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MUTTS
& SLUTTS -
Interview - 18th April
2002
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NEW
WAVE OF NO WAVE? MUTTS
& SLUTTS VS THE
BEALE!
This time last year, a
promo copy of The
Beale's
"New
7 Up"
7 incher found its way to
our local record store.
We didn't understand the
title. And the sleeve
artwork had obviously
been created by some
fucked up spazz mongo. So
we bought it. Precisely
25 minutes and 08 seconds
later we put it on for
the 9th time and agreed
we liked it. Listens 1 -
5 induced a state of
unease and fear, by the
time 6, 7 & 8 came
along we stabilised. On
the 9th we were
completely hooked. The
Beale
could be David
Thomas
fronting The
Fall, Joy
Division
on crack, The
Cramps
in a really bad mood or The
Residents-go-rockabilly!
We contacted The
Beale's
(uncompromising) manager Billy
Jeffs,
who set up a 3-way
telephone interview
between Mutts
& Slutts
[MS]
and
The
Beale's
prime agitators,
Paul Khan
[PK]
and Peach
Heart [PH].
MS - What
the fuck is that "New
7 Up"
record about? Do you guys
drink 7
Up?
PH - It's
to do with the ephemeral
nature of fame and how
somebody who was a minor
celebrity in the 80s is
probably now drinking
himself to death in a
council flat.
PK - The
7 Up
reference is a red
herring. The
Beale
drink Becks.
PH - ...and
brown bitters... only
with the great Manns.
MS -
Someone told us that Beale
is some guy in an English
soap. What's up with
that?
PH -
That was not the
intention. We just like
the way it sounds. We
don't watch Eastenders.
So fuck off.
PK - Actually
it is "The
Beatles"
with the initial letters
of "The
Smiths"
removed.
MS -
The
Beale
shirt you sent has an
image of Mark
Knopfler
on! Explain!!
PK - Why?
Don't you like him?
MS -
Well he's pretty
uncool...
PH - We
get depressed about how
contemporary corporate
cool is able to re-image
and re-package anyone and
everyone from the 70s,
80s or 90s, even if they
were complete wankers.
Somehow Knopfler
has escaped the
attentions of the
desperado cool hunters.
PK
- Classic
example, Lee
Hazelwood
is a cunt. He may have
made some quite decent
records during the 60s,
but he played in London
last year and did a set
of cringeworthy crooner
cover versions sounding
like a less convincing
version of Billy
Jeffs
on his way back from Yateses...
The likes of NME
hailed this shite as some
kind of second coming,
but it actually was just
shite. We're not
specifically against the
idea of people
re-inventing themselves.
For example the Jo
Boxers/Sonic
Mook
conversion.
PH -
If Mark
Knopfler
ran Stringfellows Lee
Hazlewood
wouldn't get a job
sweeping the bogs.
MS - So
what do you guys make of,
say, Elvis?
PK - Elvis
is great. He made black
music cool. "Walk
A Mile In My Shoes"
is fucking great.
PH - Shite
actor.
MS - Influences
then... you sound like a
lot of 80s new wave proto
goths. I'm thinking Ian
Curtis,
Birthday
Party, The
Fall, Bauhaus...
PK - Everybody
says that, but if we do
sound like that it's an
accident. We have very
catholic tastes. Our
music is written
spontaneously by the core
members of the group. I
suppose the above are
influences simple because
some of own records by
them.
PH - Shit
question. Next!
MS - I
read on the Guided
Missile
website that you dress
like golfers!
PK -
Somebody wrote that about
us once. We dress well.
Trousers, shoes, polo
shirts. Someone commented
that we looked as though
we were on our way to
play a game of golf.
That's all that is.
MS - So
do you think people will
begin to write about your
style, like say, The
Strokes?
PH -
I doubt it.
PK - The
Strokes
dress like tramps.
MS - So
what do you think about
the current state of the
music scene?
PH - There's
too much reliance on
retro cool, which we
don't like.
PK
- We
only like The
Streets
and Country
Teasers.
MS - Ah!
I was going to ask about
that... what is the
connection between The
Beale
and
Country Teasers?
PH -
Our drummer, BR
Wallers...
PK
- The
Rebel!
PH
- ...is
the Country
Teasers
singer. We used Wallers
to replace our last
drummer who joined some
gay retro rock band
called The
Beatings.
MS - No
shit! We went to see the Country
Teasers
play Seattle this year
and they were awesome!
PK - No
shit!
[in bad American accent]
PH
- Fucking
awesome!
[in undescribable
accent somewhere between
Indian and European]
MS - If
you don't consider
yourselves a part of the
current "indie"
scene then where do you
see yourselves?
PK - At
one of our early gigs the
guys from Kling
Klang
described us as "art
rockers".
PH - Nah,
he actually said
"art rage"!
PK - Yeah.
Art-rage-ous!
PH - At
the time I was well
fucked off about this
because to me art rock
means some cunt like Brian
Eno,
but the bloke had a
point. Our shows are more
like...
[pauses]
PK - Installations!
[Laughter]
PH - You're
making us sound like
cunts!
MS - What
are the shows like? Do
you move around and
stuff? Do you talk to the
crowd?
PK
- The
group is divided loosely
into 'Worker Beale'
and 'Client Facing Beale'.
This should be self
explainatory.
[Laughter]
PH -
What he means is the
singer is amazing to
watch the rest of us
stand back and let him
get on with it.
[More laughter]
PK -
And his brother runs
spazzed out films behind
us.
PH - Yeah,
art!
[Hysterical laughter] |
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