The Fly August 2013

Issue n째163

August 2013

Free

Queens Of The Stone Age

the-fly.co.uk

4

[rEguLArs] IN THE sTuDIO O4 WIN sTuFF O6 JOHN kErrIsON’s grAPHIC CONTENT 1O ONEsTOWATCH 16 [FEATurEs] QuEENs OF THE sTONE AgE 20 ALuNAgEOrgE 30 DrENgE 34 kINg kruLE 36 FILM: ALAN PArTrIDgE: ALPHA PAPA 42 [rEVIEWs] ALBuMs 44 LIVE 56 sIX sHOTs 66 the life of a rock god is constantly pried upon. ergo, you’ll no doubt be aware of Josh homme’s near-death experience prior to the recording of his band’s recent album ‘...like clockwork’. What you won’t know is that he considers finding his way back to music in the aftermath as “like being in an orgy when the lights go out – you gotta be real careful what you reach for”. the man is a quote machine. Surrounded

by Portuguese police, Alex Denney harvests more marvellous analogies from this lifetime’s most colossal rocker. read all about it from page 20.

JJ DuNNING, EDITOR King Krule, shot by Tom oldham for The Fly, London, july 2013

5

the-Fly.co.uk

I n T h e S t u d io

Anna Calvi The virtuoso vamp explains her Madonna-less second album...

Producer: John Congleton (Joanna Newsome, Bill Callahan, John Grant) Studios: Blackbox Studios, France and Elmwood Recording, Texas Label: Domino Recording Co. Due: 7th October Anna! Hi! Your second album is complete. Was it a lot of fun to make?

It was a lot quicker to make this one. I made the first record over two and a half years, but this one I had the studio for, altogether, about five weeks. It was a good thing for me, because it meant I was going on gut instinct rather than deliberating every last detail for months.

Is that what hapthe-fly.co.uk

pened last time then?

Did you get bogged down?

I did a bit, yeah. I think that when you have an unlimited amount of time you go a bit crazy with it.

You had an impressive cast of people working alongside you on your debut – PJ Harvey producer Rob Ellis, The Invisible’s Dave Okumu, some bloke called Brian Eno – are there any more collaborations on this record?

The album is produced by John Congleton, and I had the same band that I had last time, but there’s nobody especially famous on the record. Madonna didn’t come in or anything like that!

Pity. Was Brian Eno involved again?

I did speak to Brian because I was looking for a keyboard player he suggested some people to play keyboard - but he didn’t directly work on the record.

With there being less collaborations, is this record more directly you than your debut?

Yeah, but it’s me and my band too.

There’s a keyboard player called John Baggot, who’s worked with Portishead, and he was really great.

I’m very much into creating atmospheres with the music - I make an effort to make the whole thing atmospheric.

What is the album about?

This album is more about fighting the feeling of change;

6

there’s no way that you can stop change from happening. It’s partly to do with that.

I also lost someone close to me in my family, so it’s partly to do with that as well.

It’s got a feeling of something about to happen - the moment before you lose control and have to accept fate.

Do you have a specific lyric that

you’re proud of?

Not one that ‘d like to share. That’d be quite embarrassing!

Fair enough. Is there a song you’re particularly proud of?

There’s a song called ‘Piece By Piece’, which was a challenge. It turned out really well but it started out sounding very different to how it ended up.

What’s the biggest

difference in sound on this album?

On the whole, I suppose the guitars have more expressive moments than before. I went for a more visceral sound - I suppose more aggressive. It’s always just trying to find another angle for my voice. I’d say that there’s quite a wide range of emotion and expressiveness,

7

it’s quite a dynamic record. There are moments where I want it to be really, really beautiful and moments where I want it to be quite ugly.

Can you sum up the album in three words?

Oh, man...

That’s two.

I don’t think I can!

That’s five.

Sorry.

Bonus Fa c t o i d s We interrupted Anna tidying her flat, a fact so boring that she apologised.

“Sorry. It’s not very exciting.”

A vegetarian, Anna still found stuff to eat when recording in France and Texas.

Miraculous. the-fly.co.uk

It’s a right laugh on set at the US remake of The Inbetweeners...

Tom Oldham

wi n st u ff

Win: Merchandise Tickets!

Your chance to witness the much-hyped Florida band live...

Merchandise are heading off on their first-ever UK tour this month, and we’re giving you the chance to win tickets.

For the opportunity to win a pair of tickets to one of the Tampa Bay band’s late summer shows, just head to the-fly.co.uk/ competitions. the-fly.co.uk

With a host of labels still battling for their signature, Merchandise play the following dates: August 17 The Hive Project, London / 19 The Horn, St. Albans / 20 The Hare And Hounds, Birmingham / 21 Broadcast, Glasgow / 22 Deaf Institute,

8

Manchester / 24 East Village Arts Club, Liverpool / 26 Esquires, Bedford / 27 The Globe, Cardiff September 2 The Fleece, Bristol / 3 Brudenell Social Club, Leeds / 4 The Queens Social Club, Sheffield / 5 The Jericho Tavern, Oxford / 6 The Haunt, Brighton

THE DEBUT ALBUM OUT 5TH AUGUST VINYL / CD / DOWNLOAD INCLUDES SINGLES ‘KING CITY’, ‘HONEY’ & ‘THE SEA’ “A ROCK-SOLID DEBUT WITH SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE” - THE LINE OF BEST FIT “A MUCH NEEDED SPL ASH OF COLOUR” - Q

9

the-fly.co.uk

x

x x

x

x x

x x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x x

x x

x

x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

No-5x

x x

x

x

x

x

x x

x x

x

x x x x

x x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

@EwanSaum If you could redo another Town’ x song x (like x you x didxwithx‘London x x x x from your debut album) what would it be? j:x It would have tox be Falafel we x x x x x as I feel x x really x x

x

x x

x

x x

x x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

x

x

x

x x

@chappers2710 If, as a band, you could disc, what xonlyxhavex onexdesert x island x x x x x would it be?

Ones’ by isx the song, x P: x‘The Beautiful x x x x Prince x x x

x

I reckon. We did a gig in Vegas once and we xwerexplaying x that x while x wexdrove x down x thex strip. It felt like we’d arrived, sort of thing. x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

@RhysAFC_ Over the years you’ve been together, which hasx beenx your favourite x x x x x x x UK county to play and why? going with the ofx Cornwall, x j: I’m x x x x people x x x as

x livex show... x swinging x x round x like x a chimp! x x the

x x x x HOW ITx WORKS

x x

x

x

x

x

x x

Tallx Ships Beck’s x playx nextxmonth’s x x xLive x show at Camden Barfly, London, on 11th x x x x questions x x for the x band x x September.

Send us on Twitter @TheFly_Mama with the hashtag x x by xmidnight x x Wednesday x x 14th x #beckslive on August. An independent judge will then select x x x x x x x x x the best 10 questions for publication in the magazine. x x Those x questions x x willxwin the x lucky x poser a pair of tickets to the show.

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x x x x x x

x

x x

x

x

x x x x

x x

head black xhair with axwhitex stripe x of x x x going x down it, so maybe I’d come back as a badger.

I respect key way they lead x x the low x x x in which x x x x their lives as well. x

x

x

xa

x

x

x

x

@trevhunton What do you want to be reincarnated as? x x x x x x x x x P: According to my mother I was born with

x

x

xcalverleycollection.co.uk x x x x x he expands x x if into the visor game we’ll get on it.

x x

lead @roastie1982 would x x x What x x xyou x xwhich x they x x x rather have - a leg for an arm or their lives.” from my who runs business x an xarm x x Think x x x x x x x x x x cousin x x x ax x x for leg? carefully... branding promotional merchandise j: Arm for a leg! It would be useful for

x

x

x

x x

for x scope x x a branded x x visor? x x P: I got the sunglasses hook-up

x x

x

x

x

I xalways wearing manyxpearls x enjoyed x x x as x x as Ix x it’s the first place someone in the audience could fit round my neck yet that got a bit made us x x x a while. x x x x x x x x hasx actually x x x a banner x xwith x expensive after Also com“I’d go sticks. It was like they were at a boy ing on naked and getting dressed x x x show x x always x x x x x x x band x show x or something. x x x x x Badger. throughout the was I respect the the toughest - it was always too hot @tombowers2 I’ve already got x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x the MLM shades, what’s the to get them all on by the end. low key way in

Dinner x @Caz_Apsey x x x x party x forx fourx people x

x

x

x

x

xJaffrey x

x

@ghostontoast What’s your favourite ever stage outfit? x x x x x x x x x x j: God there has been too many to remember!

x x

rushed the production on it and could have x something x x truly x special x x x made ifx we had more time.”

x

x

x x I can x askx him xif to xcook,xand 2Pac so he’s really dead.

x x

x

x

you guys watch HBO? – Game Of Thrones Ed]

x

x x

x x

x

x x x x x x Peter x x x x x your x x x x x x Johnny Langer and Duffy field quite-franklyx ridiculous x x x questions. x x x x x x forx a leg? x x Honestly... x x x x An arm

x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x x

x

x x

x

x

@jimi_marshall Johnny, does your celebrity father [Madness and Morrissey producer x x x x x x x x x x Clive Langer] live in my neck of the woods? place you’re most likely to findx himx P: The x x x x x x x x

x

x competition x xis only xopen toxUK residents x x x This aged 18xor over with access to the internet and excluding employees of Beck’s and The Fly magazine.

By entering the competition, you x x x x x x x x x x agree to our full Terms & Conditions, which can be found at the-fly.co.uk/tsandcs. Closing date for entries is 14th August. x x willxbe responsible x xfor thexcost ofxtheir own x travel x Allxapplicants and accommodation expenses incurred in connection with their at x attendance x x the show. x x x x x x x

x

x

x

x

x x

x x

x

x

x

x

– you’re one, who would be your other (Anyone or x three? x x x dead x x alive.) x x x P: I’d have Bill Murray for laughs, Madhur

x

x

x

x

@jumarmundo Why doesn’t Ned Stark’s bastard anything? x x x know x x x x x x x PETER: I don’t understand? x johnny: x x What? x x x the xmatter, x don’t x x [What’s

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Man Like Me x

x

x

x

x x

x

x x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

x x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

the-fly.co.uk x x x x

x

x

x x

x

x x

x

x x

x

x x

x

x x

x

x x

x

x

x

these days is Tesco in Well Street, so go say hello. x He’ll x appreciate x x it!x x x x

Man Like Me play Camden Barfly, supported xby WexWere Evergreen x x and x x on 15th x August. x x Glitches Head to www.facebook.com/becksvier to get tickets. x x x x x x x x x

x

10x x 10 x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

x

x x

x x

x x

x

x x

x x

x x

The Fly Promotion

11

the-fly.co.uk

»John Kerrison’s Graphic Content How To Profit From Celebrity “Peter Andre having his own social network is like Ross Kemp having his own brand of shampoo...”

Jealousy, tragedy, unrequited love, Big Brother contestants; these are all themes synonymous with the world of Opera – the latter being the most-recently added to the canon when someone with far too much time and money, and not nearly enough of almost everything else, penned an operatic opus based on the life of Jade Goody. Take a minute to let that sink in: an opera about Jade Goody. This is the world we made. Well done everybody, can the last one to leave please toss a match?

Here are some more questionable ways to profit on celebrity...

Kinga, the Action Figure Sticking with the Big Brother theme, this collectable figurine for enthusiasts of television’s most voyeuristic franchise will come with three separate outfits, a wine-bottle, and a button on the back that activates ‘Most Regretful Hangover Ever’ mode. For those of you who don’t know what I’m referring to, rest assured your quality of life and enjoyment of vino are much greater for it.

Royal Baby, the ITV Drama Hours before the Royal birth, Wills and Kate’s baby boy had been the subject of over 34,000 column inches. Amongst my favourite pieces was The Sun’s article on ways Kate could look good during labour; obviously a huge concern when attempting to squeeze a human out of your genitals, perhaps on the off-chance a Daily Mail photographer had infiltrated the delivery room disguised as a pair of forceps. ITV might dramatise the birth as they do with all our nation’s greatest moments (the life of Fred and Rose West, er… Taggart). I’m seeing Billie Piper as Kate, Will Young as young Wills, and John Barrowman as the midwife who performs a musical number called ‘The Heir Down There’.

Edward Snowden, the Travel Guide One of several things me and Edward Snowden have in common is that neither of us can really afford to travel right now. But this doesn’t mean you can’t make the most of your restrictions.

Snowdon’s travel guide would give detailed accounts and sound advice for those looking to visit locations like Hong Kong hotel rooms, the bathroom at Moscow airport, the lounge at Moscow airport, the viewing platform at Moscow airport, and the car-park at Moscow airport.

Pete Andre, the Social Network As much as it seems Peter Andre having his own social network is up there on the delusional scale with Ross Kemp having his own brand of shampoo, this has in no way stopped it from actually happening. Although, to be fair to Pete, the source of inspiration is actually pretty solid: “Chris Brown has been doing it in America... so we might link, we might talk so our fans can watch,” said Andre. I for one can’t wait to watch these two mental heavyweights bash out the big issues, muse on the myriad complexities of modern existence, and share their unique insights into the world’s problems.

the-fly.co.uk

12

Peter andre’s Social network petebook

Profile

Friends

Welcome, Peter You have

Inbox

24

Settings

4 event invitations and

Logout

Search

105 other requests

Welcome To The New Homepage

close

You’re looking at the real-time stream of posts from your friends and connections. Control the stream using the filters on the left. To hide posts from friends in this stream, click the “x” in the upper-right corner of a post. Learn more.

PUNCHES

What’s on your mind?

Your Abs From The 90s G’day! Remember me? So, I checked with my lawyer and it turns out I’m pretty much responsible for your entire career. Let’s talk numbers.

Chris Brown has punched you - Punch Chris back?

- Press charges against Chris before entering a long-term relationship. Again.

News Feed Abs Flava

about a minute ago . Share

Photos

6

Links Mysterious Girl Can you please stop liking my photos?! It’s been ten years. We were on holiday. Move on!

155

Video Notes TODAY Peter Andre: My Life Season 57 on ITV4

English Dictionary Hi Peter, thanks for your enquiry. We’ve looked into it, and “insania” is not a word. The same goes for “flava”. Regards, The Dictionary.

HIGHLIGHTS Me & Chris,

by Peter Andre

9

Peter’s Timeline 1179

1997-2003

1995

Peter disappears for a long time.

It is thought he is cryogenically frozen until the world is ready.

2004

2004 - present day

Apparently, the world is ready.

Peter embarks on a new career as ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4.

Peter Andre ‘Flava’ (1996) 657 Peter Andre ‘Insania’ 84 Peter Andre Feat Warren G - ‘All Night, All Right’

Peter has some musical “hits”.

Born

36

13

the-Fly.co.uk

o n e s t o wat ch

MONEY Police, pints and prophecy: priceless behaviour from Manchester’s new cult frontman…

Words R obert C ooke Photo L ouise H aywood -S chiefer

When MONEY frontman Jamie Lee hears that we’ve just spotted Mark E Smith, hot pursuit is his instant response.

However, our hunt through Manchester’s choicest pubs soon takes an awkward turn.

Jamie takes us to a pub he’s barred from. The barmaid isn’t happy, but he doesn’t budge when she calls him a “twat”, nor when she’s dragging him by his shirt towards the door. Only when she’s calling 999 does he finally shift.

“The biggest problem that I’ve seen with the world is as simple as this: faith in it,” he suggests when we quiz him on his confrontational streak in a beer garden round the corner.

“Not even religion – just having faith in your job, or that reality is a static phenomenon. It’s not, you can change it, it’s made of malleable material, so to accept it as it is would be ridiculous to me. You have to confront it, you have to the-fly.co.uk

attack it.”

Such philosophical lucidity is why MONEY matter.

Ambiguous, inspiring ideas about God, life and death pour through everything they do: from scraps of beautiful prose on their website to their spectacular album, ‘The Shadow Of Heaven’, gloriously swollen with pianos, guitars and drums.

Its brilliance is in how it’s powerful without being preachy.

“I don’t want to set an example because I’m a completely useless person at the end of the day,” Jamie admits. “But I do like to feel that I’m not living the same way as other people. I’m kind of dead.”

Jamie (opposite, far left) formed MONEY in Manchester with Charlie Cocksedge (guitar), Scott Beaman (bass) and Billy Byron (drums). “Paradise”, is how he describes the city to a tourist couple sitting nearby.

14

“Paradise is imperfect, isn’t it?

As soon as it becomes perfect it becomes boring. It needs to be imperfect, out of control. It needs to have variety, to have all good and all bad.”

MONEY embody this clash of extremes sublimely, with music that’s simultaneously gorgeous and glum, and lyrics from a personable poet with erratic behavioural patterns (at one point, he unexpectedly yells “GOD? IS THAT YOU?” upon hearing children’s voices).

Jamie even looks eccentric when standing next to veteran oddball Mark E Smith, who we finally run into back inside the pub.

“Now you can read about my band,” he tells the postpunk legend, handing him a copy of a local magazine with MONEY on the cover.

Sorry Mark – Manchester’s got a new cult icon.

‘The Shadow Of Heaven’ is released on Bella Union on 26th August.

15

the-fly.co.uk

o n e s t o wat c h

superfood Merry midlanders offer sun-kissed package deal...

Words R hian D aly Photo J im E yre the-fly.co.uk

16

“I’ve been in the sea today.

My shorts are wet and I’m not even cold,” says Dom Ganderton down the phone.

He and his Superfood bandmates – guitarist Ryan Malcolm, bassist Emily Baker and drummer Carl Griffin – are on tour with Peace and

hunting for ice cream in Cork when we call.

“We feel like we’re on holiday!” the singer admits.

Superfood excite in the same way that summer holidays do; a giddy, knot-inyour-stomach sensation that’s impossible to shake. Debut song ‘Superfood’ (the band chose its title as their name because, “We like the idea of our faces being surrounded by loads of fruit on Google Images”) exemplifies that feeling.

Even though they’ve yet to celebrate their first year together and wouldn’t even think about seeking your attention, the Birmingham foursome have sneakily, and rapidly, become an important new band.

“It’s mental,” Dom says.

“Just the fact that our first headline show was 250 days after our first gig... it’s not like we’re getting all our mates down every night. It’s people who are completely into Superfood coming to see us.

We just need to keep it up. No pressure...”

With 25 demos in their arsenal, pressure shouldn’t be an issue. Though they’ve no plans as yet for a physical release, they’re constantly writing and progressing.

“We’re focussing on prettiness,” explains Dom. “We went back to my parents’ house recently and wrote about the garden and the flowers singing to you. Like, ‘Good morning flowers.

Nice one garden.’ That’s the big one,” he says, laughing.

“We’re keeping it under wraps for now.”

astral pattern The synth trio explain the inspirational location behind their blissful noise...

Words & Photos A str al P attern Our publisher told us about a space down by the Thames and we were immediately interested - carrying 70s synthesizers from one side of London to the other isn’t great! When we saw the studio we knew that it was going to have a positive effect on how we write music, and it’s been a joy ever since! The best thing about it is the location and the amazing views. It feels like leaving the hustle of London for a calm, quiet corner of the city. We don’t think we’d be the same without it. Even in the freezing winter months with the heaters blasting, we still managed to write songs that sounded more like summer.

Being by the water has a positive effect on all of us. Some bands work well being in a dark carpeted room with no windows, but I think we much prefer to be in a less intense location. There are few things more relaxing than being around natural water. Most of our favourite bands or records have a very flowing sound similar to that of a river or tide. One our favourite albums, ‘Science Of The Sea’ by Jürgen Müller was actually recorded on a boat.

Our sound is mostly influenced by the synthesisers we use.

They are all old vintage analogue keyboards and have their own specific personalities and sounds. Being by the river has definitely given the sounds an aspect of free-flowing motion as the tide rises and falls twice a day.

One sound we’ve used that you might not expect is the noise of a remote-control helicopter. As for the weirdest thing we’ve seen down by the river? Probably the man in the dress...

‘Light Poems’ EP is out now on 37 Adventures.

Superfood tour next month.

17

the-fly.co.uk

o n e s t o wat c h

jackson scott Dropout dreamer does his homework…

Words W ill F itzpatrick Photo A nnie E odice You’re stuck in a house without internet or TV. What do you do? In the case of North Carolina college dropout Jackson Scott, you record an album of deliciously fragmented psych-pop and give it away for nothing.

“I personally wouldn’t buy an album by someone I’d never heard,” he explains. the-fly.co.uk

“Also, I’ve spent so much time downloading for free, I felt like giving back a little.”

As gifts go, it’s a pretty special one. ‘Melbourne’, now lined up for an ‘official’ release via Fat Possum, is a collection of sleepy-eyed slacker rock that recalls Mount Eerie or Deerhunter.

“It’s named after a street

18

in Asheville that I was living on when I recorded it. We referred to our house as ‘Melbourne’. It was kind of rinky-dink, but really cool.

The only thing you could do there was play or listen to music.”

Having moved to Asheville to attend college, Jackson swiftly abandoned his studies along with the idea of work (“Jobs didn’t really work out”). Recording the album also saw him focusing on some of The Big Questions…

“Infinity makes more sense to me than any other kind of philosophical or spiritual idea. It’s hard to talk about

first o n 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1. Rank / Xerox 2. Telegram 3. Shopping 4. Twin Peaks 5. Pop Zeus

- I kinda like putting it in pop music. That’s definitely my goal in writing songs.

They could be just about a relationship, or people hanging out, but also some crazy existential crisis.”

So what’s the significance of the house?

“The lifestyle just kinda bleeds into the album. It’s funny with home recordings, especially with a 4-track – you can set up anywhere. The way that the environment affects it is almost conceptual.”

Sounds like home is where the art is.

‘Melbourne’ is released on Fat Possum on 9th September.

Meet guitarist David T. West. His San Fran-based postpunkers RANK / XEROX are creepy, thrilling and brilliant.

Their self-titled debut is released here this month. Rat Columns is his solo(ish) project; their take on the genre is sparse and lonely, but no less exciting.

Ratcolumns.tumblr. com.

Chicago teenagers Twin Peaks deal in reverb, riffs and romance. They also dress like intrepid explorers (above).

‘Sunken’ could be the most precocious, instantaneous debut we’ve heard all year.

The guy tonguing a dog above is Mikey

19

Hodges. Between pooch-puckering, he makes glam-tinged good-time power pop as Pop Zeus.

Bandcamp.com/ pop-zeus.

Radkey are smarter than they look. Dee Radke’s deep vocals resonate and, as their ‘Cat And Mouse’ EP proves, they’re much more than scabby Ramones fans.

Telegram make us ruminate on what it must have been like to be young in the 60s and 70s. Find their psych-flavoured post-punk, cheekbones and lovely hair at facebook.com/ teletelegramgram.

The male half of Moon King is Airick Benjamin’s (aka Doldrums) brother. But, together with Maddy Wilde, his distorted, insular heaviness is a cheerier proposition.

‘Obsession’ is due on Tough Love in September.

NA M E s t o wat c h Niqab Happy Families Dumb His Clancyness Shopping

Sponsored by

the-fly.co.uk

Aided by a police escort, A lex D enney is hot on the trail of Q ueens O f T he S tone A ge ...

Photography: T om O ldham

the-fly.co.uk

20

21

the-fly.co.uk

Queens of the stone age JOSH Homme has grabbed me by the shoulders, and is proceeding to get all up in my face. “Come on man, stop being so English,” he says, jumping up and down excitedly on the spot. “There’s no time for that shit now!”

Is this fun? Awkward? And why am I jumping along with him? There’s barely time to consider all of this before the 6’4” Queens Of The Stone Age frontman strides off for a photoshoot with his bandmates. He starts spouting Arnie catchphrases, accusing our photographer’s assistant of being a scientologist, and ‘trust falling’ – the strange YouTube practice of falling backwards onto a group of strangers to see if they catch you.

Homme may have just turned 40 this year, but on this evidence he’s hardly a jaded rock star. Much of his energy, you feel, springs from a sharp mind that’s easily bored and

“It beats the shit out of hot tarring roofs...”

Josh Homme ruminates on his rock god status.

not naturally given to uhealthy doses of introspection. All of which makes sitting down to talk about his band’s new album – by some distance, their most reflective to date – a bit of a tricky proposition.

WE’VE trekked out to Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, to seek an audience with Homme barely six weeks after ‘...Like Clockwork’ became QOTSA’s fastest-selling record to date, topping the US charts on its release in June and finishing a close second to Disclosure in the UK (“But who was number three?” teases Homme. “No-one ever remembers the bronze.”).

All this after 17 years as one of the few bands left on Planet Earth that knows how to rock like rutting stags and still retain the the-fly.co.uk

essence of ‘roll’, that instinctive feel for a groove that girls seem to dig and stops music this heavy becoming a tedious testosto-thon.

As a Matador release, ‘...Like Clockwork’ is also QOTSA’s first non-major label LP since their debut – so why all the success now?

“If I can use the three little pigs as an analogy, I think we’re the little piggy that’s built our house of stone,” says Homme, hours before the band is due to play the Saturday headline slot at Super Bock Super Rock Festival. “But I mean, if I was gonna be honest I would say the business is not what it was, or why would we get a number one? Not to beat up on ourselves, necessarily. We’ve always been on the outside, so to wear this sheep’s clothing and slip inside the corral is almost funny.”

For all that, ‘...Like Clockwork’ was not an easy record to make. In 2010, Homme nearly died on the operating table after complications during routine surgery on his knee. The experience left him bedridden for three months, a depressing period that left him questioning his desire to plunge back into music at all. It’s a subject Homme is reluctant to dwell upon now, though he acknowledges it as essential in shaping the direction ‘...Like Clockwork’ would end up taking.

“I really wish there was a different subject for how this record got made,” he says. “I have to reveal things about myself I’d normally rather stay away from. Just sitting around talking about yourself, that’s not the easiest thing in the world to do. If you get to do this, you should try to stay out of your own ass as much as possible.”

One reason Homme felt suddenly unsure of himself was his disillusionment at all the “day-to-day shit” that comes with being part of a successful touring rock group. Label strife, band members coming and going - and of course, interviews like this one.

“Don’t you feel silly sometimes in this whole thing?” Homme asks, gesturing round the hotel room. “There’s aspects of it that are very strange. Like, you flew all the way out here. And part of me says, ‘What does it matter?’ I just think you need to find your

22

CHARCOAL, PATIENCE AND A FEW GOOD FRIENDS.

IT’S LIKE JACK WAS MADE WITH BARBECUES IN MIND.

We’ve always found it interesting that three of the main ingredients that go into making Jack Daniel’s are the same that go into making a proper barbecue. Maybe that explains why Lynchburg, Tennessee, hosts “The Jack”, an annual tasting competition where people indulge in some of the fi nest barbecue in America. And while tastes may differ, everyone can agree that Jack Daniel’s is the perfect way to toast the winner.

J A C K D A N I E L’ S

TENNESSEE WHISKEY

BBQ is messy. You shouldn’t be. Drink responsibly. ©2013 Jack Daniel’s. All rights reserved. JACK DANIEL’S and OLD NO. 7 are registered trademarks.

23

the-fly.co.uk

Queens of the stone age reason to play every once in a while, almost have a little fellowship and communion with your god in a way, and that god is music.

That’s the thing that’s healed all the wounds I’ve had, and that sort of carried me through anything that’s difficult. Because sometimes this whole thing may be a little strange, but you know what? It beats the shit out of hot tarring roofs. And that in itself is enough reason to lay everything bare, because you get the chance to make music.”

WHEN Homme was finally coaxed into making a record by his bandmates, his idea was to make an “upbeat, trance James Brown kind of record”. That never materialised, and instead the group was forced to fumble its way towards a sound while Homme sought to reacquaint himself with his mojo, an experience he likens to “being in an orgy when

“It’s like being in an orgy when the lights go out – you gotta be real careful what you reach for...” the lights go out – you gotta be real careful what you reach for.”

“If somebody’s in a fog and they’re a part of how a thing works, you’ve gotta get everybody to go into the fog and have everyone come out together,” Homme says, taking a second stab at describing the experience. “It would be like me saying let’s go find the train station here by just meandering around - I mean, if we’re lucky it could take 20 minutes, but it could take a week... Holy analogy town! Sorry. I’d rather speak in riddles.”

Indeed, drummer Joey Castillo never made it through the ‘fog’ at all, departing the band midway through sessions and leaving the door open for Dave Grohl’s return to the fold (he opted not to tour). Another cameo came in the shape of former bassist Nick Oliveri – fired the-fly.co.uk

by Homme in 2004 for physically abusing his girlfriend – who contributed backing vocals to a couple of tracks after the pair ran into each other in the studio. The appearance was more the result of happenstance than reunion proper, but would Homme consider working with him again?

“Nick’s one of the greatest rock ’n’ roll bass players,” he says. “He’s like Lemmy’s kid, a rock ’n’ roll motherfucker. He has some things he needs to straighten out, you know? He nearly died in a car accident two weeks ago. He rolled his car three times, he’s got two staples in his head. It’s like holy cow man, he can’t be killed! And that’s Nick, he’s a wild man, I love him to death. Will I play with him again? I don’t know. But I like to look forward.”

Given Oliveri’s rap sheet since his departure from the band – he was arrested after a fourhour standoff with a police SWAT team in 2011 – that seems wise. Does Homme ever try and keep him in line?

“I don’t know better for myself,” he says.

“The people I care about, I always try to be there for them. But there is no saving anybody, not in the world I understand. I have a son, he falls down all the time, and I try to tell my wife [Spinerette/former Distillers frontwoman Brody Dalle] we can’t stop him from getting hurt, we’d just be the first people to drive him to the hospital.”

Also lending their talents to the record are Trent Reznor, Alex Turner, Jake Shears and – most improbably of all - Elton John (“He was wearing blue sunglasses,” recalls Homme, “and I just thought, ‘Man I look blue to Elton right now, we look like a bunch of Smurfs’.”). But in the end, far from being a schmoozefest, the results stand out as some of the best and emotionally truest of Homme’s career.

Songs like ‘The Vampyre Of Time And Memory’ and ‘I Appear Missing’ are thoughtfully crafted, revealing the extent of Homme’s depression in lines like “Who are you to me / who am I supposed to be / not exactly sure anymore”. But equally, tracks like ‘If I Had A Tail’ and ‘Smooth Sailing’ provide

24

25

the-fly.co.uk

Queens of the stone age

‘POLICE BIKES ESCORT US ALONG THE BACK ROADS...’ a familiar twist of fuck you. As Homme declares on the latter song, “I’m gonna do the damage / that was getting done”.

LATER that evening, Homme orders in a round of tequilas at the hotel bar. He discusses his love of British comedy (Black Books and Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace are firm faves) and tells his manager he’d like ‘Sexy Sax Man’, an internet prankster who pops up in unlikely places to play ‘Careless Whisper’ in tight leather trousers, as the support act on QOTSA’s forthcoming US tour.

Just after 11, two black vans pull up to whisk the band away to the festival just outside of the city, and we hop in the second. Turning the-fly.co.uk

off the motorway, police bikes with flashing blue sirens appear to escort us along the back roads. If you’ve never had a police convoy usher you onto a festival site while onlookers try to work out if you’re famous, we can tell you it’s a good feeling. A bit smug, even.

We’re still hanging around, slightly pissed, by the time the band is waiting in the wings ready to go on stage. They don’t look in the least bit nervous. Watching them blast their way through a 90-minute set with supreme ease, we can see why. Halfway through, we try shuffling off to the loo discreetly and come within a whisker of accidentally wandering onstage. It’s been a long, strange day, but thankfully not one that ended being wrestled to the floor in front of thousands of Portuguese revellers.

We’d stay a little longer, but there’s only a few hours before we have a plane home to catch. Like Homme says, “There’s no time! I like to not feel sorry for myself because there is just no time in this fucking life.” ‘...Like Clockwork’ is out now on Matador.

26

listen up £7.99

Swim Deep Where The Heaven Are We out 5 August

£9.99

Pond Hobo Rocket out 5 August

£9.99

£9.99

out now

out 5 August

£9.99

£19.99

Samaris Samaris

Moderat Li

Explosions In The Sky & David Wingo Prince Avalanche out 5 August

Terry Farley Presents Acid Rain 5 CD box set out 12 August

/hmv

@hmvtweets

we are entertainment Subject to availability whilst stocks last.

the-fly.co.uk

28

A l u na G eo r g e How critical is the success of AlunaGeorge’s debut album?

Well, it could be the difference between a panic attack and a posh drink...

Words M ichael C r agg Photography P hil S mithies

29

the-fly.co.uk

ALUNAGEORGE Aluna Francis is having a self-described “diva” moment.

“It’s about fifty degrees in this car and there are four of us,” she moans. “They all had the windows open but it’s too loud so I asked about the air con but it doesn’t work. Of course it doesn’t.”

As we speak to her, the singing half of chart-bothering r&B/dance hybrid AlunaGeorge is whizzing around a car park in Gatwick Airport, having just returned (with producer and professional other half George reid) from Benicassim.

Given that the pair are now bonafide chart stars – their collaboration with Disclosure, ‘White Noise’, peaked at number 2 earlier this year, while their own ‘Attracting Flies’ buzzed its way into the top twenty – you could almost forgive her the outburst. But you get the sense that Mariah Carey-style diva strops aren’t the norm within the hermetically-sealed world AlunaGeorge have created around themselves.

With most of their excellent debut album

“THE CONCEPT OF SELLING OUT IS COMPLETELY NULLIFIED

BY BEING PAID zERO...”

‘Body Music’ recorded in George’s makeshift bedroom studio, and with no interference from outside producers, theirs is a close-knit, intimate working relationship. Miraculously, signing with a major label (Island) midway through recording the album hasn’t changed this dynamic. In fact, according to Aluna, the label was simply a means to get an actual album out.

“Of course when you sign to a label the idea that somebody with the ability to release an album is supporting you is amazing. We’d been working alone and recording bits and pieces here and there because we knew we didn’t have the ability to release an album by ourselves. I think the label saw that if the-Fly.co.uk

they tried to tamper with us that they’d lose whatever was there.”

So while the cash was flowing slightly more readily (Aluna gave up her day job just after they signed), they didn’t race to finish ‘Body Music’ in Abbey road studios, choosing instead to record it in a “pretty small, quite homey little studio”, where, as opposed to the bedroom set-up, “George could finally hear what I was singing with the music and not just hear my voice.” One outside songwriter was brought in to co-write the ridiculously catchy ‘Best Be Believing’, a song which, in another example of keeping things insular, features a choir made up completely of Aluna’s layered vocals.

“I can do impressions of different people quite well,” she laughs. “each time in my mind I was conjuring up different people in the choir.”

Tacked onto the end of the album is a cover of Montell Jordan’s 1995 banger, ‘This Is How We Do It’, a decision which seems to have caused much hand-wringing.

30

“We discussed it for a long time,” she says after a pause. “It’s a big deal for us to have [somebody else’s music] on our album. It felt like it would be okay and it wouldn’t be detrimental to our vision for AlunaGeorge. We wanted to show that we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”

For some, another example of this was shown when they allowed the rubbery, Aaliyah-esque ‘You Know You Like It’ to be used as the soundbed for a Tesco advert.

Accusations of selling out and diminishing their art were bandied about by Twitter bores.

Unfortunately the truth of the matter is fairly prosaic; they simply forgot they’d had that particular meeting and were as surprised as most people.

“I was walking down the street with a couple of other people and they were looking at Twitter and someone was criticising us for the Tesco thing and I had a panic, like ‘Oh my god, what is happening? Who has authorised this?’,” she giggles. “So I called our manager and was like ‘Why’s this happening?’ and

31

she said ‘Mate, we had this conversation a year ago. We talked about it’. It was when it was really early doors - we had no idea what we were doing, some big company had a conversation with us and we’d gone [puts on baby voice] ‘Sure okay, yeah’ and it had come out a year later just as we’re making waves. The concept of selling out is completely nullified by being paid zero for it basically.” regardless, the TV exposure and the daytime radio plays mean that a lot is riding on ‘Body Music’. Time for a bit of role-play: pretend I’m your manager, I say, and I ring you up on Sunday and I say ‘Hey Aluna, just found out the album’s a new entry at 39’, what would your reaction be?

There’s a terrified cackle before she says, “I’d be like ‘are we going to get dropped?’”

Okay, what if you’d misheard me and I said number 9?

“I have a bottle of pink champagne at home so I might put it in the fridge to chill for later.”

The life of a pop star, ladies and gentlemen.

‘Body Music’ is out now on Island. the-Fly.co.uk

drenge

Famous in Westminster.

Unknown in their Derbyshire home town.

The Loveless boys have had an odd year...

Words R obert C ooke Portraits T om O ldham

There are lots of proud parents in Sheffield town centre.

It’s graduation week at one of the city’s universities, so going to meet Drenge to talk about their ferocious debut album requires making our way through an obstacle course of caps, gowns, too-high heels, borrowed suits and retina-frazzling camera flashes.

Aged 21, Eoin Loveless might have been joining them, with his 20-year-old brother Rory not far behind. But fortunately, neither is facing the tedium of the graduate employment the-fly.co.uk

market because, in what’s seemed like a matter of months, they’ve become one of the most exhilarating rock duos around and achieved the privileged status of being Castleton’s second most famous residents.

“Shayne Ward lives up the road,” frontman Eoin tells us, when we ask Drenge (Danish for ‘boys’) if they’re their hometown’s biggest stars. “And the postman’s very popular.

He recently retired and I’m sure if he got a Facebook page…”

“Oh yeah, he’s about to have a big

32

33

the-fly.co.uk

drenge retirement party,” drummer Rory remembers.

Castleton is an unlikely place for Drenge’s raucous blues-punk sound to have evolved. A tiny, picturesque tourist trap in the heart of the Peak District, it’s not where you’d picture two teenagers writing songs as deafeningly deranged as ‘Face Like A Skull’ and ‘People In Love Make Me Feel Yuck’.

“It’s a bit like Last Of The Summer Wine except there’s much less characters and so many more tourists,” is Rory’s description.

“It’s just kind of a really boring place.”

Eoin: “There’s some great people who live there but there’s also this really strange mentality that you can’t go into the boozer for a drink without being treated like you’re a tourist. Everyone’s just after your money, so it’s a really strange place to live.”

Rory: “We don’t go to the locals’ pub though, do we? We go to the tourist pub.”

Eoin: “What’s the locals’ pub? I’m Nags,

“Are we residents of Castleton, or Thurrock services?...”

through and through. We just haven’t been home this year, as well. It’s kind of like, are we residents of Castleton, or are we residents of Thurrock services?”

They’ve certainly come a long way from their pre-Drenge pursuit of playing Keane covers in village halls. Since then, the Loveless brothers have constructed a whole new sound and risen through the gig circuit down the road in Sheffield to tours with Deap Vally and masses of radio airplay.

Their self-titled debut album develops from a thrilling, quick-fire summary of their career so far into a series of fascinating nods to where they might go next – like ‘Let’s Pretend’, an eight-minute noir psych expanse, and the blissed-out anti-ballad of ‘Fuckabout’. the-fly.co.uk

However, Drenge’s rise had passed many-a Castleton resident by. Eoin explains: “It’s funny because Sheffield is probably the smallest fanbase we have in the UK at the moment, so people’s perception of us in the city is much lower than [elsewhere].

“We go to other places and we’re just really weirded out because we come from somewhere where everyone’s quite grounded and like, ‘Well, good for them, but it doesn’t mean they hold the keys to the city or anything’.”

At least every politician in Parliament now knows who Drenge are. Former Labour MP Tom Watson, smitten with the band’s Glastonbury set, name-checked them in his resignation letter when he quit the shadow cabinet last month.

“We were asked to go on Question Time.

How bizarre is that?” says a baffled Rory.

Eoin: “Apparently only for ten minutes.

Can you imagine how awkward that would be, only for ten minutes? “A load of money was not given to charity on Million Pound Drop because people lost all their cash by not putting their money on a question that we were tied into…”

Rory: “That’s not our fault.”

Eoin: “…and Newsnight, and News at Ten, and Nigel Farage getting asked about us...”

Rory: “I was worried a little bit that it was all we’d be asked about for ages. I was more annoyed at the fucking media frenzy, if you can call it that.”

Eoin: “Our PR guy was just being hassled.”

Rory: “Yeah, apparently this guy from the Telegraph was shouting at him, ringing him every day and being like, ‘I need this interview, I need this interview’.”

Eoin: “But it’s fine, because what the media did a really good job of was making us look really like we actually don’t care and that we’re quite dumb, and we’re probably going to fade into obscurity straight away after this.”

But forthright confidence, quality tunes and arch wit look like keeping the Loveless brothers as far from obscurity (and David Dimbleby) as possible. Drenge don’t need no education.

‘Drenge’ is released on Infectious on 19th August.

34

CHV fly qt page_FM a/size artwork 23/07/2013 15:06 Page 1

OCTOBER

10 12 14 15 17

DF CONCERTS / GIGSINSCOTLAND.COM

PLUS

GLASGOW O2 ABC SHEFFIELD LEADMILL MANCHESTER RITZ BRISTOL ANSON ROOMS LONDON O2 SHEPHERDS BUSH EMPIRE GIGSANDTOURS.COM • 0844 811 0051 ‘THE BONES OF WHAT YOU BELIEVE’, OUT ON 23 SEP. THE SINGLE ‘GUN’, OUT NOW. AN SJM CONCERTS & EYOE PRESENTATION

BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE AGENCY GROUP

the-fly.co.uk

36

FIVE IN MIND: KING KRULE Archy Marshall shares five things that influenced his debut album...

W ords B en H omewood P ortaits T om O ldham Archy Marshall’s debut has been a long time in gestation. Released this month (and reviewed on page 44) ‘6 Feet Beneath The Moon’ is the work of a young man who moves entirely at his own pace. He arrives late for our interview, having forgotten his keys and wallet and pauses halfway through an answer to remove two cigarette butts from his right trainer.

Archy concedes that the length of time he’s been working on the album makes it “difficult to pinpoint specifics”, but goes on to deliver an eloquent and unexpected list of things that shaped his maiden opus...

1. Being eight...

I got into ‘Doolittle’ by The Pixies when I was really young, like eight. It’s the most appealing of their stuff to an eight-year-old, but it still gets quite dark. My dad gave it to me, but he never spoke about it. It really influenced me at the time. Some of Frank Black’s lyrics, like on ‘Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)’, are fucking exceptional. They’re so abstract but they depict beautiful scenes. Good lyricists didn’t intimidate me, I feel like I did my own thing.

Back then I just listened to a piece of music as a song, without dissecting it. I dissect music now, that’s my love and my art.

2. Cartoons...

I used to skate and be into football a bit, but art and music were the things I wanted to work on. I was always drawing, man. I’m lucky to have grown up when computers still weren’t a thing, so I’d pass time by drawing, init.

Draw and draw and draw and draw... Crazy shit. Animals, mythical creatures. I copied out

37

Marvel and DC comics. I created a lot of my own stuff. It didn’t really get stuck up on the wall; it wasn’t that kind of vibe in my house. In my room, yeah... I still draw now; I’m trying to start up a comic thing called Ooze comics with a bunch of really good artists.

3. Cops On Camera...

I used to watch TV 24/7. I remember when we got [now-defunct digital provider] NTL. It was fucking amazing. I used to watch it for hours thinking ‘What the fuck is in this world?’ I watched a lot of cops on camera, social documentation stuff [laughs]. I used to think ‘Fuck, they’re gonna catch you! I can’t do that when I’m older.’ But then I eventually went into doing shit like that when I was older and experiencing being on the other side of the camera. It just adds to the paranoia, we’re in the city that gets watched the most.

4. Life...

A lot of things happened to me while making the album. So many events that haven’t been my doing, that just sprung up on me. I’ve been submerged in a lot of things. The album reflects that. ‘Easy Easy’ is about getting ripped off in a Tesco in Selhurst near Croydon.

It’s a pain that that happened!

5. Exercise...

I like running. Would you see me out running if you came to my area? Yeah. I run the streets [laughs].

‘6 Feet Beneath The Moon’ is released on XL Recordings on 24th August. the-fly.co.uk

It’s been years in the making, but Norfolk’s most notorious broadcaster has finally made it to the big screen.

Co-writers Rob and Neil Gibbons reveal how they’ve plundered “the dark underbelly” of Alan Partridge...

Words JJ D unning

Thoroughly Modern

It has been talked about for nearly ten years, but from 7th August, you can finally go to the cinema and watch an Alan Partridge movie.

Without giving too much away, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa finds Alan stranded in a radio station that’s under siege. He is flanked by his sidekick, Sidekick Simon (Tim Key), along with long-suffering PA Lynn Benfield (Felicity Montagu), recovering alcoholic DJ Dave Clifton (Phil Cornwell) and security man Michael (Simon Greenall), still the closest thing Alan has to a friend. There’s also a figure of menace in new character Pat Farrell, played by Colm Meaney. What else? Oh yeah - Alan now drives a Kia. It promises to be a the-fly.co.uk

thrilling ride. (The film, not the car. Though, as Alan would surely proffer, the car does offer excellent fuel economy.)

Twin brothers Rob and Neil Gibbons (cowriters of the character with Steve Coogan since 2006) have subtly updated Alan for his recent excursions: on North Norfolk Digital in the Mid Morning Matters online miniseries, and yomping around East Anglia in the sogood-it-was-worth-paying-Rupert-Murdochfor mockumentary Welcome To The Places Of My Life on Sky. (The brothers also helped slave over the mockubiography, I, Partridge.)

As the Gibbons explain, helping shape Alan for a feature-length outing wasn’t entirely

38

Alan 39

the-fly.co.uk

alan partridge

Neil and Rob Gibbons

“You’ll titter and then realise that that’s Steve Coogan talking, not Alan Partridge...” straightforward.

“The biggest challenge in taking Alan to the big screen was that sitcoms are about character and films are about story,” says Neil. “In a sitcom you don’t really want the character to go on any sort of journey or to be altered by the end of the episode, because you need them to be reset and ready to go again in the next one.”

“In film, you can’t have that. You need a development of the character as it goes on, but you don’t want to lose the Alan-ness of Alan during that process. You don’t want him to suddenly see that he’s been a knob all his life and he’s turned into a better person. You’d be effectively killing off the character. Him ending up suddenly with all the riches and adulation that he always wanted, that would be the death of Alan Partridge.”

But presumably that’s how it’ll all end for Alan one day, though? With him getting the things he’s always wanted, only for them to be snatched away by tragedy?

“Probably, yeah. He’ll probably get everything he wants and then he’ll slip and smack his head on the corner of a work surface. He’ll only be able to appreciate it all the-fly.co.uk

for a split second and then he’ll be dead.”

Though that sounds a bit depressing (even if it might be deserved, thanks to Alan’s life of relentless tactlessness) it hints at the appreciation the Gibbons have for the dark side of the Partridge. With Alan, says Rob, it’s all about teasing the mirth from his misery.

“Quite a lot of it is us being able to scratch the surface a bit more. To scratch at the dark underbelly - that’s where a lot of the comedy comes from,” he says. “There’s a little scene in Mid Morning Matters where we see what Alan’s up to in the studio while a song’s playing. He’s phoning the cinema and he’s on one of those automated phone lines booking a ticket to see Inception. The comedy comes from the fact that he keeps repeating the word ‘inception’, but if you read between the lines, this is a bloke who is phoning up to book a single ticket on a weekday afternoon. That is, in itself, almost suicidally depressing.”

The film has been an idea for nearly ten years, and in development for around eight.

Rob and Neil were there at the beginning (“Armando [Iannucci] and Steve had come up with the basic story but there wasn’t a script in place,” says Rob) and have worked through a few concepts. One might have seen Alan go to Dubai, another would have followed him to America. Ultimately, as Neil explains, Alan’s just a lot safer in Norwich.

“We realised very early on that it all had to stay very local. Alan doesn’t leave Norfolk in the film. Once you’ve set your parameters you can still do the same kind of stories that you would do on a global stage, you’ve just got to scale everything down to the geographical location.”

“Alan works best when you see him rub up against normal people. You get to see how he would behave differently to how you would behave - well, we hope so. If it feels too familiar, then you’re probably a bit too Partridge.”

Have the brothers had any “Partridge moments”?

“In the writing room when we’re sat round with just the two of us and Steve, a lot of the conversation does tend to be Alan Partridgey,”

40

Out of shape, but on point: Alan negotiates.

laughs Neil. “We all have to do ‘the voice’, otherwise people can’t tell whether you’re speaking as yourself or as Alan. Steve will sometimes suggest some Alan lines and carry on speaking in that voice for a while, and then he’ll say something like ‘Oh, I saw a brilliant episode of Air Crash Investigation last night.’

You’ll titter at it and then realise that that’s Steve Coogan talking, not Alan Partridge. It’s a strange environment to be in.”

Almost as strange an environment as inheriting a character that people – dedicated, enthusiastic and, let’s face it, slightly obsessive people - have had an iron-clad grip on for nearly twenty years. Neil admits that they’ve experienced a small amount of negative feedback from those whose grasp of reality isn’t quite so strong...

“I’ve seen tweets – genuinely livid tweets – about Steve’s wig in the film and how Alan

41

has got a slightly different haircut than the one they’ve become familiar with.” He’s laughing, but you can sense a degree of exasperation.

The odd whinge about a hair out of place aside, there’s an altogether wider, weirder, world of Partridge fandom to contend with.

For instance, the guy who turned up to an I, Partridge book signing with a homemade ‘Bangkok Chick Boys’ DVD, referencing Alan’s, um, fascination. (“It looked very professional,” says Neil, “I carried it around for a while and then realised I ought to put it in my bag in case anyone got the wrong impression.”) Or the two teenagers who reenacted the first Mid Morning Matters episode on YouTube, mere hours after it went online (“one of them was more enthusiastic than the other,” recalls Neil, “you could tell he’d been roped into it”). Or the wit who dressed up as Alan and queued for Coogan’s autograph, only the-fly.co.uk

alan partridge

“Alan behaves differently to how you would behave well, we hope so...” to enquire who he was once the signature had been handed over.

Not that the Gibbons have pandered to the Pringle-clad masses by writing a film choc-full of in-jokes.

“I think it’s probably quite easy to write not-very-good Alan,” says Rob. “You’d just talk about James Bond and Corby Trouser Presses, but if you keep doing the same stuff it’s boring and not funny anymore. When we write Alan, we always try to avoid all the stuff we’ve done before. To break a bit of new ground...”

Which brings us to the potential for a

second film. After the infamous cheese incident when BBC commissioner Tony Havers turned down his request for a second series, how would Alan go about demanding a sequel? Rob answers first.

“Probably by fax, I would imagine. He’s still got confidence that that technology can make a strong comeback.”

Has Alan embraced any modern technology?

“He tries to be cutting edge but he’s been an early adopter of a few things that haven’t taken off,” says Neil. “He’s adopting a waitand-see policy at the moment.”

He pauses for a moment to think.

“He’s got a pretty snazzy set of nose hair clippers, though.”

Reassuring news, then: behind the new hair and pristine nostrils, it’s still the same old Alan Partridge.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is in cinemas from 7th August.

Under The P a r t r i d g e ’s Wing Neil Gibbons on four returning characters (and one new one)...

NEW JOB! Name: Michael (Simon Greenall) Role: Security man. Alan’s acquaintance.

“Michael now works at the radio station, as a security guard. The implication being that Alan got him the job there. It’s not explicitly referred to though, so it could be that Alan accidentally let slip that there was a job going there and ended up with Michael.”

MENACING! Name: Pat Farrell (Colm Meaney) Role: Alan’s nemesis.

“You don’t want someone alongside Alan who’s going to act too much like a foil. Colm has got a menacing quality that gives Steve so much to work with comedically.”

THE SAME! Name: Lynn Benfield (Felicity Montagu) Role: Alan’s PA.

“Lynn hasn’t moved on. At all.

She’s the same old Lynn. The only way that she had nearly moved on was that on the first day we shot one of the scenes and then realised that she didn’t have her wart on her eyebrow, so we had to go back and re-wart Lynn and do the scene again.

She’s as loyal and downtrodden as she’s always been, but her faith keeps her strong.”

the-fly.co.uk

BRILLIANT! Name: Sidekick Simon (Tim Key) Role: Alan’s sidekick.

Called Simon.

“Tim is brilliant. He’s such great value. He absolutely nails every scene.”

42

BOUNCING BACK! (ANNOYINGLY!) Name: Dave Clifton (Phil Cornwell) Role: Alan’s other, obnoxiously sober, nemesis.

“Dave Clifton is dry and doesn’t mind talking about it. One of those dry people. He’s bounced back to an annoying degree.”

Hard at work?: Alan browses the finest websites Thailand has to offer.

Everything Everything

43

the-fly.co.uk

a lb u m of the month

King Krule ‘6 Feet Beneath The Moon’

HHHH

(XL Recordings)

Archy Marshall is just a teenager in tracksuit and trainers; but his songs have never made him sound like one. Guttural, affecting vocals and intelligent musical imagination have positioned him as a prodigious talent. ‘6 Feet Beneath The Moon’ has taken a fair while (10 years, he says) but finally, there is an album by which to evaluate King Krule.

‘Easy Easy’ tells of Archy and his friends being ripped off in Tesco. The subject may seem naive, but the delivery is opposite. A simple riff and an echoing hum frame his throaty lament, creating a sweeping song with a tender conclusion. It’s a brilliant opening.

Thereafter, ‘Border Line’ breathes the same smoky haze as ‘Noose Of Jah City’, with broken beats and molten vocals. ‘Has the-fly.co.uk

This Hit?’ intimidates then erupts with the line, “Why when I look into the sky, there is no meaning”.

It’s disaffected, uncomfortable and riveting. ‘Foriegn 2’’s garage shuffle stimulates and, like ‘Will I Come’ later, references Archy’s beloved Rinse FM. Highlights are harder to discern during the swampy midsection. Songs lollop and melt into each other, the murk lifting briefly for ‘Baby Blue’ – which confirms Archy’s position as both exquisite lyricist and romantic.

As ‘Bathed In Grey’ dribbles to an end, the realisation of being immersed and toyed with sets in. With thought-provoking verse and labyrinthine passages, offset by the everyday idiom that worked for the Arctic Monkeys and The Streets, ‘6 Feet...’ plants you inside Archy’s brain.

If you wanted a masterpiece, this isn’t it - it’s too long and stoned. Rather, it’s an invigorating, assertive and magical collection that’s probably cleverer than you are. Not bad for a teenager in tracksuit and trainers.

Ben Homewood Download: ‘Baby Blue’, ‘Has This Hit’, ‘Will I Come’

44

Tom Oldham

Will Archy Marshall’s celestially-titled debut make him a star?

“Hello, God? Yes, I’d like three massive photos and a positive album review please...”

45

the-fly.co.uk

Phil Smithies

Boxing match: Aluna Francis and George Reid take a seat.

AlunaGeorge ‘Body Music’

HHHH (Island)

Disclosure collaborators deliver pop-smart debut...

Prosaic name aside, vocalist Aluna Francis and producer George Reid are one of UK pop’s most exciting recent propositions.

Drawing influence from the bounce of 90s garage, the fizz of electropop and early-noughties Timbaland, singles ‘You Know You Like It’ and ‘Just A Touch’ earned them a major label deal.

Opening with the hushed ‘Outlines’ and ending with the watery, almost tactile ‘Friends To Lovers’, ‘Body Music’ is for the bedroom as much as the dancefloor.

With a voice that’s almost comically coquettish, the-fly.co.uk

Aluna dominates early listens. Occasionally though, when the songs falter (‘Diver’), she becomes cutesy; talking down like a children’s TV presenter.

However, things eventually flourish - i.e. the pitched harmonies that augment the undulating title track and the way the drums seemingly ascend and descend simultaneously on ‘Attracting Flies’.

AlunaGeorge are a pop act at heart, with most of this debut’s songs anchored to a radio-friendly chorus. It’s there on ‘Superstar’, rising triumphantly out of a mesh of textured synths, Aluna singing “he’s a superstar, in his own home”.

With ‘Body Music’, AlunaGeorge should find a much wider audience than that.

Michael Cragg Download: ‘Superstar’, ‘Attracting Flies’, ‘Outlines’

46

a lb u m r e v i e ws

Bloc Party

Crocodiles

‘The Nextwave Sessions EP’

‘Crimes Of Passion’

HH

HHH

Destruction Unit ‘Deep Trip’

(Zoo Music)

HHHHHn

Is there a band as indecisive as Bloc Party? Back on their on/off hiatus, they leave behind an EP that seems to spell out why things regularly fall apart. The five songs here are awkward bedfellows; ‘Ratchet’ is marooned somewhere between clubland and the metal of last record ‘Four’, while the ballads ‘Obscene’ and ‘Children Of The Future’ are trudging and indulgent. Lyrically, Kele Okereke is at a low ebb: ‘Montreal’ features a line bad enough to be culled from an EastEnders script (“Tony keeps calling says he wants his money”).

Don’t ask them what they want to do next.

JJ Dunning

Just a few short years ago, Crocodiles’ doe-eyed melodicism was clouded by layers of Jesus & Mary Chain hiss, but as their pop melodies have become more strident, so too have their forays into the red decreased. Instead, the emboldened quintet allow their songs to breathe a little, with a newly-acquired funk adding subtle groove to numbers like ‘Cockroach’. The party is stifled, however, by the jagged misery that undercuts proceedings – the seething anger of musically upbeat numbers like ‘Me And My Machine Gun’ leave an enjoyable record frustratingly unsure of what it wants to be.

Will Fitzpatrick

(Sacred Bones)

Download: ‘French Exit’

Download: ‘Cockroach’

(Frenchkiss Records)

47

DIANA ‘Perpetual Surrender’

HHHHn (Jagjaguwar)

The first song on Destruction Unit’s first ‘proper’ LP is called ‘The World On Drugs’, which is a pretty accurate summation of ‘Deep Trip’, provided those substances make you feel like Arnie tumbling into the airless Martian atmosphere at the end of ‘Total Recall’. It’s violent. It’s suffocating.

But holy fuck, is it ever exhilarating – ‘God Trip’ pulverises like Ian Curtis smashing up Dicks records in the eye of a hurricane, while elsewhere a dizzying spacerock rumble renders rational thought impossible. Frankly, it’s a delightful, demented journey into pure psych chaos. Essential listening.

Will Fitzpatrick

Quite the Toronto scene lothario, DIANA frontperson Carmen Elle sings and riffs in jerky duo Army Girls, previously moonlighted in Austra and has collaborated with tons of locals, including Doldrums. Her band’s debut is yearning blogpop, which might be a bit ‘2009 called...’ if songs like ‘New House’ weren’t just as sharp as their ’80s, sax-ballad ancestors.

They might be the musical embodiment of a knitted handkerchief, but something about the no-shit beats and just-kiss-me vocals bats off the twee with suave effortlessness.

Jazz Monroe

Download: ‘Slow Death Sounds’

Download: ‘Perpetual Surrender’

the-fly.co.uk

a lb u m r e v i e ws

Golden Suits

His Electro Blue Voice

‘Golden Suits’

‘Ruthless Sperm’

(Yep Rock)

(Sub Pop)

Sophie Thomsett

Fred Nicolaus of Department Of Eagles strikes out on his own with this debut solo LP, and inevitably brings with him huge pop spaciousness and ambition. Heck, it even features most of Grizzly Bear taking care of instrumental details. You might expect a consummate pop sensation, but it would’ve been foolish to anticipate something so deliciously melodic. It’s almost too rich a confection to be consumed every day, lest you keel over clutching your stomach.

It’s unabashedly heartfelt, but if we’re to pick one foible it’s that the second half doesn’t quite match up to the sunshine of the first.

Daniel Ross

There’s a pleasing Nirvana-esque fixation on squelchy body horror on this gruelling debut, with titles like ‘Spit Dirt’, ‘Sea Bug’ and ‘Tumor’ putting one in mind of a particularly unsexy visit to the GPs. But unlike their Sub Pop forebears, HEBV exist to try and scare you into submission with their dogged insistence on crushing guitars and the rarely-morethan-one-note vocals of Francesco Mariani.

The best bits occur when they recognise the importance of giving the audience a little melodic salvation, but all in all this is a welcome punishment that rewards as much as it challenges.

Daniel Ross

Download: ‘Substance’

Download: ‘Swimming in ‘99’

Download: ‘Spit Dirt’

The Dodos ‘Carrier’

HHHH (Polyvinyl Records) In a music industry saturated with mild mannered folksters, The Dodos have been unfairly overlooked whilst fellow masters of melody The Shins and Fleet Foxes have basked in success. But ‘Carrier’, their fifth album, demands more.

Recorded following the untimely death of Women guitarist and Dodos collaborator Chris Reimer, the band have taken his influence to heart, incorporating wiry electric guitar to make tracks like ‘Substance’ and ‘Confidence’ expansive and bordering on anthemic. The result is a collection of songs that really soar in a way that some previous material hasn’t. Not bad for a flightless bird.

the-fly.co.uk

HHHHn

HHH

48

Julia Holter ‘Loud City Song’

HHHHHn (Domino Recording Co.) ‘Experimental’ is a tag that harries LA’s bizarro-pop movement, home to Nite Jewel and Ariel Pink. With ‘Loud City Song’, Julia Holter marks the scene’s zenith, continuing her journey from obscurity, through marginality and onwards into accessibility. The spectral ‘He’s Running Through My Eyes’ drifts among fractured chords and sweetly horrific imagery, while ‘This is a True Heart’ occupies the same dreamy groove that Broadcast called home. Holter’s voice swoons and flutters with the joyful freedom of a woman entering a pop rabbit-hole all her own.

Jazz Monroe Download: ‘This is a True Heart’

Tom Oldham

So, guys, we’ve written a meat theme into your album review. How do you feel about it?

Drenge ‘Drenge’

HHHH

(Infectious)

A rare din from the Derbyshire hills...

Drenge aren’t ones for bells and whistles.

After announcing their eponymous debut with the least bravado possible (“I’d just quite like it to come out and for there to be not that much fanfare,” shrugged one interview), brothers Eoin and Rory Loveless’ no frills approach continues to stamp itself all over ‘Drenge’.

It strips away every ounce of extraneous fat to leave only the iron-rich meat. Between the sinewy riffs of ‘Dogmeat’ and the bloody rump of ‘Gun Crazy’, there’s little in the first half that hangs

49

around for much longer than two minutes. All short, sharp noise assaults and withering lyrical put downs, the duo barely stop to pause.

‘I Don’t Want To Make Love To You’ aims its boot at the Black Keys’ midriff, whilst ‘Nothing’ pursues a low-slung groove, but it’s not until ‘Let’s Pretend’ that the Loveless bros. really throw a curveball. A grungey, eight-minute slow-burner, it comes out of nowhere to show that, far from a couple of decadelate White Stripes wannabees, Drenge are more than in control of their craft. They may not have wanted much fanfare, but ‘Drenge’ deserves one, whether they like it or not.

Lisa Wright Download: ‘ I Don’t Wanna Make Love To You’, ‘Nothing’

the-fly.co.uk

Franz: Palming us off with something sub-standard?

Franz Ferdinand ‘Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action’

HHH

(Domino Recording Co.)

Arch Scots’ return is only half-right...

They’re all at it – Bloc Party, Editors and now Franz Ferdinand.

First they led the midnoughties post-punk revival, then they made their third albums on keyboards with mixed results, then they fell back in love with guitars. ‘Right Thoughts…’ is the album where Franz return to their spiky punk, stuttering funk, Orange Juice-meetsGang Of Four glory days.

Or at least that’s how it seems for the first ten minutes, in which ‘Evil Eye’ skulks along like The B-52s on Hallowe’en, ‘Love Illumination’ poses and postures like an artrock incarnation of ZZ Top the-fly.co.uk

fronted by Bryan Ferry, and ‘Right Action’ cements itself as the seminal post-punk single that never was, puffing and panting like a pop art version of The Pop Group.

After that though, the album loses momentum, with Franz’s familiar angularity making far less of an impact and the gooey ‘Fresh Strawberries’ sounding like a mistake on the scale of Ash’s ‘Candy’. So while there are individual moments that are up there with the band’s best, ‘Right Thoughts...’ falls short of the return to form the opening tracks suggest. It’s not that three rights make a wrong, more that we could have had it so much better.

Robert Cooke Download ‘Right Action’, ‘Evil Eye’, ‘Love Illumination’

50

a lb u m r e v i e ws

Medicine

Minks

‘To The Happy Few’

Moderat

Mogwai ‘Les Revenants’

‘Tides End’

HHHHn

‘II’

HHH

HH

HHHHn

(Captured Tracks)

(Captured Tracks)

(Monkeytown Records)

(Rock Action)

All hail Captured Tracks. Los Angeles’ shoegazers Medicine split 18 years ago and were only moved to speak, let alone write songs, when the imprint reissued their ‘Shot Forth Self Living’ and ‘The Buried Life’ LPs. Perky and romantic, ‘To The Happy Few’, is the sound of reinvigoration.

It’s also a timely cornerstone for modern bands ploughing a similar furrow. ‘It’s Not Enough’ and ‘Burn It’ fuzz, fizz and meander gratifyingly. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart will be worried, and with good reason. It’s pleasing to see these old-timers giving the young’uns a taste of their own medicine.

Ben Homewood

Whilst there’s enough of a West Coast wooze throughout ‘Tides End’ to keep the hipsters happy, there’s a poppier sensibility to Sean Kilfoyle’s second effort as Minks. ‘Playboys of the Western World’ is basically a 2013 Aztec Camera, whilst ‘Everything’s Fine’ has an unashamed whiff of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ about it.

‘Painted Indian’ even dips its toe marginally into super sheen Phoenix territory. It’s an interesting mix of the wide-eyed and sparkly and the beachfront and nonchalant that makes for a hugely radiofriendly record that won’t dent your credibility. Not bad at all.

Lisa Wright

Berliners Modeselektor and Apparat are like chalk and cheese: the former drops tech-y, wallcollapsing breakbeats, while the latter spins softfocus prog-pop. Spliced together however, hence the portmanteau-ish title Moderat, the rave scene pals’ contrary vibes at times beguilingly complement each other - see their eponymous 2008 debut album for proof. But this sequel often sounds like an unfocused first draft; hardly surprising when they’ve only come together a mere three times in their stopstart 10 year career.

Nevertheless there are a handful of gracefully spaced-out moments here that’ll help ease your comedown (‘Milk’, ‘Bad Kingdom’, ‘Damage Done’).

Jamie Skey

Asking these macabre noise-merchants to score a bleak drama about the return of the dead was never going to result in a hookfilled dance album, but even so, Mogwai’s ‘Les Revenants’ is stupendously dark.

‘Special N’ offers a surprisingly upbeat relief from the doom and gloom, but it’s a rare diversion from what is, essentially, a crushingly beautiful interpretation of death and all that comes with it. Dark it may be, but ‘Les Revenants’ somehow manages to craft a warm, enveloping feeling of hope amidst the sense of loss. Just don’t stick it on at a party, yeah?

Matt Glass

Download ‘Milk’

Download: ‘Special N’

Download: ‘It’s Not Enough’

Download: ‘Playboys of the Western World’

51

the-fly.co.uk

a lb u m r e v i e ws

The Mountain Goats ‘All Hail West Texas’ (Reissue)

HHHH (Merge) Nowadays John Darnielle, mastermind behind the Mountain Goats, is just as likely to earn fans through goofy Twitter updates as through his droll lyrics.

But once upon a time he was king of the cassette, recording ‘All Hail West Texas’ on a boombox, resulting in enough crackles, snaps and whirrs to make Daniel Johnston fans squeal.

Lo-fi purists will love to hear that the songs on ‘All Hail...’ were recorded on the day they were written. Seven bonus tracks is OTT, but this is a welcome reminder of a great record.

Sophie Thomsett Download: ‘The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton’

the-fly.co.uk

No Age

Pinkunoizu

‘An Object’

‘The Drop’

Ty Segall ‘Sleeper’

HHHH

HHHHn

HHHHn

(Sub Pop)

(Full Time Hobby)

(Drag City)

While No Age are as big as any band that evokes Glenn Branca water-boarding no-wave hipsters is likely to get, their gateway appeal is estimable. You couldn’t breed truer authenticity: catchy, confrontational and thoroughly DIY, No Age’s is not only underground music - it actually sounds like it’s coming from underground. ‘Defector/ ed’ quakes and ‘No Ground’ rumbles - this is fault-line rock that augments its political force with eclecticism, designed to displace complacency. What’s more, on ‘An Object’ their blissy ambient tinkerings finally feel earned and essential.

Jazz Monroe

With their debut album, ‘Free Time!’ from 2011, affably wired Danes Pinkunoizu discovered an ingenious way to make tired psychedelic clichés thrillingly fresh and enjoyable. With their second, they’ve sort-of carried on doing the same thing. Don’t worry, though, this isn’t kaftan-swinging cosmic vibe-mongering designed to appeal to men of a certain age. No, this is darkly intriguing and nightmarish soundscaping that resembles Jeff Wayne guesting on a Neu! album. Balanced, measured and, when necessary, jump-out-ofthe-scented-candle-filledbath creepy.

Daniel Ross

Ty Segall claims his latest effort will “push the walls of the universe out” – shelve your expectations though, kids: the scorching riffology of ‘Twins’ and ‘Slaughterhouse’ is gone. The very retro ‘Sleeper’ is an acoustic affair, characterised by bluesy downers and portentous balladry.

Ty’s always been a pastiche merchant, of course, but his greatest skill has always been to make those familiar hooks and tricks feel like rock’n’roll’s battered heart just slammed a few Jägerbombs and started beating harder than ever. Hearing him maintain that impression on the softer strums of ‘The Keeper’ and ‘She Don’t Care’ is curiously moving.

Will Fitzpatrick

Download: ‘No Ground’

Download: ‘7’

Download: ‘She Don’t Care’

52

Louise Haywood-Schiefer

Jamie Lee: A shy lad.

MONEY ‘The Shadow Of Heaven’

HHHH (Bella Union)

An existential debut from Manchester newcomers...

“Hymns, to me, are the ancestors of the pop song,” says Jamie Lee, which is perhaps why MONEY’s debut album reverberates and billows as if written to be performed amongst the pillars and pews of a church. The record’s first track is called ‘So Long (God Is Dead)’ whilst even its title has a religious tint, ‘The Shadow Of Heaven’ conjuring up images of the darker side of the promised land. That’s not to say MONEY are preaching holy beliefs at their listeners. That sense of spirituality is more a feeling than a widely discussed theme; an atmosphere used to give

53

gravitas and grandiosity to their compositions.

What ‘The Shadow…’ does though, is play with your emotions. ‘Who’s Going To Love You Now’ builds and builds to heart-swelling climax, appropriating Arcade Fire-esque epic bursts along the way. The seven minute long ‘Goodnight London’ pricks at tear ducts with its piano-led foundations and Lee’s mournfully-sung poetry. When his voice cracks on ‘Letter To Yesterday’ it just serves to add more depth to an already cavernous record.

As closer ‘Black’ fades out, it’s clear MONEY have made something special and, maybe, even sacred.

Rhian Daly Download: ‘Who’s Going To Love You Now’, ‘Goodnight London’, Black’

the-fly.co.uk

Smart move: Outfit scrub up for their debut.

Outfit ‘Performance’ HHHH n(Double Denim) Eclectic Liverpudlians tone down the weird...

Wisely, Outfit have waited rather a long time before releasing their debut album. Initially all talk of the Liverpool five-piece was to do with their supposed genesis in a mansion they shared with 20 other people, the fact that two of them ran around a science museum dressed as HR Giger’s aliens, and that their music had no little amount of that dreaded ingredient, ‘quirkiness’. Blogs went wobbly-kneed and wet-trousered at the mention of their name, and their early singles were met with immediate adulation from a left-field crowd.

Since then, they’ve managed to focus on their the-fly.co.uk

craft to such a degree that their idiosyncrasies have been planed down to the point of near complete erosion. And what’s gradually become more visible in the wood of the band, like a vision of Christ in a slice of bread or whatever it is that happens, is a bare-bones collection of good songs. They’re not as poppy and immediately catchy as, say, Metronomy (who they match in the ‘vibes’ stakes), but there’s a rather enjoyable sense of sullen confusion in the matter-of-fact vocals and doleful, summer-gonewrong expanses of keyboard. Your new favourite band have calmed themselves down, and for the better.

Daniel Ross Download: ‘Elephant Days’, ‘Thank God I Was Dreaming’, ‘Two Islands’

54

a lb u m r e v i e ws

R. Stevie Moore

Speedy Ortiz

Washed Out

‘Personal Appeal’

‘Major Arcana’

‘Paracosm’

White Lies ‘BIG TV’

HH

HHH

(Fiction)

(Carpark)

(Weird World Records)

Boy band Blue have put out six Best Of compilations since 2004. Quite a feat, given that they’ve only done four albums. By contrast, Robert Steven Moore has released over 400 recordings since 1968. In 1983 he put out seven Best Ofs. ‘Personal Appeal’ is his 42nd. In truth, he’s probably made as many records as Blue have sold. Yet, his bizarre songs, however crazy, harbour the same ambition to be popular.

So why aren’t they?

1984’s ‘Why Can’t I Write A Hit?’ offers self-diagnosis, Moore gasping, “THE SONGS ARE TOO WEIRD”.

All rise for the king of Best Ofs. JJ Dunning

With an album name taken from a tarot card, Speedy Ortiz’s debut promises to be a magical affair. Given the way singer/guitarist Sadie Dupuis and her band twist the spectres of Pavement and The Breeders into their own refreshed take on 90s indie rock, they might as well be adorning the sleeve, wands in hand.

Of the seven tracks on ‘Major Arcana’, each is ... ‘Tiger Tank’ is pure Malkmus, bending and springing with an infectious elasticity whilst ‘Hitch’ is softer and sweeter and the twiddly ‘Fun’ chucks a sunny gleam over its plaid uniform. A spellbinding first record.

Rhian Daly

In his new publicity photo, Ernest Greene resembles a lost hippy.

The Georgian’s second LP is based on the exploration of imaginary worlds, or paracosms.

Suspend that derisory snort though, because ‘Paracosm’ isn’t as silly as perhaps it sounds.

Bathed in inescapable warmth, it undulates without respite; an immersive feat best illustrated by ‘Paracosm’ and ‘Falling Back’. As a whole however, instead of memorable lucidity, the record can be cloying and unexciting.

Where ‘Within And Without’ was hooky, its successor dissolves like a dream that will remain frustratingly out of memory’s reach.

Ben Homewood

White Lies’ third album, ‘BIG TV’, is a scientific conundrum. Like an inverse TARDIS, it’s smaller on the inside than it looks on the outside – a 45-minute album stretched out of 15 minutes of material.

The glimmering synthrock of ‘There Goes Our Love Again’ might race past with reasonably rapid hooks, but ‘Getting Even’ is built on fauxfuturistic, amateurishly anthemic monotony; ‘Change’, a pseudosentimental chasm of ill-conceived ambience.

Even the relatively brief ‘First Time Caller’ seems to last a lifetime, it’s so frustratingly harmless.

White Lies then: becoming one of the least interesting cases in science today.

Robert Cooke

Download: ‘Forecast’

Download: ‘Tiger Tank’

Download: ‘Falling Back’

HHHH

HHHHn

(Care In The Community)

55

Download ‘There Goes Our Love Again’

the-fly.co.uk

the-fly.co.uk

56

Frank Ocean by Darren Ankenman

li v e r e v i e ws

Frank Ocean Brixton Academy, London 09/07/2013

R&B superstar is surprisingly understated...

Is it stretching credibility to call Frank Ocean the mostrounded songwriting talent of his generation? When the R&B star was last in town, he played to 300 people in a Shoreditch basement. Now, he’s playing back-to-back shows at Brixton Academy (combined capacity: 10,000), but even more than the numbers, it’s the fact his fans are word-perfect on his debut, ‘channel ORANGE’, tonight which marks him out as special.

As a live performer, Ocean is alarmingly casual. He ambles onstage in T-shirt and combat pants, backed by an anonymous ensemble that spends half its time facing away from the audience.

There’s little patter, little attempt to ‘project’ – but his presence is

57

undeniable. Songs are delivered with a minimum of fanfare, but part of Frank’s appeal is his willingness to reconnect with a time when R&B retained the capacity to tell stories beyond the pressing business of where to park its wiener, and in presenting spare, even slightly slowed-down arrangements of his songs, he allows those qualities to shine.

Would a bit more pizzazz help? Maybe, but for a mainstream performer sing songs this thoughtful with unvarnished sincerity – a recent track written for ‘Django Unchained’ and performed near-a cappella from a stool, is lump-in-throat amazing – the trade-off seems more than fair.

Alex Denney the-fly.co.uk

the-fly.co.uk

58

Kings Of Leon

By P Tarasewicz

li v e r e v i e ws

Open’er Festival Gdansk, Poland 03/07/2013 – 06/07/2013

Kings Of Leon rediscover their mojo...

It might not be the most credible thing to admit, but Open’er really is all about the headliners.

Frankly, it’s unusual to encounter bill-toppers of this rare calibre.

Wednesday is Blur day and the quartet, who note how they’ve never played in Poland before, are welcomed like the homecoming heroes that they quite evidently aren’t. Steering clear of any worries that, four years into the reunion, their set might be getting turgid, Blur mix it up with a ballad-heavy midsection (from ‘End Of A Century’ to ‘Caramel’) bookended with visceral hits (‘Popscene’, ‘Parklife’ and a climactic ‘Song 2’). They play for 90-minutes, but it feels like barely a snapshot.

Before Thursday can deliver Arctic Monkeys’ snarling set, we get a more than satisfactory starter course from Tame Impala who, despite playing in the only hour of rain all weekend, still sound like a sun-bleached slice of psychedelic heaven. Then it’s on to Alex Turner and co – fresh

59

from headlining Glastonbury and now in possession of so so so so many hits. Beginning on strutting new single ‘Do I Wanna Know’, it’s a run-through of one of the strongest back catalogues of the last decade and one that’s only getting better.

Friday finds Queens Of The Stone Age sending Open’er into the sexy stratosphere with a set that purrs as loudly as it riffs.

“This one’s for the ladies,” Josh Homme coos before ‘Make It Witchu’, sending the crowd into an orgiastic mass - a state that remains for Kings Of Leon’s jaunt the next day. Drawing easily the biggest crowd of the weekend, the Nashville siblings seem to have found their mojo again.

Sure, there’s a few too many stadium belters, but the Followills seem to be operating with a little more bite and when they dish out ‘The Bucket’ and ‘Crawl’ they seem rejuvenated.

After four days of this, we only wish we felt as lively.

Lisa Wright the-fly.co.uk

the-fly.co.uk

60

Splashh

By Phil Smithies

li v e r e v i e ws

Lovebox Victoria Park, London 20/07/2013

Reporting from The Fly stage at east London’s premiere party...

Saturday at Lovebox hosts The Fly stage, where there’s a glorious anti-soundtrack to the festival’s more commercial kicks.

First up are The Light Assembly, ROSCIUS and Mausi – all of whom are thrilling, but none of whom can compete with Owlle when it comes to footwear (the singer’s Lykke Li-meets-Oh Land electro pop is bolstered by a pair of eye-straining gold boots). Joseph Salvat follows, and does such a good job that he nearly convinces us to join in with everyone else and compare him to Morrissey. Nearly.

Then, with John Newman’s ‘Love Me Again’ wafting in the East London air, Big Deal appear.

The duo ply the tent with a ‘June Gloom’-heavy set of foggy grunge, as well as a cover of the

61

later-billed D’Angelo.

Bipolar Sunshine is far less coy, delivering a day-stealing set; wonky beats, silky vocals and lyrical nods to The Smiths mean it’s gripping throughout.

Anglo-Antipodeans Splashh threaten to be better still with their hazy psych, especially when the sun-bleached ‘All I Wanna Do’ is delivered with a snarl from behind some Roy Orbison-like black Ray-Bans.

Headliner Ghostpoet draws a big, lively crowd, for whom the brooding ‘Meltdown’ and first album favourite ‘Survive It’ are the unifying highlights. The slurring Londoner rounds off a brilliant day under The Fly’s yellow and purple tent to an over-spilling mass of outstretched arms.

James West the-fly.co.uk

li v e reviews

Kraftwerk

T In The Park Balado, Scotland 12–14/07/2013

Whilst T In The Park may have wound up being grimly caricatured by its more Lord Of The Fliesesque moments (namely: shamelessly public ablutions, fighting and general filth), you can’t doubt the quality of the line-up itself. Whilst the-fly.co.uk

the headliners tend towards the ubiquitous (The Killers, Mumford & Sons, Rihanna), the real treats tend to be found further down the list.

Haim kick off Friday with a blissfully sun-drenched set of Californian kicks, whilst FIDLAR aren’t to be outdone by a disappointingly tiny crowd and still throw every ounce of energy into their half hour of

surf-punk hedonism.

Kraftwerk, meanwhile, are technically perfect, even if they fail to rouse the masses.

Saturday, too, is all about the afternoon, with Swim Deep kicking things off with a cover of Cyndi Lauper hit ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’. Peace bring the lunchtime sass, while Palma Violets rev things up to typically chaotic levels. The evening

62

fares worse, but is redeemed by My Bloody Valentine’s wall of noise and alt-J’s unstoppable rise up the bill. And then to Sunday – which finds Hurts enlivened and on fire, Jagwar Ma hypnotising the ten people that bother watching them, while Foals draw a bizarrely unenthusiastic crowd but still sound like worldbeating kings.

Charlie Kelly

Tame Impala By Simon Fernandez

Tame Impala Hammersmith Apollo, London 25/06/2013 From ‘Innerspeaker’’s soft, meandering, kaleidoscopic jams to ‘Lonerism’’s heavier blues rock emphasis, Tame Impala are every bit the stadium band their stratospheric riffs allude to. Straddling

that, at times massive, divide between underground credibility and mainstream, Blackberry-advertsoundtracking success, the Australian five-piece don’t just walk onto the stage at Hammersmith Apollo, they strut.

Not with an air of arrogance, but with a relaxed confidence.

Tapping into the blissful swells of set highlights ‘It’s Not

63

Meant To Be’ and ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’ before tackling harder, bolder numbers ‘Elephant’ and ‘Be Above It’, everything Kevin Parker and co play this evening is interspersed with an extended array of noise, feedback and impromptu jamming. Triumphantly raising his guitar in the air for the stomping final encore of ‘Half Full Glass Of Wine’, it feels as

though Parker’s mind is a million miles from here.

In anyone else’s hands, these elements could come off as utterly self-indulgent, but somehow Tame Impala suck every single person in the room into taking this wandering, epic journey with them, never to return to the place they started. As mind-altering as any psychedelic drug.

Lauren Down the-fly.co.uk

eat your own ears presents

seetickets.com

ticketweb.co.uk

eatyourownears.com

An AEG Live, Academy Music Group, DF Concerts and 53 Degrees presentation by arrangement with ITB

“We Need Medicine” Tour Fri 02 Aug

Wed 09 Oct

Plus Knights + CuT + Henry Parker and The Velvet Loons

Plus support

MUCKY PUPS

Wed 14 Aug

JOSEPHINE

Plus Very Special Guests TURIN BRAKES

Wed 21 Aug

MONA

Plus Special Guests

Thur 22 Aug

DUCKTAILS DUC Plus F.U.R.S

Tue 03 Sept

CAGGIE DUNLOP Sun 27 Oct

TENSHEDS Plus support

Sun 31 Oct

SPACE 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR Weds 06 Nov

THE NEW MASTERSOUNDS Plus bluesmix + Corinna Greyson (DJ)

NEW CITY KINGS

Sun 10 Nov

Wed 11 Sept

Plus support

KAMP!

Plus support

Sat 14 Sept

I WAS A CUB SCOUT Plus support

Wed 18 Sept

STU LARSON & NATSUKI KURAI

INTO IT. OVER IT. Fri 06 Dec

JAH WOBBLE IN DUB FEAT PJ HIGGINS Mon 09 Dec

LAKE STREET DIVE Plus support

Sat 28th Sept

TRACE BUNDY Plus support

Sat 05 Oct

BEDLAM CROOKS ALBUM LAUNCH Mon 07 Oct

Sam Gray

Plus Owen McGarry

Tue 08 Oct

DANA FUCHS Plus support

Every Thursday 11pm-3am 1st August Launch Party

NOVEMBER 2013 17 BOURNEMOUTH O2 ACADEMY 18 LINCOLN ENGINE SHED 19 LEEDS O2 ACADEMY 20 NORWICH UEA 22 PRESTON 53 DEGREES 23 MARGATE WINTER GARDENS 24 LONDON O2 SHEPHERDS BUSH EMPIRE 26 WOLVERHAMPTON WULFRUN HALL 27 MANCHESTER ACADEMY 29 GLASGOW O2 ACADEMY THEFRATELLIS.COM AEGLIVE.CO.UK | AXS.COM SEETICKETS.COM | GIGSINSCOTLAND.COM New album “We Need Medicine” out 7 October

Who: Rudimental & Bipolar Sunshine @ Bacardi Beginnings’24hr A&R Challenge When: 11/07/2013 Where: The Vaults, London Photography by J im E yre

six s h o ts

Editor: JJ Dunning Deputy Editor: Ben Homewood Associate Editor (Online): Alex Denney Live Editor: Lisa Wright Art Editor: Russ Moorcroft Staff Photographer: Tom Oldham Staff Writers: Daniel Ross, Michael Cragg, Rob Cooke Photographers: Tom Andrew, Tom Bunning, Shari Denson, Jim Eyre, Louise HaywoodSchiefer, Sakura Henderson, Gideon

the-fly.co.uk

Marshall, Layla Smethurst.

Advertising: Laura Akam Marketing and Distribution: Laura Astley Publisher: Debbie Ward/Lucinda Brown Contributors: Clare Considine, Rhian Daly, Scotland’s Euan L Davidson, Will Fitzpatrick, Matt Glass, John Kerrison, Nick Levine, James Luxford, Emily Mackay, Jazz Monroe, James West.

Thanks To: Keong Woo, DawBell and Matador.

66

Printed by Artisan.

To subscribe, please visit Ticketweb.co.uk Find us: @thefly_mama facebook.com/mamaco.thefly youtube.com/theflymag You can also find us on Google Currents and Issuu.com.

Email: firstname.lastname@mamaco.com Address: 59-65 Worship Street, London EC2A 2DU Tel: 0207 6889000 Fax: 0207 6888999

Scan the QR code to visit our website ABC Consumer Press Monitored Free Distribution for 1st July - 31st December 2012 Audit Period 98,593

YOU’VE READ ABOUT H I S B E S T M AT E jo s h H O M M E . . .

NEXT MONTH IT’S ALL ABOUT

A L E X T UR N E R

In stores, cafes, venues and record shops from Monday 2nd September.

Find your nearest stockist: www.the-fly.co.uk/stockists

26.08.13 www.franzferdinand.co.uk