Home counties guitar slingin’ heroes SEAFOOD have copped a lot of bad press over the past five years for apparently being stereotypical wet Brit (pop) indie chancers. However, their recent “WHEN DO WE START FIGHTING?” album (re-issued with the 6-track “Course Work” EP in April 2002) trounces such wilful misconceptions and presents a forceful rock quartet whose star is surely in the ascendant at last. TIM PEACOCK speaks to singer/ guitarist DAVID LINE in Brighton on the eve of a UK tour.
DAVID LINE is a man buzzing on enthusiasm. Not so surprising really, because his band SEAFOOD (also featuring drummer/ vocalist CAROLINE BANKS, bassist KEVIN HENDRICK and guitarist CHARLES MacLEOD) have just returned from a quite remarkable American tour: the kind of experience you don’t forget in a hurry.
“Absolutely,” agrees David. “We toured with EVAN DANDO, plus THE ANNIVERSARY. They’re real old school ‘70s rock, but great. And DASHBOARD CONFESSIONALS. They’re kinda Emo, but acoustic with great whiny American vocals.”
“You wouldn’t believe the reception we got,” he continues wide-eyed. “The tour really tapped into the American market right now. There were about 3,000 kids there every night. They were just piling into everyone’s merchandise afterwards too.”
David’s enthusiasm is infectious and it’s hard to deny that SEAFOOD deserve a change in fortune after several years slogging around the UK toilet circuit to reviews ranging from indifference to derision.
The main event that led to this turnaround is surely the band’s second album, “When Do We Start Fighting?” Originally released during 2001, it was recently re-issued with the 6-track “Course Work” CD (featuring impressive demos and radio session tracks). It’s a polished, but intensely powerful artefact and ups SEAFOOD’S sonic ante considerably. The springboard for the band’s current Stateside interest was created when they relocated to New York to record with producer ELI JANNEY from respected Yank guitar gurus GIRLS AGAINST BOYS.
“It was a totally amazing experience,” confirms David. “I’ve been a huge GIRLS AGAINST BOYS fan forever and working with Eli was both a great pleasure and…well, an indie boy’s wet dream!” he laughs.
The band’s official website www.seafood.uk.com features some amusing references to cockroach-infested Brooklyn dwellings, but David insists this was all part of the Big Apple experience.
“Oh, we’re so lucky to have been able to go there and experience the city,” he says. “I mean, not many people are so fortunate, so really complaining about cockroaches, that was just us being silly English people for a while.”
David also believes that the completion of “When Do We Start Fighting?” was something of a turning point for SEAFOOD.
“I guess so, yeah,” he reflects. “It was a learning experience and there was a lot of pressure. We weren’t quite sure what would happen with the record and Eli got us to work hard. I only had one day away from the studio and of the 10 songs only 6 were properly worked out before we went out there.”
I mention that the album sounds American overall, but not in a derivative way…
“Well, we’ve been slagged off so many times for daring to mention SONIC YOUTH, PIXIES, LEMONHEADS etc… so many of the bands we love ourselves,” says David, levelly. If he’s bitter, it doesn’t show.
“I mean,” he continues, “when I was 18,19 whatever it was PIXIES, SONIC YOUTH and DINOAUR JR that excited me and that whole time was really exciting, so why should I deny that?”
Besides, drawing on some influential American friends during the LP sessions assisted SEAFOOD in fashioning several of the record’s most crucial moments, like the remarkable “He Collects Dust,” featuring GIRLS AGAINST BOYS’ vocalist SCOTT McLEOD narrating a chilling tale in a voice akin to GIANT SAND’S HOWE GELB. I’d heard the track concerned a man dying in a lighthouse. True or false, David?
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“It’s based on a poem that Caroline (Banks) wrote,” he admits. “It’s very spontaneous the way it came together because I only had that guitar picking piece at the start when we got into recording. We looped it and took it from there.”
“But no,” he continues, warming to the theme: “it’s not based on reality. We just had the idea of a guy out on his own who knows he’s going to die and eventually does. A quiet, lonely and inevitable death that he has to try and reconcile himself to. It is a sad little story, but we used SCOTT to narrate it because a British accent wouldn’t have worked there at all. Besides, I’ve always loved that semi-spoken vocal thing that SLINT and others have excelled at previously.”
MADDER ROSE/ SAINT LOW front woman MARY LORSON also adds some emotional vocal weight to “What May Be The Oldest?” but perhaps the song “People Are Underestimated” betters it in the duet stakes, this time Line singing with drummer Caroline Banks.
The song is eerily effective and concerns a girl driving out to her favourite spot with an over-attentive boyfriend and I ask David if he ever tries to write specifically from a feminine point of view?
“No, I’d love to say I do,” responds David, “but Caroline must take the credit for that song. I did change the male perspective for the part I sing, though.”
I won’t spoil the song’s ending for you, by the way, but interested in this theme, David has more to say:
“We’re playing THE BREEDERS’ song “Doe” live now and that basically involves me singing about giving a blow job, so that’s an interesting perspective! I’m not changing the lyrics at all though. Besides, I like leaving lyrics open to interpretation. I quite like the idea of someone singing a lyric for five years and actually having a totally different spin on it than me.”
Admitting freely to being “paranoid” himself, David admits that the lyrics to the album’s opening track “Cloaking” are rather less ambiguous:
“Yeah, I’ve read 1984 and Brave New World and the likes of them,” he suggests. “I even wrote essays at college about street cameras and surveillance and in Clapham where I live there are CCTV things everywhere.”
“It stops crime, so in that way it’s a good thing,” he continues, “but someone seems to know where you are virtually every second now. That whole Big Brother mentality’s invaded our culture.”
So it’s probably just as well SEAFOOD are getting used to the attention after their eye-opening recent American jaunt. Shortly after our conversation, David’s due back on the road as SEAFOOD embark on a tour of (slightly larger than normal) venues on the Blighty circuit. You’re up for it then?
“Of course,” he laughs. “We’re touring with both ROCK OF TRAVOLTA and JETPLANE LANDING. So, I predict you’re gonna encounter some post-rock, some pop and then some feverish guitar destruction from SEAFOOD!”
Spoken like a true champion sir! But then, these days it’s not so much a case of “When Do We Start Fighting?” as when SEAFOOD will be challenging for the title.
All of a sudden, their sparring partners don’t look so sure of themselves.
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