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Ian Parton
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 The Go! Team are in France for 4 nights, taking part in the 'inrocks' festival.
Tonight they are playing in Paris. Having travelled to the French capital to see them on stage, fresh off the Eurostar, I get to spend some time with Sam Dook and Jamie Bell in a parisian cafe, between sound check and a photo call.
We chatted about the Mercury Prize nomination, their new pals, Homer and Bart Simpsons and a lot more besides... |
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Florence: The only way to describe your record is as a ray of sunshine hitting your stereo, making you feel warm, all over. Can you sustain that and would you want to carry on in that direction on the next album?
Sam: I think there is a lot of different ways it could go and that's what's most exciting for us. We're not entirely sure where it's gonna go as there is quite an aggressive guitar sound creeping in in some songs. But there probably will be some very uplifting songs on the next record as well, it's just very hard to say.
Jamie: It was never set out to be a happy record or anything like that , I think that Ian [Parton] who wrote all the songs was after 'excitement above happiness'.Actually it's not always a happy album, some songs on there are not particularly cheerful.
Florence: Maybe not but the general feel is that of a real joie de vivre. I was just wondering if this could become a trademark for The Go! team.
Sam: The thing is we need to steer clear of anything becoming too sickly. It would be a concern for us, if it all became sickly as in ' sickly sweet.'
Jamie: All the recording is been done by Ian, so what happens with the group is down to him. Obviously we have some input but it's his sound, so where it all goes is up to him.
Florence: So OK, joie de vivre not a trademark, but have you been thinking about the next album?
You have been touring extensively on the back of ' Thunder, Lightning, Strike'.
Despite being on the road so much, have you been able to put some new stuff together?
Sam: Ian is always collecting ideas.
Jamie: Bits and pieces yeah!
Sam: There are 2 or 3 new tracks in our set, that aren't on the record, that we have been playing live lately. Unfortunately with these shows in France, we have quite a short set.
Florence: You're just coming back from a few weeks in the States...
Sam: The record has been doing really well and got a 2nd release date, so for instance in America it's only just come out and we've been out there promoting it.
Florence: The record came out in 2004, but 2005 was a pivotal year for you.....
Sam: 2005 was very important to us as we've only been together as a live band for a year-and-a-half. Ian has been making songs for several years under the name Go! Team. There's been a bit of a delayed reaction, so yes 2005 has been our year.
Florence: A lot of bands become very big even before they've released an album .They will release a couple of singles, and by the time the album comes out people can't wait to go out and buy it.
Maybe in your case it was the other way round , the album came out last year and then things started happening....
Sam: Well, we're only on a small independent record label and distribution wasn't on a huge scale. All the time it was out there, there was a kind of word-of-mouth thing happening and maybe also the Internet.... well actually , we're making assumptions because that's the only way people could have heard of us, possibly file sharing.... and that's really helped us.
It's only recently that the album has been redistributed on a larger scale.
Florence: What has been the highlight of 2005, apart from the Mercury prize nomination?
Jamie: That wasn't really a highlight. It was really exciting but we've done better things...
Sam: Like meeting the Simpsons .... a couple of writers came to our show in L.A. and one of them was nice enough to e-mail us and ask us if we would like to come to a table reading of an episode of The Simpsons, listening to the voice actors for a cartoon coming out next year.
Florence: I read somewhere that you will feature in The Simpsons!
Sam: Unfortunately not but that would be totally amazing.
Florence: That's your new goal in life, is it?
Sam: Absolutely! We are heading for that, but for now we're happy to go listen to them read out a script. Things like that really are a highlight for us, because it is so out of this world.
Florence: You couldn't dream this up, could you ?
Sam: No we couldn't go out and buy that kind of experience. Such a weird twist of fate, to find yourself sitting in Fox studios with Homer and Bart Simpsons , having a conversation....
Florence: Of course you did Sam!
Was that a bigger honour than been nominated for a prize? Surely that proves that you have crossed the Atlantic and are being appreciated ...
Jamie: We are totally over the moon with that. |
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Florence:This year is coming to a close, so do you know yet what's coming up in 2006 for the Team ?
Sam: We have live dates in our diary, well into next year.
The plan is to find a good cut off point, bearing in mind that the record has come out late in America, we're gonna have to go back there...
Jamie: We don't want to keep touring this one record for ever, it could get boring.
We've been to Paris a few times already with these same songs. We have a few new tracks we're keen to play live.We're all very keen to move on. Also, now we have this studio in Brighton that we've hardly been in. We want to take a break, spend some time there, set it up and start using our studio. Even though the next album's direction is not a 100% down to us, we can certainly help but we've had no chance to get properly started with it.
We also need some time when we're not on the road, or just off the road totally exhausted, to spend time with family and friends.
Florence: Back in October the Team sold out a show at the London Astoria, a very respectable venue.
Do you feel confident now in the UK?
Jamie: Yes kind of ! We're touring the UK in February and March and we hope it's gonna go well for us....
Sam:It's also bigger venues...
Florence:It can only get bigger and better for you next year...
Jamie:Some of them aren't that big, we're just revisiting places where we've already played. Some will be bigger venues....maybe too big!
Sam: It's still strange to us because it all happened so quickly and we've got this kind of notoriety where people need to come and see for themselves what the fuss is all about. We're still kind of playing catch-up with ourselves....
Florence:I don't think anybody could leave one of your shows disappointed. The Go! Team live is a totally mesmerising experience.You're spreading good vibes !! The whole instrument swapping thing is so interesting and showcasing your talents, (individually).
You are so going against the grain of what's out there right now.
Once you've tried the Go! Team once, I think that you can't wait to get another hit...
Jamie:Yes! All our shows have done really well, we've been really spoiled for amazing audiences... maybe that sounds really pretentious....
Also our worry is that we get bigger and bigger venues and maybe one day the audience's reaction goes down ....
Florence: I think that's most unlikely as 2006 will be The Go! Team's year [mark 2] ....anyway, I would like to go back to the Mercury prize nominations. What are the pros and cons of being nominated so early in your career and yet not getting the prize?
Sam:With hindsight, it can be a bit of an albatross.People who have won it, often don't do anything else , Franz Ferdinand being an exception, but a lot of other bands have won the Prize and then just disappeared.
Florence: They melt into oblivion. Maybe it's a bit of a curse...
Sam: Absolutely! But to be nominated is a nice mark of recognition from your peers.
Florence:A lot of people thought that it would be a close shave between the Go! Team and the Kaiser Chiefs.
Personally I was very disappointed that you didn't win as I thought the Team was the most deserving cause....
In any case, I guess the publicity is priceless...
Sam: Yes the publicity and going to the show were amazing, but we were the rank outsiders, maybe with Polar Bear ...
Florence:How much does it hurt not to get the Prize and is it something that you take personally?
Sam: It was fine as we never expected to win anyway.
Jamie: The only thing is, we all had money on us winning, so that was another downer...
Florence: Oh bummer! So it's cost you money as well ?
Jamie: Yeah! None of us are gamblers but we thought it could be worth going to the bookies...you never know!
Sam: Not winning was probably a blessing in disguise...can you imagine the pressure and expectations for the next record!
Jamie: The 20 grand would have been useful though.
Florence: Between 6 people it's not that much. Maybe a nice vacation in the Maldives.
Ok guys, before I let you go, on this Saturday November 5th, what is your message to the world ?
Jamie: Bonfire night should be universal.
Sam: I'll second that.
Words: Florence ACHERY.pictures: Leo POLI, Tony BARTOLO
The Go! Team website:
thegoteam.co.uk |
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