The Electric Soft Parade - London, UK, Summer 2002
By: Toby L
'WHAT?! £5:10 for a pack of smokes! Ha - and rubbish it gives you twenty of 'em as well!'
Singer, guitarist and co-songwriter of The Electric Soft Parade, Alex White, is striking company. When not bellowing out about the state of cigarette-prices in the London venue they're to grace the stage of this evening, he soon finds something else to cause a scene about.
'GOD! I stink so much - has anyone got any deodorant?!'
The rest of a filled room stare back in an amusing silence. He then lays straight into his next rant.
'I don't really understand interviews,' Alex exclaims abruptly and early on into our encounter. 'A lot of the questions are very much, 'So, we don't know much about you,' because a lot of people have recently jumped on-board to what we're about; I mean, yeah, there are people that know about us, and have got the album and everything, but there's people that haven't got a clue...
'We did an interview in Leeds the other day, with a nice guy, but - right at the end of the interview, which Matt, the bass-player, and I were doing - he goes, 'How long have you two been playing together then; must be twelve years since you've been playing in your house?' Matt just looked at him and sort of went, 'I'm not Tom (Alex's brother), you know!' The guy went, 'Really?! I've just embarrassed myself quite a lot.' He then got a bit indignant that we hadn't said anything about it, but what are we supposed to do - he didn't even know what we looked like, and our bass-player was introduced as Matt; he just wasn't concentrating, you know. I'm not being, 'You should know what we look like,' but - in all fairness - there is a huge photo on the back of the album of me and Tom - and Tom does look nothing like Matt!'
Taking this as a warning, clearly, we'd best make a bit of en effort, then...
Over the course of the last twelve months, it's been a rocky 'n' sultry ride for ESP: name-changes abound after the threat of a law-suit over their original incarnation, The Soft Parade - a title as possessed by a Doors tribute-band in the States - line-up alterations and relentless touring have also all taken their toll. Yet, amidst the hard graft, there have been successes along the way to indicate that their journey thus far has been worthwhile - namely, a critically-acclaimed debut-album, in the form of the swooning pop-whirl of 'Holes In The Wall' - not to mention two top-40 hit singles in the UK.
Centring predominantly on the brothers White, who compose, arrange and play almost all of the four-piece's output, the band has also progressed leaps and bounds in the live-arena, having become a must-see and incredible concert-experience, with enough musical versatility, surprises and competence to rival their own personal heroes. Seemingly, The Electric Soft Parade's untiring spirit and strong character is what will enable them to receive continual success.
'Yeah,' muses Alex on the subject, seated at the bar of this evening's venue. 'I think it's definitely all paid off. I mean, tonight, it's going to be the next level up... We've obviously gone through stages of different members, different songs, different sets... We've had a bunch of people playing with us before, but we were always trying to find the right line-up; luckily, we've got a great line-up now, a strong production-team, and a good tour-manager.'
Knowing that this is what the band have worked towards, how does this personally feel for yourself?
He sits gazing into the distance for a brief moment. 'It's definitely comforting; with something like touring, there's so much shit going on, you know, and if you can get these other people to organise it for you, then all you've got to do is turn up to a table, chat to a different geezer for a certain amount of time, do a sound-check and then do the gig. If it wasn't like that, I'd just be going around and saying to myself, 'God, I'm f**king knackered.'
So, when you consider and look back at ESP's prior efforts to date, how do you feel?
'It's funny,' he grins, 'because you listen back to recordings you did when you were about twelve and can hear elements of good stuff, elements of bad stuff...
'On the one hand,' White explains further, 'it's hard to like it because what you're doing now is obviously better - but, at the same time, it's hard to hate it because it's part of your past. Even if we hadn't got signed, it would still be interesting to listen back to something that was made five years ago or so, even if we hadn't released a record and people hadn't heard it.'
Reassuringly, what people have heard of their produce to date has been sufficient enough to capture the imaginations and tastes of the record-buying public. Along with a performance on 'Top Of The Pops' to celebrate the crashing in of their single 'Silent To The Dark' at the position of number 23 and an ever-growing international fanbase (the group have already completed tours in Europe and Japan), where ESP are heading now could be potentially massive. But only if that new material is up to scratch, mind... Speaking of which...
'There's definitely a progression,' he comments in response to the matter, Alex clearly excited at discussing the group's current musical-endeavours. 'Everyday, there's something new going on, something different. Like today, for example, as I said, it's all stepping up a gear, it really is happening. And we also haven't played a bad gig for ages: there may have been bad sound, or whatever, but it's never been loose or all over the place - it's become tight.
'With tonight, the sound on-stage is a bit off, but it's the same with any venue of this size; but, you've gotta remember, there's gonna be two-thousand people in this room later on. I don't see it as really daunting; it's more, 'Right - let's f**king have it!'
Lingering on the thought, he whizzes ahead miles away, imagining just what their largest headline show to date will entail. 'I reckon it's gonna go f**king ape-shit tonight; we've got a huge production-set, there's massive screens at the back projecting the album-cover, changing colour and spinning around...'
It does go a bit berserk by the time they play. During their show, when not content with the sound cutting out amongst their more epic moments, Alex gets passionately irritated, shouting with all the sincere angst of a rock 'n' roll star and throwing his equipment about in disgust, smashing an amplifier to the back of the stage, prior to the group trotting off in a clamour of cheers and feedback. Despite the technical set-backs, what was witnessed was an incendiary display of emotive passion at its most extreme, portrayed in around fourteen musical-tales centred on the perceptions, beliefs and experiences of the brothers themselves. Thrilling.
What reactions do you want the 2,000 onlookers to receive from the show?
He ponders momentarily, winces, and replies affirmatively, 'The live-show's a bit different to the album really; it's kind of heavier, and it's...'
... Overpowering?
'Yeah, very much so... It's like that for us on-stage; it's good that a lot of people feel that's how it comes across because passing over a mood is hard to do when playing live: there's so many variables, so many things that will probably go wrong...'
How prophetic of what's to occur in a few hours' time; though, despite the unexpected 'wrong' embers of their set arising, the crowd leaves ecstatic and in a daze rarely experienced by such a set of individuals.
Another aspect of the live-work which seems to greatly interest Alex is the subject of support-bands - the group having already suffered the destructive wrath of a certain emerging quartet this year that they went on tour with...
'Usually,' he sighs, 'it's tough to choose your own support-acts, as there's a lot of politics involved. When we first started out and began touring, and we wanted to support people, we went on tour with a bunch of bands, and our agent put us out with bands that respected him and were happy to let it happen.
'Now,' he continues more excitedly, 'we're in that position where we can have people supporting us and it's really cool - it's giving something back; if someone does a favour for you, you return it. What's wrong with being nice, anyway? Being in a band is a great way to meet new people; obviously, there's a lot of f**kers, but there's a lot of great people as well. It's cool being able to meet the people you admire; Martin Carr from the Boo Radleys, who I really looked up to, for example, I was able to hook up with him the other night - he saw our gig and hung out with us on the bus afterwards and it was really cool, you know?'
Presumably, the temptations to become aloof or unfocussed due to such events could be quite overwhelming; what keeps you grounded throughout?
Alex loses some of his chirpy exterior. 'I don't think I'm great - I just don't. I don't think I'm a particularly great musician; I know I'm not a bad one, but there's bits about things I do that I don't like so much, and there's things that I f**k up, and there's things about my personality I don't like - but that's what it's like with everyone.'
Do such viewpoints on your demeanour incite you to become a better person?
'Yeah, totally,' he blurts in response, 'it spurs you on. A lot of people say, 'It's a great album,' and everything, but we're just like, 'Let's make the next one - and make it better.' We don't believe it's the best thing we've ever done - we just believe that it's the first thing we've ever done; it's a good, first effort and it's an indication of where we wanna be in whenever...'
His brother suddenly shows up. Alex sneers nastily. 'Tom - do you wanna not congregate here? Is there not somewhere else you can go?' Obediently, Tom waddles off elsewhere, unprepared to retaliate to his older sibling's taunts.
Do you not get on with your brother, then?
'No,' he mock-angrily answers, 'He's a c**t.' Alex smirks again. 'Nah, he's fine, really - it's not a big deal... Plenty of tantrums, but nothing different - you got a brother? Then, you'll know what it's like - but just imagine what it'd be like being with him all the time.'
Are you as bad as the Gallaghers towards each other?
'Musically, no.' He smiles. 'Nah, I'm just kidding; couldn't resist the opportunity - I do genuinely always look forward to new Oasis albums: I mean, I always get disappointed straight away, but - after some time - I always go, 'Actually, I quite liked bits of that last one!'
Oh, right - so do you make an effort to keep up-to-date with the current music-scene?
He nods, 'Yeah, we do try to... (Adopts bemusing accent) KEEP OUR EAR TO THE GROUND! WE KEEP OUR EAR TO THE GROUND... Yeah, we try and KEEP OUR EAR TO THE GROUND!'
Perplexed and confused, we ask what the hell the guy's on about.
'Sorry,' he returns. 'It's an impression of an impression of Mick Jagger from 'Stella Street' (popular UK TV-comedy series, which spoofs the stars). So, yeah, we do try and keep our...'
Oi - don't repeat it again.
'Haha - OK... We do try and keep... abreast of what's going on, try and keep up with what's happening. We've always been into little bands and all the small-scene stuff that's going on; you've got to make time to go out and see music, spend money at gigs - the trouble is if we can't go to a gig when we're touring, then it's as simple as that: we can't go to a gig 'cos we're touring.'
What about setting time aside to see your friends?
'Yeah, definitely,' he rasps. 'I've got loads of mates who always come to our gigs and go, 'You c**t - that's crap!' They're just taking the piss, though; they're really like, 'It was good, but I'm not gonna tell you it was good!'
'A lot of people also say, 'Oh, I'm so proud of you, blah, blah, blah,' and then there's a lot of people who go, 'Mate, how you doing? Want me to buy you a pint?' I'm just like, 'F**k off!' The day I said to people in June 2000 that a label was interested in us, I went out and got bought ten drinks - it's all nonsense, and you soon learn that; as a result, I can spot a shark a mile off... There's bound to people in it who are fake and rubbish - it just depends how far you want to take that and go down that road. I choose not to surround myself with those people.'
Really, hearing all this you'd be surprised if you didn't know already that Alex is only 20 years of age - his brother being even two years younger. But, what they're doing is not about age - it's about where they're at mentally and musically; refreshing, eh?
Yet, time's running low - so, quickly, where are ESP headed next?
'It's a case of making a better record, improve on what we've done, get better live, maybe get another member, become a bit more experimental, and f**king break the boundaries a bit more...'
And when this occurs, choose one word to describe yourselves as such a point in your career.
He shrugs his shoulders and then beams cheekily. 'Lovely.'
Lovely or not, at least one thing's definite: The Electric Soft Parade will always be an exhilarating and obscure forward-thinking talent in mixed-up times. Intuitively, you know that there's more than one great record in them - and, as such, consistency is most likely going to be their greatest asset. And what a change that would make to other acts presently succeeding in an overnight flutter.
Artists in this article: The Electric Soft Parade