Interview: The Xcerts

The Xcerts decided that the Bournemouth leg of the Rock Sound Exposure Tour was the perfect opportunity to discuss cross-dressing and a Bob Dylan tribute act…

What have you got planned for the next few weeks on the Rock Sound Exposure Tour?

Murray (vocals/guitar): I was thinking about wearing a dress for a show or two. But I haven’t given it much thought about what I should wear. A lacy number? Or a gown?

Jordan (bass): When you do the same thing every night, you wanna mix it up. Do something different. All this rocking out, I thought about maybe for one of the shows just not rocking. Something a bit different. So I tried not rocking but it didn’t work, as it happens. But I tried something new.

Have you ever played Bournemouth before?

Murray: Yea we’ve played here twice. The first time was actually with our original line up a couple of years ago. And we played a club NME show and we thought it was the biggest deal.

Jordan: And it totally wasn’t

Murray: It sucked

Jordan: And then we played iBar once before as well. And that sucked. There was nobody here. And apparently it sounded a lot better in the toilet than it did out front. So anybody that was taking a whizz that night was loving it. But you couldn’t watch because it just sounded awful.

How would you describe your sound to people who have never heard of The Xcerts before?

Murray: Distorted pop. I guess its rock music. But we like our pop music as well.

Who would you say are your influences?

Murray: Weezer.

Tom (drums): Weezer.

Jordan: I guess I’m gonna say Weezer for a third time.

Murray: Weezer and Elliott Smith. I think that’s it. Perfect combination

What’s the story behind the name of the band?

Murray: Nothing

Jordan: 14 year old kids trying to sound cool. We never really got around to changing it.

What do you do when you’re not writing or performing?

Murray: Tom works.

Tom: Yea, I occasionally work at a video shop.

Jordan: No brand names.

Murray: Blockbuster.

Jordan: Ah

Murray: It’s the only one though!

Tom: It could have been some cool independent one.

Murray: They’re all dead.

Tom: I’m a corporate whore now. Thanks.

Murray: I’m in another studio based group. So I’m busy making an album right now with them.

Tom: And Jordan goes to open mics and makes noises under the guise of ‘The Troubadour’.

Jordan: Yea that’s my other character. Sort of a Dylan-esque folky poet. I talk really nasal. It doesn’t pay really well but I’ve got a really loyal fan. This guy that comes to every open mic, he’s great. Hi Steve!

What have you got planned for the rest of 2011?

Murray: We’re touring again in April. Hopefully a few festivals but because we’re a smaller band we kind of have to wait until the start of summer to find out where we’re actually going. Then hopefully we’ll go to Europe and tour there some more, and the States, hopefully. And then onto album number three. Or maybe we’ll just do a ‘Troubadour’ record.

Jordan: That would be ideal for me. I’ve been trying to launch this side of me for ages so to jump on the back of The Xcerts would be amazing. Maybe I could open for some tours. I see really bright things for ‘The Troubadour’ in the future.

Interview: Dinosaur Pile-Up

When the Rock Sound Exposure Tour stopped off at iBar in Bournemouth, I chatted to Leeds based trio Dinosaur Pile-Up. It wasn’t long before the conversation turned to hopscotch…

The Rock Sound Exposure Tour has just kicked off, how did the first night go?

Harry (bass): It was ace.

Matt (vocals/guitar): It was really good fun. We know Japanese Voyeurs and The Xcerts from before but it feels like this tour is a really good chance for us to reconnect. Everyone was a bit nervous and everyone got on really well and we ended up crashing with Murray from The Xcerts and hanging out so it was good.

Have you got anything special lined up for the rest of the tour?

Mike (drums): Every gig is special!

Harry: We’re less concerned on this tour to necessarily play exactly what’s on our record. We’re doing some new stuff and some old stuff and trying to mix it up a bit and have fun. And also because we’ve gone into the tour not knowing if we’re going to open up shows or headline shows, we have to be punchy and good. We feel like we’ve got a bit more to prove. There’s gonna be a bunch of people out there who have come to see The Xcerts or Japanese Voyeurs and we wanna be like ‘yea we’re good aswell!’

What do you guys get up to when you’re not making music?

Harry: Skateboarding

Mike: I was road surfing earlier

Harry: Hopscotch. We’re pretty into urban hopscotch at the minute.

Mike: All you need is a piece of chalk and something to throw and you’re away.

Matt: Between us and The Xcerts, we’re starting that as our full time road hobby.

Maybe you could introduce it into the Olympics?

Harry: I like to think it’s too gnarly for the Olympics. A bit too extreme.

For people who haven’t heard of Dinosaur Pile-Up before, how would you describe your music?

Harry: Probably equal rock and pop. But not in a Nickelback way. Actually, we probably do sound a bit like Nickelback. But cool, because we don’t sell so many records. Thus we’re cooler.

Matt: It’s quite heavy and ‘poppy’ at the same time. Because I guess there is an equal mix of what we listen to in there. There’s pop and really old pop and heavy metal.

Mike: Think ‘if Mika met Black Flag’.

Matt: Ooooh! Mind blown!

Harry: Face melted!

You’ve been compared to some pretty big names, such as Foo Fighters and Weezer, is that a little daunting?

Matt: Not at all. They’re all rad bands and we’ve all listened to them so it’s not daunting, it’s complimentary. But I guess a big thing for us is for people to be able to see past that.

What does the future hold for Dinosaur Pile-Up?

Mike: We’ve got some festivals coming up.

Matt: But we don’t know which ones. We’re going to South By Southwest in North America. Then we’re going to do a few gigs in Mexico

Mike: And riding an open top bus and playing!

Harry: Then in April we’ll be touring in England again

Matt: We’re also going to do some recordings of some sort.

Harry: The single ‘My Rock N Roll’ comes out in March.

Matt: But that’s a secret.

Harry: Oh, is it?

Matt: No.

Mike: And we’ve got some love making with The Xcerts slotted in there somewhere as well. Making some DPU/Xcerts babies.