Q&A: THE CHAPMAN FAMILY
Only two singles into their career, outspoken Teesside-based post-punks The Chapman Family have already courted controversy for their “not a cult” remarks, received death threats from a bunch of Scousers for naming themselves after John Lennon‘s murderer (ironic when you think about it) and been the first unsigned band to play the NME Radar Tour. Here’s what frontman Kingsley had to tell Toonwaves about his band’s life in the eye of an outsider hurricane.
Firstly, how are things going?
Very well thank you, we’ve just started our tour to promote our second single. We’re only a couple of dates into it so we’re not in the complete throws of alcoholism yet and we still smell relatively nice. Give it time.
You’re about to release a new single. Tell me about that.
It’s our second single, it’s called “Virgins” and it’s out on 7″ vinyl and to download on October 19. It’s got more of a tune than our first single and it has a proper chorus with attempts at singing and everything. It’s still got a little bit of noise in it though, we’ve not turned into Snow Patrol just yet. The next single, if we get our own way, will be a “song” without any recognisable chorus whatsoever, a load of feedback, some massive drums and lots of swearing. Hopefully. The b-side to “Virgins” even has a synth on it. We’re such sell outs.
You were recently part of the NME’s Radar Tour. How did that go?
It was very bizarre. All the gigs were sold out as the headliner La Roux was at number two in the charts with that “For The Kill” song which was good in some ways in that all the venues were packed but bad in so so many other ways in that EVERY SINGLE PERSON THERE was there to see the little ginger quiffed electro one. After a couple of gigs of feeling HORRIFICALLY out of place – let’s be honest, if you like La Roux you’re not going to enjoy four sweaty northerners who can’t sing smashing guitars off their heads – we relaxed into our role. We’re the only unsigned band to ever be on such a tour so after a while we just started to enjoy ourselves and take it for what it was. After a while we even started to go down well and got invited back to most of the venues for this tour we’re on at the moment to headline ourselves. We must have done something right along the way.
How did the band get together in the first place?
Basically, I got back from university completely penniless and ambitionless and got a job in a call centre. I moved in with Paul (Chapman, guitar) to help him pay his rent and we would go places like the Kubar or the Empire in Teesside to watch bands – as it’s what we’ve always enjoyed doing – every single weekend. After a while we realised that we might as well have been watching the same band week in week out as it was all so familiar – this was about the time of the arse-end of The Libertines copyists so there’d be bands from all across the land trying to sound like cockerneymockerys and wearing fucking berets, stripey cut off t-shirts and porkpie hats. In the end we just got bored of the whole thing so we’d go back home and stay up all night writing the sort of songs we wanted to hear and play. Essentially we wanted to be in a band that it’d be fun or exciting to be in and hopefully mildly fun or exciting to watch. We didn’t have any political ideology at the time we formed, we were basically a reaction against bands that made our ears bleed for all the wrong reasons and nothing more.
You’ve forged a reputation as antagonistic outsiders with your ‘not-a-cult’ cult and the Mark Chapman references. How intentional has that been?
That kinda sounds like it’s all been part of some sort of Machiavellian masterplan but unfortunately the truth is that pretty much everything that has happened to us over the last couple of years has mostly been by accident. The Mark Chapman thing for instance was just a flippant remark that was meant as a joke and it just got a little out of hand – threats of violence from Liverpool bands etc. At certain times I find out that my sense of humour isn’t always everyone else’s cup of tea – making jokes about murdered scouse music legends bizarrely doesn’t go down that well in the universal sense. The whole “not a cult” thing was just a saying that I put up as a MySpace headline when I first started the page as I thought it would be ironic and create a little sense of mystery – and make us sound like David Koresh. You never know sometimes how far people will take a joke. As for being antagonistic, I don’t think we mean to rub people up the wrong way, we’re just trying to be honest – there’s far too much bullshit in the music industry going from local band scene infighting up to tosspot established megaselling acts. I think people have started to see through all the lies and smoke and mirrors of it all a little though. All people need to do is watch more Bill Hicks DVDs and stop being told what to enjoy. It’s that simple. Turn Eastenders off and buy some Bill.
How important is it to you to go up against the mood of acceptance dominating the UK?
I just find it increasingly unbelievable that supposedly the vast majority of the general public aren’t really that bothered about what is happening to our planet at the moment – socially, economically and environmentally. It’s an complete mystery to me as to why we aren’t all up in arms that the country is going to shit; or as to why we’re sending young men and women halfway round the world to die for a lost cause; or that we’re facing an apocalyptic population crisis as well as complete and utter environmental collapse. This strange mood of apathy that’s swept across the nation since the Britpop era where everything seemed so cool and easy as Wor Tony would have Noel Gallagher round for tea and jam through Champagne Supernova while watching TFI Friday needs to disappear. It’s a dangerous time as far right groups know that they can take advantage of this complete downtime – it’s no coincidence that the BNP are now gaining seats with LESS votes than when they were losing seats. Unbelievable.
You’ve been pretty vocal about Roman Polanski on your Twitter page. Do you think musicians need to voice their opinions on issues outside music?
Not necessarily no. I just think that people, regardless as to what their occupation is, should voice their opinion if they feel the need to do so. I don’t think my view as an indie z-lister is any more of less valid than an apprentice electrician. I still have the same views that I had when i worked in a call centre, the only difference is that now I’ve got a Twitter page. If someone reads one of my tweets about the ridiculous double standards and blind ignorance of the likes of Whoopi Goldberg and the Hollywood glitterati and has a change of opinion or finds out something they didn’t previously know then so be it. Many bands I’ve met are completely against the idea of having a voice on matters other than 4/4 time or how much delay to put on a guitar and that’s fine – they’re just being as honest to themselves as I am. If it means we lose a few people along the way then so be it, they’re probably not the kind of people I’d want associated with us anyway.
You’re proud of your Teesside roots. How big an influence has Middlesbrough had on your music?
Middlesbrough has had just as big an influence as me as much as the city of Newcastle or the Tyne has on any band from the Toon. I can only write songs about what I know, places I’ve been to and people I’ve met – that is to say, the immediate environment around me, and that environment happens to be Teesside. Perhaps not intentionally but I can hear Tyneside in bands like Detroit Social Club or Wearside in The Futureheads - they both seem proud (but not necessarily tied) to their area. We’re a strange bunch in Teesside as I think alot of us don’t really feel that we have an identity – we’re not Geordies and we’re not from Leeds, we’re in the middle. We don’t even know which county we’re in for fucks sake. However, I hate meeting people who left Teesside for uni and now dismiss the place as a shithole. In travelling around the country with my band I’ve discovered that quite alot of the UK is covered in shitholes and ours isn’t necessarily the shitholiest of them all. Lennon was probably right when he sung about all those shitholes in Blackburn Lancashire, bless him. People seem to forget that if you drive 20 minutes from Teesside you’ll either be in the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors; Whitby; in the middle of some of the most amazing industrial architecture you’ll ever see at the mouth of the Tees Estuary; sat in a car getting watched by security at Wynard Hall trying to spot Alan Shearer; or driving through some magnificent Durham countryside (or 20 miles out in the North Sea). It’s not as shit as you might think.
Do you think that the North East music scene transcends the traditional Newcastle/Sunderland/Boro football rivalries?
As much as I love my stuttering young team of overpaid and overrated primadonnas I am always massively embarrassed when I see bands or solo performers wearing football tops on stage. No further comment.
What are your plans for the future?
Hopefully to make enough money so that I’m not scrambling around for money every single month trying to scrape enough together for my phone bill. If we could get to play on Jools Hollands‘ opening jam bit of his show that would be amazing. I’d probably wear a Boro top for the occasion too, just so people a) knew I was northern and therefore liked a drink and “good crack” – it’s a good market to get into so I’ve heard; and b) knew that I liked football and could therefore be counted as “one of the lads” and not just another foppish indie twat who thinks David Bowie’s Berlin period is the start and stop of all modern music.
The band play The Cluny on Thursday (October 15).
