Iain Todd dons his scuba gear and desends into the inky darkness of The Black Box for an exclusive UlsterMusic.com interview with… The Brent Flood is a band that I am somewhat familiar with through a student radio show I used to do in Glasgow, which was dedicated solely to acoustic and folk music. I always loved that free, silky, acoustic quality in their music so when I heard they were playing the Black Box last Friday night [April 10, 2009 - ed] and there was an opportunity to go interview them, I realised it would be a good chance to check out the gig and see if they were still doing the same stuff that I remember. The band is London based and consists of bassist Ed and guitarist Robin, both from Ulster, Swiss drummer Dan, and lead singer Jay from England. They are creating a lot of buzz in the UK and Switzerland, where they recently toured, and when I arrive at the Black Box they are merrily tucking into a pizza, the atmosphere completely relaxed and immediately friendly. Before the interview I get a chance to speak to Robin, who is a friend of mine from the same hometown. He tells me they aren’t doing any of the songs I knew from a couple of years ago anymore and, by the sounds of their 2008 EP, Pleasureseeker, they are a very different band from the one I heard back then. We’re chatting away so I reckon it’s a good idea to keep this going and start the interview without the rest of the group, who I know will be back shortly.
UM: First, I ask Robin about Switzerland…
Robin – The guys out there just went crazy for The Brent Flood, you know? They happened to see us on the first night and just kept on coming to other gigs across the country. We even had one true, genuine fan who turned up to a place in Freiburg wearing a Brent Flood tshirt, singing along to the songs. He’d been a fan since before we even came to Switzerland and he’d travelled 150 miles from Geneva to come and see us.
UM: How did he hear about the band?
His brother had given him a CD and a tshirt for Christmas but the thing is we couldn’t figure out who his brother was or how he first heard us so we really don’t know! So it’s the little things like that that can cheer you up when you’re on the road.
UM: At this point the rest of the band join us and I ask them about the tour of the UK they’re on.
Robin – We played St. Andrews in October. We were doing a tour of the UK and went up to do a big opening Freshers’ Ball for them. That was a good foot in the door ‘cos it was a chance to just play to hundreds and hundreds of new people. They really seemed to take to it as well and we’ve been back twice now. But because it’s such a small place it seems to be quite easy to conquer, you know? There’s only so much going on on a given night so if you do a gig in St. Andrews, you make a big deal out of it and promote it and it’s basically what’s going on in St. Andrews that night! We’re going back up again soon, just me and Jay, although I think the others are coming along for the ride.
UM: So any plans to play the big cities in Scotland?
Robin – Every time we go up to Scotland we always try and play Edinburgh. We did Glasgow last time and it’s a little bit trickier ‘cos it’s bigger. Edinburgh is sort of a more manageable size but we’ll get there. We’ll definitely crack Glasgow.
Jay – The thing about gigging in Glasgow is that you’re playing somewhere that is already such an established music scene. You’ve got to play with some other bands on the bill who are going to bring some people along, so you can win over a few hearts and minds for the next time round. It’s not the kind of place where you can go in on your own and hope to advertise there. But the reason why Edinburgh really works is that it’s a great size. The truth is that when we were sponsered by the clothing company that took us round the UK, Jack Wills, they have a store there and lots of people who like the brand. So I think that’s how a lot of people heard about us. With Glasgow it’s just a matter of finding the right band to do the circuit with. And then, you know, we can do them a great favour when they come down to London.
Robin – (Joking) The thing is that we’re not trendy enough. There are people in Glasgow who are way too cool, you know?
UM: That’s usually a good thing, though, not being trendy…
Robin – Well, yeah… (they all burst out laughing). But we’re not even trendy in the not trendy way…
Jay – yeah we’re not even trendy in a ‘this is about to become cool’ kind of way, we’re kind of uncool in a kind of ‘sweet Lord, this was never trendy’ kind of way!
Robin – We’re uncool in a kind of ‘you’re not cool but I think you’re trying to be cool’ kind of way! (they all laugh). The genre we made up to describe ourselves is ‘ponce rock’. We always get asked what kind of music we play and we’ve always said ‘sort of poppy indie rock’ and that sort of merged into ponce rock…
UM: So has ponce rock cracked London?
Jay – Well there isn’t really such a thing as cracking London, because it’s such a massive place. You could only really expect to be known by a tiny percentage of the population. The thing about London is that it’s basically a sprawling conglomeration of loads and loads of different little boroughs. It’s weird, it’s more of metropolis than a city. So we found the best thing to do is to forget about Camden, Shoreditch and all these trendy areas because they already have their own established scene. There’s no point in driving up to Camden, getting all your mates to come up and driving back again because no one cares. But you can make your own scene, in your own little borough, which is what we’re trying to do in our own area, in the south west.
Robin – We’re on the right track for cracking a pocket of London. We all lived in Tooting for a couple of years. We played all over London and found that by far the most valuable gigs that we did were the ones right on our doorstep to the people we know. We’d have a regular slot basically next door to where we live and it was just getting bigger and bigger every time. It’s a lot better than travelling to somewhere arbitrary on the other side of London.
Jay – There’s just something so arbitrary about going somewhere that other people made cool, you know? The other thing as well is geographical loyalty. If you say ‘yeah we’re from just down the road’, London’s so densely populated that for about thirty or forty thousand people, it’s a pretty cool thing to be able to say. And then you make friends with other bands who live in London. So there are just endless possibilites for real, loyal followings. I think if a lot of people knew that, our job would actually be a lot harder, to be honest. The number of bands who think all thay have to do is go to London, play Dublin Castle, play the Barfly, get seen by that one A&R guy. But no A&R guy wants to go and see a band that hasn’t already made a name for themselves. In the beginning it took us a long time to work that out. In London it’s all about the way you conduct yourself. There’s definitely an advantage to being a thirty minute tube ride away from EMI and all these record labels. When a buzz does start to happen, it’s very easy for them to come and check it out.
UM: So does the band have an ethos on indie vs. major labels?
Robin – Well we are with an indie label, and there are definitely limitations to what they can do, but the deal we’ve signed is like a production deal. It’s set up with a view to getting a larger, third party involved. At some point you are going to need a bigger body to distribute and to get things off the ground. You can get a huge buzz about you but it does take someone, they don’t necessarily have to be major, but you need someone of a certain size to conduct it all and make it happen. So truth be told, we don’t have a huge allegience to the indie thing over the major thing.
Ed – I think it’s to do with our sort of style of music. I think the whole ‘do it yourself generation’ has been overstated a little.
Robin – It has, but at the same time there are some bands that think all they have to do is get seen by that one A&R guy from the major label and they’re sorted, but that’s complete bullshit because an A&R guy doesn’t care how good you are, it’s all about making a buzz for yourself. Major or indie, they all care about the people that you have brought to the gig.
Jay – It’s slightly over cynical to say that they don’t care how good you are because obviously that’s the most important thing, but picture yourself as an A&R guy. You have band A, who are really good, they sound excellent and you think they could sell a lot of records. Then you have band B who are just as good, but are already, off their own back, showing signs of being really committed to their music, having already harvested a load of fans. They’ve been able to sell a few EPs and pack out places like the Black Box and the Barfly. It’s a no-brainer because for band B, all they need to do is pump in loads of money and it’s scaling up a model that’s already working. Whereas band A could be lazy gits or loose cannons. They’re good but there’s no evidence that they have everything else that it takes to make it. Unless they’re really f**king good. I think the whole major vs. indie thing has evaporated now. The modern equivalent of an indie label, I suppose, is doing it yourself.
Ed – You can do it yourself until someone else comes on board, if someone chooses to.
Jay – Yeah, I mean we pretty much are doing it ourselves. We’ve signed a production deal that means we can make recordings that we’re proud of, which means we have a good product to take to people. We organise our own gigs, get ourselves round the country, make our own merch.
UM: So did you fund the Switzerland tour yourselves then?
Jay – Well, Switzerland funded the Switzerland tour, because we managed to make enough money from the shows. The venues over there tend to give you free food so most nights we didnt have to worry about it. The only f**ker about it was having to drive 800 miles to get there, in that bloody van out there! [he points outside to a red van].
UM: Would you say that the UK music scene is quite London-centric?
Jay – I think it’s perfectly balanced. There are as many bands in London as you would expect the capital to have, simply because all the record labels are there and bands who want to make it think they may as well go to where all the action is. But on the flipside, there’s always Manchester, Liverpool and other great scenes with bands who maybe made the reverse decision and decided to not go where everyone else was going.
Robin – It’s not easy anywhere to make it. There are reasons why it’s difficult to be in Bristol or Edinburgh just the same as London. It’s never easy anywhere.
Jay – (laughing) Apart from Switzerland! Piece of piss!
UM: Was it Dan who set up all the venues in Switzerland, then?
Dan – Yeah. I pulled a couple of strings, set up the gigs. It was slightly easy because it was on my back, you know? I worked there and a lot of people know me so all that was in our favour from the beginning. So when we played in outher places in Switzerland there were a lot of guys who came to see our second show or our third show just because they liked us.
UM: So any plans to go outside Switzerland next time?
Dan – Yeah, we already have a gig booked in Berlin for September and we’re going to try and play a bit more of Germany and a bit more of Switzerland again. Then Jay’s running the Berlin marathon.
Jay – Yeah, I’ve got the Berlin marathon on the 20th. So it’s a gig on the 18th, the marathon, and then back home.
UM: I ask them about their ambitions and long term plans for the band.
Jay – Well while we’ve given it a hell of a lot of thought about what the wisest and most prudent way to spend our time and money is. There’s a reason why we do this and aren’t working in the city. Music has and always will be our passion and we’ve been doing it together since we were kids.
Robin – (laughing) Yeah we always get caught out talking about business models and markets! Of course you think about these things.
Jay – We’re not the kind of band who’ll turn round and say ‘Yeah, man, we don’t know how it all happened’.
Robin – We don’t even want to be famous!
Jay – (joking) That’s not true. Can I just categorically say, we want to be f**king famous!
Ed – I just love being in the band and driving hundreds of miles. The other week we drove from Switzerland back to London, then from London to Belfast. It just felt like nothing because you just get so used to being on the road.
Jay – Even when you’re setting up all your own stuff, lumping equipment around, trying to be your own PR, roadie, tour manager, at the end of the day you still get to rock out once a day, meet loads of cool new people.
UM: Is there any point in asking whether you prefer the live gigs to the recording studio then?
Jay – No, it’s a good question. We also really love the studio. What about you, Dan? Are you a touring man or a studio man?
Dan – It’s hard to say ‘cos they’re both so different. Playing live is probably my favourite but I love playing in the studio as well. But the studio is a lot of mindwork. You play the song maybe once or twice and from then on it’s all about sitting there and listening and working things out.
Robin – You get a huge buzz when you’re in the studio and you listen back to something and you know you’ve got it. I find the process actually quite stressful, trying to get things right. You’re thinking ‘is this actually going to be as good as I was hoping?’. On stage is definitely more relaxed…
Ed – (laughing) I actually get pretty nervous…
Robin – Yeah, Ed has trouble with his nerves! You should see him trying to drive the van on the right hand side of the road, at night, having not slept.
Jay – Yeah, picture the scene: it’s one o’clock in the morning, we’d just got off the boat at Calais, it’s pissing with rain, it’s pitch black, and we just know that in theory we’re supposed to drive on the right. So we’re driving on the right but there are no cars to back up our theory so for all we know we’re about to experience a massive head-on! But luckily we saw a beautiful pair of headlights coming from the other side. Woohoo!
Ed – Bombing down the Autobahn at forty-five miles an hour…
Dan – Eddie loved it when we were driving along one laned streets in the countryside and a car came in the other direction. We had to cut off this tiny street and it’s kind of in your blood when you’re born there, but Ed thought we were going to die! He was sitting there with his head in his hands for about two minutes!
Robin – Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re on a flat road or not, but you can tell in that van because if there’s a slope of even one degree it’ll start slowing down. You’ll maybe settle at about thirty, thirtyfive! But we all take turns driving so it’s all good.
UM: So to sum up quickly, because I know you want to head in and watch the support act who are starting soon, can I ask the corny question as to your influences ?
Ed – Well we all like different music. For better or worse my favourite band of all time is the Smashing Pumpkins but, you know, we sound nothing like them. We’re all influenced by what we listen to, but we’re not trying to sound like anybody. If we do sound like someone, I think it’s for other people to decide.
Jay – I suppose there are two different categories; ‘sounds like’ and ‘influences’. I would never want to be so bold as to say we sound like anyone. People can make their mind up. But I can certainly say what sort of music I like and what sort of music inspired me to start writing.
Ed – Dan’s a big funk man as well, but we don’t really dig funk.
Jay – We veto funk, in fact.
Robin – Everyone likes a little bit of funk, but Dan likes a lot of funk.
Jay – I’m more of a Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Smiths, man. I love classic guitar bands. But I listen to a lot of classical music as well.
UM: So what about you, Robin?
Robin – Well I think the first band is coming on so we’d better go. My favourite band at the moment is Fleet Foxes. I think their album is superb.
And with that, they’re off to watch the first support act. I find a good place to stand at the bar and, by the time The Brent Flood come on stage, the Black Box is packed out and two pints of Guinness have me in the mood for a great show. The opening sound is a funky, bass drum groove which gets the seated audience out of their chairs and up to the front of the stage. Funnily enough, the second track they play, “I Kissed A Boy” (which, Jay assures the crowd in his introduction, sounds nothing like “I Kissed A Girl“) reminds me of Ed’s favourite band, the Smashing Pumpkins. Like their song, “I Am One“, a roll of the drums at the beginning of the song gives it a punch and the rest of the band kick in with a heavy, indie sound. Jay’s vocals sound great and I can see how he is influenced by singers who, in his own words, ‘sing with a bit of f**king meaning’.
As far as the music is concerned, they do the four-piece sound well. Robin’s guitar playing stands out as intricate and melodic and definitely contrasts the monotony of those guitarists who do nothing but play chords. Dan is also a good drummer, even if I do feel that the bass – hi-hat – snare motif is somewhat overdone. This, however, is just my personal taste and in no way does it compromise the obvious ability of such a good band. Along with Ed’s groovy bass lines, they make a powerful and strong rhythm section which compliments the lead guitar and vocals well.
I made sure I told Robin after the gig that the highlight for me was the song “Skinny Machines“, which appears on their latest EP, Pleasureseeker. It is one of those songs that you wish you had written yourself, and which is so essentially simple yet so effective that you almost can’t believe you didn’t think of it first. It has a chorus that fools you into thinking you must have heard the song about a thousand times, whereas in actual fact it is simply great songwriting and craftsmanship. The song “Superhappy“, which is also on the same EP, is another example of the band’s ability to experiment with pauses and varying timbres, the guitar riff acting like a repeated ostinato over the chord changes.
Needless to say, the encore is much demanded and, to everyone’s surprise, includes a rendition of Michael Jackson‘s “Black Or White“. They do it well, and it’s enough to actually make me like the song. You forget how heavily guitar influenced the track is, with the cool, distorted guitar riff inbetween the vocal lines and the incredibly heavy break down half way through the song. Robin also was able to pull off the rapping section in Jay’s mic, which received a huge cheer from the crowd.
By the time the band leave the stage, they have pleased everyone who came to see them and have converted a lot more people to their sound. It was a great gig and a great set, and they are a band who pull it off and do their own thing, with their own sound. And not a slinky acoustic chord in sight.
© UlsterMusic.com 2009
April 15th, 2009 → 12:46 pm
…click HERE for a TBF interview with UlsterMusic.com. There’s also a gig review…