indie interviews
MEET: we interview New York doom merchants GHXST + Spooky new video for Halloween
New York doom merchants GHXST have landed in the UK, just in time for Hallowe’en. In keeping with the season, and all things dark, the trio have today released a suitably spooky new video for the latest single ‘Galaxia’ , due for release on 10th November. Not for those with a nervous disposition… We managed …
Meet: We talk to The Twilight Sad about their new record, touring, politics and more
The Twilight Sad have always been one of our favourite bands here on Backseat Mafia. Their fourth album, ‘Nobody wants to be here, and nobody wants to leave’, dropped on Monday and see’s the band again make plaintive, emotive songs, and wash them through in Mogwai / Epic Rock (insert your own favourites) style backings, …
Meet: Interview with World renowned multi-instrumentalist Peter Ulrich
Multi-instrumentalist, Peter Ulrich is probably best known for his time spent on influential record label 4AD, with Dead Can Dance and This Mortal Coil. He’s also received glowing accolades for his solo projects, most noticeably his debut,1999’s, ‘Pathways and Dawns’, which has been described as ‘…the album The Beatles might have made had they signed …
Meet: An interview with Saint Etienne
“Sorry if i kept you waiting, I was mucking around with a Vocoder and lost track of time” To be honest, my conversation with Pete Wiggs doesn’t get any less scattershot as it goes on. If he were given the task of telling his life story on the pages of a novel, he’d probably count as …
Not Forgotten: Bob – Leave the Straight Life Behind Reissue, plus interview
It might be unjustified, but I’ve always North London indie band BOB were in debt to me. I’d discovered them, as I did most things back then (then being the cusp of the 1990’s) by listening to John Peel, and there, shoehorned in between experimental electronica and dub reggae (probably) was this gorgeous, uplifting, glistening …
Meet: We chat with Australian indie legends Underground Lovers
This Saturday and Sunday night in Melbourne, one of my favourite bands, Underground Lovers, will playing a double set celebrating their 25 years together as a band. For details of these gigs, see my piece last week. I asked Vince Giarrusso, singer and co-songwriter (along with Glenn Bennie) a few questions about the band. You …
Meet: We speak with Italian indie band Sweet Jane and Claire
At the risk of seeming obsessive, I have already reviewed the brilliant new album by Italian band Sweet Jane and Claire and their video to accompany the single “I’m Afraid When Guilio Whistles”. Their new album, “Stick Caramel Mind” is on constant rotation: it is an intriguing indie debut from a band that deserves a …
Meet: We interview Brisbane electronic / dreampop band MTNS
We recently reviewed a new single from Brisbane band MTNS. I had the opportunity of catching up with singer/guitarist and songwriter Tom Eggert. I began by asking if the band had a problem with vowels. Tom fielded this question with good grace, telling me that the band did originally include all vowels and consonants but …
Meet: Goodbye Van Occupanther – Tim Smith and life after Midlake
In the fall of 2007 I read an article in Spin Magazine about this band named Midlake. Denton, Texas boys with a penchant for dark, folksy songs that had the feel of both Fairport Convention, Fleetwood Mac, and a Ray Brandbury story. It was a review of a live show and the journalist put them …
Meet: The Kitchens of Distinction, and news of their new album
Sometimes you have your head turned. By money, by people you find attractive, by a job offer. For me it was much more simplistic. It was by records. So when I saw something made by the impossibly named Kitchens of Distinction (named, unsurprisingly I suppose on thinking about it) after a shop the band drove …