65daysofstatic by Ste Mills L2SB catch up with Sheffield's 65 Days Of Static, the Mogwai you can dance to, and who want to work with Aguilera...   65daysofstatic make a noise like no other round these parts. For the uninitiated, if you take the best elements of post-rock, mash it up with a punk-rock ethic, turn the volume up to apocalypse and get Aphex Twin to munch it all up and vomit it out again you‘re nearly there. For simplicity’s sake, they’re the Mogwai you can dance to.    I first came across them at Fuzz Club’s Christmas Party a few years ago when they confused a pissed-up crowd with an instrumental white noise version of ‘White Christmas.’ Then they played ‘Ophelia,’ a song drenched in feedback and electronic rhythms, yet remaining human enough to be one of the most soulful and heartbreaking things I’d heard in a long time. A couple of months later I saw them headline their own ‘dustpunk’ mini-festival at the Boardwalk. It was probably the best gig I’ve ever seen in Sheffield and almost certainly the loudest.    Despite playing rapturously received and packed gigs, no-one in Sheffield seemed to be talking about them. Massively undervalued on the local scene, I met up with them and found that behind the distortion, feedback and frightening cartoon alien artwork are four artistic, passionate, dedicated and friendly Sheffield blokes. We chatted about music, touring and porcelain swan abduction, in Avalon Studios, which could be considered less their rehearsal room and more their second home.      “We‘re here at least twelve hours a week and outside of that I‘m either doing the e-mails or writing new tunes,” says Paul, the group’s backbone and creator of the electronic beeps and squelches that drive the band‘s sound. “I do random jobs to pay the rent, but it doesn’t even register when I’m there.”     His commitment is impressive. 65DOS is not a pastime, but a vocation for him. His vision of the band began over four years now, but only started to become a reality when he met Joe ‘Fro; a guitarist notable for his big hair and surrealist sense of humour. Paul describes him as “the poetic one.”    Four weeks after meeting they played their first gig and spent a couple of years as a three piece with bass player Iain, learning how to play and doing sh*tloads of gigs. It was a sharp learning curve.     “We did quite a lot of stupid stuff that was interpreted as quite rude when we were a younger band” says Joe, referring to getting barred from one Sheffield venue for life after falling out quite severely with the sound guy.    Still, the band built up a healthy following, had records played on Radio 1 and a video shown on MTV2. Then in May last year, Iain left the band and Paul says the whole thing nearly fell apart. “We didn’t really have any prospects or any way to release the music. We’d been doing it for a long time and hadn’t really seen any results.”     But the flame was relit when Joe bumped into Robb, a perpetually tired but perpetually smiling drummer, in the Forum. The presence of drums as well as electronics meant the group’s dynamic changed and they got excited about making music again.    “Just having electronics and guitars was quite a limited medium to work in. Going back a bit and getting a drummer opened out the possibilities“, says Joe.    With momentum rebuilt, they recruited a new bassist. Gareth, after what he describes as a “heavy vetting process.”     “We got a vet to put his hand right up his ass to check there wasn’t any basses there,” confides Joe.     “We found diamonds,” says Paul, not entirely tongue in cheek.    They broke him in double-quick time (“It was like Julian Clary joining the army, it was that hardcore,” insists Joe, confusingly,) and are now launching themselves on the world as a four-piece.    In February the band embarked on their first UK tour with Oxford band Youth Movie Soundtracks. As soon as I brought up the subject puppyish grins broke out around the room. “It was f*cking awesome,” they unanimously declare.     “I don’t think any of us have ever had so much fun,” said Joe, “it all went really well.”    Low points included “nearly dying” after leaving the Leeds show a little worse for ware and crashing their car. High points included a “f*cking beautiful” gig in Oxford, followed by an unforgettably messy evening which included threatening to kill a DJ for not playing a Deftones record (“I could swear he had their whole back catalogue in his box and was just trying to piss me off” says Joe) and attempted theft of ornamental garden birds.    “We almost got arrested on the way home for stealing porcelain effigies of swans from an old ladies garden,” squirms Joe. “The police got called just as I was picking up my swan, which I was taking right good care of! But we talked our way out of that one.”    “We had an amazing amount of adventures but I personally can’t remember any of them,” says Paul. Unsurprisingly, plans are afoot to get back on the road soon.    The tour was to promote their stumble.stop.repeat E.P. released on their own “shadowy” dustpunk record label. Written last year as a three-piece, and recorded on Paul’s laptop, which as drummer Robb rightly points out is amazing considering how good it sounds, it was the best record you didn’t hear last year.     Accompanying it was a bootleg CD with old demo’s and cut-ups the band had been using in their live set for years. Although unquestionably dubious in terms of copyright, it featured brilliant and at times hilarious samples from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Underworld and Joy Division.    All thousand copies of both records sold out, clearly giving the band confidence and a sense of acceptance.    Joe: “We’ve had some good reviews. There’s clearly some people out there who like us. We’ve even had mail orders from some really obscure places like Canada and Italy.”     But the band still don’t feel entirely accepted closer to home. When I ask them to describe themselves in terms of an animal, Paul says they’d be a clay pigeon, implying they feel like outsiders being shot at.    “I don’t think any of the bands in Sheffield really care what we’re doing,” says Joe. “There’s widespread apathy between bands towards each other. And people don’t come out. You have to make a hell of a lot of effort in Sheffield to grab people.”    There is clearly a sense of frustration within the group over their hometown music scene. Whilst they have kind words for FutureExWife, Rumpus and the Narcotics and the dedication of Penny at Fuzz Club and Chris at the Boardwalk, going on the road has made Joe acutely aware of the failings of the alternative scene in Sheffield.    “It’s a lovely place to live. It’s quiet and clean and the people are polite to each other, but there’s f*ck all going on really. The four of us are into all sorts of stuff, but we don‘t want to go to Republic or Kingdom or the Leadmill and if you don‘t want to go to Corporation or Fuzz Club there‘s no middle ground. There‘s nowhere to hear new and exciting music.      “Once the students have gone home in June there’s no core of Sheffielders who have got a scene happening. It’s all based around going to Corporation twice a week and going to Fuzz Club.”     “In other towns people will go and see random post-rocky bands just because they’re on,” intervenes Paul. “But at the same time, if you’ve got a well established scene then really mediocre bands can get by just having the right kind of chord changes, so maybe it’s cool there is no scene. It makes us tougher.”    “There’s no point just being famous in Sheffield,” philosophises Joe. “There’s no glory to be had in being a local band. I think you should support your home town, but the whole point is that you go. That’s the reason why I’m in this band. To leave Sheffield in a bus and come back for Christmas and that’s it.”     The band have already written their second E.P. Joe says they wrote it by taking books of thirteenth century Japanese poetry, translating them into English and adding up all the letters.     Paul sheds rather more light on their creative process. “I’ve been listening to New Order since I was six. They mix electronics and guitars. What we do isn’t a new idea at all. It’s really really simple.” Gareth mocks a dirty look towards him. “Don’t tell them that.”    In truth, New Order aren’t the most obvious reference point. Indeed it’s hard to pin them down. There’s obviously Warp inspired electronica in there as well as post-rock influences like Mogwai and Godspeed You Black Emperor. But it’s stick thin pop whores that really float their boat.    “We f*cking love Christina Aguilera. She’s the queen of dirt. Right now she’d be the ultimate person to work with” says Joe, with a vehemence that suggests he really isn’t joking. Despite a truly left-field approach to making music, Joe says the band retain a desire for populist acceptance.     “What we really want to do is create something quite accessible out of an inaccessible elitist side of music. We wouldn’t mind being popular. We’re not in it for fame or anything. We’d rather see a whole generation of people who think that music should be this way suddenly realising it could be something else.”     Paul: “We’d like to appear on a Now compilation. At the end of the day it would be our music amidst all this rubbish and we’re quite proud of it,”     Joe: “I’d like to go on Top of the Pops and play note perfectly.”     The band are now trying to sort out a way to release the next E.P. and in the meantime are writing and trying to raise money to get back in the studio and back on tour.    “Realistically, in a years time, we’d like to be still around, touring and thinking about releasing an album,” says Joe. “But in a utopian world, if we could write our ticket, the dream would be to make children dance.”     Incredibly simplistic and grounded aims for a hugely dedicated and ambitious lot. Their noise deserves to be heard (heaven knows it’s loud enough), even if their home town isn’t listening.    [link] June 21, 2004 4:55pm