Let's talk about Hobopop, your own record label. Was it frustration with the big labels that prompted you to start it?
K: Yes, it was a frustration thing. We decided to set up our own label because we weren't being offered what we were looking for by anybody. We decided the best way of getting what we wanted was by ourselves, it's quite empowering to do that I think...
And you can do it these days, that's the good thing
M: Yes, that's the genius of it, you can get stuck in, and as long as you don't mind getting your hands dirty, you can really do well. And you get an awful lot back for it, not necessarily financially, but as an achievement and a real sense of being in control of what you're doing, which is really just fantastic.
K: It's great not to have to get the OK from anybody for decisions, just to be able to discuss that between ourselves, with the artwork and things like that.
And you can choose to work with the people you like and respect...
M: And on timescales that make sense to us. We just had a very clear idea of where we wanted to go, the new album has such a different sound to the old stuff, it was time just to make that break, it was just the right moment for us.
This album was recorded in Kansas, what parts of American culture or music are the real core of your influences?
K: Well I guess I grew up with the big explosion of singer/songwriters in the mid '80s, people like Michelle Shocked and Tracey Chapman and Billy Bragg. Biily Bragg obviously isn't American, but coming from that side of things, I guess I kind of picked up on a lot of influences that way. Mike West is a very big influence on me, he was the guy that produced this album, and he was one of the main reasons we went out there. But I guess the whole beatnik culture thing is something that's haunted me ever since I was a teenager, I was a huge hitchiker for about 12 years or so, and I just sort of stumbled over all the beat literature and stuff which I thought was fantastic. There's just something about the whole American thing that has a big romance for me, whether it's from hobos riding the rails to kind of just hitchiking to the wide open spaces...
M: I think there's a sense of space that comes with America that you just don't get over here, and I think there's also something to do with the American attitude to making music, which is no better or worse than over here, but just very different and in some ways feels like it just resonates with us well. We've both grown up listening to more American music than English music, and I guess if you can say that we make folk music, we fit the broad American definition of the word much more.
That's something that the Beats, especially Keroauc really captured, that sense of space, but also the sense of liberation in experiencing that space...
K: And excitement...which I guess was part of what we wanted to capture on the record, with going out to the states, because there's definitely a different attitude with people out there, we wanted to capture a bit more of the unbridalled energy that we felt was in American music that we weren't getting from the English scene.
I think you're allowed to do things and try stuff there which here there isn't quite so much tolerance for...
M: I guess there's more room for it, in terms of people and physical space. There's something about touring too, that sense of constantly moving, being in a new place every day. I think we do it because of the music, but I also think it's something that the music allows us to do...
K: Part of the reason we chose the word hobopop was that we figured we didn't fit into many musical categories, and it was almost like it was music of no fixed abode, it didn't have a particular genre that it slotted into too easily, it travels as well.
The folk world is a bit of a strange one really, everyone has their own take on it, but now there's more and more people coming into it that have had a career as indie musicians or electronica musicians, there's all sorts of influences flowing into it.
K: I think it's a bit of a red herring really, the folk thing. It's one of those catch-all things, which is part of the reason we chose another label for ourselves, I didn't want it to be so easy for people to slot us into a category!
M: The folk scene is one of the most supportive and open scenes for young musicians in this country, that's a wonderful thing and something we need to keep. The audiences have a respect for what you're doing which you don't get in other scenes. However, if you embrace the folk scene, there's a whole pile of people out there that very snobbily refuse to pay you any attention. You have to somehow find a way of communicating with as many people as possible, because that's what this is about, so you have to tread that line between the two as carefully as you can...
The album is a very different sound to the previous three main albums you've done. Was that intentional or did that evolve?
K: It's kind of intentional but it's also accidental in a way. We knew that Mike had this maverick energy that was going to be good for the songs, there was something just a little more edgy in the potential of the songs. So I guess we wanted it to go in that direction, while also not losing the humour in the songs...
M: I think there's an energy in the performance too, that came from being in that specifc location with those specific people. We had a lot of fun making the album, it was a really chaotic 17 days. I think deliberate with the change of style in that we chose a completely different method production wise, but of course you can't be deliberate about what the songs are...
K: And the nice thing about working with an external producer is that he takes the songs and hears them differently to the way you've been hearing them when you've been playing them for a while. So he can bring in something that's just totally different, that you hadn't even thought of. And it's nice to work with someone where there's that level of trust whereby you can just put those songs in their hands and say 'what do you think?' And actually get the answer and go with it
The result is fantastic, it's a very cohesive album as well. Were most of the tracks recorded live?
M: Almost everything was recorded as a core four-piece, with the bass and the two of us in one room, and the drums in another room. The basic core of every track was put down in one go.
K: I've always tried to work like that in the studio, this one was even more like that in that we had a relationship with the musicians before we began, but working in an informal way was something I really enjoyed.
You notice much more with this kind of music that thrives on live performance, how artificial the whole recording process is really. A lot of people now are trying to get that stripped-back live feel back into albums...
M: Neither of us are technical nerds or studio boffins, we don't really like that environment for playing, it feels quite stale, and I guess you have to do something to bring the life back into it...
K: It's a bit of a tightrope now, in some ways it's quite dangerous to take the songs out to America and expect to make an album in 17 days! One of the things that happened that was really quite challenging was that every single person in the house was really ill at some point, so we were making the record in adversity. There was also a serious cold snap that shut off the electricity in the surrounding streets!
You've gone out a limb, going to America, recording an album there, setting up your own record label at the same time. It's a heck of a change in one year isn't it?
M: It is a big job, but at the same time we did it over a period, it was about this time last year we were in the studio doing the album but it didn't come out until the 1st September...
K: We had a long wait...
M: We didn't really work on putting the record label togther until the album was ready. That way, we could work out exactly what we wanted to do with the label, for me it worked better that way...
K: I guess one of our motivations for putting out the record ourselves was that we didn't want to charge people more than £10...
M: And it doesn't have to cost that much, that's the thing...
K: Musicians seems to be caught up in the idea, that this is the way it's done, especially with young musicians, the path is actually laid out for them already, without thinking about what they want out of it.
M: Breaking with the precedent is a very difficult thing to do.
Are you planning to work with other musicians and release other music on the label?
M: There are no plans at the moment, that would be more work than we can handle! But we have got another act on our booking agency and we're slowly building shows alongside him, trying to expand on the idea of a musical community who are helping each other out...
K: We have a band called the 'Hobopop Collective' and part of the idea of it is that we can bring people in just quite randomly really if we happen to be in an area of the country where we know somebody, we can ask them to come and guest with us. It's nice to be able to play around a bit and have some fun with it.
Well it must keep it very fresh for you...
M: It means every show is different, which is quite important...
Do you find that you can really express yourself and your beliefs now with total control?
K: Even within the folk scene there are pressures for woman to dress in a certain way, or wear their hair in a certain way, just the same as the rest of the industry. I'd like to get away from that and get back to something that's a bit more honest and authentic...
M: For the first time there are some pretty political sogs on the new album that we've just made, but it tends to be a lot more from the human perspective. You've got to be very open and true about the whole thing.
K: I think politics really needs to be optional! People still need to be able to enjoy the song. I think you can do an awful lot of communicating with people if you can access those things that are common to everyone; the senses, you can get across a point in a very different way to telling people what's wrong and what's right...it's an approach that I've definitely admired in other people, and also the humour thing is very important in getting a message across.
You've just summed up in techncal terms, what the real art of it is, being able to project issues or values through a few lines in a song, and you've certainly got it with this album...
M: I really do believe that people relate to personal, sensual experience much more than they relate to a set or rules or a bunch of opinions...
The songwriting process, is it different for you being on the road all the time?
K: Usually I tend to write when I'm at home, in snatched hours, when I can find myself alone. I write songs quite quickly but then they will evolve, as soon as I start working with Matt on a song, it will change. I tend to think of it as writing the bones of a song. It's quite an organic process really.
M: I get the impression that a lot of what you write is enriched by the fact that you've spent so much time travelling...
K: Yes, my mind is always working, it's important to keep your senses open, to be aware of things you experience. I draw a lot in when I'm travelling...
And you've got quite a few dates lined up for the new year haven't you?
M: Yes, we're doing a full UK tour in March and April, hopefully with a visit to France in the middle, we're also going to Spain in February and Scotland in May. We're planning a USA tour in Autumn 2009.
K: And it might be good to do some recording out there then as well.
Fantastic, best of luck with the touring!
Iain Hazlewood
Other interviews
Latest Headlines