Eskimo Disco Stalk Christmas #1
By: Andy Willson
For those who like a flutter, it might be worth pricking your ears up right now. At 12-1 and currently in a better position that Robbie, Justin & Kylie to name but a few (oh to be so famous you don't require a surname!), there may be a new kid in town entering the race for the Christmas number one in 2006. It happened to Bob the Builder in 2000, and Gary Jules stunned bookies a few years later, so you never know.... a band whose video sees a 20 year old Pingu bemoaning the daily grind could just do it this year. It's of course possible, nay likely, that they'll be pipped at the post by more dross off the Simon Cowell production line who will invariably fade into oblivion a couple of months later - but for those that like an outsider, read on...
To set the scene for those from Mars, Pingu is a much loved character from the same camp that bring smiles to the faces of children via the likes of Fireman Sam, Thomas & Friends and, Bob The Builder. He's now 20 years of age, and what better way to celebrate than by bringing out your first music video (true, I just got drunk for mine - Editor Tom)? The little black and white fella has teamed up with the sensational indie-disco newcomers Eskimo Disco, and, like stuffing your gob with cake, the collaboration will appeal to the vast majority of us, young or old.
Taking inspiration from Easy Rider, OK GO, and erm... Britney Spears, you'd be hard pushed to find a more entertaining video. The band themselves even make a plasticine appearance, surrounded by various dancing penguins, and in its first weekend on YouTube '7-11' staggeringly managed to garner over 27,000 hits, easily making it one of the top viewed music videos. But as I discovered when I set about asking vocalist Scott Doran more on the subject, the meeting of indie disco and penguins is down more to luck than judgement.
Rockfeedback: I've seen you boys play previously, but, shall we say, this is a slightly new direction...
Eskimo Disco: "Yeah, we've toured with the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Chromeo and Mint Royale, but this is something else..."
RF: So what is all this with Pingu then?
ED: "Well, growing up, Pingu was a great favourite of ours because you'd come home at, say, 3 in the morning, worse for wear, switch on the TV and there he was. Trust me, there's not a student in the country who doesn't know who he is. We were chatting after a gig with our manager and for some reason Pingu was mentioned. I thought I'd send an email to the producers, Hot Animation, just to see if they'd be interested in working with us. They were about to launch a DVD and so we got involved in a viral campaign for them which eventually achieved almost 80,000 downloads." (Check out the results HERE)
RF: So things went from there?
"As I say, they weren't expecting anywhere near this kind of figure so as a way of saying thanks, they agreed to make a video for our new single '7-11' (which gets a release on November 20th). It took them around 3 or 4 weeks and the attention to detail is amazing. All the models are around 6 inches tall, and it was such a buzz to see the copies of ourselves!"
RF: So can we expect a surprise appearance live?
ED: "Never say never. We had the fella who plays Napoleon Dynamite come and join us on stage recently, so anything is possible!"
RF: How long have you all been together?
ED: "We've been going collectively for about 2 years now after all being in separate bands playing all over London. I got into doing DJ sets at various warehouses and eventually, the sets morphed into individual songs rather than one big sound. I've known Liam (Patton) (vocalist & keyboard player) for a while and we just got together and started writing. I've always been more into the electro side of things but between us we seem to have hit on this indie-disco sound. We got signed a while back by Shoreditch-based Protest Records, who are a really cool bunch. They're putting out our debut EP in December / January sometime.
RF: I understand that there's a bit of a launch party for the single too?
ED: "That's right, we're gonna play at the Broadgate Ice Rink - where else for a penguin?! It's rumoured that a certain celebrity interviewer may be turning up and it'd be so cool to give him some of the models of us from the video to put on his table. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the weather will be good too!"
No matter what kind of day you're having, we suggest it'll be enhanced by checking out the video to '7-11' HERE. Prepare to smile from ear to ear, and help make the Cowell household a miserable place to be on Christmas day.
Eskimo Disco's next show will be at Hoxton Bar & Grill, London, on November 15th.