Interview : Fear Of Men

Dans la jeune garde indie-pop britannique, nous sommes tout particulièrement fan de Fear Of Men, un quatuor de Brighton. Nous ne nous lassons pas de leurs deux sublimes cassettes (parues respectivement sur Sex Is Disgusting et en autoproduction) et du single sorti sur l'un de nos labels anglais préférés : Italian Beach Babes (monté par Conan de Mazes). C'est donc sans surprise que le groupe s'est retrouvé dans notre top 2012 singles et espoirs ! Si vous aimez l'indie pop sombre, sensible et délicate, romantique même, comme nous. Il y a de fortes chances pour que vous soyez sous le charme de leurs chansons telles que Doldrums ou Ritual Confession. 

Hi can you introduce yourself ? 

Hello, this is Jess from Fear of Men.

How did you begin to make music together ? can you tell us the story of your band ? 

I was making demos at home on my own which were ambient soundscapes to go with films I was making, and Dan heard these at a group exhibition in London. We got talking about Grouper and mix tapes and various pedals and realised we wanted to make music together. We made the Hanna Schygulla demos together which people picked up on really quickly, so we found Antony and Lin to play bass and drums and started playing shows! We had a really busy year, and put out our demo tape and single on DIY labels, and it was only before Christmas that we had time to stop and think about what we wanted to do next- we've had a change in the rhythm section, with Alex and Mike replacing Ant and Lin, and we're feeling good getting exciting new recordings together.

You released two EPs on cassette, why did you choose this format ? 

It's very cheap and quick- you only need about 2 weeks between finishing the tracks and them being in someone's hands, and we really like physical releases. Also there's a warmth to cassette which we think works well with our sound.

Are you already working on an album or not yet ? 

We are certainly getting ideas together and we're very excited at the prospect, but we don't have definite plans as yet.

You seems really influences by litterature in your EP titles (Alice Munro, Hannah Schygulla), often canadian related, is the books you're reading your main influence or is it way to pay tribute to artist you're admiring ? 

Both really- I tend to get quite obsessive about whoever I'm into at the time, and the songs I write for those few months are written with that person in mind, so it just seems to make sense. Also we like to have strong women on the covers of our records.

If we talk about your sound, what are the bands that influenced you ? 

Grouper, The Breeders, Pixies, The National, Warpaint, The Chills, Deerhunter, 

Is there any bands around that we should listen if we like Fear Of Men ? 

Probably the above.

What do you think about british music scene at the moment ? and what about brighton more preciselly ? 

I think there is some exciting new music coming out in the UK at the moment and I think the UK DIY labels have had a big involvement in that. Labels like Italian Beach Babes are really good at promoting new bands and releasing their music. Brighton is a great place for music and really diverse in terms of new music - from Abi Wade to Sealings. Their isn't really a scene but everyone is supportive of each other. 

Releasing limited small amount of records on cassette or vinyl is it a way to prevent piracy and general music devaluation ? 

Yeah I think that it's really important that people buy music and we also take pride in doing our own design and artwork, so we would prefer people to view our work the way we intend it. Also as I said before, the benefits of it being cheap and quick are also great.

What do you expect for Fear Of Men in 2012 ? 

We hope to tour, get out of the UK and record an album we're really proud of !
[NDR : le groupe est actuellement en studio pour enregistrer ses deux prochains singles]

Malheureusement, les deux cassettes sont sold out, mais vous pouvez trouver le vinyle chez :
Italian Beach Babes (UK) / Handsandarms (FR)

Fear Of Men sur Facebook / Bandcamp / Tumblr et Twitter