If you find the name familiar let me remind you somewhat. Mover were last seen around these parts at the tail end of Britpop and promptly were given the retro tag. While you certainly are not going to find an exploration of drum & bass percussion mixed with trance remixes what we actually find is a real soul spirit. Their eponymous titled debut featured appearances from Ruby Turner and was a string drenched motown classic. The new album "Fly Casual" was recorded after some free studio time came their way due to Marti Pellows time in rehab and sees the band moving into darker and minimalist territories.

Q: Was it a conscious decision to make a darker record 2nd time round?
A: I think it was everything going on at the time. We just wanted make it sound more raw - less gloss and more soul. The first album was really commercial and perhaps has a little over production. I've no idea how our record will fit into the year 2001 and hopefully it won't fit in at all.

Perhaps to a certain extent what did the first album harm was that it could fit in with certain bands at the time and we never really intended it to. I thought it was to detriment that it did because although we'd just written a load of songs and recorded the album as it was without those things in mind it got linked to a load of bands at the tail-end of Britpop.

I think the change is just down to listening to more music. When we made the first album we were listening to bands and now we'll listen to their influences and their influences and so on. You take things from here and there because when we wrote the first album we'd just started and now I feel more like myself / an individual.
 

Q: What was the vibe in the studio and tell us about the Marti Pellow scenario?
A: He never got there. They had to cancel and because we were on Mercury at the time they put us in there for a week. Because they really liked us they offered us a dirt cheap deal to record the rest of the album there. It was a really nice plush studio and we started moving leather suites and snooker tables into this Ballroom where we were recording. We just got it really chilled in there so it looks like what the album sounds like.
 

Q: How is it working out live now that James (guitarist) has left?
A: Well, we've got some stuff on mini disc and I'm playing keyboard parts. It sounds like more if anything not less. This is the second tour since we've come back and I'm still learning how to play the keyboards.

The musical direction was a natural move from the first one so anyone coming to see us on this tour will know what to expect. You can hear us moving this way on the B-sides and towards the end of the 1st album. Were just going to put out the album and let us grow by word of mouth. There's no point in competing in the singles market against Steps and Westlife - not yet anyway!!!