Interview: Liar Liar

Liar Liar are a band from Morecambe made up from four members; David Murdoch (vocals/guitar), Charlie Kondras (lead guitar/vocals), Charlotte Bell (bass) and Liam Maxwell (drums). During their time together they have supported bands such as The Vaccines, Brother, The Heartbreaks and Orphan Boy, and in 2009 they played at Underage Festival after being selected out of 1,500 entrants to play there. I spoke to singer David who told me what the band are all about....

You're all from Morecambe; would you say that coming from a seaside town inspires your songs in any way?

Yes, they do. Our debut single "Seaside Girl" was, for obvious reasons, inspired by living in a seaside town. I believe that it does influence our songs, I much prefer living in a seaside town than a city. I believe there is just more substance and character to it.

Are there any plans to bring out a single anytime soon?
Yes, in September. Seaside Girl.

Do you have a specific writing process as a band?
I usually have an idea and take it to Charlie. We then work it out, show our drummer Liam and learn it at practice.

Who would you say are your main influences as a band, musically and lyrically?

Blondie, Jesus And Mary Chain, Echo And The Bunnymen and Pulp.

What should someone new to your music expect at one of your gigs?
A very energetic show, filled with catchy pop songs that leave you wanting more.

Where is your favourite venue to play and why?
Well, out of town I would say Manchester Roadhouse; the sound in there is fantastic. I would say also the Yorkshire House in Lancaster as well, we are having our single launch there on the 17th September.

Where do you hope to see the band in three years time?

We hope to have a larger fanbase, most probably working on a second album.

Do you have any new bands around at the moment that you can recommend?
I love a band called The Crookes and a band from Lancaster called Bleach.

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Interview: Your Other Lover

Your Other Lover are a four-piece from London whose sound has been described as "doomy, 80's Matchbox sounding aggro pop". I interviewed their guitarist, Ben, and talked about their new single, their influences and 'wardrobe surfing'...

Your music has a very typically "80's goth" vibe, would you say you're influenced mainly by bands from this era or are there many bands from the present day which you could name as an influence?

The Jesus and Mary Chain, Joy Division and The Cure are big influences in they way we sound that are from the 80's but there are definitely influences from modern day bands. Crocodiles are a band we love that we came across last year, they are so cool to watch live as are Warpaint with there hypnotic sounds, A Place to Bury Strangers too, amazing noise pop...there 'Death By Audio' effects pedals are worth checking out to create that huge raw sound.

You're recording a new AA side single, can you give us any information about that?
We're are going up to Newcastle for four days to do two tracks, 'Walking with The Wolves' and our newest song 'Stare at the Sun'. Once it's all mixed and mastered we'll be hosting our own launch party with some good friends of ours in July. We'll hopefully be able to put this out on vinyl as well as download. We literally can't wait to get this done. Planning on shooting a video for one of the tracks too...

Your single is being produced by Detroit Social Club's Dave Burn - how has it been working with him? 
Dave is a friend of ours from back home in Newcastle so we're looking forward to getting in the studio with him. We haven't seen him in a while with us living in London so will be good to catch up. We've been speaking on email and things are getting exciting, he's just ordered a killer mic for Dans vocal which was mega bucks. We're not even in the studio yet and Dave is so enthusiastic and encouraging which obviously makes us feel great, we're counting the days!

What's the best gig you've played so far?
Well we've only played eight shows so far but I think everyone would agree that headlining upstairs at The Garage was pretty special. Every show has made us more confident and we have got some really cool shows coming up at The Bullet Bar and Queen of Hoxton this month and our show at 93 Feet East in June will be great, cant wait for that one.

What is the best story of rock and roll excess you're allowed to tell us?
After one show we thought it would be a good idea to buy a crate and carry on our party back at the bass player Si's house. We invented a weird game we called 'wardrobe surfing' and it was painful, very painful...there was blood. We played our first ever acoustic performance which was filmed for Sounds of the Camper van at the Camden Crawl...we stayed out a little too late the night before and being cooped up in a van when it's 20 degrees outside wearing leather jackets and boots kind of ruined us...it's was great fun though and a good way to sweat out the hangover.

What's your opinion on the current alternative music scene? Are there any bands which really stand out to you at the moment?
At the moment we tend to favour American bands like Crocodiles, Warpaint and Dum Dum Girls that are alternative. I quite like Veronica Falls who play in London quite a bit and The History of Apple Pie are cool. There are so many bands around there is always something great going on in London for unsigned bands which is really exciting. We've met some really cool bands since playing, Severin make great electro noise and Hold Kiss Kill play cool early 90s sounding indie that excites the hell out of us, we're playing a show with the at The Wheelbarrow in June...we may introduce them to wardrobe surfing afterwards.

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The Heartbreaks, The Deaf Institute, 9th April 2011

Lancastrian duo The Lovely Eggs kicked off tonight's gig at Manchester's Deaf Institute, with the not so lovely named but fantastically fun song 'People Are Twats', followed up by 'I Like Birds But I Like Other Animals Too', a two minute shoutfest filled with crashing cymbals and scratchy guitars. Drawing attention from the crowd with their surreal lyrics and a Vaselines inspired sound, singer and guitarist Holly and drummer David continued with their single 'Don't Look At Me, I Don't Like It', instructing people to "look at him with his sausage roll thumb!". Finishing the set with 'Digital Accordion' they left the stage, leaving smiles on the faces of the crowd.

As the venue began to fill to it's maximum capacity, the second support act Mabel Love took to the stage. Opening with 'Ha Ha People' and following with 'Hardened Face', the Sheffield four-piece impressed the crowd with the combination of Dave Mitchell's fast-paced drumming, George Moran's hard hitting bass along with Dan Whitehouse's sweet-sounding guitar and Richard Rice's euphonious vocals. The song 'Socks' seemed to be the most favoured song tonight - one which is available to download for free from their website - followed up by 'Breaking It All' a "slightly political", slightly heavier song compared to their others. After playing a new song entitled 'Bootstraps' they finished up with 'Gardenstown' they left an extremely good impression on the Manchester audience in preparation for their Arctic Monkeys support slot in the summer.

Finally, complete with a projection filled with shots of their hometown Morecambe in the background and an avid atmosphere charging The Deaf Institute, The Heartbreaks graced the stage and introduced new material going by the name of 'Winter Gardens' - a song which delivered the classic repetitive lyrics and crisp sound which the four are so loved for. Speeding their way through the set they played 'Delay', as well as 'Save Your Souls' with singer Matthew questioning "what are you doing so intoxicated?" as guitarist Ryan and bassist Deaks span around the small stage. As well as playing their debut single 'Liar, My Dear' they showcased yet more new material; 'Man Overboard' and 'Gorgeous', leaving the audience eager to hear more and in high anticipation for their upcoming debut album. As they played their final songs for the night - their newest single, 'Jealous, Don't You Know' and the equally wordy titled 'I Didn't Think It Would Hurt To Think Of You' - it was clear that The Heartbreaks aren't just another generic "Manchester indie band" as the crowd sang along to drummer Joseph Kondras' poetically genius lyrics, but a band who are destined for all kinds of success.

Carl Barat, Manchester Academy 2, 6th April 2011

photograph by Amanda J Window

The opening band tonight were Foreign Office, a four-piece band from Hackney. Starting with 'Shame', they raced through their 6 song set of quirky "Franz Ferdinand meets Hot Chip" tunes, including 'On Repeat' - their infectious debut single which delivers funky guitar and bass lines along with repetitive, catchy lyrics. With traces of an influence by bands such as Talking Heads and Orange Juice, they continued with the paranoia-inspired 'Leaving The House', and finished with 'Losing The Plot'. Clearly leaving a lasting impression on the crowd, could Foreign Office be ones to watch in 2011?


Accompanied by his backing band, Carl Barat took to the stage soon afterwards, going straight into The Magus and following this up with a high energy performance of Run With The Boys. It was clear a number of people were only there to hear Libertines material so Barat added to the set a number of Libs classics, such as Man Who Would Be King and Up The Bracket, along with his solo material - in particular Je Regrette, Je Regrette, inspiring an impromptu sing along. He finished with the Dirty Pretty Things hit, Bang Bang You're Dead, before returning with his acoustic guitar to do an encore half the length of the main set, and after many a heckle for more Libertines material, he joined in with the crowd's yells of an a capella version of What Katie Did. Although the inclusion of yet more Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things tracks pleased tonight's gathering at the Academy no end, Carl should perhaps try to realise his solo work is strong enough to be performed without the large number of back catalogue hits he played this evening. Barat ended tonight with Don't Look Back Into The Sun to the obvious delight of all.

Foreign Office on MySpace
Carl Barat official

The Chapman Family/O. Children, The Ruby Lounge, 15th March 2011

Tonight's gig was opened by The Tunics, a band from Croydon who seemed to leave a good impression on the crowd tonight by showcasing a selection of anthemic indie tunes that had the rhythmic guitar of a typical Arcade Fire song, Bluetones-esque vocals and the memorable lyrics that would be expected from a band who lists The Libertines as one of their main influences. Although they refer to being described as "the most forgettable band ever", this is clearly not the case tonight as they exit the stage after receiving a great amount of cheers and applause.

As it was a co-headline tour, O. Children were on next, with Tobias towering over the rest of the band, with the microphone drawn up to it's fullest height, as they started with a full-of-energy rendition of 'Malo'. They then went straight into a new track - which oozed the typical O. Children sound - and went down extremely well with the crowd. 'Dead Disco Dancer', possibly their most well known song perked up the audience fully with it's memorable riff and catchy lyrics and following this was the dark yet emotive sounds of 'Heels' which slowed down the mood of the audience, who were quickly electrified again as Tobi and co. burst into 'Radio Waves' - the highlight song of their set. Their relatively short set ended with 'Ruins', as the band showed enormous gratitude to the crowd before leaving.

The Chapman Family headlined tonight, and with a different, heavier sound than O. Children, they opened with 'All That's Left To Break'. An unrelenting bassline and thrashing guitars are overlaid by Kingsley's passionate vocals that range from a doleful croon to a vicious roar as they race through their set. They played the majority of their album, 'Burn Your Town', and as the night drew to a close and the energy peaked, bassist Pop dived into the crowd during 'A Million Dollars', much to the bemusement of the crowd. Dripping with sweat, Kingsley screamed vocals, threw himself around the low-ceilinged stage and at one point thrust the microphone into his mouth as the set reached its climax, and as the final notes died away Pop acknowledged the crowd with arms outstretched before disappearing. After the chaos of the last 45 minutes the sudden silence seems slightly unnerving.

The Tunics on Myspace

O. Children on Myspace

The Chapman Family on Myspace