featured interview:

Switches

(April 2008)

 

Interviewing a band, no matter how many times you’ve done it (which, I’ll admit, has not been that many times) is always a little scary.  You never know how’ll they’ll react to you and your questions, and if it’s in person, you never know whether or not they’re going to like your outfit.  But now, I think I’ve got the top tips to having a good interview figured out:

 

One: Know the band’s name.

Two: Make sure the person who interviews them before you is a complete nut.

And three: Start off your interview process by asking them about their favorite scene in the Back to the Future trilogy.

 

From there it’s a piece of cake.

 

Apparently, the man who interviewed Switches in their dressing room at The Roxy on Sunset before me called them Sitches or Stitches, he kept going back in forth.  And apparently had some weird questions for them. So when lil’ ol’ me walked in, unassuming and normal looking, they were happy to have me.

 

By the way, Matt (Bishop, lead singer and guitar) likes the part in BTTF II when Marty goes into Café 80’s”, Thom (Kirkpatrick, bass) likes the part in BTTF I where "Marty’s dad decks Biff", and Steve (Godfrey, drums) and Ollie (Thomas, guitar) like the Hoverboards.

 

Anyway, I was there to ask them about their music in all its fantastic Britishness.   So we talked about accents.  When the Brits got into the rock and roll business, they sang without their accents because they wanted to sound like the American rockers they worshiped.  But then, as the next generation of bands came in, they wanted to sound like the first set of British bands, so they didn’t sing with an accent either.  I don’t know what generation Switches are in, but they do not, in fact, sing with an accent, event though the influences of famous British acts are apparent.  After saying all that, Matt agreed that he did not sing with an accent and Ollie sheepishly admitted than when he first started playing with the band he did bend his “ooohhs” in a British kind of way and had to learn not to.

 

Then we moved on to a concept of which I was unaware was a common occurrence, but apparently in Britain, people often make guitars. Upon inquiring about this to Matt, whose father built him his first (electric) guitar, Ollie piped in that his father had also built him a guitar, albeit acoustic. Matt then cleared up that, unlike what Spin had said in an article about Switches, his father did not make him that guitar in a week; rather, it took months.  Also, Matt’s father was something to the effect of a prop builder, so the creating of a guitar came rather easily to him.

 

There were a few more things to straighten out.  Yes, the band started when Matt put up signs around his university, but not the band in its current formation.  For instance, Ollie is the second guitarist.  I asked Matt if he ever called the band members by number, like Bassist Number Four, or Drummer Number Seven.  Luckily, this got a laugh from everyone, and Matt said no, that he was fairly sure that would probably “result in a beating.”

 

But they’re all together now, out there, and they’re getting big.  I asked them about the performance they did for Yahoo in front of no one but the cameras, and whether or not it was weird.  They all answered no, expect for Steve: “Yeah, that was weird.”

 

Then I totally came out of left field and asked Matt if anyone had ever compared him to Mozart.  See, Matt wrote his first song at six; Mozart composed a symphony at three.  But I’m apparently the only one who’s thought of this.  Matt brushed off the comparison, then told a story: “When I was at University I was taking music and they made take classic piano, and during that class I had to play that symphony that Mozart wrote at three.  But I never figured it out.  So, no, I don’t think I’m like him at all.”

 

When asked about their preference for live shows or working in the studio, Matt pointed out that these particular members had not been part of the recording process for their new (well, new stateside) album Lay Down The Law, but the question was still valid as all of them had recorded before.  Steve gave a very emphatic “live shows!” from his place on the couch.  Ollie answered the studio because it’s “relaxing’, which Matt agreed with, adding that his studio is a “creative place that feels good” and doesn’t have the stress of being on stage.  Thom - cute, lovable, Thom with the bangs - waited for everyone to finish and when I turned to him he shyly answered: “both”.

 

I finished up the interview by asking Matt about his soon-to-be trademark jacket that you can see him wearing in almost every picture of the band and during their live performances.  “Oh, the boat jacket?”  The band laughed.  “My girlfriend found that last year at a thrift store.  I thought it was hideous, but now I like it.  It’s like a smoking jacket.”  Thom added “It’s like something a zany, geography teacher would wear.”

 

Then it was back outside the Roxy, into the spring sun.  I hung out in Hollywood with friends until I found myself back in the venue to watch the show, which was a record release party for them.

 

Switches did not disappoint.  They came onto stage with a lot of energy and were ready to go.  I was rewarded for my attentiveness to the bass player when Thom sang a cover of Gwen Stafani’s “Sweet Escape” which the crowd happily sang along to.  And I have to say, they did a great job of making that cover their own.

 

This is probably true of most venues, but this particular concert reminded me of what a different show you can get when standing in different places.  At first I was standing in the back, fairly close to the bar, enjoying the concert with ‘cool’ people.  But then I was convinced to come up front (um, and what am I going to say?  No, to ‘let’s go stand closer to the hot bassist’?) and now I was where the fans stand.  There were flashing lights, it was louder, and oh, yes, I was close enough to see the boats on Matt’s jacket!

 

Switches sound like they do on the record live; everyone has their parts down, and there’s lots of lovely harmonizing going on between the boys.  There is no doubt in my mind that everyone should give this band a listen - especially if they feel like dancing a little bit and singing along.

 

— Amber Henson

www.switchesmusic.net