Posts in category "music"

[ Originally published in 1999 and lovingly salvaged from the WayBack archive ]

The Chameleons were a band formed in 1981 Middleton, north Manchester, England who released three albums before they split up in 1987.

The Chameleons consisted of Mark Burgess (bass, vocals), Dave Fielding (guitar), Reg Smithies (guitar) and John Lever (drums).

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that when I first saw the Chameleons live, I barely noticed them. They were supporting U2 at the prestigious venue known as the University of Warwick Arts Centre in late 1981. At the time, U2 were relatively unknown too outside indy circles. I remember Bono slagging off the Radio 1 PlayList when introducing 'Fire'.

Anyway, my first memory of the Chameleons was Mark walking on to the stage in front of probably 200 people in the Arts Centre (probably held 1500) muttering what later transpired to be the immortal words -

'Hi - we're the Chameleons and we're from Manchester'

Of course, everyone was drinking elsewhere or talking and waiting for U2. It wasn't until the summer of 1982 that I heard a session by The Chameleons on Piccadilly radio (local Manchester radio station). I still have the tape of that session - the songs included 'Monkeyland' and 'Fan The Bellows'

After that I saw the Chameleons play quite a few times mainly in Manchester (Ritzy's, Hacienda, Salford College). The Manchester gigs were great and notable for the large devoted Middleton contingent. I'd only been to the Hacienda once before and it struck me as an overpriced, overrated venue. It had big screens with flashing images and clips from obscure, cult movies like 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes'. It was brilliant to hear the 'Chameleons Barmy Army' blasting out and people invading the stage, leaping around and generally antagonising the FAC51 bouncers.

At that time, I used to watch Manchester United quite a lot as well. I used to go to most home games and some away games. It struck me that the atmosphere at Chameleons gigs was quite similar to a United away game. Both events were preceded by pre-match drinking and a great sense of expectation. There was probably more tension and (threat of) violence at the football. In fact, the atmosphere at Chameleons gigs was brilliant and although the gigs were very physical - a lot of leaping around and stage diving - I don't actually remember any fighting. At other concerts (mainly The Smiths and The Fall) I went to around the same time, there was such a mixture of people (Punks, Skins, students, bouncers etc) there, the undercurrent of violent tension was always there and sometimes erupted.

I also have hazy memories of trying and failing to see The Chameleons (summer '82) at the Marquee in London (sold out) and again with a few mates at the Camden Palace. This was a bizarre gig. Mark's voice was knackered - they must have been in the middle of a lengthy tour. After a couple of songs, Mark invited the audience to come up and share the singing. Unsurprisingly it wasn't quite as good as the real thing and the lads had to end the set. All the expectation, waiting and drinking was for nothing - what an anti-climax.

Things he did say

I had an exchange of emails with Mark Burgess in late 1998. I've published it here in case it's of interest.

Things I wish I'd said

I have some bootleg tapes of varying quality of Chameleons concerts. Here's a complete list of the gigs with the set-lists including any notable quotes by Mark in between songs.

Derby Hall, Bury (3 July 1981)

First ever live concert as the Chameleons.

Don't Fall

In Shreds

On The Beach

Up The Down Escalator

We don't use set lists, you know what I mean. We play what we feel like playing on the spur of the moment so things get a bit quiet inbetween so you'll have to make your own entertainment. Bit like Joy Division when they played here. Anyone heard of them ? Breaking Glass [JD song title]

...like my white socks, know what I mean, new song, new faces. This is about the old faces.

Endless Space

This is a song about wanting to live forever. This is called Films.

Films

Thank you very much indeed. Ta. This is the last one I'm afraid. Well we know you've all got buses to catch and things so we won't keep you. It's called Monkeyland. (Dave) - This set, right, we going to dedicate it to Adrian 'cos we've known him for quite a bit but we haven't seen him for ages and he's played with us a few times. We've made a cassette - it's as good as the set list so if you want to buy it. This is Reg's favourite, Monkeyland. Some people think it's the best one. Monkeyland Raucous cheering, applause, shouts of 'Stay On'.

Monkeyland

Yeah, sound. Unfortunately...oh alright 'In Shreds', it is.

In Shreds

Derby Hall, Bury (1982 date unknown)

Quite early from the set and lack of audience fervour. If anyone know the exact date of this gig, please let me know.

Intro (tuning up)

Good evening. We're the Boomtown Rats, ha ha, my little joke. In actual fact we are The Chameleons.

Fan The Bellows

(inaudible) ...This is a song which reflects that... (inaudible) Standing on the corner (?) A song about the senseless waste of good people. It's called 'Here Today'.

Here Today

I'm falling from grace with myself again - happens all the time.

Falling from Grace

Reverb please. We're going to do a song called 'Nostalgia'. Like most of them, Reg wrote the song.

Nostalgia

(almost inaudible) If anyone sees a set list, let us know. (loud feedback). Ow. Yeah. Got it...This is a song called 'Looking Inwardly'.

Looking Inwardly

This has got a rather strange title. This song is so new we haven't even learned it properly so if it falls apart, you'll forgive us, won't you ? No. Oh alright then. It's called 'Singing Rule Britannia (as the walls close in)'

Rule Britannia

Goodnight. Thank you. God bless.

666 Club, Manchester (1 May 1982)

Excellent sound quality.

Intro

Hi. We're The Chameleons. We are as organised as ever. This song's called 'Don't Fall'.

Don't Fall

Thank you. Back, fresh from our extensive tour of outer Mesopotamia. Welcome home boys. Up the down escalator.

Up The Down Escalator

We don't have set lists you see. we just play what we feel like playing so you'll have to be patient. This one's called 'Endless Space'.

Endless Space

The story of making a record.

In Shreds

This is called 'Films' uh, uh, uh.

Films

It must be very nice to be trendy, I would not sit in the bar and on the balcony.

Bleak and industrial we're not, and never will be - not for you, or you, up there, 'cos we don't f**kin' care.

This song is for these people who at least listened, you know and made some sort of enthusiastic motions.

This is called 'Things I wish I'd said'. We've got to go after this one - we can't have you all...

Things I Wish I'd Said

Beggars in the sky

Fulham Greyhound, London (4 August 1983)

This is a small venue on Fulham Palace Road. Little more than a long, narrow pub.

A Person isn't Safe

Thank you very much. Thursday's child has far to go.

Thursday's Child

Jane, I've forgotten to bring my drink up. Could you bring us one ? Who is ? (to requests for 'In Shreds') (audience replies 'You') Yeah - right.

Perfume Garden

Monkeyland

This song's not about sex but it could be, you know. It's called 'Pleasure and Pain'.

Pleasure and Pain

Don't Fall

Well you reach the point where you know it's only your second skin.

Films

A song about being...(inaudible)

Here Today

Thank you.

Rule Britannia

Paper Tigers

In Shreds

View from a hill

Thank you very much. Good night.

Nostalgia

Thank you.

As High as You Can Go

Futurama, Leeds (18 September 1983)

All day festival featuring several bands. These gigs often ran to a tight schedule so note the lack of the usual encores.

Good afternoon. Yes, we found it, yes. I don't want you to think I'm a pop merchant or anything but I've had the shits about this gig since tea time yesterday so if I make a few mistakes - well you know ?

Just a second while Dave gets to grips with the technology.

Don't Fall

Thank you.

Here Today

Well you reach the point when you know it's only your second skin...

Films

Thank you. (faint chants of 'Chameleons Barmy Army' and 'Manchester La, la, la' - MUFC football chant)

A Person Isn't Safe

Thursday's Child

Up The Down Escalator

Perfume Garden

Thank you.

In Shreds

Thank you. Well, it really has been fun. This is the last one.

Less Than Human

Thank you. Goodnight.

Bremen, Germany (20 December 1983)

Don't Fall

Thank you. We're going to do a song for you now called 'Here Today'.

Here Today

Danke Schon. Oh yeah - it's a nice coat, very nice coat. That's not it, is it ?

Thursday's Child

You can rip the seats up, if you want, you know. You can rip 'em out, if you want, and throw them away with our permission. This is the first seated gig we've ever done - you know what I mean - it's a bit weird.

A Person Isn't Safe

Less Than Human

Danke Schon. You might have noticed a slight technical hitch during that number but it doesn't matter, does it ? No - it doesn't matter. Good. This is called 'Pleasure and Pain'.

Pleasure and Pain

Ta. When your mate comes back, can you tell him if he walks on the stage again, I'm going to kick him in the teeth. This is called - what is it called ? Oh, we haven't got a title - it's a new one, is it ? Oh all right.

Films

Danke Schon. This is called 'Paper Tigers'.

Paper Tigers

MonkeyLand

Danke Schon.

One Flesh

Thank you very much. Ta.

Rule Britannia

Up The Down Escalator

View From A Hill

Hacienda, Manchester (6 April 1984)

Typical, packed, frenetic Manchester gig. Actually went to this one which is the main reason I bought the tape. Poor sound quality and precious few quotes between the songs. I think this was probably because Mark had to contend with sporadic fighting between over enthusiastic fans trying to get onto the stage and Hacienda 'doormen'. Also the Hacienda stage is quite small and I remember the band seemed to be quite cramped.

Intro

Thanks for coming down (audience 'You what '). I said - Thanks for coming down (loud cheers) (inaudible)..in case the backdrop comes down.

Don't Fall

Chants of 'Chameleons' Barmy Army'.

Return of the Roughnecks

A Person Isn't Safe

Thursday's Child

Wish I could tell you about a new record but I can't.

Here Today

Pleasure and Pain

Stop fighting - the light's are coming down.

Perfumed Garden

More chants of 'Chameleons' Barmy Army' and 'On the Stage'.

Monkeyland

Films

Intrigue in Tangiers

Paper Tigers

In Shreds

Rule Britannia

Splitting in Two

Ta. I'd just like say again Thanks for coming 'cos I know it's good here.

Up The Down Escalator

Don't Fall

Camden Palace, London (11 September 1984)

Don't Fall

Not having set lists has caused problems for these camera men. This is called 'Intrigue'.

Intrigue In Tangiers

Thanks. It's very nice. You skimped a bit on the dressing rooms though. It smells like bad eggs down there, in the bowels of the place. This is called 'Monkeyland'.

Monkeyland

Now then, now then what shall we play next ? (audience shouts requests) What ? Yeah, yeah. This is 'Second Skin'.

Films

Every time we do a gig, Reg drinks my drink and there's never any left for me. Do you want some Ribena ? 'Shreds' (audience). No. Rule Britannia.

Rule Britannia

(requests) Pleasure and pain ? Yeah - we'll do 'Pleasure and Pain' - we like that.

Pleasure and Pain

Don't forget keeping in time is very welcome, know what I mean ? What ? Yeah. Shall we play that ? Yeah - we'll do 'Roughnecks'. This is called 'Return of the Roughnecks'.

Return of the Roughnecks

Do you know when we'll have another record out ? (pause) Know what that means ? F**k knows. (laughter). Well let's play 'A Person Isn't Safe' 'cos we like that. Well we like 'em all but, you know, you have your favourites, don't you ?

A Person Isn't Safe

In Shreds

Luxor Theatre, Koln, Germany (20 June 1985)

Intro

Good evening everybody (whispered).

A Person isn't Safe

Thank you, Danke schon.

(aside) Andy - there's some problems with the keyboard, can you not hear it ?

Just a few problems. Ees OK.

Rule Britannia.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you.

A Person Isn't Safe

Return of the Roughnecks

Monkeyland

Oi - are you ready ?

Less Than Human

In Shreds

Intrigue In Tangiers

Danke Schon.

Paper Tigers

I am thanking you very much.

Pleasure and pain

Films

You're a long way from home (to request for 'Don't Fall'). This is called 'Home is where the heart is'

Home is where the heart is

Danke Schon. Auf wiedersehen.

Tomorrow Never Comes

Don't Fall

Thank you very much. Goodbye.

Frankfurt, Germany (23 November 1986)

Intro (unknown, jolly little instrumental ditty)

Swamp Thing

Mad Jack

Don't look back. If you want to dance, Jack.

A Person Isn't Safe.

Thank you very much. How are you ? Excuse the manners but I have a cold. That was about the rape of a woman. This is about the rape of a country and he starts it. 'Come on Mark' (audience). I am coming on.

Rule Britannia

Right. Another little happy song for you.

Less Than Human

Paradiso

Home Is Where The Heart Is

(Pause, audience shouts, tuning up). Sorry about that. All the lonely people, where do they all come from ?

Soul In Isolation

Intersperses bits of 'Mad Jack'

Splitting In Two

Is it a question of a University degree in Sociology ? Mark improvises snippets of a Fall song 'Rowche Rumble' - My baby's on Valium, my baby's on Valium - Rowche Rumble, ROWCHE RUMBLE is Valium'.

Manchester International (12 September 1986)

Great atmosphere. Great songs. Great concert. Great quotes. Only wish I'd been there.

Swamp Thing

Blimey, we are in demand aren't we ? This song's called 'Mad Jack'

Mad Jack

Ta. I'd like to make conversation you know, but my voice is going. You work me too hard - you know what I mean. All for 10 quid a week.

A Person Isn't Safe

Rule Britannia

Less Than Human

Tell 'em to move back ? Who do you think I am ? Moses ? Can you move back, he says. Move back. King Canute.

Paradiso

Home Is Where The Heart Is.

The management (laughs) has asked me to ask you : 'Would you please not stand on each other's shoulders ?' (audience roars). I suggest the next time he puts a crowd like this on, he loads them in in stacker trucks.

Soul In Isolation

Films

Pleasure and Pain

Caution

Be seeing you. Goodbye. You're showing your age there, aren't you (to requests for 'In Shreds') ?

Tomorrow Never Comes

Mark improvises 'I won't get fooled again' at the end.

You must have come here five years ago. Do you want me to tell you what 'In Shreds' was like or what ? (Mimics intro to 'In Shreds') No we're not doing 'In Shreds' but we're not, we're the bunch who wrote this.

Splitting in Two.

Mark improvises a few lines including 'Pass the paracetamol', 'Cha Cha Cha' (Marquis Cha Cha by The Fall ?) and then does a Chameleons on 45 compendium, including 'Strange Times' and 'Mad Jack'.

Is it a question of a University degree in Sociology ?

This tape then runs into a Bunnymen gig with 'Do It Clean' during which Ian McCulloch is also paying tribute to The Fall by interspersing verses from 'Totally Wired'.

Today is the 18 May 2020 and marks the 40th anniversary of when Ian Curtis took his own life so I was pleased to see that Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris are remembering the event - Moving through Silence

I grew up in South Manchester and it's hard to describe how important music and football were during my formative years.

I never saw Joy Division play live but some of my schoolmates did ('He did this weird dance'). However, I have visited Curtis' memorial in Macclesfield cemetery.

I've read all the books, avidly watched all the documentaries, seen all the films ('Control') and watched all the YouTube interviews about Joy Division. It's clear Ian Curtis was no angel and he was suffering from a horrible illness and maybe didn't get the best treatment.

The constant, endless bitching between Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook is rather tedious and unsavoury but there's no doubt that, 40 years on, the lyrics of Ian Curtis and his deep baritone on 'Unknown Pleasures' inspired many, many bands and remains quite haunting.

• Safe European Home - The Clash
• My Corona - The Knack
• Germ Free Adolescence - X-Ray Spex
• Don't Stand So Close To Me - The Police
• Soul In Isolation - The Chameleons
• Ghost Town - The Specials
• Clampdown - The Clash
• You're A Germ - Wolf Alice
• Eat Yourself Fitter - The Fall
• All By Myself - Eric Carmen
• Waiting For The Man (with a vaccine) - Velvet Underground
• Paranoid - Black Sabbath
• Panic - The Smiths
• I Predict A Riot - Kaiser Chiefs
• Anarchy In The UK - Sex Pistols
• It's The End of The World (as we know it) - R.E.M.

I was in a fog,
I didn't notice everything
Was coming all apart inside of me
There wasn't any way for anyone to settle in
You made a slow disaster out of me

There's a radiant darkness upon us
I don't want you to worry
I was careful but nothing is harmless
Baby, you better hurry

You were a kindness when I was a stranger
But I wouldn't ask for what I didn't need
Everything's weird and we're always in danger
Why would you shatter somebody like me?

It doesn't work that way
Wanting not to want you won't make it so
It doesn't work that way
Don't leave me here alone

I'll do what I can to be a confident wreck
Can't feel this way forever, I mean
There wasn't any way for anyone to settle in
You made a slow disaster out of me

There's a radiant darkness upon us
But I don't want you to worry
I was careful but nothing is harmless
Baby, you better hurry

You were a kindness when I was a stranger
But I wouldn't ask for what I didn't need
Everything's weird and we're always in danger
Why would you shatter somebody like me?

It doesn't work that way
Wanting not to want you won't make it so
It doesn't work that way
Don't leave me here alone
It doesn't work that way
Wanting not to want you won't make it so
It doesn't work that way
Don't leave me here alone

People often write in and ask 'Norman - just what is this mysterious Music For Sheep playlist of which you speak ?'

Music For Sheep is my favourite music playlist of all time. It has provided solace and hope during some pretty bleak times. The playlist is ironically named as a tribute to all the social music sharing services like Spotify and last.fm which encourage sharing of your favourite bands, music and playlists. This is a novelty for 12 minutes but, ultimately a bit irrelevant because, as I remarked way back in 2006:

'You like your music. I like my music. We may share some common interests but it really doesn’t matter'.

So why am I posting this ? Well, because initially I created this playlist on my Android phone for walks around the park and then it got erased when I had to reset the phone.

Then I used Google Music to store the crucial list of songs for eternity but I was subsequently so horrified to find this service sync'ed everything but playlists (coupled with the demise of Google Reader), I chose to delete the bulk of my Google services.

Then I had a brain wave and created a DokuWiki - primarily to store this playlist. But then I let my hosting lapse in favour of Amazon S3 so I found myself re-creating it yet again.

Here it is - salvaged from an old DokuWiki backup - not for you as much as for me.

• Falling Down - Oasis
• She Just Wants To Be - R.E.M.
• These Wooden Ideas - Idlewild
• Crush On You - Brakes
• Sappy (live) - Nirvana
• Little By Litle - Oasis
• Cuyahoga - R.E.M.
• Pilsner Trail - The Fall
• Conversation 16 - The National
• D-7 - Nirvana
• There There - Radiohead
• Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks - The National
• Here And Now - Ride
• Mistake Pageant - Idlewild
• Carrion - British Sea Power
• Spank Thru (live) - Nirvana
• The Lord's Prayer - Siousxie And The Banshees
• Simple Stuff - Echo And The Bunnymen

Slightly skewed with two songs from The National and surprisingly nothing from The Smiths or The Chameleons (who I always list in my favourite bands together with The Fall).

This is part 2 of an interview with Kathryn and Daniel from 'I Am Not Left Handed'. The first part 'That Was Then' is available here.

This might seem like (another) weird question but then again I am slightly weird myself. I realise you're a relatively young band but are they any songs of your own that you don't like and would not contemplate playing live ? Maybe early songs that you have now outgrown. Or are you fiercely proud of everything you've ever produced ?

I mean everyone has songs by their favourite bands that they can't stand. For example, I love R.E.M but simply can not stand 'Losing My Religion'.

I'm not articulating this very well - I guess I'm thinking of when Kurt used to get completely fed up with endless requests for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'.

D: I don't know that we feel relatively young! Making decent music takes time, we've years of unfocused songs and struggling bands behind us. I think as we get better at it, and letting the songs flow more naturally, we're happier with the end result. Kathryn definitely has very high standards, she won't let us even record something that she's not 100% behind, whereas I tend to be a bit more of the attitude, oh we can just tinker with it a bit. There are one or two songs that I've forced a bit more, and as a result they just haven't had the same staying power - 'Falling' from Yes Means No is one of those, we don't ever play it live anymore.

K: Though who knows, maybe it's just waiting for us to come and rewrite it... we do end up doing that a lot.

Mind you, I call you a young band but I saw an interview with you in July 2009 when you talk of gigs, videos and songs, so when exactly did you actually form ?

D: As I say, Kathryn and I have been doing this for a few years, in different iterations but I think the end of 2007 was when we really worked out where we were going and added Benji - we had another guitarist who left, and it really made us have to sit down and rewrite all of our songs as a three-piece, which was the best thing that ever happened to us.

OK - which of the following appear on your iPod/turntable/cassette player ?

• Idlewild
• Nirvana
• R.E.M.
• The Duke Spirit
• The Fall
• The National
• The Smiths
• The Chameleons (who ?)

D: A little Idlewild, a fair amount of Nirvana. I've done sound for the Duke Spirit but don't have any of their recordings. The Fall not at all, The National I keep hearing about, but I haven't managed to get into them despite a couple of casual listenings. The Smiths... let's just say I'm a big fan of Johnny Marr, less so of the rest of the band. No idea about the Chameleons, sorry.

K: I have plenty Idlewild, Nirvana, R.E.M, Duke Spirit and even The Chameleons. None of the Fall, the National and definitely not the Smiths. Marr is great but I find Morrissey just too pretentious. Take that comment about the killings in Norway being nothing compared to the number of animals killed for KFC and McDonalds every day. Every time he puts out a quote I just think - I have absolutely nothing in common with your way of thinking.

You've covered 'Lousy Reputation' by 'We Are Scientists' and 'I Will Follow You Into The Dark' by 'Death Cab For Cutie'. What other songs have you covered ? Or soundcheck to ?

K: We always had a policy from the beginning of only playing our own material, and not covering other people's songs. I think we'd heard too many other bands in Dublin who'd include a cover in their set, and at the end, that's all that people would remember.

D: But as we've become more confident in our sound, we're loosening that up a little. In a different band, we did used to play a mixed-up version of 'Where Is My Mind?', with Kathryn on drums. We're toying with a cover of a Therapy? song at the moment, the harmonies are really nice, we're just trying to get it to work instrumentally.

Are you all those sickening self-taught people who can play a song back perfectly seconds after listening to it ? Or did you have any formal music tuition ?

D: I'm very much from a classical music background, I played the viola for years, but never really found it that satisfying - I do think the classical education system with its focus more on reading music rather than listening is a much poorer way to learn. Since I started playing guitar and bass in my teens, I've found it a lot more enjoyable, just playing by feel and with what sounds good, and essentially trying to forget how to read music. I do get jealous of Kathryn sometimes, she's a far better ear for harmonies and sense of rhythm than me. Then again, she keeps me on my toes and makes me up my game, so it's not all bad!

When recording the new album, it appeared you hired a big house in the country with a studio so you were able to live together while recording ?

Did this help and accelerate the creative process or did it ever get claustrophobic ?

K: It's a medium-sized house in the very beautiful surroundings of Northamptonshire. We've been in and out of London reasonably regularly too, so it hasn't been complete isolation, which I think is good in the sanity stakes. It's a great place though, there's horses out one window, a river at the bottom of the garden and a graveyard next door to keep an eye on us. Sometimes the local kids go there to make out. That's about as uncomfortable as it gets though.

D: We've put the studio together ourselves. It's been so great to actually have the space to make and record the music properly, with a proper live room and control room, it's really been a fertile time for us in terms of writing new songs - the hard bit is finishing them, we've a lot of new things we like, but trying to coax them into a recordable shape is trickier.

Now we turn to face the future. You finished recording the new album 'The Fire And The Sigh' a few weeks ago. Is a release date imminent ?

D: Not quite finished yet! I think we were initially trying to release some singles ahead of the album, so we worked hard on Alone and put it out. But as we've progressed, we just want to make sure the album is complete and everything's as perfect as it can be before we put anything else out. So you won't hear any more until it's all perfect.

K: The end of August is D-Day, but then there's mastering and artwork and more videos to worry about, so it'll be another couple of months. All the advice we've had is that indie bands tend to rush their releases, and it all comes out in a muddle. This is a big statement for us, so we want to make sure everything's right before it goes out in the world.

Oh I nearly forgot - what is the origin of the name - 'The Fire And The Sigh' ?

D: I like album titles that are lines from a song on the album, almost as much as I hate album titles that are the same as one of the song titles, I think that's just lazy. I don't know about the others, but for me, The Fire & The Sigh really sums up the tone of Kathryn's writing, I think she writes about things that make her angry or melancholy. I can see Kathryn laughing as I'm saying this, but that's how it seems to me!

K: I'm only laughing a little bit...

I just love 'The Place That Won't Take Me Back'. I'm almost reluctant to ask this as I firmly believe you don't really want or need to know what the lyrics are about. It's much better left to your imagination.

I remember when I discovered that 'The Geese of Beverley Road' by The National was actually about ruffians setting off car alarms. I was distraught for 5 days.

So, although it's fraught with danger, could you describe what the 'The Place...' is about ?

K: I've kept a couple of blogs over the years. I'm sort of dodging this question for fear of ruining the song for you now, but there are two posts I can think of, that were about how I write songs. They might help make up for not answering.

One here: http://wealthvsfame.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/its-only-time

And one about how it's probably more obvious an answer than it would have been in an older song here: http://www.iamnotlefthanded.com/listen.html

Glastonbury has just been and gone. So has Bono. Do you like festivals ? Any plans to appear in any this summer ?

D: Festivals are okay, I did go to 29 one summer when I was working with the Rumble Strips, which I think burned me out on them a little. Playing at festivals, it can be hard to get a real rapport with the crowd, we like things a bit more intimate where you can have a back and forth with people. Because of the recording, we've not been applying for festivals this summer, we may find one or two next year that we like.

Can you believe Larry Mullen Jnr is 49 years old ? He looks about 19.

D: He's always been consistently youthful, he looks like he could join up with Westlife any minute... I think the rest of U2 may have been keeping him in a freezer between shows. By the way, I'm not an ardent supporter of U2, but if you haven't recently, go back and watch the video to Elevation. The Edge is hilarious.

K: It's funny you should mention this. I wasn't so big a fan of U2 until I saw them live at Slane Castle back in 2001. Over the whole day, I'd sneaked from the very back of the crowd to the very front (it pays to be tiny at most gigs - unless it's an Audioslave show, though that's a whole other story) And just as the drums kicked in I was hit by this wall of sound. And it was like nothing I'd ever heard before. 'Where The Streets Have No Name' still stands as the best song I've ever heard live.

Conversely, my home town is the only place that U2 have officially said they'll never play again. When they had one of their first gigs there back in the late 70s, the crowd threw pennies at them til they got off stage. Whoops. No accounting for taste I suppose.

'Lifelines' seems a pretty dark love song - 'No more talks of who let who down'.

K: A dark lovesong to friendship after a break-up, is probably closer to the truth. I wrote a blogpost recently that sort of relates, if you think anyone's curious. The post isn't about Lifelines, but it's on a similar theme

http://everythingbuttheocean.tumblr.com/post/8608907557/happy-endings

I love the new single 'Alone'. This song first appeared as a 75 second tune on the 'Time To Leave' EP and was embellished to evolve into a fully fledged 4 mins 30 second perfect pop song complete with a homemade zombie video.

Did you always intend to develop the song in this way ? Was the EP version just a taster ?

D: It's kind of representative of the way we write - things tend to hang around as shortened versions for quite a while, until something else occurs to us and it takes a new direction. I think Kathryn had written it about 2 days before we recorded it for 'Time To Leave'. The same happened with 'Boats' on 'Yes Means No'...

Wonderful IANL quote from bandwagon

'We don't play pop music, we don't write music for art's sake, we don't represent any movements, we're not hip, we're not cutting edge, we don't dress to be cool. We do manage ourselves, we write our own songs, we do our own recordings, we shoot our own videos, we design our own covers, we made our own website. We're not generally negative people, oh yes, and we're not lefthanded.'

OK - final question.

What plans, hopes, ambitions does the band have for the rest of 2011 and into 2012 ?

D: The big plan is to get the album out. We're so excited to finally be making a full-length statement. A lot of people are saying that the 40 minute album is dead as a concept, that singles are the way of the future, but I think there's very much something to be said for sitting down and listening to an album through for 40 minutes. It's the length of the human attention span, at least that's what they told us in school as we had 40 minute lessons.

K: At the moment, we are focused on finishing the recording, so we're trying not to put too many plans in place until everything's ready. Another US tour is definitely on the cards, and hopefully some Canadian dates too. We'll be back to Ireland as well, for the Irish release and in the medium term, we really want to get to some of continental Europe: Spain, Germany and the Netherlands in particular. I think we'll just have to see where the wind blows us - we ended up touring the last EP for two years, so we'll just have to see how the album does, and where people want us to come and play.

D: We are hoping to start doing a regular internet show tho, maybe once a month - in some ways we feel like our home town is online these days, more so than Dublin or London, so if we can connect with people there, so much the better! We've some video ideas we're excited about making too, we're just trying to keep on the straight and narrow for this last stretch. We are letting ourselves out for one London show in September - it's for a fantastic children's charity. It's in Bush Hall, on the 23rd of September. Details as always are on the website at: www.iamnotlefthanded.com

Many thanks for your time and all the best.

D: Thanks for all the thoughtful, wide-ranging questions. I always enjoy having the time to answer interviews like this, it makes me get my head in order - the act of writing things down means you have to commit to positions on things you may not have forced yourself to decide about until now.

K: Just so :) It's been a pleasure.

OK - lets get the boring stuff out of the way.

How did you all meet and form the band ? Please don't tell me you posted an ad in Melody Maker.

D: Kathryn and I met in Dublin, we were working on a summer course together. We both played in different bands at the time, I was fronting my own band, Coyote Blue, and Kathryn was playing keys and singing backing vocals with some friends of hers. We'd been staying up late at night with the other counsellors, a few of whom were musicians too, and there were guitars floating around, but Kathryn kept refusing any chance to accept the guitar and play a song.

I knew that she was musical through some conversations we'd had before, so eventually I persuaded her to sneak away to a different room. After playing several songs at her, and relentless asking, she eventually surrendered and played me a song. I was blown away, and just knew right then that she should be playing her own music.

We played with a couple of different line-ups in Dublin together, before parting for a while. Kathryn went to California and I moved to London. I was working in the Camden Barfly with Benji. We used to do every Friday night, I was doing sound, he was stage managing. With six bands a night, doing 13-hour shifts, it was pretty much life in the trenches - after a couple of years when Kathryn came over to London, Benji was the only choice for a drummer, we've never regretted it for a moment.

The Irish are well known for their love of music. Did music play a big part in your childhood ? Were you dragged into the pub every Saturday night to play the bodhrán by your Father's side ?

K: Not so much with the bodhrán on Saturday nights, but one of my earliest memories was after Mass on Sunday mornings, we used to go to a pub on the river, just down the road from the church. This great band played there every weekend, everything from soul to country. They had a full brass section and this amazing guitarist with the fastest fingers.

Later on, we got a piano in the house and dad used to sit beside me, playing songs I still don't know the names of, and saying the chords so I could play along. So I seem to have inherited my dad's knack for playing by ear, but am completely rubbish at reading sheet music.

D: I think Kathryn had a more authentic Irish childhood. I was raised in Belfast, before moving to Dublin, and even then my family were of a Church of Ireland background rather than the traditional Irish Catholic. So I was actually raised with classical music, playing the viola in youth orchestras and such. My father might not know a Bodhrán if he saw one...

You announced that you all 'quit your jobs' in August 2010 to focus solely on the band. What did you both do before you were rock stars ?

K: We did quit our jobs last August to go on tour in the US. I worked in film production, which means I spend most of my work day secretly coming up with ideas for our next video, and stealing ideas as to how we can make them on a low budget.

D: I worked as a touring sound engineer, with bands like the Young Knives, The Rumble Strips and Blood Red Shoes. It's not an easy business making money just from music these days, so we still do a bit of work on the side to make sure we still have a roof over our heads while we're finishing the album.

K: I think the balance used to be about two thirds of our time working, one third being in a band and now it's reversed. Hopefully as the band grows, we'll be able to drop that last third completely.

And what did your Mummies say when they heard your decision ?

K: Mum was supportive. Lots of comments about how I'd been working too hard, and wouldn't this be a good time to write a book while we were on the road. I suspect if they ever made a movie of the band's adventures, it would be more of a feel-good comedy and less of a gritty drama.

D: I'm the middle of three boys, and have a very awesome older brother who works for the International Red Cross, really fulfilling most everything my parents could want from a son. I think they resigned themselves a long while ago to the fact that I'm going to do what I'm going to do. They're just happy I'm not in jail or on the streets...

I've never been in a band, I can't play a note and I can't sing. However, none of this stops me from being acutely interested in the song writing process.

A couple of my favourite bands, R.E.M. and Nirvana, appear to write the music and then overlay random snippets of scribbled lyrics from notebooks.

I get the impression you don't operate this way and you write short stories - poems almost - that are then set to music.

Could you describe how the band produces music ?

D: In the early days, it used to be more the case that one or the other of us would write a song alone, mainly Kathryn, and then it would be brought to the band for development of the music. Nowadays most of our songwriting comes out of the two of us playing together.

K: We'll just get a spark of something - the guitar and bass at the start of 'Boats' is a good example, we were just playing those chords and they sounded... right, I guess is the best description.

D: Then when we have something we like, Kathryn'll work out a vocal melody, and then we bring it to Benji. He's our representation of the world - if it works for him, if he can play something awesome with it, it's a good song. If not, it's back to the drawing board. Finalised lyrics tend to come at the very end.

K: We're not one of those bands who write songs in twelve minutes. It can take anything up to a year of having a few bars of something before it's ready to be turned into a full song.

Why are the videos from the early Camden sessions 'Private' ?

D: I think, earlier this year we wanted to clean-up our YouTube stream - we wanted to just present the best material we have.

K: We can get a bit nitpicky over our own performances. They were recordings we did quite fast for our Thing A Week last year, they were fun to do at the time, but we didn't always think we were doing ourselves justice in the long-term.

Robbie Williams never managed to 'break' American despite being successful in Europe and having the multi-million pound backing of EMI. Yet you have already toured America !

Why is that ? Is it because Daniel's view of the band's music as 'American Indie' means your music is well received there ? Or did you just fancy a trip to DisneyLand ?

D: A large part of it is that I think we don't resonate so well in the UK. We do have several lovely supporters here, but we don't fit into the standard UK indie scene, so it's been a struggle trying to find our own way. We just kept getting a lot of requests from people to come playing in the US, and we always like to go where we're invited.

K: At the moment, we're thinking about moving to San Francisco for a while to see how being based in the US would work for us. It's so great that With the internet these days, location becomes less relevant - we can still keep up with everyone online and spread our music, no matter where we are in the world.

I was very interested to read that you manged to raise $11,000 funding using crowd sourcing on slicethepie.com as opposed to a lucrative record deal. How did that come about ?

K: The great thing with SliceThePie, is that it's one site where you could put up the music and get it listened to and reviewed completely anonymously by strangers. The people they select for their showcase are the people who get ranked the highest in this blind reviewing. So when we were put into the showcase last January, we knew that we'd earned our place, purely because of the music. It was a great affirmation for ourselves, as much as anything. Of course when we were in the showcase we had to work our asses off and hustle and try and encourage people to invest - which they did! We hit our total in September and since then we've been writing, rehearsing, setting up the studio and recording. We're coming into the final stretch now, just want to make sure everything's as strong as it can be. It's been a slow process this year, we've been learning a lot about how to record an album as much as writing one.

D: The SliceThePie thing came about in a really nice way actually. The whole industry's pretty confused at the moment, record labels really are not investing in young bands at all - you need to prove you're having decent success on your own before they'll touch you. At the same time, there are a million different websites, promising you everything from songwriting competitions, to festival slots, to gear and cash prizes. The problem with most of these, and one thing we hate with a passion, is that they all involve getting bands to tell their friends to sign-up and vote for them. They're basically just using bands to advertise their websites or products. Music for us is not a popularity contest, it's all about the one-on-one connection that you make with a song. Just because you might like our music, the last thing we want you to do is sign up for something and get subjected to spam and advertising. The only thing we ask from our fans is that if they like the music, then share it with their friends.

You use Tumblr for your blog. You use Feedburner. You use Google Analytics. You use Twitter. You have created your own Web site. Come on, own up - who's the geeky one in the band ?

K: We're probably both slightly geeky, though we've never thought of ourselves that way. It just makes sense to use the best tools available, and we have been doing this a while, so we've tried a lot of things over the years.

And does this individual torture themselves monitoring downloads, page views, sales and tweets on an hourly basis ?

D: Sales are always nice to know about... The rest is useful, particularly when you have information about where in the world people are coming from etc. It's not worth obsessing over, but it is really nice positive feedback when you put up a song or a video and you can see that people are watching it or downloading it.

As a followup, do you have any idea which social network is most effective for the band ?

D: I think you've got to use what you're comfortable with.

K: Exactly. I mean, I feel like Facebook's pretty good for us, because that's where we'd all post anyway. It feels quite natural.

D: Myspace was never really our thing, I'm actually quite pleased to see it fading away. For twitter, I think I'm a bit more the businessy side of the band, gig updates etc, whereas Kathryn just likes to chat with people - I'm always jealous of how interesting and authentic her Twitter feed is, I worry that mine is a bit cold... Kathryn has joined Google+ though, which I'm resisting for the moment. I'm trying to minimise distractions of all kinds and go upstairs and do some mixing!

The band has a presence on every social network in the universe. When will you get a flipping account on identi.ca so all the freedom lovers can follow your antics ?

K: It's funny. Identi.ca is something that's been popping up lot recently!

D: We go through phases of things, so once the album's put to bed, we'll probably be reviewing our social networks and internet presence - identi.ca will be top of the list, we promise.

I've read that collectively, the band is quite 'impatient'. My personal gut feeling is that you are also perfectionists - the type of people who might argue for hours about the precise placement and duration of a triangle being sounded.

Is this the case ? If so, how do you marry these two conflicting personality traits ?

K: This is a chillingly accurate gut feeling. We clearly aren't playing with our cards too close to our chests.

D: We do do everything ourselves, and we can get lost in tiny recording details, or graphics for the website for far too long. I think the more we do, and the better musicians we feel we're becoming, the happier we are to just let the music do what it wants to do. We've definitely tried to beat songs into shape, but when they're working by themselves, that's the best way.

This is an awfully cliched interview question but then again I am an awful cliche - what bands were you all influenced by ?

I am aware Kathryn admires Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie) and likes Weezer and Clutch. What about Daniel ?

D: I think those are the bands that we all like together pretty much. My early influences were bands like REM and Nirvana, as well as more esoteric ones like They Might Be Giants and a fantastic German punk band called Die Arzte. We do divide duties a bit in the band, where Kathryn is ultimately responsible for lyrics, though I do occasionally throw words at her to freak her out, I'm the one who has more responsibility for production. It took me quite a long time to work out where we wanted to be going, with our hard edged drums at one end, and Kathryn's subtle, elegant melodies at the other. I found it difficult to find bands that were doing what we wanted to be doing. When I first got into Death Cab, back when Transatlanticism was coming out, it was something that I just felt they were doing so well - he's an amazing lyricist, and Chris Walla's production on those albums is fantastic.

You are a band with strong principles and a sense of independence. I read with interest your post about being torn about having your music broadcast on a TV advert.

Can you elaborate about how that came about and the dilemma it presented to the band ?

What was the consensus amongst fans who gave you feedback ?

K: Everyone has been hands down positive. I think we were more conflicted than anyone else. I think everyone knows that the music industry's in pretty poor state and this gives us the freedom to spend more time on music. The company had actually used the same piece of music for a much smaller ad in Spain, and they just really liked it, so their Italian ad agency approached us when they had this new campaign. It wasn't the worst dilemma. I mean it wasn't for an ad for cigarettes, or a puppy-strangling machine, we just wanted to make sure we thought long and hard about the implications before we committed to it.

Read part 2 of this interview with 'I Am Not Lefthanded' - This Is Now.

'I Am Not Lefthanded' are a band who produce the most wonderful music. The band are a three piece - mainly from Ireland - and the lineup is:

• Kathryn - vocals, guitar, piano
• Daniel - bass, vocals
• Benji - drums

'I Am Not Lefthanded' have released a couple of EP's and are currently putting the finishing touches to their first album - 'The Fire And The Sigh'.

It's hard to categorise 'I Am Not Lefthanded' but they produce beautiful melodies with the most fantastic vocals and lyrics. The band's music and videos are available on their site so have a listen and make your own mind up.

The band will be playing in London at Bush Hall on Friday 23 September at Bush Hall in Shepherd's Bush for an excellent cause.

I fell in love with the band's music since I first heard them on Dan Lynch's excellent Rathole Radio podcast which showcases a eclectic mix of Creative Commons music.

Since then, I've bought both EP's in addition to some very stylish IANL socks. I also managed to persuade Kathryn and Daniel to introduce the new wonderful single 'Alone' on episode 6 of the award winning, legendary 'This Is Not A Podcast'.

Flushed, surprised and delighted by this achievement, I then chanced my arm and asked Kathryn and Daniel if they would consider an 'interview' where I sent them miscellaneous random questions via email which they would then scan and answer.

Needless to say - Kathryn and Daniel kindly acceded to my demands for an interview - probably in an effort to rid themselves of this mad stalker.

I was ecstatic that Kathryn and Daniel took time out of their busy schedules to provide such detailed, lengthy, considered answers (instead of quick, trite one-liners) and, hopefully, the 'interview' makes fascinating reading.

Anyway, combined with my inane ramblings, the final result is rather long so I have split the interview into two parts:

• IANL - 'That Was Then'
• IANL - 'This Is Now'

Last week, I went to see The National at Brixton Academy. Twice. Both shows were great (Monday just shaded it) and the band resurrected a rarely played classic ‘Lit Up (one of my all-time favourite National songs) on both nights which was an unexpected and brilliant bonus.

I’d been eagerly waiting for these dates to come around since I saw the band on election night back in May at the Royal Albert Hall.

This beautiful photo taken by Alison Philcock brilliantly captures the mood and sense of expectation shortly before the band took the stage.

My family were genuinely perplexed as to why a grown man was going to see the same band play twice within three days and were unimpressed with my reply of ‘Well, I couldn't get tickets for Tuesday'.

I also won a £10 bet with Norma who bizarrely insisted that the band would play the same set in precisely the same order. On Wednesday, two of my favourite songs ‘All The Wine' and ‘About Today' replaced ‘Runaway' and ‘Little Faith'.

They would probably produce Bryan Devendorf of The National.

• Plays the drums barefooted.
• Takes the demo tapes and composes the drum sections.
• Writes intelligently.
• Drums immaculately.
• Performs his own, separate soundcheck.

All things considered, I'm very glad I'll be witnessing The National live again at the Brixton Academy on Wednesday 1 December.