Would you care to introduce yourself?
I’m Martin. I’ve played guitar in the Plimptons for 11 years. I sometimes sing too. I’m a spritely 27 years of age but look older due to my 70s sportsman style configuration of facial hair. I’m from Motherwell.
How would you describe the music you make?
DIY Pop. Hopefully it’s varied and energetic. Its definitely upbeat for the most part. A stranger once described us as ‘They Might Be Giants meets The Fall’ which was a huge compliment that I’d like to think is at least a bit accurate.
How did you start out making music?
I went to the same school as Adam, our singer, but didn’t really know him as he was a few years older. In 1999 I met him while walking the dog and we got into a conversation about the Smiths and the Ramones and it came up that we could both play guitar a bit. At first we tried to form a Smiths covers band, drastically underestimating how hard the songs would be to play. We soon gave up and started writing our own songs, about 3 weeks later we did our first gig as a 2 piece. I think we did about 6 of our own songs, a cover of ‘Panic’ and a cover of Iron Maiden’s ‘Run to the Hills’. The set probably lasted about 12 minutes. Since then we’ve expanded to a 6 piece and have been steadily releasing albums and EPs. For a while Adam and I were the only constant members but the current line up came together a few years ago and has remained intact. We now permanently feature 2 of The Martial Arts and 1 each from Los Destructos and A Junkmans Choir.
What process goes into the way you write songs?
Adam and I just sit down with guitars and bounce ideas off each other, sometimes the songs are mostly him and sometimes they’re mostly me but they’re all co-writes to some degree. Once we get the bare bones we’ll take it to the other guys in the band and everyone adds their own bits.
What can people expect from your live shows?
We always try and add a strong visual element to the live shows, especially Adam as a front man who always has different props going on. I usually miss this stuff because I’m trying to face the front and play. Occasionally I’ll see pictures of us playing and Adam will be wearing a gorilla mask and waving about a Genesis LP or something. Other than that, we’re a lot faster live than on record, which just kind of happens. Think it’s fair to say our punkier leanings come to the fore when we’re playing live.
What are you all listening to at the moment?
We’re all kind of into different things, but I suppose the common ground we all have is Old School Punk, 60s Pop and New Wave. Personally, right now I’m really enjoying the latest album by The Murderburgers a great local punk band who we’ve played with a few times, its just full of great pop songs. The new Devo album is great too.
What can we expect to see/hear from you in the near future?
We’re just about to self release our 3rd full length album, “00s Nostalgia with The Plimptons”, which took us 2 years to record. We’re doing some gigs leading up to the album launch which is at Nice N Sleazy on November 20th. We’ve decided to include a copy of the album with the £6 entry fee, to make it more of an occasion.
Myspace
Fee Album Preview
No comments:
Post a Comment