Indie For BUNNIES

Prendete tre ragazzate del Soul, della geniale irruenza di Phil Spector e dei classici di Stax e Motown, aggiungeteci l’attrazione per un’ immagine quanto mai raffinata ed elegante della pop music e dell’iconografia fifties e sixties e avrete The Pipettes. Giovani belle e stilose le Pipettes sono, oggi le parenti strette dei Girl Group del passato. Se per caso (ma ci credo poco) non abbiate idea di che cosa siano questi gruppi al femminile, provate a ricordavi nomi come The Ronettes, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas o The Supremes, giusto per citarne i più famosi. Oppure se anche i nomi non vi dicono nulla (e ci credo meno di prima ), fatevi tornare alla mente le sequenze dei vecchi film di Scorsese, tipo Mean Streets, e la musica che spesso accompe inglesi innamoragnava le vicende di De Niro e Keitel nel loro universo italoamericano di piccola malavita degli anni settanta. Ritmo serrato, testi quotidiani, banali se vogliamo quando descrivono il primo bacio o l’invaghimento per il bello di turno, voci calde e profonde come il bacio dell’ amante prediletta, un flusso sonoro così compatto e potente da travolgerti totalmente. Le Pipettes partono da qui per dire la loro in fatto di musica pop. D’altronde lo dichiarano esplicitamente sul loro sito ufficiale, dove scrivono che secondo la propria sensibilità la storia della musica pop ( ular ) non parte dai Beatles ma da quello che è stato l’avvento di Phil Spector ( “ the first Tycoon of Teen, the first Pop Genius “ lo definiscono le Nostre ) sulle scene e da tutto ciò che da esso è scaturito. Questa devota passione non è sinonimo di chiusura nell’ àge d’or del Soul, ma piuttosto una solida base su cui le tre albioniche costruiscono la loro musica, che si apre alle moderne definizioni del pop tra cui spiccano soprattutto i Belle & Sebastien meno intimisti, per la delicatezza adolescenziale e per i contagiosi ritornelli sovente sostenuti dal suono retrò dell’organo.Dopo una manciata di singoli, per l’estate di quest’anno è atteso il debutto sulla lunga distanza licenziato come sempre dalla Memphis Records, ottima occasione per capire se le 3 lovely saranno in grado di reggere l’urto con la realtà internazionale, confermando quello che fin qui hanno fatto di buono, oppure se si perderanno per la strada ( difficile a mio parere vista la grinta che le anima…). Per conoscere meglio Rosie, Becky e Gwenno, ecco servita un’interessante intervista…

Tell us about how you formed The Pipettes. Did you know each other before? Or did you meet because of your shared love for a certain kind of sound?
well most of us knew each other to some extent, but we were all brought together by our guitarist monster bobby. he’d had the idea of forming a girl group based on groups from the late fifties/early sixties for years, and finally it came together a couple of years ago. we all have totally different influeneces ranging from hip hop to folk, but we all share a love of a good pop song!

Your sound is hugely influenced by Soul music, and you were often compared to Spector and Girl Group. Besides them, which are the bands you love most? I think your listenings aren’t restricted to 60’s music at all.
Well as i mentioned we all love all kinds of music. obviously theres all the spector, joe meek, shadow morton stuff, motown, soul, also more modern pop music from the eighties (eg bananarama, stock aitkin and waterman, to right now. the lists could go on forever and would include singers from the thirties, forties, fifites, riot girl, british folk, hip hop, electro, musicals…..

Let’s talk about contemporary music. What are you listening to now? Some of your songs remind me of Belle and Sebastian, they are as simply and brightly “pop” as you are.. You have label mates like Go! Team and Field Music. Do you like their sound?
we are definitley about making people dance which i think is one of the objectives of the go team.. me and the girls really enjoyed belle and sebastians last record.. we’ve been playing some of their new songs when we’ve been djing over the last few weeks. these bands definitely have pop sensibilities…we want to create our own special sound though…

How does it feel working with Memphis Industries?
Memphis are a great label for us to be on. They were the ones that we prepared to take a chance on us, because we don’t fit into the standard format of most bands at the moment. we’ve been able to work WITH them as opposed to against them which can often be the case with band/label relationships. Their whole ethos is that every band they sign should be different from the last one, so they are open to trying new things.

Considered your music, your style and your “choreographyc” way of being on stage, I’d like to ask you whether you feel close to mod/beat english mood. Did you ever take part to any gathering based on Northern Soul, Vespa bikes, Parkas and beer?
We’ve never felt part of any gang or scene or club… coming from brighton there is a certain musical history but it isn’t our own. the only gang we want to be part of is the pipettes! some of that music is great though!

If I ain’t wrong, you use to play for some other bands too. How much time and work do you spend for The Pipettes?
Most of us were in bands or made music in different ways before we started the band. Monster Bobby has his own solo project, our bass player jon has made music with Tom white from the elctric soft parade as ‘the blind cowboys’, and our drummer sings in a band called joelene and the jing jang jong. however the pipettes is the most important thing to all of us, and we are getting busier and busier which is just how we like it! We want to do this all of the time…

How do you feel on stage? I think you have a “choreographyc” look. Do you feel comfortable playing live?
We’ve choreographed dances to all of our songs that we perform live, and the idea of performance is very important to us. we want our gigs to be fun and exciting for people, and to encourage everyone to dance! we love to play live the most. Sometimes we get nervous, but mainly just excited because we are all together having the best time!

Any release date for yor album?
Our debut album, will be out on August 14th in Italy (released on July 17 in the UK) on V2/The CoOperative.

Just one question that has nothing to do with you… Honestly what do you think about “rockstars” like Pete Doherty and everything around them? Let me explain: It looks crazy to me that in Italy you can read about their “shameful and scandalous” attitude. It’s becoming ridicolous…. What’s music got to do with them..??
The idea of the ‘rock star’ has nothing to do with us, and actually we are quite against it. the glamorisation of the ‘tortured genius’ is not condusive with the creation of interesting music to us. Unfortunately there are a lot of people (mostly aging men) in the music press that are desperate to have a rock idol, but the whole concept seems redundant and is just a bit depressing. we are not interested in making ego music….

Three songs of the past and three songs of today you would suggest everybody
Past:’popsicles and icicles’- the murmaids. ‘is it me you really love’- balck velvet. ‘dumb head’- charades.
Present: ‘one thing’- amerie, ‘blue boy’- vincent vincent and the villians, ‘micheal’- broadcast.

Last: When are we going to enjoy your live shows in Italy?
We haven’t any plans to come to italy at present, but we hope to come over very soon!