Allo, Darlin' - Henry Rollins Don't Dance (WeePop!)

Hot, isn't it?

By rights, everyone should think that Elizabeth Darling is too clever for her own good. Her songs are full of references to (hey!) Popular Icons of our Time, and could be thrown away as some kind of sub-Hibbett fancy.

The fact they're life affirming nuggets of pop, therefore, should be cherished. 'Henry Rollins Don't Dance' is the perfect accompaniment to Pocketbooks' 'Footsteps' - a couple of songs that rely on nothing more than pure innocence to make them modern treasures.

Whereas the title track and 'Dear Stephen Hawkins' are full of life and zest, it's the mournful, Lucksmiths-y 'Heartbeat Chilli' which makes me happy. Full of couplets most bands would die for, the fact that it's a b-side shows that Darling has brilliant songs coming out of every orifice.

I've cooled down a bit now.

Life has it in for us, Vol. 2 - available now(ish)!

I somehow managed to shift around 170 copies of the first volume of Life Has it in For Us, which was extremely heartening and made me more excited about the second ep.

I know there are a million cd-r labels out there, so I hope you can find time for one more. Volume 2 is available from next Monday, and features:

Standard Fare - A Night With a Friend
Boy Genius - Eleanor
Mascot Fight - Terry is Chicago Sun
Liechtenstein - Roses in the Park
The Specific Heats - End of an Error
The Besties - Bone Valley Deposit
The Middle Ones - Freely With You

It's free, but if you could see your way to sending £1.50 (£2.50 Europe and rest of the world) to alayerofchips at hotmail dot com via Pay Pal, that'd be lovely.

Interview with Marisa Bestie

'Twas the Monday after Indietracks 2007, and we were all knackered. And yet around 40 hardy souls stayed up in Nottinghamshire to see The Besties play with The Deirdres on what was possibly the most joyous gig I've ever put on.

The bad news is that The Besties didn't tour the last album in the UK. The good news is that Marisa Bergquist is another ace band, and they're playing in Nottingham for us on Thursday 23 July, before heading off to this year's Indietracks.

Such a perfect circle led me to ask Marisa some questions. Here are her answers.

How long have you been in the Specific Heats, and how did the band get together?

I've been playing with The Heats for about a year and a half now, although Mat's been doing the band in one form or another for several years, with various lineups including solo. Mat and I met in 2004 at the first New England Popfest- He was there playing bass in a great band called Shumai (also featuring on drums one Mr. Frank E. Korn who would later join The Besties) and our bands just kind of hit if off. When we Besties realized what huge pervs they all were we knew we'd be great friends. I later found that Mat had his own band, The Specific Heats, who the Besties went on to play with many times. Mat asked me to sing a duet with him called Carl Sagan on the Heats' first album Aboard The Spaceship Of The Imagination which was in production. I was so flattered! I remember listening to the demo on the bus on the way up to Boston to record and thinking what a great songwriter Mat was and hoping not to screw it all up! The session went well and the recording came out nicely. From that experience I think we both realized how much we liked working together, so when the Heats lost their bass/organ player (the lovely and talented Jen Kaminsky) Mat asked me to take over Farfisa duties.

How does this it fit in with your stuff with The Besties?

The Besties and The Specific Heats have each grown in very different directions from our common indiepop roots- the Besties' punk leanings began to influence our sound, while Mat's love of surf and garage is really showing what he's writing these days. That said, I think Mat and I are both people who are moved strongly by melody, and I think that's where there's a mutual admiration for each other's writing, which is why we like working together so much. Of course one of the things I like the most about being in The Heats is that, unlike in The Besties, I only sing occasionally so I'm free to focus more on playing the Farfisa and, most importantly, headbangin.

Can we buy Specific Heats records?

Yes you can! Our newest release, the Back Through Thyme 7", as well as the first full-length Aboard The Spaceship Of The Imagination are available via mailorder through Total Gaylord Records, or by emailing thespecificheats@gmail.com. Digital copies can be purchased at Itunes, Emusic and Amazon. Or if you live in Greece you can buy the 7" it from Lost in Thyme, a really great garage fanzine!

How did you hear about Indietracks and what are you looking forward to most about it?

We started hearing about it when we were at the Emmaboda festival in Sweden in the summer of 2007. People were talking about this festival in the UK that took place on a train and it sounded so amazing. So glad to finally be playing it. I'm unbelievably stoked to be seeing TEENAGE FANCLUB!!! But I have to say, the thing I look forward to most is hanging out with some of the awesome people I met when the Besties toured Europe. Are you guys ready to hang out?!

How did the last Besties album go down in the US?

I don't know- good, I guess? It's hard to say. We got some really great reviews, also some really awful (and bizarrely personal) ones. But we were happy with the record we made, our friends and fans like it, so what more can you really ask? What I learned from reading the negative reviews, as well as noticing the lack of reviews at all, was that perhaps it didn't have as broad an appeal as maybe we thought it did or were lead to believe it had- but that doesn't make it any less of a record. At all. And I'll never let a "music critic" or anyone else make me feel bad about myself, my music, or the choices I've made with my life. Fuck that!

What's the best new band in the US right now?

The Specific Heats! No..... The Besties! Ugh... You decide!

Are you at all jealous of the success Pains of Being Pure at Heart are having?

The short and honest answer to your question is yes, if only in the sense that of course every band wants to do well. Mostly we were just thrilled to watch them catapult to indie super-stardom because they're great, happen to be the nicest folks ever, and have always been big supporters of our band. We couldn't be more pleased that their music is reaching as many people as it is now. But being envious of their exact position and circumstances, no. It's funny, our record Home Free was released on the same day as theirs and you can see the uh, very different trajectories of our two bands from that point. Comparing these trajectories has been interesting for me- it really clarified for me what I do and don't want for my band. What they've got going on (huge festivals, blog presence, television appearances, etc) isn't exactly what's right for The Besties. Now that's not to say that if we blew up (juuuuust a little) I'd wish it away if it meant we were able to reach a few more people, have an easier time booking tour, etc. But for now I'm actually quite happy being a basement band- it feels real to me and it's just who we are.

I'm also aware of the danger of feeling that you're owed something because of the choices you've made in your life. When you play in a touring band at our level, you do things like work shitty jobs, live in crumbling apartments or nowhere at all, and make all manner of personal sacrifices in order to make it all physically and financially possible, and for some people that leads to high expectations and extreme bitterness if those expectations are not met. You have to remember that no matter how hard you work, or what you give up in your daily life, people still might not like your band and you have to be ok with that. Welcome it even- because most likely it means you're doing something right- and keep on going because you believe in it. There's simply no room for a sense of entitlement in making music- at least any music that matters.

What's your most useful festival survival tip?

Poop in the woods as opposed to using those nausea-inducing port-o-lets. After day 1it's just not worth it to go into those things for any length of time, no matter how brief. But be considerate and find a spot away from the path, naturally.

Transmittens - Our Dreams (Wee Pop!)

Who ever wants to actually open a Wee Pop! release? They're almost too beautiful, aren't they? They also remind of Ye Olde Paydays, but that's another story.

Transmittens play all sorts of tricks with your mind. They go all sickly sweet on Boo and Sparklemittens (which they rhyme with kittens - oh yeah!), but then there's the indiepop torch song of My Heart's in a Dumpster, which ticks every box in the fey boy meets fey girl situation. And on the other (third?) hand there's the punky Fingers Crossed, which sort of sounds like Helen Love playing a Lucksmiths song. Hmm, that might not be strictly accurate, but it sounds like that to me, alright?

Saturday Socks also rattles along at a fair old pace, and sounds a little bit Elefant 6, maybe. But, ultimately, you come back to indiepop, and on Our Dreams, Transmittens do it just about as good as anyone else at the moment.

Those who still mourn the perfect demise of The Deirdres should get an earful of Transmittens. Sure, they don't sound half as chaotic, but there's the boy-girl vocals which have the same innocent charm that first turned me on to those oiks from Derby. High praise OR WHAT?

Bloody Vandals

A note from Jonny Lee Hart of Leeds poppers the Chiara Ls. Or, as they're now called The Kiara Elles. Jonny alerts me to record label called Vandal, and it's run by the people behind the old 48 Crash label.

Any road round, as they (maybe) say in Yorkshire, there's launch night for the label which will be in Leeds at the really pretty brilliant Joseph's Well pubs on 3 July called A NIGHT OF VANDALISM... dun, dun, dunnnnnnn!.. and The Kiara Elles are playing, so that'll be nice. I'd go along if I were you.

The Pete Green Indietracks interview!

I remember, way back in 2007 (them were the days eh, lads?) camping opposite Pete Green (then Juggernautless) at the first Indietracks festival. Ah, I can still smell him now...

Of course, back then, it was all fields around Butterley, and the trains ran on steam, and you could still get a seat in the church after 4pm in the afternoon. Fancy that! So, two long years on, I thought it was about time we cast our minds back, and reminisced about that long, hot summer of 2007...


What were your initial thoughts when you first heard about Indietracks?

First thought: "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Second thought: "Hang on – how am I gonna get there?" Indietracks is a combination of wonderful things which none of us ever remotely imagined somebody might put together. It's like Wash & Go, but with steam trains and indiepop instead of shampoo and conditioner. And a shower of real ale. The phrase 'best thing ever' tends to be squandered on YouTube clips of funny cats, but it's fully justified when it comes to Indietracks.

What came first? Indietracks or the train enthusiasm?

I got interested in heritage lines and steam after I had a go on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway in 2005, a couple of years before Indietracks began. It kind of helped that they had a real ale coach on the train with a lovely little purpose-built bar. I've always been fond of trains really, though – it was just a question of coming out at the right moment, in a tolerant environment and with a supportive group of friends around me. Not that I'm a spotter, you understand. Honest! 'Enthusiast' is a much better word.

Which has been your favourite Indietracks? 2007 or 2008?

2008 was amazing but I guess 2007 edges it for me, if only cos I was there that year as a performer as well as a fan, so there were two different kinds of thrills. Anyway, I confidently expect 2009 to be even better than both. They're all fantastic though, aren't they? I can't see anything at all to be less than joyful about. It's like trying to choose your favourite member of The Deirdres.

And what has been your favourite Indietracks moment?

My favourite Indietracks moment and possibly my favourite whole life moment was during the Pocketbooks singalong on the train in 2007. They asked me to join them on guitar but I didn't really know what we were playing – it was half their songs, half covers – so I was kind of muddling through but having a blast anyway. Then Dan very quickly showed me the chords for 'I'm Not Going Out' just before we played it, and by the mercy of the pop gods it came out note perfect, and at the end Dan and me turned round to each other and laughed in amazement and joy. This combination of musical perfection, dozens of people having so much fun, and the sheer weirdness of all this happening on a moving steam train made me so happy that I had an out-of-body experience, but then I got a bit thirsty and there wasn't a bar up there. It's always the way.

Sometimes when I feel a bit down, I'll go on the internet and watch the video of us all doing 'Happy Hour' later in the set, and it never fails to make me grin and go "awww!" and think maybe that was the hour when my entire existence on Earth became worthwhile.

Has Indietracks turned you on to going to other festivals at all?

Not really. I mean it's done the best it can, but the other festivals need to try harder. For a long, long time I'd just never have even considered going to one – mud, crap line-ups, mud, expensive, corporate sponsors, mud, pooing into a bucket, possibility of horrible people trampling on your tent. Indietracks has proved it doesn't have to be like that, but I look down the line-ups of other festivals and there's maybe two or three bands out of 40 that I'd be bothered about seeing. I guess something like Primavera or ATP would come closest but, I dunno, just too many people. Maybe Emmaboda sometime, if I ever get a passport. But in reality there's probably more chance of me giving in to my mum and letting her drag me to one of these terrifying hippy-folky festivals she goes to in deepest Lincolnshire.

Do you think there'll come a time when Indietracks will have to veer away slightly from indiepop?

Hey, now pack that in, you mardy old goth. Why would it? I've interviewed Stuart Indietracks for my new zine Bye Bye, Duffel Boy and he put my mind completely at rest about the future of the festival, so there's really no need to sit in the cemetery with a bottle of Thunderbird obsessing about everything having to die. I know they lost a few quid in 2007 but there's loads going this year. Indiepop – it's the new craze, you know!

What are your thoughts on this year's line-up?


This year there's a cracking mix of acts who I've seen a few times, and already know to be chuffing brilliant, with a load of really intriguing new or new-ish names who sound really promising from a quick listen on last.fm: people like The Specific Heats and Rose out of The Pipettes. Also: ohmygod ohmygod Eux Autres! This year's line-up is the best yet. I live in daily terror that just before they split up The Lucksmiths will be announced as a late headliner and ruin everything!

And what do you have planned for your set this year? Any surprises?

We're hoping to have a special guest join the band on stage for a couple of songs, but I'm not telling you who, cos then it wouldn't be a surprise. Before you ask, no, it isn't Morrissey – they're much prettier than that. What I can tell you now, though, is that just before the festival The Pete Green Corporate Juggernaut will be releasing 'Hey Dr Beeching' as a free mp3 download. Wooo-wooooo! I wrote it so I'd have a train song to play at Indietracks in 2007, so it's all kind of fitting. Finally, and most importantly of all, I can reveal exclusively to A Layer of Chips that I'll be sporting a new and rather fetching pair of red festival shorts.

Last few copies of Life Has it in For Us Vol. 1

There's about 12 copies of Life Has it in For Us Vol. 1 on my desk at work, so if anyone wants one, please send £1.50 if you're in the UK (£2.50 rest of the world) by paypal to alayerofchips@hotmail.com.

In case you hadn't been paying attention, the track listing is:

MJ Hibbett & the Validators - One of the Walls of My House Fell In
Moustache of Insanity - You and Things
The Hillfields - Delivered
Pocketbooks - Summertime
The Crayon Fields - How Loved You Are
Northern Portrait - I Give You Two Seconds to Entertain Me
Give it Ups - Four Day Week

Volume 2 is out in July, and is a BELTER.