04/07/00 - too many dj's

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 interview with sam williams of the animalhouse- 04.07.00 
(interview by sarah wall for "too many dj's")

how have the live dates been going?

yeah itâs been going really good, been in the studio for quite a while, instead of just sort of rushing out there. we might as well get the album exactly how we want it, so weâre building our own studio in the basement of my place. mark (gardner) has a studio as well·we ended up writing another 30 tunes as well while we were making the first album. so weâve been in the studio for while, once youâre out touring and press the Îgoâ button, you donât get a lot of chance to write for the second album- we just wanted to try and sort of keep the quality of the writing up and make sure it was there before we went out. itâs been great, a bit of an adjustment at first to go back to the live gigs, as thatâs kind of how we started. itâs really getting back in full swing again now, and we want to try and stay in that mode as much as we can.

do you find people constantly referring to you as animalhouse as Îthe band featuring ex-members of rideâ detrimental? or is it a positive thing?

i think they (mark and loz) find it really annoying, i think because we all have a history- me, mark and loz have history, with the supergrass thing, and the mystics. obviously youâre gonna get people that are latched onto that for a while. but i think with any new thing, itâs just a matter of time, of peoples consciousness and the whole perception of it- itâs just about what youâre doing now, you know? itâs wrong to judge people by what youâve done before; itâs just about where youâre at. this is really different to ride·

do you think many of your fans used to be ride fans?

no not at all. in fact itâs been really exciting for us in that thereâs been new people getting into it. i donât think the ride fans would really be that into it· i mean i hope they are, but itâs so different, it really doesnât have a lineage in terms of writing from ride. andy (bell) has gone to oasis, and did hurricane no.1- so more of the writing to be honest is actually come more from the lineage of the mystics and then from me and mark and from everybody in the band writing. thereâs a new vibe on the writing front!

so the manifestoâs still to go out there and experiment?

yeah, sort of try and push boundaries all the time. itâs like that whole period of brit pop, which was exciting for me because supergrass was going on· samâs eyes go all misty at this point as he pauses to reminisce·. but i think it became very inward looking and very nationalistic- very destructive to british music in the end. just because british music has always been a reaction to american music, always been in touch with great american music, i think weâd all had a bellyful of nirvana and it was like Îhang on, who are we? weâd better have an identity!â so you end up painted into a corner. i think we (as animalhouse) were more inspired by bands that never painted themselves into a corner, people like beastie boys, massive attack, people that had an open crew where you could bring in djâs and different people and keep a flexible crew- so itâs not a traditional band line up. obviously live at the moment we have to play the material, but the next lot of stuff weâre doing is like pure hip hop and drum and bass grooves, (sam is visibly elated at the thought of this!) but weâre moving around more so thereâs a lot more to do· iâm on bass for a lot of the new stuff and hariâs more on vocals·

hari at this point of the interview, it must commented on, has walked into the dressing room and proceeded to strip down to just her g-string, which in a some surreal way symbolises the confidence the band evidently have in themselves·

youâve said previously that everyone sings and writes, is that winning combination?

i think itâs a right handful!! but itâs really exciting because one of the things that we felt as well was that generic bands that have one writer, one ego, and one singer, are just really boring to us now. weâre more likely to listen to dj kicks, asian dub foundation, the beasties and cafŽ del mar. and soundtracks from john barry- so the stuff we listen to arenât really contemporary bands. we all felt that the really cool bands like the beatles and the clash and people that did have more than one writer and one singer really transcended that one level album thing, where all youâre hearing is one persons take on life and one emotional range all the time. what we try and do is let the music decide! that might sound a bit satiric, but itâs actually really simple, itâs something i learnt when working with other people, like supergrass, not to let the egos get in the way of what they think should or shouldnât be on a record. they forget itâs their guitar or their drums or their bass or whatever, itâs just the music, once everyone gets that idea and you sit back and listen to it, its actually quite easy to reach a decision about things because its either right or it isnât. you can diffuse a lot of that negative stuff. also, itâs a forum for a lot of friction and critical stuff too, as thereâs a lot of ideas coming from different places. so itâs more like 5 dj's working together, it just works because we're into it. i think thereâs a lot of support for everybodyâs ideas to come in. itâs just open to go into the animalhouse mangle, and then what comes out is the product of everybody working on it.

do you find, being a producer yourself, it helps with the sound of the band?

i think it helps focus things, when people in a normal line up wouldnât be able to so easily get their ideas recognised or realised. a lot of bands have a one person driven thing of writing stuff, and it is hard, because in most bands thereâs usually one writer, so in this there are five really interesting good writers. it also helps to frame it.

samâs mobile now goes off for about the 4^th time in as many minutes, (Îiâm just in the middle of an interview right now mate!â) but just picks up where he left off·

yes it also helps us keep control of what we do. like with supergrass, it wasnât like a dividing role between me and the band- we hung together and were mates and played together, they had a lot of input into the production. iâm not a producer that works for record companies- iâm someone whoâs a songwriter and a singer and a performer who tries to help bands. and not let record companies stick inappropriate people in the studio with them.

do you still read and take notice of the press? a certain music paper werenât too kind about the last single·

so i hear!!! (queue much laughter from roadie in corner of room!) i personally donât, but thatâs not to demean critical input into the band at all, if itâs intelligent and constructive iâm open to it. at the end of the day- iâm doing it and thatâs all there is to it. god bless the critics!

so are you concerned about chart positions?

ultimately yeah, because it means that we can carry on doing what weâre doing. weâve spent so much time investing and trying to set it all up, we need to pay back debts weâve got with the record company, and sell enough records just to be able to keep doing it. thatâs all i want out of it personally. a lot of talk about these Îsupergroups' and world domination really isnât what weâre about at all, thatâs so missing the point. weâre just trying to put a really positive vibe over and do the music that we want to do in a climate that i think has become really very retro and quite stale.

what do you think of other (retro?) bands around, like coldplay?

i actually really like coldplay. i think it (yellow) is a beautiful song, and hats off to them for doing something so simple and direct that it really touches people. you canât argue with that, itâs just really beautiful. itâs not a band that makes me say iâd want to be in them, what i want to be in is animal house. i want to be in a band thatâs eclectic and mixes millions of references. theyâre a very traditional band, coldplay, and respect to them for doing it, with a very traditional line up. theyâve got some nice tunes and it comes across great. he (chris martin) is a great writer and singer.

what was the last gig you went to and paid for?

i semi-paid for my girlfriend to get into glastonbury on a dodgy ticket!!!!!! so i parted with twenty quid·(scarily, at this point samâs mobile goes off again, this time itâs his girlfriend!) we went to see asian dub foundation, theyâre a great, great band- thatâs my sort of band. i like the whole autonomy of it, the fact that they are completely mixing new beats; iâm personally really excited by. people are getting sick of the faceless side of dance· theyâre a little bit sick of seeing guys twiddling knobs, in that way band will always be exciting because of their personality.

i noticed the visuals you were rehearsing with earlier (during the gig the band had fantastic projections behind them relating to each song- much like the chemical brothers and many dance acts have at their shows)·

we really wanted to bring out the cinematic side of the band and also just do something that wasnât just another set up on stage. visually it really makes a connection with the music. 

are you happy with the Îcinematicâ label given to the band?

yeah i am, itâs a huge influence, and i listen to more film music than i do music thatâs not written for film. theyâre the people that have really inspired me. brian wilson too, because really a lot of what he was doing was at the same time as burt bacharach, exactly the same period. five years when there was this intense outburst of writing. it was incredible really; itâs almost a dying art. all of those people had something in common in that they had a real grasp of rock or pop, but also had skills that meant they could arrange the orchestral end of things. quite a vast sort of vibe to it, so thereâs not many people around like that anymore. youâll find bands that sample a couple of bars of john barry, but not actually writing great new orchestral music that has that depth. not many people can do it, so yes personally we do aspire to that- to try and achieve a sound thatâs just·he stops to ponder for a few seconds· great- not thatâs like·small! thatâs a very english aesthetic, to not be too good and to not be too big. we dare to try and do something thatâs great; it might be easier for us in the states because their audiences are very open to that. the atmosphereâs not so cynical. yes i am happy with that label, thereâs already one track on the album (always be), which is on a channel 4 film. i hope thereâll be a lot more, ideally weâd like to be writing for it as well, especially jason and i because we do a lot of orchestral stuff together. the whole last quarter of the album is basically orchestral!

do you have a view on napster?

yes, i thought what courtney love said was quite spot on. she pointed out that thereâs this massive shift going on thatâs available to artists now that hasnât been before- a really traditional way of bands having to depend on record companies just to get their music across. weâre totally into it, downloading things and having access to it, i donât think it stops people buying an animalhouse cd, for a start what you get downloading is pretty cruddy- but itâs a good way in to check something out quickly. i think the record company fears about it were just ludicrous really. why should people go out and buy your record just because youâve got an Îonâ piece in the nme or whatever, they should be able to get an idea of what youâre about and get a feel for it, i donât think it stops people buying records and cdâs. itâs exiting isnât it? sticking stuff out on vinyl is still great. but weâve spent a lot of time working on our website (www.theanimalhouse.co.uk), weâve got loads of feed back from that.

what does the rest of 2000 hold for the animalhouse?

weâre going to norway tomorrow for the quart festival, then weâre going to belgium, then flying to japan to do fuji rock- which is really exciting because the albumâs number 6 on their national radio chart, so theyâre playing it a lot. weâve got a really good billing on the main stage. iâve not been to japan before so iâm looking forward to it. also weâll be finishing a lot of music for the next album. generally just having a great time, being out and letting people decide for themselves about the band!

 end of interview.....

(interview by sarah wall for "too many dj's")

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