Lynsey Hanley on a band that make music out of clinking plates and a coffee-frother
'I've been lucky in my musical education, really," says Peter Brewis. "I imagined I was in Queen, but if Queen had been brought up on Schoenberg and Bart�k." Brewis, who forms the older half of the band Field Music with his brother David, is holding court in his second home, the Sunderland cafe Louis, where we're huddled around a narrow Formica table. The brothers are explaining how it's not only possible, but advantageous, to make art and music in the north-east ? when London dominates and cultural life is commonly assumed to end, at best, at Manchester.
Few people visit Sunderland on purpose ? it's not so much overshadowed by its neighbour, Newcastle, as ignored. (Have you ever heard anyone say they're going on a minibreak to Sunderland?) The result, they say, is that everyone knows each other, and the town's industrial heritage ? it built ships until the 1980s ? encourages solidarity and co-operation; it also makes the city cheap to live in.
When the Brewises grew out of teenage obsessions with Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin, their friend Barry Hyde's dad introduced them to Captain Beefheart; Hyde went on to form the Futureheads in his dad's garage, while the Brewises continued their quest for musical wisdom.
"We'd bump into our old music teacher," says David, "and he'd say [puts on a conspiratorial voice], 'The Moscow Symphony Orchestra are coming to Newcastle to play Rimsky-Korsakov, and if you're going to see Rimsky-Korsakov it's got to be played by Russians.' And we'd say, 'Yeah, OK!'"
Field Music have two homes in Sunderland: there's Louis, which the brothers visit most days, and there's 8 Music, a pair of rehearsal rooms they share with the Futureheads, which they have spent years turning into a studio. It's two rooms in a community centre, insulated with curtains and foam panels, filled with instruments collected from various sources: percussion of every kind, a double-headed guitar from eBay, and a large mixing desk they have taught themselves to use.
They have recorded all three of their albums here, the most recent of which, this year's Field Music (Measure), is an hour-long, four-sided LP that features the sounds of Louis's coffee-frother and clinking crockery. It ought to have won the Mercury prize: it's ambitious, intelligent, wide-ranging and often crackers. But it's not so much the critical attention it's received as an increase in sales that the Brewises welcome.
"This is the only year we've been able to make something that could be described as a mediocre living rather than just scraping by," says David, though Peter can improve on that: "Oh aye, we're Bon Jovi this year!"
The Brewises are the sons of a youth and community worker and a builder ? a perfect pedigree, says David, for getting things done: "You bring the bricks, I'll fill in the forms, and we'll get to play guitar!" They began playing covers at social clubs in their teens before becoming tutors at community music studio the Bunker, where they attempted to divert local teenagers from Oasis and "third-rate Oasis rip-offs".
Peter remains involved with the Bunker as a trustee, as well as being committee chair at the centre where 8 Music is based. He's currently faced with making four paid staff redundant due to lack of funds. He also spent several years working to promote Sunderland's status as a music city, which the council hoped would bring about its regeneration. It involved promoting local bands and venues and trying to coalesce a scene around them. "It didn't work, though."
They remain wholly committed to the city, though Peter recently moved to Newcastle: "I'm a traitor, basically." "I really, really love Sunderland," adds David, "but at the same time I find it really disappointing. There's an attitude that ambition only means one thing here, which is a combination of material wealth and leaving. In terms of inspiring a new generation of musicians and artists I'm afraid we've completely failed so far."
You get the impression, however, that Field Music won't change what they do or how they do it. The thing about musicians in general, David concludes, is that "they just mess around wasting their time" ? which, conversely, the brothers don't see themselves as having the time to do.
ipod touch 2nd generation ipod touch 32 gb ipod touch 32gb ipod touch 3g
No comments:
Post a Comment