- Mon, 2009-03-23 16:54
The Anomalies core duo consists of Mouthmaster Murf and Sam Meehan. With an ethos that combines a love of music, an organic bedroom produced approach, and a willingness to experiment with everything from lyrics to beats, The Anomalies are injecting an exciting dose of energy, style and charisma into the current music scene.
Drawing comparisons with the spoken word, beat-based talent of Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip (having recently supported them on tour) The Anomalies approach to their tunes is open minded, sifting in elements of breaks, rock riffs, hip-hop and pop melodies. The most concise results of this twenty first century experiment can be found on their debut album Free Soup Social.
Previous singles Employee Of The Month, Bamboo Beats and Kid Riot have recieved much critical acclaim. Live The Anomalies are joined by their band - turntablist DJ Mayhem, bassist Pete Cooper and drummer Joey Holmes and their spontaneous, no-nonsense approach on stage has already won them a dedicated following.
I Like Music caught up with Murf and Sam to chat about what's been going down. Proving their roots truly are spread across a diverse musical grounding, we chat about the Beastie Boys, Virginia Woolf, underground music festivals and mixing things up, both in and out of the studio.
"I Like Music because… it means I don't have to do a proper job.” The Anomolies
ILM: How would you describe the vibe of your debut album Free Soup Social?
Murf: Eclectic would be a starting point. That was one of our main ideas for it as we're into such different music. We all get bored quite easy, so we wanted to cover some boundaries, do a lot of songs and write in different styles. Make it interesting for us.
ILM: Did that ethos have an effect on the way you approached each song?
Sam: It varies really. When we write we tend to come from different places and meet in the middle.
Murf: We could start off with something as simple as a drum break. Sam could have worked out a whole song with a guitar and then we work out together how we can muck it up.
ILM: How would you describe The Anomalies process of making music?
Sam: When we start writing, a lot of it is done at home on the compouter. That's how they start. Before we finish recording we take it into the studio. What's been good about the album is getting to take our tracks into a proper studio. Almost every track we did we learnt something brand new. Whether it was hardware or miking up drums in a different way. It's been good fun taking it out of the bedroom.
Murf: It's an interesting process. Most bands write together, then record. We write the songs and then work out how to play them. That can be really testing as you have a lot going on in the track.
ILM: How do you approach your live gigs? The transition of turning your songs from album tracks to live tracks?
Murf: Live we like to muck it up a little. Not on every track. We like to turn our tracks into different things. By the end of one of them, it's turned into Breathe by The Prodigy. We like getting that dance element across. The main purpose of that is to get people up and having a good time.
Sam: One of the things we learnt early on is that the live is definitely different to the album. With the album you look for the subtleties, but live, a show has got to be worth watching. We have a tour coming up in April. We've done a few warm up gigs recently. It will start off with this thing in your head 'Right. I've got this solo, I've got this bit coming up now.' By the end of it you're not thinking like that, you're just playing it. It's nice when it's fresh and new, but it's great when you know it inside out and you can just go for it.
ILM: Out of all the gigs you have played so far, which are the most memorable?
Sam: There's been a few really good ones. We did The Scala with Scroobious Pip, the venue was completely full and the gig went really well. That one was great, usually coming to London you find it is a bit industry based. We prefer playing to crowds that are up for it, rather than crowds that are there to take it apart. So that was good. We did a recording for Radio One at Maida Vale. You're never going to get your live set sounding as good as that. They are so sh*t hot when it comes to their recording.
Murf: Also, the period of the year where you get to go round doing festivals is always amazing. We're just planning that now.
ILM: Cool. What festivals have you already done? Any tips?
Sam: We've done a few wicked ones. One we've done for the last couple of years is called Northstock. It only holds 4000 people. We find that the ones about that size are usually the most fun. There's always a good vibe with festivals like that.
Murf: I think it's that thing that if you're privvy to something that is new and becoming, then it has that atmosphere of discovery, which is good for new acts. It's like when you hear people talking about the early, early days of Glastonbury. You get that with the smaller festivals. Everyone has a relationship with that festival.
ILM: How do you approach the task of writing lyrics?
Sam: More recently I've come up with a melody or a framework and Murf will add a concept to it and build it up a bit like that. But it can come from anywhere. I was reading something by Virginia Woolf the other day. She said the problem is that if you have an idea and then you try to take it apart and add to it too much, then in a way it becomes forced. It's almost better if you get a phrase from anywhere, a film or a piece of writing or whatever, and you just let it go to the back of your head. Then you can come up with riffs, or melody and it will just come back and run from there. It's a completely different process song to song really. But that's the best way. To let it build up naturally.
Murf: Our initial reaction is that if something makes us laugh, then we will usually go with it.
ILM: What music are you into?
Sam: I usually come from a more commercial, rock-indie side and Murf comes from a dance side, but we both really like the heavier, dance and dubstep at the moment. Heavy synth based stuff.
Murf: A lot of Caspa and Rusko. I've been listening to a lot of Herve and Jack Beats too. The synth stuff they've been doing, I mean how the hell do they make those sounds?! Haha! Dance music is in a brilliant place at the moment. Dance sets are much more eclectic these days.
ILM: Out of all the live gigs you have seen, which are the most memorable?
Murf: We went to see Lyrics Born at the Jazz cafe in London. From the point of view of enigmatic front man, I mean, he was so good! There wasn't even a band! I saw the Beastie Boys a couple of years ago too. That was mind blowing.
Sam: I saw Albert Hammond Jr. from The Strokes play at The Scala. That was pretty cool. I was just like 'I've been on that stage!' Haha! But not just from a personal point of view, the whole gig was just wicked...
