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This is an interview which Spacemaid did, I'm not
sure who did it but I have just lifted it from another web page to save surfers of this
page going all around the world to find information on this brilliant band!
Lonny: "We came
together in Hull and worked at it together. We got signed from Hull, and that's a big
achievement in itself..."
Alan: "Hull's not exactly the musical capital of the
world...
Lonny: "You have to want it pretty bad to keep going in
Hull. There's a lot of bands fallen by the wayside."
Andy: "But we've done it ourselves. Hull hasn't helped
us. We haven't been on the crest of some Hull music scene. We've done it and we've used
any negative stuff around us to our own benefit, just to show that we can do it."
Matt: "It's like people go, 'Oh, Spacemaid, still
around?' but that just shows it's working".
Lonny: " 'Still around' in Hull but in London it's like we're
this 'new band'. I'm sure that in Sheffield people were like 'Oh, Pulp, been around for
ever. Why don't they just give up.' I'm sure that just spurred them on. And then suddenly
it's like 'Wow, there's this new band Pulp!,' sixteen years later after their first
release! We might have been around a bit in Hull, but Hull isn't the whole universe.Then
again, on the other side of it, people have been really chuffed that things have been
happening for us, that someone's doing it."
Hull's a great place for dreamers, schemers and big plan makers because it's great to know
that there's a world out there and at the same time it's easy to avoid it. So the big
plans, schemes and dreams can be put into motion in Hull and then the city can be blamed
if they fail. Spacemaid's universe is bigger than that:
Lonny: "We all wanted to be in a band."
Andy: "We wanted to be rock 'n' roll stars..."
Lonny: "I think it was probably David Bowie... years and
years ago - I saw the video of the the last ever Ziggy Stardust gig, that whole video of
that gig - it was just sooo brilliant. I was just completely blown away...like, I want to
be David Bowie, that was the inspiration for me, wanting to be a singer. Then you get into
different bands, start writing your own songs and thinking, 'Am I ever going to be as good
as my hero?' but you just have to keep going for it."
Alan: "We've always had a lot of confidence, right from the word go. We've always
written our own songs, we didn't start by playing a load of covers. We always had that
`We're going to do this, this is what we're gonna do with our lives'."
Andy: "You can't just do Goole and Scunthorpe and Brid
and hope for the best. We all know that we want it. It hasn't come easy but that's just
increased our appetite."
Spacemaid want to be popstars. They don't want to be an `indie band' they don't want to be
miserable, they don't want to be precious about their intentions. They want to have a
laugh, get famous, be celebs. So how does it happen? You've got a band who both sound and
look good, you've got a deal, you've got the same agents for live work as Oasis... How do
you make it?
Matt: "It's all about breaking down barriers. Like we
did the Radio 1 Roadshow last week, we were out with that lot every night and they were
all well into it, wanting to get it on, just meeting producers of the shows and stuff and
winning people over, gradually you find yourself getting in. It's a real hard process.
Like the last single, various people at Radio 1 wanted to playlist it and various others
didn't and in the end it just lost out. You've just got to win people over bit by
bit."
When you're new you don't have a story because you're nobody. There's probably some
unknown guitar band somewhere else in the country who have two brothers who are always
scrapping, they probably make music every bit as good as Oasis but no-one gives a shit
because no-one's heard of them. They don't get the media coverage because the media feed
on celebrity. So as soon as you're famous, to quote Space Oddity, `the papers want to
know whose shirts you wear'. Fall over and you make the headlines; go shopping and
people want to know. But to get famous as a pop group you need to get on Radio One, and
get into the top 40. Once that's happened the media will do the rest for you.
Andy: "Someone has to decide that they're going to let
you hype yourself. It's doesn't start from the band and then go up, it starts from the
journalists deciding they want that band and giving you the opportunity. You've got to get
to the point where you get noticed for what you're doing - it's a barrier you have to
break down but also one that you can't really control. You've got to get to the point
where someone wants to write your bullshit down. You work away and gradually get closer
and closer. Some bands get there really quickly, but we could spout the most amazing
bullshit and no-one would want to listen."
Lonny: "There have been certain stories that have been written about us and you can
see the process kicking in... We had a gig at The 100 Club and had an after-show party
where we were staying at The Columbia which has a 24 hour bar, everyone stays there when
they're in London, champagne flowing, everyone up for it, drinking the night away...
anyway, we had this party, Noel Gallagher was there, and there was a police raid and
everything, and when it appeared next day in The Daily Star it was like `Lonny and Noel in
Toilet Shock!'..."
Andy: "It's like you're there and the story just makes itself."
Alan: "It's like the journalists will make up the bullshit, the actual story. The
band can just give them a little feeder..."
Andy: "You just prime the journalists..."
Lonny: "Not that we primed anyone in that instance. We
were completely shocked when it came out, 'cos it was complete crap."
Were you chuffed?
Band: "Yeah, yeah, well chuffed."
Lonny: "I wasn't. It wasn't true!"
Alan: "It was like The Hull Daily Mail rang saying can
you comment on what's in The Mirror and we were like just waking up in the morning saying,
`We don't know, what is in The Mirror?'."
Lonny: "But other than that, we've done interviews for
people who were well into it..."
Andy: "We've had some great stuff ready to go, but we
can't make the editors put them in. It's barriers to break down, it's being mates with
journalists. It's a kind of pally-pally everyone-knows-each-other situation. The bands who
are famous are managed by a very small group of people, and the labels who almost have the
monopoly on the playlist are a very small group. And everything they put out seems to get
listed, and they're not always the most exciting bands in the world. But then once you get
a tour with one of them bands people want to write about you and it all gets moving again.
Get a good agent, get good press, get it together."
Matt: "But it's all falling into place now."
Alan: "And like with the Radio 1 stuff last week, you meet all the typical music biz
people, the fat manager blokes sitting there drinking and schmoozing and you play along
with it."
Lonny: "And whereas the other bands were there on the strength
of who their manager was, one was managed by the Spice Girls management, one was managed
by the same as Wet Wet Wet - we were there on our own merit, because someone actually
likes the music, because we're good. And it's doubly difficult for us because we're not
down there in London schmoozing every night, we're down at the Welly! We have to work hard
to get in - we're up and down to London all the time but because we don't want to live
there we have to do loads when we go. But we choose to live in the North, and that's an
extra barrier. Like the main A&R centre is London, maybe a bit in Manchester, maybe a
bit in Glasgow, but they very rarely come north of Watford."
Alan: "When you're down there you have to do it to its
full potential..."
Andy: "If we got a 'B' list it would really go. Like if one of our singles got a 'B'
list we could re-release a couple of the singles we've already done and it would really
move because people take notice. Radio 1's not quite a club, but once you're in there they
know you exist so your next single's probably gonna get listed as well. They've only got
so many bands that they can push and they want to create winners..."
Alan: "They'll only add two or three a week to the
playlist, if you're up against someone who's already been on the playlist the odds are
you'll lose out..."
Lonny: "And it's also just luck. Like when we got single
of the week on Mark Radcliffe it was either us or The Chemical Brothers and when we got a
call saying: 'It's either you or them,' we were like 'No way it's gonna be us! Some band
from Hull, their second single, never had an album out, never done anything and we're up
against The Chemical Brothers!' And we got it! And as soon as we got that it was like a
hundred other things happened, loads more people wanting to know about us."
Andy: "The 'B' list would open things up for us. You get
an A, B and a C list, and it's however many plays a day."
Lonny: "That's the focus for us in England, but we're looking to sign an
international deal and we'll be going out to Japan and America - that's going through at
the moment."
Alan: "And the album'll be released in France at the end
of September..."
Lonny: "So it might sound a bit myopic, getting on the
list in England, but the bigger picture is, like, Japan might really go for the Spacemaid
`thing'."
But the big thing for Spacemaid is that it's happening. They're living the life, making
the music, going to the parties, having a laugh and getting paid. It's real and they're
doing it:
Andy, Matt, Alan: "Yeah, we're having a great
laugh."
Andy: "But we'll be drinking more champagne in a few
months. At the moment we're drinking that cheap stuff, but it'll be Moet soon."
Alan: "If we get that A or B list our feet won't touch
the ground. We'll be so busy."
Will you enjoy it?
Lonny: "It's great..."
Alan: "If I could do that Radio 1 Roadshow for six
months I'd do it."
Matt: "Six months holiday, paid to do your hobby."
Alan: "It's hard work, people say it's piss, but it's
not, it's hard. But it's really enjoyable."
Lonny: "Touring's brilliant. You've got a driver, you've
got a crew. We went to New York, Paris..."
Alan: "Nobody could say it's crap."
Lonny: "You do get periods where you taste what it'll be
like when it really takes off. Like we had a week where we had to do the video, then off
to Sky, then the overdubs for the guitars, the photo shoots, then the artwork."
Andy: "And then you have to go out and eat all this rich
expensive food and you get a bad tummy from all the gin and champagne." It's
terrible....
Lonny: "You have to be careful about how it all comes
across. Like the other day I went out, the publishing company gave me two grand to go out
buy some clothes. I rang my friend and it was like 'Oh I had to go to Harvey Nics and I'm
really knackered..' and they were like 'Don't you dare start complaining about going
shopping!'"
The day after the interview Spacemaid are away to Monnow Valley recording studio in Wales.
This is a bigtime studio. This is where people like The Charlatans and Oasis do stuff.
It's proper. It's not just some band from Hull pissing about. The single, which may or may
not be called LOVE IN THE FIRST, will be released on Monday 27th October. It might be the
one that cracks the playlist. And if it does, and Spacemaid, who've `been around for ages'
become an overnight success, what will they do?
Andy: "Drive fast cars and drink loads of smart
champagne and have great parties." (Nods of agreement.)
Andy: "That is our aim in life. Do the fast living
thing."
Lonny: "We wanna tour America, go to Japan."
Sex 'n' drugs 'n' rock 'n' roll?
Matt: "Yeah."
Alan: "Yeah."
Lonny: "I think so. It's got to be done."
(And Chris the drummer smiles.)
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