South

It seems like a marriage made in heaven between Manchester and hot new band South. Not that they're fellow Mancs, but it just goes to show the lasting influence that the Roses and the Mondays still have on contemporary music.  A collision of strummed guitars and trippy beats make up the South sound and its what attracted James Lavelle and his Mowax label to promptly sign them up. We caught up with Joel on their first tour last month to find out how its all going

Q: Were up here in Manchester. Would it be safe to say that its your spiritual home?
A: Listening to bands that have come out of Manchester since I was 14 or 15 like the Charlatans, The Roses and The Verve. I think it just goes off all the way up north to places like Wigan. I listened to loads of classic things like the Beatles and I spent about a year locked up in my room where I wouldn't listen to anything else - I just had to have every Beatles record!!!

But then there is people like Janis Joplin and Led Zep, all the old skool things. Then there's Sigur Ross and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. As a band we've been listening to a lot of Can recently and The Silver Apples.
 

Q: How was it when Mowax and James Lavelle got involved?
A: That was cool. We knew that they took care in putting out good records and took pride in those records. We didn't know too much about them, it wasn't as if we were massive Mowax heads or something. There were other deals on the table but it was the one that was most appealing to us.

We did talk about the fact that Mowax always tends to be bigger than the band, but the record just represents itself and it doesn't sound too much like a Mowax record. I think once the record is released and we may take Mowax somewhere else.
 

Q: You did these vinyl only releases before the album. Was that to keep a sense of mystery about the band?
A: It was more really about the nature the demos were recorded. They were never meant to be released but I 'm really glad they were because we'll never get an opportunity to do it like that again. It was also good to start small and build some foundations.

I suppose we are laying are cards on the table a bit by doing this, but there's so much on the record that I think people will find stuff in there that they can relate to. There's a sense of wanting to achieve. There's a lot of hope on the record.
 

Q: While you were recording the album you did a track with Unkle for the "Sexy Beast" film?
A: It was an amazing opportunity to do a really good British film. We did 7 scores for all the best scene's in the film. Its a character based film obviously the first thing people will hear of it is its a gangster film. It is true that its about ex-cons but its not a gangster film like "LockStock" or anything like that, there's no sexy Nick Moran. They're all old narly guys who look like they are really gangsters as opposed to fucking southern puffs who you don't believe for a second. Its not really a big guns blazing film. Its a much more physiological, emotional character based trip.
 

Q: You play places like Cream or the Big Beat Boutique. How do the dance fans take to you?
A: They're pretty open minded. I think the crossover is a pretty big thing at the moment. Especially in a place like Fabric where you will go out and hear Jimi Hendrix or The Beatles in a club environment. I think all record labels need to have an open mind and that's what South is about.

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Album out now
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