Pelvis are a band going places. To London for a start, where they are playing every fleapit dive, indie emporium and up-market lounge bar that will have ’em. Along the way they are learning to quite literally get their act together.
They already know a lot about the business for a band so young. They were wise enough to bide their time until the right international record deal with Setanta came along. They know how to take their music seriously, and have fun doing it.
It wasn’t that long ago that Pelvis were sending out demos and getting the same rejection letters that musicians who read this column know all too well. They know the mistakes that bands make, because they made them too, and learned from them – with the result that the next time you see Pelvis it may well be at the Point (probably as support to label mates The Divine Comedy).
We cornered the three Pelvis hipsters and manager Strongman (yes, that’s his name) at East Coast Radio just before being interviewed live on the Hot Press Hot Spot, and unleashed them on four demos before eliciting their opinion.
Strongman took the sock challenge posed in the last issue. He alone chose to unwrap the sock to reveal the demo tape inside. His fearlessness in the face of used footwear possibly has something to do with having to brave all manner of erratic apparel during his days with the Virgin Prunes.
What kind of band would wrap their demo in an old sock? Weaverbird from Derry would. Surprisingly their sound is clean and polished with just a little funk in the basslines. The band can play in tune and time with each other, but could use more imagination and development for their own sound.
Pelvis vocalist Jonny Rowen gives them the thumbs-up on hearing the jangly intro – “I like this, the especially the melody,” – but changes his mind as the song develops. “It sounds like Dire Straits meets Chris Rea; Dire-Rea.”
“I’d give this 2 out of 10,” says bassist Ed Reynolds, “it is a bit Dire Straits.” But he likens the second song to a version of All Along the Watchtower as done by the Stray Cats.
The Panic are the next act culled from the Dip. Jonny comments: “That’s what we were like, except he’s singing with a Liverpool accent.” The band on the tape deck do sound so much like an even younger version of Pelvis that I wonder if the lads have managed to somehow pull a fast one here, and are now reviewing their own early efforts. There is a marked similarity to the same high-pitched male vocals, timing and strong choruses between the two Dublin bands.
We all can hear influences of The Beatles, Cast and typically scouse pop music. We agree that The Panic should slow the pace down a bit, and re-think the arrangements as the tracks sound cluttered and muddy in places, but that they do show promise.
As coincidence would have it, the third song on the tape ‘Rise And Shine’ sounds a dead ringer for Pelvis’s own ‘15 Seconds Of Fame’ with the same chord progressions and similar structure. The three lads from Pelvis even sing their own chorus over the tape.
“It’s the sort of band I would like to have been in a few years ago,” says drummer Mick Goss. Their music is better than the press release or the photograph, neither of which do them any favours. The 60 million dollar, or at least four pint, question: could The Panic find themselves a support slot on a Pelvis tour? Well, the Demo Dip advice is for The Panic to go to their Hot Press Yearbook now, look up Pelvis under recording artists, dial that number and get packing.
Charis from Galway are next. This tape was handed to a Hot Press writer to throw into the dip, and was (honestly) picked from the demo dip box at HP central at random same as the others. The only accompanying letter is a few lines from a fellow HP scribe, so with no biog there isn’t any background information on the artist or where this was recorded to fill in the blanks.
This is more folk than rock, not a million miles away from Jeff or Tim Buckley, especially in the vocal department. The recording is basic, probably on a four-track, but done well with minimal overdubs and frills. The songs here lack the impact of Buckley Junior or Senio,r though. The singer’s voice has a soulful edge and Jonny is especially impressed with the phrasing and delivery.
The second track is a rather long guitar instrumental, which Mick Goss says sounds “like music for a National Geographic documentary”. The guitar playing is rather refined: a combination of flamenco and classical styles expressed with impressive technique. I find the amplified recording of his fingers sliding on the strings grating and distracting, though. This can be solved in future recordings by using an engineer experienced with recording acoustic performers.
We all agree that is a mistake not to include information about the artist in any package you are sending out for review, as was the case here. It is vital to include a cover letter, so that the person it is addressed to knows what the tape is supposed to be for, or at least is aware of the titles of the songs. On the same subject, it is advisable for artists to send a maximum of three songs with the best song first. As we’ve both made similar mistakes (and more) in sending out demos, it is just a matter of educating yourself about music business basics and asking for advice.
Bead, on the other hand, includes all kinds of information, including print outs from his sumptuous web site www.iol.ie/pcworld with the enclosed demo tape. He does break a cardinal rule, though, when he forgets to mark the tape itself with a contact number of name.
The Pelvises’ (Pelvi?) see a similarity to John Lennon in his chord structures and Supertramp in the first track ‘Animal’. We all like the howling dog sounds on the tape for effect too. It is recorded to a high standard and well presented but with perhaps too much emphasis on the site.
For my tastes his voice has an excessively nasal quality, and too restrictive a range to sustain listening much beyond the two tracks here. But his pacing and use of instrumental dynamics are textbook perfect for production technique.
• On line? Contact Debbie Skhow at [email protected]
• Debbie Skhow hosts the Hot Press Hot Spot every Friday night 9-11pm on East Coast Radio Country Wicklow. Tune in for the brightest in indie, traditional, new country, old wave, folk, lounge, world, the weird, the wonderful and the damn unique.
• Send in your quite wonderful demo recordings to Hot Press, Demo Dip, Debbie Skhow at 13 Trinity Street, Dublin 2.