The Long Blondes
Will the real Long Blondes fans please stand up.
| 12 Nov 2006
With a year of more media hype than you can shake a beret at, and the debut album (you'd think it was their greatest hits) only just ready for release, we spoke to the Sheffield quintet about why the hype and the coveted label 'the UK's best unsigned band' really started to get on their goat…
"We didn't think 'hey – that's a great badge to wear', we thought 'hey - sign us then!'"
Thankfully Rough Trade Records finally came a knockin'. Good news right? In fact, for a while maybe it wasn't. You see, all the scenesters who were panting at their sexy, unsigned appeal now sighed and mourned at the thought of the oh-so-many other people who'd now know about 'their band'.
Their next media label of 'The UK's most stylish indie band' also only meant that fashionistas picked them up for a month then put them back down when they realised that as people they were pretty down to earth, and the music wasn't as sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll as they'd expected. So the first question is - what are they all about then? Songwriter Dorian explains: "Indie minus the balls and swagger. We loved the bands who were really feminine like Pulp, Suede, and Elastica in our teenage years but don't think anyone really does that now." To embrace Pulp comparisons the same way that they did (Pulp's producer Steve Mackay was even brought on board to sprinkle pop magic) is a great way of explaining what they are: genuinely understated, witty, and intelligent indie pop and people alike.
With Rough Trade at the helm for album 'Someone To Drive You Home', some fans may be ready to riot about the well loved sold-out limited-edition singles that they may now never be able to get their hands on. But all is calm; the kitsch shoutiness of Separated By Motorways - and of course the pure pop glory of the underground hit Giddy Stratospheres (they actually claim to have been really unhappy about the much loved original version) - have been freshened up for release on the album.
Will this album give them the fans they deserve? And, more importantly, who are they?
Singer Kate laughs and tells us it's "people who like love stories set in grimy pubs, who like dancing joyfully but don't try to hard to be cool, and who know that secret gigs in a local libraries are cool!" Will the real Long Blondes fans please stand up.
"We didn't think 'hey – that's a great badge to wear', we thought 'hey - sign us then!'"
Thankfully Rough Trade Records finally came a knockin'. Good news right? In fact, for a while maybe it wasn't. You see, all the scenesters who were panting at their sexy, unsigned appeal now sighed and mourned at the thought of the oh-so-many other people who'd now know about 'their band'.
Their next media label of 'The UK's most stylish indie band' also only meant that fashionistas picked them up for a month then put them back down when they realised that as people they were pretty down to earth, and the music wasn't as sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll as they'd expected. So the first question is - what are they all about then? Songwriter Dorian explains: "Indie minus the balls and swagger. We loved the bands who were really feminine like Pulp, Suede, and Elastica in our teenage years but don't think anyone really does that now." To embrace Pulp comparisons the same way that they did (Pulp's producer Steve Mackay was even brought on board to sprinkle pop magic) is a great way of explaining what they are: genuinely understated, witty, and intelligent indie pop and people alike.
With Rough Trade at the helm for album 'Someone To Drive You Home', some fans may be ready to riot about the well loved sold-out limited-edition singles that they may now never be able to get their hands on. But all is calm; the kitsch shoutiness of Separated By Motorways - and of course the pure pop glory of the underground hit Giddy Stratospheres (they actually claim to have been really unhappy about the much loved original version) - have been freshened up for release on the album.
Will this album give them the fans they deserve? And, more importantly, who are they?
Singer Kate laughs and tells us it's "people who like love stories set in grimy pubs, who like dancing joyfully but don't try to hard to be cool, and who know that secret gigs in a local libraries are cool!" Will the real Long Blondes fans please stand up.
Someone To Drive You Home is out 6 Nov on Rough Trade.
http://www.thelongblondes.co.uk