interview : hooton tennis club

Hooton Tennis Club are fast becoming regulars to Liverpool's ever-growing music scene. Signing a deal with Heavenly, after almost a year of playing shows under that attention-grabbing moniker is no mean feat, so I wanted to find out just how they did it. 

Ryan (vocals, guitar), Callum (bass) and Harry (drums) kindly agreed to meet me for a chat on a sunny Saturday afternoon - amidst their hectic schedule of signing contracts and going to festivals. Alright for some eh?

photo: twitter

Callum: Hi, we're Hooton Tennis Club!

me: OK, that's a good place to start - tell me about the name.

Ryan: We were making music in Harry's bedroom, and we went to get some chips.. then we walked past the sign for Hooton Tennis Club. We thought "oh, that'd be a good song name!", but it stuck as a band name. And that's how interesting that story is!

Harry: Maybe we need to change it though, because no one ever gets it right. We've had Hootin, Hootun.. someone even did it with an A.

me: I'm not going to ask the typical 'who are your influences' question, so I'll ask you to describe your sound.

Callum: Describe our sound? ..rubbish.

Harry: People trying to play Pavement songs, but they're not quite good enough.

Callum: Sloppy?

Harry: Yeah, people always say 'slacker'.

me: Isn't that an insult?

Harry: A backhanded compliment..

Ryan: Someone called it 'melodic sloppiness'.. so we'll go with that as the tagline.

me: So you've just signed with Heavenly, and you're going to be recording with Bill Ryder-Jones.. is that right? Are you allowed to tell me when you'll be bringing out new stuff, or is that top secret?

Ryan: I have absolutely no idea.. January is when they're aiming for. But it's already been pushed  back twice. All I know is that it's going to be in 3D. With listening glasses.

me: What about gigs for the rest of the year? Or will you just be in the studio?

Callum: No, we're playing Dalston two weeks today, and then the Palm House in Sefton Park.

Ryan: We've got a Halloween show. 

Harry: Me and Ryan made this hidden EP when he got a synth, so we might learn some of those for then.

Ryan: It's like shouty garage, with ghostly overtones. Stories about ghosts and vampires and werewolves.

me: Are you going to dress up?

Ryan: I think we should. Get sheets and cut holes in them for eyes.

me: I've noticed that your song titles all involve names. Is that intentional?

Harry: Yeah, we get a random book and pick a random sentence. Sometimes we change the name though.

me: So they're not actually based on real people? Everyone just thinks you write about mysterious ex-girlfriends.

Harry: Well Jennifer was because we were obsessed with Supergrass when we were like 16, and their band before was called The Jennifers.

Ryan: Some of the girls were real! Camilla was one I met in Copenhagen.

Callum: And she actually drew 14 dots on her knee.

Ryan: *demonstrates the method* 'there were no windows in the little hospital'. 

me: So that's the next single?

Harry: Add a girls name in.

Ryan: Done.

me: Liverpool's music scene is really thriving at the moment - who are you rating?

Callum: Well obviously that's because of us.

Harry: ..or in spite of us. I like Strange Collective. *all agree* Really loud garagey psych. The OC's kind of thing.

Ryan: We listen to Stealing Sheep. *to Callum* I like that thing you say about Liverpool.

Callum: Well, I don't think there is a scene. There's not a sound. There's loads of good bands doing really different things. It's very varied in Liverpool. But at the same time, somehow, it's a scene.

Harry: Liverpool has always been a melting pot of things.

Ryan: I think it's because it's a port. We're lucky to have things like Sound City, Music Week.. that festival thing in Sefton Park. There's always something going on in Liverpool.

Callum: And there are loads of great people working in the music industry here. The press are good guys, and we've got some great promoters too.

me: I feel like Liverpool bands aren't weighed down by a certain 'thing'. Because the Beatles are so big, nobody's going to try and match that.

Callum: Yeah, and they're not just Liverpool's band, they're everybody's band. 

me: And finally, if you could only listen to one band for the rest of your life, who would it be?

Callum: Us.

me: You can't pick yourselves..

Ryan: I'm going to go with Animal Collective. They've got so much music and it's really varied. I'd never get bored.

Harry: I'm going to cheat and say Motown. Rather than one artist, like a 'Best of..' album.

Callum, (after much deliberation):  Beach Fossils.

Ryan: No! Where's the longevity in that?

Callum: Whenever I dont have anything to listen to, I always go back to that first album of theirs.

Ryan: Who would James pick? (the 4th member of Hooton Tennis Club)

Harry: Bullet for my Valentine. But don't put that one in. 

See below for a list of the band's upcoming shows:

review : by the sea // i see a crystal sky

By The Sea are the quite possibly the most underrated band out there at the moment, or as Bill Ryder-Jones once put it: “the kind of band that in ten years everyone will pretend they loved in the early days”. Very true.

Their self-titled debut album was released back in 2012, and provided us with nine tracks of the most heavenly surf-rock/dream-pop goodness. But this summer brings album number two - Endless Days, Crystal Sky - and the band have given us a preview with 'I See A Crystal Sky'.

Unlike some bands who take a different route with every album and completely re-invent themselves, it would seem that By The Sea are simply letting their sound evolve naturally, which is how it should be done. On 'I See A Crystal Sky' any remnants of surf-rock from their debut have been washed over; the jangly guitars have been smoothed out to the point of being unrecognisable. Synths are brought to the forefront – being the overriding element on this track – and the vocals are far more prominent, having previously been merely a distant echo. The synth-led sound will hopefully gain them some well-deserved recognition, potentially appealing to the hoards of Horrors/Toy fans out there.

Whilst it’s quite an obvious transition sonically, it still works because these guys have the knack for making great music, the sort of music that would soundtrack your dreams, and that’s pretty hard to come by. Endless Days, Crystal Sky is set for release on August 18th.

Written for Post Music Depression

news : post music depression

Exciting news!

My lovely friend Mollie has expanded her blog (postmusicdepression.com), and it is now well on its way to becoming an online music magazine!

I will be contributing pretty regularly to the website, writing within similar categories to those here on my personal blog.

 I will continue to update this little place too of course - I have a few cool things planned for the near future!

If you want to check out my first review for PMD, of The Black Keys' new track 'Fever', then head over here. 

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news : the virgins announce split

photo: interviewmagazine.com

New York band The Virgins have decided to call it a day.

Another totally unexpected split within the space of a week (Tribes were last week; read about it here).

The announcement was made via Twitter this afternoon, by frontman Donald Cumming:

"There's nothing I hoped to do with The Virgins that we haven't done. It's been an incredible experience..

I want to thank everyone who was a part of it, but now it's time to move on. I'll see you in my dreams."

Their recently schedueled European tour has subsequently been cancelled, and ticket refunds will be made from the point of purchase. 

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine earlier today, Cumming said that he's beginning a solo project in the next few weeks, because he wants to continue 'to do new things'. 

He also said how proud he was of the band's second (and final) album, 'Strike Gently', which was released via Julian Casablancas' label Cult Records earlier this year.

He felt that it was a good place to end the band.

There seems to be a bit of a pattern here; the second album isn't as well-received as the first, and the split comes (seemingly) out of the blue. 

I just hope this is the last of what seems to be a mass-culling of talented bands, or I won't know what to do with myself.

news : tribes announce split

photo: nme.com

Camden quartet Tribes have announced their split today via Facebook and Twitter, which read:
"We are sad to announce that we will no longer be writing and performing together as Tribes. 
Thank you to everyone who supported us along the way. We are proud of what we achieved together. 
You gave us the best four years of our lives so far."
There was no reason given for the split.

Their second album 'Wish To Scream' (which was released in May this year) wasn't much of a hit in comparison to their debut 'Baby'.
The band made appearances at Reading and Leeds this summer, and have been gigging as recently as last month, which is why I'm so surprised at the news.

Tribes were one of the best 'support band discoveries' I've made. 

I saw them not long after their debut EP 'We Were Children' was released in 2011, supporting The Kooks at Manchester Academy.

I even bumped into lead singer Johnny Lloyd at the bar (later I met the others), and they were all lovely people.

Too many decent bands are splitting (albeit for different reasons), but it's very sad.

We live an era where the music industry needs bands like this most, 

to counterbalance the utter shit churned out by talentless idiots (yes One Direction, I'm looking at you).

 So thank you Tribes, for entertaining me time and time again; you will be greatly missed.

I wish all four members the best of luck with whatever they do in the future.