Boyfriends - Interview

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 16 / 4 / 2006

intro

One of the most praised new bands in indie rock, the Boyfriends are about to release their second single 'Adult Acne'. Anthony Strutt chats to them about their influences and plans to release an album

The Boyfriends consists of Martin Wallace on vocals, Richard Adderley on guitar, David Barnett on bass and Paddy Pulzer on drums. They released their first single 'I Love You' on Boobytrap Records on February 13th. Their second single 'Adult Acne' will come out at the end of May. Listed by NME in 2005 as one of the 50 most essential bands to catch that summer, they were the first band last year to ever play the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury. Their fiery live shows have been attended by members of Radiohead, the Tears and the Futureheads. Shortly after talking to Pennyblackmusic in this interview they were selected by Morrissey, who had attended a gig and was impressed, to be the support act upon the European dates of his recent tour. Pennyblackmusic spoke to the Boyfriends at a concert at the Pleasure Unit in London. PB : The Boyfriends formed around about 2002. RA : Yeah, that's right. It was 2002. PB : I know that Paddy and Richard were in Jack. After that Paddy drummed for Rosita for a while. PP : That is correct. PB : And after Jack, I saw Richard working as a roadie for various bands. RA : I was in Rosita as well and I also did two gigs for Queen Adreena, but then I packed it in. PB : They are quite wild. RA : No, they are quite nice. They are a bit too Goth for me though. PB : And you were in Vermont ? RA : I joined Vermont because their bass player left. It was like "Do you want to try and do this for a bit ?" MW : So we pimped him out for a bit. RA : I have still got their bass, but the Boyfriends got too busy and I couldn't do both really. PB : And you, David, were trying to manage the Parkinsons ? DB : I was trying to, but they are pretty unmanageable. PB : I saw them touring with Freeheat and I thought they could be massive. DB : That was the plan, but if you want something done you have to do it for yourself. PB : Your press release says you chose the name the Boyfriends because you all make great boyfriends. Do you still stick by that now ? MW : More so than ever. RA : We get rave reviews for all our skills in those activities. PB : Has your sound changed much since you started ? PP : I think the spirit in which it is now done is a lot looser now. I think we are lot more confident in what we are doing. MW : Not at all, the songs have changed, but the sound is pretty similar.Do you mean have we changed our style? PB : Yeah ? MW : No, we haven't at all. That's something I hate in groups. You see them and then months later. They are completely different in their appearance and sound. It's like that they just appeal to what is ever in vogue and that's something we have never done. RA : I think we have changed as we have written songs in different style songs. MW : But we haven't gone disco punk, have we? RR : No, what I mean is we are more focused. PB : Your music is very wordy lyrically, isn't it ? MW : Thats the bit that I do. I can't see why anyone wants to write a song that doesn't say anything. That's just a waste of everyone's time really. They might as well do instrumentals as so many groups do. I just think its bizarre. PB : The music is very loud. It doesn't drown out the words though. With a lot of loud bands you can't hear the words at all. Musically it is very Jesus and Mary Chain influenced. DB : You're the only person who has said that. PB : Really ? DB : It is not like we are ripping anyone off, but they are definitely an influence, so thanks for that. There are a lot of influences in there, some more than others. PB : A lot of young people haven't heard records from the past unless it is the Beatles or Pink Floyd, maybe because their parents have those records. MW : This is the thing. If you were try to explain to an 18 year old, now who the Jesus and Mary Chain were, many of them would look at you in complete bewilderment. RA : But when we are big they will know (Laughs).I have to play loud so I can hear myself over Paddy. When we started we used to say "Let's do something that sounds like this" but we got tired of that. It was fun at the time, but we write them now and they don't sound like anyone especially. Our influences show through if you know them. We are quite loud a lot of the time, but all our songs are all different. MW : That's what pisses me off when people ask about influences. I don't think influences work on a conscience level. It is things that you grow up with and then you just absorb them. When people ask direct questions about influences it really is frustrating. PB : You have recently released your debut single 'I Love You'. There was a previous split single with the Long Blondes.Was that your first recorded work then? MW : It was one of them. Both those songs are just demos and one of them was the first demo that we did. PB : With your band's name if you type that into a a PC you end up with 10 billion pages. Has anyone discovered you by mistake? MW : (Laughs)If you put "nerd boyfriends" into it, it comes up with us straight away. DB : We did have a message that said "I'm having trouble with my boyfriend. Can you help ?" The rest are from fans.We do get a lot of myspacers saying "Will you be my boyfriend?" PB : So why Boobytrap then ? DB : They were the only ones that really liked us. There were other labels that said "Can you send us some stuff ?" MW : We signed around the time we played Glastonbury last summer. They came to a show that was really badly attended and they signed us on the back of it. PB : Is it that just a singles deal then ? MW : No, we are making an album for them. PB : Current future plans ? DB : A lot more shows. We are also making an album which we are all looking forward too. PB : Will that be out before the end of the year then ? MW : I hope so. DB : You never know as the single was meant to be out in August. PP : I'm going to buy some new trousers. DB : I'm going to learn how to play the fourth string on my bass. PB : Thank you

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