Boots Electric, Interview

We caught up with Jesse Hughes of Boots Electric and Eagles Of Death metal for a quick chat before a recent gig at The Cockpit in Leeds.

You're 4 dates into your UK tour now, how are you finding it?
F**king awesome, it's the coolest sh*t I ever done. When we come to the U.K., the audiences are same as ever; beautiful sweaty and ready to rock. Elsewhere it's hard to compare anywhere to Australia, but in the States a lot of the time people just look up on stage at you like they're already bored. Here you get a fair chance, it's like 'you said you were guna rock so if you're guna rock let's see it, you've got about 10 minutes.'

What can people expect from your shows?
You can expect to see women getting impregnated every two minutes!

How did you find working alone on the Boots Electric material?
Making a solo record sometimes is just about being by yourself. When I'm making an Eagles album it's me and my best friend making an album having the best time of my life, when I was making the solo album it was me having the best time of my life without having anybody around to share it with.
That where I met Tuesday (Cross - girlfriend and now bassist for Boots Electric) and she helped me in the making of the record and she's the great love of my life. One the greatest barely legal porn stars ever put onto film and she retired just for me. So you guys can go to the Internet and look her up!

How did you find working with Money Mark (Beastie Boys, Beck) on the album?
Well I found that working with him made the most sense to me 'cause a lot of time what dudes are obsessed with, they are things that you would not consider. The first album that changed my life was Check Your Head by the Beastie Boys, which is a rock album, it's a hip-hop album, it's a punk album, it's all those things. I felt that my album was going to be all over the place, it'll be schizophrenic, so I thought I'd better get this guy to help me on it. I wanted Dr Dre, but I got the best instead.

Do you find that bands rely more on touring now than they have in the past?
The reality is that bands have always relied on touring; the record sales would just be a bonus I guess. Touring would be where you'd sell you merch and the way I've always looked at it is, and the way I've been raise because I was raised in a musical family is that the record should only be a promise of what the live show is going to be like. The music industry is an inevitable conclusion to something that was made many years ago. The standard that I've applied to Eagles of Death Metal and Boots Electric is that I want you to go home tonight and be like 'I want a moustache.'

You were late coming into music, how did you make the transition into the music business?
That's my favourite way of putting that question [laughs]. What happened was I went through a divorce, it was a really bad divorce and I got addicted to speed. A lot of people will stand here before you and try and talk sh*t about drugs but I'm not guna be one of those guys. I don't think drugs are for everybody but I don't think they're not for anybody.

You're quite open with your relationship with drugs, how would you define it?
The way I see it; you don't trust anyone who'd try and hide something from you. I don't like it when someone is high and they're trying to tell me they're not, it's just phony. I've played more shows sober than I will ever play high, thing is every situation is situational. Drugs, for example, don't disqualify you from something. I have a son who I desperately don't want to make some of the choices I've made, but I can now say it from a place of example.

A lot of your sound is very nostalgic, where do you draw most of your influences?
Oh man, where do I draw most of my influence from? Honestly I'll be at The Thirsty Crow where Eden (guitarist for Boots Electric) DJ's and he'll play a song like some weird rock and roll song from the sixties and I won't even know the name of the song but he'll play it and I'll just take instant influence. Like The Monks' 'Oh, How To Do Now' - listen to that song next to 'Complexity' and you tell me which one is which.

Do you listen to many recent releases?
I do yeah, but I've got like really weird standards. Just new for the sake of new and nothing else is not a good reason to listen to something. For me it's just got to be good and I think that we can all agree that a lot of good things took place between 1961 and 1985, but then 1985 to present you can count how many good acts have passed. Black Flag, Crass, even the Red Hot Chilli Peppers as much as everyone hates them. The record labels that started in the eighties like SST, Alternative Tentacles, Dischord; these things influenced me and I think I'm more influenced by their attitude than their sound. Also this has a lot to do with the way I make music, when I was a little kid every Sunday I went round to my grandpa's house to have corned beef and cabbage then afterwards we'd all sit around, pick up a guitar or mandolin and play some hillbilly music. So that's what I do in the studio, I give everyone a guitar, they'll all kinda know what's going on and it'll be intuitive.

Festival season is coming up; can we expect to see you back in the U.K. anytime soon?
[Hands over Leeds/Reading Festival poster] Main Stage, ready to lose. Eagles of Death Metal will be back.

So if you're playing Leeds with Eagles, does this mean we should be expecting some new material from them?
As soon as I'm back from this tour, Josh (Homme) and I are back in the studio and making a new record and I want it to feel like the world is being raped by John Holmes in the most pleasant way possible.

Joe Wilde

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Bleech, Mondays Video and Information

Bleech's new single, Mondays, will be released on April 16th, through Billie Records. It is taken from their forthcoming debut album, Nude, which will be released sometime this summer. Last night (March 27th), Bleech played a gig in Southampton; they will continue touring throughout April, May and June.

The video for Mondays was directed by Sarah Wick. It focuses on the mouths of the girls and gives you a bird's eye view of drummer Matt. Adding to the surreal nature of the video are also abstract images, which play out on a smaller screen.

Bleech are sisters Jen (guitar, vocals); Katherine (bass, backing vocals) and their friend from school, Matt (drums and backing vocals). Their previous singles have received critical acclaim over the last couple of years. They have also toured with the likes of Wolfmother; The Joy Formidable; The Charlatans; The Subways and Pete Doherty in the past.

In addition to their UK dates, fans of Bleech can also catch them playing two dates in France at the start of May, before returning to the country in August for Festival La Madone des Motards.

April
2nd - London - Camden Barfly
6th - London - KOKO (Club NME)
7th - West Brom - Now We are Weekender w/Art Brut
11th - Winchester - Railway
24th - Doncaster - The Leopard

May
11th - Stockton - Ku Bar
12th - Falkirk - 20 Rocks
13th - Dundee - Doghouse
18th - Wakefield - The Hop
19th - Nottingham - The Maze
26th - Exeter - Timepiece

June
2nd - Birmingham - Sunflower Longue
3rd - Scunthorpe - The Priory
7th - London - Rough Trade Instore

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Breton, Interference Video and Information

Breton's new single, Interference, will be released on March 19th, through Fat Cat Records. Their debut album, Other People's Problems, will be released on March 26th, 2012. Breton will be playing three UK dates at the end of the month, in Manchester, London and Leeds.

The video for Interference follows the day in the life of a family man. We only see the back of his head throughout the whole video but we witness exactly what he sees. From dropping his two young daughters off at school, we watch as he drives to a multi storey car park, enters a warehouse and watches as his fellow thugs beat an unknown person up. It is implied that the man does not like the dark secret he possesses.

Breton formed in 2010 in South East London. It comprises Roman Rappak; Adam Ainger; Ian Patterson and Daniel McIlvenny. In their early years, they made films for the likes of The Temper Trap; Tricky and Penguin Prison. They also remixed tracks by artists such as Local Natives; Chapel Club and Maps & Atlases.

To promote the release of Other People's Problems, Breton will tour the UK and Europe and play a headline date in New York.

28th March - Corsica Studios, London
29th March - Islington Mill, Manchester
30th March - Nation Of Shopkeepers, Leeds

Blood Red Shoes, Cold Video and Information

Blood Red Shoes' new single, Cold, will be released on March 19th, 2012. It is the lead single from their upcoming third studio album, In Time To Voices, which will be released on March 26th, through V2 Records. The band will be playing Reading and Leeds Festival in the summer and are embarking on a UK tour throughout April and May.

The video for Cold was directed by James Lees and was filmed on the streets of Paris at night.

Laura-Mary Carter (vocals, guitar) and Steven Ansell (vocals, drums) formed Blood Red Shoes in 2004. Their debut album, Box of Secrets, was released in April 2008; several months before, it was leaked onto the internet. Their second album, Fire Like This, was released in March 2010; both albums received critical acclaim.

Blood Red Shoes have worked with long-time collaborator Mike Crossey - who has worked with Tribes; Foals and Arctic Monkeys - on all of their albums to date. The band is well known for their touring schedule, which sees them with a growing international fanbase. Blood Red Shoes has received support from the likes of Zane Lowe; Huw Stephens and Fearne Cotton, with the latter recently choosing Cold as her Big Thing on Radio 1.

UK TOUR DATES
APRIL
27th Concorde 2, Brighton
28th Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
29th 02 Academy 2, Oxford

MAY
1st Trinity, Bristol
2nd Waterfront, Norwich
3rd Heaven, London
4th HMV Library, Birmingham
5th Academy 2, Manchester
7th Zanzibar, Liverpool
8th Cluny, Newcastle
9th Tunnels, Aberdeen
10th King Tuts, Glasgow
12th The Cockpit, Leeds
13th Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

Blue Like Jazz, Trailer and Information

Don is a nineteen year old sophomore at a junior college in Texas. Having grown up in an evangelical household, he begins to question his religion and decides to go to Reed College in Portland, Oregon, one of the most godless campuses in the country.

On his arrival, it is immediately clear just how different everything looks through Don's eyes. It is a typical college campus, with a mix of different personalities and cultures. Don soon makes friends; one in particular, is the last person he'd want to get to know. This new friend is an atheist but has been chosen this year to be a 'Pope', to speak for the Christian community. He doesn't like Christians but strikes up a friendship with Don.

Don also makes friends with two girls: Penny and Lauryn. The latter, who is a flamboyantly dressed lesbian, shows Don around campus and is very frank about what he should do about his religious crisis. Meanwhile, Penny is a soft spoken girl who is unsure of her feelings for Don. Will he rediscover his faith at Reed College?
Blue Like Jazz is based on the bestselling, semi-autobiographical novel by Donald Miller, which was published in 2003.

Starring: Marshall Allman, Tania Raymonde, Claire Holt, Jason Marsden, Eric Lange and Natalia Dyer

Director: Steve Taylor

Blood Red Shoes, In Time To Voices Album Review

The first time I ever came across Blood Red Shoes was way back in 2007 when they toured alongside Maximo Park and whilst Maximo Park have vanished from my iPod since then, Blood Red Shoes are as ever present as they were as soon as I could download their existing material. Since then the boy/girl duo of Steven Ansell and Laura-Mary Carter have reached modest trans-Atlantic recognition, most notably with their inclusion on the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World soundtrack. Teaming up with co-producer and long-time friend Mike Crossey the duo have promised a much bolder and "ambitious" (according to Carter) release this time.

Since the group's first LP Box of Secrets the most noticeable change - something that is immediately noticeable actually - is just how much they have matured musically. On opening track 'In Time To Voices' Carter's voice is waiflike, fitting idyllically over the shimmering guitar and snare-heavy drums. The tonal shift at the chorus becomes much heavier yet Carter maintains her eloquence. This is a long way off the wannabe punk ethic their music had at the close of last the decade and the duo certainly benefit from this shift. The production is squeaky clean, with Crossey and the group polishing off each instrument with precision, defining every element of the tracks. On 'Two Minute Dead,' probably the most ominous on the record, illustrates this precision with its utilisation of gentle harmonies and the subtle shaker in the background. Before it even has chance to sound languid the burst of drums and swirling guitars take hold, the move away from a typical single structure that the majority of groups catalogue offers is restructured here, their auspicious potential shining through. This must be the ambition Carter was hinting at.

For all their newfound restraint and focus, when they unleash their ferocity as they do on 'Je Me Perds' (or 'I Got Lost') they evoke the same brutal energy as Sonic Youth or Minor Threat. At 1.30 this is the band showcasing the distorted garage rock tenet found at the core of their major influences resonating through themselves; they pull it of faultlessly. For all the gleam of the production it's reassuring to see that the pair can still let their hair down and get away with it credibly. Essentially a pop-punk band with actual integrity and endurance, it is reassuring that they can shift between old and new on an album and come out unscathed and surely a sign that we can only expect improvement in the future.

In Time To Voices is a solid album, while the gleefully indie first album made them a noteworthy act, with standouts like 'ADHD' and 'I Wish I Was Someone Better.' Now the pair have evidently matured and are taking on a fresher approach to the way they write and record, this really is a triumph for the duo and surely now things can only improve for the Brighton duo.

How to Re-establish a Vodka Empire, Movie Review

Director : Daniel Edelstyn

Producer : Daniel Edelstyn, Christopher Hird, Hilary Powell

Screenwriter : Daniel Edelstyn

Starring : Daniel Edelstyn, Hilary Powell, Conrad Asquith, Anthony Styles, Francois Guesnet, Bob Brown

Like a less-gimmicky, more goofy Morgan Spurlock, Edelstyn puts himself at the centre of this documentary telling two stories: of his grandparents' journey across Europe and his own discovery of an old family business and his work to revive it. It's an engaging, personal story full of moving details.

It all starts when Edelstyn finds a box of manuscripts and letters by his Ukrainian grandmother. Lost for 100 years, they outline how the family's wealthy life ended with the 1917 Russian Revolution. Then he travels to Ukraine to find out more about his family's sugar factory, which is now closed. But the locals reveal that there was another factory, a still-working vodka distillery.
As he decides to revive the business and import the vodka into Britain, Phis artist partner owell discovers that she's pregnant.

And to tell the story, Edelstyn uses combines a variety of film styles, from archive footage and photos to wacky re-enactments of historical events in which they play his grandparents. Getting friends to play his ancestors and various extras, he inventively recreates events unsung miniatures, animation and lots of green screen spliced in with real footage from both the past and present.
And he finds interesting parallels between this story a young woman during the 1917 revolution and his own journey.

Edenstyn assembles this with sharp wit that plays on Russian cinema and culture. As he travels into rural Ukraine, he encounters real Slavic hospitality, including rather a lot of vodka-shot drinking, and he meets meets a very old woman who remembers his grandmother. But he also discovers that the recent closure of the sugar factory has drained the life out of the village. So relaunching the family vodka in the name of Granny Maroussia is a way to redress history.

This is a thoroughly intriguing film that entertains us with its inventive approach while exploring the ethical and historical implications. And as we follow him through the red tape in present-day Ukraine, we also see Granny Maroussia navigating the bureaucracy of her time. What emerges is a fairly standard story of European migration in the 20th century made much more personal by the way it echoes in Edelstyn's life, leading to births, deaths and the launch of Zorokovich 1917 Vodka in the UK.

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