Virgin

There’s no arguing that Scouting For Girls have had a fantastic year. Their steady stream of catchy upbeat pop songs have been a constant feature of the singles charts, their debut album went to number one and their gigs sold out - mostly to screaming girls. So yah-boo to the stuffy critics who have been beside themselves in snotty cynicism over the unashamedly joyful jangles pouring out of the ever-chipper threesome in a year that has otherwise been overshadowed with doom and economic gloom. So bring on the sunshine, and we know just the man - lovely Scouting strummer (and harmonizer) Greg Churchouse. I gave Greg a bell for a nice chat with great certainty that he would cheer me up with news of free downloads, new songs and a big long holidays. He’s even happy they didn’t win a Brit award coz it meant he won a £40 bet…

Bob Fear: You’ve got a new EP available to download for free from your website from 9 March called Keep On Walking. Hurrah! Behold the joy! You’re giving your music away free!

Greg Churchouse: We used to give our music away for free before we got signed actually. When we first started we used to give away a free 2 track CD, a badge & membership card. So it’s a step back to days gone past – we haven’t changed that much!

The new single is to say thank you to our fans – and we’ll be back soon. It’s always nice to give a little something back to people who put the effort in to coming to see you and buy your records.

Keep On Walking is actually the first song that Roy wrote at the inception of Scouting For Girls. It was the first track we ever played and demoed - we always thought it was an absolute winner.

BF: The video is full of footage from your some of your sell out gigs last year, such as Isle Of Wight…

GC: We had Paul the cameraman join us on our tour bus for a while so he filmed us at a few gigs - Isle Of Wight, V Festival, Nottingham Arena… This video is the cheapest and my favourite one we’ve done!

BF: Do any of your live dates stand out as your favourite?

GC: It’s hard to choose one particular gig - playing large arenas of 7,000 people is magic. I particularly enjoyed going back and playing towns we’ve played 3 or 4 times before. At first we were playing small venues and it’s fantastic being able to go back again and play bigger and bigger venues each time.

The festivals were great as well. It’s lovely playing in the sunshine - it’s good to be able to hang out with people you never normally get to hang out with during the day.

BF: The Brits nominations rounded off a fantastically successful year for you where you had a number one album and a succession of hit singles – were you disappointed not to win, or - looking on the bright side of course- was it the taking part that counted?

GC: I made £40 from betting against us! I bet a few people in our immediate vicinity that we wouldn’t win anything. We honestly didn’t expect to. We’re still the new boys and were up against some stiff competition. But I enjoyed it nonetheless – particularly as I’d been consuming lots of alcohol. Being 3 tables from the front was brilliant.

I thought Girls Aloud were awesome. Am I allowed to say that? The Tings Tings were also great but we got dragged out to do interviews so we missed Kings Of Leon and Coldplay.

BF: The stuffier British critics seem to enjoy giving you hard time. Is this coz you’re an unfashionably happy band?

GC: I just find it funny. We make music for the heart not the head so we’re just not cool enough for the critics. They have to make their money writing for their big newspapers or whatever so it’s fair enough. We’re an upbeat band and I think you need a bit of sunshine when the country’s in a recession.

BF: Well, despite the critics, you have a very loyal following – lots of girls…

GC: Yeah – goddammit! Our success is totally down to our fans. We get some nice, genuine guys and gals coming to our gigs. From a live point of view we like to put on a party as opposed to a gig. You come along and you join in - you sing, dance, clap your hands and by the end of it you’re knackered. The crowd have as much fun as we do on stage whether we’re playing to 2 or 2,000 people.

BF: There are loads of new ‘ones to watch’ acts coming out right now. Who are you keeping your eye on?

GC: I’m the wrong one to ask! My music collection is full of 60s, 70s and 80s stuff. We’ve had some awesome support bands on our tours though, Attic Lights, The Days and Go:Audio – who are my personal favourites.

It’s an exciting time for new bands - you can do so much from publishing your music on MySpace to burning your own CDs. Having said that it’s a challenging time for the industry.

BF: Your support act from last year The Days are now signed to a major label and have just released their new single, do you feel like big brothers to them?

(watch our interview with The Days)

GC: I don’t feel like that towards anyone! I don’t consider ourselves veterans at all. When we started out we didn’t have a clue and we still don’t have clue now. We haven’t changed! The best piece of advice I always give to people is not to take my advice.

BF: So what does 2009 hold for Scouring or Girls?

GC: Lots of recording. We’re going to start work on the next album and we’re back to Heliotrope in Kent where we recorded the first album. Playing live is always great but it’s a different experience going in to the studio and indulging in the creative process – it’s very exciting.

But right now I’m looking for somewhere to live! The lease is up on my flat so I’ve got to go to the estate agents in a minute.

We’ve got some time of at moment, so my days consist of getting up and giving my girlfriend a lift to the station, coming home, doing the washing up – it’s a rock n roll lifestyle…

Hopefully we’ll be back on the road around November time – depending on how the recording goes!

Cheers Greg – and good luck in finding somewhere to live… if there’s anyone who can score some luck in this dodgy property matket right now it’s someone from Scouting For Girls… we look forward to having you back at the end of the year…

• MySpace
• get your free download of Keep On Walking from www.scoutingforgirls.com from 9 March

The past 12 months have been full of reunions and comebacks, some more welcome than others. Many will have been waiting with baited breath to hear what Bono has been up to in his spare minutes between auditioning for Captain Planet, while The Prodigy’s mooted return to their Firestarter halcyon days is also anticipated. What probably hasn’t being craved is a rehash of the Minder theme tune, or Miley Cyrus‘ first attempt at musical angst - but we have those too. Let us know what you think.

U2 – Get On Your Boots
Bono and the boys are back and the LA Times is overjoyed about it. This “is happy stuff, almost hedonistic, with not a whiff of anxiety or paranoia or even sexual tension” it claims. So what’s to like then? Vent Vox enjoys “a serpentine down tuned guitar riff while polyrhythmic percussion plays off Bono rattling lyrics like a post-rock Dylan”. Hmm. Audio Scribbler thinks “Get On Your Boots is like a prototype of a 00’s rock song from every angle”, gives 3/10 and is equally annoyed as me at the humdrum riff and inane lyrics. 4/10.

MySpace / iTunes / last.fm / Amazon / Spotify

Miley Cyrus - Fly On The Wall
Ooh, older boys are being too clingy, the paparazzi are all in her face and her dad still wrote Achy Breaky Heart - it’s tough being Miley. “The angsty electro-pop-punk angle - complete with glam-rock drums and cranked up guitars - is far more enjoyable than the smile-happy pop she usually dispenses,” observes AngryApe. “Cheekier and spunkier” Miley is awarded 8/10 by Digital Spy for “defying expectations”, but New Music Reviews “can’t take her seriously” and gives 6/10. It is better than expected from the Disney darling, especially the unintentionally amusing video, and gets 6/10.

MySpace / iTunes / last.fm / Amazon / Spotify

The Prodigy - The Omen
After a few years without critical recognition or notable commercial success, The Prodigy get back to basics. Elbo.ws calls The Omen “another dose of energy fuelled, breaks /electronica in their inimitable style”, with CultureDeluxe hailing “a definite return to form”. VainZine even gives it an 8/10 and predicts a mainstream crossover because “this really is a track for now”. This will find favour with old fans of the band and new devotees of the likes of Pendulum and it could go on to become a live favourite. 7/10.

MySpace / iTunes / last.fm / Amazon / Spotify

Attic Lights – I Could Be So Good For You
So, apparently, Minder was big – popular enough to convince Attic Lights that it is a good idea to cover its theme. CultureDeluxe offers lukewarm praise for this “make or break gamble”. Female First give the band 6/10, if only for managing “to stamp their own ‘cool indie’ (really?) vibe on it at the same time.” Artrocker condemns it as “a straightforward cover which isn’t particularly adventurous or engaging - a bit like Shane Richie”. If this was acceptable in the 80s, we should be thankful the music is usually better in our own recession. 4/10.

MySpace / iTunes / last.fm / Amazon / Spotify

A pocket full of Glaswegian charm and on the cusp of stardom with the release of their new single ‘Wendy’ and hotly tipped album ‘Friday Night Lights’ later this month. Eleanor Conway chats to lead singer, Kev about his intergalactic dreams, sharing urinals at V Festival, and meeting David Gest down a dark alley.

EC: Hey, what you up to?

KS: Sitting reading my comics. We’re in the studio recording some b sides today…

EC: How rock and roll is the session? Going on a scale of one to ten. Is it non rock and roll, or is there drinking and topless girls dancing on the mixing desk?

KS: (laughs) We’re being very well-behaved today, we’re probably 2 or 3 on the rock-o-meter, we’ll probably phone in for some topless dancers later.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of an early record producer called Kim fowley a notorious maniac, he was producing a band in Manchester from LA on the phone, they were doing it live and so he called up a local Manchester brothel and ordered a bunch of prostitutes to come round and dance in the studio so the band would play better. I don’t think our manager Francis would actually do that but you never know.

(raucous laughing)

EC: You recently played at V Festival, how did it go?

KS: We were up against The Verve and Kaiser Chiefs, I was still surprised we got a crowd it was great. People came along to see us.

My favourite part was the backstage area you go to the toilet and you’re taking a piss next to Ricky of the Kaiser Chiefs, Richard Ashcroft would walk past you to take a dump. You’re like ‘what the hell is going on here!’

EC: Let’s talk about your latest single, ‘Wendy’, I’m assuming you are not talking about a cheap mode of habitation, such as a Wendy House, so who is this girl called Wendy?

KS: She’s a mixture of various girlfriends of all the guys in the band have had over the years. She’s a Frankenstein character to be honest, bits of different people all mashed together to make Wendy as you know her.

EC: If you were to make your ultimate girl, like in the movie ‘Total Recall’, where Schwarzenegger is in the chair and he designs a perfect girl, what would be yours?

KS: I’m always getting slagged off in the band as I go for small dark haired foreign girls.

EC: One’s that can’t understand you?

KS: Yeah, it means that my general inability to communicate with human beings isn’t a problem until they master English and I master their language.

And at that point they’ll dump me.

(laughing)

EC: Wendy has been remixed by The Fratellis along with The Vaselines, I’m a househead at heart, so I don’t really get the indie remixes. What did The Fratellis mix add to the orginal?

KS: We were kind of surprised, I suppose there’s an element that if you change the chords in somebody’s song it could be see as an insult, but it also takes a lot of balls. It worked, we were like, ‘fucking hell, we never thought of that chord’.

I’m a big dance music fan myself, I love getting the remixes, the more dancey ones. It’s kind of made me think I should get myself a sampler and start writing some German minimalist techno.

EC: You’re shocking me, this is like a genre crossover, you can’t do that.

KS: (laughs) I kind of grew up listening to indie and going to hardcore dance clubs at the weekend, it’s a strange dichotomy, one day we’ll hook up with Fat Boy Slim and come out with some wild dance stuff. That would be real cool.

EC: You actually supported Paul Heaton who was in the Housemartins with Fatboy Slim earlier this year didn’t you?

Maybe that’s a subconscious connection in my head. We did a short tour a couple of months ago, he’s the nicest guy in the world. I’ve never played with a main act who has said on stage, ‘this is our new single, if you don’t like it, go and buy Attic Lights new single’. I’m in awe of Paul Heaton.

EC: I watched a short film about you guys on YouTube. Kev, you were described as enigmatic, talented, hopeless, optimistic, hyperactive, an intelligent space cadet — now which do you relate with more?

KS: Colin calls me a hopeless optimistic all the time, Tim is always loathed to sit beside me on the tour bus because I’m totally hyperactive, and end up screaming at him and poking him and tickling him, so it depends what mood you get me in.

EC: Virgin are embarking on intergalactic space adventures, Virgin Galactic, if you were to go up to space, what is the one thing you would like to do? Pee, make love, or make music?

KS: That’s very difficult, because all three would have definite appeal.

I’m not sure actually, I’d genuinely love to go to space, it would be tremendous. In case my mum encounters this interview I won’t say make love in space, and making music in space would be quite good, but being a basic infant, I’d probably want to pee in space to see what happens.

EC: I agree with you, I’d probably do the same.

I generally dislike comparing artists to people that have been before, but you’ve been described by journalists and reviewers as the Beach Boys with distorted guitars, do you see that comparison yourself?

KS: I suppose it’s an easy thing to do, there’s part of me that’s like ‘you know we’re more than that’, and every band is more than their comparisons. When we started Attic Lights the idea was, we wanted Beach Boy melodies, uplifting yet slightly melancholy songs, we want loud guitars, coz we grew up with Weezer and the Pixies and stuff like that. So aye, it doesn’t bother us too much and I’m sure people will get a handle on it and make their own minds up.

EC: It’s been said that you guys love Glasgow, and I can’t remember which band member said they would love to work for the council if the opportunity arose. How good is Glasgow, and how much fun can I have for a tenner?

KS: It kind of depends on what you want…

(Noel boisterously shouting in background)

KS: (sternly) Noel, you can’t say things like that.

Noel is being extremely rude.

Colin said he actually worked for the council, much to the amusement of everyone else.

(Shouts to band) Colin you go out more than anyone else, what can you do in Glasgow for a tenner?

(shouting– musician styleeee ) A bottle of Buckfast, take it to the park or five white Russians at Nice and Sleazy, which is a pretty cool bar.

EC: Obviously as your success grows (fingers crossed) there will be big pull towards the smoke. Have you considered moving to London?

KS: Do you know what? It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. I think previously we’d been down in London on a regular basis, we thought London was a bit too big for us. Now I’ve fallen in love with London, it’s absolutely fantastic I just love going down, the architecture is amazing, the difference between Camden and Kensington and all that. Everyone that is a real music aficionados from the States, always talk about London bands, and the UK scene. There’s definitely kudos. I guess to people in London it’s not that amazing, I just love walking around Camden it feels like a really incredible multicultural mix. I’d definitely like to live in London, London is definitely one of the great cities of the world.

EC: Just before calling you I was looking at your video for ‘Bring You Down’ which weirdly has David Gest in it….. er why?

KS: It’s not ours. It’s a long story, I’ll give you the condensed version, it’s rather bizarre. Our tour manager, John, met David Gest on a flight from London to Glasgow. They ended up getting pissed and having a party back at John’s flat, he played Gest a version of our song and then phoned us to come round. Everyone’s hammered and David Gest is like (Kev adopts American/Glaswegian accent), ‘I’d like to do a monologue over this’. So we let him put a monologue over it, and he wanted to his own video to it as well. So it’s a bit weird isn’t it?

EC: It is, because the video features the ‘Small people of Davidland’ and ‘The Chinese girls with Herpes’, so my next question is, which would you like to meet down a dark alley?

KS: I’d go for the small people, as opposed to the girls with Herpes. I’m a bit of a hypochondriac, anyone with a disease I try to stay away from.

EC: What would the people of Attic Lights land look like?

KS: Good question actually, y’know you got me stumped, if they were anything like the band they’d probably be a mixture of hyperactive or stoned or confused. Basically like five headless chickens, because that’s what the band is like, but somehow we always seem to get things done though.

EC: With a little bit of Glaswegian charm I’m sure….

KS: We always put on the charming smiles, especially for lovely journalists like yourself.

EC: Excellent. Correct answer.

And on that note….. Attic Lights release their new single ‘Wendy’, and album ‘Friday Night Lights’ on 6/10 and 13/10 respectively.

Attic Lights:

http://www.atticlights.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/atticlights

Words: Eleanor Conway

www.elle-online.com

www.myspace.com/elleuk

The lineup for the Sessions Stage at the UK V Festival has been announced. Mick Jones, formerly of The Clash, and his Carbon/Silicon bandmates (including Tony James of Generation X) will now be gracing VFest. Here’s the full list of the Session Stage artists: Carbon/Silicon, Infadels, Sugarush, Beat Company, Bryn Christopher, Attic Lights, Team Waterpolo, One Eskimo, Lost Boys, The Midway State, Julian Velard, The New York Fund, Gary Go, The Dodos, Iglu And Hartley, Das Pop, Sparkadia, The Rushes, Animal Kingdom, The Troubadors, Arno Carstens, The Hazey Janes and Sons Of Albion.

They join the likes of Muse, The Verve, Kings Of Leon, Amy Winehouse, Kaiser Chiefs, Kooks, Lostprophets, Reverend And The Makers, Hot Chip, The Courteeners, Guillemots, Sam Sparro, Gabriella Cilmi and Noah And The Whale who are all gracing the various V Festival stages at Chelmsford and Stafford over the weekend of 16 & 17 August.

So there you have it - the countdown is well and truly on!

Fancy VIP tickets to the UK V Festival? Fancy blogging your festival adventures on this very website? Well then - fret no more and enter our frankly astonishing Global VPass competition and all of this and more could be yours…

For more Carbon/Silicon photos like this, check out aphrodite-in-nyc’s Flickr photostream.