Tuesday 1 April 2008

Indietracks interview #2: Brontosaurus Chorus

How can we follow up our crazy interview with the simply fantastic Bobby McGees? With a chat to the bloomin' marvellous Brontosaurus Chorus - that's how! The 'Brontos (what we're calling them round these parts) are a charmingly shambolic lot, an eight piece indiepop combo made up of boys and girls from London who describe themselves as "sonically close as you can get to an actual choir of made-up dinosaurs", woo! Their first single, The Myth of Love, was released in October last year on highly covetable pink 7'' vinyl and band member Dom Green is also lead troublemaker and general gee-upper with the loveable PopArt gang.

Fresh from the retro success that was PopArt's Bargelife Britpop event aboard Battersea barge, Dom speaks to the Indietracks blog about t'Brontos' plans for the next few months.....

Hiya Dom, nice of you to join us! You're clearly a young, music-loving type - how do you feel about music at the moment and the new crop of indiepop bands?

Well, it's a mixed bag really. On the one hand, the NME and the like are mostly championing terrible haircut indie - completely style over substance. I wont go on, as I'm sure everyone reading this already agrees, but I'll refer you to the Pete Green (no relation, sadly) song Best British Band Supported By Shockwaves. The success of genuine, inventive bands such as Black Kids and Los Campeninos, however, bodes well for the future. There are some wonderful clubs/promoters such as How Does It Feel To Be Loved?, Lostmusic and PopArt (lovely boys, them, and good-looking too! ) in London, not to mention Loose, Purr and The Winchester Club etc, and they are all championing some very wonderful and honest pop bands. Apart from the acts playing Indietracks (more of which later), I'm going to use this space to big up the Bicycle Thieves (who boast the best song writer in Britian today in JS Rafaeli, but for God's sake don't tell him I said that), And What Will Be Left Of Them? (a live act so good it is impossible not to smile when they play), Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring (proper slick, Spector-esque pop orchestra), Pocus Whiteface (imagine Sonic Youth covering The Fall) , Subliminal Girls, The Indelicates... I could go on. Music is alive and healthy and bubbling under the surface. But then you all knew that already.

You're about to play in the grounds of a steam railway - tell us about another unusual place you've played a gig in the past!

Last summer, we played a private gig in a remote Home Counties woodland organised by our friends in the Laurel Collective. They built the stage and the PA themselves. I wore a dress. At the end of their set, myself and the 'comedian' Dave Rees instigated a stage invasion and before long the whole crowd was on the stage jamming. Then there was a bonfire. It was a lovely evening.

Exciting! But what do your plans for the rest of the year look like?

We're playing the Pennfest Weekend in early April with the Validators, then we're off to Berlin with And What Will Be Left Of Them?, both of which promise to be a very messy 48 hours. Then we'll be hibernating until July, doing some recording whilst a couple of us get married. We'll be surfacing for the odd gig though before returning with a vengance for Indietracks! After that, well... all offers considered.

You do seem to like your new bands. Who are you most looking forward to seeing at the Indietracks festival, and why?

I am VERY excited about MJ Hibbett's My Exciting Life In Rock show on the Friday night. I've been following the column since day one (unsurprising really, given that it's part of the PopArt Digest blog which I edit!). If the show is half as funny and/or accurate as Mark's writing then, it has the potential to be the British Spinal Tap! Aside from that, Dirty Fingernails, Pocketbooks, The Deirdres, Comet Gain... (brief moment of realisation) bloody hell, it's a great line-up! I'm going to try and catch as many acts as I can... and I might even wear a dress.

Now that we'll definitely be looking forward to....thanks Dom!

T' Brontos (d'you reckon it will catch on?) have also very kindly shared with us an exclusive track called Kirsten, taken from their first single. Enjoy!

Free MP3 download: Brontosaurus Chorus - Kirsten

Next up: Slow Down Tallahassee chat about weirdly formed eyeballs, musical inspirations and their penchant for the smell of steam!

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