Mark Ronson’s equally unoriginal debut. Stemming from UK Garage background Plan B performs best when rapping. His harsh voice conveying a realism through his work. This was the case with his first and, while his singing is actually bearable anybody who knows his old work will be in agreement that this isn’t his best. It succeeds in offering Radio 1 a sound of the year which they will undoubtedly strangle to within an inch of its life playing a dozen times daily. It isn’t that I hate this album, I hate the fact I can’t decide what to make of it, Every time I hear the singing on ‘She Said’ I have a cross over of Knarls Barkley and Mark Ronson in my head, pleasing yet bland. Then he kicks in with his finest attribute, his rapping and it strangely seems to work. The rest of the album is full of the same, i think it’s the apparent imitation on Ronson that I know I dislike, the album on a whole is impossible to work out.n
seventy1
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review
REVIEWS ^^^^^
KATE NASH MY BEST FRIEND IS YOU POLYDOR Opener with ‘Paris’ Nash’s second album offers some hope but quick fails to maintain interest through the shockingly poor lyrics. Whilst uplifting summery sounding melodies suggest this could be a summer hit, pitiful if somewhat playfully delivered vocals fail to please in the same manner her debut did. “Don’t You Want To Share The Guilt” sounds like boyfriend Ryan Jarman may have had some influence baring a striking resemblance in parts to The Cribs – Be Safe, One of the longer tracks at five minutes, it’s also one of the most successful. Fun for a listen or two, but nothing amazing. n
seventy2
^^^^^
^^^^^
CRYSTAL CASTLES CRYSTAL CASTLES (II) POLYDOR
HADOUKEN! FOR THE MASSES EMI MUSIC
A pretty unimaginative title, but who needs gimmics? oh wait, Crystal Castles do. Basing their debut around an 8-bit keytone with Alice’s exhausting screams acting as sole vocals the album, surprisingly proved quite succesful. Second time round their sound has grown, still based heavily round an electro backing the pair seem more relaxed, less “OI! look at us!” more “oi, come take a look”. Alices violent outburst still show from time to time ‘Doe Deer’ is difficult to understand lyrically. Combing the title and anger in her voice one might suggest she’s high on mushrooms having a face off with a deer over a patch of grass, personally i think that music video should be made. All in all the album shows vast improvements over the first, the pair seemingly combining thoughts as opposed to working individually as they did first time round.
Hadouken! version 2.0 offers up more of the same, big bass and harsh lyrics. ‘Mic Check’ is a dancefloor sensation playing itself to the ‘Big Fish Little fish Carboard Box’ pill droppers, this album will have you raving likes its ‘94. Sounding in parts like an MC’s wet dream James [Smith] spits lyrics with commical precision. ‘Turn The Lights Out’ is reminisent in parts of earlier work - No More Eatin’feat Plan B. M.A.D is more of the same and comes accompanied by a video possessing an out of work teraway mouse. His violent tendencies resulted in MTV banning the video before the watershed. While the bands development may be limited the movement of the moment still craves what Hadouken! offer in abundance, bass. n
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, d k c e d e p ta
I Blame Coco - Caesar
An immensely fun and fast track featuring guest vocals from Robyn (remember her?) I Blame coco delivers amazingly bizare vocals atop fast passed synths, it works superbly. Foals - Spanish Sahara The first from a new line of work which proves far deeper and more compelling then their solo album. Gone are the bizare animal hearts on strings videos and unusual choice of French translation, replaced instead with a peaceful solo vocal delivered by Yannis atop of relaxing beat accompanied by an equally relaxing and stunning video. Good Shoes - Under Control A Simple, fun pop song written to be as filthy as possible - ‘nough said. Vampire Weekend - White Sky Offering the simplest of chorus’ Vampire weekends most pleasing track from an amazing second album. Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work A happy pop song perfect for the summer sun, i dare to say it but the vocals scarily resemble Sophie Elis Bexter in parts. We Have Band - Centerfolds and Empty Screens The finest offering from the Manchester bands debut, offering itself to the hands of DJs this track would work perfectly if mixed, until that point we’ll stick with the original.
Bonus Track The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You Because everybody wants to party like it’s the year 2000. seventy3
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seventy4
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faux sure
volume one issue one
the coming out issue
may 2010
faux sure