Miss the Occupier: The Beautiful Occupation

Miss The Occupier are the antithesis of all that’s beardy, blokey and folky about the Scottish music scene. Blessed with a frontwoman in Roz Davies who epitomises alternative glamour, and the flair of musicians Magnus Henderson and Ione Campbell, this band has the sound and vision to eat Scotland whole.

The trio have been gathering critical mass since former DJ Ione Campbell became a concrete addition to the line-up in 2007. They haven’t slouched since: playing festivals such as Wickerman and Hinterland north of the border and various Ladyfests south of it; supporting everyone from Bis to The Fall; and self-releasing an accomplished debut, Recovery Position. Davies sums it up: “We’re quite productive when we put our minds to it.”

This sort of measured energy mirrors their music. Miss The Occupier tracks are short, snappy, clever. Henderson’s guitar alternately lets out bright sparks of melody and torrents of feedback. Basslines of the school of Deal bounce along, while Campbell’s choppy drums beef things up. At times, they sound like Sonic Youth in miniature; at others, a more thoughtful Be Your Own Pet; at others again, The B-52’s with less quirk and more controlled spite. “We’re influenced by popular culture, by ideas, by what’s happening around us,” says Davies. “In terms of music, there’s so many varying influences…” She unsurprisingly names S-K and SY as well as Nick Cave and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and claims that Campbell’s former profession has left its mark: “Ione’s into beats, beats, beats!”

Campbell and Henderson are overshadowed in Miss The Occupier’s growing pile of press cuttings by chatter about Davies’ image, which is proving an unsurprising focal point for journos – with her bubblegum pink bob and glam-meets-grunge look, she stands out a mile. Davies is reasonable: “It’s only going to help so far – if people come to see us, then hopefully the music stands up too.” Henderson agrees. “If I was annoyed about people focussing on Roz’s image,” he says, witheringly, “I’d be spectacularly missing the point of being in a band. I’d be better off being a dull, stool-bound solo artist.”

Dull isn’t this band’s style; they look sharp and coherent on stage. Do we detect an aesthetic? “Bands need an image, and it’s important to consider aesthetics, not only focus on the music,” says Davies. “We try to think about what it all looks like!” They didn’t always look this good, though. “We used to have a slight obsession with skulls and crossbones, and pirates… but we got over that.”

Miss The Occupier also claim bands of the 90s riot grrl movement as an influence, and even today, it’s rare to see a woman as powerful as Davies perform. Is she a feminist? “I feel that we’re all equal… I would certainly describe myself as a feminist in attitude in many ways, but I don’t really feel that women are subjugated in music any more, so perhaps there’s less of a reason to be outwardly or aggressively feminist. I don’t really think about my gender when I’m playing, although I also don’t ignore it.” Don’t be fooled, though. Pretensions of equality aside, according to Davies, Miss The Occupier is a one-woman dictatorship: “Really I’m in charge – but don’t tell the boys!”

Hopefully someone has told them about Peter Parker, Davies’ femme-punk collaboration with Jane McKeown of DIY legends Lungleg. The quartet are garnering plaudits from the likes of Stephen Pastel, and if Henderson and Campbell aren’t careful, this superhero side project may take flight. Davies is emphatic, though: “Peter Parker are doing well, but Miss The Occupier aren’t going anywhere!”

The band’s characteristically busy schedule provides confirmation: as well as planning a gaggle of summer shows in Glasgow and one in Lerwick (Henderson, a Shetlander, explains: “none of us are from cities or obvious tour stops, so we appreciate when bands make the effort to go somewhere less obvious”), they hope to release new music very soon. That is, unless they get sidetracked: “I think we’d be good on Hollyoaks… yeah, I can see that now,” ponders Davies. The scary thing is, we bet they could make it happen. Miss The Occupier are a band who are going places. Don’t get left behind.