| |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 Unlike the name suggests, The People’s Revolutionary Choir [singer Lal Townsend, guitarists Jim Townsend and Sweet Willy, bassist Roshan Moliko, Kris Feldmann on keys and drummer John Brandman], are far from being a choir, however they are revolutionary!
Setting their ‘drony’, shoegazing alternative rock against the current UK music scene of guitar bands and ‘punky’ overtones, they fly in the face of what is presently acceptable.
Trying to herald the revival of a genre originally characterised by bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins and Spacemen 3 among others, [whose careers unfortunately petered out by the early-nineties], The People’s Revolutionary Choir’s mission would be a lonely one if it wasn’t for the solidarity of a handful of like minded emerging bands.
Fortunately The PRC have just being given a welcome shot of confidence and much needed exposure by having been asked to open for The Brian Jonestown Massacre, on the band’s second European tour of 2006.
On their return from having played sold out venues with the American cult band, The PRC are expected to record a single to follow up first offering ‘Elevate’.
We meet tonight to talk about their associations with some of their musical heroes and the financial struggle they face to produce more recordings...
Florence: You are going to France and Spain, supporting The Brian Jonestown Massacre, what does this mean to you?
Jim: It’s a very big deal for us as we’re relatively unknown and to tour with BJM is fantastic as we really respect them. They are great artists.
We need to raise our profile and hopefully touring with them will help us do that...
Lal: We’re really chuffed and hopefully it will change things for us, in the long run...
Jim: Like getting more respect and getting more tours with other big bands. It should move us on to bigger things and up another level.
It will be nice for us to reach such a big audience, turn people on to our music and in the process get a bigger fan base.
We’re quite lazy but this is just what we needed to get us going.
Florence: The Brian Jonestown Massacre tend to carefully handpick their support bands, so I guess it’s an amazing seal of approval from one of the most talented and influential band around.
Jim: We became good friends with guitarist Ricky René Maymi after he saw us play with The Clientele, and then he came to a few more shows we did and eventually he asked us to go touring with BJM.
We feel that the music is quite similar...
Lal: It’s all quite ‘drony’
Jim: There is a bit of a movement right now in Britain, with a few bands around like The Tamborines and The Koolaid Electric Company all doing similar things. It’s a nice little family!
Maybe in America there’s always been that kind of thing going on but over here it’s been all about bands like The Libertines and The Holloway...kind of Punky, ‘76 sound.
Florence: You’re part of a very small, niche music scene but are you hoping that it will get bigger...inevitably meaning more bands to compete with?
Lal: It would be better for us if this movement was getting bigger and hopefully we’re the ones driving it but it’s great as it is because it’s something we can all build on with a few other bands.
We’re in the process of doing a day event with seven other bands of a similar ilk to hopefully try and create a scene between us.
Jim: We started doing what we do six years ago when The Strokes came out and then The Libertines...and we would play gigs like The Great Escape and we were very much on our own and it did feel very lonely.
It probably also explains why it’s so hard for us to get a record deal...everybody else is doing ‘jittery’ Punk, but now finally there seems to be a movement coming up so things are getting better for us.
We’re not necessarily after a big record deal but we definitely need funding to make a record.
We’ve been working with Brendan Lynch who’s done some great things with Primal Scream and he’s been pulling a lot of favours for us but he needs paying....
Lal: We need money!
This is a plea for money. We’re so skint!!
We’re ready to record the next single. It’s probably gonna be two or three songs again.
That’s all lined up and absolutely brilliant!
We’ve done demos of it so now we just need to record it and get it out there and hopefully get label interest. Well actually get people to put money where their mouth is, so we can fund an album.
Florence: You’ve got a lot of ‘good people’ backing you up...
Jim: Kevin Shields, Brett Anderson and Matt from Suede have been on board since we started and gave us our first support gig.
Jim Reid from The Jesus And Mary Chain did some demos for us...
Florence: Taking into consideration that The Jesus And Mary Chain has been a huge influence on you, when you finally got to work with Jim Reid how difficult was it for you to keep your own sound and identity?
Jim: At the time we were still finding our feet, still learning how to write songs, how to perform as a band...we even had a different sound.
It was very much the embryonic stage of what we’re doing now but it was absolutely great.
Lal: Working with Jim was the verification that what we were doing was good.
The good bits were very good and for us to carry on down that route.
It really helped us focus and realise that we’re best at doing very simple songs with two or three chords and making a big sound out of it.
Jim: What we do now is very much the product of six years of just keeping at it and it’s finally coming together and becoming clear where we’re supposed to be going.
I write the songs. I write lyrics with John and Lal and then we go and jam it together. Sometimes I have a very clear idea of what the song is about and sometimes it’s just an idea for everybody else to bring their part to.
Florence: What will you be listening to on your tour bus?
Jim: It can be very eclectic but we always go back to older stuff like Suicide and The Ramones.
Lal: The Walkmen, Gram Parsons, The Stones, [always The Stones], The Small Faces, a lot of Dylan, old Verve, MC5, The Bee Gees...
Jim: Obviously Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized who have heavily influenced us
Florence: Any of your contemporaries?
Lal: The Clientele, that’s a really great band, the Koolaid Electric Company, Eighteenth Day Of May...
Florence: What have been the highlights of 2006, so far...
Lal: Opening for Richard Hawley at The Great Escape festival in Brighton, in May.
The venue was great, we played with some good bands and we had a good show.
Also a little gig at The Water Rats in Camden...we had a blast!
Jim: Getting John back on drums after we had a ‘fill in’ drummer for a year. John is a good person to have around as he helps me with the lyrics and he’ll say if something’s shit. He’s the essence of the band!
Without him we lost our way for a year ...but now we’re whole again!
 Florence: Your message to the world?
John: Have a good time all of the time.
The People’s Revolutionary Choir: Give peace a chance!
Words: Florence ACHERY
www.theprc.co.uk
www.myspace.com/ thepeoplesrevolutionarychoir |
|
 |
|
 |
|
