TLC vs. Mystery Jets: The Bowery Interview
Posted by Jess. D on March 10, 2009
Mystery Jets at Bowery Ballroom, 2.24.09
TLC was lucky to sit down with all the Mystery Jets before their triumphant Bowery Ballroom gig just a few weeks ago.
Our conversation with Blaine Harrison, William Rees, Kai Fish, Kapil Trivedi and Henry Harrison was a revelatory one in which we learned where Erol Alkan’s been moonlighting, Henry’s fear of razors and light, and the band’s collective crush on Zooey Deschanel and that they’ve already written almost 10 new songs. We can, hopefully, expect a new album early next year!
MP3: Mystery Jets – Veiled In Grey or Zshare
MP3: Mystery Jets & Esser – In Between Days (The Cure cover) or Zshare
> Have you had time to explore NYC?
Blaine: We’ve been here a couple times before but this time we’ve been tired since we just got back from Mexico.
Henry: Today we all took a trip up to the Guggenheim.
>What did you see there?
Henry: The Third Mind, different American artists’ takes on Japanese and Asian art.
> How were the shows in Mexico? Had you been there before?
Kai: It was our first time
Blaine: It was really good, we’re quite jet lagged and pretty knackered from it.
> What were the crowds like?
William: They’re all tripping off peyote! It was good fun, I think we’re going back in a couple of weeks to play another festival.
> So you just played a show in LA and previewed some new material there. How was that received?
Blaine: Yeah we played a new song [Lady Grey]. It was received really well. We played it in England as well just before we left and it’s kind of the first song we wrote for the new record
> Will you be playing it tonight?
Blaine: Yeah we’ll play it tonight. It’s still very early days, but gives you a sense of what kind of road we’re going down.
> Have you started writing more songs for the new record?
William: Yeah, quite a lot. 9 songs actually.
> What’s your process like? Do you think all the new songs will make it on the record?
Blaine/William: You never really know until it’s all recorded how it will fit together and you’re looking at it with a bit of hindsight…I think there’s still a lot more writing to go. I don’t think we’ve really found the sound of the new record yet. We’re still kind of searching for it.
> Do you think you’ll work with Erol Alkan again?
William: Yeah, definitely for the next album. We’re all very very close to him – we’re always calling him up and sending him our demos and asking him what he thinks. He’s very much a part of the inner circle of the band.
> How did you come to work with him?
Kai: Originally there’s a place called Chariots…it’s kind of a funny place actually but a lot of people in the music scene in London kind of meet there.
Blaine: It’s the kind of place nobody talks about but everybody knows that everyone else goes there.
Kai: It’s a massage parlor and a kind of after hours place.
Kapil: Erol works there, he’s the DJ. He used to be the bell boy there but he’s moved up now, now he works in the Turkish bath.
Kai: There’s always a happy ending with Erol!
(all laugh)
> Speaking of music venues in London. How do you guys feel about the untimely decline of the live music scene in London?
Blaine: Is there a decline?
> Well I lived in London for a while and all my favorite places have now closed like the Astoria, The End, Metro…
Blaine: Well yeah I guess you’re right
Kai: Apparently The End is reopening! Right now it’s a myth. I think it’s actually a really good thing [that all the venues have closed]. Hopefully it will mean that there will be some even more exciting places popping up. It’s easy to be kind of nostalgic about it and the Astoria is obviously a fantastic venue.
Blaine: I think The Astoria particularly we were really sad about.
Kai: But who knows, hopefully other places will start to sprout up. A lot of people have started to do things in Nigerian banquet halls in Dalston which is kind of strange. There’s all of sorts of illegal Serbian bars and stuff.
Blaine to Kai: I wanna meet the kids you’re hanging out with!
> You mentioned you weren’t sure what the direction of the new songs was going to be…
Blaine: Well we’ve got an idea but we’re still searching. Like the Mighty Boosh – we’re sort of out in a metaphorical desert at the moment.
> So the sound isn’t going to resemble 21 at all?
Blaine: I hope not
Henry: It’s not gonna sound like Razorlight, we hope.
All: oooh! Leave Johnny Borrell alone! He’s an easy target!
Kapil: Henry’s got this Razorlight fear. Fear of razors and lights and when you put the two together…he gets really scared.
Kai: I think we’re looking for the chariots in the middle of the desert…and if we can’t find it, we’re gonna fucking build it!
> So you just signed to Rough Trade, congratulations. Why did you make the move [from 679] and what are you expectations?
William: Well we made the move because we didn’t really have a choice in all honesty. But Rough Trade had been there from the very start. They had wanted to sign us for our first record and they’ve always been at our gigs whether we had a deal or not
Kai: It was like a long courtship.
William: That, to us, was a sign that these were people who really wanted to work with us. It feels good to finally do it and we feel like we should’ve done it a long time ago. So the future looks good, the future looks bright.
> When are you planning to go back into the studio?
William: When we’ve got the songs…when we’ve built our chariots…
> Are you considering any other collaborations like what you did with Laura Marling?
Blaine: I’m writing a duet which I’m going to sing with Zooey Deschanel except she doesn’t know it yet. We’ve actually got a friend in common so this potentially could happen.
> She’s engaged to Ben Gibbard so uh…
Blaine: Someone told me this. Who is Ben Gibbard?
> From Death Cab for Cutie
Blaine: No they’re not! (Awkward silence…All laugh.)
>What are you most looking forward to in the next year?
Blaine: Making our record
> Do you think it will be out before the end of the year?
Blaine: Probably not, probably next January. The problem is, in England, if you bring your record out before that, you’re kind of in competition with all the X Factor people and all that. January is often quite a good time to put out a record, so that’s what we’re aiming for – and then hit the festivals next year. We might actually do a couple of festivals this year.
William: I’m looking forward to see what Mr. Obama brings about. I’d like to see what he can do.
Kai: Maybe we could do a duet with him! “Chariots of Fire”! Maybe he’d like to go to Chariots and chill out with Erol.
