So says British Sea Power's frontman Yan, responding to our question on what makes a good band.
To be fair, it’s only expected from a band who’ve defied the normal way of doing this since they appeared with 2003’s Decline of British Sea Power, from playing with the frankly bizarre Cooper Family, a 200-year-old group of folk singers, to getting into fights with German karate experts and having a giant bear prance around on stage with them. Not exactly Coldplay, is it?
So British Sea Power are back in January, with a new record titled Do You Like Rock Music?, and whilst we must admit to being quite partial to the Devil’s favourite tunes, it’s fair to say that British rock music is, well, a bit bland really. Some might even say shit. Rewind 10 years and you had the Gallaghers fighting, Blur on the front-page of The Sun, Pulp naming records after their favourite drugs, and well, basically loads of good bands making different and interesting music.
Not anymore. But British Sea Power stand out in a sea of blandness. They sing about giant sea birds, Polish plumbers and Slavia Prague FC. They’ve got lists on their website of what’s ‘Rock Music’ and what’s ‘Non-Rock Music’. Apparently Jamelia’s rock music, although Yan admits “I think that was somebody else’s suggestion. I’m sure there’s a good reason. Maybe cos she’s fit!” Tony Blair’s student band Ugly Rumours are also “Rock Music”. Apparently U2, Mussolini and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are “Non-Rock Music”.
BSP gigs are never dull affairs either, stages decked out in trees and branches, papier-mâché birds everywhere and a giant bear called Ursine Ultra roaming the stage, the crowd and getting beaten up by the band. Plus if you saw them supporting krautrock legends Faust you’d have witnessed bassist Hamilton being punched in the face by the singer. Apparently Hamilton was drunk. Yan says:
“Apparently he’s a karate expert or something. His excuse was he could tell Hamilton was gonna hit him, so he hit him in self-defence. But I don’t think he’s ever hit anyone in his life, so I think he’s gonna have to go back to karate school!”
So go and see BSP, it’ll be fun. They won’t preach to you about global poverty, climate change or the state of the music industry. In fact, ever polite, Yan admits “I’m not gonna go read the NME. I’ve got nothing against it, I just think we’re slightly removed from it. There’s probably worse bands than The Twang I guess.”
And if you’re not a big fan of them and all else fails, follow their lead. When BSP toured with The Flaming Lips, Yan admits “Half the time we’d do our set then take a load of funny pills and watch all the flashing lights!”
Just watch out for that bear…
[story by Dave Mercer]