Little Comets are a 4-piece hailing from Newcastle, England. Signed to Columbia Records, they’re tipped to be next big thing from the likes of BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and Zane Lowe, and…well, us!
They’ve been getting tons of radio play, they’ve just finished supporting various bands on their UK tours, and they’re fresh from the release of their second single, the outstanding Adultery. Get to know them!
We recently caught up with Rob (vocals/guitar), Micky (lead guitar), Matt (bass) and Mark (drums) for a bit of a chinwag…
Hi guys. How you doing? Things seem to be going really well at the moment!
Hi Mike! We’re good thanks, pretty chilly but can’t complain too much. Mickey has just finished with mastering the album so we’re quite nervous about the next few months!
Could you let our readers know a little bit about the band, how you met, etc? Also, give us a description of your sound.
Me and Mickey are brothers and we met Mark accidentally years and years ago (our Dad’s worked together rebuilding a cinema). Then when we discovered Matt playing bass along to Prince on a pair of old headphones we asked him to join in. I think we try to make interestingly-percussive songs with lots of bounce, melody and pathossy-lyrics. Someone said we were like a multi-pronged quadrilateral, so that works nicely I think (maybe).
So you’ve just released your second single, Adultery. How’s it been received? And how did the first single, One Night in October, do?
Hmmm quite well I think, it’s been played quite a bit on the radio and people seem to know the words at gigs which is good. The crowning moment for my mam came the other day when Joanna (the next single) was played in the garage on Coronation Street….. One Night in October did ok too I think. They have both been really low key releases so we didn’t really have any expectations with either or them.
And the album has been recorded right…when is it dropping? And what was the whole process of making it like?
Mickey produced the album so the process was pretty stressful for him as he was denied sleep and sustenance for about two months. It was mixed by Rich Costey in New York which meant that Mickey had to be living on US time for a couple of weeks so he could make quite a few little tweaks. I think he is still quite broken! Hopefully it’ll be coming out sometime in the first six months of 2010 but who knows!
Who or what influenced you in writing the album? Would you say the album has a theme to it?
I think we get influences from all over the place. Musically stuff like Elgar, Debussy and Paul Simon, books we read (like Albert Camus and Milan Kundera) or buildings we rehearse in: the environment around us tends to add a lot to the melodic theme of a song. Also Mark knows lots of stories and Matt is always abreast of OK! Magazine so…
On the release date of Adultery, you performed one of your trademark guerilla gigs…in Marks & Spencers of all places! Tell us about that! How was the Academy gig later that night, being in your hometown and all?
That was quite a bizarre day as just before we got there all our phones started ringing to say that it was a bit packed. We managed to play about 30 seconds before being gracefully evicted, then we shifted round the corner of the shop and play another couple of songs before four police cars turned up. We got a lengthy talking to but eventually set free, before playing a gig at a proper venue…. Hmmm think we might have to be more subversive about the next one.
What is the best gig, festival or party you’ve played so far?
We played a gig yesterday for MENCAP at a chapel in Islington (Pete was there! Hi Pete!) and it was an amazing venue – there was lots of reverb (which is good because like Glasvegas accidently espouse it equals emotion) and we played very acoustically with lots of harmonies. We’d put a lot of effort into the gig, really trying to deconstruct the songs and it was just lovely to play for a nice cause in a beautiful venue…. Ahhhhhhh.
Back on to these crazy little gigs of yours, where else have you played? Where’s been the funniest? And how did the idea come about?
The list keeps growing…. Mickey came up with the idea of playing to people who couldn’t escape and so were forced to interact with the music. So far he has persuaded us to play in lecture theatres, bingo halls, office blocks, trains, trams, buses and cafeterias. His next plan is to hit a church…
Your videos have been great so far (check them out…One Night in October and Adultery), and it seems as though you have a lot of input into them. Who comes up with the ideas? Also…we’re very keen on your covers/artwork, who does all that?
Yeah…. We made the One Night in October video ourselves with a friend called Matty Brown who is a young director from near Newcastle… it cost about £40 and involved using the least hi-tech equipment ever. Gaffer tape held everything together… the Adultery video was not our idea at all but we made all of the props for it which was fun… The artwork for the singles so far has been our stuff but it takes a while to make because we aren’t overly technically proficient and run out of glue quite often.
How’s life at Columbia Records? They’ve got some huge artists on board! How did that signing come about? Do you think the youtube fun & games and guerilla gigs helped you on the way?
Yeah I think they liked the other aspects to what we did. They’ve been pretty nice to let us go off and make the album on our own and make all of the creative decisions. I think our only frustration is how long everything seems to take but apparently that is an unchangeable aroma.
What are the perks of being signed to a major like Columbia? Met loads of famous people, got a squad of groupies, get to fill your wardrobes for free??
Hahaha let’s see: we got a free Columbia mug and two pens and some CDs by other current Columbia artists like Chipmunk so you decide… I don’t know: we’re not that into the whole “ooooh look here is a photograph of me with Paris Hilton’s horse-drawn livelihood”. We’d much prefer to retreat to a field and amuse ourselves with expletives, conkers and coffee.
You’ve just been supporting a few bands on their UK tours, which bands? How did that come about? Any crazy stories from the tours?
We partied with The Twang a few years back after their gig in Tokyo, and we know they like a ‘party’…!?! Yeah, the Twang love a good bond-up…. they are lovely lovely blokes, they don’t have any hang ups and are all really honest – which we really appreciated. Also they called us Little Commos and were suspicious of the fact that we don’t get smashed after gigs and commandeer vehicles…. We also played with Hockey quite a bit who were equally as affable. Matt and their drummer Tony had a climbing competition inside a pub. Matt won, but we all lost the ensuing pub eviction battle with the bouncers.
Anything in the pipeline for a big headline tour of your own? And if so, who would you have as support acts on the tour?
Hopefully we’re going to do a little tour of our own in January and February next year… if we could have anyone in support it’d either be Bob Dylan (but from Blood on the Tracks) or Everything Everything because all of their 16 limbs have talent.
We’re hoping that you’ll be paying Japan a visit soon, as I’m sure a lot of other people are too! Your music goes down a treat at the MF nights held in Tokyo! What do you think? Had any offers to come over?
We’d love to come and play in Japan… it seems like an absolutely amazing place and Mark’s rugged looks would no doubt command attention. We haven’t had any offers yet so might just go on holiday instead.
Hockey are playing in Tokyo early next year. Nice guys? Would you recommend going to their gig?
Hockey are splendid, they have a song called Work which is awesome live… everybody in the world should try to go to that gig as Tony the drummer could solve many problems with his diplomacy and hi-hat skills.
Are you all still living in the North East? How’s the scene there at the moment? Any plans to move to the big(ger) smoke, the bright lights of London Town?
Hahaha. Yep Newcastle is our epicentre – we are sandwiched between Heaton and Jarrow at the minute and enjoying the constant paucity of temperature change. London is a bit over-bearing, plus there are more coffee shops than lives which is bit weird.
What were you all doing before getting signed?
Me, Mark and Mickey were music teachers at a primary school. We had a band of 5-8 year olds who covered James Brown songs – they were the actual coolest kids in the world. Matt was a checkout man. He is useful in supermarkets as he knows where to find the bargains and can stack shelves really well.
Rob and Micky…what’s it like being in a band with your brother? Any Gallagher-esque sibling rivalry/madness!?
We have some epic arguments but we’d never hit each other because Micky would lose. Hahahaha. He wins most over stuff though and despite being younger is taller than me which is very embarrassing. So maybe we should actually have a fist fight…
What are you hoping for in 2010? A bit of world domination?
Yep. Mark wants to set up Little Comets franchises in South America while Matt is buying up shares in lots of East Asian conglomerates. Micky wants to rename Eldon Square to Michael’s International Shopping Palace and I’m going to have a crack at solving the budget deficit.
Can you tell us what the next single is going to be?
It is going to be Joanna, which will hopefully be released in February 2010…. it is a little story of an-immediate-physical-connection-which-is-not-too-deep-actually.
Finally, can each of you recommend a new band or artist to our readers?
Mickey: Deastro because he fixed by bike and is an epic music-scorer. Matt: I like Everything Everything! Mark: Mumford and Sons new album makes me tingle. Rob: aaaaaaaaaah Wild Beasts are class (but maybe not new….?)
Thanks a lot guys, and we wish you all the best for the future. Hopefully see you in Japan soon, where there’ll be a huge bottle of Sake and a nice roll of sushi awaiting your consumption, courtesy of ModernFuss!
Be sure to stay up to date with the Little Comets on their myspace, facebook and twitter.
