scared to dance summer 2010 fanzine i n s i d e ! ! £1.50 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Indietracks Festival Allo Darlin’ Darren Hayman Standard Fare Brilldream Betty and the Werewolves The Understudies Odd Box Records My Secret World: The Story of Sarah Records And much, much more...! Scared fanzine.indd 1 21/6/10 13:16:55 introduction Hello and welcome to the first Scared To Dance fanzine! I got the idea to put together my own zine after DJing at Do You DIY? where Rod Bower had asked me to contribute a page for the all-dayer. It wasn’t so much the fanzine itself but looking around the room that day I realised I knew so many people who actively did things themselves. Friends with endless enthusiasm for making music and putting it out themselves, promoters, bloggers and people who just show undying support for what we have here. So here it is, my zine to the world. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did putting it all together. Enjoy the Press Play for Songs by The Understudies EP and see you at the club night soon! Paul Richards contents With special thanks to all of the bands who were interviewed, all of our contributors and also to Bree Wright for all the hours of painstaking design. www.scaredtodance.co.uk Facebook: tinyurl.com/scaredtodance Twitter: twitter.com/scaredtodance www.myspace.com/scaredtodanceclub Scared fanzine.indd 2 21/6/10 13:16:56 contents 1 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart 17 Odd Box Records 5 Indietracks Festival 18 No One Died 7 Darren Hayman 19 Brilldream 9 Allo Darlin’ 21 Live Review: Slow Club 11 Standard Fare 22 Live Review: Sleigh Bells 12 Betty and the Werewolves 23 Show Me Wishes Worth More 13 The Understudies Than These 14 Hissing at Swans 26 Chasing the Cherryade Rush 15 My Secret World: The Story of 27 My Love for Julian Barnes Sarah Records 28 The Wooden Coat Hanger/ 16 Twee Grrrls Club Why I Love Election Night Scared fanzine.indd 3 21/6/10 13:16:59 Interview #1: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Scared to Dance chats to Kip video come so late after the release Berman, lead singer of The Pains of the single? of Being Pure at Heart. what have you been up to since We wanted the video to be a certain way, your last tour of Britain? and then we got all caught up in touring and other stuff, so we never got to finish Well, since we were last over in Decem- it in a way that felt right. In the end we’d ber, we had some time to practice and rather have a video we feel proud of (in- demo a bunch of new songs, toured volving furries) than one that’s not really Japan, New Zealand and Australia and us. Right now we’re working on a new are now on a US tour with Surfer Blood video for “Say No to Love” and hope- and Hooray for Earth. It’s going really fully that will get done a bit closer to the great – we’re excited to be on the road actual release of the single. again, especially with two bands that we really like a lot. You’re headlining Indietracks Festival on the Sunday night, have Tells us more about your new sin- you been before? gle Say No to Love. It’s a festival I’ve really wanted to attend If you strum an E chord, then an A since 2007, and we’ve wanted to play it chord then a B chord then the A chord but have never been able to make it work again, repeat that for about 3 and a half out. It caters to the kind of passionate minutes you’ve got yourself a summer- pop that we love, and the people who time jam (hopefully). Because we tour attend are a lot of our best friends we’ve a lot, we like to make new music avail- met from on tour. So yeah, we’re not able to people as immediately as possible only looking forward to playing and – it’s fun to have new songs to play, and seeing other bands, but just hanging out people seem to appreciate that if they with our friends. come see us again, we’re not just go- ing to regurgitate the same set we did 6 What bands are you looking for- months prior. ward to seeing over the weekend? You recently made a video for There are so many, so if I forget some Higher Than the Stars. How did please forgive me. The Blanche Hudson that come about? Why did the Weekend, Allo Darlin’, Shrag, Love Is 1 Scared fanzine.indd 4 21/6/10 13:17:00 All, Specific Heats, Pooh Sticks, The (Anorak City, A Layer of Chips, Fog of Primitives and lots more. Ideas). Each of those releases seemed to find some really enthusiastic listeners Were you surprised by the critical in the indiepop community, which is successes of your debut album and all we ever really thought would hap- the Higher Than the Stars EP? It’s pen. When we started, we figured we’d all happened so quickly for you. have like 12 fans, but they’d be really good fans and that was perfect. Aside Each thing has sort of been a gradual from a little road trip to Athens Popfest build up from the thing before. While in 2007 and a very brief mini tour of it looks incredibly improbable and dra- the UK with the help of The Manhattan matic looking back at our start at Peggy’s Love Suicides, we didn’t really experi- birthday party, to us at least there’s ence too many opportunities to play never been a sense of “overnight” rags to outside of our home town. less raggedy rags. There was the Cloud- But after the record came out, we started berry cd-r, our self-released s/t EP, the getting more opportunities to tour and Atomic Beat “Kurt Cobain’s Cardi- people started discovering us, which was gan” split 7” w/ The Parallelograms, both completely surprising and wonder- the “Searching for the Now split 7” w/ ful feeling. So many of the bands from Summer Cats, and then the “Everything which we drew inspiration never got the With You” 7” on Slumberland as well as chance to do half of the things we have several tracks for fanzine compilations in our time together, and while it would 2 Scared fanzine.indd 5 21/6/10 13:17:01 be easy to get bogged down and feel un- fancy production in the world won’t fix worthy, I think the most respectful thing that. to do is just try to appreciate the oppor- tunities you have, make the most of them Who’ll be releasing it in the US and and continue to work hard. We try to be Europe? as upfront about the bands we admire that have influenced our music as pos- We’ve enjoyed and are grateful to both sible, so that hopefully through people Mike from Slumberland and Sean from learning about us, they can also get into Fortuna Pop! and hope to continue Close Lobsters, The Pastels, The Man- to work with them on the next record. hattan Love Suicides, Black Tambourine, Hopefully they’ll want to too... I have to Rocketship and Exploding Hearts. say here that I firmly believe that not every indie is run by great people, nor every I hear you’re working on your new major populated by music haters. But LP at the moment. What can we both Mike Schulman and Sean Price are expect from it? two of the most virtuous, hardworking, aesthetically discerning and kind people Well, we won’t start recording it until we in music. The fact that Sean lets us stay on get back to New York, but we’re totally his floor, eat his olives and granola when excited by the songs. I think a lot can be we’re in London, and Mike fly’s halfway made of production and all the weird around the world to see us play, despite details of making a record, but if you’re having a full time job, a lovely wife and a not excited about the songs, then all the 2 year old baby, never ceases to amaze us. 3 Scared fanzine.indd 6 21/6/10 13:17:03 How’s your recent tour of the US really liked are (and in no particular with Surfer Blood going? Have you order): got a favourite gig so far? Allo Darlin’ - Allo Darlin’ Ha, we’ve only played three so far, but Gemini - Wild Nothing we really like both Surfer Blood and Revenger - Knight School, Hooray for Earth. It’s really fun to tour The Monitor - Titus Andronicus, with bands that are both really good Spirit Youth - Depreciation Guild, and fun to hang out with. To be hon- Chronosynclastic - The Prids, est, even bands you sometimes think are Momo EP - Hooray for Earth, super serious usually turn out to be nice Astro Coast - Surfer Blood and guys/gals when you meet them. Like, The World that Never Was - The Secret today Hooray for Earth “Iced” us during History soundcheck. For those that don’t know what icing is, it’s when you’re presented with a Smirnoff Ice (alternative bever- age) and you have to take a knee and chug it to prove your worth.