AFTER being hotly tipped as one of Manchester and the UK’s next big things following the release of their 2009 debut album, ‘Another City, Another Sorry’, punk-pop foursome The Answering Machine have gone all DIY on us.
On meeting the eclectic collective in a chic Manchester bar, just days before the release of their anthemic follow-up, ‘Lifeline’, the one time buzz band, led by singer Martin Colclough, finally take time out from personally posting out band-made EPs and t-shirts.
Self- penned, produced and promoted, this record is a far cry from the heady heights of their A-list duets with the likes of Tim Burgess and cross-continental acclaim, as the band look back on successfully rejuvenating their sound.
Sipping up unassumingly to a backdrop of bare brick walls, cosmopolitan accents and rusty garden furniture, the wide-eyed enthusiasm of the group spills out in conversation over Thom Yorke, free vimtos and aborigine rock.
So how did the idea for Martin to produce the album come about?
Martin Colclough (singer): We were making a list of our dream producers just over there in this bar with our old manager and it was just kind of a dream list. Dave Eringa was top, who produced the first album, and other big producers were on the list and then we just added my name on the bottom. From that over the next couple of days we all individually just thought ‘why not all do it ourselves? We’ve got the equipment to do it’ and it didn’t seem that harder task in the end and it was the best thing we did, it really was.
Pat Fogarty (guitar): The whole idea of self production was that we all know the music better than anyone. Although they were all very diverse songs it brought a real linear structure and made them sound like they were part of the same record.
Gemma Evans (bass): It’s very hard to talk about creative stuff in terms of sound and getting the right words to describe them, so when you’re doing it yourself you can just do it without having to go and tell the producers what you want and them not quite understanding. When you’re doing it yourself you know exactly what you want and you can just do it.
Ben Perry (drummer): Although there was a dance class above our room so we did have to time our sessions right.
So how much more personal to you than ‘Another City, Another Sorry’ is this album, what can we expect?
M: With respect to the first album, we were very proud of it and what Dave (Eringa) brought to it as well. There’s a track called ‘Rules’ on this one which was literally the demo that was made way back. It was a really raw demo and we just kept that idea for the final thing, so that kind of feels personal to us because the listener hears it the way we first heard it, without it being put through this kind of gloss machine to become all top 40-ish.
P: We want people to listen to it and turn and say actually they’ve taken the time to think intelligently and creatively grow to sound different to their first record. They’ve not just churned out another bunch of songs that were like that punk-pop style that we had at the beginning.
Where did you write ‘Lifeline’?
P: Initially we started writing it over here and then we went to New York and Martin was in his element writing over there and came up with a couple of songs. We also wrote in Japan.
M: I think we’re quite good at getting little ideas from here and there but then we’re not really good at finishing tracks on the road so then we’ll bring them back. We work on best when we’re just locked away.
So how would you describe the way that ‘Lifeline’ sounds?
G: The way I always describe it is mature sounding. We were 20 when we wrote a lot of the songs in the first album and we’re all around 25, 26 now and we were obviously going to mature in that time.
M: I think it’s because we changed the dynamic of things. We found our live show especially was all on one level and it was in fifth gear all the time. I think if you bring some of those mellower moments into the set and into the album and it makes the bigger parts seem bigger and the smaller parts seem smaller.
What would you say to people who might suggest that you’ve changed your style?
P: At the end of the day some people are always going to want us to be that band who did ‘Oklahoma’ but obviously that’s not fulfilling for us. I mean we’ve got such eclectic, varied music tastes as it is, the four of us just wanted to represent that on this record and yes it might alienate some people but it might bring some people who had written us off at the beginning back to us. It might even turn new people on to us.
Was that style change a conscious decision?
B: I think at the bottom of it all, the songs have all got a definite pop sensibility to them like the first album, they’ve got a melody that shines through a lot more. It feels like we’ve used what we’ve got but stretched it wider.
P: With a tune like the title track, ‘Lifeline’, arguably it’s more catchier than ‘Oklahoma’, it’s poppier, it’s groovier.
M: Your references and your inspirations change over time and it seems silly for us to try and use the references that we were using way back in 2005 still now when they don’t really relate to us as much any more.
CHANGE: The Answering Machine embrace mature new sound
As far as commercial success and charting singles go, do you feel under pressure deliver sales?
M: I don’t think we’re driven by that kind of success, I don’t think we’re driven by commercial success as such, we just want the right kind of people to enjoy us, a credibility I guess, that’s all we strive for really. Although we don’t really sound like them, that Elbow kind of model, they’re never putting out pop songs as such, they’re just sticking to their guns and musically they’re very talented and hard-working, we’d like to think of ourselves as a younger versions of that maybe like scrapping away and someday will say “Yeah I get it now”.
How did this DIY attitude come about?
M: We used to think that the answer was money but I’d like to think that if we started over again as a band now and we got offered a major label deal we wouldn’t be so taken in by it. I mean I know it’s controversial about what Thom Yorke said about the record industry collapsing on itself within a matter of months but I guess we kind of agree in a way. Anyone can announce an album release on their own and sell stuff on their own website. So who needs a big labels to manufacture CDs and pay for adverts on the radio and this that and the other. We’ve kind of done it on a small scale on our new album with the new EPs and t-shirts that we’ve sold on our website. The majority of people still haven’t come around to this but at some point they will think ‘well the band that I love are actually making this for me directly. Why would I want some anonymous company on the high street to give it me in a little shitty plastic case, when the band can give it me themselves for cheaper.’
How would you compare your first two albums then?
G: ‘Another City’ was a snapshot of our lives at that age without a doubt and I think this is a snapshot of our lives as well. We’ve pushed ourselves more on this record.
P: I suppose in 30 years time we might look back and say which we prefer but we’ve played ‘Another City’ for the last five years pretty much. There’s no point in doing an album just like the last one so this time we brought instruments in that we haven’t used before, next time it could have other electronic influences and go down that route you never know.
(Interrupting and laughing) M: Operatic? or aborigine?
Do you get much support from other bands?
M: Manchester bands kind of stick with one another a lot of the time. Leo from Young British Artists works here actually, we chat about what we’re up to and what they’re up to. He even gave Ben a free Vimto. We’ve just got each others backs really.
What’s your stance on continually being compared to the Wombats, does it bother you?
P: It’s fair to say they used what they had more to their advantage than we did, we were quite humble and happy with what we had whereas we didn’t really see the money making side. I guess their record label saw that their ‘kookiness’ will help them sell more records, that’s no fault of theirs. But I suppose it is upsetting to see that maybe some of their fans could also be our fans but they don’t get the chance to hear us or they’re using up our budget as a label as well I don’t know but we’re not bitter about it at all. But again there’s a weird thing where, I use the example of Bombay Bicycle Club as it’s the first that springs to mind, we did shows with them here and there and we were like the fourth support band that no one had heard of and then we went to Japan and we were like on the same level. You live in a bubble a bit in the UK.
G: I definitely don’t want to be in the Wombats though.
How would you describe The Answering Machine journey so far?
G: It’s kind of like a story of survival.
M: The bands that we listened to, to start this band, were Shout Out Louds and The Radio Dept. and if you go back four years when we were doing interviews we were like giddy kids talking about these people. Now we can look back and say we’ve played a ton of shows with Shout Out Louds and we’re about to play a show with The Radio Dept. in Manchester. It’s a dream come true I guess.
The Answering Machine’s second album ‘Lifeline’ is released on Heist or Hit Records on February 21st.
Also published on www.virgin.com
http://www.virgin.com/music/interviews/the-answering-machine-lifeline-interview/
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