The Feeling launch attack on UK indie scene

• 5th Jun 2006

South coast pop-rockers The Feeling have marked the release of their debut LP Twelve Stops and Home this week by attacking what they see as snobbery and hypocrisy in the British indie scene. Speaking in an interview with Designer Magazine, frontman Dan Gillespie dismissed the idea that alternative music is more valuable or authentic than other genres. “If indie has to be this incredibly edgy cool trendy thing without melodies and pop influences, then I think indie will die,” says Gillespie. “There's this idea that indie is credible and anything else isn't, when most indie bands are put together by record labels and as dreamed up as any pop act.” The Feeling, who pride themselves on their glossy, MOR sound, have spent the last five years as session musicians, and speak out in the interview for the value of the session approach. “There's nothing wrong with being a session player,” says Gillespie. “Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix were session musicians. I very much doubt Arctic Monkeys play on their records.” Gillespie was also dismissive of the Arctic Monkeys' success, saying that their music “gets marketed in this mainstream fashion when it isn't mainstream music… they're never going to be international. It's not universal enough, it's not melodic enough.” You can read the full interview at link. The Feeling release their debut album “Twelve Stops and Home” on June 5th.