Having spun The Loon quite a bit on the old dansette this past month, I’m expecting Josh Grier (aka Tapes 1), frontman with thrift-rock USA outfit du jour Tapes 'N Tapes, to be a surly, angst-ridden fellow with a copy of Being And Nothingness to hand and a little black cloud hovering overhead.
This is, after all, the same gentleman who rages about “no sex and no sleep” on the pulsating two-step ‘In Houston’.
Happily, he proves a much jollier fellow than one might suppose. He speaks ever so fondly about Muffin, their new tour bus, her predecessor Bruno having recently departed for the great junkyard in the sky. Factor in that the other band members have also plumped for eccentric monikers – drummer Jeremy Hanson is Tapes 2, keyboardist Matt Kretzman and bassist Shawn Neary make up the ‘N contingent – and these Bright Young Things seem to form the Ministry Of Silly Names.
“Yeah,” agrees Josh. “It was kind of a joke. There is some other back-story but I’ve forgotten it by now. It dates from when we started the band which – I hate to admit – was more about running the website than anything else. Somebody we knew was going through a phase of using fake names so we had to have fake names and it stuck.”
Hailing from Minneapolis, a place Josh describes as alternately “the hottest and coldest place on earth”, Tapes ‘N Tapes’ fabulous and decidedly indie sound has been variously compared with Pavement and The Pixies, with a delightfully shit-kicking twang to set them apart from all the similarly influenced young turks.
“I guess anyone who wants to write good melodies in their songs is trying to emulate The Beatles in one way or another,” he avers. “But I wouldn’t dare suggest that we sound that good. The country thing comes from growing up with Dylan and Johnny Cash. Then as I got older I started listening to Wilco and alt-country.”
Since recording their debut album over three days in a Wisconsin forest cabin with no running water (“Nothing but frozen pizza but it seemed to work out,” recalls the singer), Tapes ‘N Tapes have surged onwards and upwards. One of this decade’s internet sensations, these days you’re more likely to find the crew touring with The Futureheads and The Streets or appearing on The David Letterman Show.
“That was really weird and very cold”, explains Josh. “Dave likes to keep the studio at 52 degrees so that’s why you always see the audience in sweaters.”
Hopefully, they’ll have a warmer reception at this year’s Electric Picnic. Well, the weather can only be an improvement on Oxygen.
“We were checking out the website the other day and Electric Picnic looks awesome,” says Josh. “We can’t wait”.
Neither can we.