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Are the lot of you all deaf, dumb AND blind!!? A thought that
no doubt ricochets through Six By Seven's collective mind
on countless instances, bringing their defined fusion of creeping
internal torment, amplified loose ends and distorted frustrations
right up over boiling point. Alright, apart from perhaps the blind
bit - aesthetically they certainly ain't The Strokes. But two albums
of critically acclaimed, harrowing, sometimes full-on, sometimes
ethereal, bullish, partially post-rock emotional testament down the
line and the fact that they've hardly been jostling for chart positions
with Robbie Williams, or even much of the UK's indie glitterati at
that, is quite frankly baffling.
 But
if you can't beat them, you come back and do it a bit
harder next time, right? The band have been back out
on tour through October to February, partly to prove
yet again that they're the last band you want to go
forgetting and partly in support of the new gargantuan
album, 'The Way I Feel Today' . Now there is
more than enough evidence that despite enforced line-up
contractions (they're now down to a four piece following
an unsuccessful attempt to fill departed baby-faced
guitar wizz-kid Sam Hempton's boots) there are still
few that can do volcanic mood-rock emotion better than
Six By Seven.
The single, 'So Close' for a start, with it's draining,
doomy piano and beleaguered, hoarse angelic monologue,
churned up as ever with skuzzy guitars that could knock
a tooth or two out of Kevin Shields, sounds like Alice
In Chains doing Phantom Of The Opera. But in a good
way you understand. And other new aural spasms sound
invariably like The Cure being head-butted into the
abyss by The Pixies. And surging reminders of the albums
'The Closer You Get' ('New Year', 'Slab Square' and
the stunningly gloomy 'Ten Places To Die') and 'The
Things We Make' ('Oh Dear', 'Candlelight' and '88-92-96')
make it quite clear that won't be a doddle.
Coupled with the new found melodic heights of title
track, 'The Way I Feel Today' and recent single, 'I.O.U
Love' as well as tender surreal midnite burners like
'All My New Best Friends', the album (recorded live
straight into the mixing desk) is a hoarse, stampeding
loci of malcontent and gothic lyricism. Bruised, battered,
endlessly nihilistic and as furiously punk as a nippleful
of safety-pins, Olley's razor-sharp existentialism provides
the perfect backdrop to a stuporific lapse of faith
(Flypaper For Freaks, Cafeteria Rats). Self-loathing
and cataclysmic, yes, but it's an album of monstrously
disfigured positivism all the same, in that it throws
fat emphatic punches at all that's crass and superficial.
'The Way I Feel Today' is a mashed up bible for freaks
and miserablists with enough rancour and enmity to appal
even the kindliest of samaritans. And for that it's
well worth buying.
Crud caught up with keys man James Flower to find out whether
it'll be third time lucky with the forthcoming 'The Way I Feel
Today' album.
Crud: Well, from the word go you've been an angry band, that's
manifested itself differently on both your albums. We guess you're
still angry then?
"Yeah! I think we are still angry, yeah. In our natures we are. But
I think we're actually very frustrated because we have the potential
and the songs and the ability to be this big band. Yet we're always
on the outside of the music scene. For some reason a lot of people
haven't heard of us. I think a lot of people would like us if they'd
actually heard us. The new album is a lot more song based I think,
rather than a sound-scape, as previous things have been. There's
a few different things on there, the Pixies type punky stuff, the
slower stuff, and the spaced out stuff. But yeah, it is still angry."
 Crud:
You have had the critical acclaim, the small dedicated fanbase. Why
has success continually eluded you or refused to fall into place
then?
"This is a really good question. It's the fundamental point that
we're all thinking about at the moment. I think our band is a very
individual band and I think that people don't understand the language
of the band, but then again I think it's an easy language to understand.
Major record labels are just running this day and age and preventing
bands like ours from reaching a wider audience simply because they
think that… just let me think of someone to slag off! No, I won't.
Just because they think that such and such a band, their band, has
to make it, they close all doors to everybody else."
Crud: Are you encouraged by the way things have gone in the last
year then, with guitars grabbing back the hype?
"That's good, yeah totally. Really like The Strokes, really like
The White Stripes and even bands like The Dandy Warhols who we've
toured with. But while we do make music with guitars I think it's
easy to say we're an indie band, in the indie ghetto. But I think
there's a bigger picture for us. In a lot of ways, the way we write
music, the way it's layered, the way things kick in, drop out, it's
a lot like dance music in a way. And it's great to see people pick
up on The Strokes, but they're taking the piss as well aren't they.
They're a bit of a joke."
Crud: Sam leaving the band must have been a pretty big thing.
The usual 'musical differences' were quoted at the time. Was that
really the case?
"It was more of a personality, argument thing. It was a real shame.
We've all been doing this for so long now, it's been a long haul,
people just reach breaking point. And Sam just… there was an argument,
he'd had enough. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. And
the thing is we're all still mates, it wasn't that horrible. Sam's
doing his own stuff now and I think he's very happy." Crud: And then you got Tina in to replace him?
"Well Tina joined, but she's not with us anymore, she's left now.
All I can say is that I don't think the chemistry was right. We took
a bit of a gamble asking her to come along and she was great. We're
not doubting her ability of anything like that, it just didn't work
out. So there's just the four of us now."
Crud: And has the dynamic changed drastically?
"Initially it was a big worry. We spent a whole year, the four of
us, writing before we brought the album together. But it's worked
pretty well actually as a four piece. It is different, Sam definitely
had his own style and his own thing, but I think we've come out the
other side okay.
Crud: Enough to take it up another level this time? Third time
lucky?
"I mean, all the time we are frustrated about the level of success,
it is demoralising. I guess it's Radio 1 these days, you have to
get played to reach that wider audience, it's the only real way to
do it. I mean, Jo Whiley doesn't like us. Sara Cox wouldn't dream
of playing us, Mark & Lard have supported us in the past but not
on this single, Peel's always there for us and Lamacq gives us support
of sorts, but I don't think he likes us very much."
Crud: Alright then, what if you could wipe a couple of bands off
the planet and take their success… and their place on the Radio 1
playlist?
"God, I don't know. Who do we really hate? Well, apart from the obvious
pop. Goldfrapp annoy me a bit, because they just came from nowhere
and suddenly they're massive! Why!!? And to a certain extent The
Strokes, because even though we like them, really like them, it's
just like where have they come from, where are they going!? All this
stuff that people say. And all that nu-metal stuff is just fucking…
I mean, Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit!!? And Feeder! Absolutely fucking
hate them!!"
Which is as good a place to finish as any. Relevant sites:
www.sixbyseven.co.uk
www.mantrarecordings.com
Interview by James Berry for Crud Magazine© 2002 
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