SANDIE SHAW
DIGITAL EDITION
FRED V & GRAFIX DRY THE RIVER SKITTLES APECULT THE MINX & MORE
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Another season another Fanzine and a feeling that there’s been so much water under the bridge of the company since the last one (but only 6 months since it was printed) FLY53 has been out to see a host of bands, started up a monthly series of music sessions in Manchester and launched a new collection. This Zine we are going to say the same as we have over the last few – the people we have met to make this, given their time for interviewing and soul stealing, have been amazing. They have been great fun to hang out with and we are happy, neigh, proud to help spread the word about them to our family. Our zine is exclusive content, collected, collated and curated by FLY53, no one else and it’s unique in that all the bands are wearing our products. It’s humbling to know that we have never been able to pay anyone, but they have always been happy to wear the product and partner us in this project. This is a project that’s close to our hearts and above all it’s fun to do. Thanks to everyone involved.
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FEATURE
Dry the River is a band on the move. Not literally, they don’t just move about a lot, they are a band that’s got a groundswell of followers and are starting to really get a large slice of attention.
Their second album has just been finished and is due for release this year, so they will be out and about over the summer plying their trade in front of adoring crowds. We caught up with them for a chat on a windy East London rooftop for the first interview since finishing said album. Now that you have graduated to being a full time band is it what you expected? T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 0 4
Peter: I like that, ‘graduated’. John: Sounds like qualified. Peter: Yeah qualified. We have stumbled blindly through music until this point. But yeah it’s great. I don’t know what we were expecting.
John:
We’re basically living the dream and it’s everything you imagine it would be. And more. But the only thing about it is - it’s a business and when you go full time that’s the thing you really realise. There’s a lot of people involved and its not just your baby anymore, you have to share it and take on other people’s views.
Peter: You sit down with accountant and talk over margins for touring and these things that are not the most glamorous.
John:
That was a shock but apart from that you’re traveling the world, meeting people getting free booze. It’s a dream. Free food! Ha.
What’s the next goal? Peter: I think for us it’s always been an endurance thing. We always had the notion that if we could get to a position of full time musicianship, then we would run with it for as long as possible. So we have been the least extravagant band in the world in terms
of touring set up. We have a really intimate skeleton crew. We’re not on busses and fancy hotels we’re Travelodge’s all over the world. The key thing for us has always been to play the long game. There’s sometimes a temptation to splash out a bit, but we have never really done that.
John: We tried once I think with Mumford and Sons, there was a whole thing. But we were so irrelevant and they were so massive that they just took no notice and brushed it aside.
Peter: Scott tried but they just said
John:
No, we do tour a condiments case, that’s our luxury. Hot sauces from around the world.
We see you as nice guys in interviews and in general. Ever been tempted to start a beef with another band – Blur Vs. Oasis st yle? T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 0 5
they really liked us ,so it was a non starter.
John: Yeah they really liked us so we insulted some nice people, moved on and never tried again.
Peter: I think more to the point lots of interviewers tried to start it, they kept asking ‘what about Mumford and Sons
then. Does it annoy you that people will talk about them all the time and put you in that bracket?’ But we weren’t worried, we aren’t that similar, and we were just not offended enough by anything. We’re plain sailing and chancers and everything we have done is so laze faire that I don’t think we have ever disliked anyone enough to start a fight with them. And look at us, we wouldn’t do well if it ever came to a fight…
John:
We’re not known for our fighting prowess.
what about onstage or fashion influences? Peter:
Every time we play we watch the other bands (on the night) to figure out what’s good about them, especially if we’re supporting them. I feel a bit like that guy out of Heroes who steals everyone’s abilities. It always helps to see how you can get better.
Peter:
In terms of fashion I wear what’s comfortable.
On that nice person tip – get dirt y and tell us your favorite sweaR words.
That’s basically it, he’s our only fashion person.
John: I am a shit man myself. Classic.
Mat t: You keep saying that, like I am
Useful.
Peter: I really try not to swear. My
John: I wear what Matt tells me to wear.
in your bedroom in the mornings saying ‘get up John put this on’! ha.
Peter: I have always worn jeans and a
mother might read this and be really annoyed if I say anything.
jumper all the time.
Mat t: I’m not sure if it’s a swear word or
John: Yeah jeans and a tee for me, Scott
not, but Jebend is good.
Peter: Ha ha, I like that you have been sat there not saying anything and the first word is jebend.
John:
It’s like we were saying; you don’t say a lot, but when you speak it’s great.
You have answered a lot about your musical influences, but
wears a vest. Is that fashionable?
Mat t: Don’t think so. John:
So yeah we don’t have ay fashion influences – laughs.
Will (recently left the band) – are you going to replace string with strings? T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 0 6
Peter:
We had finished the first record and we were in this interim period with the band as we had toured solidly for three years. We were taking time out for the new record. I think it was while we were in that transitional period when he (Will) started to work on some other projects and realized there were other avenues he wanted to pursue, and there were no hard feelings at all. Our new record is a bit more ‘bandy’ and less folky, there’s not as much of the big dramatic strings from the first record in every song, and we have moved away from that a bit as well. So I hope Will gets the chance to work on what he wants with bigger string arrangements and that type of thing. So it was a very amicable and gentle arrangement that played out and I don’t think we have gone into depth about replacing him. I don’t even know if we will. We’ll have to see if we get another string player. We have played a bit recently with a friend of ours Pat, playing keys, so for the time being he’s helping us out.
On your facebook it says: Band Interests – Coal mining Peter:
Ha ha, I am surprised that’s still up there. I came up with the name before we had even done a rehearsal and started a facebook page and put that as a joke. I am amazed that we have never updated it.
John: Well, it’s true we all love to mine. Peter: I was quite outdoorsy as a kid. I was a scout.
FEATURE
Mention the name Sandie Shaw to anyone and you’ll get one of two responses – the phrase ‘Puppet on a string’ or a puzzled look as if you had just spoken Arabic. Regale either of those groups with any of the stories about Sandie and you’ll soon get a different look, one of amazement. 1st U.K. winner of Eurovision with Puppet on a String in 1967 (selling 2 million copies) She once had Jimi Hendrix as her support act, was an 80’s comeback story with the help of The Smiths and has had music in her veins since she was a teen. Having just come off a tour with Jools Holland last year she has sworn off live performing (read more below) and is the Chair for Future Artist Coalition (F.A.C) alongside Ed O’Brien (Radiohead) and a host of other musical luminaries.
MU SIC IS A H A R D INDU S T RY - HO W H AV E YOU SURV I V E D F OR A S L ONG A S YOU H AV E ? I actually don’t think it’s that hard, you either have the right personality for it or you don’t. I think always striving for your dreams is going to be difficult anyway, there are going to be lots of obstacles so, it’s best to make sure it’s your dreams that you’re striving for. It’s no different from any other business. It’s interesting; you always have to think on your feet and it’s always changing. I think you have to have
a philosophy, and I don’t mean a highbrow philosophy, but everything has to be true to that idea. A bit like Blackpool rock it has to be that all the way through – that integrity. And that’s what helps you last, because if you don’t have that then you’ll get caught out as a fraud and people don’t like that. You need cohesion, and then it can morph into anywhere because it has a core to it. That’s not just in music but everything. T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 07
It was a difficult beginning for your career with Eurovision and a guy that was married… It seems daft now doesn’t it? ‘A guy that was married’. So many people are in multi marriages now and yet back then everything was so different. We were talking the other day
about Brian Epstein and I was saying - you have no idea how difficult it was for him being gay. The Beatles used to take the piss out of him something awful, teasing him. And John was really quite cruel with him, in a funny kind of way. Things like that and Stephen Ward with Kristine Keeler, I mean he committed suicide because he was hounded. The whole climate was so different. We were part of changing the whole sexual / social climate. So for a young woman in that position to have a relationship with someone that turned out to be married – it was HUGE. No one on our street had ever been divorced. It’s a nothing now. Back then the BBC tried to sack me and funnily enough it
there were some notes from Jonnie and Morrissey, and some letters and things, so I went ‘oh, all right!’ So they sent me some tracks but I just didn’t get it. But then I thought that was like with Heaven 17 who had just sent me something and I didn’t get that either, but my young friends said they were cool and I should do something with them. So Morrissey came over to see me in my flat. I think I had forgotten he was coming and I was in my pajamas. He came in and sat there on the sofa and didn’t take his overcoat off and I was in my pajamas (laughs) and that’s how we first met. He’s so sweet when he wants to be, when he wants something he’s a very charming man!
HE’S A VERY CH A RMING M A N was Rolf Harris and his manager that said I was bringing down the tone of the BBC. (Editor – Harris is on trial at present)
Did you enjoy working with them?
You worked with The Smiths – tell us about that?
Oh yeah, loved working with them they were amazing. It was the eye of the storm at that time they were part of a huge movement. When I started singing the material then I got it. Because he had listened to a lot of my stuff, when I sang them then it felt like I was singing my own songs, as they felt seamless to me. It was great being in the eye of the storm that way, I don’t like doing things that aren’t cool, I would rather to do nothing and it seemed incredibly relevant at the time.
It was the 80’s and I had been out of the scene for ages and I had just started doing things again. I had just done some work with Heaven 17 and got married to the guy that co-owned Virgin at the time. Geoff Travis who ran Rough Trade contacted my husband and said he had a guy who was desperate to meet me. So the message got passed on to my husband and then there was another message and another and another. Then
Do you think your musical side is 100% over?
Well I think you do different things in music and I like to think people have long term careers in music. Front stage, backstage it doesn’t make a difference. I ended the tour with Jools Holland happy to call it a halt (2013), saying I wasn’t going to do anything at all onstage. But I was asked by Neil Davidge from Massive Attack to sing on a track he sent me and it was so difficult, so different it was like learning opera it was so hard. It was the most amazing thing I have ever done and I was so excited by it and I so loved working on it because it had so much depth. The depth that you don’t have to have when you’re younger, but it gave me something to get my teeth into and the lyrics are great. It’s called Riot Pictures on his album Slo Light out now. To work with brilliant musicians is such a joy I can’t tell you. So that’s just come out and I am like – argh, would anyone like to do a swan song – would anyone like to hear me sing the music I actually like? Rather than the regurgitated stuff. So I am thinking now, should I do just one last thing? I mean women don’t do it, Jonnie Cash did it, and even Tom Jones is still hobbling along.
Retirement for lots of musicians is famously temporary. I am still in the industry, just in a different part, and my work for the F.A.C. (Featured Artist Coalition) is incredibly important for me. We are trying to be the artists voice in this whole new digital landscape, to make things equitable because it’s so difficult for young people to make money in music now. So somebody has to speak on their behalf. It’s my passion because I was so lucky. One of the reasons I am still around is because
T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 0 8
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AVAIL ABLE AT WWW.FLY53.com
Adam Faith, who introduced me to music in the first place, had the foresight to pay for my recordings and lend me the money so I owned them. I realise now how important it is for artists to own all their work, not just morally but also commercially, because they are like your babies and you don’t want to have them wrenched away fro you at birth and adopted! I like to be right at the front of change and be in the eye of the storm, starting things off and if I can be a part of helping people to change that landscape so they can express themselves and be rewarded, by exploding myths like ‘Free Music’ - it’s never free someone pays somehow. It’s monetized and it’s worth something, why are the artists not getting the money? They have to be in control of their output.
I was going to ask you what advice you would give to musicians now, but you just answered that for me! T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 0 9
a i lable On l i ne N e w S e a s on N o w A v
INTERVIEW The Minx was one of the first bands to play FLY53’s Music Series in Manchester. Billed as a ska / punk band, we were immediately hooked on the idea of them as we’re big fans of the genre. The guys certainly look the part (they have also been tapped up by Dr Martens for a set of shows) and have a great sound that has their back when credibility works past the image. As you’d expect for a band playing the ska / punk scene, high energy is a large part of the gigs.
Chris: ‘We always have a bit of fun when we’re playing and gigging, that’s what it is you know. If you’re not enjoying it there’s no point in doing it.’
Paul: ‘Once you take yourself seriously as well, it all goes Pete Tong.’
Chris: ‘When were playing live it’s a massive buzz, adrenalin kicks in so even if you’re extremely hung over or not feeling to well, it doesn’t matter for that 45 mins or whatever while you’re playing.
We’re quite an energetic band so it comes to us while we’re playing. Maybe when we’re 40 we won’t be saying the same thing.’
more to Manchester than just the ‘Madchester’ thing. We look more towards Buzzcocks that were before all that.’
Although the band is proud of their Manchester roots, its rich musical heritage is a different fuel for the band.
The Minx left the night having played a blinder of a set, heading toward the studio to get the new material down and if it’s anything like what’s come before, they will be on top of the world before long. Have a look at the full
Andy: ‘We aim to try and get as far away from Manchester sound as we can. It works in our favor a bit different than the generic way; we’re trying to prove there’s
T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 1 2
interview on FLY53 T.V on Youtube and check out the band’s track at the same time.
INTERVIEW January’s FLY53 event saw a Sheffield band called Blood Sport (Alex, Nick and Sam) jump onstage to throw their sonic soundscapes at the crowd. Based on the The Audacious Art Experiment label from their hometown, the band moves on from afro-beat into agro-beat. Sam: ‘Our original premise was trying to fuse afro-beat with noise rock or more experimental rock. We didn’t know that what we came out with would prompt media people to use loads of different adjectives and genre names, so we just thought we would bypass that to come up with a pun that was not too serious.
Nick: ‘At the time when we started, Vampire Weekend were rising high so we just wanted to avoid any comparison to Paul Simon, at all, so it was to do that.’ The guys have been working hard in 2013 releasing their ‘Life In Units’ album then touring it across the country and playing elements live. So by January when they get to us in Manchester they are well seasoned in their live
performance and have a very tightly worked presence. Blood Sport use a different way of working the crowd, with no breaks in the tracks and a singer that puts vocals through a pedal. This gives them an air of ‘order from chaos’ onstage.
Nick ‘I suppose from the outside it won’t be that clear how we write songs. I am sure loads of bands do this, but we don’t bring ideas to practice sessions or anything like that. We’ll just jam out for like a week, until we find something that we like, be it a bar or a section and take that, repeat it endlessly and see where that goes. However long that takes. Admittedly it can take us a month to write a song because of this constant repetition, repetition, then we alter it slightly. But that’s the method if you will.’
Have a look at the full interview on FLY53 T.V on Youtube and check out the band’s track at the same time.
T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 1 3
Champion Lover was on the bill for January’s Music Series on the merit of their live shows and how they have started to make the scene sit up and notice their sound. As a Manchester band they were instrumental in pulling in a crowd for the night - their hometown is a hotspot of Champion Love (see what we did there!). Pulling together tracks like ‘Blackpool conga eel’ and ‘Mask of bees’ into their Debut LP (out end of November 2013) the band has a large dose of irreverence to their track titles. Phil:
I was in Blackpool sea life center and I saw a gargantuan conger eel in a tube, and it looked really depressed, and I had been thinking about it for a long time. That piece of music is very upbeat, it’s sort of got a Samba beat, almost like soca music, so it’s almost like we are trying to liberate that eel from Blackpool.
Chris:
The track is the sound of confusion.
Nicky: With a cowbell!
It’s hard to put a label on what music Champion Lover makes. Some have said Art Kraut, a bastardisation of Krautrock and Artrock, which the band’s not happy with.
Phil: Mask of Bees is about
Phil: ‘It’s hard to have music that
Nicholas Cage in the remake of the Wicker Man. At the end of the movie he’s wearing a mask and they pour bees into it and he screams ‘’the bees, not the bees’
unclassifiable, it is a problem, sometimes you have to sell yourself and we can’t. And that’s good and bad.’
Best way to see what they are like live is to head to our Youtube channel and hit the play button on their live track. Whilst you’re there have a look at the full interview and see which of the band is pregnant *hint, it’s the girl... T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 1 4
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
SKITTLES Liam ‘Skittles’ Kelly is one of the best UK Lyricists we have met. He’s sharp as a ginsu blade, quick witted and with a creative streak that, seemingly, comes out of nowhere.
YOU DON’T NECESSARILY EXPECT RAPPERS TO TURN UP WITH A BACKING BAND, BUT HE DID DURING THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF FLY53’S MUSIC SERIES IN MANCHESTER. DURING THE SET UP WE WERE TAKEN BY HOW PROFESSIONAL, AND JUST PLAIN AMAZING SOUNDING, THE GROUP WERE TOGETHER. THE MUSIC SOUNDED REALLY WELL PRODUCED AND GROUNDED IN THE BAND BEING A SOLID UNIT. SKITTLES: ‘Yeah lots of people say in music if you get drums and bass locked in, then everything else will follow. These two have been (pointing to Brickie and Joe) mates for years and we we’re lucky to have them. Then with my writing and orchestrating, they just make the melodic side and it (the music) just sort of makes itself.’
Coming from Manchester and being
outside of what can, a lot of the time, seem like a Lodon-centric scene, there’s some real love of the craft that’s being performed outside the capital. SKITTLES: ‘Someone needs to look outside of London. There’s so much talent out there. It’s not just me (laughing) do you
know what I mean? There are loads of scousers, Sheffield, Leeds people. Birmingham. Loads. It’s not just me. I get London people saying they don’t want to hear another Dizzy Rascal. Don’t get me wrong he’s amazing, but do we need it again and again and again?’
Skittles has a real talent on the mic and his band is one of the best we have heard live for a while in T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 1 5
the Hip Hop scene. It’s always hard to work good rap styles live, even some of the bigger names mess it up on a regular basis, so when you hear Skittles live, we’re sure you’ll agree they should be a lot bigger than they are. Top class act.
Have a look at the full interview on FLY53 T.V on Youtube and check out the band’s track at the same time.
TRIANGLE T-SHIRT
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AVAIL ABLE AT FLY53.com
INTERVIEW
APE CULT
Manchester’s influential crew Ape Cult consists of: Black Josh, LyriCalligraphy, Truthos Mufasa, Dyslexis and Metronome. It is a tight collective that has been together for a few years working, playing and having fun. As single entities each plies their trade with all sorts of side projects, from collaborating with their hometown friends The Mouse Outfit to releasing their own EPs. But it’s when they get the space and time to get together on stage that Ape Cult’s true light shines.
Powered by ‘Bunana’ smoke they use the proverbial green as a tool of the trade:
Truthos Mufasa: ‘Obviously, Boo is the
favourite innit. If you wrap the spliff right the sticky bit will curve when it dries and it’ll be shaped like a banana, so we call it Bunana’
MUSIC SERIES PHOTOS
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Have a look at the full interview on FLY53 T.V on Youtube and check out the band’s track at the same time. Not afraid of difficult subjects, they tackle all sorts in their music, with Black Josh even hitting upon some home truths about Thelophobia.
Black Josh ‘I’ve got a
video called ‘donuts free’ and in it I am stroking my nipples. I showed it to my college tutor and he said that it made him feel kind of funny because I was stroking my nipples. I thought was this a kind of thing that people get where they are scared of nipples? Because we all come into life on a nipple. So I looked it up, went into college and said they have Thelophobia and were discriminating.’
INTERVIEW Crywank has to be the best name we have heard for a band – ever. Fact. There’s a certain ‘je ne sias quoi’ about being brash enough to talk about the act of a cry wank whilst breaking the taboo that the act itself is. Made us laugh as well. The comedic name belies the obvious talent that’s running through the duo of James Clayton and Dan Watson.
James:
‘If you look at the name head on then yeah, to a degree it does define us. But I don’t mind that. If someone was to actually cry wank then people can laugh and assume it is quite humorous. But if you were masturbating, which most people do, and you take it to the emotional level of crying then that would emotionally be a very bizarre moment. It would be both fulfilling in a sexual sense and humiliating in another. With the music that I am putting across, I want make people relate to embarrassment or humiliation or aspects where you do feel low about yourself.’
They take self-deprecation in music to another level as they sing songs that they proclaim are ‘anti-folk’ and deal mostly with topics of a sad nature.
James:
‘Nostril Tampon’ is a song about when I was younger and my mum was always reiterating how grateful she was to have boys as girls make her feel old. I don’t know why. I was at school at the time and kept a diary of when I used to have nosebleeds and they seemed to happen the same time every month for about four or five months. I kind of have paranoid theories at points, so I was assuming that my parents had given me a sex change and connected fallopian tubes to my nose. But eventually they stopped and I realized I was wrong. That’s what that song was about.’
There’s a real groundswell of public that are getting very attached to Crywank, and any search for them reveals a facebook page of fans that are into what they are doing and trying to achieve.
Have a look at the full interview on FLY53 T.V on Youtube and check out the band’s track at the same time. T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 1 7
CAPTAIN HOTKNIVES “
I have had three months without a golden can. My shopkeeper’s gutted, his kids might have to come home from Uni now.
“
INTERVIEW We’re not quite sure what to call Captain Hotknives music. Part comedy, part melody, part allegory he’s just a great live show that never plays the same music twice. The only thing he keeps the same are the song titles, so each stage show is improvised as he performs. That’s pretty unique.
C.H: ‘By each gig I have forgotten what was
solvent abuse but he’s also happy singing about the everyday like ‘Bob the sheepdog’ or more surreally, a ‘Mackerel skin suit’. The way these topics and the whole set is put together you’d have to be an idiot to think his words were serious in all the aspects of the song. However, the general public never ceases to amaze He’s no stranger to controversy with with righteous indignation and in some titles to tracks such as ‘I hate babies’ gigs the lyrics go down like a fart in a lift. and ‘The pigeons told me to shoplift’ He’s been shouted at and even had a few other content even references drugs and fingers pointed at him. said in the last gig. I don’t rehearse, I can’t rehearse. I don’t get my guitar and think ‘I know I’ll sing an old song I did before’ it’s like, I’ve heard it, can’t be arsed. So I just make it up at each gig. There’s a sort of plan as I have song titles, but it’s just whatever falls out of my mouth on the day.’
The best way to describe Captain Hotknives and his sound is elusive to us, so we just really urge you to check the videos at FLY53 T.V. on Youtube for the full interview and live track. T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 1 8
GERRARD BELL FIFE Gerrard played the third installment of our FLY53 Music Series in Manchester and to say he was a hard interview is an understatement. Lovely guy, and super talented on the stage but also very, very quiet and dare we say it, shy.
We did a video interview but it was hard to pry any more than one word answers to the questions. Sadly on our part, the usual interviewer wasn’t present so we had a less seasoned interviewer asking questions from a new to the scene soloist. How’s that for planning… Gerrard is a great live act and he’s got a sensitivity to his vocals and arrangement that’s touchingly fresh and new. When asked what his ideal backing band would be, the one word (after ‘don’t know’) was Nirvana, which we would pay to see for sure. We think the mix would be pretty epic.
If you go online and check Gerrard’s track you’ll see that it’s racking up views and when you listen, you’ll see why. He’s a talent for sure, and we really hope that the music industry takes him to heart. Check the video at FLY53 T.V. on Youtube for the full live track. T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 1 9
Ne w S e a s on No w Av a i l a b l e O n l i n e As worn by Super73
FEATURE
T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 2 1
A s pa r t of t he ‘Holy T r ini t y ’ of P unk mu sic ( w i t h T he S e x Pis t ol s & T he Cl a s h ) Bu z z cock s a r e a s in t e gr a l t o t he fa br ic of t he UK mu sic s ce ne a s a n y ba nd coul d p o s sibly be . T he y h av e c ome a l ong way f r om t he ir f or m at ion in 19 76 t o t oday a nd t he y h av e t he s t or ie s a nd s c a r s t o p r o v e i t. S i t t ing do w n t o ch at w i t h P e t e S HE L L E Y a nd S t e v e Diggl e b a ck s ta ge at a c once r t, w e l e a r n t h at t he ir r ide r a lway s c on ta in s Moe t a nd Ch a ndon Ch a mpa gne . ‘No Moe t – no s ho w e y, no Ch a ndon - no b a nd on ’ s ay s P e t e w i t h a s mil e .
Playing the same bill as the Damned. Pete SHELLEY: Yeah often do these days.
Do you s e e t he Da mne d a l o t ? Yeah we toured Japan with them 20 years ago. So yeah sometime we bump into them and when we play in Brighton we catch up with them.
A l o t h a s ch a nge d s ince t he n ?
Everything has changed since then really. In some ways were like paragons of the unchanging nature - we’re the only thing that’s stayed the same! Punk allowed you the scope, perhaps more than other music genres to do whatever you wanted? Well, no. We do what we wanted to do regardless of what box they tried to put us into.
hang about at the time. We helped him start THE band, which at the time was called Stiff Kittens. They wanted to start a band but didn’t know how to go about doing it, so they came to us and we told them what little we knew. That was the great thing about punk music there was no real rivalry because we were all in the same boat and had to make it up as we went along.
W h y did M a n che s t e r , w he r e you gr e w up, h av e t h at r ich mu s ic he r i ta ge ?
You t our e d w i t h Nir va n a in 94 ho w wa s t h at ?
There was nothing else happening there at the time, so we put on the first Sex Pistols gig in Manchester, and that drew people out of the woodwork. But thankfully there was a small enough amount of people that they could all form a band so from Mick Hucknall to Joy Division to Morrissey they were all at that first gig.
P e t e r Hook – do you s t il l k e e p in c on ta c t. Not really, we’re not on speed dial or anything. If we see each other we’ll chat. But we did T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 2 2
It was great. As a band we had met them a few times. Then in ’93 we were touring the states and they came to see our show in Boston, in disguises, because they had become mega and global at that point. And so they asked ‘what you doing next year?’ and we said ’well we might be going to Japan’ and they said they might as well so we should see if we could get together and do some shows. But because Pearl Jam had decided to go to Japan at a similar time, they decided to do a European tour so they asked us if we didn’t mind doing that with them. It started off in Portugal in Feb. ‘94 then couple of shows in
Spain and on Valentines Day we played in Paris. They were off to do some shows in Italy, and they were going to do 4 shows in Brixton Academy but they asked if we support them on two of the shows with them so we agreed. And of course a few days before the shows he (Kurt) killed himself.
Did you ge t a ch a nce t o h a ng ou t w i t h t he m ? Yeah. If you search online there’s a video of backstage in the dressing room where he’s just in there chatting away. Well we had a great time and they had fantastic catering so we went to their dressing room and picked at the King Prawns.
Ho w did you f ind ou t a bou t t he T V s ho w t i t l e ( Ne v e r Mind T he Bu z z c ock s )? I had read about it but I was a guest on Mark Lamar’s show on GLR and afterwards everyone went to the pub, as usual, and he was talking about a new show he had been asked to do so we talked about it.
I s i t he l p or a hindr a nce ? It makes it harder to search for us on Youtube and it’s a sore point with Steve (Diggle) T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 2 3
week! It was a couple of times for us but if anyone did it we would pick up the guitar and whack them over the fucking head. But the Buzzcocks music commanded more respect in many ways.
Your f r on t c o v e r f or t he ne w a l bum wa s l e a k e d r e ce n t ly, a nd T ime ’s Up wa s a boo t l e g of de mo s b a ck in t he d ay. S a me s hi t dif f e r e n t de c a de ? Yeah, there are parallels I guess. The bootlegs were a compliment. It’s never really been a commercial thing. One of the reasons I think we are still going is that we stuck to our guns and we know how to write a tune but we didn’t write pop tunes to make chart success. Those songs were bought by people who liked the music; they were only hits because there were fans out there. Word of mouth – faster than an email! How did someone in Scotland know you were releasing a single? There were no mobile phones in those days but somehow it travelled fast. That’s your proper marketing - tried and tested. People knew what they were buying and we weren’t selling bullshit and that’s very important.
Ho w did you f ind ou t a bou t t he T V s ho w t i t l e ?
How’s t he S t udio going? Steve Diggle: Great. Been in the studio for two weeks and the album’s nearly done.
W ho w r i t e s t he ne w s t uf f ? Pete and me, we wrote seven songs each and I think we will choose five of each for the album. It’s sounding good. As you’re working on it then it starts to come alive and take on a life of it’s own and you kind of see what you’re doing a bit more.
The first rehearsals we did ourselves, separately, as Pete lives in Italy now. So now in the studio I’m hearing some of the stuff he’s done for the first time and vice versa, which gives it a different dimension. Then we sang and played on each other’s songs, adding to them.
You’r e he r e t onigh t on t he s a me bil l a s T he D a mne d – do you s t il l k e e p in c on ta c t w i t h t he m f r om t he d ay s of t he 10 0 cl ub in 19 76? Oh yes, well, we come from the nucleus, the pistols, clash, damned and even the jam to a degree so we have always been in contact.
L o t s of t hing s h av e ch a nge d s in ce t he n – t he cr o w d s p i t t ing at p unk gig s . Ha, yeah we only had that a couple times. I used to say save it for the Damned as they’re here next T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 24
I think they (T.V. Producers) approached Raff (manager) when we were on tour and said it was a Pilot. I had known Mark Lamar from the days in Camden and he was a fan. It was a compliment that he used the name in one way and crossed it with the Sex Pistols, but suddenly you felt responsible for it. It was like people are saying you have your own show. But it’s nothing to do with me. I’m not fucking Right Said Fred trying to get a grasp at the last bit of fame like a fucking flower withering away. Oh look at me I was famous for 5 mins. You’re better off walking away with some dignity and saying fuck it. For comedians on the way up it works for them but for the others trying to grasp the last few seconds of fame, probably for their grandchildren. Ahh I was in a band once, standing in a line up like a fucking criminal. Laughs.
FEATURE
FRED V & GRAFIX HOT OF THE LAUNCH PARTY FROM THEIR NEW ALBUM (IT WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE THE INTERVIEW AND THEY HAD HAD A FEW HOURS REST) WE CAUGHT UP WITH HOSPITAL RECORD’S NEW SHINING LIGHTS FRED V AND GRAFIX.
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We were lucky to get them as they had just got back from the States and were also about to head to Radio One in a few hours for a show. Talk about busy. Luckily the guys are not just talented, they also possess the stamina of a super hero duo.
Fred V: Yeah but it is every 10 minutes! It’s ben a great response, on the first day it got to number five in the iTunes dance charts and we didn’t know what to expect for a debut dance album, so apparently that’s quite a good achievement. A lot of good feedback and everyone seems to like it as a whole. So we are happy with the response.
It seems quite a mature piece of work. Did you have fun making it?
How was the album launch party last night? Fred V: It was wicked, a very nice welcome back to London for us. A small but intimate affair, really cool lots of people came down and had a nice Wednesday night.
Debut album so debut album launch party, was it what you expected? Fred V: Yeah we were at the nest is a tiny venue but it’s quite famous in the scene. It was definitely the darkest venue we have ever played in and there were people like ‘Fred’ Fred’, but I didn’t know how they had could see me – I think they definitely had more carrots than us. And we had another album launch on Saturday in our hometown, Exeter. It was a very different affair than the London
Fred V: Yeah we had lots of fun making it Grafix: But it was quite stressful, as well, it was 2 years of work.
one. It was in a really big venue that was sold out and all the hometown crew were there our parents came. Both our parents were in the front row. Yeah it was cool, they got pretty deafened and drunk but we all had a good time so both album launches have been wicked.
How is the new album ‘Recognise’ being received? Fred V: Really, really well so far. Our twitter is blowing up, I keep going on there and there’s five new tweets. It’s cool.
Grafix: Five that’s not very many! T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 2 6
Fred V: There were definitely times when we were like, is this EVER going to get finished.
Grafix: Yeah, or screw this tune let’s do something else.
Fred V: And then the relief when it’s done and we were ‘wow we have done an album!’
Grafix: Yeah and some of the tracks on there, more that others we’re quite proud to finish them because we started them going on two years ago now. So it was a real achievement to get to version 100 of these tunes. Actually finish them and them to be on the album.
Grafix: You should see Fred’s Studio it’s nearly there. Not. I don’t think any drum and bass producer could really ever get to the point where you had a studio like that.
Fred V: Unless you’re Nosia. They have three really big, cool studios.
Grafix: But that’s the dream having the Zimmer studio.
THE OPtic T-SHIRT
The Optic t-shirt is not just a reference to the design messing with your melon, it’s also a nod to the backline of a pub’s bar.
AVAIL ABLE AT FLY53.com
How did Hospital win your signatures on the contract? Fred V: they took us to café Rouge where I had steak with the Béarnaise sauce. It was really good.
Grafix: That’s probably the first time you
Drum and bass is all gold teeth and High Contrast video Racing Green grimy nights out. was shot and directed by him - any plans to do your own videos? Grafix: I have to say I have never seen any gold teeth! Laughs. Maybe some pretty Fred V: Never really thought about it. mangled faces and a few lads with their tops off. But no gold teeth that more like crunky west coast vibes.
Fred V: Maybe he’s going to different nights to us? Our ones are just full of very nice people. Nice, polite and sweaty.
High contrast – drum and bass your Nan might like? Fred V: Yeah we definitely fit into the Gran sub-genre of Drum N Bass.
Grafix: There are other things that we
Fred V: And I HATE Mc Donalds!
thought about that it would be cool to progress in these fields, but not in video ever to be honest. I am a big film fan and cinefile, so I appreciate it. We did have quite a big part in one of our videos called Goggles, which we did last year and our mate came down to Exeter and we filmed it and we were in it and it was fun. But it was quite stressful and I would rather leave that to someone else I think.
Do you read the your Facebook comments about your music?
Fred V: Yeah, I think if we were more likely to progress into something else it would be film scoring as that something I would love to get into properly. There’s a tune on the album called Bladerunner that very Hans Zimmer influenced with a massive two and a half minute intro in a completely different time signature. Hopefully it sounds good.
Grafix:
Gran n bass. Yeah our music caters for all generations. My parents came to our album launch party and my mum is a gran so that proves that grandmas will love it. Laughs.
had it. What else did they do? They sent us some emails. Laughs. No, I am making this sound really bad they took us to dinner, they made us hurry up about it because we were in the deciding phase about if it was too early to sign up, But you know what, they were our favorite label when we were growing up listening to drum and bass so it was unanimous that we were going to say yes. They could have taken us for a Mc Donalds and we would have said yes.
Fred V: Yeah we do, I think everyone in the scene probably reads their comments just to see what people are saying. But it’s funny when you think about it it’s completely unrepresentative of what people are saying, most of the time. We’ll get lots of negative comments but then it’ll be one of our biggest tunes.
Grafix:
Hans Zimmer – there’s image of his studio online (Google them. Really. Do it.) Is that the dream? T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 27
Yeah it weird how it happens, deep down it’s probably best not to check it that much. But the odd peek every now and again to see how people are genuinely feeling it is good.
NEW MUSIC
Gentle Friendly
Blueprint Blue
Italian Beach Babes announce the release of Blueprint Blue’s debut EP, Undertoad. The EP was recorded with the help of some of the band’s friends at The Horrors’ studio in East London, and was engineered by Joshua Hayward (The Horrors) and Jerome Watson (The History Of Apple Pie), who also produced it. Undertoad will was released on 5th May on 12” vinyl + download. The band say of the EP, “We wanted to capture what our shows are like so it was recorded completely live and we kept in all the mistakes, bum notes and snare buzz. The first three songs are about either being a parent or having parents. The last song is about having panic attacks. The title ‘Undertoad’ is a reference to John Irving’s novel ‘The world according to Garp’.”
Following their recent signing to FatCat, the challengingly-titled ‘KAUA’I O’O A’A’ sees Gentle Friendly step up a level with a fantastic new album, and their first release in over two years. Punchy, restlessly energetic and densely-detailed, it is a cracking, insistent little record and sounds like little else being made right now. The title KAUA’I O’O A’A comes from the Hawaiian bird, which was named after the eerie, echoey sound it makes and declined drastically during the 20th century following the islands’ cultivation after the arrival of Europeans.
In 1981 just a single pair remained. The female was lost following Hurricane Iwa in 1982, and the sole remaining male’s hollow, haunting, flute-like calls were last heard in 1987. The band felt the title “seemed perfect for the record. It looks good and feels good to say.” The last known field recording of the species - a mating call by that last remaining male appears on ’18 Wave Crash’. “Our record is nowhere near that sad but the story seemed to resonate somehow.”
AVAILABLE facebook.com/pages/Gentle-Friendly
Available Roar studio. ‘Make My Head Sing…’ is the follow-up to 2011’s ‘Tell Me,’ which was produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach.
https://www.facebook.com/Blueprintblueband
J. Roddy Walston and The Business The music of J. Roddy Walston & The Business honor both their southern roots and punk spirit on their latest album, Essential Tremors. With a mix of heavy hooks and elegant melodies that reveal their affinity for artists as disparate as Led Zeppelin, pre-disco-era Bee Gees, The Replacements, Randy Newman, and the Southern soul outfits that once populated the Stax Records label. ‘Essential Tremors’, the band’s third release, is their most farranging and eclectic album to date. Their blend of classic rock & roll emphasised by rapturous hooks, riffs and rhythms,
Of the new music Mayfield comments, “The whole record is just me and Jesse and my drummer Matt Martin. I think a lot of my favourite bands are guitar, bass and drums. I wanted to simplify things. Bands are so big these days, I wanted to get in the studio and make a rock record and hear real guitar tones and something heavy.” coupled with Motown flavour and funky charm brings out a pure Bacchanalian splendour. J. Roddy’s arresting voice and thumping piano playing travels directly from your eardrums to your bone marrow as he keens, croons and intones words and music that are at turns lunatic and mystic. Their relentless touring and trademark spirited
live performances have helped J. Roddy Walston & The Business grow from a grass roots movement into a band with a loyal and expansive following.
Available jroddywalstonandthebusiness.com
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Jessica Lea Mayfield Jessica Lea Mayfield will release her new album ‘Make My Head Sing…,’ through ATO Records on 2nd June. Co-produced by Mayfield and her collaborator, bassist and husband Jesse Newport, the album was recorded at Nashville’s Club
Mayfield’s previous album ‘Tell Me’ was described by Rolling Stone, who named her an Artist to Watch, as “a disarming collision of stark country balladry, dynamic alternative rock and arty electronic pop.”
Available facebook.com/jessicaleamayfield
“Unbelievably powerful...already one of the best records of 2014.” NPR On Point
Omi Palone Following their long sold-out self-released cassette of 2011 and two split 7”’s in 2012, Omi Palone released their debut self-titled long-player as a joint release between Faux Discx and new label Negative Space on 14th April. Finding strength in brevity, the band explores and experiments with what can be expressed in a 3 minute post-punk song; controlled, complex melodies interweaving in amongst simple (but not simplistic) repetitive structures, interrupted only by stomping middle-eights. Artistic allegiances nod towards an Antipodean influence: the output of 80s New Zealand
labels such as Flying Nun & Xpressway, as well as the current Australian punk scene. Having aborted two previous recording sessions at two different studios in 2012, the band found a home at Homerton’s Sound Savers, where they honed their sound and, under the supervision of Mark Jasper, laid the record down onto quarter-inch tape in late Spring and early Summer of 2013.
“The voice of a regeneration” Billboard
Available http://omipalone.blogspot.co.uk/
Hurray for the riff raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff released ‘Small Town Heroes’ in the UK through ATO Records on 31st March. Produced by front-woman Alynda Lee Segarra and engineered by Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes), ‘Small Town Heroes’ features 12 new, original songs all written or co-written by Segarra with support from a vivid cast of Crescent City musicians, including her longtime right-hand-man on fiddle, Yosi Perlstein, keyboard player Casey McAllister and two members of the Deslondes: Sam Doores on guitar and Dan Cutler on bass.
Available https://www.facebook.com/hurrayfortheriffraff
Teleman Produced by Bernard Butler, variety abounds on Teleman’s debut album ‘Breakfast’. From the pared-back ‘Cristina’ and the modernist proposition of ‘Steam Train Girl’ (both former singles which clocked up plays across Radio 1 and earned themselves Playlist spots on BBC 6Music and Xfm) to the sax-drenched free download ‘Lady Low’ and the startling ‘Mainline’, a jolt of warped, electro-fied chain-gang blues. ‘‘It’s like visions from a dream in places,’’ singer Thomas Sanders explains. ‘’I love really strong images. You hear a lyric
and as soon as the lyric is said you see it in front of you. A lot of the lyrics are based on personal experience, but a lot of it, is story-telling and a lot of it is fiction,’’ adds Thomas. “I’m purposefully ambiguous. I love listening to other people’s interpretations’. If that’s what they’ve understood then that is a meaning in itself. In the same way as if you look at a painting and you see something, you’ve definitely seen it, it’s definitely real for you.”
Available telemanmusic.com/
Human hair Human Hair have existed in one form or another since 2008. Since their first incarnation, they’ve had 3 different drummers, added a bass player and slowly acquired members that live in the same city – as
T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E • PAG E 2 9
opposed to travelling between Nottingham and London for band practice. Having only released a handful of 7”s and gigged sporadically over the course of 5 years, something
changed in 2013, the new lineup solidified, the live show got tighter and a more cohesive unit began to form. It was time for Human Hair to make an album. Recorded by Ben Phillips on a boat docked in the Thames (Lightship 95) and mastered by the legendary Alan Douches (Sufjan Stevens, Owen Pallet, The Rapture) in New York, their debut LP ‘My Life as a Beast and Lowly Form’ will be released on June 23rd via The state51 Conspiracy.
Available humanhairband.com
TIE DYE
Tie-dye is all Patchouli oil and dreadlocks on smelly hippies right? Not anymore bub. Wake up and smell the season. Tie-dye is the new black. Black is the new triangle and the streewear scene is moving on down the road.
Ne w S e a s on No w Av a i l a b l e O n l i n e FLY53 as worn by Monster Jaw
Our tie-dye has been painstakingly made to be exclusive to us, through our in-house team. They have been on a mission to provide a range of different styles, each as sexy as the other. If they are partnered with some text and a logo they are awesome, or even if they are less in your face colours, there’s still some serious style bite. We have tie-dye on tees as well as crews and vests and they are all bang up to date and keener than a teenager is to lose their cherry. Look at the new season online.
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