You know that thing when you hear a song on TV or film and you think: ‘Fuck that sounds good‘! Then you go out and buy it and it sounds like a goose farting in the fog?
This isn’t one of them. It happens to me frequently, but I can safely say with or without the effective medium of moving image, Deaf Club‘s ‘Lull EP‘ sounds as epic and evocative by itself, even without gaping landscapes or raucous lovemaking.
‘Forest/Shore‘, although clearly lending itself to images of forests and shores, takes you to the peak of emotion through it’s subtle use of Sigur Ros style guitar and Foals off-high-hat energies.
‘Hana‘ is as apocalyptic as it is a dramatic dawn, it’s rimshots like a tribal dance to a sparse use of bass and relentless twinkling guitar.
‘It, She‘ darkens the mood slightly to a hypnotic drone, reminiscant of Joy Division’s ‘Transmission‘ before a more melodic and couragous chorus kicks in, and the fantastic backing vocals scream from a distant continant.
With or without a David Attenborough TV advert for awesome wildlife, ‘Lull EP‘ will shake your booty whilst you either ball into your jack and coke in ecstasy or give you the unshakable urge to make passionate sexy time to whoever is shaking their fist in the air like a lunatic too.
After reviewing Scoundrels a couple of months ago we caught up with Ned for a quick Q&A covering Tae Kwondo practices, Dr Dre covers and a unnatural dislike for Noah and the Whale.
Cougar Microbes: What time did you wake up today? Was it out of choice or necessity?
Scoundrels: Woke up at 5 am, went for a 10 mile jog, exfoliated for an hour, practised Tae Kwondo and perused the stock market for a while before donning my guitar and heading to the studio.
In an ideal world all of the above would’ve happened, sadly the truth of the matter is that I normally rise around half eight after an epic half hour battle with the “snooze” button on my phone.
Cougar Microbes: Describe Scoundrels to the uninitiated?
Scoundrels: We are a four piece rock n’ cruddy soul n’ blues band heavily influenced by music from South Louisiana. Our music is rooted in an old school sound but is performed in a contemporary way. Our live performances are sweaty, raucous affairs.
Cougar Microbes: How have you been killing time on the road, hobbies?
Scoundrels: We have various ways of passing the time on the road. The usual classics, “i spy”, “kumbaya m’lord” and “what am I thinking of?” will suffice but on occasion a game of “road cluedo” is the only thing that’ll get the juices flowing. “Professor Plum with the lead piping in the glove compartment“, that sort of thing.
Cougar Microbes: What have been your favourite venues to play? Any Venues you hated?
Scoundrels: We’ve played some great venues. King Tuts in Glasgow is a favourite. I recommend “Nice n Sleazies” a bar nearby too for post-gig fun. Also, we used to run nights at The Notting Hill Arts Club which is a fantastic night spot. A really eclectic mix of people, the night to go to there is “Sweet Memory Sounds“.
Cougar Microbes: Is there a song you are simply sick of playing?
Scoundrels: Not one actually, I think there’s an excitement that comes with getting to show people your music for the first time. Each song feels different with different crowds. I’m sure there’ll come a day though…
Cougar Microbes: What is the songwriting process like for Scoundrels. you able to write on the road or do you do this in your off time?
Scoundrels: Normally it happens away from the road. I guess normally I’ll have a riff and a chord structure and an idea of what the songs about. Then i’ll bring it into the studio and the lads’ll bring there own flavours to it and flesh it out, add in their bits and ideas to the mix and that’ll be it. It’s quite tough to write on the road as there’s so much going on all the time.
Cougar Microbes: Favourite Scoundrels track and why?
Scoundrels: On the album my favourite track is probably “Sniff It Up” as I felt we were on great form musically the day we recorded that track in Chicago. It’s got a killer riff that I’d love someone to do a remix of one day an grooves really well too.
Cougar Microbes: If you could record any cover what would it be?
Scoundrels: We’ve already covered Dr Dre‘s “Xxplosive” which was a tune we’d always loved. We may well cover some tunes from our new label’s (Blue Horizon) back catalogue too. Bands like Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack, Champion Jack Dupree.
Cougar Microbes: Do your songs go through many revisions via demo recordings?
Scoundrels: I always think the demos are the most true versions of the songs and to stray too far from those initial recordings is to lose the songs essence.
Cougar MicrobesWhat came first, the lyrics or the melody?
Scoundrels: Melody, always. I think it’s far more interesting to hear great vocal tunes and rhythms than to cram words in wherever they fit. Obviously there is Some compromise though as the words can’t be cruddy, although the occasional rhyming of “cat” and “bat” can be effective.
Cougar Microbes: What are your views on auto tune?
Scoundrels: Love it, dangerously so. We were gonna use it on one sentence in ‘Louisiana Song‘ but decided against it, much to Akon‘s disgust I’m sure. George can mimic auto-tune like no other.
Cougar Microbes: Any other band/bands from your local scene we really should know about?
Scoundrels: Givers were great friends of ours from our time living in Lafayette, Louisiana who are already set for a meteoric rise. Also if you get a chance, you have to check out Vadoinmessico, a Mexican, Italian, Austrian outfit who play a quirky, eccentric, melodic folk that is about as infectious as it gets.
Cougar Microbes: Most flattering thing you’ve read about yourselves?
Scoundrels: That we’re from Bideford. That we have “non descript looks“. Actually I was once told that I was “a sex god in the making“. It was an incredibly proud moment for me, I immedealty informed my parents that they had raised a “sex god“, needless to say they were incredibly proud. They told me that many of my teachers had foretold of such career developments from an early age.
Cougar Microbes: What was the first record/tape/cd you ever bought?
Scoundrels: Possibly a Spice Girls single or Bon Jovi‘s “Midnight In Chelsea“, an indication of what was to come.
Cougar Microbes: What was the last song that got stuck in your head?
Scoundrels: Foals‘ “Red Socks Pugie“. What a song. Just saw them play at “Calvi On The Rocks” festival and they were incredible.
Cougar Microbes: What was the last show you paid and queued up for?
Scoundrels: Went to see George’s New Orleans covers band, The Dirty Gentlemen play at Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues Bar the other day. They were fantastic.
Cougar Microbes: If you had to bring on artist back from the dead in exchange for sending a living artist down ,which artists would it be and why?
Scoundrels: I’d bring back Jimi Hendrix because I reckon he’d be the sort of guy that wouldn’t ruin his legacy with longevity. I feel he had a lot more tunes still in him and it would’ve been interesting to see how he’d change.
I’m not sure I’d be up for killing a modern day artist but if I could banish their music from these shores Noah and the Whale would be somewhere up there.
Cougar Microbes caught up with the members of Maps & Atlases munching on a vegetarian platter hours before they were due on stage at Cargo. We discussed sweaty clothes, Cee Lo Green and scary songs:
- Cougar Microbes – So to start off; what time did you guys get out of bed this morning?
- Maps & Atlases – We got up at 8:30.
- CM - 8:30? Was that out of choice or where you dragged out of bed?
- M&A – Well we had to get down to London from Manchester so it was kind of like we dragged ourselves out of bed.
- CM – How do you guys kill time on the road? Do you play games?
- M&A – We had a couple of fun games. We used to have games, now we just don’t talk (laughs). Fortunately there’s lots of scenery to take in.
- CM - And the great weather?
M&A – Of course your great weather!
CM – What have been your favourite venues on this UK tour?
M&A – We really liked the venue from last night, Manchester Deaf Institute was really cool, and Glasgow just looked awesome as a city.
CM – Any absolutely shocking venues?
M&A- Actually, kind of funny you bring that up… they were mostly good.
CM – We like to name and shame
M&A – All our shows have been good experiences…. but it got so packed at our Brighton show and it got extremely hot, the air conditioning wasn’t working… people were passing out, literally. We nearly passed out. It was pretty bad.
The clothes we have from that show are still wet.
CM – Are there any tracks in the set you are sick of playing?
M&A – Not yet but probably by the end of this tour (laughs).
CM – And what’s your favourite?
M&A – You know, I think ‘Pigeon’ is a fun one to play it’s got all these things that could go wrong so it is just scary enough to be exciting every time. Its high energy but it has a good root to it. It’s pretty easy to mess it up but it is so great to play.
CM – Are you guys able to write on the road?
M&A – I guess writing lyrics can happen any time, but we don’t necessarily as you would imagine. I guess sometimes we will have a 2 minute jam on the side of the soundcheck but for the most part when you are playing live you don’t wanna be pissing off the sound guys.
CM – Whats more important for you, the lyrics or the melody?
M&A – Hopefully there is a balance between both. I think the lyrics are important to give a sense to the songs you are singing but without the melody tying it together its not really worth anything. I guess if i had to chose one Lyrics would be slightly more important.
I mean look at Cake, who are a fantastic band, and notice how they emphasise the lyrics whilst he almost talks over it.
CM – and says ‘Oh no’ a lot of times…
M&A – Exactly!
CM – You guys have toured with Ra Ra Riot, mewithoutyou and Minus the Bear, who would you like to tour with again
M&A – We did a few shows with Rar Ra Riot and those were fun and we did some with Foals which we also enjoyed. Really any of those tours we’d love to do again.
I’d like to do Frightened Rabbit again. There aren’t too many bands that we’ve toured with that we disliked.
CM – What is the most flattering thing you’ve read or heard about yourselves?
M&A – I really like some of the comparisons we get all the time. we are one of these bands that always gets oddball comparisons. People are like “yeah you sound like Talking Heads and… Prince” and I’m just thinking yeah, I guess thats pretty awesome. We’ll take that.
The other day Dave was compared to Cee Lo which made us laugh.
CM – Which other bands are doing stuff that you like at the moment?
M&A – I like Phantogram a lot, Wild Beasts came out a while ago but that was an awesome album, a band that is coming out soon called Gypsyblood will be pretty awesome.
CM – When was the last time you queued up and paid for a show?
M&A - I just got tickets to Dismemberment Plan in Chicago, hopefully I wont have to queue. I got tickets for a Thermals show last year and didn’t really have to wait in line for very long. Not because I’m a rockstar or anything, just that I got there at the right time.
CM – Are there any covers you are planning to record or have recorded?
M&A – We are always trying to think of an awesome cover we could play.
CM – You could do Cee Lo?
M&A – Now that’s an awesome idea… We were actually working on a couple of songs earlier in the tour like an Echo & The Bunnymen track.
CM – Final question, if you have to bring an artist back from the dead and swap them with a living artist who would it be and why?
M&A – We’d probably wanna bring someone back whose career has been cut short like Buddy Holly or someone like that. Someone who was unfortunate to die but fortunate for their career to go that way.
I say we bring back Buddy Holly. Swap them with someone like Puddle of Mudd. In fact you don’t even have to bring anyone back, just take that band away.
Big Boi‘s ‘Shutterbug’ has been one of the biggest hits of the past few months showcasing the rapper in impressive form. its is therefore no surprise that producers and djs worldwide are flocking to fiddle with it.
The legendary The Hood Internet give it a laid back vibe by mixing it with Foals’ Miami single to great effect.
Having just featured The White Panda taking on Duck Sauce last week it is awesome how prolific these guys are. This time they mixed Big Boi with Discovery achieving a similarly laid back feel though perhaps hinting more at the electro roots of the original.
Elsewhere Brooklyn‘s Sub Swara give it a much more eerie feel in their remix. This is a taster before the duo release their second album in November and is sure to get people talking.
Which treatment is your favourite? Let us know in the comments section
People with both actual and dubious musical tastes have been raving about Foals‘ new album ‘Total Life Forever‘ out earlier this month. New single ‘Miami‘ is built on a bass rich groove and bears more than a passing resemblance to TheCure, both musically and vocally, which is never a bad thing.
The Oxford quintet have shown incredible progress since they first made a name for themselves in 2008 and this new release showcases the bands new found versatility and confidence.
Hands Up Who Cares, our monthly club night, is back next friday (21st of May) at The Library in Islington.
We’ll be spinning tunes by Crystal Castles, TV on the Radio, WHY?, Foals, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Two Door Cinema Club, The XX and loads more Cougar favourites.
Entry is free to everybody registered as ‘attending’ on the Facebook event page and £1 to all others. Hope to see you there!
Zane Lowe’s Radio One listeners were last night treated to a live session by Oxford’s angular indie heroes Foals. Over here at Cougar HQ some of us love Foals, others love The Police and some of us hate them both. We managed to agree that this version of ‘The Bed’s Too Big Without You’ is pretty ace. Enjoy
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