Swiss Lips - A biography
With their awesome viral bodypopping video for 'U Got The Power,' Manchester's Swiss Lips are finding themselves accidental stars far sooner than they expected. The track, a gleaming fluoro slab of B-boy infused synth indie is infectious enough. But the cut together footage from 1980's breakdance movies has given the track a life of its own before they've even made an album.
Of course, all those moves capture the same exuberance that makes the track an undeniable floor-filler, but it was the lengthy period of trial and error that conspired to give the track it's message in the first place. As frontman Sam Hammond explains, "Most of the songs we've written seem to be about looking back on being a teenager and that wide-eyed optimism about the world, because you learn more as you become an adult and a lot of that goes. The lyrics in that song I wrote about hanging out with people who were younger than me, and seeing the light in young people's eyes when they're mad for the world. People think it's about how being really young's great, but it isn't really. The refrain at the end, 'when I see the light coming from your eyes, I feel so paralysed'. That's actually really sad."
There have been a handful of people to mistake the kids in the video for Swiss Lips themselves, and while they could claim just a minor deflation (there are no moustaches), Sam enthusiastically accepts the hand-in-hand of music and fashion. "Our style? Indie dicks. Indie dicks who'll try to kiss your girlfriend. That's our look." He said laughing.
Forged from a melting pot of influences that range from Brian Wilson to a latterday obsession with French electro like Justice and Sebastian, the demos that made up the band had been the latest in a line of experiments. Only when the demos turned out to be popular online did they fully realise that this band was looking like being the band. "Everyone liked what we were doing so we just thought 'oh right we should do this seriously!'"
But the sound they've created, like Franz Ferdinand shot through with the spirit of the Beastie Boys, is fuelled by nothing more than an admiration and obsession for pure pop. "Pop has become a dirty word, and I don't get it," says Sam. New song 'In The Water' was written more Fleetwood Mac in mind than anyone else. And 'Scissor Lips' doesn't sound R&B inflected by accident, but because it was written long before contemplating a record deal as a fantasy pitch for Rihanna. Now, of course, their 'people' could get it considered for RiRi's next album, but they like it too much themselves to give it away.
Which begs the question of what does make a great pop song? "Hooks! Hooks and melodies basically. We're big fans of melody. Brian Wilson's my favourite songwriter ever -- the way his melodies are so catchy but make you feel something. Listen to something like 'Don't Talk, (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)', it makes me sad -- but in an amazing way! You just want to make people feel something, I guess. And pop music can do that better than any other kind of music, it makes people feel great, or tear their heart out. We want to make music that makes grown men in denim jackets go bleary eyed!"
The formidable shadow of Manchester's musical history of course hangs heavy over every new band coming out of the traps. But they're taking it in their stride. "Manchester was one of the first places that found the middle ground between guitar bands and dance music, and that's probably something we're still trying to do. We're a band and we've got guitars and live drums but we're still trying to find dance music, and we've got a song called 'Danz' so I guess that has lived on with us, but we missed out on all that scene. It doesn't affect us. I think it ruins bands if they try too hard to fit into that. It would be stupid if we tried to be New Order. It would make no sense."
In fact, these guys have played in everything from punk to new wave to punk-pop to stadium rockabilly through to the charmed position they find themselves in now. But their only plan has been to write good songs and, as they know, those are things that transcend genre. "It's taken this long to get this good at writing songs because it's really hard." With the line-up solidified, (Sam with Tim Estherby on keyboards, Luke Daniel on guitar, Nic Kozubik on drums and Tom White on bass) things are looking promising. "We're good mates and a couple of us have been writing together for quite a while in different bands. We do all love the music we're playing though which must help!"
Next is a stint in the studio actually making the album with upcoming producer Ric Levy (who has worked alongside Alan Moulder), with the album slated for August. In the meantime they're aiming to keep 'U Got The Power' bubbling away until the summer festivals, where people can hear all the other songs that complement it. But having already been played by the likes of Fearne Cotton and Scott Mills on Radio 1, that could prove tricky.
But that song is only going to be a springboard for now. "It's weird the effect that song's having on people. I can't see any difference between that and the other songs, but for some reason it's working. We need to find out what we did there and recreate it, we've just got to write some more like that so I can move into a castle and be as weird as Phil Spector."
Even he is not quite yet letting himself consider the possibility of that, but it could just be that they're on their way there already.
With their awesome viral bodypopping video for 'U Got The Power,' Manchester's Swiss Lips are finding themselves accidental stars far sooner than they expected. The track, a gleaming fluoro slab of B-boy infused synth indie is infectious enough. But the cut together footage from 1980's breakdance movies has given the track a life of its own before they've even made an album.
Of course, all those moves capture the same exuberance that makes the track an undeniable floor-filler, but it was the lengthy period of trial and error that conspired to give the track it's message in the first place. As frontman Sam Hammond explains, "Most of the songs we've written seem to be about looking back on being a teenager and that wide-eyed optimism about the world, because you learn more as you become an adult and a lot of that goes. The lyrics in that song I wrote about hanging out with people who were younger than me, and seeing the light in young people's eyes when they're mad for the world. People think it's about how being really young's great, but it isn't really. The refrain at the end, 'when I see the light coming from your eyes, I feel so paralysed'. That's actually really sad."
There have been a handful of people to mistake the kids in the video for Swiss Lips themselves, and while they could claim just a minor deflation (there are no moustaches), Sam enthusiastically accepts the hand-in-hand of music and fashion. "Our style? Indie dicks. Indie dicks who'll try to kiss your girlfriend. That's our look." He said laughing.
Forged from a melting pot of influences that range from Brian Wilson to a latterday obsession with French electro like Justice and Sebastian, the demos that made up the band had been the latest in a line of experiments. Only when the demos turned out to be popular online did they fully realise that this band was looking like being the band. "Everyone liked what we were doing so we just thought 'oh right we should do this seriously!'"
But the sound they've created, like Franz Ferdinand shot through with the spirit of the Beastie Boys, is fuelled by nothing more than an admiration and obsession for pure pop. "Pop has become a dirty word, and I don't get it," says Sam. New song 'In The Water' was written more Fleetwood Mac in mind than anyone else. And 'Scissor Lips' doesn't sound R&B inflected by accident, but because it was written long before contemplating a record deal as a fantasy pitch for Rihanna. Now, of course, their 'people' could get it considered for RiRi's next album, but they like it too much themselves to give it away.
Which begs the question of what does make a great pop song? "Hooks! Hooks and melodies basically. We're big fans of melody. Brian Wilson's my favourite songwriter ever -- the way his melodies are so catchy but make you feel something. Listen to something like 'Don't Talk, (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)', it makes me sad -- but in an amazing way! You just want to make people feel something, I guess. And pop music can do that better than any other kind of music, it makes people feel great, or tear their heart out. We want to make music that makes grown men in denim jackets go bleary eyed!"
The formidable shadow of Manchester's musical history of course hangs heavy over every new band coming out of the traps. But they're taking it in their stride. "Manchester was one of the first places that found the middle ground between guitar bands and dance music, and that's probably something we're still trying to do. We're a band and we've got guitars and live drums but we're still trying to find dance music, and we've got a song called 'Danz' so I guess that has lived on with us, but we missed out on all that scene. It doesn't affect us. I think it ruins bands if they try too hard to fit into that. It would be stupid if we tried to be New Order. It would make no sense."
In fact, these guys have played in everything from punk to new wave to punk-pop to stadium rockabilly through to the charmed position they find themselves in now. But their only plan has been to write good songs and, as they know, those are things that transcend genre. "It's taken this long to get this good at writing songs because it's really hard." With the line-up solidified, (Sam with Tim Estherby on keyboards, Luke Daniel on guitar, Nic Kozubik on drums and Tom White on bass) things are looking promising. "We're good mates and a couple of us have been writing together for quite a while in different bands. We do all love the music we're playing though which must help!"
Next is a stint in the studio actually making the album with upcoming producer Ric Levy (who has worked alongside Alan Moulder), with the album slated for August. In the meantime they're aiming to keep 'U Got The Power' bubbling away until the summer festivals, where people can hear all the other songs that complement it. But having already been played by the likes of Fearne Cotton and Scott Mills on Radio 1, that could prove tricky.
But that song is only going to be a springboard for now. "It's weird the effect that song's having on people. I can't see any difference between that and the other songs, but for some reason it's working. We need to find out what we did there and recreate it, we've just got to write some more like that so I can move into a castle and be as weird as Phil Spector."
Even he is not quite yet letting himself consider the possibility of that, but it could just be that they're on their way there already.
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