Artist: LITTLE MAN TATE
Label:
V2
Label Mates: Bloc Party, Elbow, Grandaddy,
Mercury Rev, Liberty X, Amusement Parks On Fire.Here's the deal. Here's
the BiG DeaL. That shitty four-piece you've been in with your mates since Year
8 eventually managed to get some daft industry type to hand over a blank cheque
and to tell you were going to be famous. Very famous. You wouldn't have to talk
to your former classmates at school. You wouldn't have to get up early. They only
thing they didn't tell you was that music was more than just writing songs and
shaking your balls on stage. It was about being there on time. Releasing something
on time. It was about being famous on time. But sometimes you just
don't care either way. Sometimes you do. Sometimes they'll pull out all the stops
to make it sound like you don't and have every word you say pushed, filed, stamped,
indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered to support their spurious underclass posturing.
They'll even go so far as to set up folks in chat rooms and forums to steer talk
around a particular way. It's not always the fault of the band. Blame it on the
managers too tight by half to let it flow. Are Little Man Tate the unspoilt
rough-cut diamonds their press folks would have us believe? Probably. Probably
not - but that shouldn't take anything away from the brawling piece of upbeat
Northern street theatre they trade in. As smart as the Arctic Monkeys, as steely
as Sheffield and as fiery as a red-hot poker up your back-stage passages. '
one of the most exciting new guitar bands in the UK, aided by a growing legion
of avid fans who’ve turned the band’s demos into word of mouth classics and their
gigs into all-inclusive celebrations.'
Something for the weekend?
1. How did you get signed?
We got signed through a combination
of hard work and a bit of luck, really. We've been gigging constantly since before
Christmas and were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. The
usual crack. It was the day before the London Barfly gig, I think. We were more
interested in them sorting out the Sheff Wednesday Season tickets than talking
about music. 2. How did you celebrate?
There’s a bar underneath
the V2’s offices with table football, so we started there with a bit of a party
and carried on the celebrations back in Sheffield. We're still celebrating now.
In fact we have a three-litre bottle of cider chillin’ in’t watter at Langsett
Resevoir back in Deepcar. We never thought we'd get a deal so to actually have
it is incredible. 3. Did you have any other labels biting at your heels?
We had a few options but V2 were excellent with us and wanted to know what we
wanted as well as what they wanted. We seemed to be on the same level. When we
met other labels, they were all right corporate and V2 weren't like that. We were
in London to record the single and we met one of their A&R guys and he were a
good lad. We didn't talk about music much, we just got on with him and chatted
about football. 4. What would you NOT be prepared to do to promote yourselves?
Not a lot really. We'll try anything 7 or 8 times. 5. How famous would
you say you are right now?
Ha ha. Not very. 6. Live circuit
or showcase? Did you do it the hard or easy way?
Live Circuit. We always
do things the hard way even where there’s a simpler route available. Sheffield
Boardwalk, Grapes. York Fibbers. Fibbers is where we had all our gear nicked.
That’s how hard it was. We had everything nicked, pedal, leads, drum-kit, guitars,
amps, you name it, we had it nicked. All we had left were our plectrums. You just
get on with it. 7. How did you blow your advance?
Ha ha. We
haven’t blown it all yet. Most of mine has gone on paying off debts. 8.
On signing was there anything you were asked to do that you didn't want to
do?
No nothing. We've been given loads of creative control and we don’t
have to do anything we don’t want to. Having said that though, there’s not much
we wouldn’t do if things depended on it. It’s a good match really. They don’t
make any decisions without consulting us first. 9. Who was the last
band they said they wanted you to sound like?
No one. We think we've got
a pretty cool sound and I doubt they would have signed us if they thought we sounded
like someone else. I don’t think we're really tied to a scene. Sheffield, like
anywhere else has loads of different bands. We didn’t really get chance to get
ourselves into a scene before things got going for us. It happened so quickly.
10. Daftest story they've ever invented about you for the press?
There hasn’t really been any fake press stories. All our songs are pretty much
straight up, so there’s not much point lying in the press releases. Not yet anyway.
Oh, the bit about the plectrums wasn't true. We had them nicked too. 11.
Does your label or your management support or discourage unruly rock n' roll
behaviour?
Not sure yet. We'll let you know when we get chance to be unruly.
I haven’t had my hair cut lately, if that counts. 12. Where's the strangest
place you've been asked to do publicity?
Not really done any publicity
in weird places but I did an interview sat on the loo. The bird doing the interview
had a really sexy voice too. You can imagine the rest. 13. Ever burned
a copy of an album put out by your label for a friend?
No, we haven’t
had anything proper out yet. Although the new single, ‘What? What You Got’
should be out by the time this gets published. 14. Here's the deal:
you've made an excellent record and some unscrupulous hack handling the press
release is about to screw it all up with some grotesque misuse of our mother-tongue.
What words would YOU use to describe the release?
I don’t understand that
question. 15. How dirty a word is the 'industry' to you?
So
far most of the people we've met in the industry have been great so I don’t really
want to slate it when we've got no grounds to slate it on yet. Ask me again when
we've been in it a bit longer and we might have a few more tales to tell, more
heads to knock together and more bridges to burn. 16. If it were all
to collapse tomorrow would you go back to your old job?
Yeah if they'd
have me. Dan would probably go back to his Fruit and Veg job. Not that we’re planning
on it collapsing. We'll just play until we drop, we live to be live. And if not,
we’ll pick up where we left off with the strawberries.
'What?
What You Got' - Released 22/05/06 by V2.
Following riotous Club NME and Academy tours across the
country, Little Man Tate are embarking on a headline UK tour throughout
May with their shows at London’s legendary 100 Club and Sheffield’s 1200 capacity
Plug selling out in under a day. The forthcoming tour dates are:
MAY
23rd
London 100 Club (SOLD OUT)
24th Sheffield Raynor Lounge relevant sites:
www.littlemantate.co.uk
www.myspace.com/littlemantatemusic
Nosey Bastard for Crud Magazine 2006©
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