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BRITISH SEA POWER are a band that many people in this country have been waiting for since the demise of Joy Division and The Smiths. Yan, Noble, Hamilton and Woody share influences and inspirations far removed from the garage rock ideals plaguing the music scene at the moment. They’re a quirky group of lads with an attitude and view of life that is quintessentially English, which in turn is a little strange. They regularly absorb their minds with facts about Field Marshall Montgomery (famous for the battle of Alamein), Charles Lindburgh and Czechoslovakian history. Yan perplexingly describes their sound as a battle between “Jaroslav Hasek and The Scouts.” Hasek, the author of The Good Soldier Svejk, was the son of an alcoholic Czech. After spending years as a tramp he joined an anarchist group before stealing the office bike for a drink. He then became the editor of a respected magazine called Animal World, where he invented new animals and advertised a pair of werewolves for sale. The mentalist attitude of Hasek certainly fits in with British Sea Powers live performances which, whilst constrained and planned, are mad affairs. When the band moved to Brighton in 1999 they started a night called Club Sea Power which alternated between the Lift and the Freebutt, and it was here they started to make a name for themselves. Their live experience is highly original and much talked about as they appear on stage in 50’s military outfits, with twigs and stuffed birds stuck to them. At their Reading Festival appearance earlier this year I couldn’t help thinking they looked like a scene from Kes: “We don’t want to look like some tired version of what people think bands should look like. It’s like they've read some book how to dress and act like a rock moron. Those outfits were initially inspired by the Bielski Brothers who formed a partisan group in the Biolowieza in Poland in the Second World War. They used to rescue fellow Jews from concentration camps and those who were rescued formed an even greater army. We also feel quite close to Billy from Kes. Woody’s Girlfriend’s surname is Hines and it was her uncle who wrote A Kestrel For a Knave, the book that Kes is based on.” On record a lot of British Sea Power’s music is beautiful and flowing. A Lovely Day Tomorrow is a piece of pure pop magic, but when they play live there’s a real sharpness reminiscent of Joy Division’s jerky sound.: “We just do what works best live. Getting up in front of a load of people makes you a bit edgy anyway. Some good live songs don’t work well recorded and vice versa. We can’t play The Lonely live yet. We'd butcher it.” At the turn of the year, British Sea Power got caught up in the marketing campaign that seemed no more than an attempt to boost Britain’s ‘burgeoning’ rock scene. The NME put them in with the No Name scene and reviews knocked them for being a shambles and speed freaks, somewhat wide of the mark. The music they produce is far too intense to be a shambles and one listen to The Spirit of St Louis shows you how wrong music journalists can be: “We’ve done the speed. It's not good. They can say what they like, that’s what they get paid for. To make up a load of old rubbish.” The single which propelled BSP to the attention of the music press was 'Remember Me', which despite all criticism of being depressing is an inspiring and warm record, with tinges of loneliness – definitely drawn from their influence by The Smiths. The band is quick to refute claims about them being a one-dimensional, cold and gloomy proposition: “That’s people being short sighted again. I mean there was a lot more to the Smiths than melancholy, they were very witty as well. The line in The Lonely, "I drink all day and play by night on my casio electric piano" is quite a ridiculous line as well as the line in Lately, "Replacing Hercules for the Heroic sounds of Formby". It will just take longer for people to get what we are doing because it’s so easy to understand some Kiwi pub band singing about a "Rock and Roll Motherfucker." Come on man, what’s the world coming to.” Another, more contemporary band they’ve been compared with and who critics also call gloom merchants are Interpol. After their majestic Turn on the Bright Lights album, British Sea Power appeared to have found kindred spirits in formulating and constructing inspirational songs that have overwhelming emotion, rather than just banging out three chords and a recycled riff: “We are kindred spirits in some ways. They wrote a song about a famous Viking explorer who travelled the Atlantic, and we have a song about Charles Lindburgh who was they first man to fly solo across the Atlantic. We like the band. Though the drummer can’t handle the Scouse Skunk.” One band that BSP certainly don’t like are The Vines, who they clashed with on the bill at Reading. Despite their obvious superiority, the tent they played in was less than full: “I don’t think the organisers intentionally did that. The Vines are goddamn awful. It’s just some gurner with a Nirvana wannabe throat howl. There is a Rolling Stone review of that day and they couldn't be bothered to go and see the Vines either.” After such glowing reports in the press at the turn of the year, British Sea Power might have been thinking a quick succession of records would encourage the success and hype endured by The Vines and co. However, they decided to slow down and refused to charge head on into the chaos like other British bands of the moment: “They say you have to strike while the irons hot but there's no need to jump straight in. We prefer a slow casual expedition. What’s the rush? The album is due in the New Year and will be as fresh as a daisy.” Rumoured to be titled Gortex, Drugs and Rock n Roll, the band have decided on “The Decline of British Sea Power, though there has been some opposition from Gibraltar.” Despite the title of the forthcoming album, British Sea Power are definitely on the up. Their unpredictability - one member of the band dressed as a tree for the entirety of the Polyphonic Spree’s set at the Leeds Festival – is certain to help. There are also some big (and possibly ridiculous) plans for the future: “We hope to tour as Julian Cope's backing band, get our faces on some stamps instead of the Queens saggy face and we were hoping to get Mr Trebus elected but he's dead now.” They’re on tour now around the UK. Go see ‘em. 20 October Colchester Arts Centre With The Tenderfoot 21 October Cardiff Barfly With Martini Henry Rifles and The Tenerfoot 22 October Manchester Night and Day With The Obsession and The Tenderfoot 23 October Glasgow King Tuts With The Tenderfoot and Redpath 25 October Leicester International Arts Centre With Scout Niblett and Cat On Form 26 October Brighton Pavilion With The Tenderfoot 28 October Southampton Joiners With Cat On Form 29 October London 93ft East With Florida and Cat On Form 30 October Bristol Louisiana With Cat On Form
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