Expect the unex-Spectrals
When Yorkshire native Louis Jones – the creative force behind SPECRALS - emerged from the rural furrow of Heckmondwhite (a lesser known town situated on the outer reaches of Leeds) with his full-length debut Bad Penny, his insatiable lust for mining nostalgia was evidently ripe. Vintage, garage-pop stompers and swoony doo-wopers were the cement that held his Phil Spector-esque wall of sound together, creating a contemporary slant on 50s and 60s pop with a modernised indie lilt. Now recording his second LP, Sob Story, with estranged Girls bassist CJ White Bido Lito!'sLaurie Cheeseman talked to Louis Jones about growing up in small Northern towns, old music and Liverpool’s inaugural Summercamp Festival.
Bido Lito!: Having listened to your sophomore effort Sob Story, you’ve taken a different tack and gone for a more classic sound compared to your contemporaries of an indie-ish bent (who largely appear to have gone all shambling C-86 on us). What inspired you to take inspiration from these sounds of yore?
Louis Jones: I think probably it’s kind of something that I... feel comfortable with. Because y’know a lot of that is the stuff I grew up with, know what I mean? It’s like a default for me.
BL!: That sound has a real gravity to it doesn’t it?
LJ: Yeah I think so – I mean y’know I’m really quite serious about song writing and I think that comes across. It’s going to sound like things that’ve come before and I feel like I can’t reinvent anything or bring anything new and I’m not just going to pretend to try to.
BL!: It has been interesting following your sound develop from the sounds of 50s teenage America to something more akin 60s Merseybeat or even early 70s pub-rock and wrapping it all up in a proper indie vibe. Has this progression been the natural route for you to take to push your unique sound forward?
LJ: Yeah in a way, it comes naturally because after I had written the songs for the first album... they’re on the table like...?
BL!: Most people who write ‘proper’ songs these days are either dreary, unimaginative or both – but Spectrals are different. CJ White, who you worked with whilst recording Sob Story, was in Girls who also took a similar approach – and your new songs are as charming and vital as Girls’Album. Do you find writing such evocative songs come easily to you or have you had to work at it?
LJ: Yeah, well it’s not something you can force. If you’re not in the mood for writings it’s not gonna come out right I guess. What you’ve got to do is make sure you work at it... once you have the gem of a song you can work at it over a week, going through all the permutations; how fast, slow, noisy it’s going to be.
BL!: Most of the songs I’ve heard you release all sound rather wistful and forlorn – surely growing up in Yorkshire can’t have been that grim can it?
LJ: Haha it was at times but it’s like any small town really. But not all my songs sound that sad, although to be honest I just feel... I just prefer making sad songs. When I feel sad I listen to music or write a song to help me get through it.
BL!: Having grown up in a small town in the north in between two cities and so has no real identity of its own, i’ve grown up in something of a musical bubble (i.e. my parent’s record collection) so going to uni was, musically at least, a mind blowing experience. Given you’re from a town in a similar situation have you had a similar experience growing up, and if so has it influenced your approach to songcraft.
LJ: Absolutely, I mean I do what I do ‘cause in the town I’m from [Heckmondwike] there wasn’t really much happening [musically]. And I wasn’t really into what my mates were into so I just had to find it out on my own, for myself... on the internet. So yeah, the stuff I ended up listening to was always going to end up influencing what I do with my songs.
BL!: Speaking of local scenes, it seems that I can’t go 5 minutes these days without stumbling across another new band starting out in Liverpool. Some of these bands – By the Sea especially spring to mind – have adopted a slightly shimmerier version of your sound. Have you listened to many bands from Liverpool’s rejuvenated scene?
LJ: I’m gonna be honest, I haven’t really yet but I’ve been aware that there have been lots of like new young bands starting out in Liverpool. And when I play Summercamp this August I’m definitely gonna have to check some of them out live – it sounds really exciting in Liverpool at the minute.
BL!: I always love a bit of spontaneity at gigs; the Last time I saw you live you were supporting Best Coast at Mojo and you’se did that amazing cover of Blink-182’s Dammit with Best Coast. Sadly that personal touch just seems to be lacking from gigs these days. Do you often try and add a little personal touch to a performance to make people remember your shows?
LJ: I think I know what you mean - I mean the songs always come first but I always try to get the audience involved... I talk to ‘em and all that. It doesn’t come natural to me, but yeah it’s normally about the songs but I try and make the audience think ‘Ah yeah, that Spectrals band are great live’. But yeah, I hope that when you see us at Summercamp we’ll be different from the last time you saw us and the time after you see us. It’s something I’m always trying to change and do better at, and I think... well I hope that comes across at our shows.
BL!: Speaking of live shows, are you excited to play Summercamp as part of the Liverpool International festival?
LJ: I most certainly am!
