The
Boyfriends are a classically English, warmly emotional, melancholic yet noisy
guitar group who've been cutting a swathe through the indie circuit for the last
year and a half. Consisting of Martin Wallace (vocals), Richard Adderley (guitar),
David Barnett (bass) and Paddy Pulzer (drums), they've already released two of
their demos on an acclaimed split EP with The Long Blondes, had a song featured
the second Angular Records compilation, recorded a session for John Kennedy’s
Xfm X-posure show and had an entire live set broadcast on the same show.
They’ve received plaudits from NME and the Independent On Sunday, been included
by Xfm’s Lauren Laverne in a published list of her ten favourite new bands,
tipped by Simon Amstell as new band to look out for on Channel 4’s Popworld,
seen their live shows attended by members of Suede, Radiohead and The Futureheads
and won accolades from a host of fanzines both online and off. The Boyfriends
have also been featured as the lead band in a recent Underground London issue
of Boyz magazine, supported The Hidden Cameras, played successful concerts in
Germany and Finland, and been a strongly supported presence on London's live music
scene.
Their story began on 25th February 1999...
HOW
DID THE BAND GET TOGETHER?
Richard and I began writing songs together
five or so years ago and after a couple of years decided to form a group to play
them so he roped in Paddy, who he'd played in a group with previously, to play
drums and I persuaded my then flatmate David to be the bass player, even though
he'd never played the bass before.
Where DID YOU GROW UP?
I grew up in a small village in Surrey called Whyteleafe, which fairy near but not too near to Croydon. I escaped to London as soon as I possibly could with all my belonging in a spotted handkerchief tied to a stick.
WHAT ARE YOUR EARLY INFLUENCES? ARE THERE ANY PARTICULAR SONGS THAT STAND OUT?
Well, my mother hit her early teens in the early seventies and was quite a fan of T-Rex, Roxy Music and David Bowie in her day, so I grew up hearing those sorts of slightly unhinged and very English pop records. A real favourite of mine has always been T-Rex's Hot Love, which she bought from Woolworths with a record token that she'd won as a prize in a poetry competition in Jackie after submitting a poem that she'd copied out of a school book. I loved the story as much as I did the song. At the age of thirteen I saw Suede on Top Of The Pops performing Metal Mickey and immediately became besotted with them. Most people seem to have a particular group who come along and change the way think about the possibilities of music and Suede were definitely mine. I've always thought that there was something recognisable to me about them because of the kind of records that had been played in our house when I was a child.
ARE YOU PART OF BRITPOP 2005?
I'm not sure but I'd hope not.
BUT
WHAT ABOUT BRITPOPCIRCA '95,ANY BAND YOU LIKED FROM THEN ?
I
was and still am very fond of Blur's Parklife, Pulp's His'N'Hers and the first
Elastica and Oasis LPs but the barrel-scraping began depressingly early.
WHEN DID YOU START TO PLAY MUSIC?
I never really started. I can't actually play any instrument. People have tried to show me the basics of how to play the guitar but I'm afraid it goes in one ear and out the other. However, some of my favourite singers are people with absolutely no musical ability whatsoever and almost defiantly so, so I'm in pretty good company.
HOW
DID THE BAND GET TOGETHER?
Richard and I began writing songs together five or so years ago and after a couple of years decided to form a group to play them so he roped in Paddy, who he'd played in a group with previously, to play drums and I persuaded my then flatmate David to be the bass player, even though he'd never played the bass before.
FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T HEARD YOU, CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND
I'm not too good at describing it so I'd advise anyone who hasn't already heard it to do so as soon as possible.
HOW DID YOU DEVELOP THE BANDS SOUND?
We've never been very premeditated about what we do and it all seems to come very naturally. The starting point is always Richard and I bringing a song that we've written to our rehearsal space and working with David and Paddy on how best to arrange it. It tends to fall into place quite effortlessly which is a very good sign.
ARE ANY OF THE SONGS AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL?
I've yet to write a song that isn't at least eighty-seven per cent autobiography.
WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE OF PLAYING THE SONGS LIVE?
Playing the songs live is something that we've got better and better at along the way. We've certainly improved a lot over the last couple of years. Generally we've had a pretty good response from people, which has been very encouraging. My favourite show that we've played so far was at the Glastonbury festival a couple of months ago. The audience was easily twenty times bigger than any we'd played to before but it felt very right.
YOU HAVE A PRETTY STRONG ENGLISH-POP SOUND EVEN CLOSE TO A MOD TRADITION SOUND. IS THAT HOW YOU SEE THE BAND AND THE SOUND OF THE BAND?
It's difficult because to me we just sound like us but other people have traced a line between what we do and English pop music of the dim and distant past. I'm not entirely sure what a mod tradition sound is like but I'll take it as a compliment. I try not to worry too much about our sound and tend to place a lot more importance on the songs themselves.
Well
what we mean by Mod Tradition is a Classic Guitar Sound, one of my mates thought
he heard bits of The Kinks in there somewhere- so that kindA feel Kinks/Small
Faces great bands to be sited next to right ?
Yes indeed
DO YOU HAVE ANY MUSICAL HEROES?
As I've said, quite a few of my musical heroes are defiantly non-musical but I've always had a soft spot for Kirsty MacColl, who, apart from being a brilliant and distressingly underrated songwriter, was also a jolly good musician by all accounts.
ARE THERE ANY NEW BANDS OUT THERE ARE AT THE MOMENT WHO YOU PARTICULARLY LIKE?
I'm completely in love with The Long Blondes and I never tire of saying so. For me, they are one of the very best groups around at the moment and it strikes me as not only odd but quite unjust that they're not already on the cover the NME and appearing on Pebble Mill. Their time will come, I'm sure. Other than that, I like The Futureheads very much and thought that Franz Ferdinand's first LP was very good. I'm keen to hear the second.
IS THERE ANYONE WHO YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT, OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUPPORT YOU?
We're already played quite a few shows with them but I'd love to do a tour with The Long Blondes. There's never a dull minute when they're around.
HAVE YOU ANY HEROES - LIVING OR DEAD - IN OTHER FIELDS?
I'm a very big fan of Mike Leigh and have huge admiration for his ability to make films that reflect real people's lives in an amazingly honest and emotionally engaging way.
WHAT ABOUT OTHER ART FORMS? HAVE ANY BOOKS OR FILMS HAD A BIG INFLUENCE ON YOU?
BBC comedy has had quite a big influence. I was an avid fan of Victoria Wood and French and Saunders as a child and that's really informed what I find humorous in day to day life. I like a lot of recent darker comedy like The League Of Gentlemen and Nighty Night, which I actually find very realistic.
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
We've just inked a deal with Boobytrap Records and recently recorded our first single, which is due out in October. There'll be an LP at some point in the early part of next year and I'm very much looking forward to that.
AND TO CONCLUDE THE DREADED DESERT ISLAND DISC QUESTION. IF YOU HAD TO TAKE ONE RECORD, ONE BOOK AND ONE FILM (ASSUMING YOU HAD A DVD PLAYER) WITH YOU WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
The record would be Tracey Ullman's They Don't Know, the book would be The Line Of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst and the film would be Mike Leigh's Meantime.
OH AND SUM UP YOUR BAND IN 3 WORDS
The Boyfriends rule.