Big Yoga Muffin

We ventured into the strange world of Big Yoga Muffin as they played on the Levellers tour. A quick listen to the debut album would suggest a cocktail of drug induced madness but everything is not as it seems - these are just plain surreal nutters. Read on to find out about the new band "Funny Looking Kids" and why they discarded the names Auto Pet, Mother Ape and After Care.
 

Q: Big Yoga Muffin - strange name. How did you arrive at that one?
A: We had Mucho Mass, Auto Pet (which is slang for a vibrator), Rapid Air, Mother Ape (but that wasn't very good cos' it sounded like Mother Rape), After Care.

But we have started a new band called FLK which is a Doctors term in the Kent area. They write it on the doctors notes because there's a high level of inter-breeding in certain parts of Kent. FLK means Funny Looking Kids with their eyes too close together. Its out and out punk rock but its going to take a long time to convince the MD that we want to get rid of BYM and start FLK.
 

Q: You've been a way for while now. Have you still got that same sound?
A: I think were slowly discovering that each album is going to be different from the last, a bit like Blur really. Its not so much re-inventing yourself you just move along. Its going to be alot more guitar based. The first album was all written on acoustic guitar although you probably can't tell from listening too it, but they still can be played acoustically. This album we'll still be using samples, weird keyboard sounds and analogue synths but its going to be a lot more guitar led.

Were going to be playing about 3 or 4 new tracks tonight. "My Idea Of Fun", "Guitar Is God", "Decorate My Rut" and "Don't Wanna Go Out Like Presley" and they're all fairly guitar based.
 

Q: At least your not going all nu-acoustic sensitive on us?
A: I don't think we'll go sensitive singer-songwriter ballad or grow pony tails and wear very tight trousers and pointy shoes - we'll leave that for our 4th album. Talking of Coldplay, Ken Nelson was the producer of our new single and also produced the Coldplay album and he's doing the Embrace album at the moment. The idea is that we've gone and recorded a couple of singles with him and go back and do a couple more - basically just build the album up that way rather than going in for 3 months and getting insane.
 

Q: You've got this strange outlook on lyrics. Where do this idea's come from?
A: Quite often it can be a line that someone will say or a line in a book. Like say for instance a line that some guy was talking about relationships and he said "I have relationships that are as long as underground rides" and its like 20 minutes and that's it - its inspired me to pen some stuff.

A lot of the time its just nonsense. Its the sort of Tom Waits school of writing whereas its just collages of verbal imagery. Personally I can't stand the moaning aspect of certain bands. It reminds of being a student where you paint your walls black and drink cider and think of the world as shit when actually the world is fantastic. I think you should take your suffering with a pinch of irony and humour.

It matters alot what we talk about, I don't wanna be bland. So people come up with some very strange music to give me that space to do that. Alot of them are funny, but they could sound quite serious and depressing. Like "845183" the lyrics I think are very funny - "Break my legs, I'll come running back to you" - I might have a slightly twisted tense of humour but I find them quite funny.
 

Q: How do you find it dealing with the press because you don't fit into one of those easy identifiable pigeon holes?
A: They'll just have to carve a new one up from their bunch of very stoic block of word. We just write good songs and I would like that to be the bottom line of what were doing. Its nice when they support you, but there's only one mag left on the shelves so it makes you wonder whether there is any point in listening to them at all.
 

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"Decorate My Rut" is out now
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