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Chris Hughes recently caught up with JW (Guitar) and MB (Bass) from the brilliant psych boogie, kosmische Leeds based band Hookworms before they set off on their upcoming gigs and asked them a bunch of questions. There is a lot of Buzz about MB, EG, MJ, SS and JW and even the High Priest of Head Heritage Julian Cope raved about them calling them the shoegazing Lynyrd Skynyrd. Catch up with them if you get the chance and definitely check out the records you won’t be disappointed.
(((o))): Can you give us a quick potted history of the band? How you got together, etc
JW “Me and MB have known each other since we were about 4, we lived on the same street in Halifax and used to play football all the time. MB moved to Leeds and started a garage punk band with MJ (Vocals, Organ) and SS (Guitar) who live together in Leeds, MJ and SS have been in bands together for years. Me and EG (Drums) went to school and played in a band together and then got a house in Leeds and asked MB if he wanted to start a band that sounded like Reigning Sound. MB brought MJ and SS along to my disgusting cellar and that’s how Hookworms started.”
(((o))): Smash Hits moment here, what made you choose the name and are you all fans of parasites?
JW “I’m pretty sure MB discovered the name on some day time TV show whilst missing university lectures. After hearing and reading more about hookworms we thought it just fitted the music well, at the time we were still making repetitive music but it was more aggressive, a horrible name suited it well. Like Pissed Jeans; Purling Hiss; Suicide etc. I’m sure one day this band name will come round to kick me in the arse and I’ll become a parasite host. “
(((o))): For those who are new to Hookworms, how would you describe yourselves musically?
JW “I hate this question because it usually just leaves people looking confused. I’m used to family members asking or idiot co-workers at my old job. I used to just go for repetitive psychedelic rock; I’m still not sure but something along those lines. Krauty-psychy-punky guitar music with too much delay and reverb”
(((o))): What would you say influences your music the most?
JW “Other people’s music I guess, we’re always saying parts of our songs sound like other people. Before songs have names we’ll call them things like “The Modern Lovers-y one” or “The one with the Stones bit”. When we’re coming up with parts someone will say “Play a solo like in Foggy Notion”. Everyone’s into completely different music, obviously we’re all into psych but that’s not what I mainly listen to. I’m really into black metal and 90s garage like The Mummies and The Gories, EG listens to all sorts of experimental stuff and loads of rap, MJ is really into DC hardcore, I don’t know if MB owns anything but Rolling Stones records and SS pretty much listens to everything under the sun. “
(((o))): What stuff that’s around at the moment is getting you excited? Would you say there is a scene happening in Leeds or nationally for Psychedelic Rock?
JW “Leeds has a really good scene but there’s not much psych here. Vibracathedral Orchestra and all of Mike Flower’s stuff is amazing drone/noise/psych. Runners make really good repetitive cosmic electronic music. Nope make great krauty music and MJ has just recorded their EP and it’s amazing. We all really like Eagulls who have been getting loads of attention lately and there’s Bilge Pump who are kings of the Leeds music scene, they make next-level post-punk and have been going for probably 15 years.
Other bands we love from around the UK are Kogumaza (obviously) from Nottingham who released one of the best blissed out drone records last year, Cold Pumas from Brighton who make really dance-y punky krautrock. The Cult of Dom Keller, who are also from Nottingham, a really great 90s style psych band and Sauna Youth from London who are probably my favourite band in the country. They play garage punk stuff and are one of the most energetic and fun bands I’ve seen, they’ve been so great whenever I’ve seen them. Everyone go listen to them.”
(((o))): Things seem to be happening a lot for you guys now with recent activity in the press and the tours but what has been the best thing happening to Hookworms?
MB “Getting to play with bands we love is probably the best thing about the group at the moment. In the last few months we played some really great shows with The Men, Pure X and Peaking Lights, who made 3 of our favourite records of 2011. It’s also pretty flattering that our 12” has almost sold out already, when it only came out mid-October. There were never really any expectations of people actually liking it.”
(((o))): I understand you are recording an album and how is that going? How are you deciding on what songs to include?
MB “The album is about half done. The main basis of the music is done for about 5 songs, with 2 more to go, and then it’s just a case of tweaking parts, and a lot of mixing. There is no real rush on when it needs to be finished by. We have no label demanding product or anything, and no financial worries, because we record and practice at MJ’s studio, so we’re able to demo stuff and work it out for as long as we want. The studio is his day job, so recently we’ve been finding ourselves working through the night when no one is booked in. You catch yourself discussing the reverb sound on tambourine you just recorded at 3:30am, and start questioning what the fuck you’re doing with your life. The album has 2 songs on it that we have been playing live for quite a while now, but other than that it’s stuff people won’t have heard before, that we’ve been writing over the last 3 or 4 months.”
(((o))): Will the album be released though Sun Ark who you did the tape with or Faux Discx/Gringo Records who you did the 12” with?
MB “I don’t think the album will be released by Sun Ark, Faux Discx or Gringo, but you never know. We’re just going to concentrate on finishing it first, and then when we’re completely happy with what we have, let a few people listen to it and see who is interested.”
(((o))): How did the split 7” with Kogumaza come about?
MB “We’re all big fans of their 7”s and LP, and were fans of the bands that they used to be in (Lords, Bob Tilton, Wolves of Greece etc), and then we played a show with them in Leeds a while back that was really cool. We had a stand-alone track that came about after we finished our 12”, which didn’t really fit in with the other songs we had recorded, so we knew it’d probably be best coming out as one side of a 7”. We put the idea forward to them and they were into it. It’s only just really starting to come into fruition now, but Kogumaza have just finished their track, and the record will be released by Gringo as part of Record Store Day on April 21st (fingers crossed).”
(((o))): Other than recording the album you guys are touring at the moment aren’t you, can you tell us more about that?
MB “Not really a tour as such, just a few dates here and there, though they are starting to build up now. We’re doing a couple of dates with our Leeds buddies Broken Arm, a couple with The Men, a couple with our friends Cold Pumas and then hopefully a few in June with this really cool French band called The Dalai Lama Rama Fa Fa Fa, which are just being sorted out at the moment. We’re a weekend band really, day jobs and studying mean that we struggle to play out-of-town shows during the week at the moment, which suits us just fine.”
(((o))): Is there anything else that you feel you would like to tell our readers?
MB “Eat Grove pizza, play Fifa 12, don’t exercise, and listen to the Modern Lovers.”
