The Resistance
e-mail interview with Rosey R*E*P*E*A*T,
October 2005

For a long time now, The Resistance have been the most exciting live band in Cambridge.

Using guitars and various analogue and digital electronics, the Resistance manage to convey a sense of urgency and a desire to communicate through music which veers between heavy, pulsing walls of sound and sparkling melodies of guitars and electronics.

Their live shows are spectacular - a shock of light and noise, described by Drowned in Sound as "Spine tingling electro with a human face of rapt concentration/fascination". On stage, the band stand uniformed and uncommunicative, letting their wall of sound do the talking - a full-on yet haunting electro onslaught, a noise which has the kind of resonance most bands struggle to attain with a chorus. That, and the intelligently crafted films which are projected behind them, work to underline the point that this is not just cleverly pretty 'soundscape' music to stare open mouthed, stoned and obedient at, but that it also has something it wants to say.

All this from a band for a long time without lyrics.

With the recent news that The Resistance are now 'on a break', we thought it time to rescue this interview from 2005 from the R*E*P*E*A*T vaults.

The Resistance - who, what and why?
Us.
Electric, repetitive, psychedelic noise and light.
Because it feels like almost everyone else is out of ideas at the moment and just repeating the last 40 years of music over and over again. We have to at least try to do something different it's time to take things apart and put them back together again.

Describe your sound to a brain-dead, deaf, Burberry wearing alien.
E: If they're brain-dead and deaf, then surely our description can't be heard or read, and really we'd have to draw a picture to demonstrate our sound. So maybe some nice wavy lines hovering above some sort of blocks of fuzziness with spikes at regular intervals. And some squarewaves.
R: If it was deaf it could still enjoy our gig because it could watch the projections and pick up the vibrations. We'd need to play songs with lots of bass.
S: We always play songs with lots of bass. I guess it's all about reflections and air pressure, I would have no idea how to communicate that to a retarded, chav alien though.

Who are your heroes, musical and political?
E: Ray Davies and Alexander Berkman.
R: Without meaning to sound cynical I find it hard to have any heroes because they so often seem let you down that lazy third album, a U-turn philosophical change... Leaves a nasty taste. I wouldn't want to meet most of the people I really like.
S: Musically, I think I tend to dig bands more than the individual people in them. I really admire bands who have really changed things and pushed music forwards like the Velvet Underground, Wire, Throbbing Gristle, New Order, the United States of America, Kraftwerk and the Future Sound of London. Politically, I guess I'm still pretty gay for the old-school Labour types. Shame they're all dead. I mostly just feel so completely removed from it all that I find it hard to care that much.

Is there still a place for CDs or is downloading the future?
E: I use and appreciate both pretty equally...
R: I still enjoy having the physical item with sleeve art, but I think downloading has been improving music enormously. If more bands are able to have their music heard it will lead to more innovation. As a bonus there'll be less dodgy filler tracks on mainstream albums to skip through if CDs do die out.
S: I like LPs because the picture on the sleeve is bigger. I never really liked CDs anyway, they're so shit and plastic. I'd like to see them replaced completely by downloading, that'd be better ecologically as well.

What can people expect at your gigs?
E: A headache and some mild dizziness.
S: Yeah, lots of noise and light. For 30 minutes straight.

What was the last song you heard that you just had to copy and give to someone else straight away?
R: Neu! 2. It's wonderful.
E: I spend a reasonable percentage of my life trying to help people appreciate the virtues of Jim's Super Stereoworld....
S: 'If Love is a Drug, Then I Want to OD' by the Brian Jonestown Massacre.

What are you reading?
E: Never Trust a Rabbit by Jeremy Dyson.
R: I'm currently halfway through another Dickens novel, plus Sons and Lovers and some art and music biographies. I tend to have different books on the go for different situations.
S: Please Kill Me, L'Assommoir and Viz.

What do you listen to when hoovering?
E: The hoover, usually.
R: I quite like the sound of a hoover itself. It's a nice droning sound and you can pick out variations within the sound once your ears get used to the noise. After a while it's quite enjoyable.
S: Yeah, I can dig hoover sounds. I should hoover more just for the sound.

How can our readers get hold of your music? And why should they bother?
R: You can download songs from www.deadmedia.co.uk or, for those who don't have?
net access, we might give you a CD if you talk to us at a gig. Why? Because lots of people seem to like us.
S: We're just another psychedelic rock group trying to get ahead turn yourself on. Oh, and we're dead good.And of course, what's best, chips or cream buns???
E: CHIPS.
R: I've always thought that this is a strange question because they are very incongruous things.
There is only one possible answer to this question because there are few things better than the perfect chip: moist and thick with a light, fluffy interior and a slightly crispy outside. Rich and satisfying full of flavour. Mmmm. Chips...
S: It is so obviously chips.

Thanks to The Resistance for their time, their freindship and their quite incredible music. Tell them to get back to work here:

http://www.deadmedia.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/thepsychedelicresistance

Buy copies of their R*E*P*E*A*T singles here and here