| Miss Black America | The band are: Seymour Glass (vocals / guitar), Mat Anthony (guitar / vocals), Ryan Banwell (bass), Simon Chapple (drums) |
Q: First off, tell us about the gig coming up at The Junction on 4th May - supporting The Dears and live on 6 Music with Steve Lamacq… A: Well, I'm really excited! It's Lamacq isn't it and he's lovely. He's been part of my life as long as I've been old enough to rock…he's always been there so it'll be a pleasure to service him! [big laughter here…] No, he's a lovely bloke. We were both quite surprised to find that we got on quite well…I accidentally insulted him the first time we ever encountered each other… Q: What happened? A: Well, I asked for something to be put on the website and it sounded a bit snotty when it went up and he took offence…so I had to do some serious creeping but he forgave me in the end. Yeah, I had to creep massively for a bit then I talked to him about Kingmaker and he calmed down! He's the one other person in the entire country who'll admit to liking Kingmaker. Q: So, you've got a good bond thing going there? A: Yeah, it's good to bond over sad indie bands. Q: And you've got the new single Dot Dot Dot coming out…it's bursting with energy, anthemic and is strong vocally…where did it come from? A: I think it was the first thing that me and Matt wrote when he joined the band (actually Reborn was) but it was the first full blown thing that we wrote when he joined…I shouldn't say this [off he goes...] but I was probably just ripping off Supergrass. I was fiddling around trying to play Richard III and I wrote Dot Dot Dot by mistake. Then I said to Mat - 'Mat, write the best solo ever' and he did! It was just an excuse really for Mat to play a massive guitar solo. Q: It really sounds like you're enjoying it? A: Yeah [pleased], it rocks doesn't it! Q: Now, In 'Beauty of Song' of the forthcoming album there's the lyric 'desires trample me and all I wanna be is lost in the beauty of song' - throughout your lyrics there seems to be this common tug of war between beauty and harmony and a dark underside that's constantly at battle…is this a mirror of your personality or can you distance yourself from the work… A: Well, I guess so. It's never done consciously. I don't know how these things happen - songs - they're a mystery to me! Like 'Way Down' - that was inspired by Ivaac pharmaceuticals - nothing to do with the business at all it's where I work! I was going through another 50 page schedule of stuff on my way to the photocopier, I started humming 'Way Down' and I just wrote it there and then! So, I've no idea how songs happen. But a lot has happened in my life. The last two years have been insane. After the first album everything went horribly wrong and we spent most of 2000 having a nightmare, and without sounding too American about it 'went through a lot of dark places' [sounding American]. By the time the first album came out, none of the rest of the band were talking to me. I sat in the back of the tour van scribbling in my diary and I didn't say a single word to them for the entire tour! It was no one else's fault, I'm just prone to ridiculous behavior. Q: The quote 'Miss Black Amercia are not striving to make the papers…they're striving to make something beautiful' by Matt Biss…it's like you're giving your vocals more room to breathe on the new album…and that your sound has developed and kind of found its feet here…what do you think? A: Yeah, I guess. Someone said to me the other day that we might get slagged off because the lyrics aren’t as angry as they were in the first album and that the edge has gone a little but there is that frustration there - I'm angry in a different way - I'm angry that I spent so long being miserable! I think it's completely possibly to sound overjoyed and livid at the same time…and I'm livid that I haven't been overjoyed more often [there's a Catch 22 in there somewhere] - life's just too short to waste, sat in your room wingeing about how terrible life is. It isn't really, life's what you make it. Q: It sounds like you've reached a kind of 'maturity' (I know, I know, horrible term…) A: God, someone else called me that the other day! I've been called a lot of things in my life but never mature! [huge disbelieving mirth here]…well I just don't know if we are, I guess we are [thinks] but I still like to take off all my clothes and laugh at my own willy…so I'm not that mature... Q: I hear that there's less alcholol now swilling around…has this contributed to the sound of the album… A: No, don't know where that came from. We probably sound less drunk now but that's just from years of practise. No [serious] it's all very well getting absolutely wrecked but if you don't remember anything the next day, that's when it gets really worrying. Q: And you're now touring your socks off…what's life like on the road - sex 'n drugs fuelled or slightly more Spinal tap… A: Mmm….well, obviously, there's no point giving up booze all together…there's nothing more suspicious than a teetotal vegan. I used to be vegetarian and hippies drove me back to meat. Q: So, touring, live on 6 Music, new single, new album…got anything else up your sleeve? A: Probably a book. A tour movie I want to make. And a festival of bands like us - get eight bands on tour playing 500 - 1000 seater venues - that'll be something to get our teeth into…we could do just like the Radio One road show and get Dave Lee Travis out of retirement…[quiet voice]…I used to love Dave Lee Travis…that was my secret as a kid... | 
