NWfA Festival: Interview with Love Among The Mannequins

Bearded chats with post-rock outfit Love Among The Mannequins before their upcoming slot at Nice Weather For Airstrikes festival. The Brighton group are known for luxurious melodies juxtaposed with discordant riffs, recalling the brashness of early Biffy Clyro or the indie experimentation of Pavement. The band gives us a progress report on the new EP, why you should (or shouldn't) buy them beer and what to expect from their surely electric performance...

Bearded: It's been a while since we've had new material, so it's nice to see that your Tumblr page says you're in the process of recording a new EP. How's it going?

It's going great at the moment, most of the recording is done and now just getting to the mixing process which is the harder part but we are very lucky to have Adam M. Crisp who is taking control, so we are in very safe hands!

B: What can we expect from the release?

A twinkly intro, more noise, jazz-funk, and a slow jams (in perfect tracklisting order) and lyrically, I think some of the best work Alex has ever done. We choose a subject that was very hard to find out more about past the book, which I think has made the writing process a lot harder, a lot of thought has gone into the lyrics and I really feel it shows.

B: Are you going to be playing any of the new material at Nice Weather For Airstrikes?

Yes, we will be playing 3 of the 4 songs from our new EP. We seem to be more proud of the new stuff rather than the old, which is progress right?

B: Do you have any surprises lined up for the festival?

For every beer someone buy us we will progressively get worse and worse until we stop. So to summarize, buy us beer if you want us to stop.

B: There's a heap of talent lined up, who are you particularly looking forward to on the bill?

Shapes and &U&I, what a bunch of lads.

B: Lots of burgeoning festivals are popping up all over the place, promoting alternative music. Do you think this is beneficial for new artists and musical styles?

Yeah I think it is a really good idea, festivals are great fun and it would be nice if more smaller bands got the opportunity to play them.

B: Do you prefer small, more independent festivals or juggernauts like Reading & Leeds?

I'd have to be a bit rubbish and say nothing quite beats a massive festival atmosphere. There's something awesome about huge stages with pyrotechnics, but the smaller festival are better for new unheard music and originality, a group of people playing their hearts out and making no money, they must mean it.

B: They both have their pros and cons for sure. What's your fondest festival memory?

Watching Deftones play ‘7 Words’ the first time I went reading in 2000.

B: And the final question, do you have much on the agenda for 2012?

Got our EP out on 10" and hopefully finish writing our album. Also another tour towards the end of the year.