Snowblind

Snowblind follow in the footsteps of St Etienne and The Lightning Seeds who manage to knock together perfect pop songs while still maintaining that lyrical edge. In a world where commercial pop music means a couple of dancing puppets its makes sense that Snowblind reclaim the true meaning of the word. They've just completed a tour with Starsailor so watch this space for forthcoming releases / tours.

Q: Isn't the name "Snowblind" taken from a Black Sabbath song?
Jane: Its not really but that is one of the things. There are loads of "Snowblinds", there's a book and a Cocteau Twins record as well. Its just lovely word about bedazzlement.
 

Q: You call yourselves a pop band. How would you define pop music then if you're a pop band and so are Steps?
Paul: That's a different sort of genre really, just a different type of pop and is just saccharine in a way. Its all image led, they don't write the songs or play their own instruments. Were taking the definition of pop to basically mean not rock - but still guitar based with proper lyrics with a proper band playing it.

Jane: Were a pop band in the sense that New Order were a pop band or the Smiths were a pop band.

Paul: We do make no bones about it. It is pop music and we'd love to see it in the charts. We've got no problem with that. Personally I'm not into these scene's I never have been. I was never in the right gang at school and I just went away and did my own thing.
 

Q: The performance is important to you. Would you ever consider writing songs for pop acts to subvert them?
Jane: It doesn't subvert them though does it, loads of people do that. Its like that Greg Alexander bloke from the New Radicals. He's like sacked the New Radicals after one single and he's writing songs for Texas and Ronan Keating and the new Geri Halliwell song - but it doesn't really subvert them, people just perceive it as a pop song. They're just good pop songs and everybody likes Ronan Keating.

Paul: Like on this pop thing, people get a bit carried away and they think pop is a dirty word. Some of it is quite shite but a lot of it is really good. That actual Hear'say single - if you take, strip it away and look at it you find its not a bad little pop song. Its just all the rubbish around them, but as a song I can't argue with it.

Jane: You can't love a band like that can you. There never anything more than a passing "that's alright on the radio" but proper bands you love 'em. The best bands, there's always something idiosyncratic about them. I mean all these band that are put together are all because they look pretty and should be performing on a stage whereas I think the best bands are people that shouldn't be anywhere near a bloody stage.
 

Q: Who do you admire musically?
Paul: I was saying before it could be hundreds of things about any great pop music. I grew up in a pub and all the customers used to put the jukebox on all the time and I could hear it for years and years. I never knew who was who half the time, i just heard these tunes come up, so it was that really instead of one specific person.
 

Q: You've been in bands before. Would you say that Snowblind is what you've been aiming for all this time?
Paul: No, I thought I'd be in a punk band throwing cans and getting into fights on stage - just really causing a lot of trouble. You do what you do though musically don't yer and it always seemed to be good pop tunes coming out.

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"Cut" is out now of Emi: Chrysalis
The album follows soon
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