The Liberty Ship
In hard times like this for British tweepop,
it's easy to forget the Uk scene endless capacity to produce
wonderful pop acts. Nottingham's Liberty Ship are one of those
acts, freshest and most inspired purveyors of Sarah Records'
secrets. After a wonderful 7" and an EP on Matinée
(reviewed last month), the band lead by Marc Elston (formerly
of Bulldozer Crash) has published a much anticipated miniLP
for Sunday Record. We took the chance to talk via email with
Elston & Co, that promised us to do their best to be witty
and intelligent.
Marc, how much did you want to distance yourself from
Bulldozer Crash with the Liberty Ship?
I didn't conciously distance myself from Bulldozer Crash.
Stephen and I always wrote songs separately and collaborated
on arrangements. My guitar playing has improved (slightly)
so it helps in writing. The Liberty Ship has a live band line-up
so it makes the sound a bit more raw.
Why did you chose to re-record "What Happens now" on Small
Lives?
I started the band on my own but I always wanted to put a
full band together. When Tim, Rachel and Steve joined we needed
songs that were easy to learn to get us off the ground.'What
Happens Now' is as simple as it gets and I've always thought
it was the best of my Bulldozer songs. With Rachel singing
and real 12 string guitar it brings a new feel to the song.
What's the best thing that has happened to Liberty Ship?
Releasing music through Matinee, our gig with Tender Trap
at Junktion 7 in Nottingham and getting good reviews for our
releases so far.
What is your favourite year/s musically?
Marc: 1966/67, 1981, 1986/87...I'd like to point out I was
not alive for one of these sets of years.
Rachel: 1987...don't ask!
 Tim:
2003...he's at the cutting edge is our Tim!
Steve: was asleep when we answered this question
The last record you've really really enjoyed.
Marc: This World can Wait- Slipslide and Hymns:Ancient
and Modern: The Hellfire Sermons
Rachel: Bright Yellow,Bright Orange- The Go-Betweens
Tim: the last Neil Halstead album
Steve: was asleep when we answered this question
"I guess you didn't see her" sounded like everything I've
ever liked in pop music from the 80s till now. Yet it seems
like it's only a fragment of what the liberty ship are about,
as Northern Angel and the Mini LP have shown. Do you think
Small Lives is an accomplished work? Are you satisfied with
what it says about the liberty ship or there's more to discover?
Difficult one this, Small Lives was recorded about 2 years
ago before Steve our real live human drummer
joined. We recorded with drum machines and a sampled loop
on Small Lives so it doesn't really represent the way the
band sounds now. Having said that I'm pretty pleased with
it. Obviously with Rachel writing songs now there's much more
to the bands sound.There's more to discover but we'll probably
always make music in a pop framework.
How do Liberty Ship's song come to be? Who writes and lays
down the basic tracks?
I write most songs and Rachel writes too. We work on the arrangements
as a band in rehearsal. We record drums and bass in Tim's
living room as he has the biggest living room and the most
tolerant neighbours. All the other bits are done at my house
amidst much drinking of tea and eating of biscuits.
 With
two records coming out from matine and sunday you just seem
unable to publish something in england. How's the situation
there for indiepop music? The big things in indiepop seems
to happen in sweden right now..
The real interest in our brand of indie seems to be coming
from overseas right now. The days of C86 and
NME sending journalists to backrooms of pubs to cover emerging
bands are long gone. The scene is dominated by the Internet
and overseas labels now. In many ways this is a good thing
as the scene is very cosmopolitan (I'm talking to you for
example) but music like ours is dismissed as Twee in many
quarters in the U.K. which is more of a term of abuse here
than a cool thing to be. We'd LOVE to play overseas, we're
very polite and very clean so we'd be no trouble...honest!
You're gonna exchange songs with Kosmonaut on the upcoming
Matinee comp. Are you still in good relations with Stephen
Maughan ?
Who is Stephen Maughan?....no Stephen is still a good friend
and we're still very much in touch. I wouldn't rule out recording
as Bulldozer Crash again of we ever got a free weekend. Kosmonaut
are cool!
You seem to keep your lyrics to an emotional minimum, you
don't give away too much, yet they still seem so intense.
What do you write about?
I generally write about me, me, me but sometimes I'm a bit
more observational. I'm never going to give too much away
in a song (I admire people who can) I am English after all!
I read somewhere that you are going to publish a new record
on Matinee. What will it be? Are you going to record a full
album or do you feel you are more of a singles band?
The next thing to come out is our version of Desert Song by
Kosmonaut on the Matinee 50 compilation. We have finished
our album so hopefully it will fit somewhere into Matinee's
busy release schedule in the not too distant future. We're
pretty pleased with the album but I'll not give away too much.
Will we have more song sung by Rachel in the near future
please?
We're getting together for some new recordings very soon one
of which will be a new song by Miss Eyres
called 'Wooden Man'. Prepare to be blown away. You might be
interested to know that Final Kick from the
Northern Angel E.P. is the first song Rachel has ever written....not
bad eh!
Interview partially completed outside Junktion 7 in Nottingham
where we were about to play with Fosca and The Hellfire Sermons.
Steve was having a quick snooze in his car having just driven
back from
Scotland....it's a long story!
Salvatore
Links:
Sunday Records: www.sundayrecords.com
Matinée Recordings: www.indiepages.com/matinee
Liberty Ship@indiepop.it: www.indiepop.it/bands/libertyship
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