The Loose Salute

DMG: Peter Greenwood. Any relation to Peter Greenbaum, of Fleetwood Mac?

LB – No. He does have long fingernails though. And he is a genius. Peter Greenwood and Peter Greenbaum of Fleetwood Mac are both geniuses.

DMG: The video for The Mutineer is amazing. Did you have any input?

IM – Not really. We approached Daryl Waller and asked if he wanted to do a collaboration, and he did - he did the artwork for the album cover as well - A few months he came back and it was done, and it was amazing.

LB – It was brilliant!

IM – He did it by stop motion – after every brushstroke, capture a frame, and then so on and so on. It got on the cover of Super 10, an animation magazine.

DMG: We are impressed. Then there’s the video from ‘Turn the Radio Up’ – where is the footage from there?

LB – Tons of places.

IM – Lots of stuff. Some tour footage. Some old Super Eight footage I had.

DMG: Right, because it has that faded look about it: Super Eight is that type of old camera film without sound? Surely you can get regular digital footage treated to look like that now?

IM –I actually had a Super Eight camera, so that stuff is really filmed on a Super Eight film. They’ve stopped developing the film now, you used to order the film itself in a little package with a return address somewhere in Germany for processing, but they’ve closed the place now, so you can’t get it developed.

DMG: That is sad. So, tell us about how the record came together: I heard the strings went on later?

IM – The first sessions were in East London in a hired studio – we had just five days to get it down, because we were paying for it ourself. So the drums, bass and acoustic guitar went down live. After that, we all went away for eight months to work on different projects, and there were other sessions later to get the record together.

LB – We didn’t have the money to get it all done at once – we relied on people helping us out. We even did some recording in my house.

DMG: Hopefully the next record will have big money behind it, so it won’t take so long to get together?

LB – Yes! It’s going to be bigger and better!

DMG: Of course it is- you’re going to be interviewed by ITN! So what is the Cornwall connection? Have you been influenced by the musical scene there?

IM – There isn’t much of a scene to be honest. There are cover bands.

LB – [ominously] We were going to be doing that.

DMG: Satan offers you a bargain. You are allowed to bring back one artist from the dead, but in return you have to give him one band or artist from the present. Who would you bring back, and who would you get rid of?

IM – Oooh. I’d get rid of Lurc Sin Foot Rigs. [n.b. to protect the site from litigious pop-rockers, DMG have anagrammatised the name of the band which Ian dislikes]

LB – I’d bring back Elvis!

DMG: Early Elvis or Vegas Elvis?

LB – Early Elvis! No! All of him! Late Elvis as well! You have to bring back all of Elvis! He battled with a bit of a porky belly in the later years.

IM – People don’t realise, but he was only really fat for the last few months.

DMG: He did have some really well-engineered catsuits.

LB – They were amazing. I want one.

IM – I’d bring back Dennis Wilson or Graham Parsons.

LB – Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon – God, there are so many!

DMG: What is the weirdest gig you’ve played?

IM – There was that wedding we played the other day.

LB – That was my cousin’s wedding!

DMG: [To LB] Your cousins are weird?

LB – No! They’re brilliant! It was actually an awesome event. It was an acoustic gig at their Thai-themed wedding. It was just different.

IM – [slight hint of mischief remaining] Yeah, it was just different.

LB – The weirdest one was the Rabbit Hole at Surf Stock, where there was that fight with the baguettes.

DMG: Please explain.

LB - There was a tiny obscure stage, and the event was compered by a rabbit. He introduced us, and then after the gig, he told us that he wanted us to go through his rabbit hole, and so we went through his rabbit hole, and on the other side it was like Alice in Wonderland – pillows and hookahs, and then through to another room where a man transported you through time, and then another room with this open fire in it – Ian had left by this point –

IM – Yup, I had left –

LB - and then someone threw a baguette towards the fire, and I was like ‘Oh-ho!’ so I threw it back, and anyway it ended up with 20 people on one side and 20 people on the other, with bread flying everywhere, and it went on for about 40 minutes. I lost my cowboy hat backstage at that gig.

DMG: We’ll put out a notice on the website!

LB - It’s brown and beautiful and it’s on all the band photos. Maybe someone will turn it in.

DMG: And the biggest?

LB – Hyde Park for London Calling. We were on the next stage along from Eric Clapton: the same stage as John Mayer, The Charlatans. It was brilliant. There were about a thousand people in the tent. About three thousand could have fitted in it.

IM – We were on early. We were drawing them in. They were definitely arriving as we played.

DMG: Okay. You are an up and coming band. Who is coming up behind you? Who are your hot tips for bands to listen to?

LB – The Burning Leaves! I think they’re still unsigned - they do an old style country thing, in a kind-of sitting-on-a-porch mellowness. If you can imagine those kind of films like Paris… Paris…

DMG: Last Tango in Paris?

LB – Yeah –

IM – No. That was the one with Marlon Brando, you’re thinking of Paris –

LB – Paris Texas. That’s it. Oh, and the Moon Music Orchestra.

IM – Danny and the Champions of the World. Danny from that was in Grand Drive, they’re good, you should check them out. Very jammy, two chords over a couple of hours – very psychedelic.

DMG: Great. If you could re-record a soundtrack to a film, which film would you choose?

LB – Hmmm. No Country For Old Men! Oh, maybe not, we’re a bit too happy for that… how about Boogie Nights?

DMG: Good choice.

LB – I used to go to school with Heather Graham. She’s awesome, I’m not in touch with her anymore, but even then I knew she was going to be famous. We used to act together in plays when we were 10 and 11: she was my leading lady and I used to play a boy, in a little playhouse. There’s no footage of it, but I still have newspaper clippings.

DMG: What’s your favourite place in London?

LB – The South Bank, that walk from London Bridge to Waterloo. It’s magical.

DMG: Do you have a favourite pub or venue to play in London? What are your favourite gigs to play?

LB – The Heavenly Social.

IM – That’s home territory for us.

DMG: So you’ve been performing on stage, facing your crowd: what do they look like? Who is coming to your gigs? Are the crowds getting bigger?

LB – They’re getting fatter, yeah –

DMG: That’s not quite what I –

IM – And they’re getting older.

LB – [in the manner of a dame of showbiz] We all are. Hahaha

DMG: Okay. Before we finish, where and when are your next gigs?

IM – We’re doing some acoustic stuff up in Manchester – a gig in Fopp, then a Heavenly night as part of In the City.

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