THIS IS FAKE DIY INTERVIEW Miss Black America 28th January 2004

 

Any news on when you'll be releasing some new material?

Seymour (voice/guitar): Well, we've got a whole album written and the artwork and we know which singles we want to release off it and loads of ideas for videos… but no record deal. We had thought of trying to DIY it, but we learned with the first album that, for all the best intentions and ideas about keeping it homegrown, you can't do things as well on a tiny label. You need big adverts and good videos and money to get you new toys when the old toys get smashed, and people who'll buy you onto decent tours with bigger bands, or you run the risk of releasing something that doesn't get promoted properly and playing the same toilet venues to no-one forever. We gave off the impression that we were being all Naomi Klein about it before, saying we'd never sign to a major, but that was just arrogance - we thought, if My Bloody Valentine and Oasis can get massive on an indie, if BiS can get on TOTP releasing stuff from their bedroom, we can do it too. But we couldn't, and in the end you have to think, what do I care about more - making a kickass album that gets in everyone's faces, or some bullshit indie principle? Being told by the record company that they couldn't pay to advertise God Bless Miss Black America crushed me, and destroyed the band. So at the moment we're waiting, waiting, waiting, with an album going round and round in my head, and going completely insane.

Why a weekly residency? What makes it better than playing a few different places?

Seymour: We just thought, if it was good enough for the Stones and Pink Floyd and The Darkness, we'll have some of that. And me and Mat are massive Billy Joel fans, and he kept playing me Pianoman, and we liked the idea of being regulars, the epicentre of our own pub rock whirlwind.

MBA Bath 2003

For those who don't know much about you, how would you 'sell' yourself to them? Why should they come and see you play live?

Seymour: Well, for one thing, our drummer will always flash his tits. You won't even have to pay him. Or ask.

What do you hope to achieve for 2004? What do you have planned?

Mat (guitar): To have the album we know will rock released into everyone's faces like the dripping spawn of Count Rockula, the folklaw legend of decadence and debauchery. And to have clean pants. We also plan to tour with some more good bands on the same level as Therapy? and Kinesis, who we toured with in the first half of 2003.
Seymour: Huh-huh. Mat said "dripping".

Are there any bands we're not listening to that you think we should? Any bands we are listening to that you think we shouldn't?

Seymour: The thing is, there's so much fantastic music around that it's hard to know where to start. There's also a lot of shit, and I guess the thing is just to remember that it doesn't matter whether something's regarded as being "cool" or "classic" - a band isn't shit because they don't feature in Julian Fucking Casablancas' retro chic wanker record collection, or because old men don't masturbate over the awesome guitar licks and classic musicianship in Q or Mojo or Uncut any of those geriatric corpse-fucking glossies that issue forth 12 times a year with a free CD freshly waxed in Paul Weller's sticky white love piss just in time for the monthly erection. It bugs me that right now there's a whole load of British types, Kinesis, Reuben, Jarcrew, Antihero, The Dawn Parade, Tex La Homa, Volunteers, Asian Dub Foundation and especially Carina Round, who aren't getting a sniff of any decent coverage even though they work their arses off and release genuinely fantastic records. The 80's Matchbox are probably the only genuinely thrilling band the NME gives plenty of space to. Thank Christ for The Darkness. But scenes move on, and just because those decent bands don't come from New York and they don't have the right haircuts, and in the case of Kinesis, have been lumped in as A Political Band, doesn't mean that they won't be celebrated in a couple of months time. I'd like to think that people are starting to mistrust the tabloids and look for decent records themselves, but we'll have to wait and see if the Scissor Sisters go Top 5. If they do, I'm gonna start planting bombs.

MBA London Jan 2004

Finally, we're going to have a section with mix tapes (old-skool tapes, C60s cos we're cheap, two sides. more thought than a CD of mp3s) and wondered whether you'd like to contribute with a themed tape. You can choose any theme you like - even if it's just bands you like. You don't actually have to make the tape however.

Mat's Tape: The Beauty of the 80's
Side One:
1) KISS - Crazy Nights
2) ALICE COOPER - Feed My Frankenstein
3) FOREIGNER - Cold as Ice
4) BILLY JOEL - It's Still Rock and Roll To Me
5) GUNS 'N' ROSES - Rocket Queen
6) TIFFANY - I Think We're Alone Now
7) STEVE VAI - For The Love Of God
8) DURAN DURAN - Hungry Like The Wolf

Side Two:
1) METALLICA - Blackened
2) BON JOVI - You Give Love a Bad Name
3) DIRE STRAITS - Money For Nothing
4) ERIC CLAPTON - Bad Love
5) TWISTED SISTER - I Wanna Rock
6) MOTLEY CRUE - Kickstart My Heart
7) AEROSMITH - Janey's Got A Gun
8) VAN HALEN - Jump

Seymour's Tape: The International Language Of Cheese (it's a C90, sorry - you'll just have to splash out. The theme is that every song tends to give me the horn.)
Side One:
1) KINESIS - Everything Destroys Itself
2) GUNS 'N' ROSES - It's So Easy
3) CARTER USM - RSPCE
4) NIRVANA - Scentless Apprentice
5) THE CLASH - Complete Control
6) MANIC STREET PREACHERS - Yes
7) THESE ANIMAL MEN - This Is The Sound Of Youth
8) ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION - New Way New Life
9) BILLY JOEL - The Entertainer
10) SOUNDGARDEN - Jesus Christ Pose
11) SEX PISTOLS - Bodies
12) PJ HARVEY - Sheela Na Gig
13) VOLUNTEERS - Shallow Stuff

Side Two:
1) SUEDE - Every Monday Morning Comes
2) HAPPY MONDAYS - God's Cop
3) BLUR - Colin Zeal
4) SUPER FURRY ANIMALS - Demons
5) CARINA ROUND - Into My Blood
6) NINE INCH NAILS - Wish
7) SMASHING PUMPKINS - Hummer
8) TORI AMOS - Tear In Your Hand
9) TEX LA HOMA - Here With You
10) THE TEARDROP EXPLODES - The Culture Bunker
11) BOO RADLEYS - Lazarus
12) ABBA - The Winner Takes It All