I was going to say that I really hate cover bands, but seeing as Cox plays in a cover band I had better not say that too…
I was going to say that I really hate cover bands, but seeing as Cox plays in a cover band I had better not say that too…
Where The Sugarettes continue to answer questions in a pop style…
IN: Bands are always defined by what they don’t like. Anything?
I: We don’t like solos much…
J: I quite like them… not a lot though.
M: Musicals or theatricals.
IN: So no Phantom of the Opera remakes then?
J: I keep getting told off for putting Dave Matthews on in the car ‘cos I like it a lot.
I: I don’t like basic riffs or standard blues rock, but seeing as that’s pretty much the basis of everything over the last 40 years maybe I shouldn’t say that (laughs)
J: I was going to say that I really hate cover bands, but seeing as Cox plays in a cover band I had better not say that too…
cover player and chicken cooker…
IN: You are as a band frighteningly young. What is it, five gigs? And everyone reckons you’re the fucking Stone Roses?
C: You have pressure to make more stuff; we’ll have to have longer shows than half an hour.
M: It’s exactly the pressure we want. Iskaa and I play together in another band (Foam) we’re not worried at all about playing gigs. And Cox plays in another band. Maybe Joep is the only one who has any insecurity at all because of the songs and the fact he’s just started singing.
J: In the beginning I was a bit anxious to sing, ‘cos I’d never sung live before.
C: But now we want to get on with making more recordings.
M: If we wanted to we could wait a year, but no, we want to get this album over and done.
IN: You don’t want to sit still and living on your reputation?
J: The first things are always easy because you have your lifetime up to the here and now to express.
M: I do think about things we’ve done in the past but with a forward thinking perspective, we constantly think of things we’ve done but to keep all of these things relevant to the present and hopefully make them work better next time too.
C: We always talk about our performances all the time and talk about our insecurities all the time. And we know it helps us on stage.
I: I don’t know where it is all going and I’m very curious about that. Maybe we take another turn in six months.
J: I’ve got stuff waiting and I want to get it out. The product of a few years solo in my bedroom.
I: Have you seen his bedroom? He has about 100 songs, so we have some albums.
J: I can do about 5 double albums.
IN: To end, a nice recipe for our readers. I’ll cook it.
M: Lactose free?
C: I’ll do it. I like cooking. I got a lot of nice recipes. A chicken dish? Okay… and some potatoes & vegetables to go with it of course. So get a chicken and slice it open a bit and put tomatoes in it; two or three and not too many on top of each other, then some mozzarella cheese on the chicken, mixed with green pesto but not too much (otherwise it tastes too much of pesto) and then you put some bacon around the bird. And then some garlic butter in an oven proof dish, cook it a bit and then put it in the oven for about 30 minutes and then check it till its tender. There you go!
And off the Sugarettes went to perform in front of a very sparse turn out (admittedly the Cafe Stiels doesn’t normally have bands on before midnight. Consequently at 10pm there was a handful of regulars propping up the bar; including a drunken and loud rich student (in regulation rich student attire; cord jacket and baseball cap) possessing the gnashers that only rich Dutch students seem to possess. (A note on this point; somewhere down the line there is most definitely some horse blood floating around in the Dutch aristocracy).
The gig itself was a mishmash of pauses, broken strings, sound problems and quite stunningly good, brash feisty pop which had the bar-proppers nodding along in a sort of surprised complicity. Suddenly the regulars realised they were in the presence of something really quite spectacular and unique. Apparently orders had been given to the band not to play too loud, which had been studiously and unwillingly stuck to till the last track, the blistering Little I Love, the sudden loudness of which had the proprietor rushing towards the stage in an almost comic simulation of panic. But as Joep explained, they’d had enough and they like their Wall of Sound sound too much.
Good for them.
Words: Richard Foster.
Photos: courtesy of thesugarettes.com
part one of this interview can be found here…