Amelia’s Magazine | Pam Hogg: London Fashion Week A/W 2013 Catwalk Review

Pam Hogg A/W 2013 by Gaarte
Pam Hogg A/W 2013 by Gaarte.

On Saturday night I stayed later than any other day at fashion week so that I could attend the Pam Hogg show, something I have looked forward to every season since she returned to LFW: I don’t know if I will stay away late from my baby again. As usual this was a massively oversubscribed event, with plentiful rock royalty in attendance; humming and hawing at each other in the melee before the show started and then adopting a look of massive boredom for the duration of the main event, which began an hour late. Nick Rhodes, Jefferson Hack, Rankin and Princess Julia were just a few of the people in my line of sight. At this show there were named seats stretching three rows back, so I ended up far far from the action, badly positioned behind Daniel Lismore and his gigantic hat.

Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg A/W 2013 by Daniel Alexander
Pam Hogg A/W 2013 by Daniel Alexander.

Pam Hogg is nothing if not predictable: you know what you’re going to get when she puts on a show. Catsuits? Well of course, that’s her speciality. A bit of tit and muff? Check. Some outrageous headgear? Yup, all present and correct. A semi famous model? Well, here I must confess that I don’t know if she did have a famous guest this time. If she did, they weren’t on my radar.

Pam Hogg A/W 2013 by Amy Dover
Pam Hogg A/W 2013 by Amy Dover.

Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory

This season Pam Hogg decorated her models with huge pleated cylinders and glossy boxes. Sheer panelled catsuits were worn by avante grade ballet dancers who wheeled and swooped midway down the catwalk; a muscly male stood sentinel before taking his whirl towards the cameras sporting ominous curled black nails.

Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg A/W 2013 by Daniel Alexander
Pam Hogg A/W 2013 by Daniel Alexander.

The colour palette featured more Pam Hogg staples; plentiful white, black and red. A dusky pink sequinned fabric that was used in abundance last season returned for another outing, as did other familiar shapes: the hooped dirndl of previous seasons made a reappearance, covered once more in ruched fabric and ribbons. Much has been made of a Britney Spears-esque glossy red catsuit (circa Oops! I did it again) but it was such a ‘Pam‘ look that I doubt she even realised the reference. My favourite looks were more of a break from the norm: a stunning A-line coat made dashing with sharp lines of red satin scorched on black, and a skin tight metallic dress that reminded me of the outfits in Blade Runner. The final looks came accessorised with huge furry headpieces that tumbled down the back.

Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory

When Pam Hogg came out for her final turn she too sported one of her trademark catsuits, a red and gold number that was saucily slit under the buttocks. I have it under good authority that her catsuits are superbly made and able to smooth out even the lumpiest of bodies. Maybe, at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing of all.

Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2013 photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg A/W 2013. All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Categories ,A/W 2013, ,Amy Dover, ,Blade Runner, ,britney spears, ,Catsuits, ,catwalk show, ,celebrities, ,Daniel Alexander, ,Daniel Lismore, ,Fashion Scout, ,Freemasons’ Hall, ,Gaarte, ,Jefferson Hack, ,London Fashion Week, ,naked, ,Nick Rhodes, ,nude, ,Oops! I did it again, ,Pam Hogg, ,Princess Julia, ,Rankin, ,review

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Amelia’s Magazine | Rachel Maclean Interview: Going Bananas


All images courtesy of Rachel Maclean

Creating an alternative reality, illness part fantasy, decease part commercial playground, Glasgow based artist Rachel Maclean produces work dealing with the notions of culture, gender and celebrity. Working largely in digital composite video, the Edinburgh College of Art graduate’s short films feature an array of grotesque, highly made-up and ridiculously camp characters which truly have to be seen to be believed. Currently exhibiting in The Market Gallery, Glasgow, Rachel gives us an insight into her weird and wonderful world…


Tell us about ‘Going Bananas!’:

‘Going Bananas!’ is an exhibition of the work I made during my residency at ‘The Market Gallery’, Glasgow this January. Thematically the work explores what I believe to be the intriguing and complex identity of the banana, and physically comprises of a 7-minute digitally composited video projection and a painting to the same scale as the window, which faces onto the street. The figures in this painting have holes cut where their heads would be, allowing visitors to place their faces through, creating the illusion that they occupy the same pictorial space, like the traditional seaside amusement.

Why are you so fascinated by bananas?
The banana is attractive because it seems to exist at the intersection of banality and fantasy. It reclines on supermarket shelves and in household fruit bowls with a gesture of cheap availability. However, unpeel it’s familiar clothing and it reveals a repressed character. The banana signifies a hunger for something beyond disenchanted civility, exposing a lust for the exotic, the ‘Other’, the ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’, promising perpetual feasting and erotic fulfilment. However we slip up on it’s skin and burst out laughing. It’s fantasy becomes mockery, a dancing monkey, a comic disappointment, unfamiliar with the polite world and representative of a dangerously under evolved, primitive existence, ungoverned by the regulations of the civilised world.

What attracted you to start working with film?

Since I was wee I have been messing around with the family camcorder, and have boxes of tapes that document everything from the eventful to the entirely banal. In retrospect I can see that I was particularly attracted to the illusionary possibilities of stop animation, and injecting a sense of the paranormal into the everyday. Additionally, by allowing me to capture pretend play and masquerade on film, it seemed the camcorder helped to visualize a fantasy space or alternative world that is otherwise internalized or simply in the minds eye. To an extent I have never lost this sense of excitement and playfulness in relation to video, and strangely my work still retains a lot of the same interests and subject matter that it did when I was 11 or 12.

Are the characters in your films based on anyone?

I intend for all of my characters to be a complex, almost schizophrenic mixture of references to different people. For example, the central female figure in my video ‘Tae Think Again’ is at once Mary Queen of Scots and Carrie from ‘Sex and the City’, slipping between a number of other references at the same time. I am attracted to the notion of celebrity, and inspired by the Britney Spears head shaving because it seems to represent a moment at which unified, constructed identity throws it’s self up and tips into it’s opposite. The instant of self-consumption, when the signature white smile of the teen pop sensation begins to hungrily gnaw at it’s own image.

What inspires you?

My work is inspired by a number of things at one, and often hinges on a bizarre combination of two apparently conflicting influences, for example Susan Boyle and Heavy Metal in my video ‘I Dreamed A Dream.’ Where I live at the time I make work is also very influential, as I believe different cultures have different fantasies related to place. For example, I stayed in America for 6 months and became much more concerned by an idealised notion of Scotland, as a land of castles, lochs, monsters and kilts. Whereas I found growing up in Scotland, you are very divorced from this fantasy, and instead the imagination is much more directed to the US, and the glamour and intrigue it conveys to the outsider.

What are you currently working on and where can we see you next?
I am currently working on a show organised as part of the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s ‘Dialogues’ programme, where I am collaborating with Manchester based sculptor Karen Lyons on a show called ‘Hatchings’. Additionally, I am showing work in the Royal Scottish Academy ‘New Contemporaries’ show, opening on the 3rd of April and hopefully will be working on a music video or two as well.

Categories ,Amelia’s Magazine, ,britney spears, ,calum ross, ,hoggle, ,identity, ,karen lyons, ,music video, ,pop culture, ,rachel maclean, ,scotland, ,scottish art, ,Susan Boyle, ,Video Art

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Amelia’s Magazine | The I Like Trains interview: singer Dave Martin answers my Q&A

I Like Trains by Gemma Smith
I Like Trains by Gemma Smith.

You are currently on a very extensive tour: what prompted the decision to do such a big tour?
The best way to promote an album is to get out there and play it to as many people as possible. We’ve done more extensive tours than this in the past, so we know we have it in us. It can be hard work, but also a lot of fun. I guess we must be a pretty good live band as we’ve always had the ability to win over an audience. We’ve been playing together for 6 years, and it feels like we continue to improve as a band.

I Like Trains by Calico Charlotte Melton
I Like Trains by Calico Charlotte Melton.

You pride yourself on being “fiercely independent” – which was one of the things that first attracted you to me. Why do you think it is so important to take control of your own destiny?
I think it comes naturally to us now. You can sit and wait to be discovered, or you can get out and make the first steps on your own. Pretty soon the second and third steps will become obvious too. Coming from Leeds has helped in this respect, with bands before us making a success on their own terms. It showed us the way.

Why has it taken so long to get your second album finished? What have you been up to?
The main reason for this record taking so long to be released is that our label Beggars Banquet ceased to exist. We spent some time talking to other labels, but decided that we would be best served to release it ourselves. All of this took a lot of time. We also spent a while developing a new sound for the record.

I Like Trains by Karolina Burdon
I Like Trains by Karolina Burdon.

You made the album through an innovative pledge system. Can you tell us a bit more about this process?
Pledge Music is a website which facilitates fan funding of an album. We set ourselves a monetary target for what we needed in order to set up our own record label and release the album. We came up with a number of incentives for people to Pledge on, signed copies of the album, hand illustrated lyrics books, access all areas passes to gigs etc. The key thing about the Pledge system over some other fan funding initiatives is that no money exchanges hands until the target is reached and the album is guaranteed to be released. We were also keen to offer people value for money. The response we got when we went live completely blew us away. We weren’t entirely sure if anyone cared about us anymore, but we reached our target in about 24 hours and over 800 people went on to put their hard earned money into an album they hadn’t heard.  

I Like Trains by Rukmunal Hakim
I Like Trains by Rukmunal Hakim.

Has it been hard to do everything yourself? what are the hardest things about this approach and what are the most rewarding?
It has been hard work. It’s been a steep learning curve to release our record on our own label, and that has been the most difficult thing. Not knowing exactly what steps to take to get it into shops. I also feel as if there is some sort of stigma in releasing a record on your own label. Some people seem to perceive releasing a record via the more traditional record company route as a mark of quality control, and that fan funding bypasses that. For me it is a much more democratic model. If there is an appetite for a record then it will get produced whether or not one or two money men at a record label think they can make some money out of it. It is extremely rewarding to see the album in record shops all across Europe, and to know that it is down to our hard work and the faith of our fans.

I Like Trains by Jess Holt
I Like Trains by Jess Holt.

What is current single A Father’s Son about?
It is about population pressure. I don’t want to say too much as I’m keen for people to draw their own conclusions, but the record as a whole is looking at the future for the human race. I did a fair bit of research into the science of climate change, and took my inspiration from that.

YouTube Preview Image

Where was the video shot? It looks cold. And who is the kid?!
It was shot on the North Yorkshire coast around Saltburn. To be honest we didn’t have a great deal to do with the video. It was done by a company called Progress Films. We’d been admiring their work for a little while so trusted them to do a good job. They sent a few treatments over to us, we made some tweaks and then left them to it. We were pleased with the result.

Illustration by Sarah Matthews
Illustration by Sarah Matthews.

You released a solo album last year (which I haven’t heard) – how did this go down? and how does promoting a solo album fit in with promoting a group album too – is he supporting the band on tour?!
I’ve been asked about this a few times. This was an April Fool’s joke by our fan site: www.thisgreenandpleasantland.com. I think it says that it includes a Britney Spears cover. I have as yet, not done a Britney Spears cover! *the cheek!*

How did you choose support for your tour, and in particular Napoleon IIIrd of whom I am a big fan too?
Well it is as simple as us being big fans of his too. We were very pleased that he could do it. He actually went to the same school as Guy and I did in Evesham, Worcestershire. We didn’t really know him back then as we were in different years, but we recognised him when we got to Leeds. It’s a small world.  

I Like Trains by Bryony Crane
I Like Trains by Bryony Crane.

You lost a band member in Ashley Dean, do you think you might work with him on any new videos? Are the rest of you involved in other creative projects too? and if so what?
I would never say never. We’re still in touch with Ashley and its great to see him doing so well with his videos. Guy has taken on the graphic design for I LIKE TRAINS now.  

You seem to have become slightly less introspective in new album He Who Saw The Deep, and are looking to the future rather than the past. What prompted this change of perspective? 
It was just a desire to keep challenging ourselves, to keep things fresh and exciting. We didn’t want to make the same album twice. For the first 4 or so years as a band we worked hard to create an identity. With HWSTD we took all of that and turned it on its head. We’re happy that it still sounds like an I LIKE TRAINS record, and it has given confidence to continue developing and evolving.

YouTube Preview Image

You released a free download just before xmas – a cover of Wham’s Last Christmas. Why did you decide to cover this song? And did you have trouble keeping a straight face whilst you were recording it? I imagine it might have been a bit hard to do in a po-faced manner!!
It was fun. Again something we almost certainly wouldn’t have done 3 years ago. We were asked to contribute something to the Leeds Music Scene advent calendar. It was a few days before December so we knocked the cover out very quickly. We chose it because underneath all the sleigh bells and fake tan there was a certain darkness. We had a great reaction from it.

Where are you now? and how is the European leg faring… any highlights so far?
We are somewhere between Milano and Ravenna dodging some flamboyant Italian traffic! The tour has been fantastic, exceeding our expectations. There seems to be a certain momentum for the record in Europe, and an appetite for I LIKE TRAINS that we haven’t really had on previous trips. The highlight for me was the Botanique in Brussels. A sold out show at one of our favourite venues in the world. Everything seemed to come together for that gig.

Why should people come and see you on tour when you reach the UK?
That’s not really for me to say, but we can promise to give it our all and thousands of people across mainland Europe would probably back me up on this one.

The new album He Who Saw The Deep was one of my favourite albums of 2010. I Like Trains begin the UK leg of their tour today: and continue right on through to the 10th of March. Our full tour listing can be found here.

Categories ,Ashley Dean, ,Beggars Banquet, ,Botanique, ,britney spears, ,Brussels, ,Bryony Crane, ,Calico Charlotte Melton, ,Dave Martin, ,Gemma Smith, ,He Who Saw The Deep, ,I Like Trains, ,iliketrains, ,Independent, ,Jess Holt, ,Karolina Burdon, ,Last Christmas, ,leeds, ,Leeds Music Scene, ,Napoleon IIIrd, ,Pledge, ,Pledge Music, ,Progress Films, ,Rukmunal Hakim, ,Saltburn, ,Sarah Matthews, ,tour, ,Wham!

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Amelia’s Magazine | Petter & the Pix – Good As Gold – Album Review

Hello mother nature, nurse rx H&M calling…. 

Answering to the needs of so many already environmentally conscious shoppers, website like this and those of mother nature, H&M are making their attempt to join the eco-friendly race and making sure we all know about it. A multitude of high street brands have approached the environmentally-friendly route but some with little success. What the average High Street consumer normally gets are increased prices, due to the new fabrics the brand has to source, and the design lacking in quality and variety compared with it’s non eco-friendly competitors. Sometimes the obstacle of incorporating unharmful dyeing techniques isn’t always cost effective enough.  

Luckily none of this is evident in H&M’s new The Garden Collection available from the 25th March 2010. Exhilarating Summer brights boost the collection with everything you could want from a high street Spring/Summer collection. This is an exciting step for one of the most predominate and successful brands on our High Streets, and those around the world. For H&M the beginning of eco-friendly clothing didn’t start here – they’ve been using organic cotton in some of their clothing since 2004 and have invested much time and money into finding and developing fabrics which are sustainable. It’s only now that they’re shouting about it, and for good reason.

The amount of attention inputted in style, texture and colour seems to be delicately balanced between every piece in the collection. There’s also a good varied range of clothing styles, making it accessible to a variety of ages and body shapes. It’s safe to say the collection has a very floral, feminine theme, running from bright and extravagant, to subtle and elegant; draping, flowing and layering create a variety of textures and shapes on the body, complimenting the female form. Best of all – the price points for this collection are no different to those of the rest of H&M – cost effective and guilt free, exactly how fashion should be!

One of the most noticeable pieces in the collection has to be a red strapless dress, sold out in most stores already, beautifully adorned with recycled polyester chiffon roses, with a fitted elegant bodice, romantic and playful in design. 

Excitingly to see is the use of the new fabric Tencel, hyped up by the press to be the next best thing in the development of mother nature friendly fabrics. It is beautiful to the touch and I predict it will be a favourite addition to many wardrobes from now on; it blends the gaps nicely between the recycled polyester, organic cotton, and linen in the collection. 

It’s always great to hear of a brand continuing to mould themselves into the eco-friendly world of fashion, and hopefully this is the start of something continuous and an idea which will be planted in the minds of the suits of the fashion world. So lets start showing these brands that what we want is fashion with a conscience, all of the time, and that if they want our hard-earned pennies then they need to earn them by working hard to make our home a better place to live.

I’ve just opened my window, sick for the first time since the autumn. I had to deal with some cobwebs, this some stiffness in the joints, but the fresh air has been a welcome change from the stuffiness of the past few months. It was beginning to feel like Das Boot in here. It was somewhere around the third track of Petter & the Pix’s second album, Good As Gold, that the urge to open the window for some spring relief kicked in – ‘Sit Down With Me’, the song in question, is a woozy daydream finger-pickin’ song, exactly what I needed to cause me to pause, to look up from my computer to the brilliant blue sky that’s currently hugging the ground around where I live.

The band is mostly Swedish, although the ‘Petter’ of Petter & the Pix used to be a member of Iceland’s first (and presumably still the only) reggae band, Hjálmar. His brother, Pontus, is half of the songwriting duo known as Bloodshy & Avant, most infamous for writing the Britney Spears hit ‘Toxic’ (I almost wrote ‘comeback single’ here – at the time it felt like something of one, but in retrospect it seems to have been a slight pause before the steep fall…). This album is neither pop nor reggae – it’s a varied and eclectic bunch of musical styles thrown together by an extremely talented bunch of people (‘the Pix’ are six fellow musicians, some of whom are members of other Scandinavian groups such as Lykke Li and Múm) that nevertheless manages to stake out its own distinct sound. Petter’s vocals are the archetype Nordic drawl, that affectation and elongation that, to a native English speaker, sounds like someone who’s given up. It gives Swedish pop that weirdly moving, pleading tone that makes groups like Peter, Bjorn & John and The Concretes so intriguing to those of us not used to the accent.

It’s no surprise, then, from my perspective, that this album is lyrically quite downbeat. Lots of songs about being alone, a bunch of stuff about Petter resigning himself to defeat, a whole lot of nostalgia for, “the first time you came over.” The real interest to be had here is in the musical ambition on display, though – sometimes the lyrics match the tune’s mood, sometimes they don’t. There will be something here, one song at the very least, that you will love (that’s second track ‘In The End Of The Day’ for me, a post-punk ballad that rests on a 4/4 drum thump and a melancholic descending guitar riff that’s simple, and sweetly effective).

Opener ‘Never Never’, also lead single, is perhaps the poorest song on the whole album. There’s a weird guitar line (or is it just a chanting vocal line that’s been put through some distortion pedal?) that’s straight out of an Aliens track, alternating with a slow-hum chorus with Petter wondering, “I think I was deep in love…/I think I was deep in love…,” over and over again. That vocal/guitar line, whatever it is, is more annoying than catchy by about the third play of the LP, so I’ve started skipping straight to the aforementioned ‘In The End Of The Day’.

This establishes, quite early on, the division between the more straightforward indie tracks on here and the slightly more interesting folk numbers – the title track, an example of the former, but then there’s examples of the latter in the Beirut-alike accordion folk of ‘Before I Do’, and the stripped-back Shins vibe on ‘Momentarily Lost’. Surf rock creeps into ‘Stuck In Between’, and there are definite nods towards The Cure on ‘Four Walls’. It’s all over the place, this, but the somewhat-ethereal production ties everything together. There’s not a lot in common between Paul Simon and electro-rock, but here, somehow, there is. I suppose that’s a credit to the talent of the musicians involved and their overarching vision for their music.

An album like this, then, which at first glance feels perhaps a little bit throwaway, a little bit all over the place, turns out to be nothing of the sort. It’s a grower, and it flowers when given the correct nurturing. Let it unravel, let it flow across your ears on a warm day like today – it’s got a good something at its heart, and bodes well for this semi-supergroup’s work to come.

Categories ,album review, ,beirut, ,britney spears, ,Das Boot, ,folk, ,Good As Gold, ,ian steadman, ,Indie, ,Lykke Li, ,Múm, ,Never Never, ,Paul Simon, ,Peter Bjorn & John, ,Petter & the Pix, ,Petter and the Pix, ,Surf-Rock, ,sweden, ,The Aliens, ,The Concretes, ,the cure, ,the shins

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Amelia’s Magazine | The I Like Trains interview: singer Dave Martin answers my Q&A

Illustration of Amelia the lady of the night by Abby Wright coming *******

Vrooosh and we’re in. After a National Express journey from Bristol at 4.10pm we arrived immersed in the mighty traffic of London. From tweet updates, check information pills I was aware that the Amelia’s Magazine London team had spent the morning working hard whilst we’d been at work.

 Gareth A Hopkins Mattt Bramford

The lovely Matt Bramford, pharmacy Amelia’s Fashion Editor working hard with a smile. Illustration by Gareth A Hopkins

Getting off the beloved bus, we tubed to Bethnal Green Road, missing our bikes with all our hearts after we discovered we had got off at the wrong tube stop and had to walk the length of the road. When we got to 110 -ish I put on my heels and immediately inflicted a new set speed of slow on us. Then after apparently vacantly walking past the venue, we about turned and eventually arrived at 123 Bethnal Green Road at 8pm. And there we are- in.

Illustration on its way of 6 Day Riot ******

It’s buzzing and I can see the feathered headdress and hear the sound of glorious music coming from the stage. 6 Day Riot are on stage and everyone is loving it. “Drink!” Vodka O flowing, blue bottled Adnams beers in hand – mutter to Charlie, he can’t hear me, the walls are bright and the buzz is loud. But we are smirking at each other, as the swirl of this internal world is clearly alleviating our hours of bus lethargy. There are beautiful outfits from where I want to know, and make up perfection. I’m loving the wedges, flowing skirts, vintage fabrics and beautiful piled up and flowing hair. Breathing art of their own kind, everyone I want to know and only until midnight to do it. Um, let’s CHAT. Ze atmosphere is perfect for le chat… Bonjoir…

helboyf3

Charlie and I by Abby Wright – This illustration was a present for our families (I know) – but now you can see Charlie us both. In art form!

I meet Jess Furseth because we are looking at each other like we know each other, but don’t. It’s like online friend dating. How could this all go minus the screen? It’s fine of course. We natter about the world then pop downstairs with my curly haired man. There we meet Hannah Bullivant and her husband. Chat, chat, banter, banter – her husband is from Jersey too. Cue lots of Jersey yabbering then Jess, Hannah and I discuss the power of the WORD etc. There are tea cups about the place from earlier’s tea, cake and illustration session, and a comfy Chesterfield sofa for a second of sitting. This is when I briefly meet Amelia’s Dad. It’s all in the eyes! Lovely man.

Picture of moi by Akeela

Boosh and we’re chatting outside. Banter, banter. Then downstairs and the Lily Vanilli cake is being cut. I have a bite of Charlie’s and the white chocolate and sweet cake melts like pink heaven in my mouth. He swipes it away from my chops. Chat, chat. “Hello Amelia!” She’s wearing an amazing cape and gorgeous shoes. So nice to see her. “Fabulous PARTYY!”

ACOFI cake illustration by Danielle Shepherd

CAKE! by Danielle Shepherd. Made by Lily Vanilli.

Chat to a couple of bloggers and see some of the splendid illustrators I speak to everyday. Everywhere I turn is enthusiasm and love for ART! Whilst Charlie is talking about his hair (apparently) to a table of chaps, I corner an illustrator with a goodie bag. I didn’t get one, but those who did had a Tatty Devine necklace, Dr Hauschka products, Pukka tea, a Moleskin notebook and other goodies in their possession. Jealous.

Gareth A Hopkins Sallly Mumby Croft copy

Ex-Fashion Editor of Amelia’s, Sally Mumby- Croft snapping away. Illustration by Gareth A Hopkins

Squeal at Matt Bramford before spending the rest of the evening throwing shapes with Chazaroo, Hannah, her husband and the lovely Jess. C.L.A.S.S.I.C. tunes are spun out from The Pipettes and the Mystery Jets DJ. We take breaks outside and before long it all becomes a spinny blur of joy.

The Pipettes by Avril Kelly

The Pipettes by Avril Kelly

MattBramford_ACOFI_280111_430
Stylish people dancing, picture by Matt Bramford

dancing

Hannah Bullivant in the thrust of a move.

It would have been super to have chatted to EVERYONE, but to be honest I adored spending the evening with three fantastic new (now real-life – that’s right writers and Jersey 2) friends. That’s what it was about for me, relaxed fun and an appreciation for the creative and beautiful. I’m proud to be a part of Amelia’s Magazine and all who sail in her.

I Like Trains by Gemma Smith
I Like Trains by Gemma Smith.

You are currently on a very extensive tour: what prompted the decision to do such a big tour?
The best way to promote an album is to get out there and play it to as many people as possible. We’ve done more extensive tours than this in the past, cheapest so we know we have it in us. It can be hard work, pharm but also a lot of fun. I guess we must be a pretty good live band as we’ve always had the ability to win over an audience. We’ve been playing together for 6 years, adiposity and it feels like we continue to improve as a band.

I Like Trains by Calico Charlotte Melton
I Like Trains by Calico Charlotte Melton.

You pride yourself on being “fiercely independent” – which was one of the things that first attracted you to me. Why do you think it is so important to take control of your own destiny?
I think it comes naturally to us now. You can sit and wait to be discovered, or you can get out and make the first steps on your own. Pretty soon the second and third steps will become obvious too. Coming from Leeds has helped in this respect, with bands before us making a success on their own terms. It showed us the way.

Why has it taken so long to get your second album finished? What have you been up to?
The main reason for this record taking so long to be released is that our label Beggars Banquet ceased to exist. We spent some time talking to other labels, but decided that we would be best served to release it ourselves. All of this took a lot of time. We also spent a while developing a new sound for the record.

I Like Trains by Karolina Burdon
I Like Trains by Karolina Burdon.

You made the album through an innovative pledge system. Can you tell us a bit more about this process?
Pledge Music is a website which facilitates fan funding of an album. We set ourselves a monetary target for what we needed in order to set up our own record label and release the album. We came up with a number of incentives for people to Pledge on, signed copies of the album, hand illustrated lyrics books, access all areas passes to gigs etc. The key thing about the Pledge system over some other fan funding initiatives is that no money exchanges hands until the target is reached and the album is guaranteed to be released. We were also keen to offer people value for money. The response we got when we went live completely blew us away. We weren’t entirely sure if anyone cared about us anymore, but we reached our target in about 24 hours and over 800 people went on to put their hard earned money into an album they hadn’t heard.  

I Like Trains by Rukmunal Hakim
I Like Trains by Rukmunal Hakim.

Has it been hard to do everything yourself? what are the hardest things about this approach and what are the most rewarding?
It has been hard work. It’s been a steep learning curve to release our record on our own label, and that has been the most difficult thing. Not knowing exactly what steps to take to get it into shops. I also feel as if there is some sort of stigma in releasing a record on your own label. Some people seem to perceive releasing a record via the more traditional record company route as a mark of quality control, and that fan funding bypasses that. For me it is a much more democratic model. If there is an appetite for a record then it will get produced whether or not one or two money men at a record label think they can make some money out of it. It is extremely rewarding to see the album in record shops all across Europe, and to know that it is down to our hard work and the faith of our fans.

I Like Trains by Jess Holt
I Like Trains by Jess Holt.

What is current single A Father’s Son about?
It is about population pressure. I don’t want to say too much as I’m keen for people to draw their own conclusions, but the record as a whole is looking at the future for the human race. I did a fair bit of research into the science of climate change, and took my inspiration from that.

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Where was the video shot? It looks cold. And who is the kid?!
It was shot on the North Yorkshire coast around Saltburn. To be honest we didn’t have a great deal to do with the video. It was done by a company called Progress Films. We’d been admiring their work for a little while so trusted them to do a good job. They sent a few treatments over to us, we made some tweaks and then left them to it. We were pleased with the result.

Illustration by Sarah Matthews
Illustration by Sarah Matthews.

You released a solo album last year (which I haven’t heard) – how did this go down? and how does promoting a solo album fit in with promoting a group album too – is he supporting the band on tour?!
I’ve been asked about this a few times. This was an April Fool’s joke by our fan site: www.thisgreenandpleasantland.com. I think it says that it includes a Britney Spears cover. I have as yet, not done a Britney Spears cover! *the cheek!*

How did you choose support for your tour, and in particular Napoleon IIIrd of whom I am a big fan too?
Well it is as simple as us being big fans of his too. We were very pleased that he could do it. He actually went to the same school as Guy and I did in Evesham, Worcestershire. We didn’t really know him back then as we were in different years, but we recognised him when we got to Leeds. It’s a small world.  

I Like Trains by Bryony Crane
I Like Trains by Bryony Crane.

You lost a band member in Ashley Dean, do you think you might work with him on any new videos? Are the rest of you involved in other creative projects too? and if so what?
I would never say never. We’re still in touch with Ashley and its great to see him doing so well with his videos. Guy has taken on the graphic design for I LIKE TRAINS now.  

You seem to have become slightly less introspective in new album He Who Saw The Deep, and are looking to the future rather than the past. What prompted this change of perspective? 
It was just a desire to keep challenging ourselves, to keep things fresh and exciting. We didn’t want to make the same album twice. For the first 4 or so years as a band we worked hard to create an identity. With HWSTD we took all of that and turned it on its head. We’re happy that it still sounds like an I LIKE TRAINS record, and it has given confidence to continue developing and evolving.

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You released a free download just before xmas – a cover of Wham’s Last Christmas. Why did you decide to cover this song? And did you have trouble keeping a straight face whilst you were recording it? I imagine it might have been a bit hard to do in a po-faced manner!!
It was fun. Again something we almost certainly wouldn’t have done 3 years ago. We were asked to contribute something to the Leeds Music Scene advent calendar. It was a few days before December so we knocked the cover out very quickly. We chose it because underneath all the sleigh bells and fake tan there was a certain darkness. We had a great reaction from it.

Where are you now? and how is the European leg faring… any highlights so far?
We are somewhere between Milano and Ravenna dodging some flamboyant Italian traffic! The tour has been fantastic, exceeding our expectations. There seems to be a certain momentum for the record in Europe, and an appetite for I LIKE TRAINS that we haven’t really had on previous trips. The highlight for me was the Botanique in Brussels. A sold out show at one of our favourite venues in the world. Everything seemed to come together for that gig.

Why should people come and see you on tour when you reach the UK?
That’s not really for me to say, but we can promise to give it our all and thousands of people across mainland Europe would probably back me up on this one.

The new album He Who Saw The Deep was one of my favourite albums of 2010. I Like Trains begin the UK leg of their tour today: and continue right on through to the 10th of March. Our full tour listing can be found here.

Categories ,Ashley Dean, ,Beggars Banquet, ,Botanique, ,britney spears, ,Brussels, ,Bryony Crane, ,Calico Charlotte Melton, ,Dave Martin, ,Gemma Smith, ,He Who Saw The Deep, ,I Like Trains, ,iliketrains, ,Independent, ,Jess Holt, ,Karolina Burdon, ,Last Christmas, ,leeds, ,Leeds Music Scene, ,Napoleon IIIrd, ,Pledge, ,Pledge Music, ,Progress Films, ,Rukmunal Hakim, ,Saltburn, ,Sarah Matthews, ,tour, ,Wham!

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