The Sheffield Scenester

The Velotones Interview @ Nosh February 5th 2011

We had originally intended to meet up for a chat down at The Frog And Parrot, but found on a Saturday afternoon that the noise level was a bit much for recording purposes and so we all traipsed down to a nearby coffee bar in search of quieter surroundings. We all settled down, each of us with drink in hand, so once the tea bags and cappuccino dustings were sorted, we began…….

Scenester: How long have you actually been together?

The Velotones: Since about last summer, it was last July we got together, you know as friends and thought we’d have a little try at it. We started practicing in The Attic you know just once a week, we weren’t going to take it seriously……. We spoke to someone in Frog And Parrot, and they were looking to rent one of the practice room’s so we that’s when we thought about taking it more seriously after that.

Scenester: So how did you all meet?

The Velotones: Matt and Jamie are second cousins, then Matt and Kris met through friends in our local pub and said “Do you wanna start a band?” that were it…..Jamie got on board as well even though he had never picked up a bass in his life, he’d played guitar…ish!!! - if you know what we mean….not like what Matt can do, but when asked just said “Yeah I’ll do that!” So he went out and bought himself a bass and amp and that were it…..

Scenester: The name Velotones, were did that come from?

The Velotones: We don’t even know where it came from because it doesn’t really mean anything really….. We had loads of names written down with a friend and he had that one down as well, but we don’t know where it’s come from at all, we don’t even know what it means!! Some names are really rubbish….but that came from nowhere and just stuck, you know like when you say something, and you think ‘Yeah I like that!’ We didn’t even Google it!

Scenester: So how did 2010 work out for you?

The Velotones: Good really, cos first of all when we did get our practice room, we thought we’re gonna get our stuff together, write some songs before we jump into gigging, to make sure we get everything sorted. We wanted to get a set we were totally happy with and not just go with a song that we thought, ‘Oh that’s alright!’, so now we’ve got a set that we’re happy with really, we didn’t want to jump in and rush it really. We actually practiced for at least five months before we did our first gig just to make sure we were ready. Our first gig was back at the beginning of November, but originally we were going to start at the beginning of this year…but we thought we’re ready now. So we had three tracks recorded and then got into gigging through Danielle from Dead Dolls, she knows the guy from Live Wire, sent him our tracks and he liked ‘em so put us on!

Scenester: So how does the actual writing process work between you then?

The Velotones: What happens is we usually just start jamming, one of us usually starts with something, just messing about really. If Matt gets a good riff then we just try and work round it and then the lyrics usually come after, because they just get improvised at this point. The lyrics are usually what are felt at the time, you know sort of heartfelt, it’s not a question of talking about what’s happening around the world at the moment.

Scenester: The three tracks that are available for download are three different styles of music, was that a conscious choice on your part to avoid pigeon holing?

The Velotones: We are really a blues/garage rock group….but the three tracks we recorded, originally we had about six songs, but we chose them because they were the widest range. We’ve got ‘Take Me Home’ which is bluesy which is the way we’re going, blues with a bit of a grungy bass, then we’ve got ‘This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll’ which is a bit nuts, a bit heavier, and then there’s ‘Stolen Town’ which is more melodic. So we got the three songs which we thought would cover the entire spectrum of what we can do.

Scenester: So what are your views on the local music scene right now?

The Velotones: There’s loads of bands out there doing well, like Cut Your Wings, it seems like Sheffield has got into that type of music. Sheffield has always had good bands and good music….but a lot of bands have not got the recognition they deserve, but that’s one of them things really. To be honest there was a big boom over five years ago, but its swings and roundabouts really as right now boy bands are really popular, but bands will come back again. There’s loads of bands that are coming out that deserve to be up there, but right now it’s like there’s no-one in the charts to look up to, there’s no personalities at all! You take a band like Kings Of Leon, a lot of people who followed them in the beginning aren’t really bothered with them anymore…cos they’ve gone too far way from what they first stood for, but they’re not going to complain cos they’re one of the biggest bands in the world now!

Scenester: If you could gig with anyone at all who would it be?

The Velotones: Ohh that’s a good question! Not sure, it’s a hard question really….but Pink Floyd and definitely Oasis, not Beady Eye though! T Rex, you know bands like that, proper rock ‘n’ roll and Creedence, yeah, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Nirvana, but locally definitely Dead Sons and Wet Nuns, they can put on a good show. Believe it or not there’s not a lot out there we don’t like, it’s just that we’re not into that kind of music with some bands. Everyone’s trying to get somewhere with their own type of music and you have to respect that, it may not be to everyone’s taste, but you can still appreciate what they’re doing. Basically if anyone has the b*lls to get up on stage then at the very least they have to be worth listening to!

A sentiment long held by us at Sheffield Scenester, but on with the next question: Any parting words?

The Velotones: We want to get out and gig, we’ve only just started in Sheffield….but it would be good to go to Manchester, meanwhile we’re going back in the studio to get another three tracks down, so we’re going to put those with the three that we’ve got and put together some kind of EP, do an EP launch. It would be great to tour cos that’s what it’s all about really, but for now we’ll just keep writing and keep gigging!

That pretty much wrapped up the interview and so we moved onto a couple of relaxed shots as they chatted amongst themselves, for some reason or other the topic of conversation turned to breakfast cereals and profound questions like “Whatever happened to those toys you used to get in the boxes?”, now apparently “Sugar Puffs used to get the best toys!” until someone dropped a bomb with the phrase “Weetabix and jam!” An almost repulsed expression of “Jam!!!” was naturally forthcoming, closely followed by the surreal concept of “I’d get milk in and mix it all up to mush!” This philosophical debate raged for some time while we took our necessary group shots….but it has been recorded and saved for posterity in case any further insights on breakfast cereals are required. Lastly we’d like to thank The Velotones, namely Jamie Duckworth, Mathew hall and Kris Senior, for their time and wish them all the best in the future!