Good Shoes - London, UK - Summer 2005
By: Yousif Nur
'Are we doing some kind of live recording? Because it's odd if it's not gonna be broadcast...'
Rhys and crew are understandably apprehensive; for they've only done a handful of interviews in their short lifespan as Good Shoes. So much so in fact, that they were barely a glint in our swollen yet endearing senses when they played their debut gig at Mystery Jets' Eel Pie Island bash earlier in 2005.
In hindsight, we remember the foursome of Joel Cox (bass), Rhys Jones (guitar, lead vocals), Steve Leach (guitar, vocals) and Tom Jones (! - drums) being a shambolic-angular-post-Libs outfit with little of note to recap on. But perhaps we were a little hasty what with it being the first gig an' all... The Angel Range, anyone?
Yet South London's Good Shoes subsequently yielded a four-track demo recorded in their rehearsal space/shed, which infested the airwaves and blew our pants off. Since, their rather tasty demos (replete with sumptuous home-made art) have been working their way on to discerning dancefloors - the likes of Erol Alkan's legendary Trash - and battered CD players in confined but no less influential vicinities. And if hasn't been bantered around enough already, then the likenings slanting towards post-punk heroes Gang Of Four and Wire, plus 21st Century popsters the Futureheads will have given an inkling somewhat. But more of that other shizzle shortly.
So here we're at - in the open-aired settings of Highbury Fields, only a stone's throw away from rockfeedback/Transgressive HQ in the sweltering, unrelenting smack of the sun's mid-August rays. But judge amongst yourselves - drinking away in a smoke-sparse environment, or in the lush green settings surrounded by Mother Nature and the lingering prospect of a misdirected shot from a football hitting us in the face? Don't look at us; it was the band's choice. But we're initially interrupted before we even press the record/play button on the MD. It would appear that (now in full-swinged football-hack commentary mode)... He's broken through the last defender, onside, one-on-one, with only the keeper to beat and he's scored a magnificent one... just look at the delight on his face and his reaction! YEESSSSSSS!!!! YESSSSS!!! WOOOO!!!
Few seconds of silence, then cacophonous laughter after a momentary lapse in sanity there. And back to the matter at hand; we'd better get started pretty sharpish before anything else turns its head.
When forming initially as the best of friends, what would come to the fray for Good Shoes in terms of attributes, individually?
'If you're talking about the band, then we can play our instruments, I guess,' Rhys opens.
'We're good friends; we've known each other a long time...' Tom adds.
'Yeah, he's just a brother and there's always a brother that tags along, isn't there,' says Steve, giving stick before laughter amongst one and all.
Rhys: 'We've all been really good friends for a long time. My best attribute, however, to the band is owning a shed where we can rehearse for free.'
Enough mucking around. Let's really scratch that surface - why form a band? Are we missing something in our own lives?
'No, more like in our own lives; boredom, wanting to get a job...' Tom instinctively replies.
'Because you watch MTV2 and stuff and we've all talked about this - you watch it and there's no good bands on. You think that the music you're making in your shed, that you make for yourself, in your spare time, is equally good, if not better than what you see on TV and stuff... so why can't you do it? We've chatted about this quite a lot when watching telly if I remember... just because it's interesting.' Rhys reflects.
'We're filling a void.' Steve quips.
Rhys: 'I think that because you don't want to do a proper office job, it's so much nicer to be creative in this way, to write songs and then put that to be your career is better than working in a nine-to-five.'
The 'F' word. Futureheads. Inevitable, wasn't it?
Rhys opens, choosing his words very carefully; 'I think we sound similar to them, but then to me it doesn't sound too similar really...'
Steve: 'There's always going to be something similarities and yeah - I think we're all fans of the band.'
Rhys: 'Yeah, it's not a bad thing at all - when you're being compared to a band it's better than being compared to somebody terrible. They write good pop songs and that's what we aim to do, too.'
'They're from the north, we're from the south - we could probably have a competition.' Steve enthuses.
Rhys: 'But it's not like we listened to them and thought, 'Yeah, this is what we're going to sound like; we just sort of wrote music together and it just clicked. I think that songs like 'Small Town Girl' and 'In The City' don't sound anything like The Futureheads; they're much more poppy...'
What direction for all this, then?
Rhys: 'I think you can be all of that maybe. Our songs are pretty poppy... (Turns to Joel) Do you want to be more poppy or arty?'
'Well, I want to be more arty...' Joel laughs.
'I'd like to have a middle-ground, where you're writing good pop songs but still experimenting with sounds and compositions. In fact, I think we've found the middle-ground already.' Rhys envisages.
Steve argues, 'Depends on how you use the word 'pop'. Like Britney Spears?'
Pop sensibilities.
Rhys: 'Yeah, exactly.'
But if you all have different influences personally, then finding that middle-ground could well click into place..
Steve: 'Happens naturally, doesn't it?'
What have you got to offer?
Rhys: 'Just the world! Nice songs to listen to...'
Steve: 'Never use the word nice.'
Rhys: 'Oh, f**k off!'
Tom simplifies, 'We have good songs.'
Rhys: 'Yes, we have 'good songs' that people wanna listen to! To play on repeat...'
Joel throws in his say, 'Just something you can dance to that's energetic. Yeah. I think that's it. But who knows; if we keep on going, we could end up anywhere.'
Morden. It's much like any town in Britannia - suburbia. Stomping ground of chavs, the elderly and the disillusioned. Where all our dreams come to die, where dreams are realised and manifest themselves.
Rhys gives a detailed depiction, 'It's a bit dead end - there's not very much going on there. It's the suburbs, basically. I guess, maybe it inspired us on lyrics, as there's a song we've got called 'Morden'. Maybe our surroundings have influenced us, but we just don't realise it (subconsciously) where we are or rehearse. There's no other bands around and I think we're the only band around in our surrounding area, apart from Grand Drive.'
Steve: 'In terms of output, it's not exactly a 'Morden' sound, is it?'
Joel: 'Rock's not exactly the biggest thing in Morden.'
Steve: 'UK Garage and anti-social behaviour.'
Roars of laughter follow that statement, yet strangely enough it's all something we've grown accustomed to. As with the following:
Joel: 'Fights, people dying...'
Tom: 'Kids on mopeds with no helmets.'
Steve: 'You could be anywhere in regards to suburbia - it all looks the same.'
Rhys: 'I still like it, though.'
The youth of today, eh? So if it's not their hometown that draws the more fibrous inspiration for Good Shoes, where else other than the obvious source, the hub of their creativity - music/noise.
Rhys pauses, but proceeds nonetheless with the Good Shoes modus operandi, 'Certain things inspire me to write lyrics, like the music I listen to, and stuff. It's a variation of different things - you'll be listening to music and then that inspires you. Most recently I was given 'Hex Induction Hour' by The Fall and the lyrics in that; they just really got me in the mood to write. It was just the first few songs in there got me to write. Just listening to good music really just makes you want to do try to equal or better what you hear.'
'The live performance, just the experience of playing gigs has just become quite inspiring in itself, in that you just want to continue to do it. The live show is quite important for me.' Steve adds.
Rhys: 'And having a good reaction as well.'
Misconceptions arose thus far?
Steve: 'Gang Of Four.'
Tom: 'There's people who have said we sound like bands. But that's not really a misconception.'
Rhys: 'I can still see where Thomas is coming from, because Gang Of Four and Wire are two bands that people have said we sound like, but we've never listened to those bands really. There's maybe a few songs that I've listened to. Same with The Futureheads; then again, it's very early on, isn't it.'
Tom: 'It's an easy way out.'
Steve: 'Yep, it's a quick way to put us in a box, isn't it? But with misconceptions, I think we've fortunately had not too many of at the minute.'
Final thoughts?
Rhys begins to wrap proceedings up, 'Just sitting in a park is nice before you play a gig, isn't it? Rather than being in a pub in the summer.'
Steve: 'The summer's ending...'
Rhys: 'Didn't really begin, though, did it?'
Tom: 'Next couple of months are going to be good though with our first tour...'
All: 'Yeah, good thinking, Tom!'
Rhys: 'The debut single coming out will be fun to do, on Young and Lost Records (Of Vincent Vincent and Larrikin Love fame).'
Joel: 'We've built up a fanbase and, er, everything's lookin' good.'
Hardly poetic. But that's all that's needed, really. The path illuminates brightly for Good Shoes and their deft, as-is ways.
Photo-Credit: Tom Beard
Artists in this article: Good Shoes