Seattlest Interview: British Sea Power
There is no show we recommend more this week than the British Sea Power's Wednesday night gig at Neumo's. They are one of our favorite new bands. Their 2003 CD, 'The Decline of British Sea Power' has pretty much been in solid < product placement>iPod rotation since we first got it. While they are often compared to Joy Division (or Interpol for the younger set), we like to think of them as a British version of the Decemberists only with more rock and cuter accents (sorry, Decemberists, your accents are very cute too). They are one of the best live bands on the current indie scene and should not be missed.
Plus, how can you not like their name, unless of course you still hold a grudge for that whole Spanish Armada thing. If so, we understand.
Names and ages:
Yan, vocals, 28.
Noble, guitar, 27.
Hamilton, bass, 27.
Woody, drummer, 27.
Eamon, keyboards, 28.
Pre-requisite name question: I'm sure you've answered the question before, but how did you come up with the name British Sea Power?
It was an existing phrase in a sense, like the Age of Steam or the Age of Discovery, when England was ruling the waves. The name seemed like an appealing idea, and gave us a name that was two parts, bold and audacious. The sea is all around us as an island race; it's something that most people find bewitching. It's just an existing phrase with various connotations and now we're stuck with it.
Would you be willing to tour with a band called German U-Boats?
Is there one? Probably not. I think there is an American singer Laura Vecsey she has an album with a maritime theme. The Pixies sing a lot about when the sea was king. There are maritime things in there.
Since your lyrics have qualities not usually found in rock music, could you describe how you go about writing a song?
For the main part Yan writes a majority of the songs. Three of my songs I wrote alone, they're guitar mainly, [it is] just coming up with a nice tune and words to go with it. The band arranges that kind of thing. Two [songs on our new album] were group compellations; they came from riffs to make up a song. A good tune plus good words equals a good song. We're quite pleased with the new record.
Did you feel any pressure writing a follow-up to 'The Decline of British Sea Power'?
No, not really it took us fair bit of time. Nearly two years. Our last album came out in June 2003 in Britain, this one is April 2005. Not rapid fire, its sort of the way the music industry works. In the sixties they would do two a year. It's not difficult it's a pleasure and it took awhile to do it right. In January of 2004 we concentrated on writing. We got a barn in the South Downs, north of Brighton where we live, and had three weeks of writing. It was nice and snowing outside. It wasn't difficult and no one felt any pressure. Our record label let us do what we want, they really don't suggest anything. This time they put us with Bill Price who mixed it. He is an amazing guy who has been doing it for thirty years. He is the only guy who has worked with Joe Meek and Axel Rose. It was brilliant how he made us sound; perhaps the rest of the world will disagree. He was an absolute joy to work with.
In honor of the 10th anniversary of the Blur/Oasis feud is there any band out there you'd really don't like?
Not particularly, there are bands that are ridiculous. There are none of our peers who we want to have a long running engagement with.
Any bands out there that you are really impressed with?
We've played shows with The Duke's Spirit, a five piece guitar band. A pretty straight forward rock and roll band which is a bit underground. Good songs, good artwork. We were fortunate to tour with the Flaming Lips; they were absolute gentlemen, charming people. Franz Ferdinand does what they do quite well. It is hard to write pop music well. There is an Icelandic band Mum, sort of techno music that is pastoral and gorgeous. It's always nice to hear new stuff. On our tour bus in the US our theme song was 'Oops Oh My' by Tweet, a protégé of Missy Elliot. Interpol is a very powerful band, Carlos on base is always going to make it colorful.
What's the most expensive thing in your wardrobe?
Five pounds, I don't spend a lot on clothes. We have stuff given to us for videos. Woody got trousers that cost 300 pounds. They were kind of given to him for a video; they have buttons down the legs. Don't really spend a lot of money on clothes.
8pm, Thursday - what are you doing?
Traveling overnight to Portland.
Favorite live music venue in Seattle, if you have one?
We've been to the Crocodile Café twice. This time it's a somewhat different bigger place, Neumos is our second venue. We are quite keen on Twin Peaks so while we're driving through Washington perhaps Laura Palmer can come back from the dead and visit us.
Preferred Local Mega-Corporation: Starbucks or Microsoft?
Microsoft makes remarkable things; in comparison making coffee isn't that remarkable. [However Starbucks] has done quite well for themselves.
Pac-Man or Halo?
What is Halo? Pac Man or Pong. We have some games on the bus; I don't know that much about video games.
Tony Blair or George W. Bush?
Bush seems to be a more malignant proposition. I don't have much time for him so I'll have to go for Blair.
Preferred Seattle Music Icon: Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, or Sir Mix-A-Lot?
Sir Mix-a-Lot was Baby Got Back. We're big Cobain fans, as a band he means more to us. We just covered, on our new single Please Stand Up, a Leadbelly song Grey Goose. We didn't realize it but Nirvana did it as well on its boxed set With the Lights Out, they got there before us. Kurt Cobain, obviously when we were younger, was quite remarkable.
The End of The World is finally happening. Be it the Rapture, War of Armageddon, reversal of the Sun's magnetic field, or the Seahawks win the Super Bowl. What are you going to do with your last 24 hours?
Go sit in a hill in the Lake District, where we're from, and get ready to dissolve. Think about things, it's been nice to be along this long. We couldn't complain too much. Not with the rest of the band, that would be unbearable.
