Add N To X

Last time we met up with Add N To X we were faced with a bizarre min-conference type scenario. A face off between the journo's and the band. Thankfully we got the chance to do a one-on-one with main man Steve and talked about the scary prospect of franchising the Add N to X brand throughout the world, the end of the world and other such lightweight topics. The band play a mini-tour throughout March so check press for some experimental leftfield pop.

Q: Obviously there are certain restrictions with the synths. But do you try to make each gig a seperate entity in a way?
A: Were pretty tight but your working with old gear and within certain parameters and you can guarantee that something will go wrong. We did the last British tour which was really wracked with terrible bad luck and most nights some of the equipment would break down.

We always get into some kind of scrape and thats what makes it interesting. If you go to see a band like Coldplay you know exactly what you'll get whereas with us there's always something new or different. I think acts like Echoboy are brilliant because you really do not know what you'll hear from one night to the next - sometimes its mellow krautrock, othertimes there is a bit more electronic and other times they can sound like Pink Floyd.
 

Q: We were talking about Add N To X being a band who look to the future rather than the past. Perhaps there is no future?
A: Well, I suppose thats what we really maintain. Everything mutates and circumstances always chance so its always is going to be different so when we talk about looking to the future you're just basically saying that when that moment becomes the present it will bare no relationship to whats happenning now.

The word "future" is so loaded anyway I find it difficult to use it. I suppose were not really looking to the future but more the side, the top and multi-directionally. Its about opening things up and letting more things in even if you make mistakes in the process.
 

Q: When you play a tour do you sometimes feel your preaching to the converted. Would you liked to have taken the route like Radiohead did with "Creep" and "The Bends" in order to get to "Kid A"?
A: I think that would be impossible even though we definately talk about things like that. When it comes to making music I don't think you can be that prescriptive. I think a lot of people get that impression anyway about stuff and its not usually up to you. I don't know that Radiohead definately set out to do that and usually its the critics or people from the outside deciding thats the way it was.

Usually a record takes its own course and it comes out like that. We didn't know at all what "Add Insult To Injury" would be like when we started it except we knew we wanted to reflect on the life material a lot more. For us it would be more interesting to experiment with structures as more traditional approaches. In the future we may just do a pure disco tune but I think if you sit down clinically it can become too muso. Our music has to have a portion of clever clever, a portion of ludditism and pornography.
 

Q: We've heard rumours regarding an Add N To X franchising. Would you like to expand on this?
A: We've been thinking about licensing out the name so you can get an Add N To X touring in South America at the same time they are touring Russia. So you can franchise the name under certain guidelines lke they do with Kentucky Fried Chicken. 3 people who look pretty much like the band and go out an play Add N To X stuff. They keep some of the money and we get the rest.

People would buy a ticket and not know whether they'll get the real band, but it doesn't really matter because it will all sound pretty much the same anyway. We've been talking about it for years although I think we'll have to be a little more popular before that can happen.