Moon & Back Music

Broken Record’s front man and songwriter Jamie Southerland took half hour out to talk to Moon & Back Music about their new album, lyrics, their tour bus and being labeled as Britain’s Arcade Fire.

Image from brokenrecordsband.com

JS: Well we’re currently sitting in one of 4ADs meeting rooms at the moment, we’ve got a photo shoot for Spin magazine in a little bit so we’re just having a meeting before that. We’re actually on a day off at the moment from the tour.

M&BM: How are you feeling about the tour so far?

JS: Yeah it’s been really good, it’s been the most enjoyable tour we’ve done so far. Our tendencies have been on the rise throughout the tour so far you know, playing to new faces… The shows have been uniformly decent, we’ve been coming off stage really pleased, so yeah.

M&BM: Prior to recording Until the Earth Begins to Part you had a large backlog of songs; how did you decide which ones got onto the album and which ones didn’t?

JS: Um, we were very aware when we went into the recording of the record that we’d been playing some of the songs for a while, um, and obviously we’ve written songs since then, but we always wanted to do justice to ones that got us there in the first place so that the record felt like a clean sheet…and the fulcrum of the live set which got a decent reception from crowds. So, picking the songs ended up being quite an easy thing to do as they all fitted into that big, live sounding record we wanted to make.
M&BM: Yeah it is a pretty epic sounding album

JS: Yeah, we were self conscious that ‘if we get to make one record before all this goes to shit then lets make the record we want’.

M&BM: Some of your songs like Out on the Water are distinctly more folk-orientated, how come you didn’t put more distinctly acoustic songs on the album?

JS: Um, well I reckon that’s somewhere we will eventually want to go you know? We always felt that there were seven people in the band, so we wanted to give everybody the chance to just, you know…we never wanted to make it feel like I was the singer playing the acoustic songs and the other guys trooped off stage, we just wanted everyone involved. Eventually we will want to do some stripped down songs, but for the first record we just wanted to put out a big balls rock and roll sound you know?

M&BM: Your songs are passionate and obviously very personal, does it ever conflict playing them live, such as Kathy?

JS: Um no, well we haven’t done that one live for a wee while…from reading a few reviews of the records, some people are put off by the kind of full-on nature of the vocals, but by the time we were in the studio we just view that time and the time on stage as a good scream and shout…..I prefer to look at it as a communal scream and shout to get everything out so everybody gets something out their system. Or that’s at least how I’d like to view it!

We never wanted to be this kind of band that has to wear the right jeans or be fucking cool or something like that, we just wanted to get people involved in it.

M&BM: You mentioned your image then; The Guardian have tagged you as Britain’s Arcade Fire. How do you feel about this?

JS: Um, I struggle with it quite alot because it’s um, i mean, A it’s trying to compare you to like, whether you like them or not they’re probably the most hyped band in the last 10 years, you know, and certainly to some people the most loved band, um, so, from that point of view it’s a difficult one to take because you want to be making a name for yourself under your own steam and not jumping on someone elses coat tails. …. In the grand scheme of music I suppose they pedal, they’re both multi-instrumental and the music’s quite, different. So, we kind of feel helped and hindered by it ya know. It’s flattering, but I’d like to think we could give them a run for their money.

M&BM: Your gigs are very energetic gigs, your show this Sunday is with a sit down audience. Will this affect how you play live?

JS: Naw, we’ll just ask em to stand up. We could, there’s always scope to change the songs about and, um, and to to try and play a more intimate set.

M&BM: Obviously the songs on the record span quite a long time span; what kind of artists have you been listening to predominantly?

JS: Well, people say the Arcade Fire. I’ve played in a nine-piece band and always liked big bands. It purely comes from seeing Spiritualized play with a 40 piece band and gospel choir, which we hope to move up towards. But others like Mercury Rev, The E Street Band, Pogues, all these bands are big-sound bands. Like, Mogwai, Godspeed in terms of the dynamics of the songs, the ability to switch from quiet to loud quite quickly. … And also Bright eyes and other singer songwriter stuff. We’ve all got very wide tastes in music cus there’s so many people in the band from different kinds of backgrounds so.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is a big one for us which virtually no one picks up on, and um Tom Waits is a massive band favourite.

M&BM: So, what’s been your highest point so far in terms of Broken Records?

JS: Yeah yeah I’ve never worked so hard for anything before in my life and cared about something so much, it’s um, as soon as we got together and started playing within the first five minutes it was unbelievable exciting to have those 6 guys you know, hammering their instruments behind you. It’s not just the music side of it….I don’t wanna get to wanky with it but the mix of personalities comes across in the music and when you stand on stage and everyone’s hammering away behind you.

We’ve had a number of high points, we got to play Hogmanay in Edinburgh um just the last new year and that was in front of about 10,000 plus people, probably about 200,000 people if they were watching on the screens. Um, we were supporting Glasvegas then so that was ridiculously exciting. We played a great set at a really small festival in Scotland called Wicker Man and we headlined that tent and that tent was rammed and we played one of the best…the sound on stage was perfect, the audience was perfect we were just glowing after it. It’s a real highlight for us.

M&BM: A few reviews have mentioned a bit of over-production, almost taking the live element away from the songs, what’s your opinion on that?

JS: I find that a funny one, cus all we essentially did was put down the live arrangements. um, the only thing we added was brass, but we deliberately tried to play as loud and fast as possible. Because, i mean we don’t particularly pay heed to these things, but it has been said that we don’t get the live essence on the record. I mean…you know i don’t really listen to them we made the record we wanted to and i’m really proud of it. So just fuck it ya know?

M&BM: You’ve been big on blogs before hand, um, do you think this helped you get a deal with 4AD?

JS: Um, yeah i think it helped to a certain extent cus it’s a funny one cus when the record comes out certainly in blog circles cus because it’s been….as soon as you create a demo it ends up on the internet. You know, people have been expecting this record to come out for two years now, so. It’s a weird pay-off. But, I think it helped raise awareness initially with Young Turks, and obviously they’re a subsidiary of XL the EP kind of did the rounds and 4AD were interested for a while but had to wait for other parts of the company to pass on their interest and stuff. I mean, when people are interested in a band you can’t see the wood through the trees everybody’s blowing smoke up ya arse and telling this, that and the other and when you’ve been waiting your whole life to play music you’ve got to try and get a record out it’s obviously very flattering.

…The whole music industry is so fucked up at the moment, and 4AD seem to offer sustainability which was something the band wanted to have. We never wanted with Broken Records to have it promoted the hell out of then….”just let it die off?” yea yea.

M&BM: So it suits you being with 4AD then?

JS: Yeah it’s unbelievably supportive. I mean historically….Red House Painters are one of my favourite bands, so to have people in the office who can give you stories about that is, you know….having to rub ya eyes every time ya come in the office.

I’m sitting in an office surrounded by White Stripes gold discs, it’s a little bit ridiculous.

M&BM: Do you have a tour-bus?

JS: Have we got a tour bus!? [chuckles] naw we have a Splitter van which carries 9 people. 9 men in a cramped; it’s like a mobile coffin basically! Unfortunately the touring budget doesn’t stretch to a swanky bus but it’s perfectly comfortable.

M&BM: Any bands you think we should check out?

JS: There’s a couple, i mean Edinburgh is rife with great bands at the moment. Eagle Owl who are a three piece uh, really low-fi instrumental band – they’re my favourite band in Edinburgh at the moment. Um, a band called Meursault who are like electronic folk, and our support band at the moment Sparrow and the Workshop, like half Cat Power, half low-fi Americana