Avril Lavigne Fans

Geplaatst: 4 Jan 2009 13:52:47

By Richard Partington
Although not hugely well-known in their native city, Leeds' lads The Glitterati are big news in the States
"JET, on the other hand, are absolute *****!"

Paul Gautrey has met a lot of famous rock stars, but the Australian trad-rock quartet are clearly not among his favourites.

"I don't like their music particularly", he continues, "and they're just miserable."

It's an isolated case. Gautrey's band, Leeds' own The Glitterati ? completed by John Emsley (guitar), Billy James (drums), and new members Baz Morrison (bass) and 'Gaff' (guitar) ? have toured with some of the biggest bands in the world, and the experiences of Gautrey, the band's vocalist, have been overwhelmingly positive.

"It's so weird, the bands we've toured with are so different", he muses. "The first tour we did was with David Lee Roth from Van Halen.
"We went straight off that to the Killers tour, which was obviously a completely different audience.

"We've stayed in touch ? we were signed at pretty much the same time, by the same people.

"We used to go and see them when they first came to London and no one knew who they were, playing in front of ten people in Bungay."

While the careers of Brandon Flowers and co may have taken a rather steeper trajectory since then than that of The Glitterati, the now London-based five-piece have still achieved remarkable success, on both sides of the Atlantic.

They return home for a show at Rio's on December 12, their first Leeds gig of 2008. And it's a chance to reflect on the five years since they left, during which time they've gone from promising local act to major label, chart-busting rock band.

"Our music is rock'n'roll, it's raw and energetic", Gautrey says. "It's not indie, and it's not metal, it's just good classic rock. Our influences have always been the New York Dolls, The Stooges, Guns n' Roses.

"We were all from Leeds originally, playing in different bands together. Our bass player (the now departed Jamie Snell) lived in London. We didn't have much of a plan, but it was either he move up or we go down there.

"When we moved away there weren't really any Leeds bands doing anything, but as soon as we left it got really big!

"We needed to move away for ourselves as people, get a fresh start. We're a bit out of the loop for Leeds now, but a lot of bands we played with have done well ? Kaiser Chiefs when they were called Parva, and Corinne Bailey Rae's band Helen. There's always been a lot of good bands."

Moving to London to make it in the music business has been the failed dream of a thousand bands over the years, but within six months The Glitterati were signed to Atlantic Records, and in 2005 they released their self-titled debut album. The single You Got Nothing On Me reached number 36 in the UK singles chart.

However, it was in the US that the record really took off.

"We moved to LA for six months", Gautrey explains. "Dave Navarro, from Jane's Addiction (and formerly Red Hot Chili Peppers) started playing us on his big radio show, and gave us album of the year."

Did the band ? whose music is, quite intentionally, sleazy, party time rock'n'roll ? fully embrace the decadent, hedonistic, Guns n' Roses LA lifestyle?

"Well, we were so knackered, with gigs every night and travelling.
"We started off full-on partying every night, but we were sounding like sh*t in the studio. Mike Clink, who worked with Guns n' Roses and Metallica, was in the studio with us and we didn't want to be an embarrassment, so we had to tone it down."

The Glitterati have just completed work on their second record, Are You One Of Us, with producer Matt Hyde, who has worked with metal luminaries Slipknot, Gallows, and Trivium. It's scheduled for release in early 2009.

"If anything it's a harder album", Gautrey says. "But there's still tons of hooks and melodies. Although I love the first album, this is like the one we wanted to make the first time.

"We've had more control, and a producer who's used to working with metal bands."

Despite their personal tastes leaning towards distorted guitars, chugging riffs, and crashing cymbals, the band have been willing to play with pretty much anyone in order to gain more exposure.

"We ended up doing Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan", Gautrey laughs. "I was never into them but they were really nice ? and we got to play Sheffield Arena, Wembley Arena, it was amazing!

"After a while we decided to just take every tour. Some bands would say no to Avril, and admittedly she was shocking, but we just thought that someone in her crowd might like us."

And what of current Radio 1 darlings Kings of Leon, who The Glitterati also supported?

"They were everything you'd expect ? Southern, drawling, cool as anything. It was great watching them as they were then, a really cool American bar band.

INTERVIEW: The Glitterati - Yorkshire Evening Post
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Geplaatst: 4 Jan 2009 13:52:47

Geplaatst: 9 Jan 2009 10:58:46

Ik snap eik niet wat hun ermee te maken hebben?
Ofik heb het hele verhaal gewoon niet goed begrepen?!

Geplaatst: 9 Jan 2009 13:59:20

k snap het ook nie helemaal ... lol Embarassed

Geplaatst: 10 Jan 2009 19:42:25

Hahaha, nouja, dan snappen we het allebei niet zo goed ^^
Zal hem wel een keer heel aandachtig lezen als ik beter ben xD
Maybe snap ik het dan! Laughing

Geplaatst: 11 Jan 2009 12:26:03

is goed meis, beterschap Very Happy

Geplaatst: 13 Jan 2009 12:01:21

Dankje

Voel me vandaag nog steeds niet echt fit -__-'