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.)

 

Nervous Twitch Interview

I’ve been a massive fan of Nervous Twitch since my band played a rather odd but lovely gig with them at The Fenton where we bonded over a love of Dan Electro basses.  They’ve just got better and better (evidenced by their incredible album and 7″ released last year) and they harness a wonderful and unique blend of ’70’s New York punk with Dick Dale guitars and a lovely layer of New Wave.   Believe me when I say you’re in for one heck of a treat at the February 7th gig.  Here’s a few words with singer/bassist/keyboardist Erin:

How would you describe Nervous Twitch in five words?

New-wave-punky-pop-songs

How did the band form and what changes have there been since?

Well, it would be hard for me to answer that without writing an essay, but in brief; Jay is the only original member, I used to be the drummer, Ash has been with us a long while and Emma a short while. We’ve had a few line-up changes in the past, however, it’s meant that we have met lots of awesome people and had the opportunity to play with loads of great musicians, but it works really well at the moment and I personally would love it to stay that way!

What’s being a band in Leeds like?

Having Jumbo Records in your bands’ hometown is great; they have always supported us with new releases. Leeds has a wide variety of different venues or promoters that has given us the opportunity to play with loads of awesome bands. It’s also handy being central in your own country when it comes to playing out of town.

What would your ideal gig line-up be?

We’d like to say Ramones, The Beatles and Nirvana, but with the majority of members being dead: a super group of the left overs maybe? But that would mean 3 drummers and a bassist. Emma suggested that maybe they could be put in a big brother style house and forced to write an album. Would it be any good? Have I answered the question?

Favourite cake of each member?

Ash: Battenberg

Emma: Victoria Sponge

Jay: Cheese Cake

Erin: Jaffa cakes.

What can people coming on Feb 7th expect?

Pop-y, Girl Group esq songs with a punk, Eddie Cochran rock ‘n’ roll vibe. Also the pre-sale of our new single! (Out on Punkfox records).

Sonic The Comic Interview

Sonic The Comic will be headlining the next Youth Anthems gig and I couldn’t be happier about it.  The duo play computer game influenced indie-pop/punk and will get you dancing and thinking in equal measure.  Lovely music played by lovely people!  Here’s a little bit information about them, so get familiar and then get down the front when they play.

What are your names and where do you come from?

I’m Stef, from Wolverhampton, and she is Sarah, from Northampton.

What’s the history of Sonic The Comic and what’s with the name?

We started writing little cute twee indie-pop songs together when we starting hanging out in a romantic capacity, and over time we’ve gotten a tiny bit less twee and now we sound like a bit of a shouty indie-pop videogame band! We’ve just finished our second album Atoms, and it’s actually really good!

The name came from finding out that we were both huge fans of the UK Sonic the Comic comic in our separate childhoods, and it just seemed like a good name to have as our band name. I’m secretly wondering whether we’ll ever be told to stop using the name.

Making music, making computer games, making comics, making videos, making drawings. What came first for you two and how do you actually find any time to play computer games??

Sarah is arty through and through, she arts all the time. She is an artist first and when I can get her away from her desk we occasionally manage to write songs. I’ve always been music first and make computer game-y music in my spare time. We started making a videogame but really didn’t get far – it’s still on our to-do list!

Sarah always has her PS Vita close by so she plays loads of quick games on Binding of Isaac, which she is basically obsessed with. I play loads of different things but I got really into Dragon Age Inquisition recently which was a really nice big RPG game. I guess we fit videogames into all the spare slivers of time that we get!

What sort of bands do you normally play with and what sort of places do you usually play?

We play with indie-pop bands mainly! In little cool venues and living rooms and bars. One day I’d like to play an outdoor festival stage maybe!

What bands would you consider an influence?

We’re both really into a guy called Fishboy from Denton, Texas. He writes really great songs with great overarching storylines and really good lyrics. I’ve always been a big fan of Los Campesinos and Johnny Foreigner and I think that definitely shows up in places – Los Campesinos especially ignited my love for shouty vocals and bleepy synths. I really like Hop Along and would love to write stuff like them – they’re pretty special. I got into Ted Leo and the Pharmacists recently too, let’s say those as well. Oh! I really love Trust Fund too at the moment, Ellis writes the best choruses.

OK tops… Top three bands, cakes and computer games?

Stef Bands – Hop Along, Brand New, Johnny Foreigner Cake – Jaffa, French Fancies, Chocolate Fudge Games – Dragon Age Inquisition, Final Fantasy IX, WWE 2K15

Sarah Bands – The Mountain Goats, Barenaked Ladies, Alkaline Trio Cake – Sarah’s Mum’s Chocolate Cake x 3 Games – Binding of Isaac Rebirth, Digimon World, Borderlands 2

Travels By Telephone Interview

At our next gig on February 22nd we have the rather marvellous Travels By Telephone (aka Mr. Jamie Wilson) playing for us.  So here’s a few words from the man himself to help you understand the machinations behind it all so you can fully enjoy the experience!

What’s your name and where do you come from?

Hello. My name is Jamie Wilson and I reside in a bungalow in York where I have removed most evidence of the modern age and replaced it with 1970s charity shop treasure/tat (any remaining evidence of the modern age has been covered over with wood-effect sticky-backed plastic). I was born in Wellingborough, and we moved to Leeds when I was very young, so the only vague recollection of Well-bro’ I have is sliding down the hollow innards of an enormous wooden snake (possibly an adder) in a shopping centre circa 1980. It was probably terrifying. Wikipedia has since informed me of the area’s agreeable geological qualities, when, in the predominantly agrarian medieval period, the combination of access to fertile, if flood-prone, valley bottom soils and drier hillside/ hilltop soils was favourable for a mixed agricultural base. Which is nice. Weirdly, the enormous wooden snake (possibly an adder), wasn’t mentioned

Have you always performed solo and isn’t that scary at times?

Up until a couple of years ago, I had always only performed solo; I’d been in bands, but we’d never got to the point where we got it together enough to play a gig. And it was always something I’d wanted to do, so now I have, and I am very chuffed about this. Playing solo live can be a tad scary sometimes, but nowhere near as much as the first open mic I played; I followed a very loud doom-folk duo covering Losing My Religion on an incredibly (but possibly not incredible) metal-sounding overdriven mandolin, which I couldn’t not hear from the cubicle within which I was hiding/honing my extensive deep breathing skills). And then I twiddled out some incredibly (but possibly not incredible) shy twee folk numbers. It was pretty hard work, but afterwards I felt like this was something I wanted to definitely do again (playing music live I mean, not hiding in the bogs and quietly freaking out, although that can sometimes have its moments too).

I have a stammer of varying proportions which obviously adds an extra degree of scariness of standing up in front of a room full of folks, but it feels liberating and makes me feel pretty amazing to not let it stop me do something I really want to do. It feels a bit like standing on a rocky cliff top on a very windy day and shouting your full name, and possibly a choice swear word or two inserted into your favourite self-affirming phrase, into a stormy swirling sea (if you haven’t done this before, give it a go; you might enjoy it). There’s been gigs where I haven’t spoken between songs as much as I would’ve ideally liked to because of it (on occasions this has probably worked to my benefit), but I don’t think I’ve ever stammered on stage. I think it’s important to recognise that there’s often a part of nervousness about a situation that’s actually excitement, and to shine your noggin-torch (technical psychology term) onto the excitement part and focus on that; it’s too easy to not do something that you’re nervous about, even if it’s something you really want to do. With that thinking, I’ve recently starting performing solo spoken word, and I love it a lot.

As far as the not-performing-solo goes, last year I wrote a spoken word and music show with York word-wonder wizard Henry Raby (‘Practise Patience’), which we’ve been touring together, and I played glockenspiel/keys/melodica/shaky egg thing/tambourine (and pretty much any other implement available from the musical instrument section of the Early Learning Centre) in Burial in the Sky. I really like the independence (and control, I guess) of playing solo, but I love the chum-factor and more-opportunities-for-messing-about of performing with others. There should generally be more-opportunities-for-messing about, always.

Tell us a bit about the gigs you put on in York? What do your neighbours think about bands playing in your lounge?

I’ve been putting on gigs as Owls Owls Owls for around five years- they are mostly unplugged, small, friendly affairs to help out folks on tour, and put on local folks also. I’ve been trying to avoid using typical ‘music venues’ as much as possible of late, so I’ve been putting on a few house shows, and using a church in town for the bigger ones. There’s a windmill nearby which I have my eye on, and I am still to organise that ‘summer evening picnic gig in the woods’ show I’ve been daydreaming of for a yonk. I’m conscious that the majority of gigs (in York, as with most places) feature all-male line-ups, and I always try to not perpetuate this. I also recognise that it is very important that as a ‘promoter’ I am responsible for doing what I can to make the show happen in as safe a space as possible, and I do my best to do that. My next door neighbours are really into the house shows which is helpful! They came to the Ghost Mice show, and bought all of the bands’ CDs. They couldn’t get a baby sitter for the last one, so asked me to see if everyone could play louder so they could listen through the wall. They are the best.

What other bands and artists are you into at the moment?

This last week I have very much enjoyed the exciting precarium of dancing around in my socks on a polished laminate floor to the new Wave Pictures record, and have recently developed an unrelenting enthusiasm for Sunchyme by Dario G (played at volume, it is a truly joyful and uplifting classic of our times which I had somehow previously regrettably overlooked).

Also, of late: Ravioli Me Away, The Lucksmiths, Night Flowers, Martha, Two White Cranes, and Ferret Legs are all a treat.

Top cake, book, poem and song at the moment?

Cake-wise: I am a large fan of That Old Chestnut’s peanut butter tiffin. It is a dream, and they will have a stall at the gig on the 22nd which is a fine example of a fantastical happenstance.

Book-wise: I’m currently reading ‘No-one Belongs Here More Than You’ by Miranda July. The idea of teaching people to swim in a non-water-based environment (a flat) is a very beautiful thing.

Poem-wise: ‘Love after Love’ by Derek Walcott.

Song-wise: Always ‘Higher and Higher’ by Jackie Wilson (the Musician one, not the My Mum one, although I reckon she could belt out a killer version of it also).

 

So that was 2014..!

Thank you so much to everyone who came to the gig last week, I think we can agree that a good time was had by all?  I was blown away by all of the bands, they are all at the top of their game at the moment so to have them all on one bill was a real treat (as were the cakes as ever – good link?).  It was great to have Christine from PAFRAS with us and she seemed to be getting in the spirit of the gig too!  We raised just under £160 for the charity once Gift Aid was included so give yourselves a good pat on the back.  Our next gig will be in February and once again I’m really happy with the line up.  There’s more information on our gigs page but here’s the poster.  Any questions or thoughts for how we can improve in 2015 or what we should continue with then just get in touch.

 

The Amistad – Interviewed!

I’m so happy we’ve got The Amistad playing our next gig; they’ve been a mainstay of the UK DIY punk scene for quite some time and are lovely folk too.  Here’s a few words from them before they rock up to our PAFRAS benefit on November 23rd. There’s more information on the gig on our Facebook page here

YA: Could you give us a potted history of The Amistad? I’m aware you’re seen as a Leeds band but I know you’re spread a bit further now?

A:   We formed in 2007, originally a four piece but we’ve been a three piece since late 2009. The plan was to make rough-around-the-edges DIY pop music that was hopeful in a sort of bitter and cynical way. Well that’s the heavily revisionist/post-hoc rationalised version of the story anyway. We’ve done three split 7″s and an album since then, but it’s a good three years since we’ve recorded anything, and we probably don’t play as many gigs as we’d like. We’ve always been a band with no fixed abode really: when we started two of us lived in Sheffield and two in Leamington Spa. Now we’re split between Liverpool, London and Sheffield.

YA: How did your relationship with Bombed Out Records form and have you been involved with any other labels?

A:    Me (Mike) and Rob used to be in a band called Four Dumb Kids. Terrible name. Anyway, we were big fans of a lot of Bombed Out bands and we used to send Steve a lot of our (embarrassingly bad) recordings in the early days. Hopefully they were on sufficiently low quality CD-Rs to have not survived the aging process. By the time The Amistad got going we’d worn him down, he very kindly offered to put out our album and has been dead encouraging throughout. ROIDH and Disillusioned Records co-released the vinyl version of the album – Wayne is a lovely bloke and a fellow Wednesdayite so always a pleasure to work with – and we’ve had splits out on ROIDH, Document, Disillusioned and All In Vinyl, all of which are basically our friends’ labels and very nice people.

YA: Am I right in thinking your last release was the (rather incredible) “Kept Under by a Generation of Ghosts”? It feels like that might have been a little whilst ago, so what’s next?

A:   That’s very kind. We actually did a split 7″ with New Bruises in 2011, a year or so after the album came out, but that’s all. We’ve just booked some studio time to record album number two, which has felt like a long time coming from our point of view, so hopefully it’ll be worth the wait!

YA: What have you been up to since that album came out? Inside the band and outside!

A:    Well we did the split with New Bruises, and we’ve done a few tours, but other than that not a great deal to report band-wise. That sounds much more negative than it’s supposed to. We’ve really enjoyed playing gigs in various different places, got to play with some amazing bands and made friends with some really great people. The spending time with people bit is always the best bit, even though we might seem a socially awkward bunch at first. We played some gigs around Europe in 2012, including all the way up to Finland, which was definitely a high point. We’d love to do something like that again. Outside the band: I’ve been trying to do a PhD (was meant to take three years, just started my fifth), Rob’s moved to Liverpool, done a master’s, is now starting his PhD and expecting his first child, Frank’s moved to London, done some travelling, played in a couple of different bands and has just started a new job.

YA: What bands have been floating your boat recently?

A:   We’ve really enjoyed playing with Austeros from Cheltenham and Guerrilla Monsoon from Birmingham. I know they’re not that new but I really like Good Grief from Liverpool. There’s usually some Weakerthans and Lemuria on the go in my house. And some 90s guitar pop.

YA: Youth Anthems are strident supporters of cake at gigs so what’s The Amistad’s top three cakes?

Mike: the lemony one, the carroty one and the walnutty one
Frank: coffee, lemon drizzle, (vegan) cheesecake
Rob: cheesecake, carrot cake and, assuming it qualifies as a cake, croquembouche. I suppose that makes cheesecake, lemon drizzle and carrot cake the Amistad’s top 3!

Pats on the back!

Maaaassive thanks are due to everyone who came out last Sunday. The bands were great (both musically and as people). Who would have known that Will/Pessimister hadn’t played a gig for 18 months?! That lad is tight! Make sure you check out his new recordings. As for Wilful Missing and Mi Mye what can I say? It’s rare to see two bands of that calibre on a bill together and I can’t recommend both of their albums enough (also in 15+ years of putting on gigs I’ve never had two bands discuss with each other their shared influence of The Waterboys)

Wharf Chambers were the kindest hosts again and That Old Chestnut were as lovely as people as their cakes are (and as sweet!).

And you lovely people were great as ever and it was ace to see so many new faces too. Any feedback is always appreciated by emailing.

Good times! Check out the gig page and our Facebook page for the next gig.

Welcome!

We seem to have had an influx of visitors to this website recently.  Hopefully that’s a sign that all of the posters and flyers that are being circulated are getting out there and that all of the lovely listings websites that are being used are sending people in the right direction.  Some of you have been asking if there is a Facebook event for our next gig – indeed there is!  Head over here if Facebook is a good way to keep informed about these sort of things.  We also have a Facebook page here which you can ‘like’ if you want notifications about future gigs.

Any other questions just email us.

Cheers!