British Sea Power
We caught up with Noble, the band's guitarist to catch up with their progress.
Brighton's British Sea Power play at the Smirnoff Experience at Brighton Racecourse on Saturday, July 23rd, alongside Herbaliser, The Paddingtons and The Infadels (for more information on the event please visit smirnoffexperience.com). We caught up with Noble, the band's guitarist to catch up with their progress.
How's life with the band treating you?
It's mostly good. We've been touring constantly which has been rather tiring. It's all fun though.
It must have been even more difficult for everyone bar Eamon, with Brakes' album now out and them touring to support it. How has that affected the band?
It's not really been a factor for anyone bar Eamon. He's been flying all over the place to keep up with the rest of us. He's coping with it well.
Ever had any thought about a side-project yourself?
Well actually I'm in another band with a group of friends. It's just something I like to do constantly - play music. It's not too serious yet although there is talk of moving down to London to help with getting noticed and maybe even signed. We've got a nice set of songs written so you never know what might happen.
Rough Trade has always been renowned for giving their artists freedom. Did you find this was the case for you?<
Yeah, totally. They never tried to tell us what to do or tried to change anything we did. They've been really happy with everything that we've gone to them with, which is pleasing for us. They never suggested things we could change or anything like that. The label even let us make our own promo videos for the majority of our singles.
It's Hamilton who's making those videos isn't it?
He is indeed. We'd been making these short films for ages before the band. So he jumped at the chance of doing the videos when it came about. It's a lot of fun, we have a little trip away and get paid for it.
You played at the Chelsea Flower Show a few weeks ago. How did that come about?
I'm not entirely sure. We were speaking to someone at Word magazine who knew people at the flower show. It's something the band thought would be interesting, so it just sort of happened.
How was it?
We loved it. The gig went well and afterwards we walked about looking at the gardens. We sat in one of the winning gardens with these nice old men wearing guardsman outfits, drinking gin in the beautiful sunshine. It was great.
Did the band approach writing and recording Open Season any differently to the first album?
Yes. It was always going to be the case I suppose. For 'The Decline Of...' we had been writing for five years, maybe more. So it was a completely different situation when album number two came about. In January 2004 we all went off to a barn in the South Downs and concentrated on writing. It was snowing for most of the three weeks and it was very enjoyable, nobody felt any pressure and the songs poured out. Then, recording the album, we got Bill Price. He was amazing, I'm really pleased with the way he made us sound - I think we connected really well.
Yes, the sound did change a bit from the first album. How do you feel about the potential for crossover to the mainstream for BSP with the album?
It's really frustrating. We were told that the latest single 'Please Stand Up' had a good chance of getting more radio play and coverage for us. But it didn't seem to work in the end. There's no point in us worrying about it really - it's out of our control. At first we were all for getting more widespread recognition, but now we've accepted there's nothing more we can do. It's best for us to stick to writing the music we want to write, and if other people like it then that's a bonus.
Finally, 'Open Season' was a mature step from the rawness of 'The Decline Of...'. Will you be doing a 'Kid A' with the third album?
Something like that would be nice. We're aiming for the next album to be a bit more 'rocky' than the last one. I guess we'll just see what happens when the time comes to record it. There are a heck of a lot of songs written already, Yan apparently has 50, Hamilton has played me 10 that he's written, and I have a few myself. So we could be looking at a triple album [laughs].
Subscribe to the Clickmusic News Feed
