Pulling at my heart-strings...

Duo Sam Sure (right) & Giacomo

Yep, that's right. He's a hottie. And I'm afraid I'm not referring to you this time, Giacomo. It's Sam who's looking unquestionably suave in the boys' new black & white video for 'I Need a Drink'. I heard (and loved) this number two years ago watching the BBC Introducing Stage at Reading Festival. They had a mad crowd that day and I've been waiting ever since to hear news that the lads have propelled their beats out of the studio to the masses. 

This hasn't happened (yet?) but I have a big soft spot for the boys. The release of their EP 'Low' on iTunes this week will hopefully send them onwards and upwards. There's a real sense of depth in their music and the interactive 360 degree video for 'Dark Inside' from earlier this year visualises the disjointed, heavy-hitting emotions in the song. Their new vid is a juxtaposition in its simplicity. But this is what makes it mesmerising. We're forced to really listen to the words being expelled from Sam's mouth and see the creases of expression in his face. Beautiful stuff.

Catchy & heartfelt - 'I Need a Drink'

In the Portacabin with Mystery Jets

The Bubble gets to grips with Mystery Jets backstage

After a short and sweet set on RockNess’s main stage we (Melissa and I) pace it like there’s no tomorrow backstage to snag Mystery Jets for a quick interview.

The boys released their fourth album Radlands in April with immediately gripping lyrics (I heard there’s a place where we go to die/ It’s a terribly overrated horse-shit shaped hole in the sky). Bassist Fish left the group just before its release to be replaced by Pete Cochrane but speaking to them in their ‘cosy’ portcabin leaves us with optimism for the band’s future!

What brought you all the way to Inverness? And RockNess is not an appropriate answer…

Oh, ok…Well we heard it was quite beautiful up here, heard there was this festival up here. And Nessy of course!

Have you ever seen a monster?

William (to Blaine): I have to look at one every day

What do you do when you get writer’s block?

Smash it with a sledgehammer. Break it down into smaller manageable chunks and deal with each one at a time.

If Mystery Jets were a colour what would it be?

A lighter shade of pale.

Where do you think the future of popular music is going?

If I knew that I’d be a very rich man. Maybe you should ask Simon Cowell.

Do you like Simon Cowell?

I’ve never met him…He tried to sign us once and we said no!

If you could go back to one era of time anywhere, where would it be?

Kapil: The 50s might be nice.  (To William) Oh you’re thinking much more prehistoric, like Stone Age. You wana ride on a brontosaurus.

William: Or maybe before dinosaurs and we’d just be nutrients…

But you wouldn’t have the brain to know what was going on!

Maybe that’s a good thing.

What do you think the meaning of life is…?

I’ve got a great quote for this, a Henry Miller quote. He’s a surrealist writer. His quote is ‘Obviously life has no meaning ‘cos it’s your job to give it a meaning’.

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Interview with Mystery Jets by Sophie Ellis & Melissa Layton at RockNess Festival, 8th June 2012.


Article previously seen on The Bubble: http://www.thebubble.org.uk/music/in-the-portacabin-with-mystery-jets

Shining the Limelight on Lucy Rose

At Dot To Dot Manchester in June

She’s cute. She’s blonde. She loves Downton Abbey. The teeny-framed Lucy Rose is finally getting the support she deserves. She’s currently on Radio 1’s B-list for new single ‘Lines’ and we’ll need a large abacus to count the number of festival stages she’ll have stepped foot on by the end of this Summer. I joined her on a promenade towards RockNess’s main stage where the Olympic torch was about to be waved and managed to ask her a few questions along the way…

You’ve done lots of singing and playing on YouTube, but how do you find performing on a much bigger stage?

It’s completely different. Luckily I’ve had some really good support, some nice support slots with Noah and the Whale and Bombay Bicycle Club. I think it’s really helped me and the band get used to not being too over-whelmed if we are playing a big stage. Whether it’s someone’s sitting room or a huge stage I’m just constantly a wreck of nerves.

What ‘s your favourite item of clothing?

Ooh…I just wear comfort clothing. A jumper or some trainers.

What’s your favourite Bombay Bicycle Club song?

Lights Out, Words Gone.

Favourite town to play in?

Rio de Janeiro. Never played it but I’d like to.

If you could be at one food van right now what would it be?

Ice cream van because I can’t have dairy before I sing and now I’ve finished so I’m on a dairy binge!

What other things do you need to do to keep your voice in shape?

Drink lots of water, sleep.

Favourite band ever?

Oh my god… Big question. Err Neil Young is probably my all time musician.

Who are you looking forward to seeing at RockNess purely in a physical sense?

Just ‘cos I fancy them you mean?! (laughs) Ooh God I don’t know who’s on the bill! I’ll go with the whole of Noah and The Whale, they're a fit band.

If you could dye your hair one colour what would it be?

 Oh my god! Black.

Why?

I think I would be funny. Imagine me with really black hair! If I just went complete goth. A bit like Kate Nash, she’s gone all goth hasn’t she!

Are you going to celebrate the Olympics in any way?

I’m not a big partyer myself but I’m guna embrace it as much as I can and be proud. 

Here's Lucy Rose's single form earlier this year, Red Face. 

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Interview with Lucy Rose at RockNess Festival by Sophie Ellis on Saturday 9th June 2012. 

Photography by Sophie Ellis at Dot To Dot Manchester on Monday 4th June 2012.

Interview Time with the Talented Seye

Seye supporting Bastille at New Slang

Tonight will be a good night, I’m thinking as I slurp on the first of four Sex on the Beach cocktails at New Slang in Kingston. The DJ is playing some truly refreshing tunes - I head to a speaker to Shazam one I’m especially keen on. I feel a little put-out when the blue-tinted tablet screen staring up at me informs me ‘a match couldn’t be found’. But to my delight the music I sought to note down is coming from the fingers and lips of 24-year-old Seye (pronounced Cher). 

He’s playing stripped down versions of his afro-pop songs and the few who have turned up this early on are loving up his silky smooth voice and kittenish demeanour. A highlight of his set is a cover of Bombay Bicycle Club’s ‘Shuffle’ – he’s really made it his own. I catch up with him afterwards…

You played a little bit of Diamonds On The Souls Of Her Shoes (Paul Simon). You seem to be slightly influenced by him?

I’m a massive, massive fan. I’m half Nigerian, half Kenyan but I’ve been raised in a lot of places. I’m mainly British, I’ve lived here the most so I’ve got my English pop influences and also American pop culture influences. But I still have the African influences as well and Graceland is one of my top five albums of all time so he’s instilled in me and my fingers. I love the high life guitar stuff and the way he writes. My song Two Hours definitely harps back to that.

What about your vocal? In parts it seems to reflect what Paul Simon does. How did you learn to sing?

At home. I’m the youngest of six kids. And my whole family is Christian so we grew up singing songs at home all the time, anything Christian. But we’d also perform at the local church, all eight of us with my mum and dad like a sort of Von Trap family.

Have you had a musical education?

I played the flute for a bit from Year 6 ‘til about Year 9 but then I discovered the guitar and I was like "Yeh, See ya later!" I taught myself. I was always singing in all the choirs at school and was in the music department all the time. I did Music GCSE but I didn’t do it at A Level or at university. I didn’t go to university.

What have you done since school?

I finished high school at 18. Came back here. My brother Benga is a bass player and he’s in a band called Metronomy. I was on a gap year. I told my folks I was guna go to uni but I wasn’t really intending to. I was trying to wangle my way in so I was just sleeping on his couch and he was playing bass for a guy called Jeremy Warmsley who’s now one half of Summer Camp. He was like "Dude, I can’t do this tour, have a crack – you need to do something! Play and see if you can do it." So I picked up the bass and I ended up playing with him for a while and that snowballed into sessioning with loads of people.

The biggest person who I worked with for the longest time was a girl called Paloma Faith. I was with her for like four years. I love her. I left her when I started doing my stuff.

When did you decide that you wanted to do your own thing?

I’d always wanted to but I didn’t know how to do it. I was happy playing music to make money but it took a while and eventually I met the chap who’s managing me now, a guy called Will Gresford. It’s his management company, Triptik Management. We just reconnected. He actually played in a band I played in a while ago and he found me on YouTube. I did a Michael Buble cover of something and he was like "I need to get back in contact with this kid".

Where do you get your style from?

I’ve always liked to do something unusual. Not in a (puts on American accent) "I’m just so weiiird, Oh my god I’m so alternative" way. But it sort of irks me when I see kids dressed like manikins in TopMan. I love TopMan, it’s one of my favourite shops in the world but I just think everybody has their own personality. Everybody should not be afraid to pick and choose the stuff that they like. Even if it’s like “Ooh, I really like that pink wig.” Wear the pink wig!

Would you ever wear drag?

Yeh.

Have you ever worn drag?

No I don’t think so. I’ve worn make up. Face makeup, eyes, eye-lashes… It was cool. It was at a weird Paloma show that we did in the Black Gardenia. Randomly she knows loads of drag artists and we were just messing about.

One of your songs is about Beyonce and Rihanna. Who’s your all-time favourite celebrity babe?

Katy Perry. Big time. I don’t care about the music, I just fancy her, man!

So if you could say anything to Russell Brand what would it be?

Two things – (a) You’re an idiot and (b) Thank You.  It’s open season again!

I see you have a tattoo behind your left ear…­

It’s Paloma Faith’s artwork dove. It’s a homage cos that was my live music education. She’s got three big doves on her back.

Here's Seye's video of Mexicana Bounce. Digging it. 

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Interview with Seye on Thursday 5th July, 2012 by Sophie Ellis. Photography by Sophie Ellis. 

RockNess Review

Reporting for The Bubble at RockNess

Being someone who gets queasy from travelling, I am not looking forward to the next five hours. Especially when the train guard at Durham Station glances at my ticket saying, “Another one with a long journey ahead”… But once aboard the carriage, the lush green fields and glistening sea I whizz past pleasantly surprise me.

I chat my way through most of the ride with my two best buds and wind up at Inverness in north Scotland at 8pm. The town centre is super-cute and the river that weaves through it is stunning. We check in to a dainty little B&B and after a good night’s sleep (and a quick booze trip to Tesco) we hop in a taxi to the festival site.

Once there, I’m amazed to be pitching my tent a two minute dawdle from a view of Loch Ness, surrounded by mountains. It might be foggy but this is marvellous. The afternoon draws on and I’m gallivanting around the festival site. I wander past a huge inflatable church where I’m greeted by a hyper middle-aged nutter. She invites me to get married in full bridal threads (at a price). I decline but six men dressed as monkeys are gathered at a nearby picnic bench awaiting entry to the disco-charged place of worship.

Onwards I potter and I’m seeing blindfolded space-hopping competitions hosted by twenty-somethings in pink boiler suits. “I only want to see you fanny bashing that space hopper” the lass with the fluorescent mic exclaims. Perhaps placed strategically nearby in case of Tigger-type injuries is a Welfare tent. Free condoms, tea, drug advice and even beds to nap on are available inside this haven. I bear this in mind and head off to catch some music.

­Realising it’s two minutes from Mystery Jets’ slot on main stage I hurry over and manage to get a comfy spot close to the front. The bass is so powerful it makes my nose vibrate. They play a mix of old and new songs and I catch up with them afterwards in their dressing room. The boys tell me they’d be “a lighter shade of pale” if they were a colour and when they get writer’s block they “smash it with a sledge hammer”.

Mystery Jets DJ Set

I spend the rest of my day at the Red Bull Studios Live festival stage, where DJ sets from Mystery Jets, Hudson Mohawk, Friendly Fires and Kobi Onyame (amongst others) will take place over the weekend. Carefree and cocktail in hand, I dance the afternoon away with my chums. Passers-by are beckoned in by feel-good remixes of numbers like Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’ as well as gritty hip-hop mixes and drum & bass. I catch Mumford & Sons on the main stage, head back to my tent and nod off feeling content.

I’m awoken in the early hours, heart racing, by a clamour at the foyer of my tent followed by a ‘Sorry’ in a thick Scottish accent. A minute later the chap, who's clearly had one too many, is struggling to eject his bottom from my now crumpled porch. The next morning I wake to find that Loch Ness has effectively leaked into our dwelling. I double-take and the puddles are a pinkish red… The Skittles vodka I carefully concocted two days ago has seeped onto my mate’s bag. The poor thing is so drenched it’s paralytic! But it’s all in the festival spirit and after a swift cleanse of the tent we head off to the GoldenVoice Arena.

Comedian Daniel Sloss performs his usual spiel about being bad in bed and is followed by the man we’ve all been waiting for: Tim Minchin. I’m right at the front and his devilish eyes twinkle in the darkness. As he spits out his lyrics and pounds his right leg up and down we are gobsmacked by his talent. He’s seemingly smug with himself when he conducts the crowd to repeat the phrase ‘moose semen’ after him. “Ed f****** Sheeran didn’t say f****** moose semen did he!?” Minchin bellows. Fittingly he goes on to sing Prejudice, his slapstick tune about anti-gingerism. By the end of his set we’re full of cheer.

The adorable Fyfe Dangerfield from Guillemots

Guillemots are next on my to-see list and Fyfe Dangerfield’s singing is expressive as ever. The multi-national group play some wonderful tracks from new album Hello Land! - the first of four albums to be released this year. When Fyfe exits the stage he tells me they haven’t played on stage for a while so he’s not confident it went well but I assure him they went down a treat. We have a lovely conversation and it’s clear he’s a really nice guy. “You can’t pay too much attention to thinking about what people want from you ‘cos you get lost”, he tells me.

I’m now a very hungry caterpillar so I nosh some noodles on the hillside looking down at the main stage. DJ Fresh Live is playing – prime background music for a chilled pit stop. A cover of Coldplay’s ‘Paradise’ wildly stimulates the crowd. As darkness falls, a sea of glow-in-the-dark mouse ears makes its way to the main stage. Deadmau5 appears on a tall podium and for two hours he orchestrates an explosive rave.

Northeast-bred boys Little Comets

Sunday morning, and the final day of RockNess has arrived to my dismay. Little Comets are on main stage and they really impress the fans and first-time listeners with their upbeat indie ear-pleasers like One Night In October and Joanna. “We’re guna play quite a soft sad song (Violence Is Out Tonight) now but it’s Sunday afternoon so it should work” lead singer Robert utters. It’s beautiful and gets a big thumbs up from me for its catchy beat. Today is already a winner as far as I’m concerned.

I lead my mates to see Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. The laid back yet electrifying feel to Orlando Higginbottom’s dance music is killer. We’re in a trance, helped by the flickering strobe lights and on-stage robotic dancers. And that’s not the only dancing of the day – we find ourselves grooving to a different genre of music with Chic feat. Nile Rodgers on main stage. “Do you feel like freaking out?” we’re asked. Yes we do. The disco legends really get us going with big hits Le Freak, Good Times and Everybody Dance. This is the best live performance I’ve ever seen and I’m sure most other on-lookers are thinking the same.

I’m wowed by the weekend.


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Article previously seen on The Bubble http://www.thebubble.org.uk/music/rockness-festival

Dot To Dot Festival

Headliner Willy Mason

Monday morning of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend and I’ve just wolfed down two sizzling sausages and some cooked tomatoes in true British style. I march to the train station feeling sufficiently fuelled and after a 2.5-hour journey from Durham I step out to Manchester Oxford Road’s Dot To Dot festival.

I find myself on the middle floor of Sound Control, one of festival’s key venues. There’s an underground vibe in this rouged-up dimly lit room. Pipes crawl across the ceiling and maroon pillars make this already intimate space feel smaller.

I start on the middle floor, waiting for 19-year-old singer/songwriter Lewis Watson to appear. The traffic has made him late but once he gets started his Bieber-esque charm rouses the on-looking front-row girls. As he leans into the microphone, lyrics like ‘Why are you kissing me?’ and ‘I have nothing if they take you away’ are sung with soulfulness. He really has a lovely warming voice and I’m beginning to ponder over pinching his woolly beanie but I’m cut off mid-thought by a raging underground growl of sound.

Teenage heart-throb Lewis Watson

I follow it downstairs and join a bunch of mesmerised bystanders. They’re watching a mad monkey, a.k.a. Gabriel Bruce. I feel as though I’m in a Havana style cabaret club – Gabriel is sporting a short-sleeved beach shirt and stands two metres away from two sensual females who swish their hips from side to side. He leaps from the stage towards me and proceeds to feign fellatio on a nearby man. Bizarre, I know, but brilliant. As he exits the stage I grab an interview with him. He tells me that he wants Danny DeVito in his music video and that he celebrated the Jubilee weekend by pretending to be “afloat on the flotilla, bobbing along in a bath of beautiful bubbles”. His imagination is fascinating and his music certainly reflects that.

Triumphant after finding such a gem, I change floors to see what else I can find. I stumble across Wonder Villains, a young pop band bursting with energy from Northern Ireland’s Derry. As they jump about, their vibrant clothing flashes like disco lights. Lead singer Eimear Coyle rocks the punk-pop look with fluorescent pink tights, Cruella DeVil hair and a red-hot bass. The youngsters resemble a modern-day multi-gendered Busted with Irish accents.

Lucy Rose is my next venture, this time at HMV Ritz, an easy one-minute walk from Sound Control. Her frame is smaller than I thought it would be, as she sets up on a tall stage in this bigger venue. She begins with Middle Of The Bed, a definite crowd pleaser. Her soft, sweet voice echoes around the room as the pink and blue gloomy lighting ripples across the stage. This is the first time she’s seen someone wearing her t-shirt in the crowd, she says. She gazes downwards a little too much for my liking when she plays but she looks beautiful during the last two songs when she treats us by lifting her sapphire eyes. Perhaps she’s noticed the big lilac-coated disco ball hanging above us. Her songs are easy listening and her style definitely reflects the laid back feel of tracks she sang on for Bombay Bicycle Club’s albums Flaws and A Different Kind Of Fix.

It’s now nearing 9pm and I’m walking briskly to Zoo where headliner Willy Mason is playing. There’s a dark jungle vibe here, with camouflage material draped from the ceiling. I find myself one metre from him. I can’t believe how close I am to a musician I’ve been a fan of for years and that I have actual real space around me!  This is glorious! That’s the real beauty of this festival. He looks seriously handsome in his black suit and with each song the audience mellows to his level of spirituality. It’s becoming swelteringly hot in here (I see a drop of sweat fall from his forehead) but we’re all so enchanted by what we’re hearing that we hardly notice. He plays an hour’s worth of old songs like Gotta Keep Movin, Save Myself and We Can Be Strong and some great new ones including Restless Fugitive, which is currently free to download. He finishes with Gotta Keep Walking and I flitter towards him as he retreats backstage. He tells me the meaning of life is “to move matter around” in a physical sense but that he’s a very spiritual person. I’m left feeling even more in love with him than I was an hour ago...

Admiral Fallow at The Deaf Institute

Feeling slightly woozy I wonder across the road to The Deaf Institute, another of Dot To Dot’s endearing venues, to catch the end of Scottish folk band Admiral Fallow’s set. It’s the last night of their lengthy tour and this quirky old-fashioned theatre with parrot wallpaper and a wall covered in retro speakers seems a great final destination. A crowd member shouts to “play something we know”. At this point frontman Louis Abbott gives the best response I have ever heard to a heckler: The Proclaimers’ 5,000 Miles guitar intro followed by a middle finger. The group go on to play a lovely a cappella piece and end on the popular Squealing Pigs.

I’m now shattered and head back to my overnight accommodation where I aim to have a quick pit stop before heading out to dance the night away to Sunless ’97 and The Internet. Apparently forty winks is not enough for me though and I find myself drifting into dreamland. The day has been majestic.

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Article previously seen on The Bubble http://www.thebubble.org.uk/music/dot-to-dot-festival

Photography by Sophie Hicks. 

Gabriel Bruce: 'I love to dance'

Plodding down the wide grey steps inside Manchester’s Sound Control venue I feel as though I’m heading into a deserted boiler room. But minutes later I will experience the

most electric underground gremlin attack this dingy room has ever witnessed.

Gabriel Bruce is the culprit here. He springs from one side of the small stage to the other, clinging to the far railings and then leaping off the heightened platform like a wild monkey towards me. He pants, drips sweat from his brow, and brings the microphone towards his lips to produce a low rumbling vocal. His music is chock full of disco beats and booming bass synths. His dance moves are Flashdance-esque with hints of Michael Jackson and he’s accompanied by two sultry girls, whose flapper style skirts sway along in time.

When he exits the stage I catch up with him for an interview while he tokes on a post-show cigarette. He would shake my hand but he’s just slicked back his greased-up hair.

Where are you from?

I grew up in London, my father is Brazilian and my mother is Scottish.  At the moment I live in East London, in Hackney. It’s quite bourgie and gentrified where I live. There’s a coffee shop by my house and I can’t afford the coffee.

Where do you get your influence from? You seem absolutely mad (in a great way).

I like a lot of disco music. I really like Giorgio Maroder and Tom Waits. David Bowie is my favourite though.

Ah, is David Bowie who you get your moves from then?

Uh no, I think that guy had more refined moves, I’m kind of all over the place and I hope that some of it is ok.

To me you seem a bit like a monkey – you catapulted out towards the crowd! If you were one animal what would you be?

Well, a slow loris maybe… I save up my energy for the shows. If you saw me offstage I’m very slow really.

How regularly are you gigging?

We’re playing quite a lot at the moment, doing lots of festivals – Latitude, Hyde Park with Bruce Springstein for the Hyde Rock Calling, and we’re playing a mini festival in France.

You sound like you have a slight twinge in your accent? Slightly American?

Yeh, I think so, I’ve lived all over the place.  I’ve lived in London the most but my voice tends to change a lot depending on the situation. I don’t have much control over it. Sometimes I speak like a child, or like a girl.

In what context do you speak like a child?!

When I’m having intimate moments. I find it very infantilising. I can’t help myself.

Reverting into a child. It’s so scary though. Have you ever had sex? It’s scary!

Tell me about your dancers.

They’re friends of mine, Sabilla and Phoebe. They’re fantastic. Phoebe (the brunette of the girls) works in a pub but she’s a dancer by trade. Sabilla is more of a singer - she sings back up for a bunch of people. George is on the laptop. He’s a master musician in his own right. He’s got a lot of projects.

What music have you got out at the moment?

The only thing online is Family at the moment; you should check it out, it’s amazing! I’ve recorded an album I’ve just finished making. It’s hopefully out soon – it depends on the label (Mercury Records). I’ve been with them about a year now but I’ve only just started doing shows.

If you could have a music video what would it be like?

At the moment I’m obsessed with a particular idea. I really want Danny DeVito to be in my music video. Just me and Danny hanging out, that’s all I want.

It’s the Jubilee weekend, have you done anything to celebrate?

Last night I had a bath with too many bubbles in a Travel Lodge and it was a lovely experience. I pretended that I was afloat on the flotilla, bobbing along in a sea of beautiful bubbles.

Seeing as this is a patriotic weekend, if you could have any song as the national anthem what would it be?

That’s a very big question, that’s a huge question. I feel like I need some time to think.  It’s too hard. It has to be a British song I guess.

George pipes up that some countries’ anthems are fairly violent.

Maybe we could have War Pigs by Black Sabbath. That has the most majestic guitar line I’ve ever heard – it’s unifying!

Me with laptop-man George (left) and Gabriel Bruce (right)

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Gabriel Bruce speaking to Sophie Elis at Dot To Dot Festival, Manchester. Monday 4^th June 2012. Check out his single 'Sleep Paralysis' here.