Music: March 2008 Archives
They met on the Isle of Wight in 2007 and self-released their first album "What You See Is What I Sell" earlier this year. The Operators are made up of Owen Taylor on Vocals, John Stevens on Bass, Charlie Westropp on Synths and Guitar and Ben Athey on drums. I have managed to see them live a couple of times so in exchange for my sweat, well trodden-on feet and mild whiplash I thought they owed me answers to some tough and probing questions. Luckily Owen and Charlie could spare a moment:
The Operators are (in no more than 5 words...)
Charlie - A funky, dancey, geeky quartet.
Best on stage Moment?
Charlie - March 12th 2008 , The Studio, Newport , Isle of Wight . Everyone knew the words...
Owen - Album launch November '07, The first pair of frilly white nickers ever to be thrown onto an Operators stage.
Worst on stage Moment?
Owen- Album Launch November '07, they looked well worn.
Charlie - When Owen twatted himself in the face with the microphone resulting in a bloodied moustache. Not an ideal look...
Favourite film character?
Charlie - The Dude.
Owen - Obi Wan Kenobi.
Have you ever been in a fight?
Charlie - Once with a Ukrainian guy called Eugene . He was reading a letter that I was writing 'out-loud' as I was writing it which was quite annoying. I restrained myself until the end of the first paragraph, and then sprung into action. He was bigger than me and I lost.
What angers you about the music industry?
Owen - That we are not major players in it yet.
Charlie - When really average acts appear to be able to sell a huge amount of records. By that I literally mean average acts. If someone's clearly appalling, there's usually some sort of gimmick that explains their success. I can not understand the success of 'Beautiful' by James Blunt. What an average tune.
What are you listening to at the moment?
Owen - The Archers.
Charlie - A lot of Justice (French dance duo hailed as the new 'Daft Punk') and other recent dance acts (SMD etc...). I don't really enjoy the current post-libertines climate of British guitar music.
Do you believe in life after death?
Owen - Around easter I suppose you have to.
Charlie - No.
What is creativity?
Charlie - Somewhere between a means of showing off and something important. Probably more of the former in our case.
Owen - Taking the smallest element imaginable and making it into something enjoyable. And then saying something really pretentious.
Which band or artist do you most like being compared to?
Charlie - Two acts that we all love are Kings of Leon and Justice. A direct comparison is a bit hard to draw because these acts are so diverse, but either would be fine!
Owen - Only the really big bands because I am arrogant and think we are better than everyone else.
Are you booked in for any festivals this year?
Charlie - Yes indeed. The Isle of Wight festival, Festibelly (in Lymington), and Bestival. It's going to be a belter of a summer.
Where will you be in 5 years time?
Charlie - Personally, doing anything musical and getting paid a bit for it would be ace. As a band, world domination beckons...
Owen - Alexa Chung.
(0 comments)
ROBERT HENKE'S MONODECK OFFERS A WELCOME ALTERNATIVE TO THE LAPTOP EXPERIENCE.
I was at Bloc Weekend last, err, weekend. It was a strange experience to say the least: three nights at Pontins, that enduring luminary of British holidaying, with three arenas playing host to the cream of electronic music, both past and present. All in all it was a memorable trip and well worth the large fee, but one thing struck me, and I wasn’t alone: watching a guy in specks standing motionless behind a laptop isn’t always conducive to dancing.
Read more (4 comments)
He’s called Felix Zenger, he comes from Finland and he can do both this:
And this:
A philistine like me would bring these tricks out at parties and completely devalue them. On the flip-side, a devalued Zenger copy would still take my current party trick (running man into robot-dance into forward roll culminating in cramp) to the cleaners.
(0 comments)
