Interview: Alan Pownall

Alan Pownall has found the media furore surrounding him increasing month by month and is now a favourite on Radio 1. Since he picked up a guitar in 2004 he has found himself playing gigs with numerous rising stars including Florence and the Machine, Jack Penate, Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale. His music is very easy going and simplistic in style, which isn't a criticism (much of The Beatles' catalogue could be classed as simplistic), and allows for more scope for his voice to dominate the record. I caught up with him to discuss the album and life on the road.

You went on tour with Adele when you only had a few songs, what did that whole experience do for your confidence?

It was bitter/sweet in many ways. Being there was a great experience but i hadn't been playing for very long so it was very daunting.

Your rise has been pretty meteoric considering you only really picked up a guitar in 2004. How do you handle that?

Six years! Isn't that quite a long time? I don't know, I've been lucky with a few breaks but I don't take it for granted. I've still got a long way to go and that's what keeps it fun and exciting.

You've said you don't consider yourself to have any real 'influences' as such. Do you think that gives you more freedom to try different styles?

Of course I have influences, I just don't consider them perhaps like other writers do. I could write a song and months later i'd notice the similarities to one or many artist I was listening to at the time. But It's subconscious, I've never sat down and tried to write with an idea in mind, I like it to be spontaneous. We are all influenced by our surroundings, I just don't know where to start when I'm asked this question because I know not what influences me and why.

You've been labelled as a folk artist. Do you think that's down to your links with Noah and the Whale and the fact that you fall in the singer-songwriter bracket?

Yes, but I don't really pay attention to all that. I don't see myself as a folk artist at all, and if other people do, well there's very little I can do about it.

How've you found recording the album? How is it sounding?

Making this album was the first time I went into the studio. Before I'd done everything with a mic, guitar and the most basic recording equipment. I learned so much making this record. I can't wait to do it again with a second record. I'm very happy with how it's turned out.

You went on tour with Marina and the Diamonds recently. How did that compare with your earlier touring experiences?

We only did three dates with Marina, and I never met her. The Marina tour doesn't compare to other tours I've done, it was an in out job.

You quit your art course to pursue music. Is that something that you'd like to complete one day?

No, that's behind me. I have no desire to relive that time. I loved it there, but I left for a good reason.

What's next for Alan Pownall?

I'm releasing my debut Album in July.

Interview: NRWO

Florida band NRWO (Nothing Rhymes With Orange) are all set to release their second LP 'The Happiness Struggle' in the UK on May 4th. I caught up with Rich Coccaro to find about a little about the history of the band and to see what we can expect from the album.

How did you guys start out?

When I first started playing I didn't think about joining or starting a band, it kind of just happened. Carl was doing some singing on his own, he always wanted to sing in the band that I was trying to put together.. I wouldn't let him.. I told him he sounded and looked too much like that Bono dude.. Eventually after years of abuse and nagging, I gave in.. from then on we just started writing songs..

The both of us started getting into music and following bands at a very young age. My first show was The Police - Syncronicity Tour. Probably shouldn't have told you that because now you have an idea of how old I am.. Well I was about four or five.. Yeah, I made my dad take me.. That was kinda of the starting point. My first show was in a stadium and I was five.. that says it all..We've always had the mentality of writing BIG songs that could hold up in a stadium or an arena and I think that is reflective of the bands that we grew up listening to. I mean it's a bit more diverse these days but growing up with The Smiths, Oasis, u2, even Springsteen and Petty.. So that's where we've always wanted to go..

How does this record differ from your previous offering, 'Hello Mysterious'?

It's much better! That's the biggest difference I think..I wanted this album to be about songs that are simple and honest. I lent a hand in the writing a bit and tried to get Carl to go in a different direction from the past record. There were a lot of obscure references and I, as I'm sure most, had a problem connecting with. We were trying to be a band that we were not or will ever be and I don't even know what band that is..I think we've always had a much more understanding of what kind of band we don't want to be then the band we want to be. So With this album it was the two of us with an acoustic guitar taking personal experiences, stories, things that happened on a daily basis, relationships, etc. you know the usual, and just letting it go. This is how it is..

You're influenced by a lot of British bands. What do you think British bands offer than American bands don't?

I’m really not sure. Not to say that America doesn't have a ton of great bands I just think Britain has more. To me it's about great songs and less about who can be the most successful, make the most money in the shortest time. I think there is more longevity with bands from the UK. Primarily because I think the songwriting is better and the fans connect more with those types of bands..

You've supported the likes of RHCP and Doves, how did that feel?

It was good. Anytime you get an opportunity to play with bands that have inspired you in some way, it makes the shows that much more exciting. Also keeps us on top of our game. If we're supporting an act of that size, we better not suck!

What have you got planned for the rest of the year?

With the release of The Happiness Struggle, we'll be heading back to the UK in August. Then hopefully a follow up tour in the states, and then hopefully a follow up to that tour in the UK, then back to the states... I don't want to go home, I'd rather just live on the road. Well maybe a week or two back home would be nice.. and I say that now but a month into it and I'll probably want to be back home doing nothing..

How has British reaction to you differed from in the US?

The reaction so far has been pretty much the same all around, which is good and surprising. I think it's still a bit early to know for sure but we're hoping both sides take a liking.. We've always focused more on the UK because we just felt it was a better place to get our music
across.. As I mentioned before I just think there's more of an appreciation for music in Britain. If it's takes a while to break America then so be it..I think America needs their music spoon fed to them, so if that's the case, we'll do it. One at a time if need be. You always hear about bands breaking the UK before the US. Take Kings Of Leon. Perfect example.

What 3 tracks of yours should we track down and love?

Headlines And Deadlines
Escaping Hell
The Happiness Struggle...
and the rest of the album..

There's a place in Wales called Blorenge, which does rhyme with Orange. Does this make you sad?

I actually think I've heard that before.. but no it doesn't make me sad. If anything, glad. Because now maybe we can change the name of the band.

From Invisible to Mercury Nominees

After the success of The Invisible over the past year, I thought it would be interesting to revisit my interview with them that took place almost a year ago now. We should be able to see their answers in a whole new light.

The Invisible are a London based band consisting of Dave Okumu (guitar/vocals), Tom Herbert (bass) and Leo Taylor (drums) and they have produced one of the most unique sounding albums of the year so far, leading to comparisons with the likes of TV on the Radio and resulting in them being hotly tipped as ones to watch in 2009. With a host of highly acclaimed projects behind them, including the Mercury nominated Polar Bear, and the album being produced by Matthew Herbert, the future is looking bright for The Invisible With that in mind I headed to The Old Blue Last in Shoreditch to meet up with Dave and Leo and find out about the birth of the band, their sound and their opinions on their critical acclaim so far.


How did The Invisible come about?

Dave: The Invisible came about through a series of horrible accidents that resulted in a prison sentence. Really I guess it came about as there’s a long history between Leo, Tom and I. We go back a long way, kinda played in lots of different bands so we’ve played music together for years. Around 2006, Leo and I were both touring with Matthew Herbert and he basically expressed an interest in making a record with me. I was really up for making a record as I’d done so much with other people I just wanted to do something on my own and with Leo and Tom. And in the process of working it out and bashing out songs, recording them in the studio, we became a band and decided to give it a crack really.

As you’ve been in so many other bands, like you said, do you still get the same buzz with this project as you did with your first big break?

Dave: Ah man, I tell you what, it’s just amazing doing your own thing. It’s been really important to me to have been involved in other projects and I think me, Leo and Tom have all been really lucky to have been involved with things that we really loved and believed in and that have resonated with our tastes.

Leo: We were lucky in that respect to have found other artists that we’ve really shared a similar ideology with musically. There are a lot of other musicians out there that just get stuck in situations that they don’t relish or enjoy. So we’re very lucky in that respect. But it’s great doing our own thing now.

Dave: It’s a bit like independence really, like going off and getting to the point where you want to be in control of your own thing. Flying the nest and getting your own place or whatever, it’s the same feeling and it’s really exciting. It’s difficult in some ways, like growing up can be difficult.

Leo: Like the responsibility that comes with what you’ve decided to undertake, whether it be on stage or whatever. Just controlling your output and what happens. It’s kind of that thing that everything you do you feel responsible for and it can be hard but it’s also one of the most rewarding things there is.

Dave: I think for me, I sort of knew that, well the test for me to see if something is right or not that you’re doing is that it’s got to feel slightly uncomfortable. There’s got to be an element of being slightly out of my comfort zone (Leo: Down a shoe-size), yeah down a shoe-size. There’s got to be a feeling of almost being like a child again in some ways, like you’re learning again. I knew that this was the right thing to do because starting this band kind of made me feel a little bit like when I first started playing music. It’s sort of a mixture between ‘Oh this is quite scary’ and really exciting and I know I’ve got to do it. So yeah, it’s really, really positive.

Where did you pick up the name from? It seems quite unusual as most groups that use the prefix ‘The’ name themselves as a collective, whereas you’ve gone for a singular. It seems like more of a statement than a title.

Dave: Yeah, I really love the name but people always want to make it exactly that thing that you’re saying. They always want to make it ‘The Invisbles’, which makes it something totally different.

Leo: We’re not superheroes, well Dave is....

Dave: Yeah we’re not superheroes, we’re not a collective. The Invisible is much more conceptual and ethereal in some ways. It basically comes from this book that I really love by John O’Donohue, it’s a philosophical book really. He writes a lot about creativity and just the sort of issues surrounding human existence and he kind of has this idea that, to be alive, is basically to exist on the threshold between the visible and invisible world. He explores all these ideas about your sense of fulfilment coming from these two things being reconciled and actually being in touch with both sides and I guess when we were thinking about what we wanted to be doing we thought, well I thought, about how our culture is obsessed with an exterior world and that’s at the expense of your interior life really. So The Invisible is about knowing that sometimes what’s important is what you can’t see. I really like that idea. I think it suits our music as well because we have many layers to our music and that idea of depth basically and how we engage with things. I think what excites me about our music is that hopefully it presents people with an opportunity to explore all the layers and find their own ways in to it but it seems like a lot of music that’s out, especially in the mainstream, seems to about that impact, that immediate impact.

Leo: Yeah, immediately digestible.

Dave: So maybe The Invisble is about something more profound than that.

You’ve made a sound that is quite unique. Do you think that the musical diversity that you brought from your previous projects is responsible for that or is it more of a ‘let’s start fresh’ kind of thing?

Leo: I don’t know. I think, in a way, we’re a sum of all the things that we’ve been involved with and obviously our own influences and things that inspire us on a personal level. But all of that stuff absolutely comes out in our playing, I know I feel blessed to have done so many things in that way and they’ve shaped us and they all add to the tapestry.

Dave: Yeah I think it is. I think that only real sort of agenda with our sound is to basically reflect ourselves and we are just a product of our experiences and more. And allowing all of those things to filter through in to what we’re doing is great because that’s how you end up with something unique and then being ok with that and trying to develop it and refine it, I think that’s what our ethos is as a band, to just try and really reflect what we love about music. That’s an ongoing process as we’re always taking in new things and really that’s what keeps it alive.

Leo: Yeah and it’s interesting that the same tunes that you’ve probably been playing for the last two years are constantly changing and evolving, being refined and shaped.

Could you talk us through your process of creating a song? Do you come together with different parts or work at it as a group?

Dave: I don’t think there’s a system. There are definitely things that we all bring to the process. In this instance of making this album, because it was supposed to be a solo project, I had done a lot of writing of songs and then we developed them in the studio and in post-production and we’re still developing them now even though the album is recorded, so they just take on a life. I really like that idea of writing something and it just comes to life and that life can continue for the rest of time as far as I’m concerned so that’s one thing. I think there’s something about our history, there’s an ethos of getting together and jamming things out and that, to me, is one of the most exciting ways of writing. What often happens is that we’ll get in a room and we’ll start playing and we’ll hit on something and we’re just recording and seeing where it goes and then we’ll take all of those bits away and maybe in our individual spaces we’ll work on them and bring them together again and just keep on refining it until we end up with something that really resonates with the three of us as a unit. So really there are no conventions, if any one us writes a song and it’s a complete thing and they bring it to rehearsal then that’s fine. Or someone might bring a bit of something and go ‘What do you reckon to this?’ and the others would add bits to it so it’s just wide open that process really.

Do you find it harder to create a ‘live’ sound in the studio or transferring a studio sound to the live environment?

Leo: I think when we first started making the record we were a bit daunted as to how we were going to reproduce a lot of that stuff that’s on the record live because there’s so much. I mean, Matthew Herbert, just the amount of sampling and processing and recording he did was pretty phenomenal. So, actually, as it works out, we’ve got someone who is reproducing quite a lot of that stuff live through sampling and the sounds build up to that kind of sonic landscape so, yeah, it’s working out well.

Dave: I think that there’s a thing though that says there’s a really interesting relationship between studio and live things. I like to think that there’s a fluid exchange because, if you make something in the studio, I’m not really interested in replicating that live. You want to interpret it basically so the values of that thing still remain and hopefully it’s another opportunity to be creative. You’ve made something in the studio and then it’s like ‘how do I interpret that live?’ and, again, that comes to life in a new way and it stops things from getting stale. It’s as if you’ve set yourself a challenge in a way and that kind of gives you another impetus and then that’ll probably inform what you do in the studio the next time round. I think that’s part of development. If you go about things in a really rigid way, like ‘I’ve made this and now it has to sound exactly the same’, you’re not really going to move forwards and you’re not really going to be challenging yourselves. You’re just going to be going through a functional set of motions and what I love about this band is the fact that there’s an imagination there. If something doesn’t sound exactly the same as it does in the studio it doesn’t mean that it’s not working necessarily, it might just have to take on a new life. That to me is much more imaginative than just replicating.

You’ve been hotly tipped for 2009. How do you feel critical acclaim compares to public reaction?

Dave: Interesting. We’ll just have to wait and see in a way.

Leo: It still feels like early days even though it’s been around our lives for quite some time.

Dave: It’s funny isn’t it because I do think that journalism and the media has such a power and such direct influence on things and creating an impression of something or just giving a platform to something. As soon as you have a platform it gives people the opportunity to make their own minds up about it. I suppose what I hope is exactly that. I just hope that we’re allowed to have a platform so that people who want to find our music can and can make their own minds up about it. Obviously it’s good if people like what we’re doing and if that resonates there’s a validity to just doing your thing and being yourself and being uncompromising about that. I think that’s something that we can all identify with in all spheres of life. I mean not everyone is going to like that but some people are going to love it hopefully and other people might hate it but that’s OK, you know, it’s fine. In terms of the kind of praise that we’ve had so far it’s just amazing and really flattering and sometimes a little bit scary because now you’ve got to live up to it but we’ll just wait and see. There’s something exciting about just making something, putting it out there and seeing what happens. You can’t really ask for more than that. If someone gives attention to something that you’ve made that’s actually a real privilege and that’s all I could hope for really.

Interview: I Was A King

Ok, so I haven't posted for a couple of weeks due to some personal reasons but now I'm back with a whole host of treats for you and first up is this 'Getting to Know' interview with Frode from I Was A King...

Hi Frode, can you introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
We are a Norwegian group called I was a King. First time name was used to name a recording was in 2004. It started out as my home recording project back then, and has taken a lot of different directions since then. The first album entitled “Losing something good for something better” came out in 2007. We actually then did two shows in UK which was a lot of fun. The current line up has been together since January this year, which actually is the longest lasting line up.

It must be quite nerve racking when you set out to try and make it in a different country. How do you handle that?
I mostly just try and focus on the fun part of it. We are really lucky to be able to travel around, see new places, meet new people and of course play music in front of people.

How different is the music scene in the USA and UK to the one in Norway?
Both USA and UK has a lot stronger musical traditions and history, which also means that scenes are a lot bigger. Norway is a small country and the different scenes aren't really big.

The album was recorded over such a short period of time, does that mean that a lot of the music was almost improvised?
Yes a lot of the songs on the album are first or second takes. I’ve been recording both IWAK albums starting out with just me on guitar and my friend Emil on drums. The way we’ve worked every time is that I go through the song once, so he gets an impression of structure, then we hit record, and takes what comes out of it. I tend to get very impatient working in the studio, so this is the best way to work for sure.

You worked with a lot of collaborators on the album, the most notable perhaps being Sufjan Stevens. How did that come about?
The reason we went to Brooklyn to record was that I really needed to get out of Oslo to find new inspiration, and new surroundings. Also I have a lot of friends who live there, wich includes Sufjan Stevens, Gary Olson and Daniel Smith who all helped out making this album something I’m really proud of.. It was so inspiring to work with all these amazing people in the same room.

You’ve said before that you don’t like keeping your style too similar. Have you got anything in mind stylistically for the next album?
I have been thinking a lot about what will come next, but haven’t had time to write very much lately. But I know for sure that next one will be different.

What three tracks of yours would you recommend for people to look up?
My 3 favorites of the album, i think are Not Like This, Breathe and Weighing Anchor. I guess they give a pretty decent impression about our sound and music.

And finally, what’s the plan for the rest of the year?
We’re doing a week of shows in UK now in November, which includes opening for one of my old favorites Swervedriver in Oxford. Can’t wait to see them live.

Interview: teenagersintokyo

teenagersintokyo (who also write it as TEENAGERSINTOKYO) are one of the brightest up and coming bands in Australia. I caught up with Samantha from the band ahead of the release of double A-side, 'Isabella/Long Walk Home'...

So you’re not teenagers and you’re not from Tokyo, but....if someone could wave a magic wand over you and transport you to Tokyo as teenagers would you do it?
YES! We would totally do it. That would be so much fun! We could dress like all the amazing Harajuku kids that you see in FRUiTS Magazine as well as eat fresh Japanese food constantly. It would pretty much be a dream come true.

There seems to be an endless stream of talented bands coming out of Australia right now. Do you think it’s becoming harder to get noticed over there?
Actually, I think it’s great because it demonstrates that audiences are becoming more responsive to more younger and independent bands. It seems like in the last five years there have been more outlets for people to stream their demos or have them played on Australian radio and that people are excited to discover and support new local music. At the same time, I recently heard that some of the local venues in Sydney are facing being shut down. These are places that we as a band loved to play and used to frequent a lot as soon as we were legal enough to enter a pub, so it’s really sad that younger artists and audiences will miss out on these opportunities.


How have you found recording the album? Have there been any songs that have been particularly tricky to get down?
Overall it’s been an amazing experience. We bonded quickly with our producer David Kosten, on how to develop the songs from demos to album tracks as well as through our ridiculously crude senses of humour. Recording previously recorded tracks like `End it Tonight` has proven to be quite the challenge. As it was one of the earlier songs we ever wrote as a band, it’s been an interesting process trying to update it with a fresh approach but still maintaining the essence of the song.


What do you get up to when you have some time off? Anything outrageously exciting?
If you consider grocery shopping and doing laundry outrageously exciting then yes, we have a riot of time. Aside from that absolutely debaucherous activity, we like to enjoy the multitude of art galleries in London as the collections and exhibitions here are far more comprehensive than at home. We also don’t hate the idea of going out for a drink and a dance if the evening calls for it.

What was the last CD you bought, the last film you watched and the last book you read?
The last CD would be The xx album, which I’ve been enjoying. It’s really sweet and grows on me the more that I listen to it. The last book that I read was `The Beautiful Fall` by Alicia Drake, which chronicles the lives, loves and characters of Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld through the opulent 1970s French fashion scene. I found it quite fascinating as you get a really interesting insight into their careers and you also feel slightly hedonistic just reading it as you get a sense of living vicariously through them both.
Oddly the last movie I saw was Monster-in-law with Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez. It happened to be on TV the other night when we were having dinner and by the end of us finishing our meals, Linda and I were hooked. It’s a pretty decent Hollywood rom-com script, but the dynamic between Jane Fonda and Wanda Sykes makes it worthwhile. Also, I realised about 5 minutes in that J.Lo is like the grown up version on Hilary Duff in terms of acting mannerisms and speech phrasing. It’s uncanny.

Apart from recording your album, what’s been your highlight of the last year?
Probably moving to London and discovering where to get a decent soy latte. Nude Espresso in Spitalfields if you’re keen. Also high on the list is meeting our Manager, Sulinna. She’s the best.

A few stereotypical Aussie questions (sorry):

Beach or BBQ? BBQ. I can’t stay under the strong Australian sun for too long. I’m weak, I can’t take the heat!
Kangaroo’s or Koala’s? Koala’s are cuter and less aggressive.
Can any of you make a boomerang come back? I managed once but then made the mistake of trying to catch it....
Ha! Last year when we were touring here, we gifted Chris from our label a novelty boomerang. We went to the park to demonstrate our skills but failed miserably.

What’s your favourite part of Sydney?
I was going to write about this really beautiful heritage park/beach called Nielson Park, but I honestly have to say the food, specifically the dumplings in Chinatown. We often sit around and list off all the places we miss and Noodle King in Chinatown is always one of the first. I can’t even think about it anymore without crying. And don’t get me started about the four-cheese melt at Single Origin…

What can we expect from the album and what do you think is the best song on it?
I guess you can expect to be surprised? It’s not quite finished, there are a few more tweaks we want to make, so I don’t really know what to expect people to expect just yet. As of this moment my favourite track is `Long Walk Home`, but this is always changing as I love all the tracks equally. It’s hard to choose a favourite, they are like our kids!

Imagine its early 2010, you’ve just had a successful album launch....what comes next?
Hopefully we’ll be touring for as long as we can and as far and wide as audiences will want us. Also having a bunch of new tracks in the incubator ready for album two. And it would be nice to go home at some point to see family and friends.

Interview: The New York Fund

I’ve been following this band called The New York Fund for a few years now and they’re a great little band, very talented guys. I recently caught up with the singer, Joe McAdam, for a chat about their roots and what we can expect from the album.

For me, The New York Fund are one of the most exciting up and coming bands in the UK at the moment after winning over fans and critics alike with a string of festival appearances over the last couple of years. Having formed in 2005 the band have been busy building their reputation in intimate venues such as The Borderline and the 100 Club as well as broadening their appeal with high profile support slots alongside the likes of Ash and The Hold Steady. After bringing their style of swaggering country-rock to public attention 2007, despite their unsigned status, saw the band producing and distributing their limited debut release, the ‘Guns EP’, which was received well and gained them critical acclaim, noticeably from Dermot O’Leary on his Radio 2 show. Now, two years down the line, the artistic integrity of the band and the importance that they place on having control over their output has ensured that they remain unsigned but that hasn’t restricted their desire to succeed and they’re now on the verge of releasing their debut album.

Displaying a soft-American lilt to his vocals, a desire to have grown up in the American south masks singer Joe McAdam’s Glaswegian roots. So is this desire to visit America responsible for the name of the band? “We're named after my 'New York Fund'” he replies, “which is a collection of jars and bottles and tins, sitting on top of my fridge, full of pennies which I've been saving to buy a ticket to New York... The idea is to get to New York using only money that, if you dropped it on the floor, or you just saw it lying there, you wouldn't even pick it up... I think that'd be kinda cool, to be stood in New York knowing that you basically got there for free...” Having been to New York myself I know that getting there for free would definitely be kinda cool!

The band are not ashamed to wear their influences on their sleeve and when asked about them Joe replies, matter-of-factly, that “you can probably hear them”. It’s a list that further shows their debt to American country music... “I suppose the big ones on me” he continues, “are: Ryan Adams, Neil Young, The Band, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Teenage Fanclub… We’re all different though. The ones I mentioned are probably universal to all of us.” Indeed, The New York Fund have found themselves equally adept at slow tempo, Ryan Adams like songs as well as showing an ability to carry off the sheer exuberance of a band like Teenage Fanclub. As with many bands who display a wide range of influences it seems impossible to pinpoint any one person or event that could definitively be said to be the main flashpoint behind the music. “I don't think I could [pinpoint it]” says Joe “But I can definitely remember the first time I got 'into' music, which probably led to me learning to play guitar, then writing songs and so on and so forth... I was 12 years old and this guy called JF, who's kinda my uncle through marriage, gave me Led Zeppelin 4, a Jimmy Hendrix best of, and Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. I doubt that all the rest would have followed if this hadn't happened... I mean, all the kids I was at school with were into shitty dance and 'euro'-techno-bollocks. It was definitely a turning point.”


So, having avoided the descent in to the world of ‘shitty dance’, Joe moved down to London where he met Adrian, the band’s virtuoso guitarist, drummer Reuben and bassist Jim and their first incarnation, Cherryfalls, was born. After a brief stint with Island Records they were dropped from the label, Reuben left and The New York Fund was born. Although integral to their development, the band are keen to leave their Cherryfalls days behind them. Their reluctance to talk about this time in their career is understandable after working so hard for four years to cement their reputation as The New York fund and now, with the imminent release of their debut album, 2010 could finally be their year. Having spent so long battling with potential labels over artistic integrity it’s understandable that the feeling of finally recording their debut album is “Amazing.”

“It's been a long process”, Joe continues, “but that's entirely down to the fact that we've done it all ourselves. No big budgets. No big producers. No big studios (well except for KONK, which we got on the cheap when it was empty...). Everything you hear is us... Played, recorded, produced, mixed, the whole lot.” (The band also recorded, produced and mixed their debut EP in 2007). “That's why it took a long time, but that's also why it sounds like us. There weren't any external pressures, no boxes to tick. We just made the songs we wanted, the way we wanted to make them.” So, with this creative control, what can we expect from the album? “I dunno... It sounds like us. Like all our favourite bands, but still, just ‘like us' really.”

The New York Fund’s album, ‘Wine, Women and Song’ is due to be released in spring 2010. I can vouch that their latest material is even better than on ‘The Guns EP’ with a mature and more ambitious sound. It’s also well worth catching them live as the energy they put in to their shows is fantastic!

You can find out more about the band at their myspace.