Shmoo (Interview)

It’s been a while since the rock kids couldn’t get down to synths, if I was an elitist 80’s house pioneer I’d be bloody furious, all this damn fusion, crazy kids.

Though I hardly need to tell you that Manchester’s a stranger to rock/electronic crossover, the Madchester history always preceding it, new to the table are Shmoo, otherwise Neil and David Newport (brothers, before you get all White Stripes about it), with Matt McCloud playing (acoustic and electronic) live drums. They’re ultimately an indie rock act with mostly a electronic sound, and a focus on the live side of the latter.

“I was quite into indie bands throughout the 90’s and he [Dave] was into more dance … We wanted a beat orientated, quite dance orientated [sound], but with that indie, that live edge. We wanted to fuse that together. One key thing was rather than be home producers we wanted to take it out on the road. We’d go see bands like Les Rhythm Digitales doing the whole electronica thing live” tells Neil, effectively summing up how difficult it is to hear Shmoo as a straight electronic act. Dave adds that “The whole ethos was to fuse these two genres together but to do it as live as we could, that’s always been a thing with us, basically play to the point we run out of hands and then we can start looking at samplers and things being triggered.” Though no one could doubt their passion for electronic music, they’re clearly an act approaching it from perspective of a gigging rock band.

“We started getting into the whole electronica thing, bands like Ladytron, Portishead, Massive Attack, and there was a period of time we started buying loads of old school synths, bargain basements ones, but obviously shit hot synths we could get for really good prices. There was a time we went a bit crazy getting our hands on old school Moogs.”

Perhaps the most appropriate influence Neil mentions would be Ladytron, the electroclash scene they invoke, and the “live band” presence such acts carry. Their performance instrumentation consists of two set-ups of keys, as well as live and electronic percussion, and notably, no laptop.
“Nothing against all that side of things, that’s how a lot of electronic music’s made, it’s more accessible now than it ever has been I think, with people being able to do it and new people coming up. It is quite funny with the new age of things progressing so much me and Neil wanted to still keep quite old school analoggy.”

Shmoo have gotten a lot done over the past year, particularly a notable set at Moho for ‘In The City’ in October, a sprawling, if spoilt for choice showcase, but aside from performances from more established acts like Frightened Rabbit, or the particularly hyped The Drums, Shmoo took to the stage, courtesy of BBC Introducing.
“Dave Haslam, obviously. Played the Manchester International Festival last year where we played with Delphic. Manchester label ‘Station Dynamic’ put out a few singles for us, getting some good press, some radio, it’s been going really good”
“It’s good to get some new tunes out there, get them played, and BBC Introducing have been really good, they’ve played our tunes a hell of a lot on their show, and on other things like Radio 6”

I’m rarely one to pull out the soapbox unless I fancy a sit down, but the coverage and promotion of Shmoo and bands in similar situations from the Beeb really hammers home the loss that will be BBC Radio 6 if plans do in fact go ahead to discontinue broadcasting. Without blowing smoke up anyone’s arse I probably don’t need to tell the reader of an article on an unsigned band that its one of the most valuable, unique and frankly indispensable elements of the BBC, completely adhering to their own mission statement and would likely be impossible on a commercial station. I wouldn’t want to be too eager to redirect the firing squad but haven’t BBC 3’s youth demographic already migrated to Channel 4 for Skins and The Inbetweeners?

Of their previous singles and online tracks, ‘She Machine’ carries one of those thick bass openings that manages to make everyone feel they’re the coolest cat in the room, like the power ‘Clubbed to Death’ held (The Matrix) before it became synonymous with the Dragon’s Den opening sequence and thereby the anthem of the discerning business prick. Look out for RBS or Lloyds TSB hijacking Daft Punk’s ‘Harder Better Faster Stronger’ anytime now. Speaking of Daft Punk it’s also pleasant to see a band making a claim to take back the vocoder after Kanye West managed to give vocal manipulation something of a bad name. ‘Every Second’ is a rocker in everything but instrumentation, the rhythmic synths calling to mind many a Gang of Four influenced guitar band, but, you know, without the guitars. New single ‘Waves’ is out sometime in May, the accompanying video will a be stop motion affair the band have spent the past couple of months working on. “A lot of people would have a song then make a video around the song, in terms of this one it was like almost do things at the same time, working on the video before the song was even finished … Lyrically, I have these pictures in my head anyway so it’s almost a case of the video being written as they lyrics are being born.” There’s an understanding that as well as the way people consume music in terms of distribution, given the MP3 revolution, the terms of the experience are also changing. Music as an audio-visual concept is surely a more rewarding experience than all those stolen hours looking at apes drumming to Phil Collins on youtube or whatever the office block zeitgeist happens to be this week.

Shmoo have a sound big enough and hooky enough to suit the kind of attention they’re bound to get. Take note of the 4Q Fresh Meat Live showcase at Night & Day on Saturday 10th April where you’ll find themselves playing with Suzuki Method. Catch them like you never got round to with Delphic.

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