Five Favourites: SUEP

Led by SuepLord (Porridge Radio, Garden Centre, The GN Band) and Brain Wastefield (UK top model), London based SUEP are now a fully formed band with the addition of GN (The GN Band, Joanna Gruesome, The Tubs), Freakin’ Deacon (PC World, Garden Centre), and T-Mr.9 (Head of Pastoral Care). Interweaving jangly hooks with a whirring, psychedelic haze, the band recently released their debut single ‘Domesticated Dream‘. Oozing a vibrant, quirky energy, a joyous clatter of percussion swirls alongside uptempo electro-driven melodies and sweeping, honey-sweet vocals. A perfectly eclectic scintillating soundscape.

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspires them. So, to celebrate SUEP’s new single, we caught up with Sueplord to ask about her “Five Favourites” – five songs that she loves the most. Check out their choices below and scroll down to watch the unique new video for ‘Domesticated Dream’.

The Flirts – ‘Passion’
I only heard this song kind of recently, my friend Liam put it on in one of our YouTube sessions that me and my housemates often did during lockdown. It’s just so good and I reckon it’s quite theatrical, I really want to sing and act out all the words and dance along every time I hear it. I just looked up that The Flirts were formed by Bobby Orlando who worked with Divine and the Pet Shop Boys who I also love. I’ve been playing this song every time I DJ at the moment, and when I was on Green Man radio this summer I accidentally put on the extended mix which is just under 10 mins long but no one complained, that’s why I know it’s a good ‘un. There are a few performance videos of the song on YouTube and they are all amazing. I have definitely tried to use the song as a kind of exercise video by dancing along to their moves in my living room.

The Umlauts – ‘Boiler Suits and Combat Boots’
Ahh man I love the Umlauts so much, this is the first song of theirs I heard. It doesn’t have a video but it’s just such a great vibe and tune that I think I can get away with it. Porridge Radio played with them at two Library shows in Ashton and Widnes last month and there weren’t many people there and in Widnes it was a matinee performance, but they rocked it so hard, they sounded so large and full and it was literally impossible for me not to dance. I’ve listened to this song so much that when the synth solo came in I was singing along… They are stand up people as well. I can’t wait to hear their next single and the album. They are on Prah Recordings that are putting out some incredible stuff at the moment.

Jona Lewie – ‘I Think I’ll Get My Hair Cut’
Ok, this song is the song that I wish SUEP had written. But my man Jona wrote it. Jona Lewie is such a huge inspiration to me and Josh from SUEP. All of his songs have incredible hooks with a twinge of humour, which is exactly the genre I love, and I think it’s definitely a genre. One that Paul McCartney also fits into. I love that throughout the song he’s trying to be more attractive and popular and he’s concluded that to do that, he needs a haircut, but at the end of the song he realises he’s trying too hard and actually his hair is great. We’ve all been there. The synth riff that comes in goes straight to my heart every time I hear it, and I’ve heard this song a lot, I know all the words. By writing this I have concluded that SUEP should maybe cover this song. Keep your ears to the ground.

Becky Hill, David Guetta – ‘Remember’
Something a little different. I cannot contain how much I love this song. I have listened to it maybe a million times. The video is fine, don’t let it distract you from the lyrics:

“It’s only when I’m lying in bed on my own
And I wake up and I don’t see your name on my phone
It’s in the moments where I think that I’m better alone
That’s when I remember, that’s when I remember
Every time I walk past your house in the rain
And I tell myself that you were the biggest mistake
And just when I think I’m finally doing okay
That’s when I remember, that’s when I remember’

It gets me so deep every time. And it’s a huge club classic slam dunk. The amount of times I’ve been driving and yelling every word. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry with some kind of joyous sad tears. Nice one as well to Becky Hill, her voice is smash hits good. And David Guetta, all I can say is thank you. I’d just like to shout out to another song I would have put on this playlist that the rest of the band would have probably hated: Avicii – ‘Wake Me Up’ (definitely a song I wish I had written).

Alessi Brothers – ‘Seabird’
Damn, when this song drops and the vocals come in! The way the vocals are produced as well, they are so loud but so perfect. Normally I like vocals a bit buried, but this song has just got it. The lyrics are so beautiful and also is that a drum machine??? Also mega fade out vibes. It has it all.

Massive thanks to Sueplord for sharing their Five Favourites! Watch the video for ‘Domesticated Dream’ here:

‘Domesticated Dream’ is out now. It was recorded with producer Matthew Green (Sniffany & The Nits, The Tubs, etc.) at
SuepLord’s old house, which was once a youth centre in Surrey Quays, with the old sports hall being made into a makeshift studio where SUEP laid down a mini album worth of songs in two days, and later mixed by Mike
O’Malley (caroline, Girl Ray).

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Track Of The Day: Bad Idea – ‘Crash’

A hazy, melodic musing on the familiar feeling of burning out, Leeds-based band Bad Idea have shared their latest single ‘Crash’. Released via Leeds label Come Play With Me, the track meshes the band’s shoegaze and dream pop sensibilities with relatable lyrics to create a swirling distraction from the overwhelming desire to crash out of your many commitments.

Formed in 2016 on a drunken night out dancing to Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’, Bad Idea’s Sarah Sefton and Daniel Johnson chose the band’s name after entering into a new creative project and a new romantic relationship together simultaneously. They put aside their concerns about how this might affect their musical dynamics and enlisted the help of new bandmates Charlie Peacock and Liam Lambert in 2019 to flesh out their sounds. On new single ‘Crash’, the band embrace the idea of “putting yourself in front of a slow moving car, or acquiring a minor injury of some sort to get out of your commitments, because you’re too tired and want to go home” with atmospheric flair.

“It’s a sad song about exhaustion and anxiety, but also camaraderie,” vocalist Sarah explains further. “It describes an anxiety that I share with most of my colleagues and friends..the song mirrors this feeling in the music with slow, drifting and overlapping vocals and sudden hard choruses.”

Listen to ‘Crash’ below.

 

Follow Bad Idea on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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WATCH: DEBBY FRIDAY – ‘FOCUS’

Inspired by her decision to fully embrace her creativity and push her talents to the limit, Nigeria-born, Vancouver-based audio-visual artist DEBBY FRIDAY has shared her latest single ‘FOCUS’. Full of jagged electronics and sultry, commanding vocals, the track is accompanied by a striking set of visuals featuring and co-directed by Friday and Ryan Ermacora.

“I wrote this song in 2019, when I first started thinking about writing an album and the possibility of pursuing my creative passions as my career was making itself known to me,” Friday explains about ‘FOCUS’. “I kept debating with myself, ‘do I want this? or do I not want this?’ It’s a heavy question. The video also speaks to this. The whole process was like undergoing some sort of fire baptism. It was difficult and chaotic and supernatural. I felt like I was the mountain, cracking open and spilling forth.”

Cauterizing her conflicting thoughts with impressive flair, Friday’s efforts have resulted in a distinctive sound and aesthetic. She elaborates on how the accompanying video was created: “Getting the logistics of everything together was the most stressful part. It’s not everyday that you have to figure out how to make an avalanche and take fire bullwhip cracking lessons. Thankfully, I had a really supportive crew the whole way through. It took a lot but I feel like this song and video marks a turning point for me that I can’t exactly name yet.”

Watch the video for ‘FOCUS’ below.

Follow DEBBY FRIDAY on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo credit: Laura Baldwinson

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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INTERVIEW: Divide and Dissolve

Fuelled by Takiaya Reed’s doom-ridden saxophone sounds and Sylvie Nehill’s phenomenal percussion, Divide and Dissolve create idiosyncratic instrumentals designed to erode the foundations of colonialism and liberate the land for indigenous communities. Flowing with a unique gargantuan grace, their second album Gas Lit has been haunting our ears since it was released in January of this year. We caught up with Takiaya to talk about the record, the reception that it’s had, the new Remix EP that it’s inspired, and a shared love for Radio 6 presenter Mary Anne Hobbs…

Hello Takiaya, how are you doing today?

I’m good, I’m in finals right now, so I’m studying a lot and trying to drink enough water to feed my brain. I’m studying psychology. It’s intense, but I feel super chill about it, because it’s all just a pseudo science. It’s kind of comical trying to find ways to talk about things that are extremely inaccessible and continuing to perpetuate all these things that are sometimes helpful, and sometimes not. The mind is so mysterious and vast, and we’ll never really know what it’s capable of…

I think you should put that in your final essay. You should just end it with that sentiment.

Yeah, they’ll be like “50 Points off for not using enough empirical evidence…”

That’s true, maybe don’t listen to me…

Musically, let’s start from the beginning. Can you remember who, or what first inspired you to start making music? And how Divide & Dissolve first came together too?

It was my dad who first inspired me. I started out playing piano but then he was like, “hey, you look like a saxophone player,” and I was like, “what? A sax player, really? I thought I should play trombone or something?” but he said “I know you’re a sax player. I play trumpet, so we could play duets” So he got me started on playing saxophone and I felt this intuitive almost spiritual connection with the instrument. I still roll my eyes at my dad for what he said about looking like a sax player, but I think there’s something to him having had that knowledge.

Then later on, I was inspired to play guitar because I met my friend Osa Atoe, who does Shotgun Seamstress and was in a band called New Bloods. She showed me how to put on shows, how to set up a PA and she told me to play guitar. Osa was super inspirational in terms of me not playing classical music, which is what my first passion was.

With Divide and Dissolve, I just had a good friend say to me “Hey, you should meet Sylvie, you two are going to love each other” and we instantly just got along. It’s not a very eventful story, it’s just more like, “hey, you’re cool. Okay, cool. Let’s play music. Sweet!” We’re both super chill people, so it just works. I’m trying to trust in that. When making decisions about life, sometimes it just feels super right, like you’re just supposed to be there. Those are probably very good guiding principles.

It sounds like you rely a lot on your intuition, which surely can only lead you to the right kind of people and the right kind of things.

The music you make as Divide and Dissolve, is fuelled by a powerful anti-racist, anti-white supremacy, anti-colonialist message. Do you feel like your music is uniting and educating people about these issues?

I can only hope that it is. It feels amazing to be able to talk about the things that we want to talk about, and be able to experience relationality with our ancestors, our relatives and our kin, and to be able to talk about the Earth in this way and just feel all the resonance. That’s just what we’re about in general. So I feel super grateful and I don’t want to take any of that for granted. I want to be able to continue to connect with people in these really positive and meaningful ways. That’s just how Sylvie and I are.

We’re pretty focused and we want to directly communicate our message. We would like the systems that continue to perpetuate genocide to end. If you can imagine something ending, then it can end. Instead of living in the world where you feel like, “oh well, that’s not possible” – you should try to believe that anything’s possible. That’s where I’m at.

That’s a really refreshing and hopeful sentiment. You do a magnificent job of making listeners feel this way on your most recent album, Gas Lit. What would you say you were most proud of about this record?

I remember having a conversation with Ruban Nielson (Unknown Mortal Orchestra) who produced the record, and I just told him, “I hope people can understand exactly what this album is about.” We put a lot of intention into the album when we were writing it. We put a lot of effort and love in, and we consulted with our ancestors. So when it was released, the way people were writing about it and talking about it felt so attuned. They knew what the album was about without me even specifically telling them what it was about. It was abundantly clear and that still feels incredibly special. It’s so amazing to want to communicate something, and then to have it actually happen. It makes me feel super inspired to continue playing music. I love that Sylvie and I get to do that with one another. It feels like such a blessing.

Do you have a favourite track on the album? Is there one that you enjoyed recording the most or one that you enjoy playing live the most?

Do you know what, I don’t feel properly equipped to answer that question yet, because we have been in a pandemic and this music hasn’t been played live. But, I feel like I’ll know the answer once we go on tour. I’ll be like, “Oh my God, it’s this song!”

The creation of all of the songs was so unique, so it will feel awesome to learn more about the album in terms of performance when we play it live. It feels so wild to be able to do such a thing, because we haven’t had the opportunity to. I’m very excited to play live. I feel optimistic and hopeful that live music will return in a way that feels meaningful and good.

I can’t wait to catch you live when you’re here in the UK. You’ve recently released a Gas Lit Remix EP, featuring tracks by Moor Mother (‘Mental Gymnastics’) and Chelsea Wolfe (‘Far From Ideal’). Talk to me about how this EP came to life…

Our label, Invada, thought it would be cool to do some remixes and I just knew who I should hit up. I feel so connected to both of Camae (Moor Mother) and Chelsea. I think they are both amazing people who do amazing things. It feels so special that they would want to work with us. It just makes me smile a lot.

I’ve just seen that BEARCAT has also remixed a track for you, which is cool!

The visuals that you’ve shared to accompany the Chelsea Wolfe remix and the Moor Mother remix – shot by artist, writer, and filmmaker Sophia Al-Maria who currently has a sculpture at the Serpentine in Hyde Park – compliment the songs so well. 

I love music videos. I don’t know how to make them myself, but the visual world is so interesting. I love it when people who have an understanding of it decide to connect with us and tell another story. Maybe they make it deeper, maybe they don’t. It feels special to try and achieve deeper communication. I think it enhances the music and I love that. Anything that helps us to be able to feel this feeling deeper is awesome. But also, maybe the videos help you not feel things as deeply, and that’s awesome as well, because maybe that’s what someone needs.

I agree, I think there’s a nice balance between the visuals and the sounds.

We’re big fans of Divide and Dissolve her at GIHE, and someone else who also is also a big fan of yours is Radio 6 presenter Mary Anne Hobbs. How do you feel about that?

I really want to meet her, she seems so cool. Sylvie and I want to hang out and eat food with her. She’s across so much cool music, she has really great energy and it feels like such a huge blessing to have her understanding of what we’re doing. I admire her, I think she’s awesome.

We think she’s amazing too. Maybe this will be the interview that she reads and then she invites you to dinner?

Finally, what else is on the horizon for Divide and Dissolve? 

We’re going on tour soon and we’re playing Roadburn in 2022, so that will be fun!

Thanks to Takiaya for speaking with us.

Order your copy of the Gas Lit Remix EP here

Follow Divide and Dissolve on bandcamp, Instagram, Spotify, Twitter & Facebook

Photo Credit: Jaimie Wdziekonski

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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