Have you guys been to NYC before?

No, never been to America before.

How do you like it so far?

Itıs alright. I donıt know. Iıve just walked from the hotel to the Matador office... The cars were a lot bigger.

Did do you have to lug all your synthesizers from overseas?

Iıve not seen them yet. We did some shows in Europe and the day we got back we just unloaded the stuff off the coach and onto a van to be shipped over here.

You travel with a lot of different synths for the live shows?

Yeah. We did some shows in Europe for the Warp 10th anniversary parties and a lot of synthesizers weıre packing up and every gig theyıre getting worse from hitting them... So weıre not too comfortable that theyıll be working. Weıll go to see in a bit.

Do you use sampled beats live?

Yes, for the beats and bass lines.

Do you write songs to be performed, like as a live three piece band then?

Well, it depends really. Thereıs loads of ways of writing songs, so not strictly as a rule or anything. We donıt do anything as a rule, in regards to writing songs. It just kind of happens however. Whether someoneıs got an idea, or someone has written a song, someoneıs got a good sample, or a melody, or a good sound off a keyboard might influence someone else to do something else...

Do you generally write them to be performed live though or just record and then work it out later?

I think on a couple of tracks on the album we got a bit carried away, where we wouldnıt be able to play all the bits ourselves live. We just wouldnıt have enough pairs of hands. Yeah, I suppose a lot of songs are just written as three people playing instruments.

That seems to be one difference between you and say most of your electronic contemporaries, that you have that more traditional band setup.

I think because we never got our keyboards retrofitted, it was always just going to be three people playing keyboards.

Did your parents make you take piano lessons as a kid?

No. I started playing synthesizers when I was about 16 or 17. I had a really terrible Yamaha kind of porta-sound keyboard and effects pedals. I broke that at some point and then bought a proper keyboard. Whatever I do is what Iıve learned at that moment, sort of thing.

When did the three of you guys start playing together?

Probably about 1994, something like that.

Do you record at home?

Yeah, spare bedroom.

Well, you got some pretty good recordings out of it.

(laughs)

Most of its direct line-in stuff then?

Yeah, thatıs right. Thereıs a few things that have been micıed. We managed to borrow a couple of microphones when we were recording. We used the bathroom as a chamber on one song.

Just put an amp in there?

Yeah, an amp in the bath. (laughs) We used a big old flabby floor tom with a microphone inside to get resonance, stuff like that... Canıt be too extravagant.

Do you guys still have to work day jobs?

No, thanks to Warp. We were all unemployed. We all had like really crappy jobs occasionally until we signed to Warp. They wanted us off the dole and just making records. Itıs really good. I never thought Iıd be in a position to just make a living. Weıre not rolling in it or anything, but making a living and not having to go to shit jobs.

I picked up that first 7² that you did on Wurlitzer Jukebox a couple years ago. I really like that one, picked it up originally because of the cover.

I really enjoyed doing that one.

You recorded that one at home too?

Actually, we recorded that in a friendıs room. A friend of ours in a band called Pram. Theyıve been around for a while and theyıve been over here before, years ago. They had like a sixteen track reel to reel and mixing deck. We didnıt have any recording equipment at all at that stage, when we did that. We just went around to their house and used their stuff.

Theyıre from the same town as you then?

Yeah, theyıre a really good band.

What are some of your favorite synths to play on?

Iıve got this one that Iıd love to play that Iıve never set my eyes on, Iıve just sort of seen in magazines and stuff. My favorite at the moment is probably Arp Odyssey and mini Moog, I really enjoy that. And I had a go on a really good modular synthesizer. One of my friends has got a modular synth and thatıs really good. Arp 2600 is cool, really classic sound.

That sounds like an old analog Univox drum machine on ³Greek Alphabet². Do you guys ever use one of those?

Univox?

Yeah, like the one that Suicide used on the first record.

Oh right, really? I donıt think that Iıve ever come across the make Univox. We have got a drum machine that just sounds like Suicide. Itıs a Roland one, called a TR 76 or something. Itıs a bit like a Bently Rhythm Ace. They make that kind of sound. I do like those old drum machine sounds, some of them are really good. My favorite is the Electro Harmonics. Itıs called Drum Matrix-1. It looks like a guitar pedal, like a Big Muff or something. Itıs like a drum machine with preset rhythms on it and some really good sounds. The B-side to ³Press a Key², thatıs the Electro Harmonics drum machine. Itıs badly recorded, but you get the general equation. €Some of the old machines have fuller bass sounds than a lot of the cheesey digital ones. Iıve not really heard too many digital ones, but I do like all that clacky old electronic sounds. The ³clack² and ³clap²! I do kind of enjoy that.

Well I think Iıve kind of exhausted my questions.

Iım kind of exhausted myself.

From travelling?

Yeah, it was a bit of a late one last night.

Did you guys go out on the town?

Yeah, we went out and although it wasnıt really that late for NY time it was for English time.

Did you go anywhere interesting?

We to a place called Schematics or something. Iım not really sure what it was called but it was alright. It was really noisy, kind of drill and bass sound, kind of techno, really noisy. We got fairly drunk and went around asking people where we could buy marijuana from. Then we got a taxi home, completely fruitless. It was alright.

[end]

more:
www.morningnargle.com/plone/
www.matadorrecords.com
www.warprecords.com