TB: Way more people in “cool” bands over here were led over by Green Day or
Nirvana than will admit it – ya gotta’ start somewhere. So, are you guys
total KBD destruction?
Daniel: Before people said our single was ‘KBD style punk’ we didn’t know what it
was, let alone what it stood for. Similarly, people have said we rip off the
Pebbles and Box of Trash things, but we had to find out what they were after
people made the comparison.
TB: Reviewers over there don’t have any sort of touchstones for this type of
stuff; search for UK Real Losers or Black Time reviews – hilarious! By the
way, I came across a live sorta review on the Hipshakes that said you’re a
polarizing band – half the crowd was horrified, and half loved it. What does
this mean? Do you torture squirrels? Are there ritual beatings?
Daniel: It means that we don’t waste time talking to the audience, there’s no
‘hilarious’ pre-rehearsed banter, we just get really nervous beforehand and
take it out on the instruments. People don’t know when to clap ’cause the
songs tend to roll into each other, and it often looks like Andrew
especially is about to kill someone. If someone hates us it’s ‘cause we
don’t really lay on the conventional three minute song, three minutes
chat/arsing around/tuning up every second.
I suppose we are pretty full-on in our approach, and always make feedback
and white noise at the end of a set, so maybe people don’t like that. People
either want tepid shit to gently wash over them or they want something
unpredictable and unexpected to make them pay attention. We provide the
latter. Once, in a town between Sheffield and Leeds, we went on to cries of
“Fuck Off!” from some meatheads, and we thought “lets fucking give it to
them”. We made screeching noise for quite a while at the end and it was
lovely. Polarizing opinion is always best- give people something they need
to decide on rather than “oh it was OK I suppose”.
TB: Sounds great to me! What did the kids at your school think of your
ramshackle choice of music?
Daniel: I don’t think they cared. Sometimes our friend would come and see us play,
sometimes they wouldn’t. No-one outside our social circle came to see us,
but we have just been invited to headline a show back in Bakewell by some
people from school! They think we are signed, I think. Most school bands
played pop-punk or, even worse, really bad funk metal, but for some reason
we got accused of taking being in a band too seriously. We could barely play
so I don’t know what they were on about.
TB: Are you big in Leeds?
Daniel: Not big as such. A shop sold our record, and online shop there sold our
record and slagged it off (‘is being rubbish a virtue?’), an excellent
promoter, GoJonnygogogogo, helps us out like he did for the Real Losers
(I suppose we are their successors) but that’s about it. I think when we play
Leeds there is more interest than when we play Sheffield, cause we are ‘out
of towners’, but it’s negligible.
TB: Is Sheffield the kinda place you leave when you “make it?” Do you see
Phil Oakey or Richard Kirk wandering around town in tattered overalls
muttering to themselves? Is Joe Cocker still alive and twitchin’?
Daniel: Yeah, I think people make a run for it, but I don’t know why. We’ve never
seen any ‘legend’ really, a guy who has been in Pulp and the Longpigs,
called Richard Hawley has never left. He plays really cool 50’s rock n roll
ballads now. I think Phil Oakey runs an expensive studio and Jarvis Cocker
wrote a poem for some flats, all the way from his Paris house.
TB: What’s your take on fluoride?
Daniel: This handy rhyme:
If it’s in your toothpaste you oughta,
Not have it in water.
TB: Brilliant! Know any Artic Monkeys jokes?
Daniel: Not really. There is one about a band that wrote some mediocre songs and
then became the biggest band ever but I can’t really remember it. I know The
Hand wants us to break into their rehearsal space and help him steal their
equipment.
TB: The Hand is the “wrong crowd,” if you know what I mean. Bangers or mash?
Daniel: Sausages are better than boring potatoes. What do you prefer? Or do you eat
them together like everyone else?
TB: We don’t have that dogshit over here! In Wisconsin, we do have bratwurst
and sausage because of all the Krauts and Polacks who settled here. Are there
any other new-ish bands in Jolly Ol’ we foreigners should know about?
Daniel: There is a band called the Midnight Kicks, who are like a power-pop version
of us. My 15 year old brother is in them and they are pretty good. Another
band we like is Smokers Die Younger, nothing like us but a mix of loads of
things, I can’t describe their sound.
TB: Sounds interesting. I heard that the Hand will be recording you shortly
– what happened on the first go-around? Any good Hand stories? He’s won much
acclaim over here for starring as a lovable mental deficient in “The
Princess Bride.”
Daniel: We went over to his house and recorded some songs, including an Oblivians
cover, and everything came out really overloaded. It sounds cool but things,
mainly drums, are buried. Him and El Tommo are just messing around and
learning how to get it right. Next time, we are recording an albums worth of
stuff and it should be a bit cleaner. All I know is that he’s coming over
later to see us play and there are loads of places he is barred from,
limiting the after show activities somewhat.
TB: Like I said – wrong crowd. Future plans? Thinking of coming to America?
Daniel: If we could get over to America that would be ace, we’d love to come and see
the reformed Oblivians but aren’t even old enough to drink over there.
Hopefully we will tour Europe in the summer; we are working on it at the
moment. We are playing more in the UK too, and just want to get all our
songs recorded and more stuff released.
TB: Cool – we’ll see you in a year or two, then. Anything else you want to
add?
Daniel: Why should we stay away from you? What’s your job? I know you put out
‘Funsters’ for the Real Losers, but nothing else.
TB: Well, my job is pretending to work while I piss people off online. I’ve
put out a few shitty records by bands that seem to break up around the time
of release (Real Losers, Catholic Boys). Ned Hayden, a Long Island
transvestite/comedienne, told you to stay away because he was attempting
humor. Then again, he may be right. He did discover Monster Magnet in a New
Jersey broom factory and all. Anyway, what’s your favorite online music zine?
Daniel: Terminal Boredom is pretty good. Does Grunnenrocks count as a zine?
TB: So sorry, the answer was simply “Terminal Boredom.”
Check out the Hipshakes:
Hipskakes Website
Hipshakes on MySpace
Interview by Todd Trickknee
Pics provided by the band
|
