NEW MUSIC: Future Trends
words: Jamie Milton
Future Trends is yet to make his mark. With all of 47 listeners on last.fm, to call him underground would be taking the piss. But Andrew G Clark has the future in his sight, especially considering No Pain In Pop are on to him. This solo electronic outing encompasses the finer elements of M83, Cut Copy, FrYars (ie. the glossy synths and the gorgeous, deep vocals) into a smooth, down-tempo, tailored ballad. Keep an eye or several out.
“Do you feel like it’s not your place to decide what comes and goes around in your life?”
mp3: Moonraker
12 Questions with… #3/ Rolo Tomassi
words: Charlie Ralph
Sheffield’s Rolo Tomassi are young upstarts with a mis-interpreted heavy, raw and racey sound. Charlie Ralph has his way with them, asking them the soon to be famous 12 questions….
Firstly, Would you reject being categorised as a “metal band”?
Absolutely. None of us are particularly into ‘metal’ as such and anything within our sound which could be perceived as metal is unintentional.
Have you ever found it awkward playing on the same bill as more mellow bands?
Not in the slightest. We’d much sooner play a mixed bill than with heavy bands, it’s refreshing for us to hear different sounds and also gives us the opportunity to play to people who might not otherwise hear our band.
Your band have a very unique sound. Did this musical style just come to you by accident or has it evolved over time?
I think it more of a case as evolving over time as musicians, not just as this band. We’ve all played together in bands since we were about 13 and have grown up influencing each others tastes and ways of playing and writing. When you spend that much time with people evolution is natural.
Is your upcoming album going to be similar in style to your self-titled EP?
Yes and no. It sounds more like the second half of the ep. lots of big riffs similar to tracks like cirque du funk. We’ve had a lot of time and space to experiment with different ideas. Simple things like singing, giving Joe (guitar) a keyboard and trying to write pop songs. its definitely the most accessible thing we’ve ever done without compromising the extremity of the sound we currently have.
Who do you cite as influences for the new record?
We’d all give different answers for this! Ermm, personally M83, Radiohead’s more leftfield leanings, Liars, Racebannon and Converge. With influences, I find it’s not usually my favourite bands and we dont aspire to replicate specific sounds of bands but I’ve felt inspired to create Tomassi music by all those bands this year and since we started writing the album.
How do you get yourself hyped up for your energetic live shows?
It doesn’t take me much to get hyped up really. Generally being on tour and appreciating the position of priveledge we’re in, getting to do what we do is enough for me! A couple of jaegerbombs never go amiss though…
Does it take you a long time to completely write your songs or is it more improvisational?
That totally depends. Sometimes we can do a song in one practice but other times we’ll have parts written for ages and struggle to fit them into a song. We rarely write music simply from improvising.
You’re playing at Underage Festival this year, are you looking forward to playing to a younger audience?
Yeah, we’ve done a couple of all ages shows before and they’re great fun. It’s a shame to have to put an age limit on shows so we’re happy to have the opportunity to play to kids who might not make it into an 18+ show.
Are you surprised that magazines like the NME, who these days usually focus on indie-rock, are covering you so much?
It’s strange. I think music fans are more aware of the alternative to the alternative now and that music magazines are having to cover bands like us to cater for peoples growing tastes – not that we sound particularly like them, but with bands like Gallows getting so much mainstream press attention last year, it’s becoming more acceptable for magazines like the NME to cover heavier bands.
Do you think Eva’s screamed vocals may have put off some potential fans of the band?
Possibly, but we set out to make music this way and we dont want to change what we do to win people over.
What is your favourite song that you’ve done for the new album?
Personally, my favourite album track is a song we’ve done called ‘Scabs’. I think it’s the perfect example of what we do with this band and has gone some absolutely killer riffs in it that are amazingly fun to play.
Finally Is there a date planned for the release of the record yet?
It’s scheduled to come out in September.
Hopefully we won’t hit any problems which push that back as we’re keen to get it out and start touring the new material as soon as possible!
MFM @ HYPEM
