A night with Envy and Other Sins (interview / feature)
Do dreams come true?
Life as an unsigned band can be hard. After three and half years’ experience of this Envy and Other Sins are more than qualified to comment. However, at the end of last year they won a £1,000,000 record deal with A & M records on Channel 4’s talent show ‘Mobile Act Unsigned’. Well, that’s not very cool is it? I bet it’s all egos and ‘get me a bottle of water you mere peasant’ these days. Is it really all happily ever after in the cold hard world of music?
Heralding from Birmingham, Ali (vocals and guitar), Jarvey (keys and backing vocals), Mark (bass and backing vocals) and Jim (drums) sit in the backroom of the Carling Academy Oxford, in the early days of their first headline tour. Mark lurks right behind, milling in and out of the room, clearly keen to avoid a journalist. The other three cling to their beer (Newcastle Brown Ale?!) and so we begin.
The history between them is evident; they smile to each other as they recall the ‘old days’ as an unsigned, local yet popular band in their hometown. So how have things changed?
‘There’s a bit more riding on it now but our approach to playing hasn’t changed.’ (Jim)
Recording?
‘We never got anything to sound how we wanted it to when we recorded ourselves. We just didn’t know how.’ (Jarvey)
‘A good producer and engineer are extra members of the band really. Their vision is as important to the record as the band.’ (Jim)
‘And they work so tirelessly on it as well’ (Ali)
‘We’d already recorded all the songs previously ourselves. The bread and butter of it was already there. They’ve got the ability to step back from it.’ (Jarvey)
Their debut album ‘We Leave At Dawn’ was released on the 31st of March. Finishing at just over forty minutes with a mere ten tracks, it leaves you wanting more. The album is a testimony to the genuine talent they possess and to what can be achieved through working hard as an unsigned band.
And they always have worked hard at this music malarkey, with a snazzy website and a whole host of songs written. On T4’s Mobile Act unsigned they stood out by a mile; they were polished, accomplished and had that certain something that makes you want to know more.
And they certainly aren’t going to stop working hard now. So what tips do they have for unsigned bands?
‘Its want you wanna get out of being in a band. Local scenes need a good local magazine that gives a lot of coverage, good lot of promoters, one or two venues and you need good touring bands to visit and locals to be able to support them. People need to get excited.’ (Jarvey)
‘We have put on some amazing gigs in a couple of places you would not expect. We went to Corby once and we turned up and there’s this switched on promoter whose got tons of kids in this pub and it was great.’ (Ali)
‘Bands do need to take it seriously.’ (Jim)
‘Main piece of advice. Don’t hang around waiting for a record label….get your music out there. Don’t wait around thinking that one day the holy grail of this wonderful record deal will descend and say ‘it’s you’. That kinda happened to us but only cos we’ve spent 3 and a half years going round the country so when it came to a vote we had a fanbase.’ (Jarvey)
So has it been a bed of roses since winning? What are the consequences of winning a record deal through a programme?
‘NME have been funny. They always said we were amazing (live) so we were like well we know they’re gunna hate it because they’re the NME but they have been nice to us (looks hopeful)…..oh no they do hate us’ (Jim)
‘They basically hate us cos we were on the telly’ (Ali)
‘Yeah but it’s inevitable. We have sort of made our beds with it.’ (Jim)
‘Then we couldn’t get the single on the radio. The reason they gave was that they couldn’t play us because we won a talent show and that was frustrating.’ (Jarvey)
‘NME comes and goes but not getting on the radio…’ (Jim)
‘The only way we will be able to overcome the stigma of winning a TV show is people being able to hear what we do and people to realise that there’s music there’. (Jarvey)
So you get out and play?
‘Yeah that’s the sum total of our options!’ (Ali)
‘The only thing we can do is just try to play to as many people as we can that’s the only way to have a direct relationship with people.’ (Jim)
And that is just what they do. As they take to the stage I absorb their appearance…it looks like they raided the BBC costume and props cupboard. Ali sports a pair of trousers so ridiculously big for him they may well be a statement against the culture of skinny jeans. They have the sense of having made the effort…but they sort of missed the target, with a post Victorian melodramatic, ‘we just threw this on’ appearance. They are the anti-cool band. They have lamps onstage with them and a stuffed pheasant (?!) - probably why they have earnt themselves the label of ‘furniture rock’.
As they kick off with ‘Step Across’, the guitar riff cutting through the crowd’s chatter and demanding everyone to turn, stare and spend the next forty minutes open mouthed….they have an energy and a true pop essence that is infectiously happy. Then in a very disarming manner, they finish with ‘Shipwrecked’, a melancholic anthem that spirals out of control and reveals a much darker, deeper side to them, and a possible avenue for future Envy material. The audience know they have been well and truly sucked in. My inner ‘music snob and proud’ attitude has taken a severe battering tonight; a band that ‘won a record deal on some stupid programme on T4’ (audience member’s words, not mine) have made me forget how to spell T4 and wonder why ‘pop’ is such a taboo word these days.
‘Hopefully there aren’t very many bands who are like us. We’re quite honest when we say that we’re a pop band, it seems to be some thing where people go ‘oooh we’re indie’. But we’re all making pop music and we’re quite happy to come out and say that.’ (Jarvey)
And I respect them for that. If you like to keep things ‘alternative’ in the music department (so alternative its pronounced alter-nay-tive) you’ll pretend to hate Envy and Other Sins, but secretly love them. It’s time ‘pop’ wasn’t a dirty word that reminded you of dancing to Steps’ ‘5,6,7,8’ at a school disco. Now it is honest and heartfelt, quirky and upbeat but capable of melancholy with lyrics that strike a chord.
But my final question to them…I always wanted to know…why pick Envy of all the other sins?
‘We liked envy the best. It looks good as a word and its kinda the most complex.’ (Jarvey)
‘As a small fat ginger man my experience in life is of envy. It was envy or wrath as far as I was concerned’ (Jim)
‘We couldn’t really call ourselves wrath and other sins. Gluttony and other sins?! Imagine that!’ (Ali)
‘Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?’ (Jarvey)
They grin to each other and I’ve answered all my own questions. No, it isn’t cool to gain a record deal from a TV programme but when you win through being a bunch of interesting, intelligent and talented individuals…well you can’t argue with that. There aren’t any egos in this room, just four blokes who can’t believe their luck. But it still hasn’t been a dream ride. Now the real hard work starts. Their name is much better known and now it needs to be for the right reasons.
Will 2008 be the year of envy? I guess there’s only one way to find out. Go buy ‘We Leave at Dawn’, go see them on tour and fall in love with pop music again. They’re no Leona Lewis I can tell you….
By Abi Brydon
www.myspace.com/envyandothersins
Click here to read more Envy and Other Sins related news, reviews & interviews!
Buy Envy and Other Sins CDs & Vinyl
Buy Envy and Other Sins MP3s
Buy Envy and Other Sins Tickets
Bookmark and share this page with:Life as an unsigned band can be hard. After three and half years’ experience of this Envy and Other Sins are more than qualified to comment. However, at the end of last year they won a £1,000,000 record deal with A & M records on Channel 4’s talent show ‘Mobile Act Unsigned’. Well, that’s not very cool is it? I bet it’s all egos and ‘get me a bottle of water you mere peasant’ these days. Is it really all happily ever after in the cold hard world of music?
Heralding from Birmingham, Ali (vocals and guitar), Jarvey (keys and backing vocals), Mark (bass and backing vocals) and Jim (drums) sit in the backroom of the Carling Academy Oxford, in the early days of their first headline tour. Mark lurks right behind, milling in and out of the room, clearly keen to avoid a journalist. The other three cling to their beer (Newcastle Brown Ale?!) and so we begin.
The history between them is evident; they smile to each other as they recall the ‘old days’ as an unsigned, local yet popular band in their hometown. So how have things changed?
‘There’s a bit more riding on it now but our approach to playing hasn’t changed.’ (Jim)
Recording?
‘We never got anything to sound how we wanted it to when we recorded ourselves. We just didn’t know how.’ (Jarvey)
‘A good producer and engineer are extra members of the band really. Their vision is as important to the record as the band.’ (Jim)
‘And they work so tirelessly on it as well’ (Ali)
‘We’d already recorded all the songs previously ourselves. The bread and butter of it was already there. They’ve got the ability to step back from it.’ (Jarvey)
Their debut album ‘We Leave At Dawn’ was released on the 31st of March. Finishing at just over forty minutes with a mere ten tracks, it leaves you wanting more. The album is a testimony to the genuine talent they possess and to what can be achieved through working hard as an unsigned band.
And they always have worked hard at this music malarkey, with a snazzy website and a whole host of songs written. On T4’s Mobile Act unsigned they stood out by a mile; they were polished, accomplished and had that certain something that makes you want to know more.
And they certainly aren’t going to stop working hard now. So what tips do they have for unsigned bands?
‘Its want you wanna get out of being in a band. Local scenes need a good local magazine that gives a lot of coverage, good lot of promoters, one or two venues and you need good touring bands to visit and locals to be able to support them. People need to get excited.’ (Jarvey)
‘We have put on some amazing gigs in a couple of places you would not expect. We went to Corby once and we turned up and there’s this switched on promoter whose got tons of kids in this pub and it was great.’ (Ali)
‘Bands do need to take it seriously.’ (Jim)
‘Main piece of advice. Don’t hang around waiting for a record label….get your music out there. Don’t wait around thinking that one day the holy grail of this wonderful record deal will descend and say ‘it’s you’. That kinda happened to us but only cos we’ve spent 3 and a half years going round the country so when it came to a vote we had a fanbase.’ (Jarvey)
So has it been a bed of roses since winning? What are the consequences of winning a record deal through a programme?
‘NME have been funny. They always said we were amazing (live) so we were like well we know they’re gunna hate it because they’re the NME but they have been nice to us (looks hopeful)…..oh no they do hate us’ (Jim)
‘They basically hate us cos we were on the telly’ (Ali)
‘Yeah but it’s inevitable. We have sort of made our beds with it.’ (Jim)
‘Then we couldn’t get the single on the radio. The reason they gave was that they couldn’t play us because we won a talent show and that was frustrating.’ (Jarvey)
‘NME comes and goes but not getting on the radio…’ (Jim)
‘The only way we will be able to overcome the stigma of winning a TV show is people being able to hear what we do and people to realise that there’s music there’. (Jarvey)
So you get out and play?
‘Yeah that’s the sum total of our options!’ (Ali)
‘The only thing we can do is just try to play to as many people as we can that’s the only way to have a direct relationship with people.’ (Jim)
And that is just what they do. As they take to the stage I absorb their appearance…it looks like they raided the BBC costume and props cupboard. Ali sports a pair of trousers so ridiculously big for him they may well be a statement against the culture of skinny jeans. They have the sense of having made the effort…but they sort of missed the target, with a post Victorian melodramatic, ‘we just threw this on’ appearance. They are the anti-cool band. They have lamps onstage with them and a stuffed pheasant (?!) - probably why they have earnt themselves the label of ‘furniture rock’.
As they kick off with ‘Step Across’, the guitar riff cutting through the crowd’s chatter and demanding everyone to turn, stare and spend the next forty minutes open mouthed….they have an energy and a true pop essence that is infectiously happy. Then in a very disarming manner, they finish with ‘Shipwrecked’, a melancholic anthem that spirals out of control and reveals a much darker, deeper side to them, and a possible avenue for future Envy material. The audience know they have been well and truly sucked in. My inner ‘music snob and proud’ attitude has taken a severe battering tonight; a band that ‘won a record deal on some stupid programme on T4’ (audience member’s words, not mine) have made me forget how to spell T4 and wonder why ‘pop’ is such a taboo word these days.
‘Hopefully there aren’t very many bands who are like us. We’re quite honest when we say that we’re a pop band, it seems to be some thing where people go ‘oooh we’re indie’. But we’re all making pop music and we’re quite happy to come out and say that.’ (Jarvey)
And I respect them for that. If you like to keep things ‘alternative’ in the music department (so alternative its pronounced alter-nay-tive) you’ll pretend to hate Envy and Other Sins, but secretly love them. It’s time ‘pop’ wasn’t a dirty word that reminded you of dancing to Steps’ ‘5,6,7,8’ at a school disco. Now it is honest and heartfelt, quirky and upbeat but capable of melancholy with lyrics that strike a chord.
But my final question to them…I always wanted to know…why pick Envy of all the other sins?
‘We liked envy the best. It looks good as a word and its kinda the most complex.’ (Jarvey)
‘As a small fat ginger man my experience in life is of envy. It was envy or wrath as far as I was concerned’ (Jim)
‘We couldn’t really call ourselves wrath and other sins. Gluttony and other sins?! Imagine that!’ (Ali)
‘Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?’ (Jarvey)
They grin to each other and I’ve answered all my own questions. No, it isn’t cool to gain a record deal from a TV programme but when you win through being a bunch of interesting, intelligent and talented individuals…well you can’t argue with that. There aren’t any egos in this room, just four blokes who can’t believe their luck. But it still hasn’t been a dream ride. Now the real hard work starts. Their name is much better known and now it needs to be for the right reasons.
Will 2008 be the year of envy? I guess there’s only one way to find out. Go buy ‘We Leave at Dawn’, go see them on tour and fall in love with pop music again. They’re no Leona Lewis I can tell you….
By Abi Brydon
www.myspace.com/envyandothersins
Click here to read more Envy and Other Sins related news, reviews & interviews!
Buy Envy and Other Sins CDs & Vinyl
Buy Envy and Other Sins MP3s
Buy Envy and Other Sins Tickets
