Guillemots - London, Winter 2007
By: Matt Tomiak
Do a search for 'Guillemots' on Wikipedia and you'll be pointed in a couple of directions. Option 'A' is that which "may refer to more that one 'guillemot'; members of any of five species of 'auk', a family of birds". But Rockfeedback will have to disappoint any aspiring ornithologists out there in cyberspace, as right now we are strictly dealing with the other type of Guillemot - namely, in Wikipedia's words, that 'English avant-garde pop band', Birmingham's epic purveyors of new- new romanticism. Or more precisely, two of them: the excellently-named pair of double-bassist Aristazabal Hawkes and singer Fyfe Dangerfield.
Aside from a Mercury Music Prize shortlisting for the very warmly-received debut album 'Through The Window Pane', 2006 was a really quite remarkable year for the Guillemots. The quartet not only broke into the Top 20 with their first LP, but performed for the assembled masses at big arena gigs with the mega-selling likes of Scissor Sisters and Snow Patrol, in addition to participating in the BBC Electric Proms gig series. How can 2007 possibly compare? Well, the chance of nabbing Best Live Act at the Brit Awards would be a decent start. It just doesn't seem to end. Surely, guys, the last few months of your lives have exceeded all expectations?
Refreshingly, Fyfe is still appreciably excited about this whole pop stardom malarkey: 'Part of us was thinking 'it would be amazing if we got really big' and another part thinking 'no-one is gonna get it at all.' In some ways, we believed the album was more commercial than it was. In our world, it's a really poppy, accessible album, but obviously since we released it, we've realised its not, in the modern 'pop' idiom. We've made an album we're all really proud of. I get excited just seeing our record in the shop!
Aristazabel comes in: 'when we were making the album we never though we'd play all these massive venues - go on 'Jonathan Ross', play 'Top of the Pops'- obviously you dream that all that stuff will happen...
'I'm on hello terms with JARVIS COCKER!' beams Fyfe. 'That to me is still very strange...'
Do you think that 'avant-garde' is an accurate description of your sound? There is, as you mention, a very classic pop sensibility infusing 'Through The Windowpane'; 'Made Up Love Song #43' and new single 'Annie, Lets Not Wait' recall the unabashed, swooning dreaminess of fey mid-80s geordie minstrels Prefab Sprout, whilst the glistening, upbeat brassy sparkle of 'Trains to Brazil', is much akin to 'Lovecats' by The Cure, and became something of a radio staple at the end of last year. Fyfe admits to suffering from 'a bit of pop guilt' in Guillemots early stages, 'and when we started off we went on about the fact we used weird instruments, and we wanted everyone to know that. Now it's almost the opposite. Just because we use the odd marimba (that's a xylophone of African or Central American origin, fact fans) or saxophone doesn't mean we're crazy.' Fyfe pauses. 'But music's...er...fun. We're rubbish about talking about serious things! We've just done two interviews just talking shit. We're good at that. We're not very good about being eloquent about what we do!'
But crucially, Guillemots appeal extends far beyond the centre mainstream. The cool kids dig the 'mots too- terrifyingly indie US webzine Pitchfork awarded 'Through The Windowpane' a rating of 8.3 out of 10- veritable adoration by their famously harsh standards. That elusive blend of leftfield credibility and popular appeal...what's your secret?
'I'm not bothered about 'indie credibility' asserts Fyfe. 'But I think all of us like the idea of being a band that is both popular, but also for anyone who's not particularly into music, will like out tunes.'
Is there a secret formula, then?
'It's doing exactly what you want, and listening to people- but not necessarily agreeing with them.'
'It's a challenge' adds Aristazabel . 'We don't want it to be easy, but before this all happens, you don't really think of quite how complicated the music industry actually is! Luckily we've got a good team behind us.'
Fyfe elaborates on how the band 'love the idea of making our next album a great 'radio' record, but still keeping it in inventive, and even more experimental than the last one- moving forward on both fronts. Generally pop music and experimentalism f**k each other up, but some bands can do it....'
Hmmm. Has the speed with which success has come to the Guillemots perhaps aided the creative process? After all, 'Through The Windowpane' was only released last July. It would seem that you've barely had time to catch your breath. You seemed to have retained a genuine enthusiasm for it all...
Fyfe: 'We are getting to the stage now where we are actually getting quite bored of some of the songs. It is hard when you play gig after gig - we do and try and vary them, but we really want to try and write one or two new songs for the next tour. We don't want to get to the stage where we're just going through the motions.
And what's more, according to Aristazabel , complacency just ain't the Guillemots way. 'It just wouldn't work', she states, firmly. 'So much of our thing is about the energy, and we just all love playing together, and we love creating....there were a few points before Christmas- and it was just 'uuuurgh!'. It's such a horrible feeling, because you feel such a faker- trying to put all this emotion and you're just thinking about eating and sleeping.'
'We're lucky though' contemplates Fyfe. 'We're not on some mammoth promotional thing. You have to keep making things new for yourselves, keep re-arranging the songs.'
The Guillemots origins are a diverse bunch (Aristazabel hails from British Columbia) but Fyfe's origins are, perhaps, a little more provincial. He hails from the small West Midlands town of Bromsgrove- not far, in fact, from where this writer spent his formative years in Worcester.
Fyfe seems intrigued- 'Did you suffer 'Tramps' then?'
He's not referring to a particularly aggressive breed of vagrants in the region - although there was one legendary busker in Worcester city centre, known locally as 'Chicken George', who would stand outside Debenhams's in a kind of compellingly, mesmerized trance, strumming a battered old acoustic guitar with only one string. Rather, Fyfe is talking about the city's major nightclub, somewhat akin to the notorious 'Chasers' as featured in TV's 'The Office.' 'I had HORRIBLE times there!'
He turns to Aristazabel.
'Do you know that story about the glasses?'
And so begins a tale that really amongst some vintage Morrissey lyrics: 'When I was about 16, I wore glasses all the time; very, very shy. I was in there with all my friends; they were all getting off with someone within about ten minutes. And then some girl came up to me, and I was like 'oh my GOD!', and then she took my glasses off, and I was like, 'Rrraaay!!'....and then she went and dangled them over the balcony, laughed, and then gave them back! I was mortified! And that is my main memory of Tramp's nightclub...'
Aww, bless. A character-building episode, though, no doubt, Fyfe?
'Yes- it HAS made me stronger!'
But degrading disco romances experiences aside, did you really ache to leave? There does appear, after all, to be an element of yearning in the Guillemots music, and desire for small-town escapism. Did that influence your songwriting much?
'I don't really know if it's much to do with where I'm from' contemplates Fyfe. 'I lived in Birmingham for ages, and I think all of us are the kind of people - not loners exactly, but we've always been happy getting on with our own thing. I was always content just sitting playing my keyboard, pretending I had a radio show. I don't know if that's due to growing up in a small town, because I had quite a few friends around me, even though I lived out in the countryside. I've just always done music.'
And finally, guys, what are your hopes for the next year? Where exactly do you see the band this time in 2008? Aristazabel responds instantly.
'Having sold 8 millions copies of our amazing second album!'
Fyfe is a tad more restrained- 'there are just so many things we want to release. We're really excited about this next record, but there's already this backlog of songs- all this improvised stuff that we do, I'm going through the mini discs at the moment, logging them all. There's like 80 minidiscs; I was in a room just making stuff up. We want to put some of that stuff out. And we want to do an album re-recording some of that, and there not poppy at all. They're obscure, sort of David Lynch-like instrumentals. Aristazabel sometimes gets into electro mode- a bit like Peaches! There's so much we want to do. But it's kind of a trade-off. If you want to make a living out of music, and have your stuff heard by people, you have to accept that you're not going to have as much time to actually do it all the time.'
Brimming with ideas, enthusiasm, and youthful joie de vivre, you wouldn't bet against the Guillemots continuing to cheer up music fans across the board for at least a while yet.
Artists in this article: Guillemots