Interview taken from HermAphrodite #4
I’ve interviewed these people before. Last year, when they were supporting
Subcircus. And though we got to paint Elliot’s nails, to my mind overall I
think we really scared them. Because for the most part, only those that knew
the speaker understood the topics. The only time we were all on the same
wave-length was when Nick was asking his bemused tour-manager if there were any
doors missing downstairs ( because his hefty rider-sandwich appeared to have
been made out of one ).
I think the problem is is
that some of my friends and myself all can be quite, um, overwhelming.
Particularly if let to talk on subjects of our own choosing. Which happens if
the interview becomes more like a conversation - the questioner begins to
volunteer information as well. ( And if you get more me, you get more of my
head. )
Still, the Pecadiloes’d
had 10 months to get over it.
And this time I found Elliot to be an Izzard person.
( Which meant we could both run about declaring ourselves ‘covered
in bees’. )
...The time apart seemed to’ve done us both good...
Ooooh, this was a good evening. And not just for the sets that I
saw.
I didn’t make a tit out of myself. Not at all. Not over the whole
night.
I managed to sell Steve Lamacq a fanzine.
And I left the venue with Elliot’s knickers.
A top score, I reckon.
The Pecadiloes.
They’re youngish twenty-somethings, and filled with the joy of
living.
With regards to band set-up, they have a drummer, a keybaord
player, and two singers who also take charge of guitar duties. And it’s the
latter two wot talk in interviews. The latter two wot talk a lot in interviews.
Incredibly articulate, these folks, both in person and in song -
they have some sort of ‘essence’ which means you always keep listening, no
matter the medium of communication. Oh, and Elliot has the coolest right
eyebrow in the world...
A good package, all in all…
The name
‘Pecadiloes’ was suggested to them by a vicar. Not wholly apt, given the man’s
calling. But certainly twisted circumstances befitting the band.
And why the mis-spelling ?
Nick - “We used to spell our name properly. But then everybody
spelt it the way we spell it now. So we changed it.”
me - “It’s not for aesthetic reasons then ?”
Nick - “We’ve got t-shirts done with it that way so we can’t
change it.”
Elliot - “S’cheaper. Less letters.”
Nick - “It’s easier and simpler and it looks better on t-shirts.”
And while we’re on the subject of items to plug...
Nick - “We’re going to release an album at the end of next month,
so we’re going to be touring the year round. Doing the festivals, going to
Europe, then back, record, go off again...”
Elliot - “We’ll make a million and never be seen again.”
me - “Do you have it all mapped out then, you know what you want
to achieve ?”
Elliot - “London, New York, crash !”
Becca - “And Kathmandu.”
Elliot - “Yes. Eh ?”
Nick - “KatManWhat ? ( moves on ) We’ll be like the Romans...”
Elliot ( in his corner turns quietly into Izzard ) - “Ello, we’re
the Romans.”
Nick - “... marching across countries...”
World plans ? Does this mean they have a grand direction ?
me - “Do you feel that you’ve found where you’re going by this
point...?”
Elliot - “Mad. We’re going mad.”
me - “... cos some of the
earlier stuff is a bit more messy.”
And yeah, though they’ve had the album recorded for a while now,
they do feel that’s it’s still 
quite an accurate reflection of them NOW.
Nick - “Definitely the album is more us.”
me - “Do you feel that you’re punk rock ?”
Nick - “We don’t think we’re any-rock.”
Elliot - “What was it yesterday ?”
Nick - “ ‘Vomit-rock’.”
Elliot ( happily ) - “Vomit rock !”
Nick - “So good it makes you sick...”
They seem quite chuffed with that. I’d have preferred a slightly
more, um, palatable soundbite.
me - “Do you describe your own music in any particular way ?”
Nick - “S just music, good music and bad music. The whole idea of
the band when we set out was NEVER EVER to put ant restriction on what we do,
to become a particular kind of band. We were just four musicians from the same
area tired of playing with people who were like ‘no, we must do this, we must
go this way, this is what everyone else is doing’... In the end we wanted to
have something that was OURS, to play in with people that we could be a unit
with, but still do all the styles of music we were doing at the time... We started
this as a project rather than a proper band... and then things started to
happen. We always just wanted to be a good band, nothing more, not a good ‘so
and so’ band.”
me - “But there isn’t any one field that you’re closer to, you
don’t want to be over in the Reggae Section...?”
Elliot - “Ooh dear, no.”
Nick - “Individually we all have different backgrounds of music...
but we’d never exclude anything. A good idea is a good idea, regardless of
style. If it works, we’ll use it.”
Becca - “Would you ever do a cover of something quite amusing - I
saw this band on Sunday who did a cover of the ‘Only Fools and Horses’ them,
which was bloody good...”
Elliot - “We did the theme from the racing in soundcheck.”
Nick - “Animal Hospital.”
Becca - “I think that someone should do Duckula.”
Elliot - “Jamie and The Magic Torch’d be quite good as well.”
We direct him to that page in the fanzine.
Nick - “Elliot’s old house was owned by the bloke who wrote the
Rupert The Bear theme tune. It’s called Rupert Cottage.”
me ( rescuing conversation to original question ) - “But there
isn’t any song that you’d wanna do...?”
Nick - “No. ( pause ) Well we have been toying with the idea of
doing a Guns ‘n’ Roses cover. A proper head-banging one. ( suddenly feels the
need to justify himself; possibly given the look on Becca’s face ) It’s just
one of those albums that all the band have heard, we’ve all listened to death
to - when it came about we were all of
the right age. And eight years later someone put it on when we were in their
car and suddenly we were all singing along.”
me - “So it would be your way of doing a tribute to them rather
than just being ironic ?”
Nick - “Doing it as a tribute ?”
me - “A kind of a tribute. I’m not suggesting you go off and be a
tribute band to Guns ‘n’ Roses. Though you could be your own support band if
you did that.”
Becca - “Hey ! That’d be good !”
Elliot just looks bewildered. So does Nick.
me - “Ah, I’ve lost you now, haven’t I. ( looking at Elliot’s lost
little face ) There’s the conversation and then there’s you, just watching it.”
Becca - “And there’s this space in between...”
me - “Yup.”
Becca - “...where you live.”
me - “Ah, he’s stuck now see, he’s right in the corner, he can’t
get out... I’ll slow down...You could be a support band for yourselves if you
went on as Guns ‘n’ Roses. So you could wear wigs...”
The light dawns. Now all persons are with me.
Elliot ( beaming happily ) - “You’d get twice the rider then,
wouldn’t you ? Yeah ! S’a good idea.”
And you’d get twice the attention.
As it is, that’s kind of split between himself and Nick - onstage,
both providing the vocals, they become like dual focal points for he audience
attention.
me - “The set-up, with you people both doing the vocals, do you
bounce off each other ?”
Elliot ( looks at Nick ) - “Definitely.”
Nick - “It is now more than ever. We’ve never worked closer
together.”
me - “Is it you and him that writes the lyrics ?”
Elliot - “Yeah.”
me - “Is it diplomatic ?”
Elliot - “Yeah. One’ll do the verses and the other the chorus...”
me - “Do they kind of grow out of nothing or do you always have a
specific idea that you’re building on ?”
Elliot - “Sometimes, it just depends. We might have a set idea
right from the start, we might not...”
me - “D’you watch people, taking them as characters ?”
Elliot - “No no, it’s just completely in my own head.”
me - “You don’t nick bits of other people’s conversations as
springboards ?”
Elliot - “Nope.”
me - “And quite a lot of them seem to be about drugs and sex and
death - is this a preoccupation 
for you ?”
Elliot - “There aren’t any about death.”
Nick - “ ‘I Want You To Die’... ”
Elliot - “Oh.”
Nick - “Repeated nine times. In one song.”
Elliot - “Oh that’s just about my parents. They’re not dead yet. (
pause ) They will be.”
me - “So it’s a sort of ‘teenage angst’ thing, rather than ‘I’m
going to get you a hit-man for Christmas’...?”
Elliot - “Yeah. I don’t get on too well with my parents at the
moment.”
Nick - “You never have.”
Elliot - “Well, ‘at the moment’ meant ‘the last twenty-two
years’.”
me - “So they’re not all about drugs and sex and death ?”
Elliot - “No. They’re just about things that are going on at the
time.”
Becca - “Like snapshots ?”
Nick - “Just things on TV, people you see in the street - things you’ve
seen a thousand times before, but on one occasion it just sparks something
off... The only way to try and make sense of all the thoughts jumbled around is
to put it in a song.”
Elliot - “USSO is about sleeping with your best mate’s girlfriend.
( sees our faces ) I didn’t do it, I was just dreaming.”
me - “Is the writing and performing a kind of cathartic release
for you ?”
Nick - “You can either write from an artistic point of view,
purely constructed words and ideas. But you can use it as a release of pressure
- I’m sure a lot of people do. You’ve got something to say, you can stand up
onstage and give your opinion.”
Elliot - “It’s the only way that I let off steam - I never get
wound up, never get angry, never fight with anyone do I ? But when I’m onstage...”
Nick - “You’ve got an excuse to loose it on a nightly basis. We
can let everything go.”
Claire - “Does it make you angry ?”
Elliot - “It’s not angry, you just get lost in what you’re
saying.”
They don’t usually get violent, either.
Though Elliot has broken a B & B mirror, whilst on tour.
Nick - “Throwing it on a floor pissed and in a rage.”
Becca - “And what did you say about not getting angry ?”
Elliot - “I wasn’t...”
Nick - “Is it because you scared yourself ?”
( we start laughing )
Elliot - Nooo.”
Nick - “Ah, well that’s the one I believe anyway.”
Elliot - “There’s a sink in the room, and a big long mirror right
next to the sink. And the toilet was MILES away, so I thought, ‘I’ll go in the
sink.’ As you do. But I turned round and realised everyone that everyone who
was sitting in the other room - which I wasn’t facing - ( gets all high-pitched
) could SEE. So I picked it up and chucked it on the floor... to protect my
innocence.”
All very rock ‘n’ roll.
Though Elliot does tell equally sordid tales about his fellows...
Elliot - “Dave wanked in an A & R girl’s coat once... He went
to sleep with her coat over the top of him, and started wanking in his sleep...
All over the coat. She had to take it home in a carrier bag.”
I think they’re in this for memories like that. ( Though that
probably isn’t in the job description for A & R. )
>>> Part 2
Last revised: 26/07/01