Still, trio Friendly Fires, who chatted to the Herald in their only face-to-face interview in Buenos Aires before their sound check at La Trastienda last week, beg to differ about their heritage. It seems local rock royalty such as former S Club 7 singer Paul Cattermole (okay, bubblegum pop royalty), punksters Your Demise and Enter Shikari and pop band Saving Aimee were born there, while 80s crooner David Essex lives there. As did the revered comedian (in Argentina certainly) Benny Hill. But the Fires are very much the UK’s band of the moment, playing the main British music festivals including Glastonbury, touring the world and releasing their fifth single Kiss of Life two weeks ago — frankly they are the only Albanian musicians we should be caring about. And all that has been a mere year’s work since the release of their eponymous debut album.

Taken to task over their home town, bearded guitarist Edd Gibson is jokily defensive. “Actually The Zombies (a rock band formed in 1959) went to the same school as we did. I met the drummer’s daughter who told me that. That’s very rock ‘n roll!”

Despite their understandable fondness for their roots, drummer Jack Savidge lives just down the road in Hatfield, and Edd is now based in London, for the unrock ‘roll reason that “my parents moved to Devon which is pretty inaccessible.” However, vocalist Ed Mac has stayed close by. “I live just outside St. Albans and that’s where we have our studio and where we record. If I moved into London it would be hard to find a place where I could make a lot of noise and not get any complaints. And it wouldn’t be very cheap either, to rent somewhere then soundproof it.” How very practical of this electro-indie trio — it sounds like they had a university education.

Jack, who looks worn-out and originally wasn’t up for being interviewed but decides to get in on it anyway, adds: “Coming from St. Albans has actually helped us as we’ve been able to make as much noise as we like for 10 years. We’ve got a lot of respect for bands who come from inner cities and have to worry about paper-thin walls!”

“Can you imagine having to be creative in a space you’ve rented for two hours?” ponders Ed, the eccentric Englishman bedecked in calf-length trousers, lace-up brogues and striped green-and-black socks. (“These are my last few items of relatively clean clothes,” he admits later on, having just arrived from Brazil.) “It seems a really odd way to write music and be creative. The fact that we did have our own space to play until the early hours just let all that creativity run out,” he says.

STUFF OF DREAMS. The Fires’ story is verging on a classic musical fairytale: they met while at school and set up their first punk-focused band; vocalist Ed then released some of his own music on a label while in his late teens; once they graduated from university, the trio was signed up to XL Recordings. Now, thanks to their eponymous album, Friendly Fires have been nominated for the Mercury Prize, a coveted British award for the best breakthrough album of the year, alongside Kasabian, Bat for Lashes and Florence and the Machine. Although not touted as the favourites, the Fires certainly stand a solid chance among the aforementioned faves.

But has it been too much too soon? Twelve months can be a long time in the public eye. Edd disagrees. “It doesn’t seem like it’s happened quickly for us, to be honest. It took us quite a while to even get a record deal. I remember how lots of press were writing about how surprised they were that we didn’t have a deal, so for us it’s been more slow-burning. Our album came out last September and to be nominated for the Mercury this year when others have come out more recently…”

Jack chips in. “We definitely thought everyone would have long forgotten it by the time the nominations were announced. Florence and La Roux, for example, were released in the past two months so it’s good that we’ve kept there and gained some momentum.”

The band had dallied about with two smaller labels, releasing two EPs and a single, and the conversation turns to whether they need the support of a larger label to become successful. Anyone can upload music on to their MySpace website or make a podcast — just how necessary is XL for them?

“To really get anywhere and make headway in a mainstream music scene you definitely need the support of a label,” says Edd. “Unless of course you’re The Prodigy and have enough of a profile to do it yourself. It’s not just about some eccentric billionaire spending his money on you and hoping to get something back out of it.”

“Even with smaller labels, they are often funded in the beginning by bigger ones,” says Ed, “and you need money from somewhere. You’d have to borrow and need a lot of time to invest in everything to do with the label. If you’re a touring band you don’t have the time to do that.”

Obviously this is their first South American jaunt and they have taken in Rio, Sao Paulo and Mexico City, recounts Jack. A minor dispute leads to his being quickly corrected that Mexico City isn’t strictly “south.” Again, does touring this continent so soon seem a bit odd? “To play South America is very much a goal for us as a band, especially Brazil and Argentina, because our music is somewhat influenced by samba,” says Ed. “I really enjoyed Brazil but having seen the countryside in Argentina, I think I might like it more.”

Edd adds: “It’s surprising for us that many more bands don’t bother to come here. I don’t know if people miss it out or don’t lobby their management to come. It seems a real shame.”

They are also surprised at the high cost of gig tickets in Argentina. “I think they are charging more for our show than for last night’s dinner,” says Edd, and it is an issue that local fans in general pay more than their European counterparts to see a favourite band. For last Wednesday’s gig at La Trastienda, one had to fork out a minimum of 180 pesos to get in, some 30 pounds. When Friendly Fires play a homecoming show in St. Albans next week on September 3, some quick internet research reveals the cheapest ticket to be on sale for a mere… £12.

TOUR OF DUTY? Money matters aside, let’s get friendly. When the Fires play live they have a fourth man in tow, Rob Lee. But it’s as a trio that they can’t wait to start writing and recording again and the toll the past 12 months has taken on their music-making process is clear. Touring has naturally helped to raise the band’s profile and is vital. “It’s really important at this stage as we’ve just started out, but we’re now at the point where we’re selling out quite big venues in the UK,” says Edd. “But I don’t think that for the second and third albums touring will be quite extensive as it has been for just one record.”

Ed adds: “The record came out in September 2008 and we toured it while people were still discovering it. Now, more than ever, people are discovering it so we’re now on our second time round promoting it. It’s a good problem to have but it means we’ve toured twice as much.

“I’m surprised we’ve managed to write a song and release it (Kiss of Life came out on August 11, 2009) because of the touring schedule we’ve had. It’s hard to get yourself in the frame of mind for being creative when you’re travelling for a month on a bus, just waking up to set up your equipment — you get into this repetitive cycle and for us, to be able to write properly, we need to be back home in our little personal space. We need to labour it. We’re not the kind of band that can pick up an acoustic guitar and write a song at the back of the bus; it’s just not how we write music and a lot of our music isn’t even chord-based. They don’t start from a guitar but from a drum or synth line.”

But it’s not quite over yet. Over the coming weeks they will play electronic music festival Creamfields in Liverpool, Reading rock festival and Bestival, a fun three-dayer on the Isle of Wight. This gig will be a bit of a landmark as Ed explains. “We last played Bestival two years ago, the only time, we closed the festival in one of the tents, and everyone piled in to see what we were all about. We did a really good show and felt that from that moment that things were starting to take off, that labels were showing real interest and that the general public started to understand what we’re about and got into it. It will be good to go back and play main stage to see how the crowd react this time round.” They aren’t convinced by my attempt at getting them to play Creamfields Buenos Aires (the largest in the world) and Edd is adamant that they’re keeping November free for writing.

Three, of course, can be a crowd but having played together for so long, Ed, Edd and Jack seem to have it worked out, as Edd says. “We know when it’s time to let someone get on with their individual bit. It’s good to write together but sometimes it just needs one person to take it a bit. We’ve been writing together for so long that we know how it works and now it’s about finding the momentum, just keep going. If you hit a block, get out of it, and it’s best to move onto something new.”

Named after a track on the Section 25 album Always Now, Friendly Fires are riding on the crest of a wave and if they’re too polite and home counties to be rock ‘n roll, well it doesn’t matter too much as they’re electro-indie boys with a Mercury nomination under their belt anyway. And politeness and niceness can take you far — recognised by a fan and asked to sign a Union Jack flag on the street, Edd offered to put her on his guest list, quipping: “It’s not like we know anyone in Argentina anyway so we might as well ask randoms from the street to come along.” That said, spotted as soon as they stepped out of the hotel, the trio jointly agree that is was “scary to be recognised” so clearly the fame game hasn’t affected gone to these boys’ heads yet. It seems like a sensible St. Albans upbringing will stand them in good stead for dealing with a long career ahead of them.

First published in the Buenos Aires Herald in August 2009.

The Magic Numbers' as-yet-unnamed third album comes out in May 2010

After releasing album number one (The Magic Numbers in 2005) which included the ultra-contagious songs Love Me Like You and Love’s A Game from which the “mistake” lyrics come, tracks that are so 60s-influenced it feels like the Magic Numbers have been around for 40-odd years, the self-titled debut was indecently quickly followed up a year later by Those the Brokes in 2006. This was enhanced by further touring and so after the musical, media mayhem, a break was in order.

Bassist and vocalist Michele says: “The main dream after touring was to do what we wanted so we spent a year setting up a studio. That was a big thing to get done but because we’re really hands on and want to do everything ourselves, it took a while to learn how to use the desk. We then took six months to record the next album and I’ve been recording my own on the side which has been a bit of an escape. Romeo has helped me a bit with its production.”

Infinitely less headline-grabbing than Oasis’ Gallagher brothers, these credible siblings don’t let rivalry get in the way, explains Michele. “We all grew up together, and we can sit in a room and don’t have to say anything to each other. It’s really comfortable, no one has anything hidden, we’ve seen each other in our ups and downs, but because we toured so much, I think we lost the family side of things a bit.”

So although they haven’t actually had a break, the laid-back attitude which at the forefront of their music reflects the pace they choose to work at, so it was going to take longer than average to make all these plans come to fruition. Still, a few years have whizzed past and it’s back to the grind, albeit at a slower pace.
“We’ve just finished out third record so we toured about 20 small venues to try it out and get ourselves out there for the fans,” Michele adds. That tour had a great conclusion with a larger show at Wiltons Music Hall in London, she adds. “Playing new tracks there felt good, it’s the start of the year — it felt like we were back.”

From west London although the Stodarts lived in Trinidad when they were younger, the Magic Numbers have always had good times doing the smaller circuit, and were up for repeating the experience before the April release. Michele adds: “It was really fun and a conscious thing to do before the album comes out and the chaos begins again.”

Although the band have had no time to acclimatise and are unlikely to appear in swimwear or even shorts, they will be giving fans a chance to reacquaint themselves with some Naughties pop classics while treating them to new material at the same time.

Where & when
Magic Numbers play the Rock & Pop Arena at ArenaBeach in Mar del Plata, Route 11, 200m south of the lighthouse. Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 3pm. Admission: free.

The main problem emerged days before the event, which in previous years has attracted 60,000 revellers. Originally due to take place on November 7, the downsized event was postponed on October 28 by the Buenos Aires City government. The original line-up included Orbital, Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, Richie Hawtin, Hernán Cattáneo, 2 Many DJs and Danny Howells who had been booked to fly in and play alongside national artists such as Romina Cohn, Bad Boy Orange, Soundexile, DJ Paul and Deep Mariano.

The reason for its suspension? Apparently promoter 2NET did not submit the relevant paperwork therefore the City government could not authorise Creamfields taking place at GEBA.

SECOND DATE. Such issues can be resolved, however, and on November 4 2NET confirmed a new date, December 19, with a different headline act, but it was the promoter’s lack of communication that upset fans. In the week of silence that ensued (the promoter’s boss, Martín Gontad, told the Herald he had preferred not to comment until they had concluded all their inquiries), fans angrily posted messages on music web forums such as www.groovesite.com.ar and www.flowmi.com, saying “I only bought my ticket to see David Guetta”, “I am really indignant”, “why did they start to sell tickets if the paperwork wasn’t in order?” and “what an embarassment”.

So following all this fiasco, an alternative venue was eventually confirmed two weeks before the new December 19 date, and the one-dayer’s gates finally creaked open at 4pm Saturday afternoon.

Well, that was the theory, but it didn’t happen in practice. Tickets costing around $170 stipulated the afternoon kick-off, but further hiccups meant it was touch and go on the actual day, unbeknown to the hundreds queuing. Gontad said on Sunday: “We only received approval at 7.30pm to open doors from the City government’s Direccion de Habilitaciones. The event was almost about to be postponed again due to the rain consequences, and this was the only reason for gates opening later than announced.”

By 8pm the queue, which was worming its way round Parque Roca — and it was a grumpy worm at that, clapping and “oleing” its way along to the music in the distance — started to slither along. It was a substantial wait for hundreds in the damp weather and not an energising start for those already disillusioned with the date and line-up change — bear in mind only one of the international artists originally booked for the November festival, Richie Hawtin (besides Cattáneo who is a given at this annual event), made it to Creamfields Buenos Aires.

Although a silver lining was distinctly lacking on Saturday’s clouds, let’s look on the bright side. A new date means a new batch of artists coming to feed the 40,000 with their tunes at Parque Roca, and the trance DJ Tiesto was the star turn. The best of the rest included Jeff Mills, Tima Maas, Darren Emerson, Guy Gerber and M.A.N.D.Y.

OHHHHH. It was a welcome return for the German-Swiss duo M.A.N.D.Y., Philipp Jung and Patrick Bodmer, who were booked to play Alsina club in winter but their international tour was cancelled thanks to the circulating H1N1 flu virus. Talking to the Herald back in July, Philipp said the pair were just as disappointed as their fans about not making it to Buenos Aires.

“We tried everything and we were in constant contact the whole time. We waited until the last minute and in the end, along with our agent, we decided it didn’t make sense if people were scared to go out,” he said.

“Also the situation wasn’t clear whether clubs would be open. We are terribly sorry for us, and of course, for all the people who bought tickets and were looking forward to seeing our show. But due to swine flu we also had to cancel a show in Thailand.”

But that silver lining is starting to shine a bit brighter. In town for one of those “in-and-out” jobs DJs are renowned for, Patrick and Philipp had an exclusive chat with the Herald prior to their disco siestas and 11.30pm slot on the Main Stage about horse riding, New York City and art.

Friends since they were 15, when M.A.N.D.Y. got the call from promoter Gontad they freed themselves up for the Argentina gig. Having played the music festival twice before, they were keen to return and more so following their winter cancellation — fortunatley Philipp managed to rearrange some solo dates, says Patrick. “He was booked in Tokyo but he already had plans to be in South America, so he cancelled Tokyo and it was a good chance for me to jump in as well.”

This third date is all about Creamfields — arriving last Friday, the pair played Saturday then left on Sunday — but Patrick has fond memories of when they played Córdoba. “We stayed in an estancia for a week, sleeping in the swine’s cabin in the middle of nowhere…”

“The swine was me!” chips in Philipp.

“The family showed us how to ride horses with nothing but a blanket,” adds Patrick. “It wasn’t very subtle and I left with a bloody butt. I got so excited about riding the horse that I didn’t think about the fact that I was wearing jeans. I didn’t have a mirror so I had to ask Philipp how it looked, and he was like ‘woah.’ It took some weeks to get over and it looked very weird, like I’d been involved in heavy gay stuff. I had to explain to my new girlfriend that it was only because I’d been riding horses in Argentina.

“And the next time we come here we want to go to Fireland,” he adds enthusiastically. Ah. Tierra del Fuego.

Holiday anecdotes aside, Philipp and Patrick are phenomenally popular as the DJs and producers M.A.N.D.Y. but also manage to stand tall separately, Patrick in particular, given that he’s the classic, leggy, blue-eyed Swiss blond. It’s been 17 years since they first started throwing techno parties in Frankfurt, seven years since they set up their Berlin-based record label Get Physical, home to 22 other artists including Booka Shade and Thomas Schumacher, and in October the duo released a mix album for Renaissance, a musical seal of approval from the British label denoting the electronic scene is theirs.

An additional sign of “having arrived” was Martín Gontad’s personal invitation to play the ninth Creamfields Buenos Aires so life seems pretty peachy for the duo, apart from the disastrous Buenos Aires weather. It’s tipping it down outside their Puerto Madero hotel. Patrick says: “We play the British festivals so our experience is that if it’s raining really heavily and you think no one is going to come, it will actually be quite busy. As long as it’s not cold, it’s often even more rock ‘n roll.”

Talking ahead of Saturday’s Buenos Aires experience, Philipp adds: “We’re really excited as it’s the first time we’ve played the Main Stage and we’re alongside Richie Hawtin and Tiesto. We want to see what Tiesto does and why he’s number one.”

The bad weather naturally affects their style, so with the clouds comes a darker sound, says Patrick. “Going from beautiful sunshine techno to heavy, dark electronic, rainforest techno — that’s what we’ll do.” Whatever the style, it’s got some stiff competition from the thunder…

WAY BACK WHEN. There’s plenty of banter between the friends, who met on the tennis courts 25 years ago, and although they have little time in BA they are keen to find out about the underground music scene and who they should be listening to. Taking them back to the astroturf, Patrick explains how it all began.

“I was interested in getting connected with Philipp as he had a bike, and I wasn’t allowed to ride one. I thought ‘he’s a very good contact, he’s got a nice bike’ and then when I was 18 I had a bike and he didn’t. And you crashed it,” he indicates to Philipp.

Despite this upset, they remained close with Patrick, grandson of an artist, treading that career path for several years to pay for his studies. Success came quickly for the teenage painter but one day he decided he liked music and it was all change. “I just can’t do both at the same time so I am very limited creatively,” he says. So should the former German judo champion (aged 10) who was awarded a medal by Frankfurt city for outstanding sporting achievement fancy a change, well, he can always invest in a new set of paintbrushes.

In fact art played an important role for the duo in the early days. Patrick’s studio was the venue for techno parties in the early 90s in Frankfurt. “My art studio was a brewery so we’d combine my painting with techno parties with Ricardo Villalobos playing there, for example. We mixed it all up a bit! We’d give everything away for free, let nice people in for free — we weren’t very good businessmen!”

Philipp adds: “When we were young, we had these underground arty guys behind us and they always supported us and helped us to find spaces. It was very natural, it was never about having to do something.

“We used to give out flyers personally so we could explain the concept to each person, and we’d walk around for three weeks before the party promoting it. You might only find one person all night who might be the right one for our party. It was very hand selected,” he adds.

RIGHT HERE. Back to the present. Philipp has recently transferred to the US, while Patrick remains in Berlin, so this means both are playing individually (although as M.A.N.D.Y.) more than ever. “We don’t have side projects but we do play separately,” clarifies Philipp, “and more so as I just moved to New York.” The change took place two months ago, because, he says: “I wanted the energy from new people and it’s nice to do that. There was a chance so now I’m living in Chelsea. I’ve got everything I need and all the galleries are there. If you’re lonely, there’s always something to see.”

In addition, the Renaissance mix album is out, and although it’s been a difficult year, according to Philipp (“it’s been hard for everyone in music and we’ve been trying to survive as well”), they’ve just completed two new tracks with label mate Booka Shade. With Philipp producing in New York and Patrick in Germany, the plan is to bring everything together to release an LP in April 2010.

“It’s been three or four years since we joined forces with Booka Shade so we want to do that again, and come back to the family idea. It’s time to write the next chapter,” says Patrick.
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/20654

The Draytones are in Argentina for five weeks

An international affair, other main acts include Californian rockers Faith No More, who formed a year after Depeche Mode in 1981, and German punk band The Dead Trousers (who released their first album in 1983), known to their legions of die-hard, trouser-wearing public as Die Toten Hosen.

This five-dayer definitely holds the spades in hardcore, although it remains baffling that these kings — because barely any queens are participating — of the 1980s still hold such a grip on Argentina’s live music market. Look at AC/DC for example: they’re returning once more to Buenos Aires to play three dates, and at the rate they keep adding them, who’s to say whether they might even extend their tour to a fourth?

But the very first group to set the ball rolling is Anglo-Argentine quartet The Draytones. The band, formed by Argentine guitarist and vocalist Gabriel Boccazzi and British drummer Luke Richardson in 2005, was signed by Sony subsidiary 1965 Records on the strength of their do-it-yourself MySpace website. Chris Le Good (bass and vocals) and Andy Pickering (organ, rhythm guitar and vocals) are the remaining British components of Pepsi Music’s opening act.

Their style is 1960s quirky, perky pop — After All with its Beach Boys-esque guitar combined with Hammond organ and tooting harmonica wouldn’t be out of place on an Austin Powers’ soundtrack, while tracks such as Keep Loving Me are less dreamy and more dynamic, keeping vocals to a minimum and letting drums and guitar take a leading role.

Following their four-day “in-and-out” stay a year ago, the band are here for five weeks this time round and will uniquely be touring the Malvinas mid-November in a musical first. But before that ground-breaking trip, The Draytones have a TV appearance with Mariana Fabbianni, a date at La Trastienda plus others around the country as well as today’s music festival to contend with.

Between rehearsals in a house converted into a studio in the Palermo neighbourhood, all four band members talked to the Herald about how they got together, the making of their second album and the “Friendship Tour.” Treated to several tracks in an intimate space for just 10 people prior to their interview (including a Malvinas veteran who has been in contact with Gabriel over the past two years), if the energetic practice was anything to go by The Draytones are not a band to miss out on while they play in Argentina over the next five weeks.

Lead singer Gabriel, who is from Caballito in Buenos Aires city, moved to the UK’s capital seven years ago, aiming to win a place at a prestigious music school. “I went to London for music,” he says. “I was playing the violin and studying composition and I wanted to take my studies a bit further. I wanted to apply to the Royal Academy of Music, so I flew over there, applied and didn’t get in — but then I joined a band, met Luke and the rest of it just happened.”

Drummer Luke worked as a sound engineer at a live music venue in London and through one key contact, became friends with Gabriel. “The venue owner was a mad Nigerian who was managing a band that Gabriel was in and he thought I could be in it too. So I joined, we did a few gigs but then me and Gabriel decided to leave to set up our own band — I was the singer and he was the bass player. We then swapped, him to vocals and me to drums, so getting a bass player was the next step.”

Having formed in September 2005 and once Chris Le Good was in place they worked as a three piece up until 2008. The next part of their story involved getting some tracks down and out there, which then swiftly led to musical Holy Grail: a deal.

Luke continues: “We did some demos and put them up on MySpace. A record label heard them and offered us a deal and it went from there. That was after our second gig.” It was just nine months later that The Draytones had recorded their first EP. Bassist Chris adds: “It was all so quick, but seems so long ago now!”

BACK IN BA. It’s exactly 12 months since they played the 2008 Personal Fest, and in that time Andy Pickering became the fourth member so this is his first visit to Argentina with the band. “That was a quick in-and-out job,” recalls Luke, but we also played The Roxy.” Andy, who was in another band that previously supported The Draytones, played the organ, a sound the original three wanted to include and develop, so he was a shoo-in.

The quieter fourth man says of their relationship: “I’d kept in touch with them and then I found out about a year ago that they had a space free for organ playing, guitar and singing, so I was like, ‘that’s me’.”

Their musical style, they say, has earned them a larger audience in Argentina than in the UK, which might be because there aren’t many bands around with this modern 60s sound in London. But that doesn’t matter as the three Brits and the Argentine fit right in here, even down to their dapper image topped off with floppy haircuts. “Some of the first EP’s tracks have been broadcast here which is why we are known,” says Gabriel.

“And we’re still playing those tunes today,” adds Luke. “After three years writing together, we’ve definitely had a natural progression, and we’ve just recorded a new album, which is our second LP.”
Chris adds: “The first album had the only songs we’d written on it. That album was basically put together really quickly with all our best songs. Some of these songs on the new one are over three years old still, but I think it has progressed. We’re better in the studio now, we’re better musicians.”

The latest addition to The Draytones’ family recorded on this second album, which obviously led to a change in dynamic. Luke adds: “This is the first time we’ve recorded with someone else because in the past it was always just the three of us. That brought a new dimension to it.”

Having lived in London for seven years, Gabriel speaks excellent English and manages to avoid the pitfall of a sounding like a foreigner when singing. All the band’s lyrics are also in English but they have recently ventured into unchartered territory.

Luke says: “We did a song in Spanish (No me iré) along with a video earlier this year and that has been on MTV here. We’ve always had our English following, but it’s funny because where we’re at compared with where (BBC) Radio 1’s music is at is completely different.”

Chris insinuates that the British media can in fact be more of a hindrance than a help. “In Japan, for example, if they like you, they’ll put you on the radio or write about you. It’s as simple as that and you don’t have to fit into anything. We’ve gone down really well here. I know we’ve got the connections with Gab, but from listening to other bands it’s the same kind of music they like, which is brilliant.”

FURTHER SOUTH. Hopefully the Kelpers will also like The Draytones’ tones, because the band is going to play four gigs on the Malvinas on the “Friendship Tour” in two weeks. Gabriel says: “When we started the band, we were looking for a name that would link both countries. Luke came up with the Hand of God, and it quickly came up that we should play the Malvinas one day. It was like a dream. And you never believe these things until it happens so it’s actually very surreal for me.

“Two years ago a man contacted me whose brother was an Argentine soldier who fought on the Malvinas. The brother was a journalist and he told me about his brother who sent me a very emotional email and we started up a friendship — he was the one who pushed the project forward.”

Luke adds: “When we were booked for Pepsi, we thought we’d try to go to Malvinas, to Uruguay and make a spell of it. The ball started rolling and now we’re going there on November 14. It will be like the old days, playing in pubs to one man and his dog… but it’s going to be great as it will be all of us, plus our team and friends, going over together and going on holiday. That’s what it’s all about, to do something a bit weird and different.”

Apart from the mammoth trek south, this second trip means the group will be playing BA again, as well as dates in La Plata and Uruguay. “Another one of our dreams is to record in Argentina one day,” says Luke. “We’re always looking for the next thing, but if it’s weather like this, we’ll always come back!”

If the bigger, established bands aren’t your cup of Tetley’s tea, you’ll need to get down to Club Ciudad on Av. del Libertador 7395 tomorrow afternoon to catch The Draytones in action, but if that doesn’t fit in with your schedule, they will play La Trastienda on November 28. And if you have a return ticket to Port Stanley, you can see them sooner.

A few inquiries later it turned out they were also sneakily headlining one of the stages at the Personal Fest. All very low key, all very low profile, but after a chat with the two main men behind the group, the thick mist passed.

Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker were teenage friends in north London, and ended up working at a music studio together. The short version is that they reckoned they could do better than what was going on, so they started making music together, and got a break on the Radiohead album OK Computer, with a remix of Climbing Up The Walls.

They are the dynamic Grammy-nominated duo behind chill-out music band, who since their debut album Simple Things in 2001, have always had a rolling band-member concept which was followed by the fast lane to fame. Guest vocalists who have collaborated on their records in the early days include the quirky blonde Australian Sia Furler and fellow Brit Sophie Barker while the Swedish-Argentine folk singer José González appears on third album The Garden (2006), although none of them work with Zero 7 anymore.

However, on their latest album soul singer Eska Mtungwazi, folk singer Martha Tilston and Rowdy Superstar contribute to a more uptempo record from an electronic band synonymous with a slow-paced, floating lounge style that, according to the pair, appeared on every makeover TV show going.

This change in pace has led some fans to become disheartened with the band, they say, who after eight years in the spotlight, a gold debut album, tracks featuring on numerous US TV programmes and countless award nominations, have learnt to adapt to the whims of their public and press.

Having played the Personal Fest last Friday and following Saturday’s soundcheck at La Trastienda, Henry and Sam talked to the Herald over a beer and some empanadas about the festival experience, their latest album and the fame game.

This is the first time Zero 7 have played Buenos Aires and their turn at Personal was surprising for them. The phrase of the moment, TIA (This Is Argentina), springs to mind. Henry says: “It wasn’t quite what I expected as it wasn’t the usual experience of big festivals. It seemed quite separated. We arrived and about 50 people were in front of the stage, so we were slightly worried that no one was going to turn up. But once we started there were about 500 people, but I think Chic were playing at the same time. I could hear Good Times going on in the distance as we were doing a ballad. How can you compete? Surely everyone is going to want to dance to that!”

Sam adds: “We’ve come this far and wanted to play here for a while. This was the first opportunity we’ve had to do it, so it was really exciting and we wanted everything to go smoothly. With a festival you show up and you’ve got half-an-hour so usually in the first few songs there are a few problems that need to be sorted out, and we had a few of those, so it was a bit bumpy. Festivals can be a bit hit and miss. You just cross your fingers and hope when you go out and start the first track that you won’t have major issues. We were expecting crowds as far as the eye can see and to be carried out over their heads! But I think it was a good vibe. I’m looking forward to playing La Trastienda though as the intimacy is more satisfying.”

That said, it must have been a bit of a bitter pill to swallow for one of the headline acts: the festival’s capacity is 30,000 and a miserable five percent of the crowd turned up to see the seven-piece. But apparently the gig looked and sounded fine, according to Henry’s Argentine girlfriend, who was in the crowd. “She thought ‘great gig, what was the matter?’ so sometimes it is the case you get bummed out by a gig but the people have no idea what’s going on because they’re enjoying the music.”

LDN. Going back some 20 odd years, the pair met as teenagers who went to neighbouring schools and had friends in common. Despite their shared love for music, the plan was never to form a group. “We were both really into music and went to a little college that did a sound engineering course. We got into music by working at studios, and we were drawn to sample-based music, that’s what we were really into,” says Sam.

To be more specific, it was electro and hip hop, he adds. “That was the first music we heard and the whole concept of making a track out of someone else’s track really fascinated us. When we first got into studios, we wanted to work out how to use a sampler, to bring in a few old records in and dance around the room for hours. The start of house music was the first movement in our teenage years and we got swept up by drum machines and synthesizers. We didn’t have any interest in being a band. But we were always messing around with our own ideas and eventually got our own place to do that in.”

All of that “messing” eventually led to the release of the 14-track debut Simple Things in 2001, which went gold, was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, and led to the band winning Best Newcomer at the Muzik awards.

“That first record we put out was the most popular,” says Sam, “so we had an extreme baptism into the music industry. We did ridiculous stuff we never imagined such as being on TV, being on Radio 1, travelling the world, and our first ever gig was at Sonar in Barcelona. We’d never been on stage before so it was crazy for a while. Then we did the classic ‘lost our way for a while’ and the pressure of all of that was quite distracting to us — and we weren’t sure whether we were going to make another album.”

Some people work well under pressure, rising to the challenge, but the pair just weren’t prepared for it. Sam continues: “Those were weird times. We’d never encountered that before or given it a minute’s thought, that there might be that sort of scale of reaction to it. It was quite bizarre. Maybe we should have been more prepared but we weren’t and that was the way it was. But that led us into a difficult second record, some people liked and a lot of people didn’t so we learnt a lot from the two extremes. From arse kissers telling us it was the best thing since Marvin Gaye, and we’d be thinking ‘you’re crazy, that’s ridiculous!’, then on the next record people were saying it was rubbish, although to us there wasn’t actually a gaping hole between those two records.”

Despite its name, that album didn’t make life any simpler for Henry and Sam. Literally famous overnight, how did they strike a balance of combining their regular lives with the glitz and glamour of being in a suddenly famous band? Henry says: “I still don’t really know. It was all a bit odd and it’s a bit of a blur. By the time we’d got to making the third album I’d left London for Glastonbury, and it felt like a career. But despite all the nominations, I still haven’t quite accepted it and find it hard to come terms with people thinking that I’m, or we’re, good.”

Moving to the home of the mother of all festivals in itself was a reality check for Henry. “It’s actually a bona fide place so it was liberating. Sia came to stay at my house and moving definitely helped with the creative process at that time. We’d just started working with José (González) — he was on that third record, and that was just before he was thrust into that space because of Nike (Jose’s track Heartbeats was used in the brand’s advert).”

Sam compares their those first albums and how they were received: “I think it was helpful to have such extreme responses to the first two records. It was quite levelling because we realised it was all ridiculous and irrelevant to us because we just need to be thinking about where we’re going and carrying on working. And that’s what we’ve done.”

Apart from making a great first record, and the tracks Distractions, Destiny, In The Waiting Line and Give It Away, confirm that, Simple Things gained so much momentum so fast because the latter three songs were used on CSI, House, Sex and the City, Smallville, Raising Helen and Roswell, among other TV programmes. Henry says: “All that has been absolutely essential for us and what has bankrolled the whole thing. There’s not many ways of gaining revenues in this business anymore, but that is one of them. We were very fortunate to get that.”

STRAIGHT BACK DOWN. Sam’s version of events also brought them back down to earth. “We were having a little moment in the spotlight and were the sound bed to every home makeover, DIY, travel and cooking programme, and that was A bit weird, thinking ‘that wasn’t actually what I had in mind.’ I don’t know what I did have in mind, but it definitely wasn’t that! So you become equally cursed and blessed: we sold a lot of records but it eventually becomes a turn off and people started to associate us with background music and Alan Titchmarsh! But it’s out of your hands and you have to ride it out.”

Another way of keeping things in perspective has been to participate in other projects such as their instrumental bands Kling and Ingrid Eto. “We got into that on this last album as we’d lost our way a bit,” says Sam, “and in the thick of the album we weren’t really happy with where we were heading. So by dropping everything and doing other stuff was massively helpful, it kept things flowing when it can get a bit stagnant.”

“It’s the curse of the collaboration!” jokes Henry. “But we rely so much on the people we work with and we waited a long time on this album for someone we gelled with. We’d worked with Sia before, but made a conscious decision not to this time in order to put ourselves in a different space.”

Sam adds: “We’re not a traditional band so we have to come up with different approaches to the record-making process in a way that helps us expand our ideas. To try things that aren’t so comfortable often leads you to different places. That can be difficult but you stand to gain a lot more by going a bit further.”

Having played some UK shows, Sam and Henry have remained in Buenos Aires for a few days and will undertake a US tour in November. “It will be interesting to see how it goes with the North Americans,” says Henry, “as it’s a very different record and I wonder if they’ll want makeover music or if they are ready for something else!“

FREAKED OUT. “I feel there’s a different perception in the US of who we are,” says Sam. “They are more open whereas I feel in England that we’ve been put in a certain place. That’s fine, we can’t change it, but this is a different sounding record, that some people are not prepared to go there with us — they’re freaked out by it. In the US they’re more up for different versions of certain tracks. The gigs in the UK have been alright, but I stumbled across some comments on our website — ‘I’ve never walked out of a gig before’ — and I got really down about it. The idea of anyone walking out and ripping up tickets after one of our gigs is upsetting. Then I remembered there were 2,000 people at the end making a lot of noise. But it was essential for us to make some changes in the way we work, and I’m just sorry that we’ve put some people off! Perhaps you have to lose a few along the way to keep your own sanity and keep developing.”

Photo courtesy of Solar Management

Zero 7 played La Trastienda and Personal Fest in Buenos Aires

Having played the Personal Fest on Friday and following Saturday’s soundcheck at La Trastienda, main men Henry and Sam talked to the Herald over a beer and some empanadas about the festival experience, their latest album and the fame game.

This is the first time Zero 7 have played Buenos Aires and their turn at Personal was surprising for them. The phrase of the moment, TIA (This Is Argentina), springs to mind. Henry says: “It wasn’t quite what I expected as it wasn’t the usual experience of big festivals. It seemed quite separated. We arrived and about 50 people were in front of the stage, so we were slightly worried that no one was going to turn up. But once we started there were about 500 but I think Chic were playing at the same time somewhere in the distance. I could hear Good Times going on as we were doing a ballad. How can you compete? Surely everyone is going to want to dance to that!”

Full story on Thursday 22 October…

Plaid played the 2009 Personal Fest

The British Council has started an incubator project aiming to help Argentines in the music industry forge links with their British counterparts and this just happens to be loosely tying in with the twentieth anniversary of Warp, an independent record label that has brought the likes of Aphex Twin to our ears.

Warp has been taking its celebrations seriously, with dance music nights taking place in Paris, New York and Sheffield, the original and now spiritual home of the label, with events in Tokyo, London and Berlin to follow.

Over the past few days, All Tomorrow’s Parties has been screened (a rockumentary featuring live shows from Sonic Youth, Patti Smith, Portishead and Yeah Yeah Yeahs; last night Tom Panton, head of live events, hosted a workshop in San Telmo and two intelligent dance music (IMD) acts, Plaid and Bibio, play the Personal Fest.

Unfortunately Tim Exile, who was due to play, hasn’t come as, according to Panton, “he got really ill. Tim’s been touring intensively this year, going between time zones in the US quite heavily, and it got to a point where it caught up with him last week. It’s a real shame, but I think it’s for the best that he didn’t come on this tour, otherwise it might have made him very ill.”

He adds: “Bibio will do a fine job stepping in for Tim, and he’s actually as big as him in the US at the moment.”

Despite this upset, the celebrations continue and Panton, who is here for the second time in Argentina, talked to the Herald last night prior to hosting the workshop about the label and new music. “Warp was founded by Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett in Sheffield and I’ve been at the label since 2001, just after they moved to London.”

The live events head honcho, from a personal viewpoint, is most proud of this year’s anniversary achievements. “We’ve held a series of events around the world, but being in BA isn’t strictly part of Warp 20. However, the Council’s project is about bringing very independent record labels to South America to help cross the connections with promotors and build a relationship, which is why we are here. It wouldn’t have worked combining it with Warp 20, which is a series of events led by us, as we’ve only got two artists here!”

The label isn’t only making new contacts but Panton has also been discovering new styles of Latin music, and one in particular has caught his ear. “There’s bits of cumbia which we get in the UK which everyone’s latched onto. I actually like the older styles such as tropical music as well as the more psychedelic Argentine stuff but Brazilian favela music is good as well.”

This trip is also proving beneficial for the label’s artists, he adds. “They are really into it as they get to travel to Santiago, San Pablo and Buenos Aires. Normally it’s a fly-in, fly-out kind of job playing at a big festival, which they have done in BA before, but it’s really hard for them to tour these sorts of cities without this kind of support from the British Council.”

2008’s Personal Fest was guitar-focused whereas 2009 is showing a whole lot of electronic love. Panton’s point of view? “That’s good! I’ve seen the Pet Shop Boys before, they are what they are and they’re interesting musically. But dance music is as big as it’s ever been and big acts are still coming through. You could say the experimental electronic music that was pioneered in the 1990s hasn’t got the market it did have, but it’s still there. Dubstep is really big in England at the moment, and that’s being mixed with techno to make a new exchange. London’s really vibrant and loads of African beats are coming through. It’s racially mixed and exciting.”

The Warp posse aren’t hanging about, however, so you should see Plaid and Bibio now or… another time, when they’ll hopefully get to make use of their new Argentine contacts.

There haven’t been any immigration issues for South African artists and musicians who have landed in Argentina this week because The President is involved. The South African one. In fact, that’s the name of an award-winning design company which recently opened a Buenos Aires office and is responsible for an artistic exchange that has brought over a group of South Africans for several days and will result in Argentines being reciprocated in early 2010.

Although principally here for the Trimarchi design conference in Mar del Plata, an Argentina-organised event in its eighth year, tonight’s Trimarchi Buenos Aires offering is an extra little taster. Rock band Van Coke Kartel will play a single date this evening with fellow South African and one-man band Yesterday’s Pupil (photo), who has already tested out his own unique brand of synthesizers, rock and percussion on the local audience. “I’m not a DJ, though,” insists the solo artist.

The President gave some lectures and Yesterday’s Pupil played at the three-day design conference which attracted around 6,000 people, but the Kartel have been using their time in Argentina wisely to relax and are here without laptops or mobile phones. “I played 13 shows in five days before coming here,” says singer and lead guitarist Francois van Coke, who is sporting a bandage on his right hand as well as two rock ‘n roll-looking scabs on his left cheek. Admitting he looks wilder than usual and doesn’t normally wear bandages for show, Francois says the damage took place before the action-packed yet short-lived tour in South Africa started, so no wonder they are taking it easy before the show, which they say, will be “rock ‘n roll, as loud as we can.”

Van Coke Kartel — which also comprises bass player Wynand Myburgh — Yesterday’s Pupil and The President are all gaining reputations both individually and collectively in their homeland. The President, for example, designs Afro, a ground-breaking quarterly magazine that is printed on one page, starting life as a space blanket and folding down to the size of a cigarette packet, a concept that has sparked global debate over the definition of a magazine, according to Hannerie Visser of the design company. She says: “In South Africa, the ABC (the Audit Bureau of Circulations) wouldn’t give us a rating as they said we’re not a magazine. But we are. It has adverts and all the elements of a magazine — it’s just packaged differently.”

It’s the designer’s projects which have drawn the musicians together. “When I got a call from The President, i thought to myself ‘uh-oh, what’s all this about’,” jokes Wynand. Yesterday’s Pupil featured on the cover of one publication. “I rocked up for the shoot and they painted my face pink, made my hair yellow and put a funnel in my mouth with cheese curl chips coming out. That’s when I thought ‘yes, it doesn’t get any better than this’. I was still washing the paint off three days later. It was awesome,” he says.

But before gracing magazine covers became a normal activity, Francois talks about the Kartel’s early days. “We’ve been together since high school and played in a band called Fokofpolisiekar (Fuck off police car in Afrikaans) and this is another project we’ve been doing for two years. It’s just me and Wynand writing the music but on the album we got some other musicians in.”

Hannerie interrupts to clarify that Fokofpolisiekar is in fact the biggest rock band in South Africa so it seems they are being modest. So just how successful are these guys? “Well, it was the first Afrikaans band to be playlisted on national radio, and we’ve toured Europe…” And called the “best of South Africa” by First Lady Hannerie, they’re even in South America with an entourage in tow. Seems they really have made it…

THEN THERE WAS ONE. Yesterday’s Pupil, also known as Peach Van Pletzen, besides producing for the Kartel, recently released his own album, Errors of Enthusiasm. “I wrote all the music, played all the instruments and recorded and mixed it so it’s 100 per cent my own thing, apart from two guitar solos. Since releasing it, it’s been getting me lots of other work so I’m starting to produce more,” says Peach.

Now it’s Wynand who interrupts to say Peach is in fact a sought-after producer these days who’s just got his first international client. “It’s quite mixed mediums. He’s programmed stuff, plays drums, sings, so what he does is quite spectacular,” adds the bass player.

“When I get booked people think I’m a DJ. I always say ‘I’m not a band but I’m definitely not a fucking DJ.”

Peach played Mar del Plata at the weekend and wasn’t sure what to expect. “I played two songs in a row and I didn’t know what they going to do, I though that maybe they’d just sit there, I was really relieved to hear some clapping and whistling. I thought it was them,” he says, pointing at at Francois and Wynand.

Having got the often tricky local debut out of the way, tonight it’s the Kartel’s turn. Wynand says: “We’d never have ended up here if it wasn’t for them,” says Wynand, now pointing at Hannerie and Peach. “Argentina wasn’t first on our list to play a show at. It’s nice because there’s no preconceived ideas — we’re just going to do it and see what happens.”

It’s all happening tonight so put your hands together for art plus rock plus a man who definitely isn’t a DJ, all in one specially designed South African package, with The President’s seal of approval.

Where & when: Van Coke Kartel and Yesterday’s Pupil at Trimarchi BA, Salón Real, Sarmiento 1272, Thursday 8 October. From 9pm $15, from midnight $30. Including Tremor, Manta Raya and Villa Diamante www.vancokekartel.co.za, www.yesterdayspupil.co.za

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Jerónimo Saer rehearsed at the French Alliance

Saer embarked on his musical career at the end of the 1980s with Department E, a ground-breaking hip-hop group on the French music scene, ground-breaking because of their unique live performances with musicians which was unusual at that time.

His most recent and first solo album, Machine Gum, was released back in 2007, first of all in Argentina before even his native France got to hear it and it’s a veritable mash-up of 21 tracks that incorporate all the aforementioned musical styles, plus sounds from the street — a woman selling products, kids playing, horns honking in Paris and Buenos Aires, all blending to give it an edgy and unique electro feel.

Saer begins his tour tomorrow, and will be playing with bassist Javier Malosetti and the electro-folk trio Tremor, while over the next two weeks he’ll be accompanied variously by Fauna, Third World Orchestra, Gustavo Lorenzatti, Fernando Caballero and Pyscho Project in Rosario, Mendoza and Córdoba as well as in Montevideo.

Saer took a breather from yesterday’s rehearsal with Tremor to chat to the Herald about his roots, his collaborations on this Argentine tour and Machine Gum.

Although he was raised in Europe there is still a part of him that feels Argentine, despite the fact he has never lived here. Saer says: “I was born in France and I’ve always lived there so yes, I’m French but I’ve always felt I’ve had two cultures in me. I do feel more French but my culture has always been mixed up and I’ve always lived close to plenty of Argentines and I appreciate that. It’s not like I’ve been totally disconnected from it — on the contrary.”

BUSINESS AND PLEASURE. He first came to Argentina aged one, then aged 10. “I came here on my own for the first time six years ago and it had a big impact on me. I went around recording sounds wherever I went, and from that moment the feeling become a lot stronger for me, so I now try to return here at least every two years. This is the fourth time I’ve been here in the past seven years, and every time I get more impatient about coming back. Although France is my home, it’s like coming back to my second place. That make me pretty lucky because I’m now able to mix music with pleasure, which couldn’t be better.”

Clearly Saer feels comfortable enough here as he’s considering dividing his life between the two countries. He adds. “I’m thinking about installing myself here, not permanently, but I’d love to spend a year here. It’s increasingly becoming 50-50.”

His most recent album Machine Gum actually came out in 2007, and plenty of the sounds that feature were taken from that first solo trip here. “I always mix up my tracks as I come from a hip-hop and electro background, and I like to take different sounds from various countries, sampling melodies but also using instruments from different places. Back in 2002 or 2003 when I first came here, I recorded on the streets, at carnivals, and I took all that material back to France to include it. I wanted Machine Gum to come out here first because of the fact that I feel increasingly Argentine. But I edited it further and released another version in France, which has nine tracks in common with the Argentine version as well as three new songs.”

Besides including a street ambience in his tracks, Saer is experimental with his instruments and uses an array of brightly coloured toys. “They are a little bit weird! I started off in music with a hip-hop group and then moved on to making electronic sounds. Originally I wanted to do just a hip-hop album but then I started to use funny little instruments (such as the melodica and the harmonica) as they sound more lively. It’s like having my own orchestra but it comprises kids’ toys. I buy cheap stuff from the market for my daughter but I end up wondering how I can use it instead!”

Although this isn’t the first time he has played Argentina, Saer will be mixing things up with local musicians. “I’m really looking forward to that as I’ve only ever played my own material, and solo, before. I’ve discovered loads of artists that I like so I’m really up for it. The concept of the tour is about playing my music with Argentine artists. I’ll start off on my own then the others will join me on stage for around seven tracks. I’m very impatient and happy but also a little bit nervous.”

Well, not long to wait now, Jerónimo. He plays La Trastienda with Tremor and Javier Malosetti Wednesday, 7 October.

'But some of us are looking at the stars’

A phone call a few weeks ago with Dulli reveals him to to be sharp, dry and amusing. A singer and musician originally from Ohio, he now divides his time between Los Angeles and New Orleans. “I’ve lived on and off between the two cities for about 20 years,” he says. But isn’t LA overly superficial? It seems odd that a songwriter known for his dark, depressing lyrics would call it home. “No. I live on the east side which is a series of artistic and bohemia neighbourhoods. Some amazing people live there.” They seem two juxtaposing places to live. “I moved to New Orleans 12 years ago then six years ago I got a place and kept it, and I’ve been coastal ever since. Sometimes I stay in New Orleans for eight months without leaving but often I don’t go there for a year. It keeps it interesting.”

Two figures as a magical number for Dulli, what with two homes and his current band incorporating best friend Lanegan. Although tonight is billed as “An Evening With Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan” a third wheel will be in motion in the shape of Twilight Singers’ guitarist Dave Rosser. This isn’t the first time Rosser has stepped on board the Good Ship Gutter. “Dave’s from New Orleans, Mark doesn’t play an instrument and last time we toured I needed some help. Dave sings, Mark was also in the Twilight Singers…” tails off Dulli so it should all work out.

Provided La Trastienda isn’t closed tonight due to the health scare, what’s on the cards? Dulli says: “Mark and I will be playing an overview of our careers, incorporating Whigs and Screaming Trees songs.” Twelve months ago the Gutter Twins released their debut album Saturnalia which will also be on the agenda.

Comments left by fans on the Twins’ MySpace website refer to last week’s shows in Chile and Brazil and they’ve come away from the debut South American tour thrilled to have been on the receiving end of a Whigs-Trees mash-up.

FUTURE PERFECT. Once this tour ends Down Under, Dulli will return to the studio. “My next formal project is a Twilight record that I hope will come out next year, and then we’ll tour. What inspires me after all this time? Inspiration is waking every day. As for Mark, he’s working with his next project Soulsavers so although he’s my best friend, after this tour we’ll both go off and do our own things.”

But never mind albums coming out in 2010, we’ve got to get through 2009. What with H1N1 causing havoc in Argentina and foreigners spotting filled body bags coming out of Buenos Aires basements, assurances about tonight’s San Telmo show are necessary.

I drop Dulli an email. Subject: “Are you still coming to BA?” Message: “Swine flu and wine flu are taking over the country, that’s why I ask…” That was 7.30pm Sunday. A little later, not the most syllabic of replies but it was enough. “GD” sends a short, informative email: “I am here, Sorrel Moseley-Williams…”

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