Call Upon The Author

Despite being called boring by some drunken guy outside The Hamptons, Pete and his band mates, who together make up Exlovers, were funny and welcoming, with a hint of the kind of sarcasm which comes when you are comfortable with the group around you. I joined them just before their gig.

Can you describe yourselves in one word?

Laurel-Worried

Brooke-You’re worried? Well you are a worrier.

Dan-I’m indifferent. Can I really say that though?

Pete-Me and you have the same word don’t we Chris

Chris-Drunk

B-Maybe in the band context I would say…

P-Wizened

B- That’s good; I was going to say in a band context maybe dad.

How did you feel when you first stepped on stage together as a band?

C+P- we were pretty unsure

L-We’d only been practising for about three weeks before we had our first gig. I was kind of relieved that we didn’t play terribly.

B-I felt very good about it.

Do you have a personal favourite on your EP?

L-mine is ‘Incomplete’

B-Yeah mine’s ‘Incomplete’ as well, but it was a single before wasn’t it?

L-Yeah but it’s still on the EP

P-I quite like ‘New year’s Day’

Are there any messages you’re trying to get over to your fans?

P-No, not really

If there were what would they be?

L-Don’t drink and drive

P-Don’t take drugs, take your vitamins.

L-Yeah take your vitamins, that’s a good one

P-We’re not really into messages. I guess we all just like the pretention of playing simple music very simply.

B- How about keep coming to our live shows.

L-Yeah that’s the message

Who has influenced your music?

L: My Bloody Valentine

When I listen to your music I hear The Smiths.

P- Really? We like The Smiths but The Cure are more of an influence to our music

What do you think about the whole Morrissey thing this morning? (Morrissey had collapsed on stage the night before)

B-Oh I heard about that on the news this morning.

P-Apparently he was kneeling on one knee and holding flowers in one hand, that’s what I thought I heard on the radio, I had this really weird image of him just kneeling on the stage with flowers

B- We hope he gets better soon; perhaps he needs to take it easy

Which band would you most like to support?

P: Do they have to be alive, actually yeah, that would be a bit weird

B: I think Lemon heads is probably a good one.

Turning the tables, who would you like to support you?

P-Lemon heads.

L-What you mean as in someone famous?

P-Kurran and the Wolfnotes (They were touring with Kurran and the Wolfnotes at the time – ED)

B-Don’t be mean.

P- I wasn’t being mean. It was actually an attempt at being really nice, now you made me feel really mean.

L-Erm okay, someone famous. I don’t know though, I don’t think it would really work

D-if you held them in a high regard…

L-You don’t want to go after them everyone would have left

Where has been your favourite place to play so far?

P-Shepherds Bush; it was just an amazing place to play

You supported Pete Doherty, What was that like?

P-That was the Shepherds bush gig so it was pretty good. We heard loads of horror stories about people getting bottled.

L-Yeah so we were prepared to get covered in beer by loads of people, but actually we didn’t.

B-I heard that getting bottled is a sign of affection

L- Damn, they must’ve hated us

P-They wouldn’t even throw their bottles at us

Have you got any favourite bands at the moment?

P-Deer Hunter

L-PJ Harvey even though it isn’t really a new act.

C-I listen to a lot of local bands. I quite like Atlas Sound

You’re making an album at the moment aren’t you?

B-We aren’t making an album. We don’t have a record label so it makes that sort of stuff harder. But we are writing songs and stuff at the moment.

With that it was time for one last fag and a restringing of the guitar before their set began.