ireallylovemusic vs temposhark
from the early demos to the glamorous debut album
that’s about to get its proper release in april. that’s quite a journey
you've been on.
robert: yes it’s been a big journey for us and it feels amazing to have got through the end of the tunnel! as you know it’s been a gradual evolution with
temposhark. it started with me writing loads of songs for with a big producer in london called
youth (from killing joke). at the same time, luke was studying in brighton which is where the original seeds for
temposhark were sown. i used to hang out in brighton a lot with luke. we did some experimenting on films and music with luke’s fellow student
tasha kahn, (who later became the wonderful bat for lashes). like tasha, we had this tunnel vision, we decided to make music our lives and worked really hard.
how did the two of you (luke and rob), start up, and what was the driving force behind the temposhark adventure given that its all been done without any traditional record label funding ?
we would write 4 songs and immediately release them on an ep. it was so immediate and great to get reactions from people. i set up my own tiny record label called
paper and glue and we began to just put out cds and vinyl with the student loans i’d got from studying. i spent all spare cash on making up vinyl and cds. it felt like a real adventure at the time, and there was a real buzz in the london club scene… it was a real diy ethos, you just got up and performed and sold your eps afterwards.
did you try to go down the old school route of getting record label backing, or were you always wanting to be a lone ranger and avoid having people involved that weren’t part of the plan ?
no we’ve never taken our music to any labels. we just didn’t feel it was the way we wanted to go for this first album. we wanted to have the space to creatively do what we wanted to do, especially during a time in the uk where a lot of music that gets on the radio is guitar driven or super dance. we’ve never been interested in doing what is currently ‘cool’ or ‘trendy’. we’re just making music we want to make and one thing led to another, and eventually i had my own label and found ways of putting out music our own way.
are you hoping for a major record label to come along and help out with the painful part of the promotion, product distribution ?
well we’ve licensed to another indie label called defend music
and they have great distribution worldwide so it’s coming out in all the cd shops etc as a physical release as well as the digital release. so they’re helping us out a lot, but we’ve assembled our own team of people in both the usa and europe to look after us, so we’ve had a large say in the whole process and we still own our own copyright! so it’s feels good. i think these days it’s really important to have a balance of artistry and also make sure you have an understanding of the business side. perhaps in the future we would sign to another label or license to a major… some artists who i think have done it well recently are people like
regina spektor and tegan and sara who have all had time to grow in their own way, do the music they wanted to do and then when they felt it was the right time, start working with a major… right now i’m enjoying the indie life but i always keep an open mind about everything i do in life and if someone at a major really got us and wanted to work on an album together i’d seriously think about it.
the first time i came across the temposhark product was the debut very pink 10", neon, with cut out '?', then the followup single with the single incorporating a strand of pink nylon/thread embedded within the cd case, etc etc.
now there is the album artwork - a brilliant mix of black-n-white purity, with a splash of night time neon.
have you always had a thing for the look as well as the sound when it comes to your own musical heroes, as the attention to detail in the visual representation is second to none, (“i’m a perfectionist” as mentioned during b-side paris being a clue perhaps)?
well yes i’m definitely a perfectionist, like the lyrics in ‘paris’! i’ve always loved design… and art. i collect art and am passionate about it, so i do see the artwork as another important level to my work. it’s more than just the music, how you present yourself and the music is important. obviously the music is the reason we’re here and what makes me tick above everything else, but the artwork is a great way to express yourself, and so is music video. i always related most to artists who could use those other outlets as a way of expressing their identities further. pop artists like
madonna, prince and michael jackson from my childhood. then artists like
patti smith, tori amos, bjork, new order in my teens who all had amazing packaging and also cool b-sides which were often just as good as the album tracks. all that stuff is important to me.
it’s nice you mentioned things like the invisible ink ep with the strand of magenta thread inside the cd case. we did each one of those ourselves! i hand stuffed almost 1000 copies! and we’ve long sold out of that release so i have no idea how people can find them now but i loved that particular sleeve. and the pink 10” vinyl for
neon question mark single was hilarious. it looked like a breast – if you actually take it out of its sleeve, it makes me laugh! that was unintentional but i love things like that, when they arrive back from the printers and look different to how you expected, but still stunning in their own way! we actually rerecorded neon question mark as a bonus digital track, as it didn’t totally fit into the mood of the album but we thought it’d be nice to have it online as an extra track, as that song was where we started!
i’m now getting interested in animation for music videos and interesting ways of promoting the songs. i’m working closely with japanese artist
motomichi nakamura right now who is based in new york. he’s in the midst of making our first ever music video, for the song
‘blame’. i’m in the usa right now and met him yesterday for the first time in person. i love the fact we’re almost halfway through a project and thanks to email we’ve been able to sort it all out and agree storyboards already, without even meeting. he only works with 3 colours, red/white/black, and i just love the different characters he creates and storylines. his recent video for
the knife’s ‘we share our mother’s health’ will give you a hint of what ours will be like, but it’ll still be quite individual and he’s totally understood the meaning behind that song and created wicked visual themes to relate to it.
tell us the artistic path to the temposhark sound, i.e which artists/bands are part of the genetic makeup for temposhark.
the music we were inspired by is actually quite different to the bands journalists compare us to! we always hear comparisons to bands like
depeche mode, pet shop boys, marc almond or even these days hot chip! whilst i love those bands now, in truth our main influences were storytellers like
kate bush, david bowie, pj harvey, sparks, patti smith, mandalay, prince, madonna. i like
r.e.m. too, michael stipe is awesome and i love smashing
pumpkins. tricky was a big inspiration and even everything but the
girl. so it’s all over the place, our influences.
and for lyrics i’ve always been inspired by poetry and writing. i read a lot of books and it always inspires me. for this album, i was inspired by so much stuff from
sylvia plath to bret easton ellis to tracey emin to baudelaire even. films also inspired us, i love the world of
david lynch’s films for example. i also loved a film called ‘the
hours’ and the book it came from. it had such a big influence on me when i saw that film, we wrote 2 songs just from reacting to that. last week i wrote a new song with sean for our second album inspired by the factory girl film. i thought
sienna miller was amazing in it, i’d never seen her act before and boy she can! really moving.
the first few singles were released a couple of years ago, it has been a while for eager fans to get the final album.
what happened, why the protracted delay?
simply a case of finding the time and schedules of the people involved ?
the truth is the singles we put out since 2004 were all released without an album being ready. it was totally spontaneous. we came from a club scene that was really buzzing and once you wrote 3 songs you’d put them out straight away... we were surrounded by awesome people like
gonzales, peaches, taylor savvy and later fischerspooner came along. it was such a breath of fresh air seeing their shows - the rawness, the attitude, their sense of fun. it was all really inspiring. we did a lot of gigs around that time, at places like
kashpoint, electrogogo, nag nag nag and barfly…
the thing about the london scene at the time was the emphasis wasn’t always on the music. whilst i really loved all the flamboyant costumes and characters, when it actually came to my own music, i wanted it to be about the songs. one of our eps got to
guy sigsworth who ended up doing some production for us and from that point we decided to take some time to make a proper album that sounded really great. we felt the songs deserved it - we cared a lot about the songs first and foremost. i’m fundamentally a songwriter and my dream was always to make an album. i was also into really emotional music like
frou frou and mandalay and bjork so to work with guy sigsworth, imogen heap
and sean mcghee was a total dream come true and actually made me work even harder - raise our game a bit i guess!. they were the kind of artists who had meaning in both their soundworlds and lyrics. so that was something both luke and i were striving for in making the actual album. we wanted it to showcase all of our influences, from our early fun days in the london clubs to the more chilled out, thoughtful music we’d been listening to.
when they agreed to work with us it was amazing because it meant we could put out a record the way we’d dreamt it would sound. also the music has developed now meaning we got a proper live band together with real drums and bass and we create all the keyboards and noises live. it’s been very important for us to grow in this way, and the second album which i’ve written most of already is going to be a lot rockier and take us to a new place i think.
across the various versions of certain tracks, you have been able to work with some very impressive names (imogen heap, guy sigsworth, youth etc).
just how did all this come together, as it sounds like a logistical nightmare ?
haha, it all happened very naturally. i worked with youth for years when i was in my early 20s, i love him; he’s a great producer and amazing guy. he taught me so much about recording my voice and being a songwriter and also about the discipline that you need to be successful. he was one of the first music people who taught me about hard work i guess! it wasn’t that complicated really. it all just fell into place. in the music world everyone kind of knows everyone anyway, so i think a lot of collaborations happen out of just hanging out!
imogen heap appeared on the early demo version of 'not that big' which has been given a glossy makeover for the album, how did you get her on board so early on, as she's not that well known to hang out with electro pop bands ?
i was a fan of imogen’s when i was 16 or 17 before her first album came out and we eventually became friends and she said yes when i sent her the first song demo in 2004. she’s very inspiring to be around and i think she is one of the best british producers ever. she also has great songs, her melody lines are genius.
what would you say you learned from your time with guy in the studio given his history with such people as madonna ?
guy is so unique. he works in his own way. he’s also very inspiring to be around in the studio, he’s like a magician, he can transform the oddest computer sound into something that is completely spell binding. i have no idea how he does it, but it’s something he’s worked on for most of his life and i love that dedication to music… it’s his unique sound and approach to music making. he’s unlike anyone else i’ve worked with. the thing i love about him is that yes he works with stars like
madonna or bjork or alanis but its always about the song with him, it’s not about the star or who they are. he cares about new directions in music deeply which is why he also works with new artists alongside the big stars.
despite the fact that there are quite a few people of very different backgrounds involved in the sound of the album, the final results sound very consistent. was that something you were concerned about, as opposed to using the same production team for each track?
the only reason it sounds consistent is because sean mcghee oversaw the whole project as our producer, but he was more than that, he was like an executive producer too - we worked out the track listing to make sure the varied influences would work together rather than against each other. sean is another genius in the studio and i’ve already started work on the next album with him and i just really enjoy working with him. i always leave the studio feeling like we’re really accomplishing something and pushing myself.
certain tracks have been revisited a few times over the years.
how did you decide enough was enough when it came to the final production tweaks, and a track was then ready for the album?
we played sean all the demo versions of tracks and before we started work we kind of knew which direction we wanted to take them all so it was just a matter of bringing out the best ideas. sean had been listening a lot to the associates and talking heads and i think he wanted our album to have a bit of that kind of feeling musically. trying to make it a bit less computer based and add some warmer real elements in.
why did you decide to leave paris off the final track listing ? in fact, from the early demo album there are a few tracks that have been given the slip. how did you cut down the options, as i would suggest that tracks like coming up for air, would fit
perfectly into the final albums track list ?
i just felt ‘paris’ became its own thing. i love it and we didn’t feel a need to redo that one because the original was sonically strong enough. it’s still on itunes forever and all digital shops so it has a life of its own! as for coming up for air, wow that was the first song luke and i ever wrote together i think! we kind of out grew that one i guess, but its nice to know people might still hear it if they get hold of the early eps.
the show stopping vocals on the hard hitting album opener, "don’t mess with me” are gritty, superb and full of emotional depth.
have you, rob, had lessons, or is it a simple case of studio practice makes perfect ?
no i just sing how i sing. sean will tell you how he hassles me to warm up my voice because usually i forget! that song was recorded very quickly, as we only decided to do it in the last few weeks of the recording process. it was from an old song idea i’d had years before, sean helped me to finish off the middle section and change some lyrics. i only sang it once or twice i think so it was very quick. i just had to get into character and i was away…
about the 'don't mess with me track'. that’s some in yer face lyrical content you got going on there. i love the trade off between the smooth strings and the 'fuck you' attitude.
where did such vitriol come from, given that temposhark are hopefully chart destined electro pop band (a la the recent ‘mcfly meets the mode’ comment in the guardian article)?
i like the fact some people love it madly and others hate it. it’s a real divider that song! there’s a thread of anger through most of my music i think. even though some people don’t realize it, i’m not really a happy smiley kind of person deep down. i get pissed off about things and i think deeply about things. i’m sensitive i guess, like all artists!
are the razor sharp lyrics based upon your own experiences of industry back scratchers and all that side of the biz, or purely a case of role playing (and yes we want names !)
ha ha - sadly (for you) no names. but yes that song was inspired by a few people but one guy in particular who was quite simply a misogynist pig. i find it fascinating some of the characters i’ve met within the music industry. that song came from that, so it is role playing, it’s not all drawn from me. although a lot of people think i’m some kind of evil egomaniac after hearing it!
in fact, a lot of the album has a dark sneering style and for those that dig beneath the shiny electro, this is not feel good happy pop music album.
was this mood encouraged for a reason, or was it a case the world doesn't need another scissor sisters, its time to get nasty ?
i’ve been making music since i was 13. at least 12 years before
scissor sisters came out. yes i think they’re fun and i’ve met them a few times and they are awesome people, but i’m not making music to be a new
scissor sisters, or to be an anti-scissor sisters. and also i’m not trying to be a new
depeche mode or nine inch nails just because i sometimes write angsty songs against electronic backdrops! i respect them all but i’m not here to copy someone else.
what annoys me sometimes is that people want to box you in. like, ‘ok so you make electronic based music so you must be happy happy’ or if not, then you must be ‘dark industrial’. well that bollocks because the music that inspired wasn’t singularly happy or angry, and neither am i. i love the darkness of early
eurythmics or the positive imagination of kate bush. i love the gritty hope of
patti smith or truth of tori amos. i wanted to make music that says something to people, rather than solely being escapism. making fun pop music has its place of course, and i think songs like
‘joy’ or ’knock me out’ fulfil that role.
but for me writing is about showing how i see the world. it’s a way of dealing with what’s happened to me in my life and do something positive out of it. i’ve said before that if i didn’t have music i’d probably be lost to hard drugs because i need an outlet, some way of dealing with stuff. songs like
‘not that big’ came from an ex of mine messing me around. ‘it’s better to have
loved’ is about a friend of mine who died, and ‘winter’s coming’ is about some family members who died but it’s not all doom and gloom. i write about all sides of my life, good and bad.
the whole point is to have meaningful lyrics with uplifting music. i want to connect with people but at the same time lift them up and inspire them to create themselves. to do something with your life i guess. i think expressing how you feel and being creative is more important than ever before right now because everyone is so obsessed with celebrity, reading gossip magazines and those kinds of things bring out the worst in people... it’s just like school ground bullying.
i love vivienne westwood right now for her manifesto saying we should all start reading more and not let ourselves be distracted by the constant marketing and media hype surrounding us. she has a very good point. it gets me down all that stuff whereas writing songs, reading books, creativity and thinking about how you fit into the world can lift you up.
do you think for a few people now in your past, this album will be a more difficult album to listen to given the lyrics are often aimed directly at people in involved in close relationships, past and present, by the sounds of things ?
i guess so. i don’t know if they’d realize it was about them to be honest because i’ve not mentioned names. i’m kind of vague in the way i write songs, it’s often 3 or 4 years after an event that’ll i write a song so those people i’m writing about are already at a big distance. i can’t usually write about a situation i’m going through right now, unless it’s a super positive feeling.
‘joy’ for example just came out of nowhere. those kind of fun songs just happen if i’m in a good mood. but the darker more personal songs take a while for my mind to digest what’s happened, and to be able to succinctly express how i felt about a relationship or a loss or whatever.
once the album hits the racks (virtual and real), are there plans to tour?
if so what sort of tour. a proper band, or the clubs ?
and was this part of the reason the line up was recently expanded from a duo to a more traditional quartet styled band ?
yes we’re touring the usa again in april and may for 5 weeks. it’s going to be rock venues and colleges. the live band,
mark ferguson on bass, mathis richet on drums are now permanent members and will be performing on album 2 in a much more obvious way. we’re also doing some london dates and then more towns in uk as well as european dates. so it’s a lot to look forward to!
during the brilliant, its better to have loved, you go on about the options to back out and press the rewind button. what happens if the whole thing works out, and you do indeed become the media loved pop stars you so seem to crave (“the whole world sings your name”) – are you prepared for such chaos, and changes in your life?
what will be, will be. you can’t prepare yourself for this kind of stuff. as long as my music reaches as many people as it can, then i’m happy. i feel we’re doing the best we can right now. i’m not going out of my way to be famous at all, i’m a songwriter and singer and that’s what’s most important to me right now. i hate the idea of people being famous for absolutely no reason whatsoever. it’s rubbish!
do you ever watch the britney saga and think you know, actually, this is a very dark and evil game that breaks people, and indeed end up wanting to pull back from the brink, or do you think under the kind of pressures that pop stars are subjected to in the new world, you’d thrive and lap it all up and enjoy the rollercoaster for all its worth with excessively diva-esque demands?
i actually really like britney and her last album is actually good, it’s well produced and there are some wicked pop songs! i feel for her because she appears to be lost in a world that she’s not at all in control of. she just seems deeply depressed to me. i wish they’d leave her alone, and let her recover in private. but i think part of her needs their attention too. it’s this strange relationship. she’s just needs to be taken out of la - take time off to work it out. i do think the media attention that surrounds her is ridiculous. why the hell do people want to see her going to buy a coffee? it’s sick. like i said earlier, that kind of publicity is pointless and it just encourages the bad side to people, the kind of curiosity that’s not healthy. how is that helping anyone? sure we all like to gossip, but encouraging that kind of intense prying is just not right.
i have a painting of britney in mickey mouse ears by my friend, uk artist
annie kevans and it reminds me daily of what can happen if you sell your soul and compromise yourself, and let others control your life. i don’t worry for myself because i’m not really in that kind of world thankfully. i created my own music and yes i get help to direct my career but essentially i understand why i’m doing things and make the final decisions. i think the message from
britney is that being a child star normally doesn’t lead to something good in the long term. stars like
madonna have only lasted and retained their sanity because she became a star at 26, not 16! i think we all need time to develop our own identities but if you’re doing that in the public eye, it’s got to warp your sense of self and add huge pressures into an already intense time in your life.
and one final easy one : do you really cut your hair when winter is on its way ?
no!!! that was a song about wanting to cut my hair to start again, to wipe the past and be renewed. like shaving your head to start over. who knows, maybe i will next winter. perhaps i’ll do a britney. ;)
note : the album, the invisible line is brilliant, and at last to be made available in all good and proper record shops.
more detail : here