Cherryade Records

"Knowing John Peel liked your music was the equivalent of getting a letter from God telling you to give up the day job and make more music."

Enter the weird and wonderful world of Grandmaster Gareth, as the ringmaster of the crazy musical circus that is Misty's Big Adventure discusses tours, records, John Peel, Erotic Volvo and plans for Misty's Big Adventure to travel into space...

How did Misty's form? Have Misty's always had the same line-up or has the band grown and changed over the years?
When we were 15, me and Sam formed the band with a friend called Julian who left after a year. We carried on after he left and started drafting in various friends and acquaintances until we ended up with 8 bodies having nothing better to do.

How did you get signed to a label like SL Records, which, although it has really prestigious bands such as Ballboy and Decoration on it's roster, has a reputation for signing more 'traditional' indie and more often than not Scottish bands?
Sir Edward Pybus saw us play in Leeds a couple of years ago and expressed an interest in putting our album The Solar Hi-Fi System out. And we said "yes please." Ed's got a broad taste in music so I don't think he'd want to limit SL to being a traditional Scottish indie label. But true, we were the first to come from outside of Scotland. But we probably won't be the last!

Were you surprised by the great response that Solar Hi-fi System received from fans and critics?
I greeted the response in my usual manner, i.e. bemused paranoia!

When are your new single and album due for release, and will they be released on SL again?
Our new album The Black Hole is due out on the 12th of September. Our next single is called 'The Story of Love' and is out at the beginning of October. Both will be on SL Records.

Will any of the 3 tracks on 'Hey Man' be on the new album?
Only 'Evil' is on The Black Hole. I've always liked the Sixties ideal of releasing singles seperate to the album.

Is it true that there will be a follow up to 'I Killed The Neighbours' as one of the B-sides to your new single, and that fans have been asked to donate zombie noises for inclusion on it? If so, did you get some impressive contributions?

True. It's called 'I Buried The Neighbours.' Having killed the neighbours in the first song, they come back from the dead to eat my brain. We asked our mailing list to send us mp3s of themselves being zombies or being killed by zombies and used them in the song. We got loads! The best being from some little kids screaming for dear life whilst a lot of unrelated chaos went on in the background! And two kids from London sent us drawings of Erotic Volvo and me as zombies which was cool. I think we might make this a regular thing every time we do B-sides.

Are there any plans for the Grandmaster Gareth Minute Melodies album to get an official release?
The first album? Not in the short term, though I'd like to at some point. The follow up, The Party Sounds of Grandmaster Gareth is hopefully coming out before Christmas.

You've been touring pretty much non stop this year and you've got another national tour lined up for the Autumn, are you having a break at the moment?

Where's your favourite place to play?
Probably The Jug of Ale in Birmingham. It's where we've played for years and we pack it out so there's always a good atmosphere. But there's plenty of other favourite haunts.

Have you found that support slots with the likes of The Zutons and Jeff Lewis have helped bring your music to a larger audience?

Definitely. Doing gigs with The Zutons has gained us a lot more younger fans who wouldn't normally be able to see us because we mostly play 18+ venues. And the Jeff Lewis gigs helped us to start playing out of Birmingham in the first place. It's very difficult for new bands to get out of their home towns, particularly if they're managing themselves.

Is it true that there is a possible support for the Magic Numbers in the pipeline for Misty's?
5 gigs. Sheffield, Leeds, Glasgow, Cardiff and Wolverhampton in October.
They like our album!

Your live shows are lots of fun and are becoming pretty notorious for being some of the most entertaining gigs around. Do you try and come up with new ideas for every gig?

We try to as much as we can. Obviously gigging a lot means we don't have as much time to rehearse but we do our best!

Many people seeing you play for the first time seem to come away raving about the music but also about 'the dancing man,' and wanting to know who he is and how he got involved in Misty's.
His name is Erotic Volvo and he joined initially because I liked the costume that his Gran had made and thought it would look good on stage with us. Over many years he has honed his art, in particular 'the Space Invaders routine,' to become England's premier dancing sensation. The moves flow through and out of him and onto the audience. He has the ability to turn brains into custard. 50% of all audiences hate him and want to destroy him. The other 50% want to take him under their wings. And they're welcome to him. When will I be rid of Erotic Volvo!

Misty's have been getting lots of radio coverage in the UK, some of your BBC Sessions are on the Allsorts compilation. How many BBC sessions have you recorded now?
Including my Peel Session, 4 in all.

Obviously, the late great John Peel was a great supporter, particularly of your solo stuff. How did you come to his attention and what was it like knowing that he was a fan of your music?

My first Minute Melodies album came out on Awkward Records in 2003, limited to 300 copies. One of them got to Peel, and he played 17 different tracks from it. Knowing John Peel liked your music was the equivalent of getting a letter from God telling you to give up the day job and make more music.

Obviously no-one can replace John Peel, but Rob Da Bank's championing
of 'Hey Man' must have been a boost. Do you think that single raised your profile further and were other people in the media as supportive of it as Rob Da Bank?
Slowly but surely we've been getting more and more people on our side. It's difficult to get your head round Misty's on the strength of one song. So the more stuff we release, the more attention we seem to get.

What are Misty's plans for the future?
I've written about half of the songs for our third album so hopefully by the end of the year we'll be able to start recording the follow up to The Black Hole. More gigs. Maybe a short B-movie. And future future plans, to own a space rocket and tour the solar system.

Any chance that you'll be playing gigs or releasing stuff outside the UK?
We played a few gigs in Germany and France earlier this year. I think we'll be doing a tour of Germany fairly soon and I think The Black Hole will be coming out over there early next year.

Can you recommend any new bands that we should be looking out for?
I'm really into The Retro Spankees at the moment. They're going to be playing some gigs with us in September. They put a big smile on your face!

Finally, is there any chance of Misty's releasing a Xmas record? I'm sure it would be glorious, so please could you consider it if not!

'Where Do Jam Jars Go At Xmas Time?.' Hopefully this Christmas. I'll try to make it happen, I promise!