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 Vibration White Finger...Seven Cardiff based talented musicians with arrogant swagger and enough contagious self-belief to convince you that they’re very good even before they’ve played a single note!
But when they get started you actually realise that VWF was born to rock’n’roll and any presumptuous attitude from these guys is rightly justified.
Rock’n’ Roll bands are ‘ten a penny’ I hear you say, but their liberal use of brass (saxophone and trumpet) and painstakingly composed tracks set them apart from the pack.
If you’re a fan of Vibration White Finger [ they, of the unmistakable bright yellow logo] then you are probably patiently awaiting the release of their first album [due out early 2007] and if you’ve never heard or seen them, it’s never too late as they are playing London on a regular basis at carefully selected venues to suit their path to success.
VWF are singer Matt Rimmer, guitarist Sean Cox, bassist Dave Cauvain, drummer Joe Howden, Ben Joiner on saxophone, trumpet player Jon Perry and Shane Holland on synths.
Today I meet front man Matt who happens to be in London for business, so we can talk about aforementioned forthcoming Lp and the unusual recording process favoured by this dirty half-dozen [+1].
Florence: I’ve heard some amazing material for your first album, due out in 2007, tell me more about it...
Matt: We’ve just recorded it in Cardiff, about six weeks ago.
It was recorded live, over two shows and with an invited audience of five hundred people.
We used the stage as a studio really, and with over forty microphones used it was easy to isolate the music from the crowd’s noise and then put it all back together.
Florence: Why did you feel the need to have an audience?
 Matt: We thought that our best results were when we play live, so it was for us really.
Rather than pay X amount a day to get into a studio and hammer it out, it made more sense to us to get five hundred people together, layout a lot of drinks and have a great evening, and it worked very very well.
I am very pleased with what we’ve got.
Florence: VWF have a single out right now, ‘I Won’t Do You Any Harm’, that was recorded before the live sessions....
Matt: We did that with producer Steve Brown, the guy who did all The Cult and early Manic Street Preachers. He approached us and said that he wanted to do something with us so we got him on board, did the single and thought that it would be a good idea for him to produce and mix the live album as well, so he came to Cardiff, spent about three weeks in preproduction and we spent eight hours a day in the studio hammering the set and with about two days to spare we were ready to play!
Florence: VWF live is quite an experience maybe because it’s seven of you including a good brass section, but away from the stage how easy is it to manage so many people?
Matt: It would be more difficult if there were more idiots in the band!!
Everyone is quite switched on and ‘together’.
Logistically it can be difficult. Difficult to move that many people around....
But in terms of getting everyone on the same page it’s not that hard as long as we’re all fully committed.
Florence: How old is the current line-up?
Matt: We’ve put this line-up together about three years ago.
Some of us have played music together before VWF.
It wasn’t until we got the amazing rhythm section, the drummer and the bassist we’ve got now that we thought, “this is fine, this is where we need to be”.
We know each other quite well and live in each other’s pockets!
Florence: What about song writing ?
 Matt: We kind of build it up from the bottom.
If we write acoustically then we write around the guitar with the bass and drums. We will play along and when we find something we like, we take it into the live studio and jam it as a foursome and then everything else will get added on top of that.
Everyone will throw something in.
It’s quite a long drawn out way to work because we sort of half write a tune then put everything down, demo it and then take it back to the studio to polish it off. It’s not a quick process because we don’t have a special songwriter.
Florence: Is that because you’ve made a conscious decision that everyone should get involved in the song-writing process ?
Matt: I write all the lyrics and vocal melodies but as I don’t play any instrument I need something to work from anyway.
It’s a conscious decision for the music and not for the band. We’re not trying to make everyone feel important, it’s a question of what is best to get the job done.
Florence: VWF has been described as a hybrid of Ska, Funk, Indie...
Do you agree with any of that ?
Matt: Not at all!
I wouldn’t ever say that we sound anything like Ska.
I found it very lazy when I read reviews mentioning early 80s Ska influences because there aren’t any!
No-one in the band listens to Ska or Funk to be honest.
These are genres that are usually associated with brass.
I think that we’re a Rock’n’Roll band really, an amalgamation of everything from the late 60s through to now. We’re influenced by The Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Primal Scream, who are the biggest influence partly because of the way they do things and the lack of compromise, Death In Vegas and a bit of Zappa.
People who have a bit more to say with their music.
I would say that everything we do aims towards being a Rock’n’ Roll band rather than Indie.
The brass is used to give it more of a drive.
Florence: The brass gives the tracks a nice finishing touch, a perfect sheen.
Matt: It works as an alternative melody as well so you have another hook in there without having to overload it with vocals.
It’s a much bigger sound.
Florence: Any other influences apart from classic Rock ?
Matt: Actually a lot of dance music, again in a classic sense like Leftfield,
The Chemical Brothers...
Florence: Tell me about the Cardiff music scene...
Matt: There is some great music over there.
It doesn’t really fall into one category, everyone is doing their own thing and it’s quite a supportive scene as well...
There is the Black Hand Laser Band, kind of Manchester/ Stone Roses sound who are starting to come down to London a little bit and Attack + Defend, a lot more Indie and off the wall and also The Voices which sound like Spiritualized...
So it’s a big mishmash of decent bands.
Florence: And don’t forget Charlotte Church. You should give credit where credit’s due.
You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Charlotte...
Matt: Yep! Charlotte’s at the front of it all!
She paved the way for us....
Florence: VWF is well known in Cardiff and enjoys a strong following but surely making it in London must be the ultimate prize ?
Matt: When we started out in Wales we knew that the bright lights of London where quite a way off and also people told us not to come down here and start playing until we were good and people would notice us, otherwise you just join a queue and play just about every toilet venue that’s around.
So we waited before we came down here.
But of course the industry is so completely London centric that we knew we’d have to get here eventually, and it also means that I only have to go to one place apart from Cardiff, as far as business is concerned.
You get so much more done in London as well.
Florence: VWF plays London about once a month and you seem to be very selective about the gigs you accept...there is ULU on October 22nd, Club NME on November 10th and Camden Barfly on December 2nd...
Matt: We have a lot of offers but we’re trying to do decent shows right now, like last Saturday [the 23rd, opening for Magic Numbers] when we played Shepherds Bush Empire...that was immense for us.
That’s the sort of venues I want us to be playing, beautiful old theatre... just gorgeous but backstage was a bit rubbish with mangy 70s carpet!
Florence: Poor you, the interior design wasn’t to your taste!
Matt: No we’ll have that changed next time!
Florence: What has been a crucial turning point for VWF so far ?
Matt: Probably when we met the guys from Sidewalk 7, who are now our label and management.
We were playing our very first gig in London and there was immediate industry attention and these guys thought that we were great and wanted to work with us.
It was fantastic the following day, driving home to Cardiff and thinking that we could really do something with our band.
Also the album deal obviously, and in terms of live shows there has been loads of good times and good memories but we know that it’s gonna get better...
Florence: You got a label and management on your first trip to London, whilst some bands will struggle for months, did you put this down as being in the right place at the right time ?
Matt: We felt that we deserved it as we worked our arse off.
We rehearsed all the time and played live much more.
Every morning when you wake up if you get on with doing something with your band, whether it’s writing or putting things together...if you put the work in then you deserve it.
Florence: What are you listening to right now ?
Any of your contemporaries that you respect and appreciate ?
Matt: I listen to a lot of The Brian Jonestown Massacre actually.
Also The Knife and Primal Scream who I go and see live as often as I can.
There is a good band about at the moment called The Mescalitas, three girls from North London signed to Rough Trade Records.
Florence: Name a song you wish you had written.
Matt: ‘Tumbling Dice’ by The Rolling Stones because it sounds like the best Rock’n’Roll band in the world at the top of their game.
Just like ‘Street Fighting Man’ and ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’, it sounds completely effortless but at the same time it’s completely defining of the genre. I think that’s amazing and sits so perfectly with all the gospel singers and the brass...all the stuff that I love.
Florence: What would be your message to the world?
Matt: I like faith and hope and I really admire spirit in music, literature...
You can really appreciate integrity and passion in what people do.
People should really be into what they are doing and give 100%.
Also the kind of things your mum told you when you were a kid, if you work hard you can do whatever you want to do. It sounds very cheesy but it’s true.
Just keep doing what you want to do and you will get there in the end and if you don’t at least it’s you who fucked up and no one else.
Words: Florence ACHERY
www.vwfband.co.uk
www.myspace.com/vibrationwhitefinger |
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