But Bruce is fading, and there will soon be a vacuum at the heart of light entertainment. There’s hope that Paddy McGuinness could learn to dance, or that Michael McIntyre might be granted the powers of acting, dance, organised crime and comedy, but we need look no further. The Crown Prince of Variety is here, and he’s going to keep the pound shop open as a sideline.

Angelos Epithemiou is about to embark on another nationwide tour, promising that Angelos Epithemiou and Friends will contain “three jokes, two impressions and one dance, some magic and a big quiz.” There’s no doubt that this will be your last chance to see him in such intimate venues. Judging by the attention his earthily handsome frame drew from Hollywood starlet Thandie Newton on BBC Two’s Shooting Stars we may even lose him to Tinseltown sooner than we think. It’s something Angelos himself has noticed but he’s keen to downplay the rumours: “She’ll have to get in line that one,” he says, undistracted from the bigger prize.

Women want him, men want him. It must be a trial for Epithemiou, who admits to no more than “one or two” dalliances with groupies on the current tour: “I never reveal me secrets.” “I’m an ‘andsome man” he says in his rich London tones. “I could turn a man’s head. I could turn it with me hand.”

“They fling themselves at me, which is right, ‘cos look at me — I’m a looker, so the ladies love me … Last week, y’know now I’m in showbiz, someone asked me to open a supermarket, which was very good. Until they sort of flung the keys at me and said, ‘Can you open it up at four o’clock in the morning and let the bakers in ‘cos I’m going on holiday’.”

Scenes reminiscent of A Hard Day’s Night — Epithemania if you will — are following him up and down the country: “Birmingham was the place where I turned up three hours beforehand and there’s five people stood outside in the freezing cold saying, ‘Can we have your autograph Angelos?’ I thought, ‘I like this’ … I could start just signing things and slinging them on eBay, make a few quid on the side.”

“It’s ridiculous, I just want to be at home watching me Crimewatch videos,” but fame “is inevitables,” he says in a reflective moment, perhaps conscious of the bigger stardom to come. “Yeah, I’m ready for it, whatever they throw at me I’ll take it. Rip as many people off as I can and then clear off to the Bahamas.”

Attention hasn’t yet driven the performer’s ego over the top; Epithemiou is level-headed even about the traditional touring excess. “They’ve got me in the good hotels, and quite right ‘cos I’m a superstar. I’ve been trashing ‘em, sometimes I leave the bed unmade, leave the kettle on.” His entourage, or his “carers” as he touchingly refers to them, must have had worse times despite a true star’s insistence on everything being just so. Take his backstage rider: “Tea, milk, coffee, an egg … it has to be fried, I’m not mucking about with poached or scrambled, orange juice. A breakfast really, just at six o’clock in the evening. Sometimes they’re funny about it.”

It’s a troubled Angelos watching his career take off so fast, maybe even out of his control: “I’ve got to do more blinking TV, I’ve got to do more of that Shooting Stars with those two chancers, the lucky club members, but after that we’ll see what happens, I don’t know.” It’s obvious that his heart is in his art: “The quicker I can get back to me pound shop the better as far as I’m concerned. I’ve bought all these wet suits … suits that have been in a flood. Everything is a pound, apart from the stuff which is a tenner. Most of it’s a pound. Apart from the stuff that’s like two pound or three pound or four pound. Get out of the touring and back into the pound shop, that’s what I need to do.”

Art and commerce, the complete entertainer, the new Sinatra with the humility of Forsyth, Angelos Epithemiou is probably a genius and his career is about to blow up as big as his burger van. Only this time it won’t be by “mysterious forces”.

COMPETITION: We have 1 x pair of tickets to see Angelos at HMV Institute Birmingham on 12th March. To win head to the Fused Facebook here and post a joke on our wall – the funniest one (at least the one we think is funniest) will win. Deadline for your joke entries is: 10.3.11.

For forthcoming tour dates check here.

Jon Bounds

The solid and anthemic sound rumbling through Red Light Company’s album, ‘Fine Fascination’, is an accomplishment.  Not because it heralds their addition with White Lies to the ‘must have’ predictions for 2009, but because this work unifies a five piece from such obscure beginnings who nearly missed their chance.  Commitment to the plan, a period of incubation in the studio at lead singer Frennaux’s house and the guidance of Adrian Bushby (big sound producer-extraordinaire) have quickly propelled these guys to potential glory.  I caught up with Richard Frennaux to discuss the pitfalls of immigration and the fascination of pubescent nudity:

I’ve read that you met your bassist, Shawn Day, after some long distance communication on the Internet?

Yeah, the whole thing started when I left an advert on a UK website looking for a musician to collaborate with.  Shawn replied from Wyoming [the least populated state in the US] of all places!  It was a real surprise to me but to be honest what I was looking for at that time was some commitment from somebody, you know, whether it be from somebody coming over from a different country or anything like that.  So I spoke to him and got him to fly over, which he did, and then I waited at the airport for him to be let out which happened (eventually!) once the immigration people were OK with it.  Unfortunately once we started talking it emerged that he didn’t have enough funds to stay, and that he was booked on the next flight back to the States.  We still got enough chance to get talking though; I took him to a British pub, as he’d never been to the UK before, and got into it realising that we were on the same page despite the fact that we were from such different backgrounds.  3 weeks later, once he had the money to move back, he came over permanently.

That was something I wanted to get into, the dynamic of the group considering the mix of nationality and different backgrounds…

Yeah we’re like the UN of bands!

Yeah!?  How does this play out in terms of influence on the music? Was it a common interest that brought you together or did the differences cause problems?
Really the most important thing for me, as I said with Shawn, was the commitment thing you know?  I mean it’s really important that people have that hunger to do that ‘one thing’.  It doesn’t really matter to some degree if it is a five-piece band as long as someone is driving the ship in the right direction.  You know, as long as people are reasonably on the same page, musically, then I think it’s going to work as long as they are committed and they have passion for the music you are making.  

It was really the same story with Chris [Edmonds - keyboards] ‘cause he was never really a keyboard player, he specifically learned to join this band, he learned all the parts in a couple of weeks having never really taken the keyboard seriously.  There are lots of examples of that in the band and it’s the kind of stuff that I think interests me.  You know, in this day and age a lot of bands don’t ‘go to school together and make music and all of a sudden it’s happened for them’, for us its been a staggered process of deportations and getting people to learn instruments!  It’s kind of different and it suits us well.

When you say ‘different’ as being something you’re interested in, how do you respond when critics continue to make regular comparisons, you know, with Arcade Fire, U2, Editors and White Lies?  Does this create pressure?

Its always interesting to hear other people’s take on the music that we’re making, you know?  Sometimes as an artist you become really un-subjective to what you’re making I guess, so I find it interesting when people compare us.  I think the current artists, or bands like White Lies, happens because there is a lot of electro music out there right now and there’s not a huge amount of bands making guitar based music in the current climate.  I think they are one of these 80’s influenced bands, as we are to a certain degree, so there is always going to be a comparison.  But I think with us it’s a bit different as there’s not just an 80’s thing going on, I think there’s also a breadth of material we’re doing where I can see the comparisons with Arcade Fire and early U2, and its interesting to see that other people are saying so.

Staying on these similarities with U2 and Arcade Fire then, I wondered how much of that was encouraged by your producer Adrian Bushby, someone so connected to the ‘anthemic’ side of music?  Is that something he’s influenced in you?

Kind of.  With us when we first went in to make the record, we demoed it in my flat where I’d produced all of it.  So I already had these big sounding tunes anyway because that’s the type of way I produce.  Then we took it in with Adrian for a co-production, so, I had these ideas about guitar sounds and keyboard sounds that I liked to maintain, and he just took what we were doing and kind of made it even bigger.  He’s great, you know, at shaping out a certain degree of our sound on our record, but at the same time we had that ourselves and we just wanted somebody to record it properly.  It was really easy and it was great because a lot of the time we’ve had experiences with producers before that want to take what you have and make it their own.  I find that quite scary prospect, being somewhat a producer myself; something I think has a lot to do with the sound of this band.  I like to have control over that and he was just great at not having too much ego and being able to hear the music for what it is.

Talking about the release of this album, at a time of year when everyone is making predictions of who will be big, what is the impact when you see your name on NME and HMV lists?

It’s nice to get the recognition for what you’re doing and I feel like we deserve it!  There are lots of lists, and I don’t really know how far to believe them as far as top ten hits for next year, but I still like to see the recognition.  Its good for people to be turned on to what’s going on, as I know that people pay lots of attention to these type of things, so if it gets people into the new music that they haven’t heard of before that’s great.  

On the new music, and more directly the album title ‘Fine Fascination’, is there any explanation for that?

‘Fine Fascination’ was a track, actually, that was released, or will be released as a B-Side, basically, and I just thought that the title was really appropriate for the record we were making.  Initially when I started writing the material, a lot of it was influenced by the film ‘Christian F’, which was an 80’s Berlin Bowie cameo film concentrating on the darker side of life, a lot the record has echoes of that in it.  I felt like there was this fascination with this darker side of life that I was trying to explore, especially in the earlier times of writing, hence the reason behind the title.

Is this type of fascination in the darker elements something that justifies the decision to put topless teenagers on the cover of the album?  

 I think so, yes.  With us, it’s about making sure that every avenue that we’re trying to express and explore, art wise as well as music, is reflected.  Its important to maintain some kind of consistency, so we found this artist (toyne?) and she was making these images that, when you listen to the music, just worked.  It was just a running idea, we started off with one single, it went on to another one, and then all of the artwork came together like that.  It was just about giving her some space to take some images and choosing things that were appropriate.

Lastly, for my own fascination, the ‘Arts and Crafts’ music video with the Marylyn Monroe lookalikes, how was that?

It’s interesting because its one of those things where, as a young band, you have to do a performance video pretty much with every video, so it was all about taking that motif that goes around with it repeatedly and it works out well.  Its got this idiosyncratic element where this slightly unhinged aspect of the Marylyn performance is suitable to the track you know, and of course I’m happy with it. 

‘Fine Fascination’ and ‘Arts and Crafts’ are out now

 JP Watson 

“I don’t know. They’ve been coming for a long time.”
“That’s what makes it even scarier,” Sam Potter concurs with bandmate Ross Matthews, “the fact that they’ve been coming for so long. People might forget and then, when they actually do come, it might be twice the disaster. It’s like the snowfall the other day, the bears came and London wasn’t prepared, so it hit them.”

Welcome to Late of the Pier’s distinctly warped universe, which tonight (thanks to their “really tough” bus driver) has torn a dimensional rip in a dressing room located in the grey bowels of Wolverhampton, allowing my mere mortal self to converse with visitors who themselves look suspiciously like male humans in their early twenties. Drummer/Ron Weasley understudy Ross and electronic whizz-kid Sam are discussing when the titular fuzzies of their shape-shifting, funk monster The Bears Are Coming are due to arrive, a debate that results in them considering penning a sequel. “Yeah,” Sam laughs, “The Bears Are Here. Or The Bears Are Still Coming.”

Joined by guitar man Andrew Faley, they are perched on a sofa – the absence of lead singer Samuel Eastgate immediately lending him an enigmatic air, when really he’s just having a shower – answering my questions very amiably. Refusing to acknowledge that they’re actually alien invaders come to claim the youth (and beyond) of our dancefloors and transport them to a different sphere entirely, the crafty beggars instead play innocent.

“We don’t know what we are,” Andrew claims, “we just know what we don’t want to be.” And all three agree this is “definitely not ‘nu-rave’”.

“When we make music we’re trying, above anything, to make something that’s unique and kind of chasing a sound that no-one’s done before,” doe-eyed Sam asserts. “It’s sad when people lump you into a group, especially one as throwaway as ‘nu-rave’.”

Of course, taking their baffling sci-fi sonics to Fabric and the like was bound to bring the Klaxons crowd. One of the more painful consequences? “I’ve got a split lip from when someone chucked this massive blue glowstick,” goes Ross’s particular war story. “It just flew towards me and smacked me in the face!”

“I don’t know whether it’s a compliment or not when fans do that,” Sam ponders, but Andrew counters that, “whatever we feel about it, in the end it’s just a bit of fun.” And ‘fun’ is the frequency debut album Fantasy Black Channel, which crash-landed on Earth last August, was turned to, laser-gunning us into submission with its glam/dance/pop/rock hybrid.

They’ve toured their set extensively, “fighting to win over football louts” when opening for Kaiser Chiefs and building a strong teen fanbase by playing at various underage clubs and festivals. “Kids see energy onstage and just bounce off it,” Andrew says.

“We developed our live style from those shows,” Sam expands. “If you play to a room of 50 scenesters, you’re gonna get a much different response so the way you react is going to be a lot less dramatic. Our live shows have been built on the fact we have the freedom to do whatever the fuck we like.”

This freedom was exercised in October 2008 when LOTP (a name with a complete “lack of sense or meaning”) embarked on a late-night “mental” tour of UK warehouse venues. “There’s a big difference between club crowds and gig crowds,” Andrew says. “Gig crowds turn up and just go nuts for you, whereas people going to a club are out to get absolutely smashed and half of them won’t know who’s playing.”

Joining them on this adventure was an array of dance-oriented acts and DJs, including coolest-man-alive Erol Alkan, producer of the band’s album. “Erol’s a friend really,” Ross ventures. “He’s renowned for playing such broad genres of music so he suited us well, because he can turn his head to anything.” 

“He’s a really normal guy who just happens to be obsessed with music,” Andrew continues. “Erol understands the properties that dance and guitar music share, and there’s not many people who see that crossover.”

With this reputation for shows lasting until 3am and a fondness for psychedelic bands like Animal Collective, I bring up the controversial subject of drugz. “We’re probably as influenced by drugs as we are sofas,” Andrew replies. But, surely, some people might really be fond of sofas?

“We don’t want to encourage anyone to do drugs,” Ross says. Andrew takes the baton with, “Drugs are pretty fucking good but it’s only the first or second time where it’s an interesting, totally new experience. Once you’ve tried it, you realise there’s nothing to gain from it.”

What they are keen on is emulating the feeling of a memorable drug trip via music. “It’s kind of like what French house used to do,” Sam says. “Five years ago, it was about packing these songs with all these frequencies that just make your heart shake.”

Funny then that these dreadfully handsome Martians claim to be from Castle Donington, home of the metalhead. Any plans to play Download? “That would be so funny,” laughs Sam. “It was definitely exciting as a kid,” says Ross. “All these Hells Angels just used to rock up, and they were the friendlist – and smelliest – people you could ever meet.”

The guys recognise that they themselves attract an “artsy” crowd, one US fan even hand-drawing an entire anime comic depicting the band as cartoon heroes. Working with up-and-coming directors like France’s Megaforce, the band have proved their own visual merit. “We haven’t really explored the medium of film as much as we want to yet,” Andrew says. “We’re talking about not doing any festivals this year and just setting up stalls with projectors or something.”

Whether it’s videos, artwork or the music itself (Sam daydreams about a “museum you could just walk into and take all the sounds”), it’s safe to say their Pier overlooks a galaxy overflowing with creative ideas. “Whatever’s next is always gonna be related to art one way or the other,” Andrew confidently muses. “It’s one way that you can go anywhere and do anything.”

The frontier beckons. Are you brave enough to join them? 

Luke McNaney

Raiding the musical vaults reveals an impressive and intensive back catalogue spanning over 15 years of Stereolab’s future history past. With the release of Chemical Chords, a classic slice of Stereolab magic, melodies spiral, harmonies dance and the rhythm drives on, a future proof sonic delight for each and every Francophile. David Osbaldestin turned on to Tim Gane, the true svengali of space drone pop, talking titles, how to found an indie label on the dole, French pop and the amazingly rich typographic language of Stereolab.

Where does your inspiration for the Stereolab sound come from?
That’s an exceptionally big question. In the beginning I was in a band (McCarthy) that did straight mid 80’s pop music, there were four musicians, I was writing with the singer but I was only one quarter. It was good doing it but I began to become less entranced, as I wanted to do some different things because my musical take was rather different from the others and I was already listening to a lot of electronic and German groups (Faust, Can, Neu!).  When we split I spent a year thinking through what I really wanted to do because to be in a band just wasn’t enough.  Then I got to an idea, which was based on a very minimalist sound of the instruments and the beat, quite melodic, with things going on above.  There were a few current groups that I liked, My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3.  The (Stereolab) sound crossed with the idea of a very driven feel using 2 note chords and then layering harmonies on top with Laetitia Sadier and with another singer as well, then later on Mary joined and we had both.
This was the basic idea, to have a very fast monolithic/minimalist spine, which freed you up to do stuff on top.  There was no real verses or choruses, where one thing or another could have gone in between or the whole thing could have gone on forever.

Where do you pick up or leave a song when you are in the trance of the music?
That just came from an idea.  Just as important to me was the concept for the sleeve and the art, the whole way in which the music was presented.

Was there a conscious move towards an international feel, of which the music and the overall package, was produced as a piece of art?
For me the point was to make records, I didn’t feel that a song was actually finished until it was actually pressed onto vinyl.  CD’s were just coming in and I wasn’t really that interested in that.  It was the whole thing, it was the title, the title of the songs, it was the cover.  Everything formulated into the final product/idea.  It was 50% contained within the music and 50% contained in everything around it.

Would you see Stereolab as being a brand or a concept in itself?
In a style of other pop bands, yes, it is a much more thought out idea really.  I wanted it to arrived almost fully formed, and I think it did, the idea is pretty much there from the first track on the first record.
Then I began thinking through ideas by recording lots and lots of records – really quickly, some different styles and some other things, to see what happened.  I really like that idea of building up a large number of little attacks with records and then moving on to something else very quickly.
There is concept, it’s a slightly high concept band, it wasn’t just mumbling along.

Do you contribute to the art direction of your sleeves, the merchandising and the videos etc.?
Yeah, yeah.

Is it a collaborative process?
Well, I don’t really have anything to do with the videos, I don’t like any form of compromise, and so we normally say to the person doing the films just do what you want!
I normally find the base concept for the sleeves and then work with a artists/graphic designer to give the final thing.  I’m not a technical person in that sense. So most of the albums were done like that up until we started working with Julian House (Intro).  I would give him rough concepts and he would go away and change them rather more than we were doing before and he would do something that I liked.

They add to the concept, there is a whole amazing collection of artwork that comes from this collaboration with Julian.  Would you see Julian as being Stereolab’s Peter Saville?
We knew him basically through the fact that he did Broadcast. Which was one of the first bands on our label. What’s great about Julian is that we connect on one level about music, we often talk about music when we meet.  I’m looking around for ideas and stuff and I bring it in, as more of just a taste of the direction and often he designs the sleeves and he’s never heard the music, as we’ve not had the music finished while he’s working on the sleeve.  He never gets given the music until he’s at least half way through or either he’s done it!
One time I took him in a collection of early 70’s French art magazines (Artforum, Studio), they had these interesting adverts with funny writing of the period.  Then he came back with a few sleeves.  He just took a few small things and made them completely original, that was totally him. He is able to keep the feel without making it look retro.
My kind of take on a sleeve is something, which is done quick and then you move on, like collage or montage.  Julian has that quality, he has that roughness but he actually spends a lot of time on it.

It’s in the detailing. The quality of the materials: the paper stock; and the print.
It’s exciting to look at.  Especially, in the world of computer graphics, where you can get to a look really quick, that would have once taken ages to get close to.
Julian’s work really retains great character.

Typography is an integral part of communication the Stereolab message.
We tend to try to change it.  One example is “Dots and Loops”, I got two designs out of a book of free designs from a shop in Covent Garden, I picked them because they were really simple, nothing special.  We gave these to Julian and he came back with this fantastic font!  It totally destabilised our original intent but in a good way.  It brought something out from a thing that wasn’t there.  This combination shows where his ideas come from, the original concept is still there but he makes it 3d as opposed to being 2d.

How important was it to set up your own record label?
It was of equal importance to being in the group.  The two began at the same time. For me they are connected completely. The label was run by Laetitia Sadier, me and Martin Pike, who was also our manager in London for the label. Martin used to sell t-shirts for McCarthy, he had no experience before this and we decided to start the label together.  We borrowed a little bit of money and I was on the government allowance, and that’s how it began.
As I said before, in the beginning I didn’t just want to do music or demos, I didn’t want to send anything to anyone, I just wanted to get straight in and do, which was the first 10”.  I particularly wanted to do a 10” as there wasn’t a lot of people making them, it was really important to get that look with a photocopied thing wrapped around them. We were restricted by cost but we did go for that on purpose, that kind of look.

A return to the DIY aesthetic?
Yes.  Basically, I came to get really excited by covers, there’s a great deal of information on the cover that’s not just what you see, there’s a great deal of information about the imagination of the person who designed it.  Also there should be a great deal of information about perhaps what you should expect from the music, not just what kind of music or style of music but the amount of invention that gone into it should be apparent from the sleeve.
It also runs with my idea, that very, very simple ideas, ultra-simple ideas, can contain masses of complicated information. How it fits with other records, the environment they are displayed in.  With 60’s pop records, they are ultra-simple in chords but massively complex in the resonations in which things are put together.  So for me I am always interested in how one thing resonates against another, the title, the music the cover, it’s creates just a little bit of confusion which I think is the best environment for listening.

What is you favourite part of the creative process?
My favourite part is the initial writing of the piece of music.  Either, in the old days, when recording ideas on a cassette recorder, and nowadays I do the same process as this, with a guitar and a little keyboard, but I record everything direct onto the computer.  This sort of thing.  When you begin to see something forming, when you begin to see the possibilities. This is the point that I begin to like.
The next moment would be, the first stage of recording.  Its just so strange when you have something small and then you get it played by people.  Sometimes you can de-rail it and you have to be really careful of that. Other times it’s about dropping things out, there are many great moments when that happens.  Another example is when Sean O’Hagan’s done an arrangement for brass and strings and I don’t really know what its going to be like and I go down to the studio and they are playing it together with the music.

Are you classically trained?
No not at all, I don’t write music.  I learned from Punk basically.  I was too young for Punk but I was in my first band in school by the end of 1978, at about 13, and we used to do Buzzcocks songs and things like that.  I was taught 3 chords by the singer of the band and eventually this became McCarthy and from there I learned the rest.  I’ve never had any lessons in anything.  This helps to disconnect me from the instrument, the guitar is just a way of getting across ideas, I’m not interested in what type of guitar it is.  I’m not technical or fetishising an instrument.

How do to work together as a band?
We haven’t rehearsed together for a record since 1994, however, we do rehearse for when we play live.  I take the songs down to the studio and play them to the band on a computer, and they say “agh, it sounds the same!” Just chords, baseline (most of the time I write a baseline although this may get adapted) and a melody.
I can’t write as a democratic process, it doesn’t work like that.  Particularly if you are using just one chord, with very minor of minimal changes this dictates the melody and it’s not complete until you’ve done that and then the melody itself has to work totally together.  Its not a thing that I think you can just adlib really.  Not for me anyway.

Who writes the vocal melodies?
I write the melodies.  I don’t write the words but I write the melodies of the vocals.

Would you consider yourself a Francophile?
Yes.  Well, I’m married to a French woman, and I live with another French woman.  In terms of music, I like some, I like French films and Art ideas, but I don’t think I’m overly Francophile, I just try to get the bits that I think are interesting.  I remember in the late 80’s I didn’y know that many people into Gainsbourg and people like that.

Do you have an opinion on the current wave of French pop?
Yeah, I really like the Justice album and I like Sebastien Tellier’s record.

How do you feel about his latest release “Sexuality”?
I didn’t really take to it initially, the production is more electronic, for the first couple of listens I missed the strings but actually I think it’s really good now.

How do you feel about the balance between analogue and digital?
Not every release that we’ve done, have we been able to do on vinyl, obviously due to financial reasons.  For me, particularly in terms of artwork, I always think in terms of albums on vinyl and in terms of formats and order, because it’s an archetype that still means something within itself, as opposed to just a carrier of information.  I think that Vinyl is more that jut a carrier of information and it’s more than just storage. It’s tactile and it changes the way you perceive things when you can actually see the physical product of the analogue process.  I have a lot of records and I like playing records on a record player.

Do you have a wish list of artists or musicians you would like to work with?
No, well I don’t have one until I get to it.  I’ve pretty much think that I’ve worked with all the people that I have liked working with.  I’m more interested in getting the ideas, not being pre-occupied with the sound so much.  I don’t know if there’s space for musicians, as the songs are pretty much densely organised in the beginning.  I tend to write lots of lines simultaneously and they each hang off each other, there’s often no room on top for other people.

What’s your favourite city?
At the moment I’m living in Berlin, but I really like Paris, it’s a great city to wander around in and I like New York but I would say at the moment Berlin is my favourite.

Which song/recording are you most proud of?
I like the Fluorescence’s EP the most.

David Osbaldestin

Catch Stereolab live on the following dates:

12-Dec : The Pavilion, Cork
13-Dec : Tripod, Dublin
14-Dec : Black Box, Belfast
16-Dec : Oran Mor, Glasgow
17-Dec : Academy 3, Manchester
18-Dec : Concorde 2, Brighton
19-Dec : KOKO, London

Revolutionaries first and foremost hip hop band Dead Prez stormed into the music scene with track Hip Hop, a poignant, passionate piece produced with their own underground blend of poetical politics.

Despite little airplay – because which station will broadcast the lyrics, “who shot Biggy Small if we don’t get ‘em than they’re gonna get us all” – it secured them the recognition they so deserve and provided an international platform for their work.

And work they do. A book called The Vegan Soul Food Guide to the Galaxy, a DVD titled Pimp My Tofu, a website called Nattral and a magazine called Ammo… they take their art back to a time when you could be an artist and turn your hand to any craft.

FUSED caught up with one half of the band, Stic.man, a solo artist in his own right with debut album Manhood already doing well. Waxing about Barak Obama and rappin about rap’s bad rap.

And whadda you know, the man himself was so impressed with FUSED he trusted us enough to reveal a SURPRISE new album in February!! Be sure not to broadcast this information – the revolution will not be televised.

How did you feel when Obama won the election?
Excited at the historic moment and proud of the energy the people exhibited. That the masses of the people united on around electing Barak but sceptical of what the change would equate to in the real world.

In UK politics the distinction between left and right grows increasingly blurry. Is so much true in the US, that there’s not much distinction between democratic, independent or republican?
It’s all US imperialism and just different factions want to sit in the driver seat of power. Neither of the three is calling for revolutionary change. It’ll still be a white power system even with a black face as president unless reparations are distributed, the indigenous land and rights restored and justice is served for our political prisoners serving time. Because the latter resisted oppression. And A redistribution of wealth that eliminates capitalism and sucks the blood from the masses of people worldwide.

Who is in the Dead Prez PEOPLE’S ARMY, who are you willing to recruit and who are you hoping to conquer?
The People are the power. Dead Prez are members of our community promoting justice and power for our people. We don’t want to conquer anyone! We want to overthrow the yokes of oppression which is the system of white power and capitalist imperialist oppression wherever or whatever soil you find it on.

Your upcoming album Information Age – is the title something to do with the “Enlightened” western world which functions on the basis of knowledge being power?
Information age is about an era or period in your life where you come into an enlightened understanding of your own empowerment. There are many levels and meanings to it. To be “in formation” means to be organized and have a role to play. To be informed is to be aware of what’s going on inside you and around you and to have the understanding to impact yourself and environment in a positive progressive and productive manner. The information Age was also prophesized “if you can dig it” thousands of years ago by the Mayans to reach a point of universal alignment in the year 2012, which will be after the first 4 years of Barak in office.
So it’s as deep as the universe itself yet as real and relevant as the corner in your hood. And the new Dead Prez sound on the Information Age album will reflect both this galactic-new age energy as well as the raw reality of the hoods we call home. So we look at the so called “end of the world” as really a new beginning.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the past there’s been a lot of integrity in your lyrics in that they’re very honest. Too much for the radio I hear! Do you think the new album will get much radio play and if not, why?
Until we control the radio stations truth will always struggle for airtime. But those directly tuned in to the RBG [Revoltionary But gangster] frequency will be able to tune in regardless. Check our online sites www.bossupbu.com and www.deadprez.com I do think our sound will help us reach farther than we ever have though and who knows, you didnt think you would see a black president of the US but it happened so change is in the air, right? We’ll see. Whatever the people organize to make happen, is what’s gonna happen. That’s for sure cause the power is in the people not the stations.

Who is your greatest inspiration (dead or alive) and why?
People who dared to care about truth and justice and health and empowerment. People like Malcolm X, Bruce Lee, Curtis Mayfield are some of my constant inspirations. But my mother and my community of elders and peers who live this RBG shit with their dedication to our community. These are my inspirations.

Your Myspace page has a rifle on it – can you tell us a little about some of the aggression we see and hear in your work?
Correction, not aggression but protection. Self defence is common sense. And a rifle is just one form of defence. Political education is protection, spiritual awareness and development is protection, holistic health is protection. Economic development, moving in silence. The rifle is just a symbol of being armed but the wars we fight are physical, mental and spiritual as well as economic. So we don’t get hung up on the gun. The gun is just one part of a greater arsenal and in actuality it’s the last resort, not the first.

So why do you think rap music gets such a bad rap?
Because it’s so powerful the haters fear it and want to blame it for society’s problems. There’s definitely garbage and bullshit out here but that’s in any art or anything for that matter. But overall hip hop is THE platform of the masses of people that are going through the brunt of the systems bullshit and it has the potential even in it’s worst expression to be a voice of consciousness and awareness that challenges the status quo. And the powers that be fear its potential. Long as they can keep it on the diamonds and cars mentality all the time, they can control it because they control the diamonds and cars. But hip hop is from the streets and unless everybody in the streets got diamonds and cars and everything else we need, there’s gonna always be that spark, that resistance to the ruling class values.

Is the A album still due out in Feb 09?
Nah April. But we got a surprise album dropping in February…..Damn did I just give away the surprise!!? Stay tuned to www.deadprez.com

Words: Erica Crompton

Ex Sneaker Pimp Kelli has just  released her ace new  album ‘Rocking Horse’. Full of whimsical vocals and sparse folky arrangements, it’s just the thing to keep that warm glow inside in these cold winter months.

What have you been up to since the last album?
After Psychic Cat we decided to leave London and go travelling around Mexico and California. It has been a really amazing last few years, having no fixed abode; we’ve just been on the move. We sold everything and we didn’t miss any of it. I sold all my books, all my vinyl. It’s much better that they go to someone who really enjoys them. What is the point in material things if they are not being enjoyed? 

Do you think a lot of people would dream about doing the same but don’t have the get up and go?
I think they would and I think they should. You don’t realise how easy it is until you do it. A lot of people thought it would be pretty disastrous but since we left we’ve not looked back. When you haven’t got that much to lose you may as well make a really brave decision and really push it – usually I find it works out well. Now we can’t imagine settling down. We’re very nomadic; we have relied on the generosity of our friends.

What was your favourite place you went to?
It’s really, really hard to have a favourite because we went to so many beautiful places. I loved Mexico so much; I don’t think I went anywhere in the country that I didn’t love. We travelled all over, hitchhiking all the way through Baja. It was phenomenal – the truckers are so generous, hardly any of them spoke a word of English and we got by trading cigarettes, laughing and smiling. But my Spanish did get better, I had to learn a few words pretty fast! 
And California. It’s so amazing because again it’s such an open place – it’s very friendly and very positive. It seems like the perfect place for the love revolution. I think Americans have a great attitude; they must learn it in school! People are genuinely friendly, helpful and tolerant – it’s beautiful. I actually think we could learn a lot. When we think of Americans it’s usually only the wealthy ones on holiday in London and that’s obviously not a broad section of the population. The politicians and the tourists don’t paint a good example of their culture. Unless we travel there and experience that kind of warmth we don’t really see it. It’s a bit of an affront to English people and our reserve, but now when we come back from America we always try to bring a bit of that friendliness with us. 

Did you do any gigs on your travels?
I played at a guitar festival in Mexico that was the greatest fun, in Zihuatanejo. I had my guitar on me because I was writing songs, we just asked if we could come and play and they were cool with it. But we didn’t really go away to perform, it was to write and get some head space. I love playing the guitar and I love writing with the guitar but I am not that confident. I just wanted to explore and write – I was not compelled to busk for example!

Are you still travelling now?
We are a bit more rooted, but we are certainly all over England. I made the album in Scotland with Max Richter, so we were living there for a few months. Since then we’ve been getting the band together so I have been commuting between London and Birmingham.

How are you finding it being back in Birmingham?
I love it. I used to hate Birmingham, getting out was all I thought about as a kid and that’s why I went to London. It seemed so depressing and so grey. And now I love it, I love coming back, and obviously I love being around my family. I don’t want to sound corny, I hate that kind of patriotic stuff about where you come from but to me there is a friendliness and a warmth to Birmingham. There’s a really lovely feeling of being at home.

How are people taking to the new sound of Rocking Horse?
It’s all really positive so far. For me it’s really natural to want to explore more organic ways of making music, but to other people it is quite a big change. It’s the most personal album I’ve made because I wanted to try and make something that was really relevant to my own experiences.

Where does the title Rocking Horse come from? 
I feel like life is a paradox and we are always going between light and dark influences and the album is very much like that. Some of the songs are very light and airy and then some are bordering on the macabre. For me Rocking Horse personifies that paradox in human nature. 

Are the songs a product of your time on the road?
That’s were they were all conceived, if you like. They were mostly written around campfires. We had a tent, and that’s were we were living. Part of it was born out of desperation. When we were in London and I made ‘Psychic Cat’ not much seemed to be happening for us. We weren’t really getting the exposure that you need to be able to tour a record and to be able to do all that a record needs. It just went really quiet. I was left feeling like I needed something new, we didn’t have very much money and we weren’t happy. The best we could come up with was to sell everything and fuck off to Mexico and California for a bit! 

‘Rocking Horse’ is out now
www.kelliali.com 

Photos by Steve Gerrard

It seems that currently there is a disco revolution going on, and Andy Butler the brains and the disco beat behind Hercules & The Love Affair is at the forefront of this. 
This ‘musical project’ hailing from NY and signed to DFA are just quite simply dreamy and have crossed over into the realms of dance-stroke-disco with tremendous effect. Their debut self titled album received critical acclaim and rightly so. We relished our chance to grab 5 minutes with the super cool DJ turned promoter, and now producer. 

You moved from Denver to Brooklyn when you were younger – what influenced that decision?
There was nothing other than (puts on funny voice)  ‘where should I go next’? New York happened to spring into my head first at that particular time. It wasn’t a very profound moment unfortunately. However the only thing that really hooked me was going to visit the University, I later ended up attending. 

That school [NY University] is great and the first night I visited there was a live acid jazz band playing with a DJ cutting records and all of these students playing really out jazz music, oh and lots of beautiful women! It’s a very female-heavy school because it was previously an all-women’s school. I came from an all-boys high school, so I was so excited to be around all of these really cool girls dancing to really great music. Basically that night I realised ‘this is the school I want to go to’!

We are all big fans of the album the office! We all wondered what the main influences are behind the music?
Definitely synth-pop things like OMD, and essentials like Kraftwerk, and Yello who are also a huge influence on me. Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Dr. Buzzards Original Savannah Band, Arthur Russell, and all this kind of silly, kooky, and heartfelt disco music. There are also some more straight disco music influences together with classic house.

How did all of you get together to form the band?
It’s actually really strange. I was basically writing songs and I would have all my friends come round and sing. Eventually I had like 5 songs and my friend Anthony was like ‘you have all this material, why don’t you go and take this to a record label?’ So that’s how the band formed!
It’s really funny how it all worked out because it wasn’t thought out at all, it just all worked out. 
 
It states in the recent press cuttings on you guys that the band is quite an ‘experimental project’, so will there be another album?

YES! 
Phew….
I think that a lot of people do assume there will not be another album; it’s quite funny really. Things will definitely evolve, the shape of the group will evolve, and new people will be introduced. It’s really fun pitching music as more of a conceptual, really fluid process as opposed to this fixed thing distinguished by personalities and people. It’s more about the music, the sounds and the stories. I want to weave a web that’s quite extensive and not limiting. 

Obviously with your background as a DJ surely you could recommend three top tunes to play on the dancefloor?

Alright, (thinking for a few minutes). One record would definitely be the Stop and Go Dub of ‘Express Yourself’ by Madonna. It’s a kinda really early techno version of the track, which sounds great; it’s just pure classic. It’s very classic house sounding. 
Next up will be an early MK record. Perhaps a Mark Kinchen? He’s a Detroit producer, erm probably the Fourth Measure Men stuff? Yes, I’m going to choose ‘Only For You’ by Fourth Measure Men. That’s another good one. 
Lastly I’m going to choose DA Rebels ‘House Nation’ – classic Chicago House. 

You heard the man. Don’t know about you but we are to polish our best disco shoes and DANCE. 

Words: Kimberley Owen
Illustration: Nick Deakin

Although many may try, few work the retro bombshell look like Dita VonTeese. Largely because the model, burlesque dancer and fashion icon has more commitment to her style than most celebs have to their marriages. 
For someone with such bright lipstick, I’m a little surprised to find Dita softly spoken. Sure she’s confident, witty and feisty but it’s all so understated.Perhaps this is down to her gradual and organic rise to notoriety. The short story of her trajectory is from lingerie clerk to the biggest name in the burlesque revival.“Basically one thing led to another,” she said in her slow Michigan-hailing drawl, explaining how she came to be the biggest name in modern striptease. “I feel like the reason for me finding out about everything and why I’m successful is because I really got deep into the history of things.

“When I was working in the lingerie store I got into the history of lingerie and what women wore in each era. Then I found out about vintage lingerie and started collecting it, then I wanted to be photographed in it. So I started researching vintage style pin-up photos and then I found out the models in men’s 1930s and 1940s magazines were strippers and that’s when I learned about burlesque.
“It was all very natural and all very honest and just came from me wanting to know more.”

This outlook – and a background studying historic costuming – has spurred countless lingerie manufacturers to bay at her manicured feet to lend her household name to their ranges. Friday-night staple, Wonderbra were the brand to win her over and the Dita co-designed range launched this month.
Lured by the brand’s iconic reputation and the fact she still has her first Wonderbra, Dita sought inspiration from her private vintage collection to create her own dream piece (including an ambitious bra with a top wire) blending design details from her favourite decades.

“I have a huge collection but I felt like there were still these big fantasies and Wonderbra let me do that,” she said.Although it has the same traffic-stopping potential as the infamous Hello Boys campaign, the subtext for Dita’s collection is very different. She hopes to get women thinking differently about their lingerie and why they wear it.“I never use it as a tool for seduction,” she said. “I use it as a tool to seduce myself, have my own confidence and have a secret for myself.“Or say I do have some kind of sexual encounter, I’m ready any time. I like the idea of this effortless seduction where you’re not trying to be sexy, you just are.”

Unsurprisingly, Dita is not a fan of the buying to impress your boyfriend approach.“Why don’t you buy something sexy to wear for yourself and then your boyfriend just finds you in it?” she says, almost with exasperation.“That’s sexy. Then he’s going to remember you as that girl who was always sexy and wasn’t doing it for anyone else.”
It’s fascinating Dita has turned an interest in alternative fashion into hugely successful career. And she seems equally as taken at how fortuitous it is that she has fused a passion with a profession. “I’ve always been committed to my look and my style, completely committed head to toe, but I never thought it would turn into a career into the extent it has for me,” she admits.“I was just some obscure strange girl, obsessed with vintage lingerie and retro style, that’s the way I was I didn’t really think about what it could be. “It feels good and it feels right because I know I didn’t do it for the money or to be famous. That’s the secret to my success. I did it because I had to, because I love it. I didn’t have a choice because I’m obsessed with it in a way no one else is.“It’s like I never quit playing that game of dress up that I enjoyed when I was five. “Even if it wasn’t always the right choice and I didn’t keep my man, I still had a commitment to my own look and didn’t let it falter because this is who I am, this is what I enjoy, take it or leave it.”
By applying the same ethos to work, Dita became the biggest name in new burlesque and the first ever guest star to perform at the renowned Parisian Crazy Horse cabaret club (a career highlight for the performer).She said: “When I started doing mainstream events, people were saying ‘can you just wear a full bra and full-back panties?’“And I said ‘No. This is what I do. This is burlesque and burlesque is about G strings and pasties. Gypsy Rose Lee wore G strings and pasties and this is how it needs to be for me or I don’t want to it’.

“I had a strong commitment to it and keeping it true to the spirit of what it was, not trying to dumb it down and commercialise it and reminding people this is a racy form of entertainment and that shouldn’t change.“I started doing my show when there wasn’t even a burlesque revival. I was just a girl in a corset and stockings and high heels dancing to Big Ben music in a strip club.” Far from “just a girl” anymore, Von Teese has gone from those three minute slots in strip clubs to shows which cost $70,000 to finance and anywhere from six months to years to devise. With this sort of time and effort going in, it’s not hard to understand why Dita’s got to the point of not wanting to do her most famous routine where she bathes in a giant martini glass all the time.

“I insist people give the other acts a chance,” she said.“Most people who have seen all my acts will say the glass is the least extravagant and opulent. It’s the easiest one for me to do. It’s a piece of cake. I could do it blindfolded with one hand tied behind my back. But I want to challenge myself and think about things more and be a little nervous about how it’s going to go.” And if you’re thinking of booking a show, the new stuff is what you’re going to want to see. Dita has plans to move away from the playful 1940s-inspired routines to something a little more severe. “I wanted to do something just a little darker, so I’ve built this really big opium den set and it’s really beautiful. I’m doing the classic, evil dragon lady smoking so much opium that she starts taking her clothes off, so it’s a darker show. “It will be my most expensive show to date for sure.”

It’s hard not be won over by Dita. I like the way the world thinks she is out to titillate men, when, truly, she’s out to entertain herself,“It’s nice to see an alternative form of sexy,” she says when I ask about burlesque’s unisex appeal. “Besides what the media feeds us of women running on the beach in slow motion with the spray tan and perfect body and all natural make up, not all of us can fit into that image. Some of us need a lot more help and I’m talking about myself.“I could never fit into that and a lot of other women are like ‘well I can’t be that girl but maybe I can try to be this girl. I can put on red lips and false lashes and a garter belt and stockings and play with a feather boa and feel fabulous‘. “It’s another version of sexy and those of us who don’t fit into the Baywatch beauty, we have our own way.”

Words: Kerry Eustice
Illustration: Marguerite Sauvage

With five studio albums, a hefty number of globetrotting tours and their own Liverpool based venue to their names you would think the world would walk, talk, think and eat Ladytron. Alas it seems that the band are still hovering under the commercial radar albeit with a cult following in tow. 

With the recent release of their quirky, haunting yet addictive album Velocifero under their belts, we felt after nearly over-consuming this masterpiece in the Fused office it was time to show Ladytron some love. We managed to snatch a brief chat with Danny from the band during a rare break in their never-ending touring schedule.  

What are you guys currently up too?
We have just kind of finished the North American Tour, and we have done lots of festivals over the summer.

We really like the new album, how have you changed as a band on this album?
When we started it felt like a work in progress, we were just experiencing things as we went along. We are just really more aware of things now. I mean it was 8 years ago the first album came out! 
On the first album obviously you feel a certain pressure as it’s your first, but I think we have avoided the ‘dreaded second album syndrome’ that most bands encounter. I think we have been lucky to have been, allowed to develop gradually over four albums. Commercial pressure can often be quite pressing so we are lucky in that respect. Most new bands get shelved for another act or even dropped after their first album due to the commercial pressure on them to obtain a certain chart position. This is mainly down to the attention spans of an audience as Myspace and the instant accessibility of music and this has increased their exposure to a constant flow of new music and therefore shortens attention spans. 

So how was it working with Vicarious Bliss (Ed Banger Records) and Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails, ModwheelMood) on the album? 
We produced this album ourselves and just drafted in several people for collaborations. It was great, it was just like adding an extra band member to the equation each time we worked with someone new. 

Our first album was totally self-produced and our second album was co-produced by Jim Abiss so we have experienced both variations. We now understand the band completely after working together for so long so we felt that we could self produce this album and just bring in a few collaborators. Sometimes bands don’t actually want to make decisions but they need reassurance occasionally.

You seem to be touring constantly the tour schedule looks huge? How do you cope touring for so long? 
Sometimes it’s quite deceptive it’s often looks a lot more than it actually is. We tend to draw the line at any sections of a long tour spanning over 8 weeks from home! It really depends where we are touring, now we have a nice bus and the facilities are great – we don’t even have to share DVDs, we all have our own little quiet time and Internet access too! There is no need for forced activities to take place anymore – ha-ha. Oh and American facilities are great. 

So what are your favourite places to play?
North America is obviously a winner, however Russia is a special place too – St. Petersburg was amazing. We actually played a great gig in Bogota [Columbia]. People often have a perception that South America is quite dangerous in comparison to other places, but we played four cities there and they all went smoothly except one.

So what happened at that ‘one’ gig?
Well we ended up getting shut down by the army! There were lots of soldiers and we were playing and all of a sudden the music stopped suddenly and we were just standing there! I think it may have been a scheduling issue though….

Words:Kimberley Owen
Illustration: Stevie Copter

Catch Ladytron at the following venues:

18th November Oxford Academy

19th November Bristol Academy

21st November London Shepherds Bush Empire

23rd November Brighton Concorde 2

24th November Manchester- Academy 2

25th November Sheffield- Academy

26th November Glasgow- ABC

28th November Aberdeen- Moshulu

To be given the ‘Maya Wild’ treatment must be quite an honour. Being immortalized by her is the delight of many a famous face who have been delicately sketched in her unique lo-fi way. Having drawn the good and the bad she even makes the ugly look less so. The London based Illustrator and Art Director’s work has graced the pages of magazines worldwide and as a result sees her become increasingly busy with commissions and collaborations as the weeks go by. Along with exhibitions in Paris, London and Tokyo she also designs fabric patterns, album cover artwork and animations.

Please introduce yourself and tell us how you got into illustration?
I didn’t set out to be an illustrator. I always drew a lot when I was younger but I ended up doing a degree in fine art and specialized in photography and installation work. When I finished this I started drawing again and really enjoyed it. I sent some of my drawings to magazines and luckily they got published. I still do photography and I try to use my own photographs as reference for my drawings wherever possible.

How would you describe your style?
My style is hands on, traditional craft. I use pencils, coloured pencils, scissors, glue and felt tips. I’m really into the lo-fi, handmade image.

Can you describe the process behind your work?
The process is different for each commission. When I first started out doing Illustration I was very constrained by each clients briefs, but now that I have become more experienced and confident I often get commissions where I art direct and have full control. This makes it much more fun. The great thing about illustration is that it’s such a wide area and can be taken anywhere. It’s also important if you are an Illustrator to not be constrained to one style, so that it keeps it interesting for you and your clients.

What are your major influences?
It’s very difficult to make money and have a successful career doing something creative without going mainstream and commercial. What inspires me most are people that are successful yet have kept a strong sense of individuality, like the rapper Amanda Blank, the filmmaker and artist Miranda July and the Illustrator Julie Verhoeven.

What soundtrack do you work to?
I always have music on while I’m working. Everything from rap to electro to classical. I also listen to the radio a lot. I’ve even started following The Archers.

What are your thoughts on contemporary illustration?
Right now Illustration is being used more than ever on television, in magazines, on album cover artwork. So it’s an exciting time to be an Illustrator.

What would be your dream brief?
I really would love to do more music album cover artwork and I would love to do an ad campaign for someone like Marc Jacobs.