Feeder - Brighton, UK, Spring 2001
By: Toby L
It's the week prior to the release of Feeder's fourth album, 'Echo Park'. Tonight sees the 2/3 Welsh (lead singer/guitarist, Grant Nicholas and Jon Lee, drummer) and 1/3 Japanese (bassist, Taka Hirose) guitar-trio playing one of the latter dates of their current UK tour, at the Brighton Centre, southern England. Judging by the vast amount of yapping in the skies above, the seagulls are out in their droves - as are the inhabitants of this town, not to mention the visitors.
The Palace Pier - one of the coastal town's most popular attractions - is full of tourists and locals as they pleasure themselves on an Easter Sunday outing, utilising flashy machines and spending away their well earnt cash in pursuit of rollercoaster thrills and arcade-games amusement. Amongst them, somewhere, for a brief part of the day, are Feeder.
'What's happened to rock 'n' roll,' you could ask yourself, in a time where the so-called potential 'rock-revolutionaries' aren't drinking absinthe by the gallon, but instead merrily skipping along a pier. Luckily, for this band, the evidence of 'rock 'n' roll' is quite simply on record... Quite an odd feat for these days, really, where so many bands live the rock 'n' roll lifestyle - but only without the playing of any such music.
Feeder have become one of those acts that you have to trust the record-buyers on: not the conventional music-press. Listening to the hacks will have you believe that all their songs sound the same and that they never progress from album to album. If so, how come Feeder's new material is selling by the bucket-load (ironically, in the earlier days, they'd be lucky if they could sell enough CDs to even afford to purchase a bloomin' bucket...)? The simple story is that this three-piece have been honing their craft for the best part of ten years, whilst following a progressional path to suit them and their music - not the cynics.
However, one thing that most writers with half a brain are unanimous on when reviewing this band, is that, in live concert, Feeder are rock-animals, forever dashing power chord after power chord with thunderous drumming and all-commanding bass. On meeting the band during My Vitriol's support set, they comment on how last night's home-coming show (at least for Jon and Grant) at the Newport Centre was the finest on tour so far. However, mid-way through this evening's show, Grant changes his tune, uttering that this is in fact the best show of the tour so far. It's easy to picture the band's sentiments reigning true for every following gig: they just keep getting better and better the more successful they become and the more time they're provided with to play.
In this interview, Grant and Taka, for the first part, talk about issues close to their hearts, with Jon trailing behind late, joining in the discussion five minutes after it commenced. 'Rock 'n' roll' does live in this band, see..?
Last night's show in Wales sounded as if it went well - Grant, how do you feel about the derogatory comments that TV presenter Anne Robinson recently made regarding the country?
Grant: 'Well, it's currently in her personality now to shock people (as demonstrated in the ruthless TV game-show, 'The Weakest Link', which has taken the UK and US by storm). I think it was probably a stupid thing to say, but, at the same time, I don't think she meant it quite in the way that some people made out. I think she obviously upset quite a few people, but I simply think she should have thought about what she was going to say a bit more before she said it.'
Indeed, like the woman's hair-cut, it's enough to make you sick. On that new album, however, a shimmering brashness and vast-in-range production allows this to be the lads' finest work to date. From the outset, 'Standing On The Edge' is a seering and satisfying travel through contemplative, slow-paced rhythms and beats to - astoundingly simply - very loud bits. Before you know it, top twenty hit 'Seven Days In The Sun' and the 'Teenage Dirtbag'-soundalike 'Under The Weather' have passed, leaving time to absorb the suitably impacting closing numbers ringing around your mind.
'Echo Park' is your most accomplished work to date...
Taka: 'Well, we didn't really talk about changing our direction or anything like that, but, when you make an album, yeah, you want to make something new... You don't want to make anything completely different, but something that's new for us. Of course, I just hope people like it (the new material).'
Suddenly, the dressing-room door is flung open. Jon has turned up. Out of breath, he briefly kneels down next to the table to join in the already flourishing topics being elaborated upon, before retreating off into the other half of the vast room to fetch a chair for himself. He parks himself into the table - lit by modest candle-light in the centre of its surface - and we continue to engage in conversation.
G: 'All I do - every time - is just sit down and write new songs for it (a new album). I never sit down there with a big plan. I just try and make it fresh for all of us - and the fans. If you write the same stuff all the time - which I can do - it gets very boring (laughs)!
'When people say, 'Oh, you've gone all commercial,' I'm like, 'Well, not really!' We just try and do something new, but some songs come out more commercial than others. I mean, I never thought 'Buck Rogers' was going to be a top-ten single... Believe me, I wouldn't have called it 'Buck Rogers' if I knew it was going to be a commercial song - and I wouldn't have used certain lines I wrote for that song either (laughs)! However, that's often the way it goes.'
'Something we were interested to do on the new record, though - and specifically what I mentioned to you about (looks at Jon) - is work on the drums.
T: '... And we used some samples too.'
G: 'Yeah; that little drum sound at the start of 'Buck Rogers', for example, is from a record loop, which I did on a demo with Matt, the engineer. There are a few drum machine sounds on the record, but not too many...'
Jon: 'Some people can be against using machines, but we feel they can give a new texture to tracks.'
Speaking of working with new styles, how did the collaboration come about with hip hop outfit Mark B & Blade?
G: 'It's not really a Feeder project... I got involved with them because of what they were like live. I'm not a hip-hop expert, I'm probably more old skool, but I just thought they were really good. The song I ended up remixing stood out for me at the gig because it sounded like rock because of all the energy put into it.
'I just did a remix for them and Jon ended up doing drums on it. We were quite worried at the time because if it came out badly, it could have reflected badly on the band. It was actually quite hard work; it was the sort of thing where it sounded like quite a good idea, but it turned out harder than I thought (laughs)! I was very tempted to keep the backing track just to ourselves at one point! It came out well, though and I'm happy with it.'
'I didn't really expect anything from the project; I just thought that it might get used as a b-side or something, because you never expect remixes to ever be used... That's probably because most remixes involved with us have turned out shite (laughs)!'
J: 'It happened really quickly, didn't it?'
G: 'Yeah, it was pretty quick to do, really. I have to say, Taka's probably a bigger expert on it (hip-hop) than I am, but I just wanted to get involved with it. It's a bit different to the American hip-hop; Mark B doesn't really say 'whore' in his songs or that kind of stuff...'
Back to Feeder-related work - how do you feel about the press-reaction to 'Echo Park' so far?
G: 'Well, we've had a couple of successful singles and as soon as you start having success, people start picking holes in everything you do. I've read some reviews for the album and they haven't been that bad, certainly better than some great bands' albums have received recently... You can't win either way, though, because when we made 'Yesterday Went Too Soon' (Feeder's third - and more varied - LP), we didn't want to make 'Polythene - Part Two' ('Polythene' being their heavier second album-release).
'That meant that - with the last album - it was missing a bit of the heavier stuff, and so, certainly for this new material, we've gone back to some of our harder sound... (Gets a bit hot under the collar) However, people are like, 'Well, that's a lot like the earlier stuff,' and it seems as if it's impossible to please everyone.'
J: 'It's all just a matter of personal opinion. We've had some appalling live reviews - some where the writer is complaining about what the audience is about! It's just ridiculous if someone is having a go at what 600 or 700 - or even a 1,000 - people are enjoying. We haven't had a bad show for a long time too, but if that's the way they view it, then they shouldn't really be writing - unless they put it in their own diary.'
T: 'An interesting thing is how these journos haven't got any guts to slag off certain American bands...'
G: 'Some journalists seem to think that all American bands are rock 'n' roll, but we toured with Everclear and - considering we're supposed to be a conservative band in the way we act - they were shocked at how we were! The American system, in general, is a lot more organised and so many people aren't as off-the-wall in their behaviour...
'Don't get me wrong - I love a lot of American bands - but, as Taka was saying, you get journalists often praising something just because it's American and if a British act came along - doing something possibly more interesting - you're less likely to be seen as rock 'n' roll.'
J: 'If you go back to a few years ago, when certain publications were championing Suede and Blur, it seemed as if it was really uncool to be American in the UK! Now, it's the other way around! You can't win, as said earlier!'
G: 'I feel that, for me, the first and foremost people to find out the formula of so-called 'rock' and heavy metal was Black Sabbath - and they're from Birmingham for Christ's sake (laughs)! However, loads of bands have used them as an influence - I certainly have and so have a hell of a lot of US acts.'
Obviously, Grant had failed to mention the other kings of rock themselves... IRON MAIDEN. On mentioning this, though, he strangely greeted their reference with a fit of laughter. Hmm.
What do you think are the most important things to learn about being in a popular band-unit?
J: 'Well, on the road, it's all about learning each other's space really - especially if you're out on a lengthy, lengthy tour. However, if you get used to doing it for long enough, it's just second nature that you realise what the procedures are that need to be gone through during the day. It's also just about getting on (with each other). Every band has its ups and downs - I'm sure these guys (looks at Taka and Grant) hate the sight of me sometimes, but it's really about communication. If you don't like doing this, and you're not prepared to accept what comes with it, then you may as well not do it.'
G: 'Each person in the band serves a different role and it's important to respect what each person does. Some people can feel the pressure more than others at times, but that's the way it is. Sometimes it can be a bit... weird at times, but you've got to try and understand it. There are those that can't do this and that's why they split up.
'We've been together for the best part of ten years... If you get to work for that long, even that's an achievement in itself, really (laughs)! It's like being in a relationship: it can get a bit difficult, and you either work it out or you don't. As Jon said, it's all about respecting each other's space too, which can be hard when everyone's with you all the time!'
J: 'It's funny, because a lot of natural niggles will get to you...'
G: 'Things really trivial like you turning up at a venue and there's no posters put up advertising your new record - that kind of thing is annoying... It hasn't happened on this tour yet (grins), but it's happened in the past!
J: 'Quite often, you'll find that everyone wants to do different things at the same time. So, the key is mainly finding a path that's beneficial to all parties. To get success and to get up on that stage, you've got to do a lot of work, which some people don't respect. But, at the end of the day, to get the rewards, you've got to bite the bullet and get on with it.'
Do you still hold on to the belief that you held at the beginning of 2001 that this would be your year?
G: 'That's not a case of us being cocky and was made in reference to the fact that we've already had more success in this year than we have done in the past, certainly in regards to what's happened in the charts. I think the current record has just put us to where we thought we could be as a band; I think our album after this is going to be really special...
'A lot of bands come, a lot of bands go. We've been signed for almost seven years now and that's quite a serious career! It's a dream that we've been allowed to make records and tour. We may not have sold millions and millions of records, but, for a UK rock band, we've been here for a while and I certainly don't think we're stale.'
There's only one problem with such a proclamation in regards to this being their year, though. It's not just this year that should belong to them; every year should become the property of any band whose sincerity and passion lies within their music as much as it does for this act.
The upcoming plans for 2001? Well, if you trust Jon, which doesn't seem a safe option, they'll be, '... Covering that song that Hear'Say did recently for the next single,' and 'A collaboration with Gay Dad.' Well, something truthful that can be revealed about the action-packed, advancing months of work ahead of them is a 'more slower single' and live dates showcasing a broader spectrum of the new album tracks, which are currently available on shop-shelves as we speak. And, as their story has shown, there will no doubt also be plans to get really rather huge at places other than the UK.
The lyric 'I think we're gonna make it', taken from their breakthrough top five smash 'Buck Rogers', is already out of date - Feeder have made it, and they're certainly not ones, as also mentioned in the lyrics, to 'fake it' either.
On 9th January, news emerged that drummer Jon Lee had died, reportedly committing suicide. We hope and are sure that the band will be able to move on from this event, and continue strongly.
Artists in this article: Feeder