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Sonance - 15th November 2004

As I catch up with Jim Knights from Scarlet Soho in the gothic cave, that is Satan's Hollow in Manchester, I ask him to give a quick description of the band, an introduction for the uninitiated. "We're an electronic rock band, we take quite a bit of pride in our appearance but not much that our music is rubbish.. kinda early 80s, bringing it into the modern times". He puts it brilliantly.

They've spent the last month on tour, taking in all kinds of places ranging from London to Runcorn and have spent the weekend touring the north west. Jim says it's been "really consistent, good crowds.. venues a bit weird.. some really big ones and some small ones, overall just as we've hoped for really".

Before this tour they have been taking a step back from the limelight for a while. They released a single, Disconnected about 2 years ago and since then have had very little contact with the outside world. Having spent much of the past 2 years in the studio and also signing to a new label "there was a lot of stuff going on, that needed to be ironed out, contract and paperwork.." I wondered if they really did spend the whole time in the studio.

In this time they also lost their guitarist, Lee and obviously this led to some changes. Asking if it had effected the sound on the forthcoming album, Jim responded that "Lee played on a lot of the guitar parts, and a lot of the tracks on the album.. well he played four songs out of the ten. With his departure we couldn't play live anymore. I ended up playing the remaining guitar parts and those that I was unable to play we moved accross to synthesiser so in the end everything kinda balanced out."

They've since replaced Lee with a new guitarist, Nicky Haynes. We talked about the decision to bring in someone new. There aren't many bands "who run successfully as a two piece, except for perhaps the white stripes, who are a novelty, I suppose. So I think for us, To do us justice, we really needed the extra pair of hands, especially live so that was the main thing".

I suggested that Scarlet Soho are pretty similar to The Faint and asked if they were an influence. "When we saw them for the first time and when we heard them for the first time we were almost surpised that there was another band out there....desperately trying to do something in an 80s vein without being ashamed of it. The two bands get on well and Scarlet Soho obviously admire them. They're probably a lot better technically than we are. That's an area that I try to kinda firm up and learn a lot from them so we've had like a lot of emails back and forth where I've asked about equipment and they've let me know. And every time we play with them it's just you know, really positive. I don't think they're quite as direct as we are in terms of like hooks and melody. I think out of the two of us they're the kinda of erm weirder, the weirder of the two and we're a bit more mainstream".

"I think I can count the amount of bands that are touring at the moment that I've seen that I like I could probably count on one hand.. I think the faint stand up there now as probably,they're at the top of the tree I think."

Continuing in the vein of influences and comparisons, I asked about the similarities between Scarlet Soho, Mansun and Delays. "erm, it's funny that, I tend to get like, that, everytime we do something slow every says that it sounds like mansun". We discuss the idea for a moment "i think it's kinda unfortunate really because.. I don't think we're as fundamentally rock orientated as those bands, I think, I mean I've seen a million and one bands who really do rip off mansun. I don't really think we're one of them but I can maybe see why there is a similarity but I just think I'm quite nasal and I think if you've got a nasal voice you're pretty fucked anyway.."

As for Delays. On the first hand they seem very different, but there are links between the two southampton bands that go further than just living in the same town. "I think stylistically we stand for a lot of the same things so you know.. when we sort of, if we have a conversation about it.. melody is paramount, I think live you've got have an aura, and I think they have an aura and I think they look quite good aswell.. in terms of all the ingredients, we both agree on the ingredients.."

Scarlet Soho have a song called Modern Radio spurring me to enquire into their plans to improve the state of British Radio. Jim is worried he'll sound bitter due to their lack of airplay. "What I do find, is that for years and years we used to critcise the production of our records thinking that that was the reason we didn't get on radio, and then I started hearing things like the D4 and stuff that sounds like it is recorded in a biscuit tin" He believes that electronic music isn't allowed on the radio unless it's hip hop.. "in terms of anything that sounds a little bit retro.. i think you're allowed to be retro if you've got a guitar but you're not allowed if you work with electronics."

Sonance went to Truck Fest this summer and happened to stumble accross Jim and Scarlet during the weekend. "I saw a really funny band called the shit.. they were like watching a car accident.. you couldn't not, you couldn't look away.. they were shit but in the best possible way. full on entertainment. like 2 cheerleaders.. you know, a bald guy draped in an american national flag and two guys in pink masks playing guitars. That was a bit of a highlight for me.. It was a nice festival".

Further discussion on Jim's music taste established that he's a fan of Big Country, Ultravox and Bjork and that his favourite film soundtracks include "the Sport soundtrack which basically had loads of artists working with other artists. I think it had like pj harvey and slayer or something, Quite Weird", War of the Worlds, which they listen to in the van, Rockstar and Easy Rider.

Finally we focussed on the future and the plans for 2005. A second tour of the album looks likely in February before working on the second album, which they've already been offered by their label. Things are looking good. Jim is happy, "as long as we carry on enjoying it, which we are, it's fine".
-- Lellie
www.sonance.co.uk

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