Would you believe it? This is my first face-to-face interview ever (unless you count the one I did with Virus 237 but, seeing I was in that band, I don’t think you should). The reason for this is mainly that I hate hearing my own voice on tape and, on this occasion, drinking four pints of Stella on an empty stomach didn’t help much either. Don’t tell anyone though, I think I got away with it!

Anyway, this interview took place at Scarlet Soho’s gig at the Half Time Orange in Leicester in December 2001 when I cornered them by the sweet dispensers. It went a little something like this…

Indigo Flow: How did you all get together?
Jim: Well, Me and Lee were in Elementary 4 for a period of time. Our manager treated us badly, we auditioned loads of bassists and drummers for about probably 2 to 3 months and then through many different friends at the Reading Festival ‘99 we met Scarlet. From there we thought we wanted to do gigs with a bassist but we couldn’t find a drummer so the next option was a drum machine.
IF: So how long was it before you started being Scarlet Soho?
J: Er, three weeks after the Reading Festival.
Scarlet: I did a gig with you as Elementary 4 four days after I joined, which was really good.
J: Was that September?
S: Yeah, September the 14th, my brother’s birthday.
J: Yeah, and then we had a huge break and did nothing from September to Christmas, then we did our first gig at the King’s Head in London on er…
Lee: January the 7th!
S: After wiping the drums twice.
J: Yeah, we accidentally wiped the drums.
L: Lee accidentally wiped the drums.
S: Then stayed up all night redoing them and wiped them again!
J: And we did the gig and I suppose, for what we needed to do, it was a success. We pulled a big crowd.
S: But we hadn’t done any promotion, so no one really knew about us.
L: And then two weeks after that we played with Rachel Stamp at the Joiners in Southampton, which was really weird ‘cos we were cheered as we walked on stage and it was only our second ever gig. And from there it’s gone from strength to strength.
S: More drums being wiped and lots of things like that.
J: It’s been a slow process, there’s been a lot of ups and downs.
IF: Yeah, I’m just trying to remember when it was I got your first tape. All I remember is that it was recorded on one side of the Jackson Five’s Greatest Hits.
J: Yeah, I went to a car boot sale because we had no money and bought a big cardboard box full of albums. I think they thought I wanted it for the albums. Loads of people picked up on it and one bloke wrote us a really bad review but said, “Oh, thanks for all the jazz on the end of the tape!”
IF: It has been quite a long process though, I’ve watched you over the years.
J: Don’t say years, everyone’ll get the wrong impression!
IF: Alright then, I’ve watched you over the minutes.
L: How long has it been?
IF: Well, I got that first tape about two years ago.
J: We would have had No Encore out in about January. Yeah, it was January 2000, so it’s going on for two years. Suppose it wouldn’t be that bad if we were in the States.
L: I’m gonna acquire an American accent, I think.

At this point someone starts talking to Jim and Lee about gigs and the tape picks up this conversation rather than mine but I can just make out me telling stories about rock stars I hate. Hooray! Everything picks up again about here…

S: …you hear interviews with bands who are saying, “we don’t come from Aldershot, we’re above that.”
IF: If you’re gonna be in a band you’ve got to work for it.
S: Yeah, it’s getting to be a bit of a pop stars competition.
IF: Like Linkin Park, they’re really, really annoying.
S: Yeah, they seem to be a brand rather than a band.
IF: I saw them on TV saying that they were doing something new by mixing metal with electronica and a DJ, but I was listening to stuff like that quite a long time ago.
S: It’s basically just pot luck that they’ve been picked and thrown in the limelight.

Cue my speech on how it all used to mean something, I won’t bore you with the details.

IF: I saw Linkin Park live earlier this year and they mimed. I wasn’t very pleased with that.
S: It’s a waste of ticket money. When you see a band live you want to see what they’re like.
IF: Well, that’s why I came to see you, because I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to pull it off live. So I was pleased when I found out you could.
S: It went really well tonight, I think. At sound check I was in a bad mood because the sound was crap but it turned out alright. I’m quite pleased.
IF: It’ll be interesting to hear it when you’ve got a drummer in there too.
S: I haven’t played with a drummer since… well, it’s been years. It’ll take a lot of getting used to I think. We’ve auditioned quite a few but they’ve either been very old or very shit.
IF: What about influences?
S: I think it’s quite dangerous to have bands that you really, really like. There’s bands that I appreciate but there’s not bands that I really like because you get into that trap of trying to be them. You can see it in a lot of unsigned bands, you can look at them and say, “right, so you like this one, this one, this one and this one.”

At this point, Jim and Lee return.

J: We’ve had quite a few people who are on the mailing list come along tonight, which is pretty good considering it’s not a local gig. Sometimes you get six and sometimes you’ll get one but tonight we’ve had about seven or eight.
IF: You are quite far from home up here though, aren’t you?
J: Yeah.
L: [looking at my Dictaphone] Oh, I’d forgotten that was on!
IF: No, I’m still here.
J: Come on, Andy. What’s the next question?
IF: What’s the next question? I don’t know now. What are the plans for the future?
S: Talk about America, Jim.
J: Alright, we need to get a drummer, sign a big deal with an American label.
L: Who will remain nameless at the moment.
J: And, I reckon, but don’t tell the Americans this, we get the advance and put it in the bank, let it gain interest and record the album with a mate for free.
S: It could work.
J: I’m trying to work out, what does an ISA get you? A thousand pounds will get you a ISA and in a year you can gain sixty quid. I reckon £50,000 is a reasonable advance, so that’d be… I don’t know, you could do quite well.
L: I reckon you should just give it all to me and I’ll go on the fruit machine. I’ll win eventually.
J: New Order invested in a club, didn’t they? The Hacienda in Manchester. Yeah, we could buy a club and then play there weekly.
L: [pointing at a poster on the wall] We could have a place like this, with nice Simple Minds posters.
S: That’s scary.
L: It’s like a time warp! I feel like it’s 1988 again!
IF: It is a bit like a working men’s club in here.
J: There’s was one guy who came in just before we went on and goes, “what’s on tonight?” And we said, “there’s some bands playing,” and he just said, “they used to have dancing girls here,” and walked out.
L: This place has gone downhill.
J: Anyway, we’re gonna have to wrap this up ‘cos we need to help pack up.
IF: Okay then, give me some final words for the tape.
J: Er… Come to our gigs and buy our CDs, ‘cos we’re dead good. Andy said so.