23rd August 2012 12:00:00
TMF meets Chew Lips
“You fucking bastard!” Fair comment. And well deserved. It’s never easy striking up a rapport with total strangers but you can’t half ease the process by making yourself clear and not, as is the case when I sit down to chat with electro pop duo Chew Lips, getting one of your key points as arse over tit as is possible. Incur the displeasure of fireball singer Tigs at your own risk. What I’m trying to convey is a wholly complimentary view of their first album and in particular its sophisticated, distinct lyrical slant. Couched in poetic, expressionistic wordplay, 2009’s Unicorn made claims for greatness beyond de rigueur (a synth duo on every corner, right?) studio smarts and cool production.
“I think what he’s saying,” offers up James (bringer of music, tunes and pressing of buttons) “is that you say a lot without saying much. Not the other way round.” Tigs takes the olive branch: “Oh, okay. Thank you! Right, I’ll take back the ‘bastard’ then. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that!”
So. Anyway, we’re here to chat about the return of the country’s most invigorating pop act, not reflect too much on earlier glories. Three years away and a new album in the can, trailed by the flighty uplift of signature-tune-to-be ‘Do You Chew?’ and now the irresistible ‘Hurricane’. The album release is a way off yet but you must be happy to have it complete. Proud? Relieved? “Yeah. Happy and proud,” confirms Tigs. “Really, really pleased with it. We set out to do…well, we actually started to talk about it as we left the last day of recording for the first album. We got in the car and drove away and we started to talk about what we wanted our next record to be. And I think it’s stayed true to what we talked about then and we’ve achieved what we wanted to achieve.”
That first album was well received and appears to be well loved. With a new boss (the behemoth that is Sony records, though recording was complete before signing), Second Album Syndrome lurks around the corner for so many new, young artists. “Well it’s different to ‘Unicorn’. It’s generally more ‘up’. There’s still a few ‘heavy’ songs but there’s nothing really quiet. I didn’t feel that the first album was a true representation of our live sound. I wouldn’t change anything on our first record. I love it, but this new album is a better representation of who we are.” Sometimes it’s hard to know, with the very smartest pop acts, whether to dance or cry – that whole ‘tragi-disco’ vibe as coined by one Neil Tennant. “Oh, I like that. We get the odd Eurythmics comparison and I like that, too.”
“It’s funny how many times we’re referred to as a ‘melancholy pop band’,” continues Tigs. “As if there’s something a little bit solemn about us. I don’t think I ever really saw it and then listening back to the record and thinking about it more I start to get what people mean. I wouldn’t necessarily describe that first album as dark. I’d probably say there’s something quite icy about it, maybe?”
So many things mark out Chew Lips as above the common herd. In a flooded market, you sniff out value. Back to those lyrics, whose heightened language forms the substrate of Tigs’ poetic leanings. “The reviews of our first album, which were really lovely, mostly tended to pick up on the lyrics, so I feel that people did get them. I did want them to be evocative but, that said, in the process of recording, we didn’t really think about it that much – it just came out.”
Album closer ‘Gold Key’ added a deeper level of mystery, though: "After the forest fire, among the black trees / Among the carcasses, I found your gold key." There’s a dark narrative there that’s more clear cut than the imagery of the rest of the album. “Yeah, yeah. It’s funny you mention ‘Gold Key’ because we have always, always ended our set with that. We still do now because it’s very hard to follow it. It’s quite a big moment. But as far as the recording is concerned, I still feel that we never really got it right with that song. We never really captured it as a ‘live song’.” Tell me I’m barking up the wrong tree. “No…the chorus definitely means something very specific to me. It’s about a person who I trusted and he betrayed my trust. The verses were written from more of a poetically ambiguous stance. They’re things that represent something to me but I’ve used them in a theatrical context, d’you know what I mean?”
I do. But where Chew Lips excel is how they, with uncommon alchemy, define their tone, shape their dramatics. Any fool can plaster ‘meaningful’ and signposted lyrics onto a portentous tune. So is album number two a dotted line from album number one? It must be easy to lock yourself away and disappear up your own backside. Tigs considers before replying. “The first album was definitely more insular. We were probably thinking about what we wanted to do and what we wanted to make for ourselves. On this album we’ve been, I think, a bit more expansive, a bit more inclusive. Tried to make a record that will connect with more people, I think. So I don’t know if we have disappeared up our own arses…there’s been a couple of times when I’ve disappeared up James’ arse!”
We talk further. We touch on Tigs’ recent travails with cancer. You don’t necessarily need personal experience for empathy but it’s that experience of The Big C at home that encourages me to bring up the subject. I’m glad I did. Like many of us, Tigs wanted to simply do something and so ran the Race For Life 10K earlier in the year. “It was great. I did it in 56 minutes which isn’t that fast but I’m pleased with it. Plus, it was torrential rain all the way. It’s funny because I was doing it before I was diagnosed. It’s a really fulfilling, satisfying feeling doing it. You’re doing it with all these other people who somehow are touched by it and obviously these days, everybody is touched by cancer so it’s just an across-the-board thing.” Would you do it again? “I’ll do it every year that I’m able. It’s a hell of a thing to go through, as you know. We had a real conundrum as to whether we talk about it or not but if someone ask you what you’ve been up to in the past year, it’s hard not to mention it. It’s a weird thing. Obviously it’s a massive thing in your life. So we have mentioned it. Some people have asked, some haven’t. But I’m glad we have talked about it now.”
It’s difficult to know how much space to give it in your life. It’s always behind you but maybe you have to kick it away to move on, not let it become your life. “Well, yeah. I’ve been 18 months in remission. It’s not part of my life any more. I don’t give it any thought. As far as I’m concerned it’s gone. We shall see. Hopefully.”
We talk some more about the new material and how its being received at the gigs they’ve played over the summer. “The first single and now ‘Hurricane’, they’re getting really good feedback. During the writing process nobody hears what you’re doing for quite some time. It’s a big deal to be going out and playing to people and letting them see what you’ve been working on. The gigs we’ve been doing have been very interesting because they’re not even necessarily getting words of the new stuff, so you’re just seeing what on an absolute groove level, on a beat level, what they’re getting out of it.”
Is the schedule just too scary to even think about now? “Potentially... It’s hard to say because the album isn’t out until January, so we’re kind of sitting on our hands a bit at the moment. We’re looking to tour towards the end of the year, we’re doing festivals. Yeah, but when it all starts it should be pretty full-on. It’s about playing to as many different people as you can. I can’t wait for people to hear the new record.”
It’s going to be interesting to see how Chew Lips fare in a world where their synth pop model has become an overly common, possibly weakened, currency. Certainly one thing that gives the pair added gravitas, and soul, is Tigs’ vocals. Not for her half-an-octave girly mumbling. She’s – make no mistake – A Singer. “Mmm. Well that’s a funny thing… Maybe that does set us apart.” She pauses and demurs. “Well, I think James is doing some really interesting things with the music now but in terms of singing I feel like all of my favourite singers…like, say, Karen Carpenter, she’s my favourite singer, Pat Benetar, Stevie Nicks…I like proper singers and you know these days that’s quite unfashionable really. People who can really belt it out, I’m not sure if you’ll ever see people like that again. I’m happy to sit in that group, not to that level, obviously, but to even be seen as a ‘real’ singer in this day and age. I mean, I like pop singers but as far as I’m concerned, I’ve never had any training, it’s pretty much what naturally comes out. It’s not affected.”
If this whole being-in-a-pop-group thing doesn’t pan out, well, there’s always X Factor. “You know what, I’ve had this conversation before. I am vaguely curious about X Factor. I think my voice would carry me so far but my attitude wouldn’t.” Right. You’d make the live shows but get booted out in week 6 because you don’t really fit. “Yeah! They’d be asking me to do something and I’d be like: I don’t want to do that!”
For more Chew Lips, visit their official website.
“I think what he’s saying,” offers up James (bringer of music, tunes and pressing of buttons) “is that you say a lot without saying much. Not the other way round.” Tigs takes the olive branch: “Oh, okay. Thank you! Right, I’ll take back the ‘bastard’ then. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that!”
So. Anyway, we’re here to chat about the return of the country’s most invigorating pop act, not reflect too much on earlier glories. Three years away and a new album in the can, trailed by the flighty uplift of signature-tune-to-be ‘Do You Chew?’ and now the irresistible ‘Hurricane’. The album release is a way off yet but you must be happy to have it complete. Proud? Relieved? “Yeah. Happy and proud,” confirms Tigs. “Really, really pleased with it. We set out to do…well, we actually started to talk about it as we left the last day of recording for the first album. We got in the car and drove away and we started to talk about what we wanted our next record to be. And I think it’s stayed true to what we talked about then and we’ve achieved what we wanted to achieve.”
That first album was well received and appears to be well loved. With a new boss (the behemoth that is Sony records, though recording was complete before signing), Second Album Syndrome lurks around the corner for so many new, young artists. “Well it’s different to ‘Unicorn’. It’s generally more ‘up’. There’s still a few ‘heavy’ songs but there’s nothing really quiet. I didn’t feel that the first album was a true representation of our live sound. I wouldn’t change anything on our first record. I love it, but this new album is a better representation of who we are.” Sometimes it’s hard to know, with the very smartest pop acts, whether to dance or cry – that whole ‘tragi-disco’ vibe as coined by one Neil Tennant. “Oh, I like that. We get the odd Eurythmics comparison and I like that, too.”
“It’s funny how many times we’re referred to as a ‘melancholy pop band’,” continues Tigs. “As if there’s something a little bit solemn about us. I don’t think I ever really saw it and then listening back to the record and thinking about it more I start to get what people mean. I wouldn’t necessarily describe that first album as dark. I’d probably say there’s something quite icy about it, maybe?”
So many things mark out Chew Lips as above the common herd. In a flooded market, you sniff out value. Back to those lyrics, whose heightened language forms the substrate of Tigs’ poetic leanings. “The reviews of our first album, which were really lovely, mostly tended to pick up on the lyrics, so I feel that people did get them. I did want them to be evocative but, that said, in the process of recording, we didn’t really think about it that much – it just came out.”
Album closer ‘Gold Key’ added a deeper level of mystery, though: "After the forest fire, among the black trees / Among the carcasses, I found your gold key." There’s a dark narrative there that’s more clear cut than the imagery of the rest of the album. “Yeah, yeah. It’s funny you mention ‘Gold Key’ because we have always, always ended our set with that. We still do now because it’s very hard to follow it. It’s quite a big moment. But as far as the recording is concerned, I still feel that we never really got it right with that song. We never really captured it as a ‘live song’.” Tell me I’m barking up the wrong tree. “No…the chorus definitely means something very specific to me. It’s about a person who I trusted and he betrayed my trust. The verses were written from more of a poetically ambiguous stance. They’re things that represent something to me but I’ve used them in a theatrical context, d’you know what I mean?”
I do. But where Chew Lips excel is how they, with uncommon alchemy, define their tone, shape their dramatics. Any fool can plaster ‘meaningful’ and signposted lyrics onto a portentous tune. So is album number two a dotted line from album number one? It must be easy to lock yourself away and disappear up your own backside. Tigs considers before replying. “The first album was definitely more insular. We were probably thinking about what we wanted to do and what we wanted to make for ourselves. On this album we’ve been, I think, a bit more expansive, a bit more inclusive. Tried to make a record that will connect with more people, I think. So I don’t know if we have disappeared up our own arses…there’s been a couple of times when I’ve disappeared up James’ arse!”
We talk further. We touch on Tigs’ recent travails with cancer. You don’t necessarily need personal experience for empathy but it’s that experience of The Big C at home that encourages me to bring up the subject. I’m glad I did. Like many of us, Tigs wanted to simply do something and so ran the Race For Life 10K earlier in the year. “It was great. I did it in 56 minutes which isn’t that fast but I’m pleased with it. Plus, it was torrential rain all the way. It’s funny because I was doing it before I was diagnosed. It’s a really fulfilling, satisfying feeling doing it. You’re doing it with all these other people who somehow are touched by it and obviously these days, everybody is touched by cancer so it’s just an across-the-board thing.” Would you do it again? “I’ll do it every year that I’m able. It’s a hell of a thing to go through, as you know. We had a real conundrum as to whether we talk about it or not but if someone ask you what you’ve been up to in the past year, it’s hard not to mention it. It’s a weird thing. Obviously it’s a massive thing in your life. So we have mentioned it. Some people have asked, some haven’t. But I’m glad we have talked about it now.”
It’s difficult to know how much space to give it in your life. It’s always behind you but maybe you have to kick it away to move on, not let it become your life. “Well, yeah. I’ve been 18 months in remission. It’s not part of my life any more. I don’t give it any thought. As far as I’m concerned it’s gone. We shall see. Hopefully.”
We talk some more about the new material and how its being received at the gigs they’ve played over the summer. “The first single and now ‘Hurricane’, they’re getting really good feedback. During the writing process nobody hears what you’re doing for quite some time. It’s a big deal to be going out and playing to people and letting them see what you’ve been working on. The gigs we’ve been doing have been very interesting because they’re not even necessarily getting words of the new stuff, so you’re just seeing what on an absolute groove level, on a beat level, what they’re getting out of it.”
Is the schedule just too scary to even think about now? “Potentially... It’s hard to say because the album isn’t out until January, so we’re kind of sitting on our hands a bit at the moment. We’re looking to tour towards the end of the year, we’re doing festivals. Yeah, but when it all starts it should be pretty full-on. It’s about playing to as many different people as you can. I can’t wait for people to hear the new record.”
It’s going to be interesting to see how Chew Lips fare in a world where their synth pop model has become an overly common, possibly weakened, currency. Certainly one thing that gives the pair added gravitas, and soul, is Tigs’ vocals. Not for her half-an-octave girly mumbling. She’s – make no mistake – A Singer. “Mmm. Well that’s a funny thing… Maybe that does set us apart.” She pauses and demurs. “Well, I think James is doing some really interesting things with the music now but in terms of singing I feel like all of my favourite singers…like, say, Karen Carpenter, she’s my favourite singer, Pat Benetar, Stevie Nicks…I like proper singers and you know these days that’s quite unfashionable really. People who can really belt it out, I’m not sure if you’ll ever see people like that again. I’m happy to sit in that group, not to that level, obviously, but to even be seen as a ‘real’ singer in this day and age. I mean, I like pop singers but as far as I’m concerned, I’ve never had any training, it’s pretty much what naturally comes out. It’s not affected.”
If this whole being-in-a-pop-group thing doesn’t pan out, well, there’s always X Factor. “You know what, I’ve had this conversation before. I am vaguely curious about X Factor. I think my voice would carry me so far but my attitude wouldn’t.” Right. You’d make the live shows but get booted out in week 6 because you don’t really fit. “Yeah! They’d be asking me to do something and I’d be like: I don’t want to do that!”
For more Chew Lips, visit their official website.
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