The Brute Chorus

• 18th Feb 2008

James Steel (Guitars, Vocals), Nick Foots (multi-instrumentalist & vocals), Matthew Day (drums & percussion) and Andy Holt (bass) are The Brute Chorus (TBC), a garage, blues and folk music consortium with a scatology of Biblical stories, nursery rhymes and fairy tales fuelling their fires. They kindly and cunningly answered some questions, predominantly in song lyrics and titles, as well as recalling Lesbian Seagull…memories!!!

AS: When you take aim with your peashooter/pellet gun/sniper rifle, you’re aiming at?
TBC: The Hoosiers and all who sail in them. Still a waste of food though!

AS: Where do you go when it all gets too much?
TBC: Up on the roof!

AS: Is bedtime more half nine with a half read paper or more half four with fully red eyes?
TBC: We’ll sleep when we’re dead.

AS: What do you do in your recreational time?
TBC: Party like its 1999!

AS: Who would be your dream collaborator?
TBC: Tic Toc the alligator!

AS: What’s the last gig/concert you went to?
TBC: Dirty Projectors @ Dingwalls.

AS: What’s the best music video?
TBC: Take On Me by Aha or anything by Jean Michelle Gondry.

AS: If you were a musical instrument what would you be?
TBC: A crump horn, a glass harmonica or a Swordfishtrombone.

AS: Do you believe in love at first sight?
TBC: No, do you believe in life after love?

AS: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
TBC: The sound of silence.

AS: Any regrets, missed opportunities or things that might’ve been?
TBC: No regrets. (They don’t work).

AS: Were/are you aware of your escalating popularity?
TBC: Rumours of our success have been greatly exaggerated.

AS: Will your past come back to haunt you?
TBC: Never been a sinner, I ain’t never sinned; I’ve got a friend in Jesus.

AS: Where do you most enjoy playing live?
TBC: On an oily stage.

AS: Why? What's your biggest why question and has mystified you the longest?
TBC: Why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near?!

AS: Who is most influential on your sound?
TBC: Willy the Pimp!

AS: Where do you sit in the grand scheme of things?
TBC: On the dock of the bay….wasting time.

AS: Whose the most likely to go solo or crazy?
TBC: Gnarls Berkley.

AS: Any choice epitaphs, famous last words or something you’d like to be remembered for?
TBC: ‘We did it our way’.

AS: What makes you better than everyone else?
TBC: We’re simply the best.

AS: When do you plan to take over the world?
TBC: Next Tuesday. (I don’t like Mondays).

AS: What changes can we expect to notice with this outing?
TBC: Everything changes but you.

AS: Are you all agreed/in control of the formats for your releases?
TBC: Sometimes.

AS: Wish you were doing anything else with your time other than music?
TBC: Truckin’.

AS: Did you have any heroes when you were a teenager?
TBC: Hell is for Heroes.

AS: What do you think of the paparazzi?
TBC: It’s a crummy way to make a living.

AS: What are you listening to right now?
TBC: The thrum of a Renault Espace 2.2 turbo diesel. We’re driving to a gig in Chester!

AS: Any message to any underachieving or odds facing musician out there?
TBC: Don’t let it bring you down.

AS: Any career highs or lows you care to share?
TBC: Making love on a mountaintop.

AS: Do you enjoy playing live or are you more at home in a studio?
TBC: Face to face with our audience is where we prefer to be.

AS: Your career defining dream moment would be what?
TBC: Sending Bono to Mars to sing one of our songs to the world via satellite link up. Even if he made it back he’d still be gone for eight or nine years.

AS: Any upcoming music / bands worth keeping an eye on that are destined for greatness?
TBC: Captain Black are the next band to put something out on our label Bumpman, so check them out.

AS: How important do you feel visuals are in relation to music?
TBC: Video killed the radio star.

AS: What was the highlight of your summer?
TBC: We got our first real six string!

AS: I’m sure you’ve done a few but, do you know which has been your best ever gig?
TBC: The great gig in the sky.

AS: What will this year bring?
TBC: New boots and panties!

AS: Is there more pressure playing live with a band than there is playing solo?
TBC: I get by with a little help from my friends.

AS: Are you unlucky in love?
TBC: If it wasn’t for bad luck we’d have no luck at all.

AS: Best song, movie or LP ever?
TBC: Jesus Christ Superstar. It ticks all the boxes.

AS: Where did you sleep last night?
TBC: In the pines where the sun never shines…

AS: What’s your secret vice, what are you a sucker for?
TBC: My weakness is none of your business.

AS: What makes the world go round?
TBC: People make the world go round.

AS: Where’s the place to be?
TBC: Right here, right now.

AS: What’s your weak point?
TBC: Your sweetness is my weakness.

AS: What’s your favourite instrument?
TBC: Blunt ones.

AS: Are you a good dancer?
TBC: I’m Superbad!

AS: What kinds of music do you dislike the most?
TBC: D.I.S.C.O.

AS: Where will you retire to when you're tired of comeback concerts?
TBC: Somewhere over the rainbow.

AS: When will the world end?
TBC: When the man comes around.

AS: Who is the main driving force or do you work as a team?
TBC: Nick is only one insured on the car but we all push when it breaks down.

AS: How important are the charts?
TBC: Life is not a competition.

AS: What revival would you most like to witness?
TBC: Lazarus.

AS: What era would you have been born in ideally?
TBC: It doesn’t matter; I’d always be five years ahead of my time.

AS: Are exercise and diet important?
TBC: Witness the fitness!

AS: If you could save 1 thing in the world, what would it be?
TBC: Save the cheerleader, save the world.

AS: Who’s the most gifted person alive today?
TBC: The Queen gets a lot of presents.

AS: Have you got any famous relatives?
TBC: Matthews cousin is Leo Sayer.

AS: Does complaining accomplish anything?
TBC: Shout, shout, let it all out…

AS: Have you goy anybody’s autograph?
TBC: Ant and Dec.

AS: Which fictional character would you most like to be?
TBC: Lesbian seagull.

AS: Which rules, the digital age or the vinyl/cassette age?
TBC: What about the Iron Age?

AS: Which musical style will be the first to become extinct?
TBC: Original music seems to be struggling a bit at the moment.

AS: Do you have any unused band names you’d love to use?
TBC: You can call me Al.

AS: Was growing up and becoming who you are today easy?
TBC: Its horrible being in love when you’re eight and a half.

AS: What’s the biggest myth about stardom?
TBC: Fat bottomed girls make the rockin’ world go round.

AS: Have you ever been conned into or out of something?
TBC: I asked for water. They gave me gasoline.

AS: Do politics have a place in music?
TBC: Even the presidents of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked.

AS: Thanks for your time guys and all the best for the future.

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