Strange
Idols
By Elisabetta Pezzaioli
How easy it is to describe a band by comparing it to more famous forbears.
Listen to Strange Idols and the first impression will bring to mind
early 1980s indie memories of Postcard Records’ bands –
yet with tighter and sharper jangly guitars. The singer’s looks
and voice might suggest Marianne Faithful meets a "Heart Of Glass"
Blondie – yet with more softly poised vocals. Not contented with
listening to their music, I caught up with Laura, Julian and Dan in
a Soho pub to discuss music, scenes, style and Spinal Tap plans.
It’s hot outside, the Soho pubs are buzzing with people making
the most of this summer evening while the rest of town is passing by
during the rush hour. Unfussed by all this, the band is seating in a
quiet corner of the John Snow pub sipping a drink and chatting.
For Strange Idols it all started back home in Eastborne where Laura
(singer) and David (guitar) met. Realising that Eastborne was not exactly
a hot spot to fulfil music ambitions, they moved to London three years
ago. In London, David and Julian (guitar) decided to start a band, completed
with a rhythm section. Laura eventually joined on vocal duties and Strange
Idols were born. The first gig dates back to January 2005 but they had
only being going for a few months when the line up was already halved
by the departure of both the drummer and bass player. Their replacements
were found in Fred (drums) and fellow Eastborne emigrant Dan (bass guitar)
in early 2006. Since then the band has been practically unstoppable,
with important gigs, tours and singles under their belt.
What made you decide that you wanted to be in a band?
Julian: “All the rubbish that was around at the time.”
Laura: “It turns out that it was what all we ever wanted to do.
The reason why we moved to London was to do music. Julian came to London
to do music and then we found more musical people.”
Julian: “At the time, 2-3 years ago, there were these bands like
The Libertines, arching cool bands, making crappy Clash rock. It was
getting a bit out of hand. We wanted to make more pop music like (the
bands) from the early 1980s – Aztec Camera, Orange Juice –
no one was doing that at the time.”
Laura: “At the time we thought no one was doing that, but there
was a whole underground scene we didn’t really know. We want to
just make music for a living without having to work in Starbucks. I
think it’s just an amazing thing to think that your job is to
go into the studio and go on tour. That’s what we want to do.”
Your music influences are pretty broad – from Orange Juice to
Talking Heads and even Syd Barrett! How do you manage to find a balance
between your influences and your own creativity? What is the element
that makes Strange Idols unique?
Laura: “For a start having a female singer. There are not many
bands around with female singers. Also, we play indie guitars but we
are very dancey. We are a crossover, not just a band for a Trash crowd.
There is something for everyone.”
Julian: “Our music is indiepop, we have rules like we don’t
allow guitar solos or needless crap. We play concise pop with stripped
down drums.”
Dan: “We have always been aware of cross side references with
other bands, but this doesn’t mean we want to play just like them.”
Julian: “We like Talking Heads but probably you can’t hear
it at all in our music.”
Laura: “We all like the stuff that indiepop is influenced by -
Sixties pop, garage, psych. I am a big 1960s fan, but it would be boring
to copy that (music style) because it’s been done before. We want
to add something contemporary, otherwise it is just boring. People find
hard to place us because we are not necessarily a White Heat band, but
we are not necessarily a twee band either. They can’t label us,
we are not typical super cool.”
Do you share the creative process?
Dan: “The formula has been around even before I joined the band.
Julian and Dave write the lyrics. The sound is formed in the practice
room but someone usually comes with an idea in the first place. We are
not a jam band. Someone has to come in with an idea, we mess about with
it and then the final sound comes out.”
Laura: “For the songs Julian has written recently, he would come
up with the lyrics first alongside guitar ideas. Then we all put everything
together.”
You seem to have moved pretty fast. You have been playing steadily,
you have released onesingle – "Doors / failed attempt at
a love song" and you are part of the HDIF first compilation, "The
Kids at the Club".
According to Drowned In Sound, Strange Idols are a “band who could
do something pretty special, pretty soon." Is anything pretty special
happening soon? I heard a new single is in the pipeline…
Julian: “We have a single coming out and that’s the main
thing. The single is coming out on 16th October on Shady Lane Records.
We have made a little video, Dan is busy editing it, and then we need
to sort out more gigs.”
Is an album on the cards?
Laura: “We have a single coming out in October, another one hopefully
early next year and then we see what happens. If there was a label to
help us financially that would be cool.”
What do you think of the current music situation, especially the London
scene?”
Julian: “The London scene of a few years ago was all Libertines
and we didn’t fit into that. Now I think it is a weird time.”
Laura: “It is a transitional period, a bit like for fashion. Not
a complete look or a complete sound.”
Julian: “ We are talking about a London scene. I think a lot of
it is manufactured by music papers. When you go out, you see people
going to gigs and playing but not necessarily everyone is friends with
everyone.” Maybe London is too big…
Julian: “Yes, and if you are busy with your band, you don’t
have the time to do anything else.”
Laura: “We only now go to gigs we really want to go to. Before
I used to go to gigs every night of the week and it got depressing because
you see a lot of rubbish and that makes you want to do your own music.
So in a way, this is what spurred us on.”
You're also on MySpace…
Dan: “There is so much there (on MySpace) at the moment. It’s
too clogged up in a way, too mainstream.”
Laura: “It’s just corporate. I am not saying that it is
not useful though, because we use MySpace to conduct gig bookings and
networking with other bands and we don’t need to have a website
anymore because everyone can listen to our music, view our pictures
and our gigs.”
Julian: “When you see Rolf Harris on Richard and Judy saying that
you can listen to his songs on MySpace, you know that there is something
wrong.”
Any favourite emerging band?
Julian: “We really like The 1990s, they have just signed to Rough
Trade. We played with them at White Heat. Really nice guys. Swedish
bands, we want to go to Sweden and play with The Salty Pirates. We have
played with Architecture in Helsinki and they are quite cool.”
Laura: “We toured with The Organ. We like what they are doing.”
How important is style for the band?
Julian: “Style is important to us in as much as we love bands
like Pulp, Orange Juice, Velvet Underground, who looked great as well
as writing perfect pop songs. We like to think we look how we sound
- sharp, interesting and streamlined. We don’t see ourselves as
a 'style' band, but we do believe that style goes hand in hand with
creating pop music and we see ourselves as part of that tradition. Laura
in particular is interested in vintage clothes and buys and sells around
Portobello and on Ebay to make enough money to pay for rehearsals! Its
good to see bands like the Long Blondes coming through as they look
good and are totally at odds with that whole post-Libertines old leather
jacket and dirty jeans thing...”
Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?
Julian: “Country mansion for Laura.”
Julian: “On a yatch in the Caribbean, only talking to each other
through our lawyers.”
Different tour buses…
Laura: “Very Spinal Tap.”
Laura: “Maybe we will be on our second album….”
I leave the band to the planning of their rock and roll future playing
indiepop music. As I walk out of the pub, my perception of uniqueness
is finally clearer.
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