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New Musical Express
August 1995
HOME
SWEAT HOME
"We are the first
post-psychiatric band. We are purveyors of
mental hygiene. We will cleanse and reshape."
Ange Doolittle, vocalist, soul stirrer and
flinty-eyed passion dealer with temperate (and
not entirely unfamiliar) four-piece
WeKnowWhereYouLive, is expounding the joys of
clear-headed sobriety. "To me, the whole drug
issue is so high street right now. It's so
uncool that it's just pathetic. I find it more
exciting to adopt another angle, where we want
to clean it rather than dirty it." He sits back
for a few seconds and contemplates his mineral
water. "We never know when we're gonna be called
upon to operate heavy machinery, so alcohol
doesn't really feature. Fork lifts, conveyor
belts, all that sort of stuff. You never
know..."
Ange, as you may
remember, was once lead vocalist with
triumphantly manic popsters Eat. Following the
band's not entirely harmonious split, Ange
submerged himself in the twilight world of
professional subterfuge, hence the name
WeKnowWhereYouLive. "This guy I worked with, if
you gave him your name, in 24 hours he could
find out where you lived, how much you had in
your bank account, your dental records, hospital
records... I mean, I could find out when you had
your rubbish collected." A sobering thought, and
no mistake.
Shortly before
Christmas, Doolittle PI phoned ex-Wonderstuff
guitarist Malcolm Treece. They started messing
around in a musical sense, until logic dictated
that fellow ex-Stuffies Paul Clifford (Guitar)
and Martin Gilks (drums) should be invited along
too. "I wasn't interested at all, to be honest,"
remembers Gilks, fondly. Hardly surprising
really, when you consider that the Stuffier
element bowed out as bill-toppers at Phoenix,
whilst a tour of the UK's notorious toilets
awaited their new outfit. But after six months
of furious rehearsal, tour they did, dishing out
free singles along the way. These seven-inchers
were comprised of demo versions of 'Mental
Hygiene' and 'Draped', as the band have yet to
record any definitive material.
"Our original
idea was to play the songs live before we'd
recorded them," explains Paul. "In the
Wonderstuff we'd never had the opportunity to do
that. You'd go into the studio, then learn how
to play it live afterwards. Doing it the other
way round will hopefully add vitality."
The
WeKnowWhereYouLive sound is much harder and
American than that of the Stuffies ("somebody
actually shouted out 'Pearl Jam!' and I said 'No
no no! It's not Pearl Jam - it's Stone Temple
Pilots!'."), who for the last few years of their
career were perpetuating a sound that they had
long since grown out of. "We were listening to
Rollins and Fugazi, but we sounded like The
Wonderstuff," shrugs Treece. "But this is a new
chapter for us." "Let's not pussyfoot," Ange
interjects. "We ain't a pop band. The more we
play, the more we understand that we're far
removed from what's going on in this country at
the moment. I see us moving to LA, getting the
poodle perms, the tight trousers and the pointed
shoes."
So what of their
old compadres? Do they still enjoy an amicable
accord? Ange grins through his unruly tresses:
"It's like when you split up with your
girlfriend. When you see her you still smile,
say hello, and wonder who she's shagging..."
Ian Fortnum |
