Male Bonding is perhaps the most unlikely British success story of this year, releasing arguably the best album on the legendary Sub Pop label in all of a busy 2010.
Male Bonding: a band so deeply rooted and indebted to the lo-fi ethos, sound, lifestyle, and image that you may have been right in thinking it was 1994. The Nirvana-esque riffs, the cassette tape releases, the split seven inches with other like-minded bands, and the endless shows in dirt-holes and grovels throughout Dalston and anywhere else that would have them. Then what do they go and do? They release one of the most infectious and well produced pop records of the whole year, that’s what. The lo-fi perception of Male Bonding is not all it seems, as I soon find out.
We sit outside in the concrete beer garden of the Harley in Sheffield, a few hours before they are due to headline the Drowned In Sound stage of the Tramlines festival that evening. They arrive late due to traffic and, after switching interviews with Wild Nothing, I finally get sat down with Kevin (bass/vocals) and John (guitar/vocals). We sit in the sun sipping on Red Stripe as the two of them perch and ponder. They are also scarily polite, courteous, and softly spoken individuals.
So after the success of the album, how is it? And was it expected for them? “Didn’t expect it at all, no. There’s been a lot of good things said about it, we were just surprised. Makes you feel quite good about it”. The band, it would seem, are almost tailor made for Sub Pop, how big a deal was it signing to them? “It was massive, it was something we never even thought might happen, but it did and it was a big deal for us, yeah. We were already fans of the label for years”... “We run a small label ourselves (Paradise Vendors), and around the time of signing to Sub Pop we had released a four-way split seven inch single by ourselves, Graffiti Island, Old Blood, and Rapid Youth. Sub Pop had actually emailed us about that seven inch and asking if we had plans to release it in America, and we said no, we didn’t. One thing lead to another and it turns out they were quite keen on us. And before we knew it, it had all gone through”. While Sub Pop still remain an independent label, it’s undeniable that they have moved closer to the mainstream, perhaps now just as synonymous with larger, more popular bands as any other large indie, or even major.
So has the transition from being a D.I.Y. Dalston backroom band to being signed to an essentially major label been an odd one? “We’ve just kind of carried on as we probably would have anyway, I mean we now have much more support with there being a body of people there. We’ve recently got a manager because you just spend all the time doing admin stuff, and sometimes you kind of forget you are in a band. I didn’t actually realise, until we got a manager, how wrapped up in the side of things we were that has nothing to do with the music. It really started to eat into what we were doing as a band”. So with almost all of August off, and a manager taking care of administrative duties, does that leave the band free to write? “That’s exactly what we’re doing! We’re still in demo stage, where we are doing everything ourselves and sort of testing it out”. So are these current recordings likely to lead to more one-off sporadic releases such as the split seven inches and tape releases, or a new LP? “I don’t think we’ll put anything else out, I think we’ll do a record. There might be a seven inch but all we’re thinking about really is the next album”. Another Sub Pop release? “Yeah, we’re looking to record it early next year and it will be on Sub Pop”.
One issue I was interested to raise was that of the cover song. Male Bonding seem to have a soft spot for reinterpreting other people's songs, and they have covered many over the years, even releasing a tour-only CD of covers including tracks by Flipper, G.G. Allin, Mission Of Burma, Blur, and Baby Gecko. Any other covers in the pipeline? “We were talking about this in the car about an hour ago, on the way here! We would really like to do Bodies by the Sex Pistols, just to do in sound check, because we really like the Sex Pistols”.
We talk about their past and the emerging London scene they stemmed from, combined with where they are going now and their thoughts on it all. “I hope the whole D.I.Y. thing goes away… well not the doing it yourself part, that’s great. But the recording aspects, I hope it all goes a lot more hi-fi. It's funny how something like that becomes a style instead of just being your only means for doing something. We did it purely because we didn‘t have any money. We just did the best we could, but I hope things get bigger and more ambitious… I mean there is a certain style to it, and I like a lot of bands that have recorded really badly, but it’s the songs I like [not particularly the recording]”. So is the more polished and ambitious sound something Male Bonding will be persevering with? “Yeah, on the next record we’re going to sound like Band Of Horses! Maybe get a Casio keyboard sample too!” they jest. “We’re currently ahead of our record, which means we have time to actually write an album and think about songs, which is really exciting… as on the first record it all happened in the heat of the moment. But I think by spending more time on songs you end up experimenting more by nature. Maybe there will be some overdubs which weren’t on the first record, I’d definitely like to approach it differently”.
So have their success and ambition drawn the attention of any big named producers? “There is someone we are talking with at the moment who we hope something will happen with, but we can’t really say who it is. Not that it’s a massive deal or anything… oh, this is quite interesting actually, we’ve not told anybody this…” They then start to discuss whether or not they should release the information, quietly quibbling as to whether people should know - eventually they cave. Although it may well be common knowledge by the time this is published, for a brief period of time the following information was a world exclusive for the press: “Rivers from Weezer emailed us about getting a song-writing session together. The band are coming over to play Reading in August and we’re hopefully going to go into a rehearsal studio with them”. I probe and prod them for more information but, alas, they are as in the dark as us about any further details. “That’s all we know. His assistant sent us an email. We thought it was a joke!”. I guess nothing should really be of shock in the Weezer world these days, but hopefully Male Bonding can reinstate some of that youthful charm, exuberance and pop sensibility to Weezer's flagging and bizarre career? (Do see Andrew Anderson’s piece on this very subject in the Features section).
One thing that starts to sink in when speaking to the band is how false and misleading the connotations and perceptions are around their genre. While it may radiate the aesthetic of a slack and lackadaisical youth generation, the band actually almost fall over themselves when talking about anything resembling progression or development. Not merely do they appear driven, but they emanate enthusiasm and determination from every pore. The aforementioned connotations and perceptions sadly go with the fleeting and vacuous sense of fashion that has followed the band and its musical leanings. Male Bonding is not a band content with being a commodity or embodying a fashion, movement or style. They seem more than happy to leave it in its path as they persistently peruse new leanings, avenues and musical directions. Male Bonding are redefining what it is to be “lo-fi” in current times - when the label is plastered on anything and everything - and subsequently doing what is important: reassessing and re-approaching things based on music, not trends.