Fresh Meat Monday - B-MovieJunkies

Photo by Wes Kingston

Would you care to introduce yourself?

We're B-Movie Junkies and we're based in Glasgow although we're from across the UK. We're a six piece band comprising (in alphabetical order):

Sharyl Alexander (Vocals)
Anny Deery (Synth)
Greg Hurst (Keys/Electronic wizzardry)
Chris McNulty (Drums)
Mari Stevens (Vocals)
Nick Wilson (Bass)

How would you describe the music you make?

Anny: Some might say it's electro-pop with a filthy bass drive!



Greg: Bass-heavy pop with raw drums, weird synths and 2 female vocalists. Everyone in the band has different musical backgrounds, but personally when we started I was listening to artists that mix rock, pop and dance like LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, or Santogold, so that was a starting point for me. Though I don't think we actually sound like any of the above... and we're definitely not 80s copyists!

Sharyl: Straight- up pop with a growling nod to something more sinister.


Chris: Poppy with elements of funk, disco, 80's electronic. Everyone in the band has very varied tastes in music so it allows us to come up with a very interesting sound.


How did you start out making music?

We've all come at music from different angles.



Anny: I'd never been in a band before but have been in and around music all my life. I used to play violin and viola in orchestras and ensembles as a teenager and was often noodling around on my SK1 Casio. I got involved with this band when I saw a Facebook status on Clair (Clair Crawford, Piggyback Management) our manager, looking for a keyboard player. We met after being out at a Bastard Dancehall with Andy Weatherall night in Stereo then on to an afterparty where we chatted about upcoming rehearsals. I went along to the rehearsal, having borrowed a Micro Korg from S-type Beats AKA Bobby Perman and I remember the first thing we did was jam in D. We then went on from there, in fact the basis to one of our songs was formed during that very first rehearsal...

Mari: I have always made music. I love writing songs and singing in a band. I am inspired by beautiful soulful melody, the dancefloor and the ethics of punk and hip hop. I have been in bands before from the unique Jacobilly Bush Box to the funk collective Elias and soundsystem Ground Control. I released a couple of tunes with Airfix on the Glasgow Underground Label. I used to do it all the time and hadn't done it for a while and Clair was looking for songwriters and vocalists for her music project which became the BMJ.

Greg: I've been recording electronic and dance music for over 10 years as Magic Daddy, but this is the first time I've ever been in a band. It's weird having to play in time with other people instead of working on my own!


Nick: Whilst I also like the funk, a firm bass line seems to be what BMovie Junkies want. Played violin in orchestra at school, just like Anny :-) I took bass guitar up after being inspired by the likes of Chris Squire of Yes, Derek Forbes of Simple Minds, Bernard Edwards of Chic, all of whom bring extra melody and rhythm to bass playing..

Sharyl: I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember and was classically trained at age 12. I found that a classical style of singing did not feel natural to me and so would spend hours in my room singing along to Donna Summer, Randy Crawford, Sade, just whatever I could find from my parents music collection. However, my dad is a heavy rock and metal fan, and my taste quickly turned to the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Nazareth, Rainbow and the vocalists in such bands never failed to amaze me. My first band was ‘The Afterhours’, a heavy rock blues band, and we had several successful gigs but sadly we had to part ways. A year ago I met Clair, our current manager, who discovered I was a singer and asked if I would be interested in joining a pop band...and the rest is history!

Chris: Have dabbled in Electronic production without much success then decided to take up the drums in 2007. Been in a couple of not so serious bands. This is the most exciting project I've been involved in.


What process goes into the way you write songs?

Anny: Credit here goes to Mari. She comes resplendent with lyrics then are often kicked off by drums or bass. We've also tried different approaches as, Greg Hurst AKA magic Daddy, is an electronic producer so he's got a few tunes we've reworked or incorporated into our set. Credit here goes to our original bass player. Steve Urqhuart who for six months held down our bass-end and produced our first demos - our only demos to date!

Mari: Writing as a band we all bring ideas that we build on and many of the tunes have come out of a jam. I sometimes have a melody going round my head and I hear a phrase that triggers either a chorus lyric or verse idea. Sometimes a song springs from nowhere lyrics and melody together. I use Garageband to record ideas. I write pop songs, ideally to make people dance so I write about love and romance but there is a bit of the old social commentary and the odd political thread in there too.

Greg: Mari, one of the singers, has lots of lyrics she's been writing for years, so either she comes to practice with a song idea which we try and flesh out, or one of the band comes up with a musical idea which Mari tries to fit lyrics to. It's very democratic, and entirely based on jamming together. We all write our own parts basically. I've never written music this way before and it's a lot of fun.

Nick: I've been here for the last 4 / 9 songs we currently have, and the process seems to be jam something that people like the groove to, then find some words and melodies over it, quite organic actually, that's the good thing about being in a group


What can people expect from your live shows?

Anny: Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll! Ok, we're not a rock n roll band but we all love that ethos. There's a fine blend of male and female in the band so whatever your persuasion there's something for everyone. We're raw, passionate and energetic. Some of us tend to jump around on stage and you can experience the male form in it's highest order through the sodden t-shirts of Chris as he works so hard on drums.

Mari: We have video graphics which accompany the set. I love seeing something visual with my music so we have tried to do that from our first gig.



Greg: A lot of energy, 2 great frontwomen, me with a Korg machine making weird noises.. above all, POP.. in a good way...

Nick: Its kind of art-rock meets pop & soul, lots of energy and tunes


Chris: Energy and Fun!


What are you all listening to at the moment?

Anny: I've just been listening to the new Arcade Fire album. They've employed some really good hooks in their blend of music and I love a good melody! Fuck Buttons have been getting a look in as well as sneaky peeks into our friends FOUND new album.

Mari: My nephew made me an excellent summer mix with Dead Man's Bones, Twin Sister and White Hinterland. Chart wise I like the new Goldfrapp LP. Was enjoying some Joni Mitchell with an old pal the other night and dancing to Depeche Mode and Lionel Ritchie on VH1 earlier tonight. Heard a Caribou remix of Always On by Silver Columns which was ace.

Greg: Caribou, Joy Orbison, Fuck Buttons, Teenage Fanclub, an African house mix I got in South Africa.

Sharyl: If you opened my ipod you’d usually find a large selection of classic rock from the likes of zeppelin, rush and kyuss but there is the odd fresh album there from the likes of massive attack, NERD, and that lassie who’s milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.


Chris Lots of shit (the good shit) such as Buff1 (hip hop), Hudson Mohawke, Mayer Hawthorne, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Camera Obscura, Chic etc.

Nick: Miss Pooja, Dafa ho ja 40 Below Summer, Self Medicate Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No. 2, "Intimate Letters" 3 Inches of Blood, Trial of Champions Korn, Evolution Steve Angello feat Robin S, Show Me Love Make The Girl Dance, Kill Me


What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010?

Greg: We're recording songs right now, 4 initially but aiming for a 12-track album. We've got 10-ish just now so we need to write a couple more! We're doing it all ourselves, with the aim of getting it released by someone if we're lucky, or releasing it ourselves. Watch this space... over the next month... well our Myspace at any rate... And lots of gigs; we've got 4 or 5 scheduled for the next couple of months, and there'll be more...



Chris: Plenty of gigs, maybe a release or two but I think 2011 will be our year.


Voodoo by B-MovieJunkies

B-Movie Junkies have the following dates coming up;
8th Sep - 13th Note supporting Sister Mantos
1st Oct - Bloc
15th Oct - Classic Grand

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