DJANGO DJANGO / DHANI HARRISON / ANDY BURROWS / ARTURO VEGA / MAXIMO PARK / CITIZENS / ALBERTA CROSS & MORE
BACK ONCE AGAIN
Welcome to FLY53 Fanzine #13. Unlucky for some
but not us - we’re standing strong and proud as our Fanzines start the teens with a nosebleed, scratched knuckles and a shiner. What started all those years ago as an idea to showcase who we like in the music scene has grown into a strong voice for us.
This issue we have again partnered the gentlemanly scholars at Artrocker Magazine to shed light on some interesting newcomers and established names. In this issue there’s also news of some present collaborations and hints about future ones that will see us working our magic with more than musicians.
2012 has been a storming year for FLY53 and this Fanzine is just a scratch on the surface of what’s going on online for us, so train your eyeballs on FLY53.com regularly to make sure you don’t miss out. 2013 is going to be smashed, quite literally, into submission by us. You have been warned. Get comfy, read all about it and pass it on.
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SO, YOUR DAD’S ONE OF THE FOUNDING MEMBERS OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BANDS EVER. YOU START TO MAKE YOUR OWN MUSIC… NO PRESSURE ON THE OUTCOME, EH?
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THANKFULLY DHANI HARRISON AND THENEWNO2 ARE TREADING THEIR OWN EXPERIMENTAL PATH TO THE ROCK’N’ROLL HALL OF FAME AND HAVE MORE IN COMMON WITH RADIOHEAD THAN A CERTAIN BAND FROM LIVERPOOL Dhani Harrison, son of The Beatles guitarist George, doesn’t seem to be the kind of person worried about the weight of his heritage. Escaping England and moving to LA to meet like-minded musicians, his project, thenewno2, hit the UK for the first time this year with the album ‘thefearofmissingout’ – so named after the psychological condition whereby we might find something or someone more interesting, exciting or better than what we’re currently doing. More geared towards the Radiohead school of thought than any ‘60s revivalism, the combination of spiky guitars, dreamy vocals and drum samples, ‘thefearofmissingout’ makes a confident impression. The focus on the production side of things for the band isn’t surprising; the album crackles with crisp, producerfriendly clarity. Upon meeting them it’s clear to see the band are actually friends. Steering clear of (probably ignorant) ideas of the stereotypical LA persona, they make
geeky in-jokes and get excited over some of the street art being displayed in the corridor next to the studio their photo shoot is taking place in. In fact, the most rock’n’roll they get is being specific with a Pret A Manger lunch order, which is kind of refreshing. Obviously nervous about impressing their home crowd, they held off releasing their 2008 debut ‘You Are Here’ on this side of the Atlantic. Nowadays though, it seems they’ve definitely built up some confidence in their music (or maybe they started with that and just didn’t bother telling us). It’s time to hear what Mr Harrison is made out of. England expects… How does it feel to have your album out?
Dhani: It’s good to finally get one out in England. It’s kind of scary bringing stuff out in England because we [the English] are so used to always being bastards to everyone, you know, saying ‘I hate that, it sucks!’, but hopefully people will like this. What do you love about LA?
I love the cars, the traffic and all the pollution. But seriously, the people are great. I really like having
people who want to do work. There was a point when we were here [in London] and no one seemed to want to do anything. There was a lot of art, painting, drawing, photography and that kind of stuff, but not much of a music scene going on about 10 years ago in my ‘sphere’, or whatever you want to call it. So LA’s one of those places where you can go ‘We need a bass player, you know one? OK, fine. Done’. And everyone’s up for working, so it’s easy to get stuff done.
EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD: PLASTIC
It’s a one-stop shop, the best of everything in the world: plastic surgeons, shitty Chinese food. It does make a bit of a difference to life when you wake up and it’s sunny and 75 Fahrenheit everyday.
SURGEONS, SHITTY CHINESE FOOD...”
So has England changed now?
“IT’S A ONE-STOP SHOP, THE BEST OF
It’s a totally different scene, I always felt outside of it
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“THERE’S A BIT HALFWAY THROUGH THE RECORD THAT ALMOST HALF TURNED INTO A DRUM’N’BASS JAZZ ODYSSEY SOLO, WE CREATED IT IMAGINING A FAKE KUNG FU MOVIE...” and I didn’t know how to get into it here, I still don’t know how it works. There are still loads of musicians and bands coming out of London because, you know, it’s London, but I wouldn’t know where to start if I was here. How do you go about writing as a band?
We all go into different rooms and come out with a load of different ideas. Then we go to a producer and they pretty much tell us how to put it together and then we go back and do it. We’re quite dependent on the producer. We essentially crush up some music and throw it all together. Jeremy, Jonathan and I wrote the record, Paul did a lot of button twisting. There’s a bit halfway through the record that almost half turned into a drum’n’bass jazz odyssey solo, we created it imagining a fake kung fu movie. There’s so many of us that we can go into each other’s rooms and say ‘Are you using that bit? No, cool, I’m stealing that bit’, put some guitar on it, and someone else will do whatever. We essentially come out with a mess and then Paul and I will sit around and sort it all out.
I met a band once and someone said to them ‘Oh you might recognise this guy, he’s got a famous last name’ and the American guy went ‘Oh, Harrison right? You’re Jeff Harrison’s son right?’ Larry King thought my Dad was George Hamilton. We try and avoid the George Hamilton thing where possible. It’s one of the reasons we moved out to LA though, there’s so many weirdos out there you can just kind of blend in. There’s a thing in England where they kind of want you to fail, in a weird way, it’s an English thing, to build them up then and knock them down. Whereas in LA there’s the American dream, where if you want to start at the gutter and become big on Broadway everyone’s happy
for you. It seems to be a bit more conveniently geared towards success. Against the thing where in England its like, ‘Impress me now!’. But I think we’ve got enough weirdos in this band to be interesting and for London to enjoy us. What are your touring plans?
TWO
Obviously this project will be compared to your Dad’s musical achievements a lot, over here in the UK especially, how do you escape that?
THE NEW NO. “IF YOU WANT
TO START AT THE
GUTTER
AND BECOME BIG ON
BROADWAY
EVERYONE’S
HAPPY FOR YOU”
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Hopefully we’ll be back over here in November or as soon as possible. We’ve got a bunch of strings and stuff to record for a film we’re working on over at Abbey Road so we’ll be back in November for that to concentrate on [makes serious face] very serious music.
Interview: Chris Hornby Words: Marc Sallis Photos: Ollie Grove
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MERCURY PRIZE NOMINEES DJANGO DJANGO HAVE HAD QUITE A YEAR SINCE THE RELEASE THEIR CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM AT THE START OF 2012. WE CAUGHT UP WITH THE BAND IN COPENHAGEN DURING THEIR RECENT EUROPEAN TOUR TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THEIR WHIRLWIND ARRIVAL ON THE MUSICAL MAP
“New York, New York, so good they named it twice, New York, New York, all the scandal and the vice, I love it! New York, New York, now isn’t it a pity... What they say about New York City...” ‘NewYork, NewYork (So Good They Named It Twice)’ by Gerard Kenny
“I THINK ONE OF THE WORST TERMS GETTING BANDED AROUND IS FOLKTRONICA; IT’S SO HORRIBLE...”
Django Django, so good they named themselves twice, but not so much scandal and vice and it’s certainly not a pity what they’re saying about one of the biggest bands to come out of the UK in 2012. The plaudits have come thick and fast for the quartet from Edinburgh, from Mercury Prize nominations to perfect score reviews by some of the industry’s toughest critics. We caught up with the band as they took their show to Copenhagen. We heard that your label, Because Music, kept you locked up in a rehearsal room before letting you hit the road and airwaves, do you think molding and honing your music and performance is something you’d recommend to other bands?
“Did that happen?” muses the band’s drummer, producer and main spokesperson David Maclean. “I think the opposite happened – we would get loads of big gigs booked and get no time to practice. But I agree with you, I’m really for locking yourself away to get good live. People say you get better when you’re out playing on the road, and that’s true, but only if what you’ve got at the start is what you want to build on. “We’ve
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been playing this set for about two years now and we’ve never quite had the time to get it as exactly as we want it, which is a good thing in a way as it means we’re too busy; it’s about striking a balance really.” When you first came onto the scene people were describing you as an electronic folk band, what do you think about bands like Mumford and Sons giving folk a dirty name?
Maclean: “I don’t know, because I don’t know anything about Mumford and Sons, but folk music was a big part of my household. My Dad played folk guitar and we had everything on the record player – from Bob Dylan to Glen Campbell and Fleetwood Mac. Folk was a huge influence on me. There’s that famous quote ‘All music is Folk music. I’ve never heard no horse play guitar’ – Folk can be anything. “It’s steeped in tradition and folklore with stories getting passed down through song, so just
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having a guitar doesn’t make you Folk, there’s more to it than that. I think one of the worst terms getting banded around is folktronica; it’s so horrible.Yeah, we have a couple of songs where we have an acoustic guitar and synthesier in the same song, but I’d hate to think that would mean we’re folktronic.” You were obviously our top pick for the Mercury Awards, but you didn’t win it, are you gutted you didn’t win?
A unison “No” echoes around the room from all the band members. “I didn’t care at all,” says synth player Tommy Grace. “There was a moment before they were announced, but it soon passed...“I just needed the toilet,” interrupts the band’s bassist Jimmy Dixon with a wry smile. “I think we were just quite happy waking up the next day and knowing we were as we were really in the same area,” continues Grace. “We were really happy with the way things had worked out this year and it still doesn’t feel too big that it takes over your life. It’s been really good but we were just happy. “We were happy for Alt-J,” adds Maclean, “and I think they deserved it. It sounds corny, but being nominated was like winning it. Debut album. Nominated for a Mercury. Brilliant. Win-win.” On a scale of 1 to 10, how sick are you of playing ‘Default’?
Maclean: “12! I like it when the crowd gets into it. It’s a strange one for me because when we made the record it was never deemed as one that might be popular, I always
thought it was just an oddball song. I guess it’s got elements in that people like in a pop song and especially live it’s got a bit of a 4/4 guitar post-punk feel to it, that was never intended. But if it makes people happy…”
“I ALWAYS LOVED SEEING MOTOWN GROUPS, EVEN IF THEY JUST HAD THE SAME CUT SHIRT, TROUSERS AND SHOES - THERE’S SOMETHING NICE ABOUT THAT UNITY...”
even if they just had the same cut shirt, trousers and shoes – there’s something nice about that unity. “It’s another outlet for us. We all went to Art College and we’d dabble in [design] – it adds some fun and another creative outlet.” You had such great success with your self-titled debut that people are now wondering what the plan is for album number 2? Have you started recording it yet?
Maclean: “No, probably early next year. We’ve got a few months more touring to do and then we’ll really put our minds to it. Can you give us any clues as to the direction the album will take?
You have a strong unified look, does that give you that tribal feel and an extra dimension to how people experience your music?
Maclean: “Yeah, it’s nice when you’re getting ready for the gig and you’re putting on these t-shirts or whatever that we’re wearing and we’d have designed them ourselves – it makes us feel like a band, like a unit when we get together on stage. From Devo to Motown, The Beatles, The Monkees, it’s nice when bands make that effort on stage. I always loved seeing Motown groups,
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Maclean: “In my head I’ve started to get some ideas and I think it might be more dancey - a shorter album and more dancey… whatever ‘dancey’ means…” “Morris dancing,” interrupts Grace to much laughter from the band. Maclean: “Until you get together and start playing and get some songs sketched out it could go in any direction.” Whatever the direction you can bet that there’ll be plenty of people who can’t wait to hear record number two from one of the best new bands to come out of the UK in a long while.
A FLY53.COM
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HEAD TO FLY53.COM FOR A WORLD OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT: BANDS, COMPETITIONS, INTERVIEWS, LEGENDS, MUSIC, LAUGHS, PRODUCT, COLLABORATIONS AND EVERYTHING THAT FUELS OUR FIRE. PROPAGANDA, PUSSY AND PRODUCT. FLY53.COM
IT’S NOT A CRIME TO TAKE YOUR TIME OVER YOUR ART AND AFTER FINDING INSPIRATION IN THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS... ALBERTA CROSS CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF THEIR LONG-AWAITED SECOND ALBUM ‘SONGS OF PATIENCE’
ALBERTA CROSS There are worse jobs than having to sit down in a sunny London square with the uber-chilled out Petter Ericson Stakee, vocalist and guitarist of the New York-based, Anglo Swedish band Alberta Cross. It might’ve taken them three years to get their second album, ‘Songs Of Patience’, out, but it seems that their fans haven’t forgotten about them. In between getting on flights and playing a host of busy European and American shows, the duo (comprised also of bassist Terry Wolfers) stopped off for a breather in England.
The first single’s quite different to the rest of the album, was that on purpose?
Your second album came out today, how does it feel for it to finally be out?
I hope it cleanses someone’s soul a little bit, like good records do to me, what music does to people, y’know? Whatever that is, I hope it does that. Inspires them… or gets them through the day.
Yeah it took a while so I’m really happy it finally came out and that it’s there for people to hear. We heard you went through a few issues with some sessions in LA?
We worked on it for longer than we wanted to, there were certain things out of our control. We went through a few different producers, went through a lot of different songs, kind of like that clichéd difficult second album syndrome. We got there though. We took it back to New York with us, finished it off with our friend Claudius and recorded new songs with him, remixed stuff, essentially going back to our sound. More what we wanted to do, more organic I guess. Do you take your time with writing songs then?
It depends on the song, we can write some in like five minutes but then others take forever, I think the problem with this record was we had a lot of songs and we just wanted to work out what the whole album was going to sound like.
I don’t think it’s that different from the rest of the album. I think ‘Magnolia’ and ‘Lay Down’ sound pretty similar. I think that just felt like a nice introduction to the album; it’s got a bit of everything, it’s quite a colourful song. What do you want people to take away when they’re listening to the album?
You’ve got a rocking sound and you’re on Arc Records, which also released Deap Valley’s single, do you feel like you’re part of some type of rock renaissance?
I feel our record has some rock tracks on it, but I don’t think it’s a straight up rock record. When we play it live we make it a lot more rocky and grittier – more full on. We like to play rock music, but I don’t know what we’re part of, we don’t really think about that we just do our thing. But I’m enjoying this rock stuff [coming back around], ‘cause last year we ended up in some weird bands which we didn’t really enjoy so much, it’s good that there’s a lot of rock bands, and Deap Valley are cool, I like them. Where did the album start, compared to where it ended up?
I think it started off a little more polished, I think this album is probably the most polished thing we’ve done anyway, it started
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ALBERTA
“I hope it cleanses someone’s soul a little bit, like good records do to me, what music does to people”
CROSS
because it’s a little too much, you know, it’s a little too loud, whereas Brooklyn’s a little more chilled out.
out really polished and then we stripped it back a little bit. Although we spent a lot time crafting the songs, adding lots of melodies and harmonies and things like that. It feels a lot more crafted, whereas the last one was a little more spaced out, darker maybe. I don’t know if polished is the right word, but it’s definitely more compact.
We started missing London a little bit because we started listening to a lot of English music again. When you’re away [from Europe] you tend to listen to listen to a lot of European music in general.
Some bands seem a bit scared of making a chorus, but you don’t...
You’re from Sweden; do you ever feel like going back?
The songs weren’t really planned like that. I guess the songs just kind of ended up like that. We just write whatever comes to us, whatever happens, happens. I don’t plan to have a big chorus; it just makes sense to my song writing.
No. It’s great over there, but I couldn’t see myself going back there for a while. I’m pretty happy where I am, you know. I love Brooklyn but it’s been good to be back, we just finished this long European run, doing big festivals all around the place. People seem to show us a lot of love here too, I could imagine going to somewhere like Amsterdam or Berlin or something, who knows?
You’re living in New York at the moment; do you get a lot of inspiration out there?
Yeah, definitely. There’s just a lot of stuff around there, a lot of music, a lot of different kinds of music, there’s not really like one scene. Everyone’s doing kind of different things, which I really like.You can go and see some crazy Brooklyn band, then an electronic band, and then you can go see some crazy blues band, any kind of stuff, y’know. There’s a big mix, more than anywhere else I feel, and I find that really inspirational. Brooklyn and New York are good for that. I wouldn’t be able to live in Manhattan
The European festival run was crazy; we didn’t really think it would be like that really. Because after the last record we thought we’d been working on this one for too long. I think it might’ve been a good thing that we waited a little longer because seem to have shown us a bit more love. Words: Nicholas Burman Photos: Luke Ford
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THE THINKING M
TOP 20 HITS, GOLD ALBUMS, SOLD OUT TOURS AND MERCURY PRIZE NOMINATIONS ARE ALL PAR FOR THE COURSE FOR NEWCASTLE’S FAVOURITE SONS MAXÏMO PARK. NOW THE BAND’S BACK TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN WITH THE RELEASE OF THEIR FOURTH ALBUM ‘THE NATIONAL HEALTH’
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KING MAN’S BAND
WE MET IN A DARK WAREHOUSE, ECHOING, EMPTY, AND VAST. IN THE CENTRE, LIKE THE LAST TOOTH IN A JUNKIE’S MOUTH STANDS A CLOTHES RACK, AROUND WHICH SHADOWY FIGURES GLIDE. ONE WEARS A HAT. This is Maxïmo Park, and once the shots are shot we talk of many things, of sealing wax and cabbages, of cabbages and Kings. And clothes, which, according to me, maketh the man. For the record, I’m wearing clothes; trousers, shirt, jacket and shoes, call me eccentric but that’s the way I roll. Paul Smith and Lukas Wooler are also wearing clothes, with the addition of the hat.
“Some folks like to dance, others to paint, Paul likes to think...”
Maxïmo Park are smart cookies, thinkers, led by the thinker’s thinker, Paul Smith. Some folks like to dance, others to paint, Paul likes to think. He does it a lot. So I know that there are a set of floodgates waiting to open, that given the right stimulus Paul will burst out and flood the place with erudition. We’ve met before, 10 years ago when Artrocker hosted one of their first gigs. And Paul remembers. Thinker and memory babe, in a hat. So I decide to make Paul wait a bit and direct the first question to Lukas... How important are clothes to your on-stage personas?
Lukas: I think that when you go on-stage they’re quite important, as part of putting on the persona that you have on-stage, because it’s not a normal place to be. There’s a lot of things you do on-stage you wouldn’t normally do, gestures and a lot more running about. When you’re on-stage you’re trying to convey the energy and emotions of the songs to people who are a long way away. So what you wear is part of that. When you put those clothes on do you become a different person? Is there a metamorphosis?
Lukas:Yes, I think that’s part of it, that little walk from back-stage to going on, we’ve got the intro music going on and you go into ‘show mode’ a little bit, because it’s a different world being on-stage. We don’t have any rituals; we don’t hug each other or anything like that. But I think there are just certain things that happen. I think the intro music is quite important because it just puts it in
When you’re on-stage you’re trying to convey the energy and emotions of the songs to people who are a long way away. So what you wear is part of that
your head that the show is starting, and it gives you that small amount of time, a minute or whatever to get on-stage. What do you think about where we are musically? As the Indie tribe?
Paul: It’s such a big question, it’s a kind of meaningless question because music is everywhere and always has been and always will be. People will always make music and not necessarily be heard and some things will be pushed to the front by the forces; the media provides you with a cannon, every year the same albums get regurgitated in lists and really, where we are now will become defined by the people who write about it on the internet and in print, and I guess that’s the way it always has been to a certain extent. I think we as a band have probably bypassed a lot of things, like radio when we first started out, it was that age when people were starting social networks and they could spread the news about a band in their own way and take power and those mechanisms are now part of the power structure, but there will always be something new coming along to replace it, more of an underground mechanism but yeah, as I say, this question could take over the whole interview if we let it... But we won’t let it, the sun is on the wane and time is money. You released your fourth album this year, in the age of iTunes, in the age of
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cherry picking what possible relevance does the album have? We seem to be shackled to this dated concept, the album.
Paul: A lot of people aren’t, and that’s a positive thing in one way and yet... I suppose it’s the age you grow up in, you have a kind of tradition, the album has become a tradition since the ‘60s when they realised you could chuck a load of singles onto an album with fillers and
sell a product to people, that’s the beginning of it. It became romanticised because certain bands, certain individuals used it for ‘the greater good’, they created a work of art, of pop art, and it is a popular art from, that’s the beauty of the album. It’s 45 minutes of your time. In one way it’s a product to brainwash the masses or whatever, however you want to theorise it, or you could say it’s the most accessible art from, the most beautiful thing you can have in you home, that you can
afford, that comes in these bite sized things, and once you’ve got sick of an album you can maybe put that down and buy another one in a few weeks. Obviously it’s not like that these days when there’s more of a barrage and everything’s free if you want it to be. But to think of an album and the amount of pleasure I’ve gained from putting on a record, like when I was 16 and listening to Mogwai’s first album... it doesn’t need to have vocals, I was like ‘Wow!’, this is 45 minutes of immersion in the sound. Then you find out more about that band and who they were influenced by and you start listening to all sorts of things that come out of this experience. It’s this immersive experience. What place does poetry have in music?
Paul: No place, because it’s poetry. I could end it there. I think an appreciation of the lyrical, of the poetic is important in music, I wouldn’t say that every lyricist should have that in their armoury because listening to a single that’s short and sharp and punchy is almost a scream of desperation from somebody, it’s as valid
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as somebody who’s poured over something and tried to create this lyrical aspect to their song writing. But in our case the lyrics are meant to be a balance of the complex and the simple, from line to line it should be something somebody can understand in a very pop way, to something that’s almost singer songwritery, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen are two people who are poets and also write songs and they manage to balance it, and I think that’s the key thing in all of our music. As a lyricist I’ve tried to balance it out so it’s not too poetic, that it isn’t just something that works on the page, but saying that, as a lyricist I like to write things out, type it out, see if it looks good on the page, but if that didn’t work in the song I’d have to amend it, change it. There is that aspect to it. Every song writer should be expressing how they feel really, even if it’s Tom Waits or somebody creating a character, it’s an expression of an idea, it’s an expression of something that’s happened in the real world or could happen. Hopefully our lyrics are considered, and I guess that’s probably the best way to put it. Yes, that’s the best way to put it, well put.
Lukas and the hat leave via the echoing warehouse, dark clothes in a dark space. They have illuminated the afternoon with intelligence, pleasantness and thought. So, there is light in the darkness, and maybe, just maybe, Maxïmo Park know where the switch is.
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“I like attractive slim bikes, like women, Not big fat aggressive looking women...”
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Benny’s workshop isn’t what you would expect, in fact calling it a workshop is a bit like calling a science lab or a artists loft a ‘workshop’. Not in a wanky way, but it’s more inspiring than most places bikes are built. There are no page three’s on the wall. It’s not a rubbish tip. There’s books about art and architecture on the bookshelf and a timeline of vintage engines strewn (neatly) around. The floorboards creak and there is the odd juvenile scribble about a cock or a tit, but every corner is as interesting as the next with vintage helmets, handlebars or parts in situe awaiting their turn to be added to his next creation.
ANYONE THAT SPENDS ANY TIME WITH BENNY AT BONESHAKERS CAN’T HELP BUT BE INFECTED WITH HIS CONTAGIOUS FASCINATION WITH MOTORBIKES. PART ENGINEER, PART ARTISAN, PART LAD. NIL EGO, NO BULLSHIT, NO PRETENCE. JUST HONEST INFATUATION WITH BIKES AND HOW THEY WORK.
When you look at what Boneshakers does; how they hand craft bikes, what their roots are, then the question was never why would we collaborate with them, it was a much bigger, why the fuck wouldn’t we...?
“My names Benny Thomas and I own Boneshaker choppers...” Tell us a bit about how Boneshakers started?
It sort of started by accident really. I never set out to build choppers I’ve just always liked traditional 60’s up to late 70’s bikes and didn’t know where to get one from so I ended up building one and that was how I first started doing it. That first bike that I built ended up being sold to a friend of mine so I ended up building another one, and
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just having it in my garage before that one got sold too and I moved on and on. Eventually rented a small unit and started building my own bikes and selling them and I was lucky enough that people liked what I was building and started paying me to build them. And it just sort of spiraled from there really. Why was Boneshakers chosen as a name was there some other options on the table?
The only other option on the table was Ragamuffin Choppers (laughs) and I don’t know where that came from, but Boneshakers seemed quite apt and quite what they do to you really - you know, the name sort of just stuck.
Since I can remember really. Proper sort of full on choppers since I was about 16/17 I suppose and before that I built numerous bikes. When I was at home at my parents I used to mess around with older bikes, you know Z750’s and other quite cool bikes at the time. I built an Eddie Lawson replica, that sort of thing. Why this sort of bike as opposed to crotch rockets which there seems to be an awful lot of people looking to customize at the moment?
I guess I just like them and the art of them really. Crotch rockets scare the living daylights out of me, they’re just a little art form for me I think they’re just nice, nice things to look at and to ride.
So how long have you been building bikes for?
“I LIKE PRETTY BIKES, I LIKE SHINY BIKES AND THESE ARE LIKE A LITTLE ART FORM FOR ME...”
far too fast. But I like bikes like this, individual bikes that have had thought and effort and time put into them. I like pretty bikes, I like shiny bikes, and these are like
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What is it about the Panheads? Why is it you love them so much?
They’re just beautiful engines, to me their the nicest engines that Harley ever made. They’re the nicest looking engines and they go well and they’re just nice. The Panhead was the first old Harley that I ever owned and I was just blown away by it. In Fact that’s the same Panhead that I’ve got now and I still really like it, it’s a fantastic bike. So as the pinnacle of your motorbike designing career of everything that you’d want to do, is there any project that out there that you really want to do?
I’ve got it, it’s my Panhead (Benny’s personal bike is a
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‘52 Pan). That’s my dream bike and I built it and it took me years and a lot of time, effort and money to build it and I’ve got it so that’s pretty much my dream bike. But I just like building them and I’ll just keep going. I love diggers and I love looking at them in the magazines but I’ve never seen one because they just aren’t about, especially in this country you just don’t see them. I saw one when I was in Italy and that sort of really sparked me off, I just wanted to see what one looked like and sit on one and see what it was like to ride and the only way I could do that was to build one – I built two in fact one I’m sitting on and another I built for a show (one for FLY53 and one for The Trip Out). Why do you think there’s such a large and interesting community based around bikes?
There’s certainly sub cultures with motorbikes at the moment anyway and in custom bikes and then there’s lots of little sort of, small cultures, with different things like the older choppers or the older Harleys - real nice little tight knit communities with people that are sort of really, really into it. If that makes sense? You know these bikes take a lot of looking after, they’re not cheap, they take a lot of time and care to keep on the road. So the people are really into it are really, really into it and that makes the scene kinda special. There’s not a massive amount of people doing it in this country so when 150200 or so get together it’s really good fun. Just briefly tell us a bit about the bike you’re sat on (FLY53 Digger)?
This one, like I say is a bit of a departure being a Honda its just something I wanted to build. It’s a late 70s style Honda Digger and it’s a pretty sort of period bike as it’s built how they would have been built in the 70’s. It’s a Honda CV450 motor, it’s a one off frame which a friend of mine did for me and that’s in 7/8’s tube which is a smaller tube than we’d usually use so it gives the whole bike a real, real skinny look. The tank is one you could
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buy in the 70’s, they’re really rare now so it’s a nice period piece. Why do you like it?
Just because it’s pretty and totally impractical that’s what I like it. It’s got no front brake on it, it’s got a little bit of dust on it because everything chrome and needs polishing. But it’s got nothing on it that doesn’t need to be on it but, what is on it is pretty. Everything on it is polished or chromed, or painted and that’s what I like about it and its very, very slim. A lot of people that build these bikes, they want to build these big, badass, fat bikes and they’ve got to be black and they’ve got to have wide tyres on them and they’ve got to be mean looking and I don’t like that in a bike. I like attractive slim bikes, like women. Not big fat aggressive looking women.
FROM PLAYING PUBS AND CLUBS TO HITTING THE WORLDWIDE STAGE IN 2012, CITIZENS ARE TAKING ON THE WORLD AND ARE ALREADY MAKING INROADS AT WINNING OVER NEW FANS FROM FAR AND WIDE
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Touring left, right and centre, releasing a succession of catchy Orange Juice-tinged singles and firmly killing off references to their previous working title, Official Secrets Act; CITIZENS isn’t just a rebrand, it’s a whole new band; leaner, meaner, and focused. We sat down with them for a lemonade (me) and tea (them) before they jetted off on a European and Australian tour. After discussing the logistics of travelling across London in 20 minutes from a visa interview to a flight, they were ready to start chatting music, pop music song writing, and being French label Kitsune’s next big hope… You guys are about to head out on the road for two months to France, Hamburg and then Australia. Is that the first time you’ve gone on the road for such a stretch?
Thom (guitarist): It will be our first stretch out of Europe. We are really looking forward to it. We’re worried that we might go a bit mad being out on the road for so long. But I guess bands are doing it all the time. So yes, we are really excited. It’s good to commit that long a period of your future to something very specific because you know you don’t have to think about much else when you’re in the band playing on the road for three months. Tom (singer): I do.
worked their career is the way to do it. You’re music is quite poppy, is that on purpose?
Tom: Some people think they’re going to insult us when they describe us as quite poppy, but the whole point of the band was to write pop songs. That was always our mission statement and it was always an experiment to see if we could just write pop songs that weren’t horrible and cringey, and we wanted to record them in a way that isn’t horrible and manufactured. It’s always something we’ve admired in bands from the Beach Boys to The Cure and people need to be keeping that alive all the time. Thom:Yeah, it’s keeping all the hard work alongside the credibility you’d have with an indie band - but not being embarrassed to write songs that reach out to as many people as possible. Alex Kapranos [Franz Ferdinand] worked on your album with you...
“ALEX KAPRANOS REALLY UNDERSTOOD HOW TO TREAD THAT LINE, YOU KNOW... COMMERCIAL APPEAL IS ON ONE SIDE OF THE LINE AND BAD TASTE IS ON THE OTHER ONE”
Thom:You’re a deep thinker, you think more deeply then me. Tom: I do, I think about lots of deep things. We’ve been thinking about strategies for sort of retaining sanity on the road.
Tom: Alex really understood how to tread that line, you know. Commercial appeal is on one side of the line and bad taste is on the other one.
Thom: I think we have to do a lot of sports. As much exercise as possible.
Thom: And once you’ve crossed the line you can’t go back.You have to be careful not to fall over the edge.
You’ve been paying a lot in UK this year…
Tom: I think it’s a precipice rather than a line.
Tom: We’ve been playing in really small places in general and now we’ll step it up a little bit. It’s fun doing things one-step at a time. Which is what you’ve got to do really when you’re on an indie label.
Thom: And you have to climb back up!
Kitsune is quite famous at the moment for Two Door Cinema Club, are you looking for that level of success?
Tom:Yeah, well they’re so big now that it seems ridiculous. But their album was out for a year before they started getting radio play and became a real house hold name type of thing, and they just toured a lot and worked really hard. Thom: Such a good band, so energetic live. Tom: They play really well, they’re really nice guys, we just did a tour with them, so I think the way that they’ve
I guess the biggest problem with bands that sound like yours is doing a second album, and moving your sound on without varying too much. How do you plan on approaching the new record?
Tom: Part of the manifesto for the first album was to experiment as much as possible and try and put together sounds we hadn’t heard before. So we ended up making an album that has a lot of varied sounds on it so I don’t know whether our next album will sound a bit more uniform or whether that’s just going to be the way we always are. Thom: It’s more important not to think about the final product and try and keep the process the same and be honest with yourself about the process and the way you
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did it last time. Last time we were making loads and loads of demos and letting the demos kind of guide the process, and I think if we do the same this time we’ll make something we’re proud of again. When you write a song do you think about it a lot or do you just let them grow?
Tom: We have an initial idea or instinct, but I think our process is measured because we worked with someone who taught us how to make simple pop melodies and that there are rules you can follow and I think we try and do that to be honest. Thom: And if you don’t do stuff that detracts or stretches the band, or moves away from the song. We like to keep things to the point. When we do that, and we take those songs on the road, we can give everything to the performance.
TOM ODELL The remarkable Tom Odell released his debut EP ‘Songs From Another Love’ digitally on October 29. The EP is also be available on a 7” double vinyl. Odell, 21, grew up in Chichester and having written his own material since the age of 13, moved to Brighton to immerse himself in a burgeoning music scene. Having moved to London after signing a record deal with Columbia, Tom will release his debut album next year.
MUTADO Mutado Pintado, aka Craig Louis Higgins Jr. Born in Cape Cod, now cutting a rug round South London by way of the streets of NYC. Having previously toured with acts as diverse as Kasabian and Bryan Adams under his Black Daniel moniker, Mutado Pintado (moo-tah-doh pin-tah-doh) - skin shed, guitars retuned - is returning with the double A-side single ‘Carbon Copies’/’This Life’.
KAV Hailing from Leicester and spending most of his time between LA and London, KAV’s sound has been compared to Dylan, Primal Scream, BRMC, The Stones and The Stooges. He is backed Live by his Band of Blaggers. KAV’s debut album is due to follow in February 2013 with more tour dates to be announced shortly this year.
NEW BANDS
CHROME CANYON (STONES THROW) Chrome Canyon, the solo project of NYC based artist Morgan Z who creates cinematic tracks powered by analogue synths, live drums, bass, and guitar all run through his hand built compressors. Phoenix, Passion Pit, and Foster the People all had their hits remixed by Chrome Canyon and the tracks reemerged with a healthy dusting of metallic sheen, and electronic analogue glitter.
ALLAH-LAS (INNOVATIVE LEISURE) Los Angeles’ Allah-Las, debut album is at once a feverous, sweat-soaked nostalgia trip into California’s surf rock past and a nod to tomorrow. Expect the Byrds’ sun-drenched melodies, Love’s golden guitar jangles and the Beach Boys’ technicolor harmonies, all given a modern makeover.
P.O.S. (RHYMESAYERS) Doomtree co-founder, punk philosopher and lyrical bomb-thrower Stefon Alexander, aka P.O.S. is a Minneapolis-bred rapper and producer with a penchant for grinding beats and radical lyrics. His new album, We Don’t Even Live Here marks a change in sound and in attitude as he steps away from his noisy past in favor of futuristic beats fit for a Berlin nightclub – though his hip-hop foundations are firmly intact.
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If theres one artist around that’s had our back from day one, Savvy aka Asaviour is it. He’s the main man at Saving Grace records and a superstar that has the best work ethic we have ever witnessed. A growing name on the U.K. hip hop scene there’s not many out there like him who are capable of skilled musical production yet can still jump on the mic with such ease and style. Whats more he’s a genuinely nice guy and we’ve got nothing but love for this serious home grown talent. In fact he’s pretty much one of the fam. Check out our exclusive interview with the man himself. Best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?
Life is change. Growth is optional. You’ve got Jay Z and Sway waiting on stage of a sold out show with a warm mike who do you perform with?
Whoever’s paying the most (haha). Thing is Jay-Z might just expect me to turn up just because he’s f*ing Jay-Z. Where as I reckon Sway might pay up. But, Jay-Z is literally one of my favorite rappers plus I might be able to cut some kind of alcohol or trainer deal off the back of it. I guess the Jiggaman it is then. Give us 53 words of lyrical genius?
Love to win never hate to love, born to defy break the rules, adapt or die sink or swim fight of flight this is where it all begins again, this lust for and light so bright will never go dim just dreaming the dream where we get it in I’m just living my life thethemeiswin Haha! Best gig you ever played?
Hmm Lemme think, Has anyone ever told you that is a nightmare question it’s just too hard! I remember a gig at the Manchester Warehouse Project which was pretty crazy, Jazzcafe a few years back was dope too and I remember playing in Spain one time on a massive stage that was like half in the sea that was amazing but to be honest I don’t know, some gigs can be better that others in different ways I just can’t pinpoint one. Plus most of them are a bit of a blur...(haha) What’s the best thing since sliced bread?
SAVVY
Well I can’t mention names but this one gig I did was interesting, Nothing mental happened during the show but I did notice a woman slightly older than most of the crowd, kinda’ in a corner, you know keeping herself to herself.
“LOVE TO WIN NEVER HATE TO LOVE, BORN TO DEFY BREAK THE RULES”
At the time I presumed she was just the club manager or something. Anyway, we finish the show and go back stage. I spot her again, sit down in a corner and start chatting to a friend. All of a sudden she barges over and sort of palms my mate out the way and says “oh I’m not interrupting you am I?” (Awkward!) I say no and she proceeds to tell me how turned on she was by our show and asks where I’m staying tonight. By now I just want to tell her to piss off to be honest, so I decide to. I get three words out like “Ya know what!” and the promoter cuts into the convo telling me it was a good show and we can stay at his folks house rather than a hotel if we want. He then proceeds to introduce the same horny annoying woman to me as his mother...I still chuckle about that one every time I think of it. THE END. Any thanks to anyone?
Big thanks to anyone that’s bought a Savvy or Asaviour record or has come to a show, it literally doesn’t work without you. Troy, Jai & Kyle at FLY53 for showing a brother some love and everyone putting the work in with the label Char, Jess, Leeroy, Chris, you know who you are. If you haven’t already check us out visit saving-grace.co.uk & come find me on twitter @iam_savvy.
TEA! Funniest situation you’ve ever found yourself in as an artist?
Peace.
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CHANGING MAN
WORDS: NICHOLAS BURMAN PHOTOS: OLLIE GROVE
LEAVING HIS BAND RAZORLIGHT AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS FAME, DRUMMER TURNED FRONTMAN ANDY BURROWS HAS NOT RESTED ON HIS LAURELS AND IS ABOUT TO RELEASE HIS SECOND ALBUM ‘COMPANY’ SINCE GOING SOLO
IT’S A BIG DEAL IN TERMS OF ME AND MY SMALL CORNER OF THE WORLD
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“Hi, I’m Andy Burrows,” declares the man himself as he politely makes his introductions to everyone in the room. It’s hard to believe he was once the man propping up indie big mouth Johnny Borrell. Burrows’ calm, educated voice seems much more in tune with the acoustic-lead solo stuff he’s currently working on. And it’s his solo incarnation that we met with him to chat about. Your second album, ‘Company’, is out at the end of October, how is the anticipation building for it?
I’m really excited about it.You know, I spent most of the early part of this year making it. It’s always nice when it is there, when it’s ready to go and when you’re out playing. You’ve previously worked with Tom from Editors on the seasonal project and with Razorlight before that, doing the kind of pop thing. How is this different to those?
It’s the first thing I have done under my name, which I guess is at least significant to me I suppose, in sort of it being me baring all. It’s a really personal album. But I don’t know - I don’t know how different it is. I am up the front, I’m not playing drums, but I like those two things equally. I feel quite lucky to be able to sort of flip between the two. It’s kind of the best of both worlds. You did say earlier that you feel a lot better now being at the front of the stage. Why do you think that is?
I don’t know. I suppose sort of post Razorlight I felt like, I guess it was quite odd being up front, because I’d spent the previous years at the back on the drums. But now I guess it’s because I’ve been doing it for a little bit, it always helps when you believe in the songs and when you are excited about the music you are playing. I think it makes for a much better time. I do feel really excited about being out and promoting this record. It’s a nice way to feel at the start.
It always helps if you enjoy what you’re playing
Yes, absolutely and I really am. I’m really into it. Do you think the fans have moved on with you from the previous projects or are they a whole new audience?
I don’t know. I have no idea. I’m not even comfortable with sort of saying the word ‘fan’. Sometimes I do play gigs on my own or with the band and there will be people there from previous projects. I met a few people at a pub gig the other day and some of them were at Razorlight gigs, and the shows with Tom… I think that doing the project with Tom Smith [Editors] definitely helped me come back.You know, Razorlight was quite long time ago, so I’m starting over. So this is the fresh Andy Burrows?
I suppose I feel like I kind of earnt it this time. When I put my first album out last time, I did it under a pseudonym; it felt almost like it was a kind of rebound project. It felt like the kind of thing I had to do. Almost like to prove to people that anybody might be interested in it and that I could do stuff post Razorlight. Now it feels like the Razorlight project isn’t such a big deal. I mean, it’s a big deal in terms of me and my small corner of the world. But this time I feel like I am starting with the clean slate and that feels nice. It’s nice to play gigs when people are there. I feel really lucky. You produced the album with Tim Baxter, how was that process?
It was great. Tim is really brilliant. He is a really lovely guy, he makes me feel comfortable and confident in the studio. And it’s quite important that you feel like that. I love playing in a band, being a drummer, like playing in We Are Scientists. But even with a band you are really happy with, there is some level of diplomacy and tact you have to apply when working with other people, the same as with anything. It is quite nice being your own boss and having your own songs and just being there. It is like a kid in the toy shop type vibe: you can do anything. It was a good process. You’ve got a dinosaur on the single cover. What’s that meant to represent?
It’s a series of photos a friend of a friend has done. They’re from across America and the one of the
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“NOW IT FEELS LIKE THE RAZORLIGHT PROJECT ISN’T SUCH A BIG DEAL...” dinosaur is from the Palm Springs. I guess it must be some crazy theme park. The photos for the singles are quite random when seen on their own, but put together they make up this running view of his travels across the US. The first one was a car, and then was this dinosaur. I guess it is fun but it’s also a very beautiful project he has done and I really liked it. In the booklet of my album there will be the series, and they make a bit more sense when put together. There is no actual relevance to the songs. I just thought this image was awesome so I chose to use it. So now you’re living in New York and you’re travelling a lot on tour, does the album tie in with those ideas much?
I think a lot of songs have a travel aspect. Certainly leaving home, leaving friends behind, leaving loved ones behind. As a touring musician, you tend to spend a lot of time doing it: saying goodbye to people and saying hello. So there is a lot of that on the album, a lot of travel and the company along the way. So I guess from that point of view there is a very loose theme and those pictures are from far and wide.
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FLY53 has collaborated with Arturo to produce a very special, limited edition product that will be launched early in 2013. As part of this collaboration we have also partnered with another amazing brand, The Great Frog. Both Arturo and The Great Frog are perfectly aligned with FLY53 in their roots with music. We caught up with Arturo to throw a few questions at him. Have a read through the interview and keep it locked to FLY53.com where we will be launching to collaboration very soon. Adam Smith - FLY53 Designer: The Ramones
logo was one of the first, if not the first, a watershed moment if you like, the start of things to come for bands becoming brands.
ARTURO VEGA IS A LEGEND.
AS CREATIVE DIRECTOR FOR THE ENTIRE LIFE OF THE RAMONES HE DESIGNED THEIR LOGO. ICONIC IS BANDIED ABOUT ALL THE TIME BUT IF THERE WAS EVER A WORD FOR THAT LOGO, SURELY ICONIC IS IT. ARTURO STARTED PRINTING
Now universally recognised the original logo designed back in the day by Arturo Vega, Art Director to the Ramones, helped recapture a simple aesthetic. Taking inspiration from comic books and the explosion of PopArt on the New York scene, Vega’s design was brutal and caustic. It referenced the old but it also shocked the new. This subverted sensibility is something we have always held dear at FLY53. Vega’s take on the presidential seal was a massive influence on our own crest, so taking a simple ‘cut & paste’ approach to both logos for this project seemed like the imperfect glitch made in hell. An Iconoclast for another generation. There’s not much else to say about The Ramones that hasn’t been said throughout the decades since they first burst onto the scene. What there is still a bucket load
RAMONES T-SHIRTS AS A WAY OF FUNDING HIS TRAVELLING WITH THEM TO SHOWS (HE MADE ALL 2,261 MISSING ONLY 2) AND IN SO DOING WAS THE PRECURSOR TO BAND MERCHANDISING.
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“AN ICONOCLAST FOR ANOTHER GENERATION...” to talk about is Arturo and his creativity, tenacity and history. Arturo has enough stories to raise then re-sink the Titanic. The design for the Ramones Logo is just sat atop a, still smouldering, career of innovation and re-invention. There are more than enough synergies between Arturo and FLY53 to fill a book, but the main one is the use of a humble tee as a canvas and a beginning that spawned everything else. Arturo basically discovered band marketing and wielded
the power of the T-shirt to fund the band and himself through the good and bad times. The simplest ideas are always the ones that seem obvious with hindsight, but are powerful when shared. When you left Mexico, did you ever imagine where you would be now?
Not exactly but I always had almost a certainty that I was going to be doing cool things in the most exiting places, since I never hesitated to go for what I really wanted. I always followed the motto “What makes me free makes me happy” What gets you excited creatively?
A lot of things, both positive and negative, cool or tragic sometimes what makes me mad motivates me a lot. If you had a chance to do it all again, would you change anything?
Mmmmmm… I would try harder How is life as an artist treating you?
It is keeping me healthy, not much time for shenanigans
Well the first thing I wanted to do at the age of 6 was to be a priest, what could be better than working for God? I think I discovered the “labor” in Art by watching Rock musicians performing live, that made the connection in my brain on how to put in practice my desire to “do something”. Does that make sense? You have travelled extensively, is there anywhere other than NY that gets you excited?
Mountains, anywhere they are. How do you feel when you see the Ramones logos everywhere in the world?
Mixed feelings, I feel proud but a lot of times it’s in a context that shows it is not about the Ramones or even Rock. Have you ever seen a different graphic for the Ramones logo that you didn’t do, but wish you had?
A lot of them. There are some great “tributes” to my logo out there FLY53 loves the humble tee as a canvas that can bring a unique voice and serious power. When you created the Ramones band tee, did you imagine how powerful a role it would play in the bands life?
Believe it or not that was the goal, I wanted to create
Has creativity always been a part of your life?
“PURE, FRESH AND YES VERY MESSY...”
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“WHAT MAKES ME FREE MAKES ME HAPPY” something that would be the perfect complement to the power, fury and majesty that I heard in their music. What’s your proudest achievement artistically?
That Logo and to have stayed with the band for their entire career Ever been in a band or thought of being in one?
Never, playing an instrument is like Chinese to me, I am all about visuals Describe for us who were not lucky enough to get to CBGB’s what it was like?
Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge question mmm like the birth of a baby that comes out jumping and playing an instrument, pure, fresh and yes very messy Tell us a bit about the Nueva York images we have used?
To me “Art Is Personal” If I was wearing that jacket and had 25 cents in my pocket I could celebrate the moment and make it perfect and to last forever by taking photos in a photo booth machine. I was working on 42nd street at the height of the Sex, Drugs and Disco era, it was an incredibly exciting time, taking risks in life was the only way to proceed. Everything is so fucking safe now I hate that word -‘Security’-ughhh! Anyone you would like to thank?
Thank you Troy.
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