After being deemed as 'leading a folk revolution' by press recently, the hype surrounding Mumford & Sons is perhaps surprisingly something they're very defensive against. “Folk music has been going on for ages... It's not a revolution, it's just the press catching onto what already existed, which in a way is a bit annoying for the people who have been doing it all along” frontman Marcus Mumford tells me as we chat pre-soundcheck on the plush sofa area in their tardis of a tour bus. “We don't like overhype. People's expectations are raised through all the exaggeration.” Understandably it would be a slight travesty if this time next year, as part of the emerging London folk scene along with Laura Marling and Johnny Flynn, they were compared with Klaxons' short-lived new-rave fad of a few summers gone. If these raviator-wearing fluorescent adolescents of yore were asked what one of 2010's rising genres would be, folk would probably be in the dark depths alongside Gregorian chant and acid jazz. “It wasn't really a conscious decision (to go into folk), we all grew up playing our instruments and listening to loads of different genres... It was pretty natural. We all met at school and we were fired in our first gig for not taking our clothes off at the end of a song!” says double bass player Ted Dwane. Nakedness aside, considering the biological impossibility of the rest of the band actually being (Marcus) Mumford's sons, the question which they must have encountered over and over arose... "The idea is it's like an old family business. If there was a tailor called Smith & Sons it wouldn't mean Smith was the boss, it just means it was founded in a certain way- lots of people run it and own it. Band names are strange... It's weird that you almost get known by your name before you get known by your music." The four-piece of multi-instrumentalists (I've never appreciated banjos, dobros and mandolins more) have rocketed to success in not just the UK. They have gone twice platinum in Australia and also bagged a number one with their debut album Sigh No More. So is being big in Australia the new 'big in Japan'? “We don't even know how it happened! They just seem to love us over there, we're really excited to go back” says Marcus. Seems it's a similar situation here in Blighty, with their amazingly diverse fan base. Ted tells me “it makes for a really nice atmosphere at gigs. It's like a village fete, everyone's all together!” This definitely rang true whilst watching their show later in the claustrophobic and dingy underground Newcastle University venue, which had clearly been organised before Mumford & Sons' surge of mainstream popularity. So okay, there were no apple-bobbing contests or tombolas, but the inevitably cheery fluctuations between excitable ditties and smooth-flowing four-part harmonies seemed to regress the whole audience back to some sort of long-forgotten joyous summery roots. If you want proof: I actually witnessed people doing the jig. Maybe it goes to show folk never should have been "out", and we innately do love the traditional side of modern music.
Showing posts with label folk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label folk. Show all posts
Interviewed: Mumford & Sons
If you know me at all, you'll know
I'm a sucker for a female-fronted band... But as I got sick of Florence a long time ago, having appeared as the soundtrack to every single TV advert for the past year, and with probably having to wait quite a while for the next Yeah Yeah Yeahs or The Kills albums, I've kindly scoured for/fallen upon some not-too-effeminate bands that you really should listen to!
Peggy Sue
I saw them supporting Local Natives a couple of months ago, and looking back I think it should've been the other way around. I thought, as I watched them swap ukulele after accordion after percussion between songs, it's only a matter of time before they're snapped up by Radio 1, and ahoy they've recently done a live set for Rob Da Bank. I'm glad- the whole “London folk scene” was sorely missing some feminine action. Although they class themselves different from the usual Noah and The Whale sort of new-folk as they listened to a lot of 80s and 90s hip hop growing up, citing Lauryn Hill as one of their main influences. This echoes through their soul-filled two-part harmonies running throughout. They're the sort of band I really want to join... I could play ukulele not very well..?
She Keeps Bees
Her voice has all the soul of Janis Joplin and her stage presence encompasses the thoughts of shock in the late 70s when people heard The Pretenders for the first time and witnessed a woman sounding bloody good with a guitar. She does actually have a drummer, and a pro video. But I prefer just her and her Mustang.
Your Kid Sister
What could possibly ever be wrong about a cute girl with an even cuter voice in a Where The Wild Things Are-esque furry hat doing a Rancid cover on a beach with an accordion? Actually nothing. She does some pretty good short films as well if you check out her YouTube channel.
Peggy Sue
I saw them supporting Local Natives a couple of months ago, and looking back I think it should've been the other way around. I thought, as I watched them swap ukulele after accordion after percussion between songs, it's only a matter of time before they're snapped up by Radio 1, and ahoy they've recently done a live set for Rob Da Bank. I'm glad- the whole “London folk scene” was sorely missing some feminine action. Although they class themselves different from the usual Noah and The Whale sort of new-folk as they listened to a lot of 80s and 90s hip hop growing up, citing Lauryn Hill as one of their main influences. This echoes through their soul-filled two-part harmonies running throughout. They're the sort of band I really want to join... I could play ukulele not very well..?
She Keeps Bees
Her voice has all the soul of Janis Joplin and her stage presence encompasses the thoughts of shock in the late 70s when people heard The Pretenders for the first time and witnessed a woman sounding bloody good with a guitar. She does actually have a drummer, and a pro video. But I prefer just her and her Mustang.
Your Kid Sister
What could possibly ever be wrong about a cute girl with an even cuter voice in a Where The Wild Things Are-esque furry hat doing a Rancid cover on a beach with an accordion? Actually nothing. She does some pretty good short films as well if you check out her YouTube channel.
Interview with Bombay Bicycle Club
Palatinate Issue # 716 - NME Awards Tour Special
Walking through the breeze-blocked corridors backstage at the O2 Academy with slight apprehension after last minute YouTubeing of past slightly awkward and unresponsive Bombay Bicycle Club interviews, I turned the corner to see a rather chilled scene of four rather mismatched-looking guys sitting around eating takeaways and strumming banjos. Hailing from north London, the NME-acclaimed foursome formed in secondary school and after winning Channel 4 and Virgin Mobile's 'Road to V' competition in 2006, have clambered to international commendation. They are currently working on their follow-up to first album I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose as well as commencing on a tour which is sure to hoist them further up the indie ladder. I had a chat with them pre-gig on the first date of their current tour alongside The Maccabees, The Drums and The Big Pink...
Bombay Bicycle Club, you started out young and your first album was influenced by teenage experiences. What will your second album be influenced by?
Jack: Well it's hard to write songs about being on tour... When we were teenagers we went out and did loads of stuff. Now there's nothing to write about apart from being in a band! (woe is me)
How is it touring with three other bands?
Jack: It's only our first date, but it's the first time we've been on a tour of this size... You can't walk around backstage without any clothes on!
You're young to be successful, do you plan on carry on being musicians for the foreseeable future?
Jack: Yeah. Well Jamie has a place at Cambridge to do Classics.
Jamie: Not sure if I'm gonna go though. But I don't want to do one thing my whole life.
You're releasing 400 limited edition vinyl singles of Evening/Morning as a re-release with hand-painted covers. What made you want to do something so different?
Jack: Our record company said we had to do a re-release, and we hate when bands do re-releases, so said we'd do it under the one condition that we could make it special. I don't think at the time we thought about how much work it was gonna be!
Ed: It took 12 hours!
Are you still releasing an EP of folk songs?
Jack: Yeah, it's turned into an album now though. It's also good cos it kinda buy us more time to write the second album.
Do you think you'll follow the folk route or is it more of a side project?
Jack: Alongside really, but we kinda don't like doing it, we think people think 'oh they've listened to Mumford and Sons on Radio 1 and it's so kooky, I wanna do that!'
So The Big Pink, The Drums, The Maccabees... Kill, marry, shag?
Jamie: I'd definitely shag the Maccabees!
Jack: The Big Pink is the only band with a girl in so maybe them... Shag The Drums, marry The Maccabees, kill The Big Pink, but that's only because we've never met them and we've been in a bit of competition with them.
Are The Maccabees good marriage material then?
Jamie: Yeah I think they'd cook for you and stuff....
What do you have in store for the rest of the NME Awards Tour? Any suprises?
Jack: Suren has a new do-rag he might wear.
Jamie: We've been so rushed, we haven't really thought about it.
Jack: We could do the whole set unplugged on the banjo. Or our guitar tech might come onstage and do a shit.
Fortunately the latter didn't happen.
Walking through the breeze-blocked corridors backstage at the O2 Academy with slight apprehension after last minute YouTubeing of past slightly awkward and unresponsive Bombay Bicycle Club interviews, I turned the corner to see a rather chilled scene of four rather mismatched-looking guys sitting around eating takeaways and strumming banjos. Hailing from north London, the NME-acclaimed foursome formed in secondary school and after winning Channel 4 and Virgin Mobile's 'Road to V' competition in 2006, have clambered to international commendation. They are currently working on their follow-up to first album I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose as well as commencing on a tour which is sure to hoist them further up the indie ladder. I had a chat with them pre-gig on the first date of their current tour alongside The Maccabees, The Drums and The Big Pink...
Bombay Bicycle Club, you started out young and your first album was influenced by teenage experiences. What will your second album be influenced by?
Jack: Well it's hard to write songs about being on tour... When we were teenagers we went out and did loads of stuff. Now there's nothing to write about apart from being in a band! (woe is me)
How is it touring with three other bands?
Jack: It's only our first date, but it's the first time we've been on a tour of this size... You can't walk around backstage without any clothes on!
You're young to be successful, do you plan on carry on being musicians for the foreseeable future?
Jack: Yeah. Well Jamie has a place at Cambridge to do Classics.
Jamie: Not sure if I'm gonna go though. But I don't want to do one thing my whole life.
You're releasing 400 limited edition vinyl singles of Evening/Morning as a re-release with hand-painted covers. What made you want to do something so different?
Jack: Our record company said we had to do a re-release, and we hate when bands do re-releases, so said we'd do it under the one condition that we could make it special. I don't think at the time we thought about how much work it was gonna be!
Ed: It took 12 hours!
Are you still releasing an EP of folk songs?
Jack: Yeah, it's turned into an album now though. It's also good cos it kinda buy us more time to write the second album.
Do you think you'll follow the folk route or is it more of a side project?
Jack: Alongside really, but we kinda don't like doing it, we think people think 'oh they've listened to Mumford and Sons on Radio 1 and it's so kooky, I wanna do that!'
So The Big Pink, The Drums, The Maccabees... Kill, marry, shag?
Jamie: I'd definitely shag the Maccabees!
Jack: The Big Pink is the only band with a girl in so maybe them... Shag The Drums, marry The Maccabees, kill The Big Pink, but that's only because we've never met them and we've been in a bit of competition with them.
Are The Maccabees good marriage material then?
Jamie: Yeah I think they'd cook for you and stuff....
What do you have in store for the rest of the NME Awards Tour? Any suprises?
Jack: Suren has a new do-rag he might wear.
Jamie: We've been so rushed, we haven't really thought about it.
Jack: We could do the whole set unplugged on the banjo. Or our guitar tech might come onstage and do a shit.
Fortunately the latter didn't happen.
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