Easyworld Feature - 01/09/02
Easyworld
"Being uncool is a distinct advantage," Luci Jameson charts the fightback from Middle Class England
“It’s not exactly the Bronx, is it?” says Easyworld’s Dav Ford with more than a smattering of understatement. He’s talking about the band’s hometown of Eastbourne. Bass player Jo lives in a slightly more risky neighbourhood apparently - “There’s shootings and stuff, but [Jo] probably lives in the nicest house there.”
The closest they come to death and despair is with Ford’s rather gruesome previous job at a hospital, which reportedly included incinerating foetuses, whereas the impossibly affable drummer Glenn was once a member of the magic circle. They have no working class affectations; no mockney aspirations. “We’re not dockers from Liverpool and we’re not the chaps about town from Noo Yoik. We’re middle class and white – what the hell can you do with that?”
In this band’s case, you set about writing infectious pop rock songs for the kids [the who? – Ed] to get down to. The band seems to feel a lot of affection for these kids – but wait – does Ford have a sinister plan to lead them astray? “It’s like the training schemes they run at football clubs. We like to start them young and give them a good education. I think we’re a far better influence on kids than school can ever be, so we actively encourage kids to bunk off school and come to our gigs.” Let’s just hope the Daily Mail never gets hold of that snippet.
Mr Ford seems quite into his educating though; and claims that the band’s last single, “You Make Me Want To Drink Bleach” was an attempt, not to make impressionable fans head for the Domestos, but to do something altogether more intriguing, “The idea was to invent a turn of phrase to be accepted into the English language. You find that if someone says something once, then someone might say it again and if everyone understands what you mean by that then eventually everyone’s saying it. I don’t think that it’s going to happen with ‘Bleach’ but it’s about the idea of being clean inside and outside and generally everything being perfect.” Possibly the sentiment is a little too close to the after effects of colonic irrigation to really take off, but is a valiant effort nonetheless.
So, to recap, the kids must bunk off school, drink bleach…and have kinky sex, according to new single “You and Me”. Oh, God, please somebody get me the Daily Mail on the phone. I can’t wait to read the two-page spread on the evils of Easyworld following its release.
"So come around and see me/I’ll mix a mean Martini/And maybe later beat me senseless/And after dinner eat me" - ("You and Me")
I put it to Ford that he’s really a filthy bugger in the closet, but he’s insistent, even though his band seem unsure:
Dav: "That is absolutely not me!"
Jo: "So you say…"
Glenn: "Not what I’ve heard!"
Oh, OK, explain yourself, young man.
“It started off as a joke. I really like it, but I’m also mildly embarrassed of it. The idea was that it’s jazzy, samples based dance music. I thought it was quite a laugh, so I played it to the others and they said ‘We have to play that song’. Then we played it to the record label and they decided it should be a single and then after being told that enough times, I thought ‘Why the hell not?’”
See, the original incarnation was all jaunty horns. It could well have been the theme music to a Carry On film. It begs you to use the word ‘romp’. But now it’s an altogether different story. The single, due for release on 9 September, has been transformed by producer Owen Morris into a full-blown rock beast with loud guitars. It is, quite simply, brilliant.
On the b-side is a live favourite – the faithfully observed and beautifully performed “Hopelessly Devoted To You”. Yes, it’s that one, the one that Sandy sings by the paddling pool in “Grease”. It suits Ford’s soaring vocals perfectly. In a time where it seems de rigeur to do the ironic b-side cover, it is fabulous to hear one that works so well, and isn’t just an excuse to be a bit clever. Back down, Travis!
Still, even if this single does make them bigger than Mandy Dingle’s knickers, they’re still not all that bothered. To them, says Ford, being uncool is a distinct advantage.
“So far, we haven’t been dependent on the press, radio or TV. We’ve now got to a position where regardless of that, we can get an audience. We’re not dependent on someone deciding we’re cool this week. You can guarantee that when you get hyped, they may as well brand you with a sell-by date.”
"Being uncool is a distinct advantage," Luci Jameson charts the fightback from Middle Class England
“It’s not exactly the Bronx, is it?” says Easyworld’s Dav Ford with more than a smattering of understatement. He’s talking about the band’s hometown of Eastbourne. Bass player Jo lives in a slightly more risky neighbourhood apparently - “There’s shootings and stuff, but [Jo] probably lives in the nicest house there.”
The closest they come to death and despair is with Ford’s rather gruesome previous job at a hospital, which reportedly included incinerating foetuses, whereas the impossibly affable drummer Glenn was once a member of the magic circle. They have no working class affectations; no mockney aspirations. “We’re not dockers from Liverpool and we’re not the chaps about town from Noo Yoik. We’re middle class and white – what the hell can you do with that?”
In this band’s case, you set about writing infectious pop rock songs for the kids [the who? – Ed] to get down to. The band seems to feel a lot of affection for these kids – but wait – does Ford have a sinister plan to lead them astray? “It’s like the training schemes they run at football clubs. We like to start them young and give them a good education. I think we’re a far better influence on kids than school can ever be, so we actively encourage kids to bunk off school and come to our gigs.” Let’s just hope the Daily Mail never gets hold of that snippet.
Mr Ford seems quite into his educating though; and claims that the band’s last single, “You Make Me Want To Drink Bleach” was an attempt, not to make impressionable fans head for the Domestos, but to do something altogether more intriguing, “The idea was to invent a turn of phrase to be accepted into the English language. You find that if someone says something once, then someone might say it again and if everyone understands what you mean by that then eventually everyone’s saying it. I don’t think that it’s going to happen with ‘Bleach’ but it’s about the idea of being clean inside and outside and generally everything being perfect.” Possibly the sentiment is a little too close to the after effects of colonic irrigation to really take off, but is a valiant effort nonetheless.
So, to recap, the kids must bunk off school, drink bleach…and have kinky sex, according to new single “You and Me”. Oh, God, please somebody get me the Daily Mail on the phone. I can’t wait to read the two-page spread on the evils of Easyworld following its release.
"So come around and see me/I’ll mix a mean Martini/And maybe later beat me senseless/And after dinner eat me" - ("You and Me")
I put it to Ford that he’s really a filthy bugger in the closet, but he’s insistent, even though his band seem unsure:
Dav: "That is absolutely not me!"
Jo: "So you say…"
Glenn: "Not what I’ve heard!"
Oh, OK, explain yourself, young man.
“It started off as a joke. I really like it, but I’m also mildly embarrassed of it. The idea was that it’s jazzy, samples based dance music. I thought it was quite a laugh, so I played it to the others and they said ‘We have to play that song’. Then we played it to the record label and they decided it should be a single and then after being told that enough times, I thought ‘Why the hell not?’”
See, the original incarnation was all jaunty horns. It could well have been the theme music to a Carry On film. It begs you to use the word ‘romp’. But now it’s an altogether different story. The single, due for release on 9 September, has been transformed by producer Owen Morris into a full-blown rock beast with loud guitars. It is, quite simply, brilliant.
On the b-side is a live favourite – the faithfully observed and beautifully performed “Hopelessly Devoted To You”. Yes, it’s that one, the one that Sandy sings by the paddling pool in “Grease”. It suits Ford’s soaring vocals perfectly. In a time where it seems de rigeur to do the ironic b-side cover, it is fabulous to hear one that works so well, and isn’t just an excuse to be a bit clever. Back down, Travis!
Still, even if this single does make them bigger than Mandy Dingle’s knickers, they’re still not all that bothered. To them, says Ford, being uncool is a distinct advantage.
“So far, we haven’t been dependent on the press, radio or TV. We’ve now got to a position where regardless of that, we can get an audience. We’re not dependent on someone deciding we’re cool this week. You can guarantee that when you get hyped, they may as well brand you with a sell-by date.”
posted by Luci @ 7:59 AM
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