The Pop Up People Interview

It’s not often I’m lost for words but I’m struggling on an introduction here and when you see this explosion of pop music, indie rock and performance art I think you’ll see why!  When I heard that Nicky from Penny & The Sausages had a new band I had to book them but I didn’t know what I had in store!  Now I’m super excited to have The Pop Up People come and play for us.  Tuck in and find out more!

Who are The Pop Up People? Where do we recognise you all from??

Rachael: I played drums in The Seven Inches, Trapdoor Minotaur and various other bands over the years. I was also Vim the Voodoo Grandma in Madam Laycock and her Dabeno Pleasures. I’m currently popping up in The Pop-Up People and drumming in a new band Andy & the Browns.

Alice: I pop up occasionally in Rachael’s bands, sometimes on the gloc and sometimes on Bass guitar. I am also in Andy & the Browns on gloc too.

Nik: I was the Great Goblin in Gosforth East Middle School’s interpretation of The Hobbit in 1989. Since then I’ve wielded things in various pop combos including Leeds-based Albeit, Bonsai Kittens and Penny and the Sausages.

The Pop-Up line-up is completed by Kathleen, who fronted Madam Laycock and her Daberno Pleasures and also pops up with puppets as one half of Odd Doll Puppetry (www.odddoll.co.uk).

Do you have a different theme for each gig and if so should we be preparing special outfits for December 4th?

Rachael: I think we will be re-visiting a previous theme that was Pop vs Crisps, so expect crisp and pop banter and outfits. Our special guest will be Stacy Mellor.

We’re having a raffle at the gig, what’s the best prize you’ve ever won on one?

Nik: I gatecrashed a private gig at which my dad’s band was playing, got boozy on wine with my fab little sister and won a bottle of vodka with ticket number 666. Needless to say I was a very excited recipient.

The big question…top three desserts of all members?

Alice: Vienetta, Cherry Pie and Rhubarb Crumble/Custard.

Rachael: Tricky question!! Cheesecake, Chocolate Cake and Angel Delight.

Nik: Though I have a sweet tooth, I’ve got a very narrow taste in desserts. Can I have three cherry bakewells? If not, I’ll grudgingly add cheese and biscuits (if that counts) and chocolate mousse.

 

If you could only listen to one album, read one book and watch one film forever (we haven’t quite worked out how this scenario came to be but go with it…) what would they be?

Alice: Album Tindersticks first album, book The Little Prince and film Whistle Down the Wind.

Rachael: Album would be Incesticide by Nirvana, book would be The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, and the film would be Pete’s Dragon either version. I feel I have gone a bit dark here.

Where’s your favourite spot in Leeds for a quiet read/coffee/cake when you get a spare minute (which now you have told us will never be quiet again).

Alice: Hotel Chocolat.

Rachael: Just Grand in the Grand Arcade, lovely cake and coffee.

Nik: I’ve only been a couple of times, but The Bowery in Headingley is very lovely. And they serve cheese scones, which are criminally underrepresented among the scone community.

Any advice for younger folk wanting to start a band?

Nik: Do it as soon as you start learning to play rather than waiting until you’re “good enough”. Have fun, don’t worry about making mistakes, be yourself, be lovely to those you meet on your musical travels, play what you enjoy playing and don’t try to be a rock star. And never turn up to practice without biscuits.

Rachael: Similar to what Nicky has said, just do it. Even if it’s a band that doesn’t play music all the time. I have been in a fair few bands that never even picked up instruments.

Alice: If you do it with people you like spending time with you will enjoy it more.

Just any advice in general for younger folk?

Nik: Have fun doing stuff you aren’t good at. There’s so much pressure on young folk to achieve and excel at everything and it’s actually a massive relief to do something where there’s little expectation or likelihood of you doing particularly well at it. I’m learning to ride a bike at the grand old age of 39 and that’s precisely what I feel each time I fall into a bush in front of amused children in a park.

Alice: Stay up late in the summer and wrap up warm in the winter.

Rachael: Have a laugh.

Which band should we get for a future Youth Anthems?

Nik: I think the mighty and marvellous Biscuithead and the Biscuit Badgers would entertain and unsettle children in equal measures.

Rachael: I also agree that Biscuithead and the Biscuit Badgers would be perfect. Another excellent band would be Pete Bentham and the Dinnerladies too.

Alice: Andy & the Browns (shameless plug).

Parting words?

Alice: Work hard, be kind and laugh and cry often.

Rachael: Go to Hull, it’s never dull.

Nik: Slap bass = slap face. (My philosophy on bass playing.)

 

The Cut Ups – Interview

I’ve been lucky enough to have known The Cut Ups since about 2006 when an old band of mine played with them.  Since then I’ve been in three more bands and they’ve kept on trucking, getting better and better with every album.  They’ve gone from being the new band on the block to the old hands.  Reliable but always progressing The Cut Ups really are a constant ray of sunshine and a source of hope and inspiration to everyone who knows them.  I really can’t praise this band enough as people and artists.  You are in for one heck of a treat.  If you get the time please talk to them too as they really are the nicest bunch around.  If you haven’t heard or seen The Cut Ups before then it really is a joy and an honour to introduce them to you so without further ado here is the one and only Jon Curtis…

Let’s start with a generic one for those who aren’t in the know – who are The Cut Ups and where did it all begin for you?

That’s not as easy a question as one might imagine! The Cut Ups are Dan, Pippa, Jack, Reza and Jon (that’s me). However, for these shows our friend Robin is playing the drums instead of Rez. It all began nearly 12 years ago at The Cavern in Exeter. We played our first show on December the 23rd, 2004, which was my 22nd birthday. I wanted to pump up the jams in new and extraordinary ways, so Rez and I set up with a fella called Adam. The lineup that made our new LP (“The Nerves”) has been solid for about 4 years I believe.

How do you think coming from Exeter has influenced the band’s development and sound and do you see this impact on other band’s from the area?

Well, Exeter is quite isolated actually. If you live there, its the main place where everything happens for you, you don’t often go elsewhere – so i guess this means that lots of us get the same influences in similar ways. Everything is centred on the Cavern (which Pippa runs with Dave from Exeter punks Annalise (from No Idea Records, fact fans)) which operates as an alternative venue, but its actually way more than that. As such, there’s been twenty years of community built there around a mix of UK indie and DC punk rock kinds of things, which loads of bands have imbibed to varying degrees. Those bands include and have included Muncie Girls, Annalise, The Computers, Kids Near Water, Tyler, An Emergency, OK Pilot, Shit Present, Some Sort of Threat. For me, the big thing i took from Annalise (around whom the best ideas revolve, and who i got to play guitar for on their last LP) was that there’s no value in pretending that you’re from anywhere else. I’d be a terrible Liverpudlian, or Leedsy, but no-one can doubt my legitimate Exetertonian (that’s the real term!) status. If punk rock is about honesty, then I’d be daft to act otherwise.

What have your previous impressions of Leeds been and what might you be expecting this time?

I really like Leeds, and have always enjoyed playing here. When we played here with Franz Nicolay (from The Hold Steady) as his backing band we got to stay in a Hold Steady mega-fan’s mansion. So i have had very high expectations since then. I’m expecting a butler to serve me lunch, and to have to wear a top hat on stage.

We get a lot of younger people at our gigs and therefore always ask bands if they have any advice or tips for young people thinking of starting out playing music.  What would yours be?

Go and watch as many bands as possible – It’s the best education possible. And listen to Fugazi every day.

Seeing as we have a fair few miles between Exeter and Leeds are there any bands from the South West we might be missing out on that we should investigate?

There’s loads but you’ve probably heard of most. You can have a look at that list up the page a bit, but Woahnows from Saltash are a really really great quirky post hardcore band (you’ve probably heard of them), and I love a hardcore band from Exeter called Fall Children. They are very noisy.

You’ve been going now for over ten years, how do you find managing the changing pressures of life (work, family, friends etc.) that can impact on being in a band?

I just plough on regardless.

If you could recommend one book, film and record to people that has had an impact on your growing up, what would they be?

Yeah, a book would be Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – your friends might get embarrassed by you, and shift on, but you’re alright. keep going.

 A film – I watched La Vita E Bella (Life is Beautiful) when i was 15 and was overwhelmed by the idea that goodness can overcome the effects of the bad things in the world. That hope is more powerful than anything else.

 A record – an impossible question! Today i’ll say Billy Bragg’s first EP – “Life’s A Riot with Spy Vs Spy”, which always sounds like the voice of a young person not settling for what they’re given.

I’m aware that you have had a huge role to play in Exeter with regard to food banks.  Could you tell us a bit more about how you became involved with this area and your thoughts on the huge increase in the use of Food Banks over the past 2-3 years and where you see this going moving forward?

I started a food redistribution project with my friend Martyn – we take “excess” food from supermarkets/wholesalers/manufacturers (the stuff they’re throwing away, even though its still good and tasty) and share it with organisations that feed people, including Food Banks, Hostels, community cafes, school breakfast clubs and soup kitchens. I got involved cos i thought it might be possible, and if it was, then we should at least try. Obviously there have been mistakes made within the welfare state as to how people are given what they need to survive when they’re struggling. So those errors have led to a lot of hungry and desperate people – hence food banks have done brilliant work in making sure that they are fed.

 What has struck me in the five years I’ve been doing this is that actually there is much more waste food than there are hungry people. We completely overproduce in order to give very wide consumer choice. There needs to be an acknowledgement, either corporately or individually, that this can’t continue if we expect the global situation to improve regarding resources (energy, water, oxygen, not just food). So, our style of living on ready meals, every kind of fruit you could imagine, and no planning or preparation can’t last, if we want to see changes to food waste.

Cakes play a pivotal role at Youth Anthems so what’s the dessert of choice for each Cut Up? 

I like anything with chocolate and cream. Pip would choose lemon drizzle. In truth, we’re all obsessed with Krispy Kremes, and its a constant struggle not to eat three a day.

What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?

Was it Plato or Aristotle who said “Pick up your head, get off the ground. These High Hopes that I have keep me from getting down.”?