A date with Late Of The Pier...

The Late Of The Pier Esperience - By Jimmy Prophet

It's a brisk but sunny winter Wednesday morning, late November, as I explore the abandoned ruins of an old village/base near Saxondale; that of RAF Newton, 7 miles from Nottingham in the heart of England's midlands.

It is here where legends are born or just plain lies are told merely disguised as storytelling. As it goes, it was once an RAF base for fighters during WW2 and as the years progressed it was transformed into a village for Britain's recent immigrants. As time passed, and more people came, this brought an epidemic of such magnitude that everyone died and the village was quarantined and turned into a ghost town.

The resulting landscape I found myself in was testimony to this fact. Or fiction? A whole village with rows of streets, swing parks, community halls and even a school, left to rot and decay. The emptiness of the desolated remains certainly gave it an Orwellian feeling of post-apocalyptic dystopia. Perfect, I'd say, for a picnic with Nottingham's newest travellers, Late of the Pier. A picnic just as surreal as our setting; up a tree.

This 4 piece band; who originally hails from Castle Donnington, easily arouse my suspicions that they were the actual perpetrators of this said epidemic. But that remains to be seen by future lawyers, sculptures and men of conscience.

Anyway, a picnic up a tree is by no means the easiest place to have a chin-wag, especially as you sit precariously close to falling 20 feet to certain humiliation from a band who describe their music as the kind 'to have asthma to'. From a childhood sufferer the affects of an asthma attack still ring resolutely around my brain and the thought of this as music strikes the fear of God into me. That, and the wood rot set into the tree, with its 'angled' branches poking at a certain (cough cough) bodily places, altogether brings my child-hood breathing problems back into the forefront; much like some demented spider-bear being probed by a high-powered taser gun for five more rounds with Tyson in Vegas or in the Hawley arms in Camden on a typical Saturday night. Especially when that Winehouse bird needs ANOTHER bloody drink. I'm sure that's how Tyson earns his keep nowadays. And Winehouse.

Anyway again... So who are these post-apocalyptic, reptilian killing time travellers (from 2018 they tell me) who've returned to spread their "time jazz" to the unrepentant youth of the future's past?

First, there's Ross Dawson. The flame-haired drummer; the silent and pensive member whom I later learn is really the more responsible one who makes sure their ship of madness is sailing on course with flag flying high. And with plenty of fuel.

And to complete the rhythm section, on bass is Andrew Faley, or just 'Faley' to the others. Oddly enough he reminds me of a much younger and cooler Roger Waters from that old dinosaur band The Pink Floyd. I use this term in its correct interpretation and original meaning because in my eyes Pink Floyd never existed. Only 'The' Pink Floyd did, with much emphasis on the word 'The'. And reasons for this? Syd Barrett of course; the original member and true genius of that band. So once he got kicked out of HIS band then they ceased to exist. Much like Marty McFly would have if he hadn't rinsed out 'Earth Angel' in Back To The Future.

Then there's 'Potter'; Sam Potter to be exact. Who is just a stream of pure consciousness, surrealism and innocence wrapped up in human form. Where everyday is a playground for adventure, creativity and mischief. The Peter Pan of synth playing. The voice and madness for the future generations, or even the past's. Who remembers which? I'm not quite sure, and I'm positive he doesn't know which either!!

As for leadership, drive and direction, this comes from front man, guitarist, keyboards, synths, lead vocals; you name it, Samuel Eastgate, or just plain Sam. His enigmatic persona and presence stems from the deep vision he has for the band. All the noises, sounds, words and vibrations that must pulse round his head would make any other sane man insane and any insane man make music.

As for this music; with previous indie labels Way Out West Records and Moshi Moshi Records, they released two singles 'Space and the Woods' and 'Bathroom Gurgle', respectively. Both of which were limited editions and will no doubt be collectors' editions very soon, if they haven't done already. With massive interest from all the major labels and through much deliberation and many more picnics up trees, Late Of The Pier recently signed to Parlophone.

At the minute the band are caged away in their home studio recording and producing their debut album, set for release early 2008. Or as these time travellers claim (from the post apocalyptic year of 2018 remember?) that they have already recorded it in the future and "if we make the music horrible enough we can send it back to 2008, warn them about the apocalypse and perhaps our post apocalyptic time jazz will have an affect on their minds".

When further asked about how Late Of The Pier got started, what resulted was a 15 minute joyous cacophony of pure abstract thought that helped get me inside the minds of LOTP. Here is their portal to some of it:

Potter: World War 3 was horrible wasn't it?

Sam: Yeah it was...

Potter: All them deaths and... I just think the world became a

horrible place after World War 3!

Sam: Well it's alright now 'cos it's post-apocalypse.

P: Yeah.. I think we're doing alright. I think if we teach these

lessons to the youths of today they might find a place too in this fragile

and scary world.

S: You know what we could do? We could send our album back to 2008 and

teach them the...the horrors!

P: Like May 2008 maybe? Or June, July...? I've got some carrot cake (he

holds out a huge cake and unwraps it.)

S: Is that post-apocalypse carrot cake?

P: Yeah (laughing) You wanna bite?

S: This post-apocalypse smoothie aint bad either!!(drinks from a bottle)

Jimmy: Let's go back to the beginning. How did you start?

S: Well it was after the apocalypse...

P: Yeah 2018 wasn't it? Faley just got married for the 4^th time to his 2^nd

daughter. (huge laugh from Faley who sits amused) It was quite tricky

that was 'cos he fancied the 2^nd one but the 1^st was quite dominating...

What did you do about that Faley?

Faley: I didn't do anything, I just left it to my lawyer!!

S: So the primordial soup was bubbling and we started a band!

P: And our soul desire as a band was to just make music and to avoid all

questions. Not to speak about the music, just let the music speak for

itself... I think a lot less people get hurt when you don't speak about

things. If you just do it!! You tap into a more carnal self, stop

thinking and just do it!!

S: Why did you have to ask about the apocalypse? WHY?

P: I mean, we're more or less a faceless consortium pumping out sound waves

to manipulate..

F: ..your mind

P: Your gran

F: And your dad.

Jimmy: Has your album got a concept? A theme?

P: It's got a hole in it so you can fuck it.. (raucous laughter)

F: The wonder of CD's!!

P: The concept wavers. The concept is all over the place. You can't put

your finger on it.

F: But you can put your finger in it.. (more riotous cackling)

P: Yeah we don't deal with concepts or ideas... We're a carnal band. What

happens happens because we wanted to fuck or we wanted to eat.

Jimmy: Tell me about your upcoming tour?

S: Well, in 2008 we done a tour based on our 2018 album which was sent back

to 2008 so we could listen to it and do a tour based around it. It

wasn't bad... we thought we could probably do better but... So the tour

based around the future album which was done in the past, obviously we're

talking about 2008 now, but it's 2018 here, consisted of..

F: Jimmy Saville..

S: On crack!!

F: On repeat... For 16 days!!

S: And we were the support act!!

P: What tense are we speaking in at the minute, so I can add my witty

comment?

F: A 4-person tent!!

(At this point there was much merriment, laughter, general piss

taking and much more eating of cake and sandwiches.)

Jimmy: Where do you get your influence from?

F: It fell out the sky!!

P: No, somebody wrote it on the back of a cigarette packet actually. I was

walking down the street, saw it, thought yeah, not a bad idea. I think

we'll do it. Here we are!!

S: We know how forceful those messages on cigarette packets are!!

Jimmy: What did it say?

P: It said 'Smoking Kills'.

S: So we did!!

P: We thought we'd just smoke out the years of you listening public...and

have a few more bites of our cake. (chomps away)

Jimmy: What do you think of the current music scene?

F: Are we talking about 2018 or 2008?

Jimmy: 2008!

F: Ahh 2008 ok ok

P: I think this is why we chose to live in a house so far away from the

world; being suspended so high in the air. You get a lot of time to think

but you never think about anything else other than the stuff around you.

Which is air, clouds, a few planes now and again, a few birds. Get a lot

of cellophane, crisp packets, you get kites, balloons and these are the

things that shape us. own music and Ross' alarm clock.

Ross: Yeah!! (the first words spoken all interview. I think just like

myself, Ross was wondering what actual timeline we were actually

functioning in!? Or what was actually going on!?)

P: Or the sound of a porcelain doll being eaten by an alligator!

Jimmy: Is that how you describe your music?

S: It's inbred! Definitely inbred! (laughter)

F: That's a pretty good description.

P: I hope it's wonderful!

F: Abit weird, abit wonderful. Quite shiny but abit grotty.

S: It's wonderlust

P: Yah wonderlust.

S: Das pop wonderlust!!

F: It's post-apocalyptic time jazz!!

Jimmy: So, as a band where do you hope to get to?

S: Spain!

F: 2018!

P: I think if we keep pushing the envelopes into those post-apocalyptic

boxes, we're gonna get somewhere, aren't we?

S: We've just gotta push the envelope!!

P: No no no... Let me just say this... I think as long as we're having fun

and we're making something that's fresh and new and people are excited by

it, I think we should stick with it. I really do boys. I think there's

a lot of value in that, I really do!!

S: Can't we hurt people?

F: Yeah!?

P: Well that's what albums are for! To put those tracks on that hurt people.

S: When they least expect it, right?!

P: Right!!

S: Right, I'll have some cake!!

And as we ended the interview with the sun shining happy thoughts, Ross still wondering what the hell his band members were talking about, and the cars of the nearby duel carriageway ringing violently in our ears, I had but one thought? Where's my bit of cake by the way?! Just then, the cake flew past me; launched into the walls of an adjacent collapsed building that once housed viral secrets. The sound of our laughter the only living thing heard in these parts in decades. And with this, off we went for another adventure through the jundland wastes. Just what will the future hold for Late Of The Pier? I'm sure we'll find out in 2008. Or 2018!! Wait... I'm still confused!! What day is it? Did you bring me here? Oh well...!

Jimmy Prophet
06.12.07

THIS IS WHY I LOVE THESE GUYS!