A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to chat with the divine Gabriella Cilmi for the blog. After not being the biggest fan of her first album, 2008’s “Lessons To Be Learned”, I was more than happy to do a complete turn-around regarding my thoughts on the woman I now call ‘The Cilmi’, provided the material was of a higher standard. Thankfully it was, and during our chat Gabriella was funny, incredibly switched on and full of personality – all things which made her even more endearing than, at the time, she had been to me simply through the five songs I heard on the album sampler. In the chat we talked Xenomania and Brian Higgins, Donna Summer and how she inspired the recording of her incredible new album (review this week) “Ten”, how that very record was almost an exercise in the sounds of Bossa Nova and New Orleans Piano, and wanting to date Jimi Hendrix…

Hello Gabriella how are you?!
Good good, how are you?

Yeah really good, is this your hundredth interview for the day?
(Laughs) Well you are like my gazzilionth interview but it’s okay, I’ve found those amazing coffee beans that are covered in chocolate, you know them?

(Laughter) Yes I do…
Well I’ve become quite addicted to them over the last couple of days. I just chew them when I get a bit tired (laughs).

I have all these questions I want to ask you but before I get to any of those I need to tell you – “Love Me Coz You Want To” is one of the BEST songs I’ve heard…
Oh amazing! Yeah I’m glad you like that one Adem! That’s actually one of my favourites on the record. That one’s interesting because it started out a bit Motown-esque, it had that vibe from my last record, and the label kept on saying “Oh you have to keep it that way, that’s how it should be”, and I was like, well, no, that’s not how it should be! So I kind of took the song away with my band and produced it with them, and came up with this new version of it. So I think it was the right thing to do now that you’ve said that, thank-you.

Well I’ve had that song repeat for most of today in the lead up to this interview you know.
(Laughs) Awesome awesome, so you’re liking the album?

Loving it! So bloody amazing. Speaking of producing that song with your band, how different was it producing alongside those guys as opposed to the well-established producers you’ve worked with before?
It was funny because, they’re all really talented but I spend so much time with them (laughs), you know, we sit two-weeks on end in the back of a van together, and by the end of it you really just wanna kill each other. It’s a kind of love/hate relationship that makes anything good really, when you think about it, I mean, Brian Higgins from Xenomania, who I wrote my first album with, we always had this love/hate relationship, we’d really disagree on a lot of things, but when we agreed it worked really well. The love/hate thing works good for me (laughs).

So the album is definitely a huge shift from the debut “Lessons To Be Learned” – a big transition from motown-eque pop to disco and electropop – did you have any idea that’s what you wanted to do when you sat down to start working on the record, or were you surprised as well?
(Laughs) No I definitely surprised myself! I actually sat down and thought I would write a New Orleans Piano record, you know, Professor Longhair-ish, but then I thought, you know, I’m probably not a pro on the piano like they are (laughs), and then I tried this bossanova styled thing and everyone was just looking at me like “what are you doing?” (laughs), anyway, then one of my bandmates gave me a Donna Summer record, “I Remember Yesterday”, and from then on that changed the direction of the album. I was listening to a lot of Giorgio Moroder, you know, a bit of Irene Cara there, and I guess that really inspired the record too. I ended up with the most perfect work-out song in the world, “On A Mission.”

It’s very good in the gym I must say, and equally as exciting to sing “I am a Gay man… on a mission” whilst on the treadmill.
(Laughs)

You’ve actually referred to the song as being a 21st century answer to “I Will Survive”…
Well it so is!

Oh definitely, definitely. Where did the drive for that song come from?
I actually don’t know where (laughs), I wrote it with this big bald guy, who was really into musical theatre, so I guess I always wanted to write a song like that, a song that’ll be around that empowers and inspires, I really love Gloria Gaynor and I wanted one of those songs that was gonna take no nonsense from anyone (laughs).

Gloria and Donna are all favourites, so what’s your favourite disco track?
Oh gosh, so many different ones! My favourite disco tune though would probably be “Love To Love You Baby” by Donna Summer, I just think it’s the sexiest song going around, it just sends you into a trance almost, you just can’t help but be entranced by it. It just gets you… ah, amazing song. And my inspiration for the record as a whole I guess included Irene Cara’s “Flashdance”, and when you’re talking about disco you can’t really go past The Bee Gees. And everyone should be proud to know that they were Australian!

Indeed! And you have your own Bee Gee inspired romper on the album too, don’t you?
Yeah yeah, “Heart Don’t Lie”, that’s actually one of my other favourites, it’s got this really cool bassline that’s kind of reminiscent of Betty Davis, and she’s so funky and fierce, she’d just go on stage in a bikini with massive knee-length silver boots, such an incredible look going on. Plus she dated Jimi Hendrix.

She did.
If I could go back in time and date anyone it’d probably be Jimi Hendrix.

Really?
He sets guitars on fire, that sounds unreal.

Not exactly ‘bring him home to Mum’ material though…
Yeah my Mum probably wouldn’t like him (laughs), I’m sure she’d prefer Justin Timberlake or something like that. He is the guy that you bring home to your Mum though, isn’t he?!

I’m pretty sure even my Mum would be pleased if I brought him home.
(Laughs) Of all the Male popstars out there, he’s definitely the one you take home to Mumma.

So with this album you worked with Greg Kurstin, The Invisible Men and Dallas Austin as well as Xenomania, who you worked with on the first record. Do you think people were just expecting you to pull a Girls Aloud and make a full album with Higgins again?
I guess so, I guess people probably were expecting that. But I spent four years with them writing the first record, so I think it was just, for me, natural to move on. I loved working with Greg Kurstin as well, producers have to be really intuitive and understand the artist and what they’re feeling, how they want things to sound… he was really good at taking the picture in my brain and creating it (laughs). “Superman” is one of my favourite tracks on the record and I wrote that with him.

Have you decided what the next single is going to be yet?
We haven’t really decided yet, but I’m thinking it’ll be “Hearts Don’t Lie”, but we’ll see how that all pans out. (As it turns out “Hearts Don’t Lie” was confirmed late last week as the second single.)

What’s it like working with Brian Higgins and at the Xenomania towers?
Well I started working with them when I was 13…

Shit!
Yeah! So I’ve known them for a long time, at the time I didn’t realise they were so big, I knew they’d worked with Girls Aloud and the Sugababes, and certainly at that time I didn’t really like that kind of music, I was young you know? I was used to jamming in my garage playing AC/DC and Led Zeppelin covers so it was such a different ball game to me. They taught me a lot about pop music and writing pop music, it’s a real art-form, they’re really quite obsessed with melodies, or the way things are placed in the song.

Everyone’s talking about your ’sexy new image’ – do you think it’s important to break free a little of the image from the first record now that you’re older? You were 15 when you did your first video…
Yeah exactly, I still find it hysterical when you read articles ‘Gabriella Cilmi – not so sweet!’ (laughs), and then there’s pictures of me in, I guess, a bikini, I was 15 when I filmed the video for “Sweet About Me” and, to be honest, that wasn’t so sweet at all I mean there were guys hanging upside down all around me (laughs). I guess it is kinda sexy, it’s certainly a lot free-er. As a space Queen I feel like I can do whatever I want!

The video is bonkers and brilliant, you get to play Barbarella AND THERE’S A DANCE ROUTINE – please tell me there will be more of this kind of thing in the future?
I think so! I think you’ll see more crazier videos and outfits, I’d love to do more of that. I think so, yes.

Keep all of this up and your Gay following should triple in size by the end of the year.
(Laughs) Well the first invitation I got to play a gig at this year was for G.A.Y, which is really exciting actually!

Thank you Gabriella!

Gold Coast formed Operator Please are hot-on-the-heels of releasing “Logic”, the debut single from their as-yet-unreleased sophomore album ‘Gloves’. Gearing up to headline at this years mammoth Future Music Festival, the bands front-woman, the passionate and delightful Amandah Wilkinson, sat down with me for a chat about the new album, working on the road, Lady GaGa, and preferring to be labelled as a pop group rather than an Indie one.

Operator Please had a wild 2007/2008. Releasing their debut album Yes Yes Vindictive saw them touring globally and promoting their wares across the world. Alternative radio were hammering their singles, but so were the commercial radio networks. It was hard to escape Operator Please mania, and whether you loved or loathed their debut single, the quirky “Song About Ping Pong”, there was really no denying these kids were on the rise.

It’s 2010 and they’re not exactly kids anymore. ‘Logic’, the bands new single, is a spiky pop song that demonstrates a clear growth, not only as artists but as a collective. It’s punchier, perhaps more importantly; poppier, and feels more refined.

“We only really decided on the single maybe a month before we put it out,” says Wilkinson. “There were a lot of contenders, but the band kind of felt like ‘Logic’ should be the leading single for quite some time, so we just did it.”

It’s an exceptional pop record, even if the Alternative stations try to tell you otherwise.

“I’ve always written pop songs,” Amandah says, before laughing. “I was a little confused with the Indie/Alternative title we got, but I’ve always thought we’ve written pop music.”

In a year where pop finally took precedence thanks to the emergence of Lady GaGa, Wilkinson gets excited as I mention Lady’s influence on the pop spectrum. “I think pop is becoming more predominant,” she says. “We went through particular styles of music; a few years ago pop was all about bubblegum, but a while before that pop was Blondie and Madonna, then you had the trio of Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson. Now Lady GaGa’s coming through, I don’t think people are expecting it but I think it’s amazing.”

Surely there are fans who would guffaw at claims that Lady GaGa was worthy of attention. Maybe even some that would do the same at the mere mention of the word ‘pop’. Amandah doesn’t seem to care though, and is quite pleased the great divide between credibility and pop music is moving its way closer to one another.

“There’s always going to be people that hate pop music,” she adds. “But the majority of the time, most people aren’t aware they’re listening to a pop song when they are (laughs). It’s true though, it’s a structural thing, all these key elements that make up an incredible pop song – you can put fuzzy guitars or whatever you want and call it whatever genre you want, but chances are you’re putting fuzzy guitars over a pop song. You know? Pop connects, it connects with people. The Beatles were pure pop mate, and think of how huge they were. I just think it’s really good that the stigma is disappearing, because particularly in the 90’s there was this big separation between pop music and alternative sounds. It was a very big spectrum, and we’re not necessarily closing the gap, but it’s definitely being turned around.”

Gloves, the bands follow up to their 2007 debut Yes Yes Vindictive is said to include lots of synths, xylophones and drums. The band took the combination of being on the road and listening to music to form the creation of the songs within the new record; everything from pop to 90’s RNB.

“I think I personally reverted to a lot of stuff I was listening to when I was in high school – you know, lots of RNB (laughs) and Hip Hop, I’ve always loved 80’s Madonna and Janet Jackson and Prince. All the experiences from being on the road, watching other bands perform live; it all just kind of rolled into one really.”

Being on tour for such an extended period of time did play tricks on the bands mind however. An element of cabin fever began to brew as they tried to juggle being on the road, writing new material and not being able to record any of it.

“I guess that being on tour you don’t get too much of that time, so it was a mixture of absolute frustration, but also enjoying being on tour simply because we were on tour (laughs). But if you get the two worlds melded up it can actually get quite frustrating and difficult. You’re there to play live and you really need to give it your all to do that. You think about a new record, mainly what we used to have to do, because we, you only get so much time to yourself, so I find if I can get ideas down by myself and then get them out to the band I feel less nervous about it. Because I’m always real nervous about showing people new ideas or showing people new music, wearing everything on your sleeve and being vulnerable to everything (laughs).”

Amandah admits to me that, during the albums early days, she was nervous and a little scared to share the music. “I’m not now though,” she assures me with a cheeky laugh.

“I think, because you have a back catalogue of music, when you’ve first written your new stuff it’s actually quite alien until you’ve played it with the band. You’re forever comparing the new stuff to your old stuff, which is something you can never do, you just need to have the confidence to do what you want to do. I was nervous at the start, but now I’m ready to just get it out (laughs).”

Between agonising over the tracklisting, to choosing which songs will end up on the final cut, Wilkinson’s job at arranging the albums finer details have caused her somewhat of a proverbial headache. Striving for perfection is hard, but the burning desire to get it right is evident in her responses.

“We want to make sure it’s the right title. It’s kinda the same with naming songs and putting together the tracklisting for the record, you have to make sure it’s right and sit with it for a bit. Which can be a pain the arse!”

It’s an album Wilkinson and her band are hoping to take overseas, after spending most of 2008 on tour through International shores. “We didn’t spend much time in Australia on the last record,” she says.  “We were in London, Europe and Japan, some shows in the US, but we’re really hoping to just step it up another level you know? I reckon growth and growth through new records and whatever (laughs). I’m not the kind of person that’s like, oh yeah, I want to be the biggest band in the world or whatever (laughs). I know it’s ambitious and all that crap, but you need to take it step-by-step I think. I’m just hoping we bump it another level, and that’s all I can hope for. And if it goes further than that – awesome.”

I was lucky enough to chat with Jack Savidge from Friendly Fires late last year, roughly about two days after Keisha was fired from the Sugababes. Which was, obviously, something we talked about…

Hi Jack how are you?
Yeah yeah good good, how are you?

Very good thank you Jack! You guys were up for the Mercury Prize but that ended with you being in hospital? What the hell happened?
Yeah yeah, in the couple of days before the Mercury Prize we were recording in Paul Epworth’s studio, I just got this weird rash; I was really really feverish, and just felt dreadful. My left leg was also swelling and I was finding it really hard to walk on it. So I kind of, I went home early from the studio and then overnight it just got worse. I took it to the doctor and they told me to get to hospital! It was like a blood poisoning thing, anyway, I stayed in hospital for a night and, you know, I kinda felt a bit better but not 100%, but I kind of discharged myself (laughs). But I sort of explained that I absolutely had to go to the Mercury Prize (laughs) and there was no way I was staying longer. Of course, I got there and felt like absolute shit and had quite a rubbish night. And then we didn’t win! (Laughs). I went back to the doctor and begged them to send me back to hospital, he gave me a couple of injections in my arse (laughs) and I just got on with it myself.

Everything okay now?
Yeah it’s fine, it’s still a bit swollen though but it’s doing fine. I actually went to a festival the next weekend, I felt fine enough to stay there the whole weekend, though my leg was still a bit of a mess (laughs). It was kind of against doctors orders. Again. But you know, it’s more fun than hanging around in bed. It was funny. I’ve never had to stay in hospital overnight. It didn’t help that we’d just finished touring and my immune system was shot. After touring for so long there comes a point where the immune system stops you and says “Oi you know what mate? I’m having a rest now too.” (laughs).

Are you guys even thinking of a follow-up album yet?
Yeah well we’ve actually just started sort of working on it, there’s a few ideas knocking around, we actually just finished off today a re-recording of “On Board”, we kinda wanna release it as a single, all the separate tracks are on Ed’s computer, and he can’t find the stems for it. The original recording would need a mix to sound good on radio blah blah, so we’re actually re-recording it and it sounds quite different. It almost has a stripper-jazz style to it now. You know, it’s good. I mean, it was something the record company suggested to us, to re-record it, blah blah, and we did have a choice in the matter, but although it was a business driven suggestion made by them, there’s absolutely no reason why it can’t be a really good piece of music in its own right. But there’s a couple of ideas we’ve got down, it’s slowly taking shape, but we kinda wanted to start things off fairly easily just because we’ve been touring for so long too, give each other a break from each other (laughs).

There’s an Aeroplane remix of your track “Paris” featuring the vocal of Au Revoir Simmone, who actually laid the backing vocals on your original album version; was this something you’d discussed with Aeroplane beforehand?
Well when it was first released, “Paris” didn’t have those backing vocals on it, when it went on the album we wanted Rich to mix it, coz we thought we could get an extra 10% out of the sound of it, and we thought some nice backing vocals through the chorus might lift it, and it is kind of a boy-girl friendship song, and he suggested Au Revoir Simmone; we didn’t want something to interfere with Ed’s vocals and it all just matched up perfectly. The thing with the Aeroplane remix, he got the stems and they just decided to use the girls vocals. And use the girls vocals they did! And it sounds really good! I like the idea of it, it’s almost like someone doing a cover of your song rather than a simple remix.

You recently played a homecoming set in St Albans – how was that?
Really good! The theatre that it was in is the kind of place they put on pantomimes and stuff. Kids shows, like, I think in the early days of The Wiggles, they played there. The Australian thing, you know them?

Yes.
(Laughs) So it’s not your average kind of gig venue. Which has no P.A. or hard-rocking lights or anything, but we went to town on the production side of it and got probably our most exciting light show ever, it was absolutely blinding, no Adem I mean literally blinding…

(Rapturous laughter)
Not blindingly good, just literal blindness. So it was really good (laughs). I was very proud of that night.

I heard that a lot of Detroit Techno and the likes of Carl Craig played an influence in your sound, is there any truth to that?
Yeah, well we’re all big fans of techno, that was on Wikipedia wasn’t it?

(Laughter) It actually was! It’s also a question my mate Mike asked me to ask you.
(Laughs) Yeah I’m sure it’s answer we gave in an interview once (laughs again) and now that’s what we’ve been labelled as (laughs again). No but no, we all love Carl Craig, his remixes and his own tracks are incredible. A lot of his tracks are really kind of lush, but also danceable, I think there’s an aspect of that in our band as well you know? There’s a strong sense of melody, but stuff for the dance floor as well.

So any date set for the next album?
I guess we’ll have to see where it goes. We’re aiming for a… I dunno, maybe October 2010 release, that’ll be quite a lot of time in between the two albums, but the way it’s gone, we re-released it, and our profile was much lower then that it is now, or around the Mercury Prize and things like that. When the first album was re-released, we were already starting to work on the second you know. The re-release also gave us the opportunity to tour America and, you know, we had no idea when we’d released the album that it would end up all the way in Australia. It is quite a big gap in between the records, but it’s just systematic of how things have gone on. It’s kind of a balancing act; you don’t want to take too long but you don’t want to bloody rush it either (laughs).

Before I let you go Jack, what are your thoughts on Keisha being fired from the Sugababes?
(Laughs) Oh right! Well! It’s quite weird isn’t it? They don’t have any more original members left… I don’t know… I wonder if it’s the first time that’s ever happened in a real up-front mainstream way… There’s this boy band in South America… what’s their name?

Menudo?
Yes! (Laughs) They’ve been going for 20 years, I think they kick out their members when they reach the age of 18. But it’s kind of more of a brand now. I’m sure they’ll still be doing well. It’s kind of weird in the sense – I’d like to know who owns the rights to the name Sugababes you know? Because we as a band own the copyright of Friendly Fires. If none of the original members of the band are there then it certainly can’t be any of them that own it. And the name kinda runs with them. Anyway; that’s my thoughts on that stuff.

Thank you for the chat Jack, was a pleasure.
Cheers mate! Bye then!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcUxAr2_dRo

Well over a year ago I ran a Cassette Kids piece on here and bung on about them being my new favourite pop group. The Sydney-siders have just finished creating their debut album, Nothing On TV, the exciting follow-up to last years EP, the ace We Are, and are about to embark on a National Tour supporting the new single, Lying Around, co-written and produced by Michael Di Francesco, he of-the Van She.

I spoke to Katrina from the Cassette Kids late last year for a chat but never posted the interview. And just last week, I spoke to the lovely lady again, and this time I’ve made sure it’s ready to go for your listening pleasure.

DOWNLOAD THE INTERVIEW IN MP3 FORMAT HERE.

Easily one of the best interviews I’ve done; up there with the ace Antigone ones actually. Katrina’s an incredibly great subject to interview. It’s refreshing to speak to someone in music who has an incredibly contagious approach to the passion for their work, whilst still holding on to a brilliant sense of humour. It doesn’t happen too often at all and, as when you’re doing interviews with artists week-in, week-out, these type of pleasantries are never taken for granted.

DOWNLOAD THE INTERVIEW IN MP3 FORMAT HERE.

In what is surely a coincidence (a spooky one at that), it has been just over a full year since I last spoke to the magnificent Antigone on the website. A lot’s happened in the last 12 months…

Antigone talks candidly to me about the future of her debut solo album, Antigone Land, her favourite tracks on it, and discusses her not-so-pleasant run-in with Little Boots…

On MediaFire, for your downloading pleasure…

Interview with Antigone (2009).mp3

Review (finally!!!) of Tig’s glorious debut solo CD coming after the weekend. “One of the years best”, as they say.

Visitor are an amazing new Aussie-bred, London-based pop duo who are currently working with Diamond Cut and my beloved Van She on a set of their debut records. They have a FIERCE launch track in “Los Feeling” which, without sounding too cliched, pulls together the best synths of the 80’s and 90’s, throws in a seriously euphoric chorus and envelopes itself into a three-and-a-half minute epic-pop showdown. Brilliantly, the guys have allowed me to share this very song in a completely legal Internet download for you on the site.

Visitor – Los Feeling (Rough Mix).mp3 (Mediafire)

(XO talked about these guys a couple of weeks back, FYI.)

Anyway, Kyle from the duo agreed to partake in a minterview; a miniature interview (oh dear). I found out what they are all about, who they’re working with, and whether Kyle loves UK Big Brother’s Davina McCall…

Tell me a little bit about you guys; who’s in the group, the ‘general’ introductory bits…
Visitor is Kyle and Lucas. We met each other at school in Melbourne when we were kids, and moved to London a few years ago, where we formed and de-formed electronic/rock bands. We recently realised that we wanted to do something much more focused and poppy I guess, and so Visitor was born. We only unveiled everything on Monday, but so far people seem to be ‘getting’ it, which is quite a relief.

So you’re working with Diamond Cut and Van She on the album… anyone else? How’s it been working with all of these guys so far?
It’s been amazing. We first encountered Diamond Cut last year when he did a remix for us and it’s kinda escalated from there. The Van She connection came out of working with Diamond Cut. Kinda strange to have travelled half way around the world to end up working with a bunch of Australians. There are a few exciting names bouncing around that our management have been speaking with, but we’ll keep those a closely guarded secret!

How long until we have some more songs to listen to from you guys?
The music’s there, we’re just wanting to give everything a chance to settle in. I think it would ruin impact if we just stuck four amazing songs up at once. Soon though. Soon.

What’s the situation with labels and signing prospects?
We’re currently discussing a few different things with several labels. Nothing we can talk about obviously.

Because I am currently going through a manic ‘retrospective’ Madonna mood, what with her new Greatest Hits package looming, what’s the earliest memory you have of her?
Getting on her knees in front of the black Jesus, and getting her cans out. I don’t think anyone would really appreciate her doing that these days. The world’s a different place.

Will Janet Jackson ever make a good album again do you think?
Probably. Maybe. I guess not, really. Probably no way. We’d like to think so. We hope so. Actually, we don’t mind either way…

Are you watching UK Big Brother, and if so, who are your picks to win?
To win? I think that guy who looks like Wolverine would be pretty cool let loose in to the real world. He could live in sewers like some kind of modern day Mad Max…

Do you love Davina?
Love is a strong word, but I would definitely say there is a budding romance.

Thank you Visitor.

Last week I had the pleasure of having a chat to the delightfully outspoken Jon McClure from Reverend & The Makers. I’ve been a fan of the outfit since their 2007 debut album The State Of Things horned its way into my CD player and, for quite a while, remained one of the biggest players of that year for me. Now with the follow up record A French Kiss In The Chaos on its way at the end of July (which, FYI, is a totally brilliant album and wipes the floor clean with the debut), the Reverend himself sat down for a chat with me about Jade Goody, Nazi’s infiltrating British politics, the ‘Skins Generation’, oh, and the new album of course.

Hello Jon!

Hello Adem, your name is spelt the Arabic way. Are you Arabic Adem?

No not Arabic but I have an Islamic background…

As-Salam Alaykum Brother!

(Laughter) Alaykum-u-salam John! How are you?

Good man, very good.

How’s Australia treating you so far?

Good man, the response I’ve had from the journalists and the radio and TV people here has been fucking amazing, it’s been an absolute pleasure being here. One of the main reasons I came here is to expand this thing called Instigate Debate which is set up in Britain. It’s kinda kicking off massive and is one of the reasons now that the British press seem to think I’m their darling when they wanted to kill me before (laughs). I’ve got Tim Levingston from The Herd, and he’s gonna set one up in Australia and one coming up in New Zealand so, good times ahead man.

Tell me a little bit more about the Instigate Debate website – what’s the purpose behind all that?

Yeah man, this is one of the reasons these people wanna put me forward as some kind of fucking spokesperson or some shit (laughs). The reason I set up Instigate Debate is, well, unlike your culture here in Australia, our cultural landscape is completely dominated by celebrity vacuous bullshit. I don’t want to be some boring rock star not doing anything about it, so I set up Instigate Debate so we could get some celebrities, musicians and MP’s and ask them some real questions, y’know, rather than nonsense. We then turned it over to the kids and said right, okay, if you wanna interview your local MP or a musician, whatever, send us the video from your mobile phone camera, we’ll put it on the website and then we’ll come play a gig in your house as a response.

Oh wow.

Yeah, we’ve been playing in peoples houses. So it’s really kicking off and on that first day people had said “It’s like the new punk rock.” I said I’ll be fucked if it’s the new punk rock because it’s not! Because we’re using the very medium of mobile phone technology, Internet, laptops. But it’s a bunch of people who’ve had enough of the bullshit over the last 10 years. You know, these bands that come over to Australia and stand there like they don’t want to fucking be there, just here to cash their cheque, people are expecting a little more these days, and they rightly deserve it. We’re gonna change the world man, I mean Twitter for instance, the election of Obama, the thing that’s happening in Iran, I wrote a song about the death threats against the British National Party, we put the track online, and two hours later you’ve got a song in full circulation showing the distress people are feeling towards the Nazi’s getting in (to the British government). We can soundtrack the times of what we’re living in, and in less than two hours man.

I was actually just about to ask you about “Manifesto/People Shapers”, I guess a lot of my readers may not actually know what the fiasco with the British National Party gaining two prominent seats…

Yeah basically they’re Nazi’s, and they used to go round blowing people up and now they go around wearing… Politician suits. I mean, these people denied a holocaust for fucks sake, these are pretty messed up people. And because our politics are in such a state, people are voting for them. But you know what? It ‘aint all about the politics man, before it used to be only me saying these things but now there’s a little musical posse coming out of the woodwork man, and they’re starting to talk about the world that we’re living in, but in a cool way, making good music about it rather than the same bullshit over the last 10 years where people just stand there looking cool with a nice fucking haircut (laughs).

You’re not one to shy away from controversy or politics; do you think more people with a public profile like yourself should be making a more proactive approach in their political leanings?

Well we’re the ones that are gonna do it Adem, definitely. You’re a guy who is a writer, and I’m a guy who sings songs. People listen to us, you know, and whether we’re right or wrong people will listen to us. And so therefore, it’s up to us Adem; I mean, you could set yourself up for a nice retirement writing for a magazine and you made a lot of money, and I could say yeah I sold a lot of records. But ultimately you wanna look and say that you did something fucking cool for the world man, and that it meant something and in my time and on my terms, not arcing back to punk or bollocky movements. This is as much yours Adem as it is mine. The reason why journalists are banging on about it in England is because, for the first time in a long time, they can actually be fucking journalists and write about something that exists, you know, rather than having to create headlines just to sell a newspaper, you know what I’m saying?

(Laughter) Oh absolutely.

It gets them excited.

Would you say that there aren’t many strong messages being brought forward in pop music these days?

Yeah man, well not until recently they’re saying “Jon McClure is the spokesman for this new scene.” I can only speak up about the things I know about, but I’m certainly encouraged by the fact that there are a lot more political artists coming out from the underground – they’re coming out from under there and people are starting to notice ‘em. Then you’ve got these people like Bono saying one thing and then returning home to his lair on a fucking yacht man. Why not stay in a spaceship man, you’d create a lot more headlines that way Bono. You know what I’m saying to you brother, you’ve gotta understand that for three years I’ve been called all sorts of names for talking about what I believe in and things that actually fucking matter, like Gaza for example. I said this thing about a TV celebrity here recently called Jade Goody, you know her?

Oh yes, Big Brother, Shilpagate, Death; I know all about Goody.

Here’s what I said. See what you make of this Adem. I said that it was very sad she got cancer. I know people with cancer myself, it’s awful. And if it makes girls go for smear tests and get themselves checked out that’s also good, right? But let us not forget she was a talentless racist, and the media coverage that she gets overrides the fact that Israel’s just dumped phosphorus on Gaza, or that the fucking ice caps are melting. Or Iraq, or the credit crunch, for fucks sake – even the fucking footy results. Let’s get our fucking perspectives in order, you know?

The news of her death even made headlines here and most Australian’s would not know Jade Goody from a bar of soap.

Exactly man. Hypocrites, hypocrites, the fucking lot of ‘em. It’s a new time we’re heading into Adem, and you’ve got to decide as a journalist whether you’re going to be apart of it or not. But the young kids all over this country and in the UK are sick of it, they’re fucking sick of it man. They’re sick of being force-fed bullshit and being told what to like. When a big band comes around you have to give them the coverage, even if it does sound like Bon Jovi like that new Kings of fucking Leon record does, you have to get the coverage. It’s bullshit man. People want something new, something fresh, they’re sick of people just milking it.

Jon, I follow you on Twitter and recently saw something you posted saying “welcome to the skins generation son! Leave your personality and opinions at the door!” Can we talk about that??

Let’s talk about it man, why not?

Brilliant.

Okay. Well, Skins is a program that supposedly defines our generation. I don’t think it defines my generation though; I’m 27, it doesn’t define what I’m living in, and I speak to kids that are 16 and it don’t define what they’re living in either. What I’m saying is everyone looks the same, everyone dresses the same and they like the same music, it’s one big homogenised mass of force-fed bullshit. Someone like me sticks his head out and says something like that though and it can be frowned upon. But I’m loving the way Australian’s have reacted to me because I’ve learnt that here in Australia, no one likes bullshit.

We’re not that big on it, no.

Yeah man, you Aussies are fuckin’ alright hey. I’ve found my people you know what I’m saying?

(Laughter) We’re glad to have you here Jon! I must say, congratulations on the new follow up record “A French Kiss In The Chaos” – it’s magnificent stuff.

Thank you very much indeed brother.

You worked with Jagz Kooner on recording for the album, how was it working with him??

Yeah he’s a good guy man, he’s worked on them experimental, psychedelic, political things before, if you remember Swastika Eyes, Primal Scream…

Yes yes…

He was able to help me pick what the best thing about those 60’s psy records were, but also making it relevant to the modern age by using electronica and lyrical concept and stuff. I can’t praise him highly enough. And truth be told, I think we all did a lot more drugs on this album.

(Uncontrollable laughter) I’m sure the fans are very pleased you decided to keep the band together… what made you want to return to the music biz?

Well, you know, I got sick of the fact that rich white men control everything, and that’s dictated in our culture. I put the Mongrel album out with the Independent newspaper. Half a million people got that album in the UK, which means we’re the best distributed album this side of Take That! What made me feel good about returning to music is people kept telling me I had to make another record. So I pulled myself together, I made it, and it sounds good.

And what of Mongrel – will you guys be releasing a second album at all?

Dunno yet, but gonna go do some stuff with the Marley family hopefully soon, politics gets a bit much if you’re going on about it all the time. I’m also gonna go down and see Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and he’s gonna drop a speech for a track, I mean, I’m also working on the third Reverend & The Makers album, so I’m sure I’ll make sense of it all at some point but we’ll see how we go. The record industry is dying and everyone is fleeing for the hills [re-enacts noise of people fleeing for hills] “Oh we’re going bust!” Well a lot of them deserve to go bust because they’ve been fleeting people for far too long. Music is sort of like the Wild West now man, nobody knows what’s to happen.

I’m told you’re going bowling tonight. Tell me Jon; are you actually any good at bowling?

I’ve been bowling twice already during my run here in Australia, and, based upon those two previous bowling trips, I’ve gotta tell you now that I am absolutely shit at bowling (laughs). So yeah, I don’t think I’ll bowling for a very fucking long time. But I’ve met some really nice Aussies and had a good time, so that’s really what matters.

You planning on coming back to Oz to do some shows?

We’re gonna come back and do some shows coz a lot of the journo’s seem to be really into what we’ve been saying. I think we’re getting a nice sorta buzz out of it. The great thing about the journalists in this country is if they’re onto something they’re brilliant and they’ll back it to the hills. In England though they’re so cautious. But yes, we’re gonna come play some shows and then I’ll probably set up my nice little house in Melbourne!

Good, come live with us!

Fuck yes man, definitely looking forward to returning, I don’t want to leave!

We’ve loved having you in Australia, and I can’t thank you enough for the chat mate it’s been an absolute honour…

Salam! Take care brother.

You too Jon!

Bye mate.

A French Kiss In The Chaos is released through Wall Of Sound on July the 27th.