"I can’t go to a gig and enjoy it anymore": Little Comets talk to Skiddle

Little Comets vocalist Robert Cole speaks to Jasmine Phull about fall-outs with record labels, festival appearances, and why the music a band likes isn't always related to the music a band makes. 

Geordie fellas Little Comets have survived the red-tape of the music industry. After narrowly missing a premature death, the indie-rock quartet were released from the shackles of the over-bearing major record label before finally launch the debut whose release had been delayed for almost three years. Upon its 2011 release on smaller, independent label Dirty Hit, not a single aspect of the album was corrected. ‘It’s a pretty apt representation of our lives from 2008 – 2010 and we didn’t feel the need to change anything’, admits lead vocalist Robert Coles.

You started as a band in 2008. What made you wait 'til 2011 to release the debut?

It wasn’t entirely our choice. We were signed to Columbia (Records) in early 2009 and then it took a while to get the album recorded, as we wanted to record it ourselves. Columbia wanted to put a big name producer on it, which didn’t really mesh very well with how we wanted the album recorded. Eventually they sent the tracks to American producer Rich Costey (Muse, Glasvegas) and he pretty much said: whoever recorded the originals has captured the songs really well so you should just get them to do the final recordings and I’ll mix them. As it was us that had recorded the original demos it finally made the label take us seriously. So we eventually parted ways and found another label to release the album on.

Why did you decide to go with UK label Dirty Hit?

We decided we wanted to go with an independent label and beyond that we were thinking of putting it out ourselves. They were just really enthusiastic and really shared our idea that the artist should do everything creative. Because Columbia didn’t have any respect for us, we didn’t have any respect for them. It was such a mess because of that.

Did you work with a theme or inspiration while making the album?

We tend to write songs and not really consider what they should sound like until it’s finished; that’s what we loved about the recording process, you could just try anything. If it doesn’t work, you delete it and try again. In the studio we were just trying to work with as many ideas as possible.

Did you have a limited time in the studio?

We didn’t really feel too pressured in terms of the album, as we’d recorded a lot of it already. When we initially did the tracks, in lots of different places in the north-east, it was an important element that contributed to the development of the band.

You recorded the debut a year and a half before its release. Was it still an apt representation of the band and the direction you were going?

Absolutely. It’s a representation of our lives between 2008-2010.

In the debut In Search of Elusive Little Comets, is the order of the tracks important?

We had lots of different track listings and listened to them all until we decided on the one we liked the best. Even though it was a while between the recording and the release we never thought we needed to change the track-list or anything else. It was all still an apt portrayal of the band.

Do your musical tastes correlate?

Our tastes are completely different. We’re not trying to sound like anyone and I think who a band like and who a band sound like are two very different things. There are certain things you take from a band without even noticing - like production techniques. Even a song that is on the radio might accidentally lodge itself in your brain and you might unknowingly write a melody that’s inspired by that.

You released your debut in January. Does that mean you’re going to be focusing on gigging or will you be getting back into the studio?

We’ve got another album pretty much written but we’re going to try and record it over the summer – in between festivals. We’ll try and do it similarly to the first one – where we try and record in lots of different places. We’re a lot more settled now so I think that might have an impact on the recording. You always have to make compromises; you either go into a studio for a short amount of time and come out with a shiny sound that’s scuffed around the edges or go into the studio for a long time and come out with a completely shiny sound. Then if you don’t do it in a studio it has a low quality sound..

How does being an artist affect the way you hear other people’s songs? Can you enjoy music without analysing it?

I can’t go to a gig and really enjoy it anymore. I’ll just be thinking: I really wanna be on the stage playing to this crowd. If it’s newer music I’ll find myself having more of a critical eye but I can still enjoy older music. Mickey (guitarist) is involved in the sound and produced the record - I’ve never really heard him saying anything complimentary about a gig.

Festival season is fast approaching; in terms of ‘pleasing’ the different crowds of people, do you have to approach the festival show differently to that of a gig?

We don’t have a particular set-list so if we’re playing a festival it will definitely change depending on the weather, the time of day… I guess that’s almost part of being a musician – you need to be able to tailor your sound to suit the crowd. That’s why it’s really important that bands don’t have a whole lot of instrumentation on track because it takes away the ability to be more dynamic. We learnt that from the early days of playing house parties - when you’re playing in someone’s front-room and they’re literally in front of your face, you have to find out a way to make your music connect with them.

Is collaboration better than competition?

When I’m listening to music I might think of it in competitive terms because you’re comparing what you’re doing to what someone else is doing, or has done. When I’m creating music I think it’s much better to be collaborative in your writing – it’s the wrong mind-set if you’re thinking about your music compared to other people’s.

Interview by: Jasmine Phull

Twitter.com/j_fool

Find out more about Little Comets at their artist page.

Little Comets play Belladrum Festival in August. Tickets for Belladrum are available below.

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