A year or so a go a band called Breezer had caught the local music scene’s attention with their quick fire pop tunes. They could have been Ocean Colour Scene but with a name like an alco-pop. But my recent attempts to locate the band had fallen short, their MySpace page? Gone. Their web site? Gone. Their presence on the Birmingham gig lists? Gone. I was about to give up hope when I noticed Breezer-like faces on the web page for a band called The Klatter. Could it be them? “Yeah that was us,” says Jape (it’s short for John-Paul), front man of the Klatter. The same line-up and everything? “Yeah, everything’s the same.”
 | | Klatter: Photography by Lucy Barriball |
So why the name change? “Because Breezer was rubbish.” The rest of the band nod in agreement and I too had to confess to thinking that the name was a tad on the rubbish side of things. It had appeared when the band played their first gig two years ago. They didn't have a name and used the first corporate logo they could lay their hands on as inspiration. The Bacardi Breezer bottles behind the bar supplied said inspiration. The name was changed to The Klatter, (Greg: "There was a folk band called The Klatter as well, I think we would have both benefited if we had just swapped names.”) and it would seem the music has changed as well. “We dragged in quite a few influences”, says guitarist Toby. “Gaf (bassist) and me were into our old school psychedelic stuff and Jape was into the indie scene. The old Breezer stuff was very Ocean Colour Scene and The Jam but then Greg came along.” Greg takes his cue: “Now it’s more like the sound of music falling down a lift shaft.” Changes He’s not far off. The Klatter are a lot messier – and I mean that in a good way – than their alco-pop alter egos. It’s all the same bits but they're just put together in a more imaginative and haphazard way. Greg, incidentally, is the band’s drummer and was sought out by the band at the expense of getting rid of their previous drummer. “He was a good drummer,” says Jape of their first sticks-man, “but we just wanted Greg.”
 | | The Klatter live |
“In fact, it was on this very table where we told him we didn't want him anymore,” adds Toby. We had obtained a booth towards the front of Birmingham’s Actress and Bishop pub, I suddenly felt like I was sitting on a crime scene, my jeans scuffing the chalked outline of a drummer’s deceased body. “I get palpitations whenever we sit here actually, I keep thinking I'm next,” says Greg. It would seem Greg has little to worry about though, he fits into the Longbridge/Rubery quartet like Justin Hawkins fits into spandex. While they look the real deal, the band insists that image is something they have had a problem with. “We've been aware that you've got to have an image,” says Toby. “But you don't want to dress like everyone else because you've gotta stand out.” “Saying that though,” Jape puts a spanner in the works, “you can't not look like someone else because so much has gone before you.” “Hopefully the performance is what sets us apart. We've sweat so much by the time we come off stage it doesn't matter what we look like,” says Toby. Flying cymbal Actually, they were sweaty now, and they had only been rehearsing. I had been warned about the sweatiness in all fairness, and this is rock ‘n’ roll after all. Although listening to the stories, it’s no surprise that the boys end up a bit perspired by the end of a gig. “Greg threw a cymbal across the stage and broke my guitar once,” Toby says with a wry smile. Greg attempts to excuse the action with some psychological jargon: “All those social constraints go out the window while you're on stage.” Jape agrees: “For 35 minutes the stage becomes yours and nobody’s really gonna stop you from doing what you want.” “It’s all part of the release. You're playing at a million miles an hour and it’s like it needs a full stop,” says Greg. Although no-one seems to consider whether the next full stop could decapitate their lead guitarist. “We were actually insured,” says Toby. “Although we lied a bit. We said we had dropped it backstage or something.” The band have played at the NEC for Music Live a couple of times but point to the festivals as the best place to let loose.
 | | Jape of The Klatter |
“We’re playing one in Kent at the end of May,” says Jape. “There’s seven bands from Birmingham at the same festival.” Greg gets nostalgic: “Festivals are popping up all over the place now. I remember Reading in ’91 and eating tomato ketchup sandwiches and sleeping in a Mark II Fiesta, it's a little different now.” Twang effect Despite this culinary faux pas Greg assures me the band have quite a useful cooking streak running through them and considers out loud the possibility of singing recipes at gigs – and then dismisses the possibility. Gaf and Toby both work at the Access to Music Studios in the Jewellery Quarter area of the city, helping youngsters develop their musical ability and are amazed at the quality Birmingham has to offer. The Twang’s recent success can only help the area they say. “We all have our other interests as well. We're realistic about how the industry works and it’s not as glamorous as it looks,” says Toby. “There is so much talent coming through. I wish I had their talent when I was a kid. I think we're actually seeing the Twang effect already” “Unlike some bands The Twang represent a part of Birmingham that actually exists,” adds Greg. There’s no sign of the boys hanging up the guitar straps anytime soon though, despite having to endure the nine ‘til fives “I'm 35, married with a kid and everything and I've been doing this since I was 14 and I don't want to stop,” says Greg. “It gets you out the house doesn't it?” adds Toby. “It’s better than watching East Enders.” Jape thinks about this for a second and ends the conversation. “It’s the East Enders bit that keeps me going.” You can catch The Klatter at the BarFly on Monday 19th March, 2007 or the Roadhouse on Monday 2nd April, 2007. | 
