Good Shoes - Interview - Winter 2007
By: Alex Lee Thomson
Rulers of the 2007 UK indie scene and strong contenders for the Cure-like brilliant rock/pop award we just made up, London's Good Shoes have spent the last 12 months releasing a lot of singles, one great pop filled album, playing limitless live shows, and releasing some more singles. In the final stages of the year we caught up with the chirpy boys before their biggest performance yet, a headline slot at London's Astoria. We, and they, had these things to say...
Rockfeedback: 2007 has been quite a mixed bag for music I think, there have been a lot of quality acts, yourself included (we flirt), but in the mighty opinion of Good Shoes, what say you to the past 12 months... musically?
Rhys: I think lots of bands have released albums which were really good, like The Maccabees, though off the top of my head I can't think of any others... eh... The Rumble Strips... Jamie T maybe? I've listened to lots of good music this year, I'm just not sure what's actually come out in 2007. There are loads of good new bands like Foals or Xerox Teens (now XX Teens - don't Google that one) and Lightspeed Champion though. What would you say has been the worst?
"The Wombats", we protest, slouching back into our chair to unravel a tonguing of hate speech ending in "the tw*ts".
Rhys: Yep, I would agree. This should be part of the interview, your rant against The Wombats. That should be what the interview's called, 'Who's A Tw*t, with Good Shoes'.
Tom: It's a shame that it's the worst music that gets played the most.
RFB: Bands who rely on having a sound which bastardises the current trend can surely only expect short term fan loyalt though, right? What do you think it is that would save Good Shoes from such a fleeting, iTunes-esque response, being that you could in a way be put into this same 'indie pop' banner.
Joel: I've never understood that, I never do it.
Rhys: Yeah, hopefully people like the music, but I don't do that whole iTunes downloading thing. Only a few times when I've really wanted to hear a song and can't get a hold of it have I gone there, like maybe a few times in my life. Literally like four.
RFB: I think you're big enough now to start demanding CDs from record companies, you should milk it for all you can y'know. Do you get handed a lot of CDs from new bands, a lot of demos or MySpace links etcetera?
Rhys: Yeah, I had some kids the other day who wanted to support us live. It was flattering and they were big fans of the band, though I'm not sure if they were being serious, but there was a hint of desperation in there which is never nice to look at.
RFB: It must be gratifying that you've reached a level of success great enough that other kids think you'll be able to help them... do you listen to them all?
Rhys: I don't really listen to any of them
Joel: We're more likely to listen to them if they actually gave us a CD rather than directed us to a MySpace though...
Rhys: When we first made our demos I tried to make them look nice but a lot of people don't bother, so why should we bother to listen to them?
RFB: You've certainly come a long way from the days of making demos, though in a relatively short space of time. Did you have goals at the start of this year and do you think any of them have been realised over the past 12 months?
Rhys: Maybe when you start out, you want to be signed to a record label and release an album but after that you lose touch with any goals. It all becomes a bit meaningless doesn't it, like releasing singles... [sighs] what's the point? It's got to the stage where we've released so many singles and it doesn't seem to make a difference, I don't know what we're doing, just wasting money...
Joel: Yeah, our label boss is always saying (cue strange, albeit subtle impression), "nobody buys music anymore, but let's release another single!"
Rhys: "That by the way is the voice we use when referring to Leon our label boss... or anyone in the industry for that matter".
RFB: You have released a lot of singles this year from the one LP, but it's a great pop record. Since it was released however, are there any bits that you wish you'd done differently that have worn you down since its March release?
Rhys: March?... How long ago was that? [Begins counting on fingers].
Tom: Over six months, Rhys.
Rhys: I haven't listened to the album in so long...
Tom: That's why it's good to play live, from a personal point of view I can do something different, and it's a minute change but it means a lot to me and probably nobody will notice. The songs don't stop with the record and when you see them live they're never going to be identical.
[The band then discusses changes to 'Nazanin' the night before and how delicate changes within the songs have kept them all commonsensical. We continue, suggesting the hardcore fans will notice the changes also... ]
Rhys: They notice when I forget the words!!! This tour whenever I've played 'Never Meant To Hurt You', there's this one line that my mind goes blank on, so I've sung it once this whole tour, I just keep missing it out.
RFB: Which line is that?
Rhys: It's... eh... can't remember!!! I'm going to have to find out; I don't want to mess it up tonight.
Remembering that the show tonight is being taped as a limited edition live album, which will nicely cap off the year for the band, and being ever willing to piss artists off by constantly demanding new material... we ask how a second album is progressing.
Rhys: Yeah, we're trying to write some new songs. We've already put some new ones in the set which people are really reacting well too.
RFB: How is the bands' dynamic on writing songs? The melody, which normally comes from the vocal, seems to be in the centre of each song. Is that your starting point each time?
Rhys: Sometimes I'll come up with a song or a vocal, but normally somebody will come up with a riff and we'll work on that...
[Steve clasps his face with his hands and drops them to his lap]
Rhys: Don't worry, Steve just does this, he isn't having a breakdown... Why are you doing that Steve?
Steve: It's quite comforting!
We question our existence and swiftly the conversation is brought back to normality with discussions of plane crashes... We mention the possible myth that the reason you have to put your head down in a crash is to preserve your dental records...
Steve: There's all these sinister beliefs about things on planes and how they're all designed for when you crash. Y'know why you have to open your shutters...
We butt in with explanations of paramedics searching for survivors from the outside...
Steve: Yeah, we must have spoken to the same person then...
RFB: Or both watched QI I think, the source of all my knowledge.
Steve: I love that show so much.
Rhys: We had these three kids who came to a show in Glasgow and they'd missed it because there was a three hour wait on the motorway because a plane had crash landed, but Tom gave them some of his underwear and they seemed quite happy.
RFB: That's so polite. How did they respond?
Rhys: They put them on, it was a girl and she put them over her tights... and we all signed them as well.
RFB: Did you check eBay the next day? (We suggest before attempting to restore chaos, as George Bush would declare). Would you say there's a message behind your music, lyrically I mean, is there an undertone?
Rhys: There's no message man, no grand scheme in order to influence people.
RFB: I think 'Morden' has been hailed as lyrically your best work but I've heard a few people down the south end of London dismissing it for its negativity against the area, but I'd imagine it's a more general song for anybody who's felt trapped in their home towns than Morden per say...
Rhys: I haven't chatted about this in ages; it's about pretty much everywhere, yeah. I think people can relate to it in pretty much every town you go to.
RFB: How have the people of Morden responded? Disapprovingly?
Rhys: No, nobody really talks about it where we're from. What's weird is that you can really hear people singing the words to that song above all others when we're playing though. That's the only one of the songs, it's pretty crazy, but it's cool. I think most of the album is more about dealing with relationships, like pages of my diary or something that gets published to everyone... it's very strange...I haven't chatted about lyrics in ages so I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore.
RFB: And going back to the next album, have you lyrically moved on?
Rhys: We've got a load of songs I've not written lyrics for yet, so maybe I'll try and add some kind of politics, or my opinions, or something to them.
We then talk about the possibility of a concept album whereby oodles of great artists band together to make a record about the Chuckle brothers. It's met with mixed reactions naturally, but we nevertheless continue down the proverbial rabbit-hole that is the tragic Popworld-esque styling of 'quick fire questions for shits n giggles'. We ask, for the sheer jovial hell of it...
Ant and Dec or Dic and Dom?
Ant and Dec!
What would you call your tribute act?
Good Books (ouch! -RFB)).... Or Good Shoes, Bad Boots.
What's the most expensive pair of shoes you've ever bought?
Steve: £70, well actually £69.99.
Rhys: I don't even know... these were £20, and £10 before that... maybe some school shoes were the most.
What shape is an egg?
Egg shaped!
What's the best colour for a pair of shoes?
Silver... Black... Multicoloured!
The best song by The Cure?
'A Forest'.
Coldplay Or Keane?
Neither...
Okay, if you had to kill one
I don't think I could kill any of them.
Okay, publicly embarrass then...
I think Coldplay do that themselves already.
Grange Hill or Bodger and Badger?
Bodger and Badger.
Who was the best Bond?
Timothy Dalton, but only because we know a song about him.
Ice skates or Rollerblades?
Rollerblades.
...If you're trying to impress a gir?l
Oh, ice skates then, but rollerblades every other time.
Take That or Boyzone?
Take That.
Busted Or Mcfly?
McFly.
Tights or stockings?
What's the difference?
One goes up your leg and the other only to your thigh... I think...
Stockings then.
Fish & Chips or Sausage & Chips?
Oh, now... oh... eh... how can you choose? I don't know. I used to be a big fan of sausage and chips, in my yoof, but now I've grown up a bit... so I'd say fish.
And finally, Paul or Barry Chuckle?
Pardon me but those people freak me the f*ck out. Apparently they search the internet for kids that are coming to the shows and it's all really sinister, or so I read on the internet.
We would like to point out that we are not accusing Paul and Barry Chuckle of inappropriate behaviour and find their humour both witty and dynamic. We also thank Good Shoes for giving up some time to have yet another spiralling chat with Rockfeedback - their third, in fact. Later that night they went onto play a bonkers gig that you can now buy as a live album... from somewhere. How cool is that?
Artists in this article: Good Shoes