Interview: You Slut!

You Slut! are an instrumental quartet from Derby/Nottingham. With their debut album finally having a confirmed UK release date, what better time than to email them a list of questions and hope for the best?

RE: Your music would probably best fit into the ‘math-rock’ genre. Do you accept this?

You Slut!: I read a really good review of something I can’t remember what it was in, I can’t remember who wrote it, I remember it was about Battles, the other day’which said that math rock isn’t math rock - math rock is a made-up genre. What we play we play jazz: heavy, rocky jazz. And I’m fine with that.

It’s not jazz, we haven’t got jazz rhythms, but it is math rock, essentially, because it’s got [non-]standard time signatures.

You’ve said before that their influences include Fleetwood Mac and ABBA. Could their sound be considered a logical evolution from them?

Well, two boys, two girls.

They’re essentially pop songs, so it is evolution from pop songs. Abba and Fleetwood Mac wrote catchy pop songs, and essentially, that’s what we try and do.

But that’s like saying, well, yeah, it is evolution, we all write songs. ’That’s about the only thing we’ve got in common.

So we’re saying no, then?

We’ve used pop influences - influences from childhood, which they have - into writing the songs we write now.

More obviously, as your music is solely instrumental, you’re more likely to be compared to post-rock bands such as Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky. How much, if at all, has that genre influenced you?

None. [goes on to read out next question]

Yeah, we don’t really listen to much post-rock. It’s not really had much of an influence on us. The one song we do have that does sound like that is a homage, and a bit of a piss-take. You can’t print that.

No, to be honest the only real exposure we’ve had to it is when people say we sound like certain bands.

That we listen to then rip them off.

We like some bands that are our style - like The Fucking Champs

Yeah, the Fucking Champs, their Greatest Hits album is amazing.

There are currently a fair few promising math- and post-rock bands in the East Midlands, such as Fight Fire With Water, Maybeshewill, Herra Hidro - all helped on by local promoter/website RockFood and label Robot Needs Home. What do you think it is about the area that encourages this kind of music?

Luckily we’ve just said we’re not post or math rock so this isn’t anything to do with us.

We’ve played with Herra Hidro a couple of times, I love HH they’re really good. Maybeshewill I’ve seen once, I thought they were great.

FFWW we’ve played with once’.

It was the hottest day ever. I didn’t watch ‘em. I was throwing up. I’d had a seafood pizza. I was being ill. I’m sure they’re great.

Why bands like that exist here, I don’t think there’s a specific reason for that happening. There’s bands that you haven’t heard of all over the country.

Mybloodyjesusexploreronfire was recently on a Dance To The Radio compilation, alongside the likes of the Pigeon Detectives and iForward Russia!, and the same song will be on the next Rock Sound cover CD. Can I take it you consider this one of your best tracks?

No. You can’t. It’s the most commercially accessible song. It’s the song where people go ‘Why didn’t you put vocals on, it’d be so much better’.

Basically we’re selling out as much as we can playing math/post rock.

You cant give too many songs away for free.

We’re so poor, we can only afford to give one away.

We had two ideas for the album - one was to make a vinyl cube, whereby we have six songs on the album and each side was one song. And the other being that we assemble an album through compilations.

The third being we do it on a CD, which is what we’ve done.

So, no, I don’t think it’s any of the bands favourite song. It’s a nice song, I like it. I like playing it live ‘cos it’s easy [to play]. I like walking on in St. Dominic’s Catholic Club, and going ‘Hello St Dominic’s Catholic Club, we’re You Slut! This is called Mybloodyjesusexploreronfire’ aside from that, it’s shit.

[laughs]

It’s not shit.

Your ep/album - ‘Call it a mini-album; we are.’ - Critical Meat is finally getting a UK release, almost a year after it’s initial release in Japan. How frustrating was it not to be able to release it here for your local fanbase?

Hugely.

We finished it’when did we finish it’the day of the World Cup final [in 2006]. That’s when the final bit of the cowbell was recorded.

[laughs]

If you think about that, nearly two years, in which we’ve written one song since.

It’s been a long time coming. We’re all sick of it. But we hope everybody else enjoys it. We’re just pleased it’s finally coming out.

Will you be touring to support the UK release of Critical Meat?

Yes, we will.

Not got any dates yet, I’m sure we will.

It’s coming out March 3rd [and] will be preceded by a single, which you’ll have heard of, I think.

It’s called Mybloodyjesusexploreronfire’.

I love it. Definitely my favourite song.

So basically, we’re promoting the album with a Radio 1 session with Huw Stephens, a single predating the album, then hopefully a nine or ten date tour around that time.

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