Interview-Get Inuit at Oakford Social Club, Reading-16th April 2016

Picture: Kasia Osowiecka (www.giggoer.com)

Kent based band Get Inuit played Reading’s Oakford Social Club last Saturday, and using all of my charisma I managed to press gang a couple of them into speaking to me afterwards, even if the singer had to spend about five minutes looking for me whilst I was in the toilet. Talking into an iPhone in the smoking area of a bar in Reading may not quite be the glitz and glamour that the band were promised when they first formed, but Jamie and James didn't seem to mind too much, which was good.

Get Inuit Self-Describe as “Dirty Pop”, although in reality they sound more like indie rock that someone's covered in a veneer of grunge and aimed at the charts, which doesn't sound too complimentary but trust me it works when you hear it. The gig itself was good, and it's nice to see a relatively young band with a varied catalogue of songs, meaning they manage to sidestep the trap of “is this the same song they were playing ten minutes ago or not?” that a lot of indie guitar bands fall into. Stand-out tracks were “My Oh My” and band pick “Pro Procrastinator” but I can’t recall there being a song played that wasn't decent, so you can’t go wrong whatever you choose to listen to.

With a bit of background out of the way here’s the interview with lead singer Jamie and guitarist James, who apparently decided to confuse everybody by having almost exactly the same name. Alex, who was holding the iPhone, also asks a question at the end because you can’t get good reliable staff these days.

Jake- How do you guys know each other?

Jamie-We all went to school together, and we all live in the same town. We weren’t friends at school though, none of us liked each other.

James-Well I think Rob liked you but you didn't know he liked you so you just thought he was a dick!

Jamie-Yeah it was like Romeo and Juliet…

James -And I was older so I was just like “who are these little kids?”

Jamie-Well we can start from the beginning in that Rob and James are brothers.

James-Yeah so that’s kind of how I knew him.

Jake- So you all hated each other but somehow formed a band, how does that happen?

Jamie-I guess it's not that we hated each other, its more we just ignored each other until we left school, then we went “Oh actually you’re alright!” we had so much in common and we never spoke and then I guess we were the only people still trying to make music whereas everyone else has grown up.

Jake- How’s Reading treating you? Are you enjoying it?

Jamie-It was a good show, I thought it was pretty busy. Parking though, parking was a bloody nightmare, what is that about?! Took us about an hour and a half, we went to go and park the van and didn't get back until just before we were on!

Jake- If someone who didn't know your band only had time to listen to one song, which one would you choose?

Jamie-Probably pro procrastinator, it’s got a video…

James-It’s a nice easy accessible one, it covers a lot of bases of what we do.

Jake- What would you consider your influences, either individually or as a band?

James-A lot of different stuff, stuff we all agree on is basically anything from the 90s with guitar on, that’s the kind of stuff all of us can say “Yeah we all like that” but then Ollie’s into his punk and even a bit of hip-hop. Rob's just a cheese man, any hit single, he loves it. He doesn't know any band's B-sides or even album tracks, it’s terrible! He just has greatest hits on his phone, that's it.

Jake- Do you think that all feeds into the band or is it a case of blocking that out and saying “Mate, we don’t want that”?

Jamie-Any song that we like, Rob will just put on this 80's shotgun snare *mimes snare drum* just imagine a fan with his hair blowing in the wind, exactly that!

James-If at any point we ask him to do something that's not that on the drums he's just like “Eh, what’s the point?”

Jamie-So yeah it has to have that.

James-I think like Pixies, Radiohead…boring stuff really! Weezer… that sort of thing

Jake- So we've talked about influences, but who can’t you stand musically?

James (without any hesitation)-Meghan Trainor.

Jamie-I have this weird hatred, and I understand I'm in the wrong here, but I can't stand Bruce Springsteen, just not my thing. And there is a fellow we know that likes listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen…

James-And he usually has the controls to the radio, so Springsteen comes on, and he’s just blasting it and we’re sitting in the back.

Jamie-And it's not bad except that he’s usually louder than the main vocal as well, so it's not really Bruce Springsteen, it's said fellow featuring Bruce Springsteen.

Jake- Tonight’s gig was billed as a record store day party, did you buy anything?

James-Not a single thing, we've been driving in a van, so not much opportunity there.

Jamie -We sold some records, if that counts?

James-Don’t tell the record stores that though, they'll think we’re screwing them over!

Jake- Ok so final question, a real job interview type question, where do you see yourself in five years?

James-What, in my fantasy land in my bedroom or realistically?

Jake- Definitely fantasy land in your bedroom.

James-Well we've been saying for ages, since we started this band, that we wanted to play Reading at some point, it's a festival that most of us have been to once, I mean the drummer's been like ten times, bass player's been a load of times, I've been a couple of times, Jamie’s never been.

Jamie-Yeah, never been, no desire to go either.

James-He's never been to a festival ever, other than the ones we've played.

Jamie-I'm not rock and roll.

James-He’s allergic to grass!

Jake- So Jamie, where do you see yourself in 5 years, Middle manager at Tesco?

James-That’s what we've left actually!

Jamie-Well I feel I've already succeeded at making music, I might nurture my other hobbies, I like to make tiny miniature models of boats inside bottles and I’d really like to get better at that. I just don't have time to do it being a musician, you know?

Alex-I’ve got a question, if you could have a lifetimes supply of anything, what would it be? If I could just get it out of my back pocket.

Jamie-Out of your back pocket?

James-Or is it like a Mary Poppins deal?

Alex-Yeah I’ve got one hell of a bag.

Jamie-I think I'd go for the old Double Deckers, chocolate bars.

James-There’s a thing called a Mrs Crimble's Macaroon, which is probably the only sweet thing you can get in a normal shop that I can eat, so I'd go for that. They're pretty good though, if you see one I'd give it a go, I'm powered on them, on tour: Mrs Crimble's.

Get Inuit are: Jamie: Vocals, James: Guitar, Ollie: Bass and Rob: Drums

They're also on Soundcloud if you fancy a listen: https://soundcloud.com/get-inuit

Review-Sundara Karma at Sub89, Reading- 11th March 2016

Picture: Adam Burzynski

You know you’re getting old when you accidentally stumble across a youth cult. This is the lesson I learnt at Sundara Karma’s recent gig at Sub89 on the 11^th of March, which was full to bursting with 15-17 year olds with enough energy to make me reach for my Zimmer frame, even if I am only 21 (although at least it did mean that there wasn’t much of a queue at the bar). Support came in the form of Pale Waves, self-described as “Glitter and reverb” and Beach Baby, who went with “A bit grungy, a bit dreampop, but really…good”, although maybe if they hadn't been put on the spot they would've had a more eloquent description to hand. Both bands got a well-deserved reception from the crowd, who seemed as excited to see the support as they were to see Sundara Karma themselves, a refreshing change from the standard attitude of “if they aren't the headline act I'm not interested” that seems to permeate most crowds at gigs.

Sundara Karma themselves were clearly having the time of their lives, which, given they were playing to a sold out crowd on the cusp of hero worship in their hometown at the end of a UK wide tour is understandable. An indie guitar band have to go the extra mile to get noticed in such a packed field, but the combination of singer Oscar Lulu’s stage presence and vocal confidence give Sundara Karma an edge that might just propel them to the top of the pile. Songs like "Flame" and "A Young Understanding" showed the band at their best and made the gig feel like something you’d be able to tell people about when the band are playing at the Ally Pally in a few years’ time. Having said this there were times when they seemed to devolve into a poor man’s version of The Maccabees, especially towards the end of the second half of their set with tracks like "The Night" failing to stick in the mind in the way that the band’s best work does.

This might be a bit unfair on the band however, as without even a debut album out its understandable that Sundara Karma are forced to play everything they've done to fill a live set, so the fact that some songs are significantly more polished than others can’t really be held against them. Even the less memorable tracks aren't bad, they just aren't quite as good as the others, something that’s easily picked up on when listening to them being played side by side. Overall Sundara Karma’s homecoming was a night to remember, even if it did make me nostalgic for a few years ago when I too had bad hair, a fake ID and an 11pm bedtime, mainly because it would mean I wouldn't have felt so strange at Friday’s gig.

(Written for The Spark*)