The Goo 1
ETHAN GOLDING Interview SEPT-OCT 23 DO NOTHING Th
e Nottingham four piece are big favourites around here and may well have released the album of the year in ‘Snake Sideways’, a wonderful platter full of angular post punk rhythms and guitar licks offset by Chris Bailey’s weary vocals. We say Magazine fronted by Japan’s David Slyvian, you may think something entirely different but we think you’ll agree that this is good stuff and offers a fresh take on what’s becoming an overcrowded post punk playing field. They play Whelans on September 21st and Ethan caught up with Chris ahead of the show. Where did those vocals come from Chris? Was it one of those things where you realised that you could make this sound or is it something that you have had to work toward? I’d say there’s definitely something there in the singing thing in that we’ve been around a while. And on the way to making the first album, we changed a lot. Some of our earliest songs are spoken in that post punk way and then it turned out that a lot of the stuff in the album was just more singing. I did an AMA on Reddit and a lot of it was ‘I don’t see how this is post punk’. In our case, we came from more post-punky places beforehand. We’re already sort of in that camp. And then we actually basically did a bit of a left turn. I’m glad the album has more singing on it. It leaves you open to a lot of things, or to more styles, more stylistic directions, because the thing with the spoken word aspect of it is it can be quite limiting. ‘Why on Earth didn’t you tell me. You were in a car accident? If it happened to me, I would tell you’ is one of my favourite lyrics from the album. I think it’s a really good example of how the album repeatedly leads you into these little chaotic worlds and leaves you to piece together the order of events and their consequences. How are the lyrics written? Will you all bring in the bones of a full song or is it more like a collage? In terms of the lyrics it’s always writing stuff down all of the time. Things that just randomly come into your brain and not thinking immediately at that moment, ‘where does that need to end up being?’ it’s just writing down stuff that I literally like the sound of. You do have to sit for a while and then try out you just kind of mumbling and whatever. Then you’ve got a way in, like, here’s the lyric, I’ve no idea what it means now, because it’s one word but that’s where you think, ‘Okay, well, now I can write this idea’. And then you’ll figure out what it’s about as you’re doing it. Have there been any comparisons that have caught you off guard? We have yeah all the time. You’ll get ones that you sort of don’t hear so much. You get the ones there are lots that you get all the time, maybe Prefab Sprout or something. Well back in the day in a different band when we were playing like ambient music somebody on the radio said we sounded like Groove Armada. And we just, like, didn’t. Similarly are there any artists who don’t necessarily show up in your music but who are a notable influence on you? Gareth Liddiard, the main singer and guitarist from Tropical Fuckstorm, is also in a band called The Drones. I don’t know if they’re still really kicking about, or will ever do anything again. But they have a few albums that we sort of gathered around when we were sort of young, in our early 20s. There’s just nowhere near enough credit for how original it is. Those guys are just, were just, are just crazy, and very good. Lastly, I always make it a point to ask emerging bands if there are any bands they’d like to shout out. So who are the next big things coming out of Nottingham that we should be looking out for? Do Nothing play Whelans on Sept 21st. Their debut album ‘Snake Sideways’ is out now. Yeah, there’s a bunch! There’s one called Cucamaras who are friends of ours. And then Cat Milk. And, not new but great, Folly Group, just because they’re friends of ours and they played us on the radio the other day for New Music Fix so I’ve got to try and return the favour somehow. So everybody go and listen to Folly Group. They’ve got the first album coming out soon; they’ve just released the first single Strange Neighbour. PAGE 19