Curveside2

Where's Welsh music heading?

I'm not sure where Welsh music is heading, but it's definitely off somewhere. There's not an awful lot of unity to Welsh music anyway, so to talk about it in terms of one movement is a little bit misleading. In general the Music Industry is aware of Wales as a source of talent more than it ever has been before thanks to the big boys and girls already out there making records and headlines, which can only be a good thing. Underneath that level, things are definitely starting to pick up, with more and more bands getting their acts together and getting noticed. There are more venues all over the place and a better infra-structure for people to get involved, but it's still not as developed as Manchester or Glasgow. There doesn't seem to be any one particular musical theme from band to band either, though the old rock-pop wars still rage!! Big Leaves and Murray The Hump are quite different to Mclusky and Manchild.

Do you feel like burning anyone's records?

I'd rather burn a few record companies. The records themselves, no matter how atrocious to me, if they give someone pleasure, then they're valid. The labels, well that's a different story. Saying that though, Celine and Geri Halliwell's records look quite flammable from this distance.

Would you leave Cardiff for London?

I think so. We've been playing in London a lot and it's definitely ALL going on there. Cardiff seems so sleepy in comparison. I think we'd like the chance to experience living in another town, even country, especially somewhere like London. But Cardiff is important to us, it helped shape us all, but we're fledgling now and we don't want to hang about the City like pigeons, we'd rather do a bit of Albatross style soaring! See the world a bit!!

Would you describe Curveside as a political band?

We've got some issues with the world and we fully intend to use Curveside as a platform to give those issues a public hearing, but it's not the be all and end all of Curveside. We believe in the tradition of music to take people out of themselves and in this day and age, people need escape. With drugs for example, the real issue is not how bad drugs are, but why subsequent generations feel the need to neck a load of chemicals and get off their heads.
What makes them want to escape so much? What is so wrong about admitting that the world might actually be really fucked up? Why do we condemn drug users for desiring an alternate reality to the one they have been born into? That's Curveside politics!

What's your view on feminism?

We don't believe in any -ism, to the exclusion of anything else, but we also don't condemn what we don't believe. We don't think men and women should be treated any differently and we value both sexes as of equal value and importance to us personally. We believe Feminism has had a positive effect on the modern world, if not just for inadvertently leading to the publication of Loaded magazine! But you know, we also love women like men should and we believe in treating a girl like a lady which some people might think was oppressive. Female company and a female influence has been very important to us all, but we're proud of being men ourselves and think we can all work together and get along as equals.

Anything else you'd like to add?

It doesn't matter how you sound, who you are or what you look like. It's all about songs. If you don't have any songs, then get some!!

What's happened since the last interview back in '98?

We've been through some sort of mid-life crisis, in the last few years and come out the other side a stronger force. We did a track for Patrick Jones' album called 'Autonomy' which was more fun than it sounds! Matt and Berni (Andrew's nickname since the playground) got to do some live stuff with the Pat Jones band including opening for the Manics at the Millennium Stadium on New Years Eve '99. We had a big tactical rethink and for the last year our mantra has been 'The Song! The Song!', writing loads of little slices of blasting pop rather than a couple of overlong and bloated prog-rock heavyweights. We've also rediscovered the joys of being a rock n' roll band, flying about in a transit van and whipping up a storm at the gigs. We played at Club Metro's in Cardiff last October and played a blinder, but the crowd there was unbelievable - completely wild. I think the band all fell back in love with Curveside that night and since then things have just been getting better and better.

Tell us a little about your forthcoming mini album!

It's going to have seven tracks which pretty much, sum up where the band is at these days. The songs are energetic, noisy and brash just like us, but all tempered with grace and beauty - again, just like us! There's some obvious 'rockers' like 'Put It In Your Mouth' and 'Save Yourself', but there's a couple of sweeties in there too, like 'Home'. It'll be released on Fuzzbox Records, who have released records by Mohobishopi and Mclusky, on July 23rd. It'll also be available online through our website. We're really excited about it and really proud we finally got round to making all the changes to Curveside's music that we were unhappy about.

CD or vinyl?

DVD!

What do you think of the new Manics Album?

The Manics' lost us all somewhere around 'S.Y.M.M.' a few years' back. They're still there on the cultural map for us, but as a historical reference more than anything else. The singles haven't been too bad, but it's not what any of want out of music anymore. I think maybe we changed more than the Manics did and our expectations of music changed. We still totally respect the band and 'The Holy Bible' will always be a Curveside Top 10 favourite record, but we're not paying that much attention anymore. 'So Why So Sad' is no 'Faster' is it?

Computers. Rubbish or a necessity?

Fantastic, but they'll only ever do what they're told, so people should careful what they tell their computers to do. It could all get out of hand quite easily.

If you were to compose a personal ad, what would you write?

Twentysomething rock n' roll band with big dreams and big ideas seek similar for fun nights out and lazy days in bed. GSOH with all own teeth and hair. Please send photo as we are deeply superficial.

Tony Blair vs. William Hague?

In a naked mud-wrestle? Put a fiver on the baldy!!

Most embarrassing moment?

We're all pretty thick skinned as band, or at least we use the group as a buffer, but there have a been a few instances. The worst has to have been an outdoor thing in Carmarthen on Devolution Day in 1999. They had this huge stage and satellite screen link-up to Cardiff Bay, but nobody had promoted the event. There were similar events all over Wales and apparently they were all really busy. Not so in Carmarthen! We did the gig anyway to Jez our engineer, James' (bass) Dad and my girlfriend who was videoing it all. On the tape her laughter is louder than the music!