Interview with 'Alice Under Moving Skies' 04 Feb 2010
Please firstly, tell us when you first formed, and how you all met, and what the initial goal was at the time ?
Penny : Mark and I met at the WGW in 1996 whilst watching the Marionettes. We were both considerably thinner then! I was living in Glasgow at the time - he was living in Leeds - this was before the days of everyone owning a mobile phone or having access to email so it became difficult to keep in touch. We found each other again last year via Facebook.Originally we wanted to bring back a real 'trad' sound to the goth scene but as is often the way, if you concentrate on the one thing you limit it, and if you limit it you lose it. We found the sound evolving much more towards an electro edge although we hope our trad roots still manage to shine through.
Mark: This time last year, I was looking into reforming my old band, Dust to Dust, having spent some time away from the scene.This fell through, but I found I had a taste for it again. Soon afterwards, Penny added me on FB and knowing she was a singer and bassist,I asked her if she wanted to do something, mainly based on DtD stuff and her old band, Stages of Cruelty. This got us practising again, but as she said, after starting to write new material, we veered off a little, having seen the reaction Grit Girl got, which was the product of a late night writing and recording session, involving Blavod and Red Bull!
What inspired you to take, on the imagery of 'Lewis Carrolls' 'Alice In Wonderland' ?
Penny : My obsession I'm afraid! I adore Alice, i adore Tenniel's illustrations, i love the way he portrays her as that serious, slightly cold and detached child. I suppose i see myself in her.
Mark: All Penny's idea! I've always been into Victorian fashion and literature anyway, so I didn't take much convincing.
Does his works translate into your lyrical base, or is it just the visual side of the band ?
Penny : It's very much a visual thing although my relating to Alice can't help but come through in my lyrics.
Mark: My stuff tends to be much more about my own experiences and thoughts. Although I'm much better at noises than lyrics!
I really love your, demo material, the catchiness etc.. How has feedback been so far, I think there bloody great ?
Penny : The feedback we have had has been overwhelming. It is quite incredible when you make sounds you love and others love them too.'Grit Girl' seems to be a particular favourite with people so far. The enthusiasm people have shown for our music is so touching and the help and kind words people have been offering has totally humbled us.
Mark: Yeah, we're both really pleased with what DJs, promoters and bands are saying about the promo stuff so far. To the extent that we were getting quite worried that we wouldn't be able to follow Grit Girl up with anything as good! The newer stuff measures up though we think. It's different again, but still obviously us. We hope the album will be eclectic without alienating anyone. We're certainly not sticking to just one aspect of the genre.
I'm really interested in 'Grit Girl', what can you tell me about the song, what lies within ?
Penny : The song is essentially a strong woman's love song. When i wrote it i was trying to convey control. Too many of us, men and women, give up control when we fall in love or lust or give ourselves away. That song is about maintaining the control and playing with it.
Mark: I just made the noises! It started because I wanted to write one for my 7-string guitar!
With your visual image, does this play out within the Live, shows, can we expect 'White Rabbits', and drug addled weirdness ?
Penny : Who knows? Haha! You can certainly expect that at our album launch in Leeds in April. We hope to make that a really pretty show.
Mark: Neither of us have taken drugs for years. We're weird enough as it is! Again, the late Victorian/early C20th thing comes through in the way we dress. We'll see how the live show develops image-wise as we play more, and we're playing a lot this year now! As Penny said, we have some special plans for the album launch...
Ever though about covering 'White Rabbit', by 'Jefferson Airplane', very befitting ?
Penny : Great song! Perhaps that's something we should consider - we could have fun with that.
Mark: The Damned beat us to it years ago! Does anyone really want to hear a cover of a cover? Expect some interesting cover versions in some of our live shows though.
Musically, who are you hero's, where do you draw that special sound ?
Penny : Personally i draw my heroes from many different musical genres. Sam Brown, Gitane Demone, Chantal Brown (Do Me Bad Things), Suzi Quatro. I also draw inspiration from many male singers - as far as I'm concerned inspiration isn't the ability to mimic your hero - it's the feeling that singer gives you when you hear them - Robert Smith (Cure), Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost), Dan Arlie (T-Ride).
Mark: How long have you got? Many and varied. Our music is a real melting pot of styles, although the finished product ends upvaguely Goth. I love 50s Rock n Roll, 60s pop, 70s Heavy Metal, 80s Glam, Goth and Electro and there are a lot of new bands emerging, not just on the Goth scene, that are very good. After the horrific stagnation of the 90s and 00s, music is getting exciting again. There were some good alt and goth bands in the 90s, but the last 10 years have been rubbish! It's good to see the likes of Eden House, Rhombus and Grooving In Green playing a lot and the enthusiasm of the younger bands like Legion and The Silent Age. I've gone on a bit haven't I? If I'm pressed, my hero's are The Who, Elvis, Eddie Van Halen, Guns N Roses, Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim and I of course have a soft spot for The Marionettes for reasons mentioned by Penny in Question 1!
I see shortly, your releasing your debut LP, how has the recording been, and what can we expect ?
Penny : Recording has been a lot of fun. Not like hard work at all. We hope the album lives up to expectations - there will be a nice mix of styles on there - something for everyone.
Mark: We have the luxury of being able to write in my studio, so there's no pressure or time constrains while recording and we can carry on developing material and recording at the same time. We also do it when the mood takes us, so (hopefully) the tracks don't sound forced or rushed. I can also mix and produce it whenever I want and I'm going for a very big, polished sound. Think of the production ethos of Vision Thing or Floodland but much more varied stylistically...
Can we expect any shows in London, this great year ?
Penny : We would absolutely love to come down to London to play - it is quite hard for bands north of Watford to get those gigs - so if any promoters would like to invite us we would be honoured.
Mark: Isn't that in France?!!! (Sorry, I'm a Yorkshireman!). I'll echo that - book us and we'll play!
Any Last Words ?.........
We would like to thank those people so far that have helped us to promote our music and have given us such kind words..... DJGhost (The Charnel House), DJMartinOldGoth, DJLucretius (Shadowdaze), DJHamsterboy (DV8Fest), DJGrimlyFiendish (Misery of Sound), DJStubbsy, Rhombus, Maisey (Legion) and all the others we've forgotten!
For further info and contact:
http://www.queenalice.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/alicemovingunderskies
Please firstly, tell us when you first formed, and how you all met, and what the initial goal was at the time ?
Penny : Mark and I met at the WGW in 1996 whilst watching the Marionettes. We were both considerably thinner then! I was living in Glasgow at the time - he was living in Leeds - this was before the days of everyone owning a mobile phone or having access to email so it became difficult to keep in touch. We found each other again last year via Facebook.Originally we wanted to bring back a real 'trad' sound to the goth scene but as is often the way, if you concentrate on the one thing you limit it, and if you limit it you lose it. We found the sound evolving much more towards an electro edge although we hope our trad roots still manage to shine through.
Mark: This time last year, I was looking into reforming my old band, Dust to Dust, having spent some time away from the scene.This fell through, but I found I had a taste for it again. Soon afterwards, Penny added me on FB and knowing she was a singer and bassist,I asked her if she wanted to do something, mainly based on DtD stuff and her old band, Stages of Cruelty. This got us practising again, but as she said, after starting to write new material, we veered off a little, having seen the reaction Grit Girl got, which was the product of a late night writing and recording session, involving Blavod and Red Bull!
What inspired you to take, on the imagery of 'Lewis Carrolls' 'Alice In Wonderland' ?
Penny : My obsession I'm afraid! I adore Alice, i adore Tenniel's illustrations, i love the way he portrays her as that serious, slightly cold and detached child. I suppose i see myself in her.
Mark: All Penny's idea! I've always been into Victorian fashion and literature anyway, so I didn't take much convincing.
Does his works translate into your lyrical base, or is it just the visual side of the band ?
Penny : It's very much a visual thing although my relating to Alice can't help but come through in my lyrics.
Mark: My stuff tends to be much more about my own experiences and thoughts. Although I'm much better at noises than lyrics!
I really love your, demo material, the catchiness etc.. How has feedback been so far, I think there bloody great ?
Penny : The feedback we have had has been overwhelming. It is quite incredible when you make sounds you love and others love them too.'Grit Girl' seems to be a particular favourite with people so far. The enthusiasm people have shown for our music is so touching and the help and kind words people have been offering has totally humbled us.
Mark: Yeah, we're both really pleased with what DJs, promoters and bands are saying about the promo stuff so far. To the extent that we were getting quite worried that we wouldn't be able to follow Grit Girl up with anything as good! The newer stuff measures up though we think. It's different again, but still obviously us. We hope the album will be eclectic without alienating anyone. We're certainly not sticking to just one aspect of the genre.
I'm really interested in 'Grit Girl', what can you tell me about the song, what lies within ?
Penny : The song is essentially a strong woman's love song. When i wrote it i was trying to convey control. Too many of us, men and women, give up control when we fall in love or lust or give ourselves away. That song is about maintaining the control and playing with it.
Mark: I just made the noises! It started because I wanted to write one for my 7-string guitar!
With your visual image, does this play out within the Live, shows, can we expect 'White Rabbits', and drug addled weirdness ?
Penny : Who knows? Haha! You can certainly expect that at our album launch in Leeds in April. We hope to make that a really pretty show.
Mark: Neither of us have taken drugs for years. We're weird enough as it is! Again, the late Victorian/early C20th thing comes through in the way we dress. We'll see how the live show develops image-wise as we play more, and we're playing a lot this year now! As Penny said, we have some special plans for the album launch...
Ever though about covering 'White Rabbit', by 'Jefferson Airplane', very befitting ?
Penny : Great song! Perhaps that's something we should consider - we could have fun with that.
Mark: The Damned beat us to it years ago! Does anyone really want to hear a cover of a cover? Expect some interesting cover versions in some of our live shows though.
Musically, who are you hero's, where do you draw that special sound ?
Penny : Personally i draw my heroes from many different musical genres. Sam Brown, Gitane Demone, Chantal Brown (Do Me Bad Things), Suzi Quatro. I also draw inspiration from many male singers - as far as I'm concerned inspiration isn't the ability to mimic your hero - it's the feeling that singer gives you when you hear them - Robert Smith (Cure), Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost), Dan Arlie (T-Ride).
Mark: How long have you got? Many and varied. Our music is a real melting pot of styles, although the finished product ends upvaguely Goth. I love 50s Rock n Roll, 60s pop, 70s Heavy Metal, 80s Glam, Goth and Electro and there are a lot of new bands emerging, not just on the Goth scene, that are very good. After the horrific stagnation of the 90s and 00s, music is getting exciting again. There were some good alt and goth bands in the 90s, but the last 10 years have been rubbish! It's good to see the likes of Eden House, Rhombus and Grooving In Green playing a lot and the enthusiasm of the younger bands like Legion and The Silent Age. I've gone on a bit haven't I? If I'm pressed, my hero's are The Who, Elvis, Eddie Van Halen, Guns N Roses, Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim and I of course have a soft spot for The Marionettes for reasons mentioned by Penny in Question 1!
I see shortly, your releasing your debut LP, how has the recording been, and what can we expect ?
Penny : Recording has been a lot of fun. Not like hard work at all. We hope the album lives up to expectations - there will be a nice mix of styles on there - something for everyone.
Mark: We have the luxury of being able to write in my studio, so there's no pressure or time constrains while recording and we can carry on developing material and recording at the same time. We also do it when the mood takes us, so (hopefully) the tracks don't sound forced or rushed. I can also mix and produce it whenever I want and I'm going for a very big, polished sound. Think of the production ethos of Vision Thing or Floodland but much more varied stylistically...
Can we expect any shows in London, this great year ?
Penny : We would absolutely love to come down to London to play - it is quite hard for bands north of Watford to get those gigs - so if any promoters would like to invite us we would be honoured.
Mark: Isn't that in France?!!! (Sorry, I'm a Yorkshireman!). I'll echo that - book us and we'll play!
Any Last Words ?.........
We would like to thank those people so far that have helped us to promote our music and have given us such kind words..... DJGhost (The Charnel House), DJMartinOldGoth, DJLucretius (Shadowdaze), DJHamsterboy (DV8Fest), DJGrimlyFiendish (Misery of Sound), DJStubbsy, Rhombus, Maisey (Legion) and all the others we've forgotten!
For further info and contact:
http://www.queenalice.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/alicemovingunderskies
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