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1 - With which purposes did you get in studio to realize your first album and how has it been working with a major music label as Mute?
There was not as far as we are aware any concrete idea as to how the album should sound conceptually. We just knew that we had developed as a band and that when we recorded the album it would be a better version of what we had already done up to that point. We also knew that the songs we had to record were really strong and so we would create something hopefully that was a logical progression from what we had already achieved. We knew it would sound better because we would have better equipment and better knowledge of recording techniques etc. The benefits of working with a major label like Mute are that their commitment to us enabled us to spend all our working time on music, with professional gear and an inspired attitude because we knew that we had finally got to where we wanted to be.
2 - Did any particular albums or bands have an influence on the realization of "Messy Century"?
Our influences are many. However, when creating our music, we never consciously aim to make anything comparable to anything else. There may be a drum sound from a certain record, or a vocal effect from another, but no one record inspired us to create Messy Century. We are hopeful that it is perhaps reminiscent of other musical eras or genres but not that it sounds like anyone or anything. We believe we have achieved a unique sounding record and that we will continue to become more unique with our next records. We do love to admit to what we like to listen to though….
Albums that have left a big impact on our souls that we grew up together listening to:
White album by The Beatles
Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart
Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi by Can
Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder
Bum Rush the Show and It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy
The Doors by The Doors
Orange by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
3 - Does the title "Messy Century" have any reference to the current politic state the world is in or is its meaning somewhere else?
It's a messy century in both good and bad ways. The world can be a cosmopolitan and diverse place, for the lucky nations, and a horrible unfair one for the unlucky nations. We are starting to do some work with Oxfam in order to try to make some contribution to ours and other people's awareness of the messiness of this century.
4 - I really like the way you guys play instruments in the whole album. I have also appreciated the use you made of electronics. How is your relationship with electronic music? Do you like to use it in the studio when you create music?
We tend to swap instruments a lot, maybe Alex sometimes plays the drums Tom might play guitar, it depends on what type of playing we think fits the song.
We like lots of styles of music, I (Ceri) studied electro-acoustic music at university and liked the experimental aspect of it, and the possibilities of manipulating natural sounds into almost anything.
And from that we incorporate it in the studio and our songwriting, everything is recorded on computer and we do a lot of subtle processing to sounds to make them sound slightly different to the norm, whilst keeping a reference to the original sound.
5 - Inside of the cd, Mute gives thanks to those who have bought the original album and there are notes that convict anyone contributing to the illegal distribution of music through the internet. Those notes especially define downloaded music from the internet as the same thing as stealing CDs from a store. Are you guys totally against music on the internet and software file sharing or do you think that this could be, in some way, a good tool, most of all for youth bands, to spread more easily their own music?
This is a really simple answer. We are not rich. We live normal lives in rented apartments and two out of three of us have children. We believe in as many people getting hold of our records as possible and do not have a problem with bootlegging and filesharing in principle, but as we are not millionaires, if no one pays for our album we will NEVER make any money out of it. If we make no money from our music, we won't be able to carry on doing it for a living. It's fairly obvious. As an example, a man who works in an office. He enjoys his job. He has rent to pay, food to buy, a child to feed. I am his boss. I decide that I can replace him with facilities I can find on the internet for free, so I say to him, "you can stay here and do the same job, but for nothing". He likes his job, but his family will starve, so he has to leave and find another job that will pay him. It's the same for us. It's our job now, so we EARN our money.
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