Detroit Social Club

After a packed out Headlining show at Cargo last week, we caught up with Detroit Social Club, They spoke about Twitter, Supporting Oasis, Peace and love and Flaming Lips!

Who are Detroit Social Club…in a nut shell?

6 fragile characters making a bit of noise and singing about their lives. David is the one at the front, Greenie is the one at the back, Chris has the bass, Johnny has the guitar, Dale stands behind the keyboard and Welshy does loads of different thing.

Your front man has described him self as a vibe creator, what’s your vibe for 2010?

 Peace and love to all men. We just want to get on the road as much as we can, experience as much as we can this year, see some places we haven’t seen, and carry on writing music. Were all fit and healthy people who want to make the most of this chance that has fortunately been put in our path.

You supported Oasis in 2009, Are you going to miss them? You think they’ll be back?

I’m probably not going to miss them, because I didn’t really listen to any of their later stuff. I miss the old Oasis, that I listened to as a kid, every day. But I think the time was probably right. I really hope they don’t get back together, so they can be remembered how they should be. It wouldn’t be right if they went on for 200 years like the Rolling Stones.

What do you consider to be your greatest pressures, in this increasingly digital age?

 I don’t think any of a persons greatest pressures should be based within music, or related to a digital age, but obviously the media is evolving, music can rely less on TV or radio, or even literature anymore. It has to adapt to become an internet based media, and I think the adaptation hasn’t occurred fully yet. I don’t even think some people in the industry realise that they need to adapt. They are the ones who’ll get, and are getting, stung. As a band nowadays you are expected to do so much yourself, like twitter, facebook, myspace, bebo. All that stuff. Ten years ago you could just concentrate on the music, on writing songs, you wouldn’t have to worry that you haven’t done a new blog for a week and a half. I genuinely think this pressure on bands to do all the networking stuff is diluting the quality of their music. Having said that, It’s an enjoyable part of it, conversing with new people about music, in it’s own right its a beautiful thing.

What’s the best and worst Gig you have been to?

The best gig I’ve ever been to, no word of a lie, was Flaming Lips at Rockness last year. Amazing show. The worst gig I’ve ever been to?! I’d probably upset a few people if I was honest here, so I’ll be diplomatic and say The Hoosiers at Newcastle Uni two years ago. To be fair, I only went because we were supporting them for freshers week.

What new bands have you been listening to?

There aren’t a great deal of new bands around that I have fallen in love with. I think that’s more down to not having as much time available anymore to make the effort. I really like what I’ve heard by The Big Pink, I think they’re great.

What can we expect from the latest album?

 I think the album will surprise a lot of people. Whether that’s in a good way, or a bad way, only time will tell. It’s taken quite a while to do, and we’ve kind of fell out of the loop a little bit until this tour kicked off, but I’m proud of a lot of the album, so hopefully other people will catch on too.

 Any famous last words?

 Anything I said wouldn’t really be that famous, so Id say Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Moses, very wise man.

MEN are confirmed to play Cargo 12th April, Last time they were over our friends over at SPOONFED Interviewd them, see what that had to say ….

Fronted by two thirds of Le Tigre, Brooklyn-based performance collective MEN aren’t like your usual indie/art band. The project of JD Samson and Johanna Fateman, they focus on the radical potential of dance and make booty-shaking tunes that speak of issues as diverse as wartime economies, sexual compromise, and demanding liberties.

I caught up with JD and bandmates Ginger and Michael in Brighton to hear more about their musical endeavours, their love for Dizzee Rascal and the pitfalls of political dance.

Can you explain how MEN came about after Le Tigre’s hiatus in 2006?

JD: Le Tigre finished and we each individually had our own projects. Johanna and I had been DJing a lot and we decided to turn our duo into a collective, bringing in Michael and Ginger. We’ve completed around seven or eight songs and we have a couple more to record, then hopefully we’ll have our record finished in about a month.

Le Tigre’s music was notoriously politically charged. How is it different writing as MEN and what issues are the new songs covering?

JD: We’re artists and activists and that’s who we are as people. All of us are separate from the band and all of us are queer – that’s a big part of our lives. We spend a lot of time paying attention to our politics so I think our music naturally ends up being politically charged. It’s less something that we feel forced to do, it’s just natural to us.

Do you think that as long as you’re making music and art that the subject matter is always going to be about your political stances?

JD: I think working with Kathleen and Jo [Le Tigre] has taught me about writing in this way. Most people’s songs are about love but I was schooled in this way that music is about life, not just about love, so it can be about anything.

Ginger: I don’t think it’s that the topics are that pre-determined. It’s not like we set out to write an album that’s a queer activist project – it’s just the way we live our lives, the way we think, the people around us, the things that we’re doing.

The production and sound of the new tracks is a lot slicker than the recognisably lo-fi sounds of Le Tigre. Was that a conscious decision?

JD: It’s come from all different things. One thing is that I’ve learnt a lot. Being with Le Tigre until ‘This Island’, we all became better musicians. DJing helped me to analyse music. Working with Ginger and Michael, both instrumentalists, has helped to understand the music better. Le Tigre was such an experiment – pushing buttons and making some amazing things happen but it really was so experimental.

Who are you listening to these days?

JD: We’re really into Dizzee Rascal’s new album. The production is incredible!
Do you not find the song ‘Freaky Freaky’ [in which Dizzee reels off a list of girls’ names and various sexual encounters with them in detail] degrading and offensive to women?

JD: It’s a bit like that other song..

Michael: [Sings] A little bit of Monica..!

JD: Yeah! The Mambo Number 5! In the states Dizzee is really underground. His music is innovative; it refers to so many different periods of music.

Ginger: I feel like you could listen to this and be offended from a really essentialist feminist standpoint.

You’ve recently been working with Christina Aguilera on her new album. What other female artists would you like to work with?

JD: I have so much respect for the artists that are at that popstar level. The amount of work that they put in is pretty crazy. I really respect Lady Gaga – she’s an incredible performance artist which is cool. I don’t know? Joan Armatrading?

What would your ultimate milestone be as MEN?

Ginger: If we could open for Joan Armatrading! [Cheers] Or record a song with her.

Michael: I think something interesting that’s happening is that not all of our audience is queer. I think it’s interesting because we’re obviously totally gay, yet we have really straight dudes feeling this. It’s nice to appeal to not just a queer audience.

Ginger: Another grand vision is to do a major touring act, like a festival model with a bunch of queer bands that would tour and there would be this following of people that would come and travel with us until we ended up with this ridiculously huge queer festival somewhere !

£5 LUNCH SPECIALS,

SERVED MONDAY – FRIDAY

Including…

GOAN FISH CURRY Scottish haddock fillet, coconut and coriander with herby basmati rice

PORTOBELLO BURGUER (V) Portobello mushroom, halloumi cheese, beef tomato and mixed leaves + chunky chips

FISH AND CHIPS Pan-roasted Cajun-blackened catfish fillet with chunky chips, blanched peas and tartare sauce

We caught up with upcoming band NewIslands to find out what’s what:

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