Zane Lowe's a moron...
An interview with
Open Mouth
from Cambridge Evening News, 27.2.07


ANY debate about the best band to emerge from the Cambridge scene in the past 10 years will always throw up Miss Black America.

The angry eyeliner-caked indie rockers have had their triumphs and disasters over the past seven years but they never managed to make it on to the front of the NME, despite support from fan John Peel.

Frontman Seymour Glass has now decided to go it alone and is launching his solo single Castle Keepunder the name Open Mouth at CB2's on Norfolk Street on Saturday.

"We always had loads of trouble with the line-up in MBA and it's changed so much over the years, I think it's people trying to tell me something really," he tells scene.

"It is difficult when you're stuck in the back of a van for months on end and you never make any money. Even when it's going well I don't think you will ever feel that it's going well if you've got no money.

"We had some time booked in the studio but it was obvious at that point that certain people in the band couldn't be bothered so I thought I'd go in on my own and do some b-sides and I ended up getting loads done."

Although it retains the urgency of his work with the band, the new single is largely acoustic and has much more of a singer-songwriter feel about it - "I was initially going to market myself as the ugly Jeff Buckley," he jokes.

But although Miss Black America are on an indefinite hiatus and Seymour has other plans in the pipeline for musical collaborations, he's not yet prepared to lay the band to rest completely.

"I don't want to say we've completely split up because in the end it's not as if there was ever a falling out."

Although they were always held up as shining examples of the Cambridge music scene along with bands like Dawn Parade, Hoffman and The Saffs, Miss Black America actually hailed from Bury St Edmunds.

"There's some good bands in Cambridge at the moment but there isn't anyone who is doing anything brilliant. The Man on the Moon is a great venue but for whatever reason, gigs there don't feel as important as they did at the Boat Race.

"I think Cambridge bands have always been complacent. Maybe it's because there are a few venues around so they know they're always going to get a gig. Bands from Bury were always pretty desperate and maybe that gave us an edge."

One other factor that had a devastating effect on the band's chances of getting played on radio was the death of John Peel. Radio One's sonic adventurer was a confirmed fan of the band - they often appeared in his Festive Fifty countdown and went on his show for live sessions.

"I feel really sorry for all bands who are just starting because without John Peel I don't think there's anyone who will listen.

"John Kennedy has quite a free rein at XFM but Steve Lamacq is slowly getting pushed out of Radio One. They wanted an exciting new person so they got Zane Lowe in who is an absolute moron and I can't describe how much I hate him."

Open Mouth's split single with Dexy on Angry Liberal Record/ R*E*P*E*A*T will be launched at CB2's on Saturday.

http://www.myspace.com/openmouthmusic