 Stricken City aren’t like any pop band you’ve ever heard of. Unlike other musicians, Rebekah Raa (vocals), Iain Pettifer (guitar), Mike Hyland (bass) and Kit Godfrey (drums) are more than happy to declare their love for The OC, feathered headwear and even roast Poussin.
And if you’re already writing them off as another pop band with a quirky style but little talent then stop right there as this quartet have so much more to offer. In fact the guys recently took time out from their busy schedule to tell Audiotube all about their new album and those that inspired it... 1. How did you guys all meet? How long have you been playing together? Iain: I met Rebekah at school in Northampton; we didn’t start the band though until we were both in London. I was in another band and Rebekah said I should do something with her. I was a little sceptical at first but after a week we had a few songs that we thought were really good. We wrote ‘Killing Time’ then which is on our new record. That was about four and half years ago. We’ve been through three drummers and four bassists since which is why it’s taken so long to get to this point, we had to keep learning the songs over and over with new people. Kit joined nearly three years ago I think. He’s managed to hang on in there. Mike joined last summer; he was a friend of our manager. Not sure why our manager didn’t mention him to us earlier, he made the band proper when he joined. 2. Ok so your debut mini-album ‘Songs About People I Know’ was released last Monday (October 12th), what can you tell us about it? Iain: It was recorded over a period of about a year in whatever studio time we could grab, it was done with a few different producers, Jeremy Warmsley did two tracks which was fun. Two songs were done in the kitchen and one on a bus.
We wanted to tie up all the songs we had built up to that point along with the two 7’s we put out last year. All the songs are about different people, we thought about naming each song after that person but it would cause more trouble than it’s worth. 3. Of the eight tracks which is your favourite? Why that one? Iain: ’Killing Time’ – It’s nice and minimal and has lots of nice little changes in it. Rebekah: ’Pull The House Down’ – I like how all the instruments interweave with each other. Kit: ‘Pull The House Down’ – I like Mike’s groove. Mike: ‘Killing Time’ – It’s a bit different, a bit unpredictable. 4. The single ‘Gifted’ was recorded on a London bus, how did that come about? Rebekah: I was going to record it on a Dictaphone at home but had the Dictaphone on me and me and Mike were like er…. just do it now because we thought there would be nice background noises. Also it was pretty empty so I wasn’t too scared!! 5. The album is fun and spontaneous, what do you guys do for fun? Aside from play music of course! Iain: There’s no time for fun, we have day jobs so we’re either at work or at band practice or playing shows or whatever. Rebekah: Occasionally we have time to watch 90’s TV show box sets, ‘My So Called Life’, ‘Northern Exposure’ and ‘Twin Peaks’ especially. 6. The album’s already received great reviews from a number of critics, were you surprised by this? Are critics’ opinions something that you worry about? Iain: We were surprised that no one really hated it. But at the sometime we wouldn’t have put it out if we didn’t think it was good. One reviewer slagged it off which I wouldn’t mind except his reason was since we liked The OC we weren’t for real or whatever. I’ll defend the OC to the end – well season 1 and 2 anyway. 7. So you toured with Maximo Park in May of this year, how was that? We’re you big Maximo Park fans before the tour? Iain: We were massive fans of their first album when it first came out, it’s a great indie record, full of really good pop songs so were excited to go on the road with them. The tour was great but the food was amazing. That’s what we were most excited about, not that we played Brixton Academy twice, the food was the highlight. If people ask me how Brixton Academy was I tell them the roast Poussin was excellent. 9. If you had the chance to collaborate with any living artist who would it be? And why? Iain: Julian Casablancas as I think he’s the best male singer about, his melodies are amazing. Rebekah: David Byrne as I like his words and mind! Kit: I’d like to play percussion in the Cinematic Orchestra to see how they get such a huge, intense sound. Mike: David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti because they always work with interesting soundscapes, they create the same weird ambiance with music that Lynch does with his films. 10. If you were stranded on a desert island with just one album what would it be? 
Iain: ‘If Your Feeling Sinister’ by Belle and Sebastian Rebekah: ‘77’ by Talking Heads Kit: ‘Help’ by The Beatles Mike: ‘Kind of Blue’ by Miles Davis 11. What are your plans for the rest of the year? Iain: Well we’re touring the UK this week and New York next. Our album comes out in the US in November. We’ll start recording a new album in December and maybe put something out on cassette for Christmas. The band’s debut mini album ‘Songs About People I Know’ is available now. Songs About People I Know tracklisting: 1. Gifted
2. Pull Down The House
3. Small Things
4. Killing Time
5. PS
6. Sometimes I Love You
7. 5 Metres Apart
8. Terrible Things For more information: www.myspace.com/strickencity Words: Carly Hand Audiotube Newsdesk October 23rd 2009 |
