A big thanks to Allan Kingdom for the interview!!

++ Do you still keep in touch with fellow Siddeleys? Do you miss at all those late 80s? if so, what is that that you miss the most?

Yes, I still keep in touch with Johnny Johnson, and to a lesser extent our last (and best) drummer David “Clynchey” Clynch.

There’s not much I miss about the late 80’s to be honest. Apart from having a full head of hair. Some might see them as Halcyon days, but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

++ How did the band start? I read Johnny met you at Bay 63? What kind of music and bands played at that club?

Johnny had a great attitude when it came to selecting band members; She wanted to form the coolest group in London, it was vital that the Siddeleys looked good, and went to the “right” places.
Bay 63 was a great club with an excellent booking policy & I saw many great bands play there. It had been around for years – the Clash & Madness used to play there when it was called Acklam Hall. Every so often, promoters would put on week-long series of shows featuring the bands from Creation etc. The Shop Assistants were playing the night I met Johnny. The night before I’d seen the Mighty lemon Drops. Edwyn Collins was in the Audience.

++ The guitar playing in The Siddeleys is a favorite of mine, the perfect jangle, the elegance, it’s precious! When did you learn to play guitar? Who inspire you? What kind of guitar did you play!?

Thanks! I was inspired by a couple of friends to pick up the guitar in High School – they would spend their lunchtimes playing songs like “Rip It up” by Orange Juice in the music room, and I felt left out! After leaving school I was unemployed and that’s when I taught myself to play guitar. After a year or so I was invited to join my 1st band, which was formed by the Brilliant Michael Harris, who also played trumpet on Sunshine Thuggery and was the lead guitar player in Reserve (as well as my post Siddeleys band).

I was a huge fan of the Postcard records stable, and all of the bands featured great guitar players: Edwyn Collins, James Kirk, Malcolm Ross, Roddy Frame, Robert Forster & Grant McLennan. Grant Mclennan’s lead guitar sound was of particular importance, I remember standing at the front of the stage during a Go-betweens show just to determine which pickup/effects combinations Grant used on particular songs. This was the sound that I applied to stuff like “Wet Wednesday”.

Other influences were the Smiths of course, but also Tom Verlaine from Television and Sterling Morrison. For me a good Saturday night in 1985 was sitting at home alone playing along with a copy of the Velvet’s Live 1969 LP. That’s where the Sunshine Thuggery strum comes from, playing along with “What Goes On”. But just playing with friends, and especially Michael, was where I learned the most. Being relatively untutored meant we had to rely on al lot of hard work in order to get good. The Siddeleys were a good band, (as opposed to a group of individual musicians) the way we played together was very important and the sound we had together was pretty unique. I heard “what went wrong this time” at a club recently, and it sounded great!
I saved for months and bought a Fender Jazzmaster. That was my main guitar & was featured on all the Siddeleys recordings, (the mental lead guitar on “are you still evil” is the Jazzmaster) though I also had a Fender Telecaster which I preferred for live shows. The Jazzmaster was somewhat unreliable & tended to go out of tune. We played in Manchester once & the Jazzmaster broke a string in the first verse of the first song.

++ How did you end up releasing on Medium Cool? There are some really nice bands there, like The Waltones and The Popguns. It was only a 1000 copies run, right? And that was ‘limited’ back then… now 1000 records is soooo much!

I’m not sure how the deals were made to be honest. I know Andy Wake had an early demo & liked what he heard. I believe he actually offered Johnny a solo deal, but she declined & requested that the Siddeleys as a band be released. Our relationship with medium cool was pretty fragile, and when they omitted to include our name on a poster announcing the fall releases, we knew it was time to move on.

Yeah, but you have to remember that singles were the only way that people were able to consume music. In the pre-digital world, you didn’t have a choice. No MP3s, iTunes or even CDs.

++ What do you think about Medium Cool selling all their back catalogue to Cherry Red?

Great! I believe there is a compilation being produced at present.
On New Year’s eve 1982 I bought a copy of “pillows and prayers” for £0.99, which is a great Cherry Red sampler. I’m very happy if the Siddeleys become label-mates of the Marine Girls, the Monochrome Set and Felt.

++ What about the Sombrero Records release? How did that happen? Did Torquil McLeod (Reserve) had some influence on this one?

We knew David “Payney” Payne through his brilliant fanzine “Trout Fishing in Leytonstone”. He had put out a number of fanzines and was looking to move on to his next project, which was a record label and club. Inspired by Richard Brautigan, the label was christened Sombrero, after Sombrero Fallout, and the club became the Cool Trout Basement.

I don’t recall who met Payney first. It could have been Torquil. I understand he’s a cloudberry artiste now. You should interview him!

++ Who designed the covers of the 7″s?

The Medium cool single was put together by a designer, who used the original materials provided by the band. I designed the logo which appears on all of our releases. It was drawn by hand on my mum’s kitchen table.

A friend of Payney’s pasted together the Sunshine Thuggery cover, again using my hand-drawn type and a photo taken by Andrew and Johnny.

++ Lately there has been lots of talk about mp3 blogs / free sharing of music on the poplist and there has been controversy about what labels are for. What do you think about labels, what do they represent for you?

To me, labels mean community, a sense of identity, a cohesion in both music and design. Before the Unfortunate Drummer Incident there was a real community surrounding Sombrero records, Bob had an 8 track demo facility in Somerset, 140 miles outside of London that we used & the weekends were usually fun. The Sha La La flexi disc was recorded there. Reserve, the other band on sombrero were my friends – I had gone to school with Michael the Guitar player & introduced him to Torquil.

++ You recorded 2 Peel Sessions! That must have been a blast! Was that, you think, the highlight of The Siddeleys? What do you think Peel gave to indiepop?

The Peel sessions were amazing, but absolutely terrifying. The pressure was enormous: record 4 songs in a day, all of which must be broadcast quality, with only the barest of overdubs, knowing that the entire country will be able to hear them.

Peel gave so much, not just to indie but to the British (and in many respects global) music scene. He was the only way anyone could get their music heard, and in turn, I derived most of my musical education from listening to his show.

++ There was going to be a third single, right? “You Get What You Deserve”? Why didn’t it ever happen?! I can’t believe there was no interest at all! Being such a MONUMENTAL song

Sombrero had no money left for us and no-one else wanted to release our records. And sadly, that was it.

++ What is this story about you having a haircut all the time? Very stylish Allan! 

We weren’t scruffy indie rockers, that’s for sure. At the time my hair was very short & a haircut at my local barber shop only cost £1.50, so in order to keep it really sharp looking, a trip to Neville’s was in order. Neville was an artist – he could simultaneously chain-smoke, watch the horse racing and still give you a decent trim. But it’s a very British, almost Mod thing. We all loved going to Camden Market looking for 50’s suits etc. It was always flattering when were referred to as “the Debonair Siddeleys”.

++ What were your favorite bands at that time to play a gig with? Who would you have liked playing with but you never did?

We played with our fellow Sombrero artists all the time, especially at the “Cool Trout Basement” Club run by the folks behind Sombrero and Medium Cool. Our friend Richard Formby also organized an all-nighter boat trip on the River Thames, where all the Sombrero bands played. But really, I enjoyed playing with anyone who wasn’t a jerk. The Chesterfields were great, talented and friendly. Jesse Garon & the Desperados were another great band. 14 Iced Bears were cool.

We supported bit the House of Love and My Bloody Valentine, & both bands were snooty, unfriendly and obnoxious.

++ What do you think about the scene today? Any similarities, differences? I think bands back then were more political, more true to themselves. Maybe I’m wrong?

I have no idea what “the scene” is today, I’m afraid. I get the impression it’s only a couple of hundred kids, scattered around the globe.

The Siddeleys weren’t part of any scene, really, we were an individual band that happened to be around when a bunch of other bands who drew on vaguely similar influences were also around.

There was little to no camaraderie between bands outside of the Sombrero fold. When we did bump into groups we had previously played with on tour, we were friendly & pleased to see them, of course.

We were political people but our music was more concerned with personal politics. It would have been absurd for us to have written a song about Thatcher.

But you are right about us being true to ourselves.

I can only speak for myself, but I think there wasn’t such a stereotypical “indie pop sound”. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that were weren’t really taking our influences from our contemporaries. The Siddeleys weren’t huddled around the stereo dissecting Primal Scream B-Sides, we were more influenced by 50’s Rock and Rollers, pre-Beatles pop such as Adam Faith, Joe Meek and Johnnie Ray.

++ Any favorite bands today?

I hear this Robert Forster guy is quite good.

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Listen
The Siddeleys – My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon

Thanks to Darrell Mitchell for the great interview.

++ How did the band came together? Were you friends in high school? neighbours? football fans?

The band started up with Baz the drummer and me. We went to the same school in Wallingford near Oxford, but I was a few years older (still am!). After I’d left school, Baz’s dad asked if Baz could play the drums with me and a bass player called David Tomlinson who I’m now playing with again. Baz was a spotty fourteen year old, with thick glasses and his Dad thought it would be good for him to have something constructive to do, as he wasn’t doing very well at school. A few years later the band morphed into Home and Abroad after bass player Ian Norrington joined. We put an ad in the local paper and he auditioned and we went from strength to strength. Ian lied about his age as he was a few years older than me and thought we would mind.

++ What football teams you support then?

Ian supported Ipswich Town, as he was from Suffolk. I supported Swindon Town (someone’s got to!) and Baz went to watch Reading, but always secretly supported Liverpool.

++ Alison is one of my favourite songs ever. Who is this Alison girl? Or maybe it’s not a true story?

Alison does exist, but I changed the name. Partly because no one would have bought a song called Sharon, and partly because I didn’t want her to know. Sharon was really gorgeous, but couldn’t help falling for horrible men who treated her badly.

++ It was released in a label called Zebra Records. I will be honest to say I never heard about that label, can you tell me a little bit more about it?

Zebra/Zebre records were based in High Wycombe and run by my friend Sid. It sort of ended up being our own label in the end.

++ After that release, a flexi came out on Lovely Records. It was a split with the marvelous Rileys (god I love that band!). You also released many tracks on tape compilations, maybe you can help me keep the count? How did all these happen?

I’ve lost count of the different compilations too I’m afraid! Our manager Barry promoted us in a wide variety of countries and quite often there was a different compilation for different countries. Also we had more material than most bands and wanted as much as possible to be recorded and released, which is great now as there is so much to remember us by.

++ Which bands were your favourite at that time?

Baz and me were inspired by punk and new wave music above all else, British and American, including the Clash, The Jam, Talking Heads, Magazine, Elvis Costello…….. After that we really liked anything poppy with real instruments. Our songs always had a hook. I’ve grown up loving the Beatles. Ian liked complete crap, so it’s best not to go there!

++ How involved were you in the fanzine culture during those C86 years? Do you see any advantages between them over today blogs?

We did end up being part of the fanzine culture, but didn’t really notice at the time. I’m a bit scared of computers, so I rarely read blogs, but it’s the same thing really. I love people being moved enough by the music to write about it. I liked fanzines because they were so disposable and that fitted in really well with whatHome and Abroad was about. Three minutes of pop and throw it away. We were always straight on with the next thing. We didn’t worry about perfection, we embraced our flaws. We wanted to be out there doing it. There were so many fanzines at the time that often the floor was littered with them after gigs.

++ How did the Elefant / Home and Abroad relationship start? I’ve heard there is a tape Luis released?

Our manager Barry made the contact with Luis and he was really in tune with what we were trying to do. There is an Elefant tape, called In Search of the Obvious.

++ Smoky Town is the first vinyl release of Elefant, this is legendary! What memories you have of that record? Any anecdotes you’d like to share?

Smoky Town was one of the songs I’d written that we didn’t quite know what to do with. It didn’t really fit in with our set of noisy electric pop. We recorded it in a scrap of studio time with Pippa Hall guesting on backing vocals. She works in film now I understand. The song is about two untidy lives getting together and starting a relationship and was about my wife at the time. She never found it too complimentary and I guess it isn’t a conventional love song!

++ There is an unreleased album by Home and Abroad that you will make available on the web. Care telling a bit more about it?

Baz had to leave the band due to a problem with his wrist. Kenny Stone replaced him and we started to lose our throw away image. Luis asked us to do a new album, but it was never released. I really wish we had. I’m still really proud of it after all these years and I’m so pleased that some people are still interested in hearing it.

++ Home and Abroad silently left the indiepop league…. what have you been doing through all these years?

Sadly and still quite unelievably Ian died in a motorbike accident. It’s still hard to believe. I carried on in bands called the Simpletons who recorded an album called ‘Men Who Wear Pyjamas’ and later with Edna who released an album with Holier Than Thou records called ‘Beekeping for Beginners’. I had a break for a few years to have some babies and I’m now back with Baz and Barry (The Occasional Orchestra) again doing songs under my own name and with Stumble on the Valves with Barry. Check us out!

++ Anything else you’d like to say to the popkids out there?

Stay pop and do it for the music popkids!

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Listen
Home and Abroad – Alison (Please Don’t Fall)

This interview happened September 2007

++ Tell us a bit of your first release “A Short Melodrama”. What are your expectations?

It was meant to be an EP but I think it turned out to be more of an album. That mostly because I wanted to “get rid of” all the old songs that otherwise would be stuck in a computer folder forever. The songs together form the story of my past two-three years, not chronological though. You have to piece them together!

++ You signed for a new little label called Cosy Den Recordings, that many haven’t heard about it. Why do you decide to do so? What are your future plans release-wise?

My first proper show was at Cosy Den (Gothenburg) in late April this year. It was a very intimate atmosphere at the club which was great since I don’t have a lot experience of playing live. The audience was really nice. Later, Mattias, the very enterprising guy behind the label and the club “Cosy Den” asked me how I felt about an EP release. Of course I agreed to release an EP, it’s not like I’ve had many offers before, and besides I know Mattias takes an active interest in the bands that play at Cosy Den, which also was what I experienced before and during the show in Gotheburg. I knew a first time release at Cosy Den would mean being in safe hands! Later it also turned out he’s really good at marketing the CD’s!
There are no future plans. Maybe I’ll record some new songs some day soon. No one knows.

++ When you play live you count with the help of your friend Agnes, what does she bring to After School Sports? What are the pros and cons of being a one-person band?

Recording songs alone means you don’t have to compromise with anyone else, which is one of the pros. But playing them live all alone is maybe one of the cons, so that’s why Agnes plays with me. She brings a lift to the vocals with some lovely pitches and since she is one of my best friends she also makes it all a party!

++ Your songs have a very strong sense of humour, what are your inspiration for writing such witty songs? How does the creative process works for you?

Maybe they become witty because they are honest, and by that maybe ridiculous too. I don’t write artificially, although with a twist of self distance.

++ Before being .. School Sports you had a wonderful band called The Never Invited to Parties, can you tell us a bit about it?

It’s still a mystery that people even know about The Never Invited to Parties. It was me and my best friends, 14 years old, rehearsing 1,5 hours every week with a neo-metal drummer who someone literally placed in our band to make sure our rehearsing hours was not just a waste of time. Our classmates had never heard about such a thing as indie pop, despite that most of our very few actual gigs happened to occur at our school.

++ Which are your favorite bands nowadays from the Stockholm music scene? What about the main influences for your band? Would you say you’ve been influenced by Swedish tweelectro bands like Action Biker or even Compute?

I would say my main inspirations are the mix of indie pop/twee and the mainstream pop of the 90s that I listened to when I was about 10. I think my goal sometimes is to sound like a girl who’s trying to sound like a random radio hit, but sadly fails to do so. Concerning the Stockholm music scene there’s not much to say. Besides, I’m not very updated. I get influenced by the bands of people I know or just random music. But OK I like Rough bunnies a lot. And Erik Halldén and Strawberry Fair. Action Biker is sweet but I’ve never heard Compute.

++ How would you define a perfect day for Alice? What will you do? What else do you like doing besides music?

Well I’m actually not very involved in music. Or maybe I am but I don’t feel like I am. And I think the perfect day always depends of what you did the day before.

++ What are the values of indiepop? Do you think indiepop can make a difference? Do you believe that there is in an indiepop international community?

Yes of course but the border between indie and mainstream is not very clear. Everyone wants a radio hit and everyone gets one! I don’t know if indie pop’s still indie. Or is it just Sweden? I don’t know.

++ If you could make three wishes, which will they be?

I would want a machine that could change other people’s actions in any way I want. A nice ending to the short melodrama. And world peace of course.

This interview was done on February 2007.

++ What’s been cooking in your studio in Bordeaux?

We worked on new songs between 2002 & spring 2006. Now I’ll wait until the next album release to work on new songs.

++ When is the new album coming out? It’s been a 6 year gap already since the last release Le Fumalin, what can we expect from this new album?

Next june, Hopefuly! It took so long because we had a lot of problems… First, Dogprint, that was to release Le Fumalin all over the world (except in Japan because Clover released it there), went bankruptcy. Then it took me so much time to finish new songs; I also started photo seriously ( http://www.watoowatoo.net/photo ). Then we had a problem with another label, blablablah… Btw, i’m very happy with the new album. I think we did much better than before: songwriting, arrangements, mix & mastering, vocals… Also, the album is still very pop, probably indiepop, but we have broadened our horizons with electronic, jazz, bossa & even 70’s funk influences!

++ How does Watoo Watoo compose their songs? What are their main influences?

The only instrument that I play quite well is the bass, but I compose with the guitar, or sometimes the keyboard. I usually start playing a few chords then the rest comes. I like writing lyrics under the pressure.

Then there’s a lot of work involved in recording the music. Since I started recording on my computer (in 1999 or 2000), I’ve become more demanding with the sounds & the arrangements. I want something as “beautiful” & perfect as possible! So I work with friends, particularly guitarists. For the new record, Anthony Rochester who lives in Tasmania (this is exactly the other side of the planet for us) plays guitar on one song! A friend of mine who lives in the Reunion island (13000 km) also plays on another song. Internet is very useful to send music tracks to the other side of the planet.

When I started Watoo Watoo, I just wanted to make beautiful pop songs. I “stole” chords patterns & lyrics from Felt. Now I still love Felt but I have opened my ears to bossa, jazz, electronica & other kind of music… But whatever arrangements & instruments I use, I think the songs still remain pop because of the melodies & Pascale’s sweet voice.

Btw, we never rehearse like any bands. I write & record a song, & when it’s almost finished, I ask Pascale to add vocals.

++ You’ve released on a label I’ve always seen with curiosity which is Clover Records, I think their releases have always been really good. How did you ended up releasing so far away? How was that experience?

I was in another indiepop band called Mumbly, on the german label Marsh Marigold. They were friends with Clover, which even released a 7″ with 4 bands from the label (including Mumbly). Then some Clover bands came to tour Europe. I saw them in paris, where I lived then. They were good & very nice. When we finished Le Fumalin, I sent them a CD & I put some catfood packages in the envelope (Clover is mad about cats!). Then we agreed to release the CD with them in Japan, & with Dogprint in the rest of the world. Eventually I had to release it myself because of Dogprint bankruptcy. Working with Japanese people is strange. They will send you 6 emails one day then won’t answer for 2 months! I had already read that they feel that working on something is more important than doing it. This is true! Call that cultural differences!

++ I’ve read that you are not releasing with Skipping Stones the new record, I bet there are many more labels interested. What happened with them?

After making us wait for 6 months, they decided that they didn’t have money anymore to release the cd. We had contacts with some other labels, but some couldn’t release the CD soon because their planning was full. Letterbox Records can release it soon. Gav is a very nice guy & his new label is very good.

++ Something I’ve noticed is that you’ve played in 2 Popfests, one in New York in 1997 and one in Paris in 1998. With who did you shared the bill? How did you like that experience?

The NY popfest was absolutly great! The Best Wishes were very good. The day after us, Holidays was playing their last show & many people were crying during the set. People were nice, funny, many came to us to say thanks, that was sweet. The strange thing is that when we played, we were still jetlagged (our plane landed a few hours before we go on stage). This is why we look exhausted on the pictures! In Paris, I played with Mumbly & Watoo Watoo, & also with other bands that never released anything. It was also quite funny.

++ It’s funny that I uploaded to videos to Youtube of your live performance on TV. Not many indiepop bands get to play in TV, how did that happen? Would you do it again?

It’s a local TV channel, from Bordeaux. Basically, any band that can play 3 chords without mistakes is booked on this show. The guy who played the drums with us on the show had already played with 2 other bands on this TV channel!

++ What bands from France would you recommend us? How much has the Chanson Francaise influenced Watoo Watoo?

Les lollipops, that eventually became evergreen (now Verone) made IMHO the best indiepop French 7″ ever, about 12 years ago. I wouldn’t recommend many French indiepop band – but many “Chanson” bands/artists.
Julien Baer, Jean Bart, Mathieu Boogaerts, Albin de Simone, Keren Ann, Jean-François Coen, my friends from Gypsophile, Pascal Parisot… & some people from the older generations, who are generally very famous here: Serge Gainsbourg, Charles Trenet, William Sheller, Alain Souchon, Alain Chamfort, Jane Birkin, Alain Bashung, etc. Does Brisa Roché count? She’s californian but she lives in Paris. last year she made the best record in the last 20 years!

It is clear that some of my songs sound “chanson”. Well, it just depends on the mood I’m in when I compose!

++ I know you are a big Antoine Doinel fan! I’m a big fan of French Cinema too. What are your favorite movies from all time? And what about in literature?

Yeah, I named my first son Antoine! I adore the 4 Doinel movies, by François Truffaut. I also love good comedies (Yves Robert, huge here but I guess his name didn’t cross the ocean), Italian 50/60s cinema, Woody Allen… In fact, I like lots of movies that 80% of people would find boring & plain flat (also add Rohmer here!)

Literature: I love Science-Fiction (PJ Farmer) & French 19th century litterature (Hugo, Zola, Maupassant), & JP Toussaint, a Belgian contemporary writer. But when I started working on my PhD/thesis, I had to stop reading as much as I did before, because of lack of time -isn’t that sad?-.

++ Tell me about Mumbly, your other band! What’s the story behind it and what does it future looks like?
Mumbly was my 1st baby… I wanted to make a band that could play as perfect pop songs as Felt! We released “Being Ernest” (a tribute to Ernie from Sesame Street!) on Marsh Marigold. Then we never broke the band, but we haven’t rehearsed for 5 years because we don’t live in the same cities. Hopefully one day I’ll finish mixing the songs we started recording in 1999! In 1994/5, Watoo Watoo was just a side project – I had many songs so I recorded them quick on 4 tracks with Watoo Watoo for Mumbly members to choose the songs they wanted to play. Then I realized that Watoo Watoo might be better than Mumbly :).