in conversation with Those Handsome Animals

2016 has seen the return of Those Handsome Animals, with new music released and their own Hoxton-based club night.  I posed a handful of questions to lead singer and guitarist Thomas Millett ahead of the latest installment of their Prolific Lover Club this Friday at Zigfrid Von Underbelly...

I’ve followed Those Handsome Animals since the very beginning and it's been a sporadic trajectory, would you care to share a potted history of the band and introduce yourselves?

Me and Gav (vocals and guitars) started making music together in 2010, we were a 3 piece then with Gav on the bass, which is hilarious because he’s a way better guitarist than me. We was making music that was more akin to the Cure at the time, heavy reverbed dream pop but we got a bit bored with it, everyone sounded like that at the time (think The Drums). 

Gavin went traveling for a while and we just stopped making music for 4 years. After that whopping break we got back together, turned off the reverb, and decided harmonised guitars and power chords are the way forward. We was hell bent on sounding like no one around today. We recruited Thomas Beavis on Bass (a colleague of Gavin's) and most recently Derrick Carter (a uni friend of mine) on Drums. Together we have become almost brutal in sound, but trying to do this in a way that’s not been done before.

When I approached you about reviewing your latest single, you commented that you was moving away from the pigeonhole of 'indie', is indie a dirty word? Where is the band's sound heading now?

It’s not a dirty word, it’s just not right for us. 

When we get press everyone says we sound like various random 00’s indie bands, but the truth is we sound like none of them. We’re influenced by some of them sure (**cough** The Cribs), but I don’t feel part of it. The fact no one can unanimously describe us the same makes me think we're onto something new. 

The band’s sound is constantly being refined with each release. We have two guitars in the band, so we make the most of it, in songs like Rant Wildly and Right Fit For the City we both play lead. I hate guitarists that just play chords and the other solos, it’s boring. 

We’re now working on Hits vol. 2 - which has some new developments for us, mainly Gavin taking lead vocals on a few tracks. He’s got a deeper voice than me so we’re getting a bit of a Strummer / Jones vibe. We’re also working on acoustic stuff that is heavily influenced by The Faces, for too long acoustic songs have been wimpy... no longer.

Your lyrics have always held a down to earth, kitchen-sink drama quality that I've found relatable and fascinating, who do you hold in the highest regard in terms of songwriting?

I like characters, oddballs. For me my favourite songwriters are people like Jarvis Cocker, Black Francis & Jeffrey Lewis. 

They are themselves and write songs only they can sing. Everyone can write something generic (and most people do), but these guys have no intention of doing that, and neither do I. They don’t pretend to be anyone else, I like that. I see way too many people that seem fake fronting bands, It’s all style, but not with these lot. That rubbed off on me, I try to write as honest as I can, and then bury it under alliteration and imagery. 

Fun fact: We got our name from Jeffrey Lewis’ song “Slogans”.

Jared Leto; musical output or cinematic output?

Oh god, his cinematic output everyday.

The world finally gets to the witness the full unveiling of Jared Leto's turn as the Joker next month... If you was tasked with providing a new soundtrack to a Jared Leto movie, which would you choose?

Can I choose Fight Club? He’s not really the star but he’s in it. 

I’ve been working on a lot of instrumental stuff lately, it would soundtrack one of those fight scenes perfectly. Think Fuckin in the Bushes, but with a ridiculous amount of guitar harmonies in it.

Those Handsome Animals play Prolific Lovers Club @ Zigfrid Von Underbelly on Friday 29th July

in conversation with Eddie's Samband

After pleasantly surprising the band by reviewing their single last month, i decided to get in touch with Eddie's Samband to try and find out a little more about the fledgling act...

I'm sure it's the one question the whole musical world has been asking, but who are Eddie's Samband?

Sam1: We are Eddie, Sam and Sam or Sam and Eddie and Sam or Sam, Sam and Eddie, or just Eddie's Samband.  Three people from North London who enjoy spending far too infrequent amounts of time together making music, generally fuelled by cheap booze and bad jokes.

Sam2: Eddie’s Samband is a feeling, a movement, a way of life.

Eddie: Eddie's Samband is a chemical reaction of off brand Baileys and Tesco brand buck's fizz… fuck’s bizz.

Sam2: If you’ve ever had a feeling and not known what it was, how to deal with it or even if it’s in a ‘talent’ time signature, you are Eddie’s Samband.

Eddie: Sam and I were already mates before we started the “project” and he suggested we record some songs with his friend who is also called Sam. We stumbled into a rehearsal studio I was working in at the time and recorded a song about getting drunk. The rest is history

Do you think Stacey could be persuaded to listen to techno? What is she into?

Sam2: In a word, NAH. She loves a bit of Craig David played on her phone while she’s walking round the estate or reppin’ the back of the bus.

Sam1: I think that she doesn't even know what she likes, she generally has a hankering for top charts bangers and bargain bin Shiraz but that's only because her friends do, in private she probably prefers silent crying and the sound of her own heartbeat.

Eddie: I think I remember meeting Stacey in the smoking area of a run-down pub in Islington… The kind of pub that hadn’t changed the furniture or carpet since the smoking ban. We were talking about festivals and gigs we've been to. Well I was anyway... She was chucking her guts up because she took advantage of the cheap house wine.

Before she left, I slipped her a copy of Moby’s 2009 album “Wait For Me” and told her it would be a good listen for a hangover.

I’ve not had contact with her since.

I see you've been shouting out KT Tunstall and Adele on twitter, are these the strong female artists that you wish to emulate?

Sam1: Can one shout on a medium that doesn't have a volume control? I mean, you can be kind of aggressively visual using CAPS LOCK but it's not got the same power as a good ol' shout, does it?

Sam2: You could say we wish to emulate them. Or you could say we’re just horrific pests on social media.  I definitely want to be one of them when I’m a grown up.  Either or.  I’m not picky.

Eddie: Sam’s a very big fan of KT. I can’t say I’m a huge fan but I can appreciate a good singer/songwriter when I hear one. I wouldn’t say what we’re doing is emulating anyone, it’s just;

“Hey, we all play instruments. Let’s get together and make some noise.”

Sam1: I'm pretty sure we just want to go for a drink with them...

 Sam2: I think a night out with Eddie’s Samband, Adele and KT would be banging. Perhaps when they’re drawing up the table plans for next year’s BRIT Awards they could take this in to account?

Sam1: They would certainly be on the list of people we are influenced by - well the Sams are, I think Eddie's kind of KT-curious verging on A-DeleSexual...

Eddie: I’ve been A-DeleSexual for years pal.  I guess I’m more influenced by other artists we mutually like… Bowie, The Cure, Radiohead, Fleetwood Mac, The Raconteurs to name a few...

Delving deeper and listening to your debut #feelingsEP reveals that the band can show a slightly more serious and sensitive side... What is it that makes the band tick and what can we expect of any future releases?

Sam2: Feelings. If we ever experience any feelings, they’re in a song

Sam1: What makes us tick? Gin mostly.

Eddie: I think with #feelingsEP we were trying our hand at writing songs with meaningful lyrics and interesting chord progressions while still sounding okay while under the influence. It just seemed a bit boring to be so serious and feelsy all the time so we just decide to have fun and do whatever... even if it didn’t meet traditional songwriter standards

Sam2: Sometimes I just want to get drunk, and that’s a feeling. And that’s ok. Any future releases are guaranteed to have a wide array of mixed messages, mixed emotions and stains of gin and misery.

You've presented yourselves as 'Three drunks and a laptop'.... Any plans to take that set-up into the real world and perform live?

Sam2: We will only play anywhere that has free WiFi and free booze. If you know anywhere that meets that criteria, we’ll consult the Filofax and see if we can be bothered to rock up.

Sam1: That sounds like it would involve a lot of work.

Eddie: I think we’ve all played together at the same time a grand total of once and that’s when we had our first jam.

Sam1: You know, Sam and I tried a rehearsal for a live show we'd been offered (Eddie was busy with his real band or a funeral or something) and we couldn't even remember the chords to the songs. Needless to say we didn't do it.

Eddie: It does sound like a good idea but it would require a lot of planning, rehearsal and booze so I’m not sure we’re gonna be playing shows any time soon... I wouldn’t rule it out though!

Sam1: We'd definitely still be three drunks and a laptop on stage.  The intermittent pauses while waiting for the ageing macbook to reboot from yet another crash would be fun though, wouldn't they?

And lastly, who were your first cartoon crushes and do you think these have informed your later life choices?

Eddie: That’s a very interesting question

Sam1: This question is quite random, I kind of like it, what was the reasoning behind it?

Eddie: I think mine was probably Buttercup from the Powerpuff girls. I’m not sure why, it’s probably the tomboy-ish attitude and taste in music haha!

Sam1: Daria is deliciously morose and may be my spirit animal. But I wouldn't say I ever had romantic feelings for a drawing. I've had other feelings about drawings, but never lustful ones, I mean, never say never, but I haven't so far in my life...

Eddie: I can’t say a childhood crush on an anime inspired little girl with superpowers has affected my life choices.. I think meeting a woman with those characteristics is a bit far-fetched.

Sam2: I would probably say Simba. I just couldn’t wait to be queen at the time. I don’t think this has influenced any of my later life choices really other than the occasional Lion King sing-along in the office at work. Lions don’t form a part of my sexuality.

#feelingsEP and Stacey's Crying are both out now via bandcamp

in conversation with Married To The Sea

Early last month we reviewed the brand new EP from Liverpudlian four piece Married To The Sea, and to celebrate it's release today we got the band to answer a few questions for us...

Ok, let's get the most obvious interview question out of the way first, who are the musical influences that have shaped the group's sound?

Theres quite a range of influences throughout the band but some of the crossovers are Death Cab for Cutie, The Weakerthans, The Shins, Wave Machines, LCD Soundsystem, Wilco, Fugazi and anything that's poppy and from Sweden - Those guys really know how to write a banger.

When I was poking around the internet and doing my research I was greeted by a daily web-comic website after googling 'Married To The Sea', is this where you've taken your name from?

We also stumbled across that comic - its actually really good, but the name comes from the Wes Anderson film 'Rushmore'. We were trying to come up with band names for ages before settling on Married to the Sea - it seemed to be the one that caused the least tears.

I first got my hands on your EP for reviewing purposes in early February, how long have you been living with these songs for?

We have to admit we are quite slow in writing songs - we tend to have sketches of ideas bouncing around the practice room for a while before we settle into a definite shape.

With this set of songs, we had them for about a year or so, but it was only after getting together with mega producer Carl Brown, from Liverpool band Wave Machines, that the songs really started to come together. He helped us realise that you can't fiddle with a song forever, sometimes you have to just make sure the feeling and approach is right and then just make sure you're on fire in the studio. 

And presumably you're gearing up for future releases? What does your schedule for the remaining year ahead look like?

One of our favourite places to visit is Germany - they treat you so well over there and the audiences are so receptive to bands from the UK, plus they have a drink called 'Mezzo Mix' that is 50% Coke, 50% Fanta, so we'll be heading back over the channel later on in the year to top up our supplies.

Then later on in the year we'll be playing some dates in the UK as part of a rescheduled tour that was meant for March. We also have exciting plans afoot with the regular night we run in Liverpool called '10 Bands 10 Minutes' so watch out....

In my review I bandied around the name 'Snow Patrol', sometimes sneered at in musical circles.... Personally I think it's unjust, but what are your opinions? Have I slighted the band in any way?

Not at all - in fact i heard 'Spitting Games' when i was in a shop the other day and had forgotten how great that song is. I guess bands mean different things to different people - so if you think they're great, we'll take that.

Along with Cold War Love EP, March also sees the release of Batman vs Superman, are we now facing too many superhero movies year on year?  And where would you rather play on tour, Gotham or Metropolis?

As a band we are big fans of superhero films, but the idea of playing in those cities sounds a bit daunting. We'd probably get the tyres stolen from the van.... 

Unless we could convince Batman and Superman to join us on stage in a kind of superhero-supergroup? Then we could put both of them on the merch stand - they'd deffo make it hard to say no to a t-shirt...

Cold War Love EP by Married To The Sea is out now

in conversation with Malanda J. Poetry

after catching up with Ciaran Lavery, we thought it would be a good idea to regularly catch up with a number of artists featured on our Tayalarz mixtapes as a further way of introducing new artists and new music, by delving into their minds and getting them to speak to us after we've let the music speak for itself

and so, this time around we chat with Malanda J. Poetry...

to open the november mixtape we was looking for a strong spoken word piece and was completely floored by 'Story She Never Told', presumably your writing comes from a deeply personal place? 

yes, my writing is sacred to me. very personal, as a writer or a person who simply appreciates language, emotion is not foreign and it finds home in almost everything i experience and because of that, i have to pay homage and cater to things i feel that most people can quickly get over. it’s not like that for me. writing pays respect to my internal, it’s a reflection of what my insides would look like if cut open out of curiosity.

the album it is taken from 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' is made with a similar template, is this the first time you have combined words with music? 

not the first time, but certainly the first time i felt comfortable with hearing my voice tracing back to my ears. this time it felt right.

I love how the innocent 'music box' style accompaniment to 'Story She Never Told' is juxtaposed with a truly tragic story, was this an intentional set-up? who came up with this idea?

‘story she never told’ was extremely difficult to lay out, it was too honest, too raw and very personal. i wouldn’t call any of it a ‘set-up’ but ‘serendipity’ would be the right word to describe how it all came alive. just went with gut feeling, i didn’t really plan it much. it was all emotion.

the internet can provide a wealth of music and information, yet aside from the music on bandcamp and a few links, you remain fairly elusive, would you share a brief bio with us now to fill us in? 

i find pleasure in being able to move around and not get stuck. and having found the ability to remain a mystery to even those who’ve fallen in love with my writing or voice. in me being the complete opposite of stagnant is where i find my superpower. it’s easier for me to navigate through inspirations without outside noise. my internal is my sacred place to go. here’s my process: i get inspired, i create, i finish, i make my peace and move on to the next thing. i never stay in one place (mentally) long enough for anybody to figure me out so it’s only right that i keep up with my thoughts. it’s easier.

at the time of writing my questions, 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' was your only release, and 'Many Faces Of Her' dropped in early December just before I got in touch, do you see a change in yourself or the way you work in the year and a half between the two releases?

growth is for certain, immediately after i finished ‘many faces of her’ i took my mind back to ‘a series of unfortunate events’ and imagined what my younger self felt at the time to even write a project with such a title. my emotions were all over the place, but with my new project i found a better way to channel my internal, still raw, but more settled. there’s a lot more to talk about but…let’s see what time reveals.

and what are your future plans, are there to be any further musical projects from yourself? 

hopefully, if the future is in sync i hope to someday create more projects that are more potent.

we've been compiling mixtapes for three months now to reflect the ever colder seasons, taking in folk elements, chillwave and obviously spoken word and poetry, when was the last time you made a mix for somebody and what did it include? 

i host an event called ‘poetic justice open-mic’ and i compile the music to create the ‘feel’ for the environment and the chill zone i try to promote. the mix includes various artists from Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Wale, Big Krit. Iman Omari, Jhene Aiko, Drake, Dom Kennedy and the list goes on. it’s a mix of ‘feel-good’ songs.

aside from yourself, we also featured a spoken word piece by Kevlar, in the spirit of discovery that our mixtapes were made in, are there any artists you'd suggest we should check out for ourselves?

at the moment, nothing crosses my mind but there’s a number of great artists out there just keep your ears out and open. peace and love.


a massive thank you to Malanda J. Poetry for taking the time to answer our questions

and to stay up to date, be sure to check out Malanda on twitter, tumblr and youtube

in conversation with Ciaran Lavery

The main aim when starting the Tayalarz mix series was to create a cohesive compilation of music that is currently up for grabs and won't cost a penny to source, offering a little guidance as we pull together a playlist to save you the hard work.

Yet, as we have been putting the finishing touches to November's instalment, Volume 2 from last month has still been on heavy rotation and one artist's efforts in particular have stood out and caused persistent earworms.

So we caught up with Ciaran Lavery to discuss cover versions, musical discoveries and to further spotlight a singer/songwriter that we feel fortunate to have found in the process of plucking ripe mp3s from the unfathomably large world wide web.

my approach to this mixtape in particular was to simply search hype machine for particular words or phrases and see where it would take me, i came across yourself after searching for 'killer', influenced by halloween that was right around the corner and finding your version of Psycho Killer, what is the strangest way or place you have stumbled across music that has truly impressed you?

I most usually find my music on amazon, I have been doing that for years. I like that feeling of stumbling across something new to my ears, for a brief period it feels like I'm the only one in the world who knows about them, then when I research further I tend to find I'm the last to know and it takes that magic feeling away. If I had to say the most random though it would maybe have to be finding a Grateful Dead LP inside a Wu Tang Clan CD case..you couldn't make that up

were there any cover versions that didnt make the cut, or that you wanted to make work but couldn't find a way?

I had originally tried to re-work just random covers of all decades but it just so happened to work out that the most appropriate were in and around the same time. I think around that time I had demoed some Lykke Li and New Order but they never made it to studio




i have only discovered you recently, but your debut album was released in march of this year, what has the reaction been to it so far?

The album was such a great thing to make just on a personal level. I have read some really nice things from people I've always respected in the music world who seemed to think it was quite special, and I still randomly get people coming up to me and telling me how much they enjoy listening to it. The other day I heard how someone has listened to the album for a straight week - that's kind of mind-blowing. At the end of the day when I finished recording and the day it was released it's no longer mine anymore, but rather it belongs to whoever bought or downloaded or copied it. At the same time I didn't expect it to be welcomed in with open arms by all types of music lovers, it can be a very personal album. In other words it's never going to be played at a party, unless the idea is to clear the place

presumably the Covers EP is a stopgap between the album and your next full length project or release of original material, what plans are you developing right now and when will we next hear the fruit of your labours?

I think it's pretty typical of songwriters to always be writing and scheming some sort of plans and I'm no different. I have a lot of songs that I've been test driving at gigs over the past while and initial plans to record again are in place so I'm excited about that. I would never want to go in and record the same sounding record so the covers EP was important for me to get away from a sound I could have been pigeonholed with and I intend to do the same when it comes to recording my new material

any plans for a christmas single perhaps? get it right and you could see those Noddy Holder style royalties rolling in each year... 

No, no - I think it's hard to beat Noddy Holder's effort. Christmas singles can be really hit or miss these days, it's not like the 80s when there were so many good songs out every year competing. When you think of those compilation CD's at Christmas time, a hell of a lot of the good stuff is based in that decade. There will never be another Wizard or Slade single, which is sad. At least Christmas jumpers are back..it's a step in the right direction

do you have a favourite cover version? 

That's a tough one because there are so many and probably a lot that I have yet to hear but based on the knowledge of them that I have I would have to say it's a toss up between Bon Iver's version of 'Love More' originally by Sharon Van Etten and Rage Against The Machine's take on 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' by Bruce Springsteen



what was it that drew you to record those songs featured on 'Other People Wrote These'?

It was a project I had wanted to do for a long period, but the chance never really reared its head until maybe a few weeks before I went in to record the tracks. One day I said to myself "ok, it's time to do this for real" and that was that. The whole process was like that really. There was no massive time lapse between any part of the process, the whole thing was started and finished inside three days. I wouldn't have it any other way. The songs weren't particularly personal to me before the process, but I knew that when selecting them I wanted to have the room to almost reshape them, and these songs just seemed to lend themselves to the process best. I also felt it important to break down any boundaries on song selection that may have been there based on my own self written material

Our mixtapes so far have skirted between down tempo beats, trap music, folk, dubstep and a few other genres besides, when was the last time you compiled a mixtape and what was on it?

Ah god, I'm not entirely sure. I used to help compose travel CDs that ranged from the most outrageous, to the cheesy. But I guess a mixtape..it would have been a long time ago. I was actually clearing out in the attic the other day and I found a cassette tape, it got me thinking about mixtapes and how much effort went into making them. Maybe one day I'll make one real soon just to say I did it and feel nostalgic again

and in the spirit of discovering new music, we think that you should perhaps check out Benin City and what they have been doing recently, who would you suggest we take a listen to that is deserving of the exposure right now?

In no particular order check out The Emerald Armada, Joshua Burnside and Ian O'Doherty - each amazing in their own right






a massive thank you to Ciaran Lavery for taking the time to answer our questions

and to stay up to date, be sure to follow Ciaran on Twitter and Facebook