The Early Years
For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us a little bit about yourselves? Give us a bit of background, so we can get a picture of who you are.
The Early Years started life as a single guitar playing heavily delayed and drone effects, largely improvised. Then we introduced a few repetitive riffs, then a monotonous driving backbeat. We then thought we’d better write some songs, so we threw that into the mix as well.
How has the public been responding to your music on your recent tours?
We’ve had a pretty decent response so far. People usually come up and say how much they enjoyed it after most shows. Every gig is a step up from the last, hopefully we’ll keep going in that direction
How do you write songs? Any special techniques?
It usually starts with relentless jamming in our rehearsal room, recording everything we do. Then plough through hours and hours of recordings and pick out the best elements. We’ll work on one or two of those ideas till we’re happy that a bonafide tune is there. This takes anywhere between a day and a month, depends. Sometimes one of us will come in with a written song which we give our sound treatment to. A lot of music we write that ends on the cutting room floor, we’re quite brutal in that regard.
How would you explain your sound to someone who has not yet to heard you?
Soundscapes, drones and feedback over metronomic beats, with a few songs thrown in for good measure.
Tell us a bit about your new single “All Ones And Zeroes”?
We found a riff that Roger did amongst our recordings, and we jammed it out with Phil’s metronomic beat. The vocals came much later, which we tried to keep fairly minimal. We demoed it first of all in the cheapest studio we could find. I stuck it into the post to Radio 1 and Xfm and forgot all about it. Then they played it. Then played it again. And again. We couldn’t believe it, and on the back of that we were offered to do sessions at Maida Vale and XFM. Beggars Banquet came along with a deal, so we re-recorded it at the Contino Rooms with Tim Holmes (Death in Vegas). We think the result is pretty good. The 11 minute 3rd track was a great meeting of minds between Tim Holmes and The Early Years, written and recorded in the studio in one day.
Who did the cover art for that release?
Our friend Dan took the pictures. The cover only came together at the very last minute, after we coaxed our friend Jonny out of the pub to do a funhouse-style collage for the back. He can’t remember doing it!
Have you finished work on a record?
We’re getting there – we’ve got so many ideas coming through at the moment we’re trying to finalise the stuff we are going to use. If we put all our ideas onto one record we would end up with a piece of music that would go on for hours, so we are really trying to pick out the best pieces that sit together well.
We’ve got a good few tunes ready for the record, and there’s some great songs ready. Our sound is developing all the time, so we’re going back to put some more stuff down next month. We should have a decent stockpile of songs ready soon, then we’ll begin compiling the album. This might be the only album we ever make, so we’re making a great record, not just a good one.
Who are you guys listening to right now? Are you listening to new stuff as well as old stuff?
We all listen to quite different stuff. Roger’s really into this unsigned band called Somebody’s Mind – kind of totally on their own tip and really enjoying The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Phil is listing to a lot of Stars of the Lid, and Salvatore. Dave listens to stuff like Spectrum, The Boredoms and Harmonia. Quite a mixed bag which seems to come together somehow in our muisic.
What would be your greatest fear?
To leave this earth before getting the album finished.
What can we expect to find you doing in 2006?
2006 will be the year we start touring in ernest, where we expand our sonic capabilities, and release our debut album. Getting our sounds out to as many ears as possible.
Kids In Tracksuits
How did you get involved in making music?
matt: from listening to music all the time from an early age. we were making music on our own for a few years before we put anything together as kids in tracksuits, although we had been meaning to do it for ages. When we finaly made something together we were really happy with it, so we just took it from there.
andy: neither of us can rap, so making the music seemed the logical thing to do. i couldnt afford two turntables to begin with so i had one and just messed about with that and got into turntablism, we’d always swap tapes of stuff we’d both randomly done at school, just seemed like a good idea for a dj and producer to join forces. strength in numbers and all that!
How do you write songs? Any special techniques?
matt: our tracks are usualy started or finished in a different way everytime, so its hard to pin down any special techniques. the best way we find to work is to do it as instinctively as possible, to not worry too much about how its going to end up and just work on it until we are happy with it.
andy: i agree, it does change everytime. theres no set routine or anything, we dont aim for a song to sound a specific way really, alot of ideas can sound good in your head but then dont really work when you actually start putting them down. so not planning anything is pretty much our only technique…
Tell us a bit about the new single “Get Your Kit On”?
matt: its our first proper release which will be available as a limited edition 7”. Basically three tracks which work as a nice little introduction to what we do. It also sets us up nicely for what will come next.
andy: yep, our first official venture.a taster of the sorts of things you can expect from KiT. coming out in march through dealmaker records.
“We Make It Rock” has been a constant in my rotation. What was the inspiration behind that track?
matt: i can hear a bit of rick rubin production in there somewhere maybe, run dmc and some trashy electro type shit all thrown together. never really thought about it at the time though, it was always meant to be just a simple party rocker, a tune you don’t have to think about too much, something that just hits you quickly and then ends.
andy: yeh a party joint definitely, head turning stuff, something recognizable that’s going to stand out and get your attention straight away, big sounding…like our version of ‘simon says’ if you like.
I have heard your work on the radio quiet a few times and played it myself. Does it still surprise you to hear your work?
matt: yeah it still comes as a big shock to hear it, i think it probably always will. i still find it funny even hearing another person say ‘kids in tracksuits’ out loud.
andy: yeh definatley, its bizzarre, hearing tunes we’ve just cooked up in our bedrooms on national radio,very strange.
How would you explain Kids In Tracksuits to someone who has yet to hear you?
matt: i see all our stuff as hip hop, it will always be the foundation of we do although we enjoy going off on tangents most of the time, so it usualy ends up sounding quite far removed from straight up hip hop. Id say its a mix of everything we think sounds ill but with a raw hip hop feel all the way through.
andy: if the kid with the gadgets from the goonies were to start a one man band i rekcon he’d sound like us!? if thats abit far fetched for you then think along the lines of some cut chemist,dj shadow, RJD2 type stuff… but abit more british.
Do you play out live? If so how have the response been?
matt: yeah we play out quite a bit localy. the response is usualy different every time. we’ve had some nice responses from audiences who usualy tend to be into more guitar based music which has been kind of suprising since we always thought it would mainly appeal to hip hop heads.
andy: yeh the gigs we’ve done either supporting people or showcasing ourselves always seem to get a good response from varied crowds of people. although people can tend to think we’re just dj’ing some of the time because we’re not rhyming or holding an instrument like most live acts would… as long as their feeling the music though i dont suppose that matters too much.
What are some of the artists that have inspired you?
matt: we started k.i.t with a shared love of wu tang, j5, gangstarr and dilated peoples, hip hop like that. listening to those while we were at school was always our common ground so i think they are the artists which have inspired us the most with our music. we listen to a lot of different styles on our own which have been big inspirations too, personaly aphex twin has always been a massive one for me.
andy: like matt says pretty much any good hiphop new or old… ugly duckling, mr lif, edan, a tribe called quest, cage, big daddy kane… to name afew. lots of more cut related stuff too for me like kid koala, the x-ecutioners, skratch piklz, fingathing, mr dibbs….
Who are you listening to right now?
matt: bob james, yesterday’s new quintet, planet-mu records.
andy: ive got ‘kool g rap – 4,5,6′ on here.
What would be your greatest fear?
matt: losing my hearing would be awful, no more music.
andy: music-wise, yeh going deaf wouldnt be much fun at all, loosing an arm/arms would be pretty bad too,i’d have to learn to scratch with my feet or something!
What can we expect to find you doing in 2006?
matt: hopefully playing gigs in places we havent played before and releasing some more music. either way we’ll be busy making loads of it all year.
andy: good question, getting our sounds to new people/places for sure. and just keeping on doing our thing making new stuff, maybe working with some mc’s too, any dope mc’s give us a shout!
The Pigeon Detectives
How did you come up with the name for the band?
Some random Australian bloke called us it at the Leeds Festival. He was overwhelmed by Matt’s knowledge of racing pigeons.
How did you get involved in making music?
Matt: I was working behind a bar when Dave and Oliver came in one day and asked me if I wanted to join a band. – I said yes.
Dave: Me and Oliver decided to be in a band when we were 14, before we even knew how to play an instrument. I think it was The Beatles that started everything off.
Ryan: Once me, Matt, Dave & Oliver got together we jammed, and starting to write some songs but without a drummer, at the time I worked with Jimmi and knew he was a drummer and asked if he’d like to come and jam with us. Then we asked if he’d like to join and he did.
Jimmi: I started up when I went to high school, got the chance to take Instrumental lessons & have been playing/making music since.
How do you write songs? Any special techniques?
Oliver: I just sort of hear them in my head, then work out how to play them on acoustic guitar and usually write a few lyrics just so i’ve got something to sing. There’s no special techniques that i’m aware of. I can’t write on demand either which can be frustrating. Once i’ve got the basic idea of a song then play it to everyone else and they all add their own parts and we work out the arrangements and stuff.
Tell us a bit about your new single ‘I’m Not Sorry’?
Matt: It’s shit hot and you can jump around to it.
Jimmi: It’s well lethal
Dave: It’s kind of a dance floor favourite locally.
Oliver: We were trying to do a Bloc Party style song with call and response between the guitars but we didn’t really get it right and it ended up as something completely different.
Ryan: It’s out 13th March!!
How did you hook up with Dance To The Radio label?
We knew Whiskas from playing around Leeds and supporting Forward Russia. Matt asked him if he’d put us on the next DTTR compilation and he told us if we got a better demo then he would…
Anyway, we never had enough money to record a better demo but he’d seen us a few times and knew that we were good and hard working so offered to pay for us to record a track on the compilation. After he’d heard the results he asked us if we wanted to record a single for DTTR.
I have heard your work on the radio quiet a few times and played it myself. Does it still surprise you to hear your work?
Not really surprising, but it’s kind of strange to hear someone like Steve Lamacq talking about us on Radio 1 and playing our song. We’ve only heard ourselves on radio twice so it’s not become a run of the mill type thing for us yet. It’s still really exciting to hear us get played.
How would you explain The Pigeon Detectives to someone who has yet to hear you?
Matt: Fun, chaotic, lots of energy with good songs that people sing along and dance to.
Oliver: Kind of post punk New York sound. Like a mixture of Television, Blondie, Interpol and The Strokes but also with more melodic influences like Oasis, The Beatles, Blur, The Kinks etc…
Any crazy stories from the road?
Jimmi & Matt were a bit tipsy from a gig in Manchester & got pissed off at a house party so then decided we were gonna drive back to Leeds but luckily the Car park was closed when we got there. On the way to the car Jimmi needed to use the loo so went into a brothel and asked if he could use theirs, they said no. Nothing too ‘crazy’ in mind at the moment.
Who are you listening to right now?
Dave: I have been listening to Radiohead (The Bends), Love (Forever Changes) and Dylan (Blood on the Tracks) – What an amazing album that is.
Matt: The Libertines, The Smiths and The Pigeon Detectives.
Oliver: Modern Lovers, The Strokes, The Specials, loads of 50′s stuff like Little Richard, Del Shannon, Buddy Holly and I can’t stop listening to ‘Tears of a Clown’ by Smokey Robinson.
Jimmi: iFoward Russia!, Chuck Berry, The Editors, Arcade Fire, The Kinks & Kanye.
Ryan: I’m into Editors, Interpol & The Strokes new album (First impressions of earth) at the moment.
What are some of the artists that have inspired you?
Matt: The Beatles, Oasis and The Libertines.
Dave: The Beatles, The Smiths and The Strokes.
Oliver: The Beatles, The Kinks, Television, Joy Division, Interpol, Blondie, loads more but I can’t think right now.
Jimmi: Erm…The Beatles, Blondie, The White Stripes, Interpol, The Strokes, Prodigy, The Smiths, The Clash, Beach Boys, The Kinks, Elvis, The Buzzcocks & some tasteful hip-hop; NWA comes to mind.
Ryan: The Beatles (I learnt to play the guitar to Beatles songs) David Bowie, loads of sixties/seventies bands. I really like the styles of recent bands like Kings Of Leon & The Strokes
What would be your greatest fear?
Matt: The band not making it and having to work a 9-5 job for the rest of my life.
Dave: Someone forcing me to eat an egg sandwich.
Oliver: Everyone thinking we were shit.
Jimmi: Any female breaking wind near me & me hearing it. Please don’t do it girls your meant to be all girly & that.
Ryan: Dying!!
What can we expect to find you doing in 2006?
Ryan: More singles/album, a headline tour, Festivals & having fun.
Matt: If all goes to plan, touring the country, playing festivals and recording an album. Maybe the odd bit of recreational drug taking here and there.
Dave: Travelling around having the time of my life with my 4 best mates.
Oliver: Hopefully releasing another single or two and perhaps working on our debut album and playing lots of gigs all over the country.
Jimmi: Definitely aiming to record an album & do some touring; that’d be grand.