Category: Music

Interview: Sleekly Lion
Photography: Tom Halliday

In just a short space of time Rolo Tomassi have gone from the hardcore kids at the foot of an indie bill, to a mighty headline rock act in their own right. Their explosive performances alongside the likes of Biffy Clyro, The Bronx and Enter Shikari have spread their music wide, bringing in legions of fans from some unlikely sources.

Perhaps most unlikely of all was producer Diplo. Having produced for everyone from Britney Spears and most famously M.I.A, it feels strange to now include Rolo Tomassi in that list, after he took control on their latest album Cosmology. Fans can rest assured, though, because it’s still the same old Tomassi, who we recently caught up with before they took the stage at our Camden Crawl event.

So then, do any of the band skate?

A few of us messed around with skating when we were younger but never really pursued it. I was never really into it but Ed skated for a while. I remember once trying to come down a ramp, the board going from underneath my feet and smashing the side of my head on the hard edge of the ramp. I was put off after that!

Everything seems to be going well for Rolo Tomassi right now, are you excited to be playing larger stages?

We’re excited about everything. We have some pretty big shows coming up with festivals and whatnot and also some cool smaller shows too.

How was the recent tour?

It was great yeah. We were out for a week opening for Biffy Clyro with The Twilight Sad also playing. We got on really well with both bands and the shows were all great.

How would you account for your crossover success in, for example, the indie press, given the amount of heavier music that is virtually ignored?

It’s a difficult thing to pinpoint. I guess the fact that we don’t really look like we play in a heavy band helps, as lame as it is to consider that the way our band looks should even matter.

Having supported some bands that sound quite different to yourselves, you must have played to some pretty unresponsive crowds. Do you alter your performance to cater to different audiences?

I wouldn’t say we change anything about the performance but we might choose to play different songs. The Biffy tour was a good example of that. We used it as an opportunity to play almost entirely new material as we knew the majority of crowds wouldn’t know our band and we wanted to introduce people to our music with the new direction we’re going in.

What are the best and worst gigs that you’ve played so far?

We’ve been fortunate to have played a lot of amazing shows. I really don’t think I could pick a favourite! Recent shows that have been great would include our set at Great Escape last weekend, our headline show in Glasgow and the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool supporting Biffy. I tend to put a mental block on bad shows so I don’t realy remember any particularly bad ones.

What band have you had to follow on stage that you thought could be quite a difficult task after their stunning performance?

Trash Talk. They were consistently brilliant when we toured with them.

You worked with Diplo on the new record, how was the experience in the studio in LA?

It was unreal. We’ve only ever recorded locally before so to go to the other side of the world was ridiculous. He was great to work with and we’re all really pleased with the record.

What were you hoping he would bring to the table, rather than, for example, an experienced rock producer?

Just a different outlook on doing things. I think it would have been an easy choice to go with a more obvious rock producer but we would have made a more obvious rock record. We wanted to challenge ourselves and move outside our comfort zone.

Lyrically what does this record tackle the most?

The lyrics are about the experiences we’ve had on the road inbetween releasing Hysterics and beginning the writing of Cosmology. We spend a lot of our time in vans so theres plenty of time to think and get pretty philosophical with things. A lot of it, from what I wrote, deals with self assessment.

How do Eva’s vocals withstand the strenuous studio sessions and live battering?

She does a vocal warm up and looks after herself.

Any other band members other than Eva dating other band members?

No. Those of us who have girlfriends are all dating people who are studying!

How does Cosmology differ to the first album? And how do you feel about Hysterics now that the dust has settled?

Cosmology is a much more rounded and complete album. Hysterics was us trying to learn how to write an album. Looking back at it, Hysterics is definitely flawed in some areas but it means it served us well as a learning curve when coming to write the new record. That’s not to say we’re not proud of what Hysterics did for us. I don’t think we could have made a better album at that point in time.

Does it feel good to read articles about your band these days that don’t mention your age or is that still a ‘thing’ for journalists?

It seems to be mentioned less and less but it will still occasionally get brought up. Eva turned 20 recently so none of us are teenagers any more!

What other bands/records are you all excited about at the moment?

I’m really pumped about the Fang Island record. It’s so posi it’s ridiculous!

Did you all vote in the recent election?

I think 3 of us did. We were away during the run up to the election and I didn’t find time to register to vote. I’m not trying to make an excuse for myself as I’m pretty embarrassed about it.

What’s your take on the hung parliament?

It’s not the best thing that could have happened. I think it’s too soon to judge. A lot of people were seriously freaking out about Cameron being made PM. It was almost like the ‘About Last Night‘ episode of South Park that mocked the American election with supporters of other parties thinking the world would end the following day. That’s not to say AT ALL that I was backing him. Purely an observation. I think only time will tell with whats happened.

Pick 3 artists/songs that you would play David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg to sum up their characters…

Gordon Brown: ‘It wasn’t me’ – Shaggy
David Cameron: ‘Eton Rifles’ – The Jam
Nick Clegg: ‘The Kids Are Alright’ – The Who

Last words…

New record is out, we have a bunch of festival dates coming up. Check out our blog. Thanks to everyone who reads this!

Here’s some words with Rolo Tomassi from the Crossfire hosted Camden Crawl at the Barfly this year.

When we heard that DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh was visiting London to talk up the band’s first album release in 20 years, we could not sit back and let it pass for this was our opportunity to meet the man at the helm of one the world’s most amazing bands. The new album Something for Everybody really was a fantastic surprise, many bands come back expecting to re-live the sweetness they tasted back in the day only to find out that their audiences have moved on…in DEVO’s case, their music can never date as it is one of life’s timeless delicacies that continues to be served up to new generations of people that know good music who usually become obsessed with their legacy as we did.

When we met Mark he was very complimentary of the fact that we are skateboarders, and commenting that skaters have always supported his band from day one. He grabbed the longboard we took along that Globe rolled out last year for their DEVO collab series, left his teeth marks in the paintwork and rolled some dice before turning our stickers in to rave sunglasses…

Enjoy the first webisode from the 30 minutes allocated to this session and find the second webisode here.

The new album Something for Everybody is released on Warner Bros and available right now. Go to www.clubdevo.com for more.

Thanks to Tim Mogridge and Martyn Thomas for filming and Alan Christensen on the edit.

I had a feeling that interviewing Houdini Dax wouldn’t be like interviewing any other band. I knew this before I had even climbed to the top of the stairs that lead out of See Monkey Do Monkey’s office and onto an obscure rooftop garden surely crafted by either Alice herself or a feng-shui expert who fell down a similar rabbit hole. You see, Houdini Dax simply aren’t like other bands. They haven’t released a full-length album yet and have already gained a whopping fan-base in South Wales and the collected respect from fellow Cardiff musicians and radio DJs alike. It’s not difficult to imagine why, their reputation is justified by the tightly written and flawlessly played tunes that barely begin to explain why their live shows are so damn exciting.

But as I was setting up my recording equipment, the idea that this wouldn’t be like any other interview was confirmed. I simply sat and watched, as four impeccably dressed, monstrously talented bastards so much younger than me play and climb on the rejected Wonderland stage props and pour each other cups of rain water tea whilst hollering esoteric in-jokes that I could barely comprehend yet couldn’t help but enjoy. Houdini Dax are a bucket-load of fun and with their debut LP due this Summer are expected to become a major blip on the rock ‘n’ roll radar. Darling, you belong to Dax…

Interview: Stanley
Photography: Mission Photographic

Let’s start with the name, it was inspired by a youtube comedian, right?

Jack: Dave loves Dax Flame…

David: I just love him, he’s very funny. I emailed him to ask about using his name in ours, and he replied asking what we had in mind. I told him we were thinking of either ‘Dax Flame’ or ‘Houdini Dax’. So he got back to me and told me “definitely not Dax Flame, because that’s my name. You can go with Houdini Dax, or I’d prefer ‘Dax Flame Is A Very Smart And Handsome Boy Who Rocks Very Hard’.” So I replied saying we were going to go with ‘Houdini Dax’.

Your music has a lot of distinct influences from a slightly more golden era of music. Who are your main inspirations?

Jack: It definitely has elements from the past, it’s bound to as we’re not inspired by the future because it hasn’t happened yet. So what we do is take the good bits from the past and fuse them together.

Owen: Any examples?

Jack: Well The Beatles is the obvious one… Bowie, The Kinks, Dylan, and the late, great Lady Gaga.

Why were you kicked off the stage at CIA?

David: Because we were shit. Really, we were. (Laughter)

Jack: Well, there was this absolute cunt called Mr. Pascoe. He was this big burly man with cargo shorts and it was all down to him.

David: On our first gig in Taff’s Well there was this shady bloke sitting at the back kind of tapping his fingers, he approached us at the end and said ‘we do a beer festival and we need a band, do you want to do it?’. We were thinking ‘shit! CIA!’, I was watching a Nirvana gig and thinking ‘yeah, it’ll be just like this’, even though it was our first real gig and we had no fans, only our mums. Anyway, we played the gig, we were on the stage and there was this massive gap between us and a bunch of cider drinkers. We were playing and it was this really, really weird atmosphere…

Jack: It was just a gang of middle aged men getting pissed, they didn’t really want to hear music.

David: We came off our first set and Pascoe came and told us we couldn’t do anymore and we were pretty devastated.

Owen: He said it wasn’t really festival music so we were kicked off by the male voice choir they had in instead, and they rocked it so fair play to them. Thing is, when we walked around afterwards, loads of people were asking for demos and saying they really enjoyed the set, it was just him and his shorts couldn’t handle it.

David: We’re still looking for him now. We really want to hear the song we wrote about him.

Jack: Mr Pascoe! Third song on the EP!

How did you guys meet?

Jack: The first band we were in was called ‘The Meantimes’ and we had just finished our GCSEs and wanted to get a band together, it was just me and Dave at first, doing some covers here and there and then we started writing together.

Owen: I was brought in on stand-in bass, not because I could play well but because I owned a bass.

David: Yeah he was in a band before called ‘Bone Idle’… and when they said ‘We’re Bone Idle’ I said ‘Yeah but what’s your band called?’

Jack: You didn’t say that!

David: Yeah but I was thinking it…

Owen: So I came in as stand-in bass for about a year and a half before they finally decided to just leave me there.

Jack: No he’s still stand-in bass, we’re still looking for another bass player, do you play bass?

Hahaha. No, sorry. Well, what happened next?

David: The Foreshadows! Except that people kept thinking it was ‘4 Shadows’ because there was four of us. We played a gig as ‘The Foreshadows’ but whether or not the promoters didn’t know how to spell the name or just hated it, we were listed as ‘Boyband’.

Jack: It just wasn’t a well publicised gig, it was really just an hour of covers and then 4 or 5 of our own songs, then the bloke asked us to play CIA and that’s we were took off. (Laughter)

What’s the Cardiff music scene like right now?

David: A bit shit.

Owen: It’s really hard to get people to come out and see live music now in Cardiff.

David: It’s really cliquey too. And being so young means we’re victim to being patronized a lot.

Jack: I wouldn’t say it’s too much of an issue for us, because we’re just going out and playing what we want to play. There’s not really anyone else our age playing the same kind of music as us, as passionately as we do. A lot of people are in it for being in the scene, having the haircuts and being cool but we just really enjoy going out and playing music.

With that attitude you seem to fit on really well with See Monkey Do Monkey, how did you get involved with them?

Jack: We had a few tracks on our myspace, and Aimee got in touch with us and asked us to come down to the studio and play a couple songs. Me and Dave went down with a bass drum and two acoustic guitars and just pissed around.

David: We didn’t really have a clue what they wanted so we just messed around. We played ‘Bike’ by Syd Barrett and before we started we starting tuning our guitars like in the Flight of the Conchords, a-a-a-a, c-c-c-c , just totally taking the piss but it went down well and people danced so that was really cool.

How does recording next to a micro-brewery influence your work?

Jack: It’s tempting, sure…

Owen: It does help at this age that we’re all totally skint and couldn’t afford to go down that slope.

David: Yeah, we had a couple of the chocolate beers and they were nice and all but we’re not massive drinkers really. When it comes to coming in and recording the album you have to stay focussed so we’ll have a couple of beers maybe but we won’t let it penetrate our work.

What’s your favourite venue to play in Cardiff?

Jack: The Globe. It’s definitely my favourite for going to see bands, because it has such a nice and warm sound to it. Even if the band is shit they’ll probably sound good.

How did the BBC Sessions EP come about?

Jack: We sent a few demos to Adam Walton, and he got in touch with us asking if we wanted to do a live session with him. It was a great experience, we had a really fun time and afterwards we spoke with Aimee and just decided to release it as an EP.

David: It was something we had ready too, all the songs were there and we just needed to get our name out somehow.

Owen: Yeah, we weren’t trying to sell a record at that time, just get our name somewhere so this worked out perfectly. Thanks to Adam Walton we got some really supportive publicity and knowing that he was just playing our music because he liked it meant a lot for us.

David: The accolade of somewhere like the BBC helps too, a lot of band we really respect and like have had releases through the BBC, the Nirvana Peel Sessions and stuff… If you can say your first release was on the BBC, then you’re gonna be shit-hot.

So what’s the debut album going to be like?

David: Eleven tracks of pure rock ‘n’ roll electricity!

Jack: Electrified songs!

Who’s producing it?

David: Richie from The Method is producing it.

Jack: Richie was perfect because we’re so friendly with him already. Rather than going to a producer we don’t know and paying him, we don’t have to pay Rich, which is the best part, but just by knowing him we can get a really good group effort on getting the best possible sound, and have a good time doing it.

I heard from the notorious cesspool of knowledge and disgust that is the mouth of Johnny Alchemist that one of you said that if you were to have sex with a member of The Method, that it would be either him or Richie…

Owen: Or Matt!

David: Yeah, he could blow my trumpet!

If you had to have sex with anyone in your own band, who would it be?

Owen: What do you mean if?

Jack: If it was a serious one then Dave, Owen would just be for the comedy factor.

David: We kind of dry-hump him all the time anyway, he’s like our little stand-in bassist experiment.

Owen: It’s fun being in a band…

Finally, and most importantly, the Houdini Test. If you were in a sealed glass box, that slowly began filling with water, how would you escape?

David: Break out the box of course. Just smash it.

Owen: That’s sort of a metaphor for how we write music actually…(Laughter)

Any last words?

David: You belong to Dax darling!

Owen: Oh fucking hell…

David: It might be the album title!

Owen: But it might be ‘Lesbian Wednesdays’…

Jack: Or ‘Absolutely Flabulous’.

www.myspace.com/houdinidax
www.seemonkeydomonkey.com

The Young Veins were spawned last year following Ryan Ross and Jon Walker departing their former band – Panic At The Disco. The result of their musical endeavours since leaving Panic (Ross was the main songwriter of the band) are documented in The Young Veins’ debut album ‘Take A Vacation!’ Reminiscent of 60s acts like The Beatles and Beach Boys, the album is a summer journey of epic proportions and has the potential to become the soundtrack to anyone’s summer. It’s hard to believe that frontman Ryan Ross is so young having written such sincere and well-crafted songs as those present on this album. We caught up with him to hear about the process behind the album and what went into making it.

It’s been just under a year since Jon and Ryan left Panic At The Disco. That seems to be a fairly short time to form a completely new band, write an album’s worth of material, get it recorded, find a label and release it. How did the progression move along so quickly? I’m guessing it was a smooth transition?

It was a smooth transition because Jon and I had been working on material all along. We only had to write a few more songs after the split in order to have enough for the album. The hardest part was trying to find a good band after the album was finished. We had friends play what we couldn’t on the album but they already had other things they were doing on their own and wouldn’t be able to tour with us. Once we did find the other guys it started to feel like a real band.

How long did it take to write and record?

It’s hard to say exactly because we never really sat down to just write for this album. I’d say Maybe about 4 months total though.

Any interesting tales from the studio? What was the atmosphere like?

The atmosphere in the studio was very enjoyable, we had friends around helping and had a good idea on what we wanted things to sound like before we ever started recording. I think that alleviated a lot of would-be stress.

Your debut album ‘Take A Vacation!’ is very evocative of Southern California. How did your experiences of that part of the world influence your sound and lyrics?

Funnily enough, I don’t think any of the songs that mention the beach or ocean were written in California. I think the only ones we did there were “Change” “Capetown” and “The Other Girl“. I think if anything, for me, moving to California was just a change of scenery.

What sights and places would you advise people to visit when in Cali?

There’s a place called Point Dume up the coast. It’s one of our favorite places to go, you can climb up on the Point and see for miles out into the ocean.

Can you name one song by another act that sums up what California means to you?

That’s a tough one, I guess I could say that as a child, the first song I think I ever remember hearing and singing along to would be “Catch a Wave” by the Beach Boys. I had this image in my head as a kid that if you went to the beach in California they’d be there in the sand playing it.

The record also touches on experiences in other countries across the world, presumably from touring experiences. Who was the girl in the song ‘Cape Town’?

If I gave away everything there would be no room for imagination, no mystique left!

Any UK-centric experiences influence the album?

Unfortunately no, we haven’t been across the pond in so long! I’m hoping we get there soon and I’m sure there will be lots to write about.

What are your Top 5 parts of the world?

Ah, well based on places I’ve been, in no order: South Africa, Australia, UK, Europe, and the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.

There are clearly some very strong influences from legendary bands such as the Beatles and Beach Boys on ‘Take A Vacation!’. How did you go about reconciling their musical influence on the band with a more modern day feel and your own stamp of originality?

I don’t think we try to emulate any of our influences, the whole idea is to use what was there before you and make it your own. All the greats have failed at copying their idols.

How do you feel about anyone who insists on comparing The Young Veins to Panic At The Disco?

I guess you can compare it however you want. I’m not sure what good there is to get from it though. I don’t see why, if you’re going to compare it to Panic, then why you shouldn’t compare it to whatever else is out there.

When are you planning on bringing your live show to the UK? Do you think it will be in support of another act, for festivals or straight in as a headline act?

There’s been talk of coming over sometime this summer, the album comes out soon so I think after that happens we’ll start looking at things. Unfortunately I think we missed the cut off for the festival season which is too bad because those are always a ton of fun. If it’s up to me we’ll be there as soon as we’re done with this tour in the States.

Who would be your ideal touring buddies?

Well we’ve been trying to do something with the Like since before either of our albums were out so hopefully that can happen soon.

The Young Veins release their debut album ‘Take A Vaction!‘ in the UK on July 5th.

www.theyoungveins.com