Tags: The Cooper Temple Clause, White Belt Yellow Tag, Yourcodenameis:milo

If you like big sounds with cascading drums that beat you into submission then welcome White Belt Yellow Tag into your life. Consisting of Yourcodenameis:milo and The Cooper Temple Clause ex-members WBYT carry off where their previous exploits left off: big sounding, hard hitting and dynamic but this time they have added bigger melodies and a more melodic sound giving them a commercial edge that was so distant from previous outings.

The duo are based in a home studio situated in Newcastle where apart from touring they have been gearing up for their album release later this year, and if recent singles are anything to go by it should be one heck of an album.

Hey White Belt Yellow Tag, (Which member am I talking to? Or are you all here?) How are you and what are you guys up to right now?

Evenin’ (it’s Justin) right now, I’m sat at my laptop contemplating answering a billion emails I’ve missed whilst being out on tour. I’ve quite literally just walked in from a pleasant if uneventful drive from Northampton to Newcastle, with Craig (singer)

You’ve been touring the country over the past couple of months, how has that been and how is the new material showcasing?

We’ve been quite literally blown away by the response to the material live… its always a call you can’t make in your own head before heading out, and is massively frustrating! Even more so when you do things the wrong way round like we have, making the record first and playing live second. We’re massively happy with the touring.

You also supported The Gaslight Anthem earlier in the year, how did that come about and what was it like for you as a band?

I’m not sure how it came about, most probably someone in London called someone else in London to talk about us coming down and playing in London… it was a great show for us, nice to step out in a venue of that size and play our hearts out, we got some really good reviews from that show too! It also prepared us for getting our shit together for our festival gigs this summer, which is always a bonus..!

Do you have any rituals that take place before a show?

Rituals…ermmm… We’re usually shockingly relaxed before a show… on this last run of shows we’ve been massively preoccupied with playing risk on our phones, quite simply the most addictive feat of conquest, and we’re all constantly trying to out do each other, especially Tom, he’s massively competitive… aside from this our rituals usually consist of smoking/red wine/ real ale / or some form of potato based meal.

What can we expect from a WBYT show?

As big a sound we can possibly convey on the P.A… it’s a pretty full on show in comparison to the record and its quite a different beast,  which we like a lot. The dynamics of the recorded stuff comes out a lot differently live, so the big bits kick off in a big way and the quieter parts tend to work really well in comparison.

You’re playing Latitude Festival later on this month are there any more festival appearances in the pipeline for this summer?

We’re doing Truck as well as a few more smaller ones, like White Air in Brighton, Bingley etc… There seems to be a new one coming in every day so its shaping up to be a busy one!

Before WBYT started to take off what were you up to? Stuck in jobs, or still being involved within music?

I was mainly producing and writing which I’ve been doing since the end of my last band. Tom has been pretty much doing the same down south and Craig worked in a studio, so we’ve all pretty much been lucky enough to have come from lives built around music for a long time..

Do you feel that your sound as WBYT has progressed from previous bands? And how would you describe it?

I feel it is a massive progression for all involved, whether or not people who were into our old bands will see it that way I don’t know, in regards to genre and scope its a move away from where we all were in previous projects…I would describe it as big massive melodic music, in some ways pop and in other ways heavier than anything I’ve ever done before, both lyrically and musically…

I have to ask, but how did you land upon the name ‘White Belt Yellow Tag’?

The name is symbolic of a couple of themes, firstly its the furthest I ever got in taekwondo when i was about 7/8 years old, it’s the first grade you can get above a white belt. Secondly I’m not a fan of band names starting with ‘The’ and ending in ‘S’… its also a subtle nod to the fact were not a band starting out from scratch as we’ve all been through enough in music throughout our careers…

You’re based in Newcastle, although there have been a few high profile bands from there over recent years, what is the music scene like in general?

I think we’re the last people in the world to ask about the music scene up here, we tend to keep ourselves to ourselves, we’re from a studio background so we rarely see natural light… and rarely get into what anyone else is doing, we’re pretty tied up keeping our heads down and writing/ recording various projects etc..

Where was your first gig as a band and how did it go?

Our first gig was a live session at Maida Vale for Huw Stephens, it was ace. We had finished our record before we got around to putting it together live and we had just put out the first EP… we didn’t really want to rush the live thing as we wanted it to have as much weight and communicate the recorded stuff as well as it could. In the end it turned out we only needed a drummer, which is when we drafted Tom Bellamy in. To all the 5 or 6 people watching that day at the studio it was pretty ace.

You’re debut album has been self-produced and mixed by Chris Potter (The Verve) when are you aiming to release it and what can we expect from it?

Sonically the album has all the things we like. Big songs with massive kick offs, tons of melody, dynamics and atmosphere…. I reckon it will probably be out either end of this year, beginning of next year…we’re currently on the first single so we’ll be cramming in a shit load of touring and maybe another single etc before the album..

Out side of the band what are you currently listening to?

On tour this last week we were mostly listening to…. Neu!, Amusement Parks On Fire, Bjork, Smashing Pumpkins, Eno, Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, El Grupo Nuevo De Omar Rodriquez Lopez, Interpol, Kanye West, Steve Reich, The Posies, Al Green, Supergrass, Spiritualized, John Martyn…

And finally, what are your plans for the rest of 2009?

Tour tour tour tour / b-sides / tour tour tour / write some stuff / tour tour tour tour tour / write some more / record some stuff / tour tour tour / find a travel version of classic board game “Risk” / tour tour tour / christmas / New Year.

Tags: Little Joy

Recently there has been a surge of lo-fi recordings sprouting out, which would happily sit in any proud record owners collection. Adding to the crop of bands is Los Angeles, ‘Little Joy’. Formed by Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes), Binki Shapiro and Rodrigo Amarante, the three piece have been causing a stir in their new adopted home –town of Los Angeles.

Meeting at a festival in Lisbon, Amarante and Moretti chatted late into the night consuming on the thought of writing songs that had no affiliation to their respective bands. It wasn’t till a year later when the pair met Binki Shapiro that their concept of forming a band would unfold. With Binki they developed a focus to write the music they had been fantasising over. The three friends quickly dropped what was their daily routine in their hometowns to make a record; it was here in Los Angeles that ‘Little joy’ was born.

The name ‘Little Joy’ and title for their debut album was taken from the cocktail lounge down the road from their home in Echo Park. Recorded and produced by Noah Georgeson (Devendra Banhart) their album was released via Rough Trade records in November 2008.

‘Little Joy’ is a mixture of lo-fi Americana indie folk. ‘Don’t Watch Me Dancing’ has moments as fragile and majestic as Two Gallants and Devendra Banhart, where as ‘No One’s Better Sake’ has such swing and gusto the likes of Vampire Weekend would wish they have the guile and attributes to write such smooth laid back pop songs.

After forming in 2008 the band have already released a debut album and toured the states. So even with laid back melodramatic pop songs, they have proven that ‘Little Joy’ may not be little for much longer.