British Sea Power
Opening the Door
2008-02-29
Increase Font Size
Decrease Font Size
Tales of puerile insolence on the part of the UK’s British Sea Power abound. Apparently, journalists are easy game for a foursome with such a tenacious artistic scope, and so it is with trepidation that you must approach them. Like a crouching tiger in the jungle, tread lightly, inflate the notion of brilliance within the band’s recorded catalog so as to butter the muffin.
Well, were it not for how unequivocally brilliant British Sea Power’s latest release, Do You Like Rock Music?, is, or how moodily charming Yan was during a recent chat with Synthesis.net, we might have felt obliged to stand toe-to-toe, the sarcasm revolver drawn and ready to blow; but we learned our lesson once again to never, ever believe anything you read. This band has continued to progress in alarmingly inventive ways, relying now on experimental home recordings over studio trickery (portions of their latest album were recorded in a 19th century fortification in Cornwall, England).
British Sea Power formed in 2000 and released their first record on their own Golden Chariot label in 2001. The band was then signed on the spot during an overseas visit from Rough Trade Records founder Geoff Travis in 2003 and subsequently released the scorching The Decline of British Sea Power, a title known best for its modesty in contrast to the swelling boil of atmospheric proto-rock contained therein. The band followed up the critical success of their debut with the equally ambitious Open Season.
But it wasn’t until the band opted for recordings of innate sounds (helicopters, firing ranges, wind) to augment their already atmospheric brood on Do You Like Rock Music? that their fever pitch had been reached. Tracks like “Waving Flags” coast on clouds of reverb, haunting layers of distant siren-esque guitar sweeps and epic waves crashing through the verse into the chorus. It’s astounding and infuriating all at once.
In an attempt to filter through the processes of what makes British Sea Power tick, Yan attempted to explain, fresh from a swim at a hotel in Oceanside, CA, on the band’s most recent West Coast jaunt.
Do You Like Rock Music? seems musically a bit more atmospheric, a little moodier perhaps. To what do you attribute that, and how does that contrast to your usually eclectic live shows?
A lot of it kind of came from the different locations and buildings we went to. We supplemented a lot of any studio recording with home recording, where there’s a lot less boundaries; you can be more experimental easier when you’re on your own. So you can record a group of pigeons in a tower and you haven’t got a producer telling you, “That’s a pointless thing you’re doing there.” You can get on with it. Or you can be recording some drums and have a microphone on top of a roof and capture the sound of a helicopter landing, depending on where you could be. You can end up with all kinds of strange sounds, or group singing—just pretend you’re a load of monks for an afternoon.
And you guys recorded in three different locations? Was that the idea behind going to all these different places so you could break free from the studio and be able to create on your own?
It was a bit. We did plan on doing the whole thing in Montreal originally. We recorded all the songs in a live fashion there, all together in a room. Howard [Bilerman] and Efrim [Menuck], I’d say they’re musicians first and recording engineers second in a way. They’re quite artistic people, so they were easygoing. But I didn’t think it was a strong enough atmosphere to represent the stories that were in the songs; that’s why we couldn’t finish it there and we came back to England. We went down to Cornwall and stayed in a deserted kind of fort-castle for six weeks. We re-recorded “Atom” and “Waving Flags” there and did loads of extra recording, whether it was a piano going down the stairs or the wind or the distant firing range that was there, things like that.
In Europe you guys have had a lot of success. You’ve charted over there, but when the band comes to the States are you concerned at all with charting here or breaking here?
We’re not really concerned with that ever. We don’t fight against it; we think it’s good to sell records. We always have thought it was good to sell records whether you sell any or not. It’s nice to be appreciated, but it’s not the reason. We didn’t set out to make a record to sell as many as possible, but we don’t see a good record being opposed to a popular record—it could be both.
The band will be playing some pretty major US music conferences this year, including Noise Pop and South By Southwest. Are you a fan of the American music conference, where bands perform almost strictly to be exposed?
Well, we’ve done South By Southwest twice before, and the way we see it is that it’s good fun [laughs]. We’ve always had a brilliant time there. You go and see a lot of bands and get drunk and have a laugh [laughs]. I don’t think we really pay that much attention to the conference, business side of things much. You see some strange things and you meet some strange people. I think that’s the joy of it for us, really. I mean it’s just a pretty crazy few days.
Yeah, it’s kind of a major clash between industry and fans.
Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be giving or attending many lectures [laughs].
Did they ask you guys to do that?
I think we were asked once, but I wouldn’t have anything to tell anyone in that kind of situation, to be honest. “How to get ahead in the business.” Ask someone who sells platinum records [laughs].
You play a lot of smaller venues in contrast to the big festivals. Are you worried at all that with the more records you put out, the more notable you become, that you won’t be able to do that for much longer?
I think there’s no logical reason why even the biggest bands couldn’t play small gigs if they weren’t bobbing about making a lot of money one day. We like to play the biggest and the smallest gigs we can. You get some great funny places in England that we’ve played recently, like on ferries on the Mersy in Liverpool. We played the highest altitude pub in England out in the middle of nowhere; tiny little islands and things out where no one ever goes. You can do them all—all sizes.
Since the release of The Decline of British Sea Power, what sort of progressions do you feel the band has made in order to facilitate a consistency from album to album?
I think the biggest one would be learning how to record, really, because that’s a massive step to make. With just fairly basic equipment, we can go anywhere in the world practically, as long as it’s not too expensive, and find a building which isn’t a studio and go and record there. I think that’s a much more exciting way to do things than to be spending thousands of pounds a day under high pressure in a kind of hygienic, boring studio. That, and just learning to get on well.
I’ve been reading a little bit about the Third Battalion on the Internet. It sounded intense. To what do you attribute your fan base’s sort of rabid loyalty? Are you the type of band that signs autographs and hangs out with fans after gigs and before gigs, stuff like that?
I mean, we’re friendly-like. Someone explained it to me a while ago that some people would say it was pretty weird to follow a band around—these people have seen like 150 gigs, something like that. But then they said, you know, people go to football matches and follow a team, and it’s as much about them meeting up and having fun and showing some support. One football match is only so different to another one; it’s the same players more or less; it’s 90 minutes. I think it’s more…they have more of a sports mentality [laughs]. I think they enjoy talking rubbish to each other and meeting up and getting drunk. It’s funny, like San Diego last night, for the first time in—it must be two years—that I haven’t seen a familiar face in the audience. It was quite a nice experience [laughs].
Do people follow you from overseas?
They do sometimes, but it tends to be places like New York, or festivals. Like we were in Germany just before we came here and it was at least half a dozen of the…Third Battalion, as they call themselves. I mean, it’s all right; they bring us presents sometimes. They’re not such a bad lot.
You guys are on a pretty long tour right now. What do you do the other 22 to 23 hours of the day when you’re not playing to keep yourselves occupied?
Well, the last couple of days have been fairly holiday-like, but it’s normally pretty full on; there’s people to talk to or songs to play on the radio, or very long, uncomfortable drives. You just have to grab your fun while you can; go down to the sea or get in the sauna or swim. Go for a walk, make the most of it. And you know; I just drink lots of booze [laughs].
Well, were it not for how unequivocally brilliant British Sea Power’s latest release, Do You Like Rock Music?, is, or how moodily charming Yan was during a recent chat with Synthesis.net, we might have felt obliged to stand toe-to-toe, the sarcasm revolver drawn and ready to blow; but we learned our lesson once again to never, ever believe anything you read. This band has continued to progress in alarmingly inventive ways, relying now on experimental home recordings over studio trickery (portions of their latest album were recorded in a 19th century fortification in Cornwall, England).
British Sea Power formed in 2000 and released their first record on their own Golden Chariot label in 2001. The band was then signed on the spot during an overseas visit from Rough Trade Records founder Geoff Travis in 2003 and subsequently released the scorching The Decline of British Sea Power, a title known best for its modesty in contrast to the swelling boil of atmospheric proto-rock contained therein. The band followed up the critical success of their debut with the equally ambitious Open Season.
But it wasn’t until the band opted for recordings of innate sounds (helicopters, firing ranges, wind) to augment their already atmospheric brood on Do You Like Rock Music? that their fever pitch had been reached. Tracks like “Waving Flags” coast on clouds of reverb, haunting layers of distant siren-esque guitar sweeps and epic waves crashing through the verse into the chorus. It’s astounding and infuriating all at once.
In an attempt to filter through the processes of what makes British Sea Power tick, Yan attempted to explain, fresh from a swim at a hotel in Oceanside, CA, on the band’s most recent West Coast jaunt.
Do You Like Rock Music? seems musically a bit more atmospheric, a little moodier perhaps. To what do you attribute that, and how does that contrast to your usually eclectic live shows?
A lot of it kind of came from the different locations and buildings we went to. We supplemented a lot of any studio recording with home recording, where there’s a lot less boundaries; you can be more experimental easier when you’re on your own. So you can record a group of pigeons in a tower and you haven’t got a producer telling you, “That’s a pointless thing you’re doing there.” You can get on with it. Or you can be recording some drums and have a microphone on top of a roof and capture the sound of a helicopter landing, depending on where you could be. You can end up with all kinds of strange sounds, or group singing—just pretend you’re a load of monks for an afternoon.
And you guys recorded in three different locations? Was that the idea behind going to all these different places so you could break free from the studio and be able to create on your own?
It was a bit. We did plan on doing the whole thing in Montreal originally. We recorded all the songs in a live fashion there, all together in a room. Howard [Bilerman] and Efrim [Menuck], I’d say they’re musicians first and recording engineers second in a way. They’re quite artistic people, so they were easygoing. But I didn’t think it was a strong enough atmosphere to represent the stories that were in the songs; that’s why we couldn’t finish it there and we came back to England. We went down to Cornwall and stayed in a deserted kind of fort-castle for six weeks. We re-recorded “Atom” and “Waving Flags” there and did loads of extra recording, whether it was a piano going down the stairs or the wind or the distant firing range that was there, things like that.
In Europe you guys have had a lot of success. You’ve charted over there, but when the band comes to the States are you concerned at all with charting here or breaking here?
We’re not really concerned with that ever. We don’t fight against it; we think it’s good to sell records. We always have thought it was good to sell records whether you sell any or not. It’s nice to be appreciated, but it’s not the reason. We didn’t set out to make a record to sell as many as possible, but we don’t see a good record being opposed to a popular record—it could be both.
The band will be playing some pretty major US music conferences this year, including Noise Pop and South By Southwest. Are you a fan of the American music conference, where bands perform almost strictly to be exposed?
Well, we’ve done South By Southwest twice before, and the way we see it is that it’s good fun [laughs]. We’ve always had a brilliant time there. You go and see a lot of bands and get drunk and have a laugh [laughs]. I don’t think we really pay that much attention to the conference, business side of things much. You see some strange things and you meet some strange people. I think that’s the joy of it for us, really. I mean it’s just a pretty crazy few days.
Yeah, it’s kind of a major clash between industry and fans.
Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be giving or attending many lectures [laughs].
Did they ask you guys to do that?
I think we were asked once, but I wouldn’t have anything to tell anyone in that kind of situation, to be honest. “How to get ahead in the business.” Ask someone who sells platinum records [laughs].
You play a lot of smaller venues in contrast to the big festivals. Are you worried at all that with the more records you put out, the more notable you become, that you won’t be able to do that for much longer?
I think there’s no logical reason why even the biggest bands couldn’t play small gigs if they weren’t bobbing about making a lot of money one day. We like to play the biggest and the smallest gigs we can. You get some great funny places in England that we’ve played recently, like on ferries on the Mersy in Liverpool. We played the highest altitude pub in England out in the middle of nowhere; tiny little islands and things out where no one ever goes. You can do them all—all sizes.
Since the release of The Decline of British Sea Power, what sort of progressions do you feel the band has made in order to facilitate a consistency from album to album?
I think the biggest one would be learning how to record, really, because that’s a massive step to make. With just fairly basic equipment, we can go anywhere in the world practically, as long as it’s not too expensive, and find a building which isn’t a studio and go and record there. I think that’s a much more exciting way to do things than to be spending thousands of pounds a day under high pressure in a kind of hygienic, boring studio. That, and just learning to get on well.
I’ve been reading a little bit about the Third Battalion on the Internet. It sounded intense. To what do you attribute your fan base’s sort of rabid loyalty? Are you the type of band that signs autographs and hangs out with fans after gigs and before gigs, stuff like that?
I mean, we’re friendly-like. Someone explained it to me a while ago that some people would say it was pretty weird to follow a band around—these people have seen like 150 gigs, something like that. But then they said, you know, people go to football matches and follow a team, and it’s as much about them meeting up and having fun and showing some support. One football match is only so different to another one; it’s the same players more or less; it’s 90 minutes. I think it’s more…they have more of a sports mentality [laughs]. I think they enjoy talking rubbish to each other and meeting up and getting drunk. It’s funny, like San Diego last night, for the first time in—it must be two years—that I haven’t seen a familiar face in the audience. It was quite a nice experience [laughs].
Do people follow you from overseas?
They do sometimes, but it tends to be places like New York, or festivals. Like we were in Germany just before we came here and it was at least half a dozen of the…Third Battalion, as they call themselves. I mean, it’s all right; they bring us presents sometimes. They’re not such a bad lot.
You guys are on a pretty long tour right now. What do you do the other 22 to 23 hours of the day when you’re not playing to keep yourselves occupied?
Well, the last couple of days have been fairly holiday-like, but it’s normally pretty full on; there’s people to talk to or songs to play on the radio, or very long, uncomfortable drives. You just have to grab your fun while you can; go down to the sea or get in the sauna or swim. Go for a walk, make the most of it. And you know; I just drink lots of booze [laughs].
Bookmark: 
