SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE
This Ain’t Vegas - Interview
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This Ain’t Vegas are probably one of the most important and “real” bands in Britain. Their uncompromising stance on song writing, performance and the music industry has earned them equal respect from the DIY underground, their friends and contemporaries The Futureheads and Maximo Park and indeed, the man.
The recent success of their fellow north easterners might have shed some corporate interest their way, but This Ain’t Vegas have always remained fiercely independent. Their potent mix of post-punk, DC hardcore and shrewd observational lyrics, together with their confrontation live performances have garnered them a huge reputation on their own merits. They even told an interested major label to piss off.
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Dave Himelfield talks to singer and guitarist Richard Amundsen.
ManchesterMusic: Where’s the name ‘This Ain’t Vegas’ from?
Richard Amundsen: Our drummer’s dad came out with it as a pun referring to how Sunderland appeals to us; the fact that it’s not glitz and glamour. We adopted it and turned it into a meaning for modesty, how we deal with our music and where we’re from. (Sunderland) is a very modest place. It’s the underdog.
MM: Do you think that Sunderland has been musically fertile because it’s a modest town and people want to try to prove something?
RA: I don’t know. It’s a case of random musicians being around at the same time (and) friends who get on. There are a lot of good people there and (there’s) a lot of talent. It’s quite small so everyone plays in each other’s pockets.
It would be nice to think that’s why. There are a lot of good bands because there’s that kind of struggle for recognition.
MM: It’s a boring question but what are the main musical influences behind This Ain’t Vegas?
RA: Jordan (Hill This Ain’t Vegas drummer) is really big Police fan. For me, it’s Gang of Four, XTC, obviously Fugazi, and a lot of (Washington) DC bands. Now we like a lot of stuff. We’re into Bjork. It’s kind of ballsy rock music that grabs you live.
MM: Is it fair to say that This Ain’t Vegas are an angry band?
RA: (Pauses) I suppose we are quite angry but it depends in what context. A lot of it’s frustration more than anything. We’re trying to get a message across to an audience that half the time, don’t know who (we) are. That comes out as frustration.
MM: Lyrically The Night Don Benito Saved My Life seems to be more introspective than The Black Lung Captain which was more about social observation.
RA: Don Benito is a bit more introverted and personal. The other (album - Black Lung Captain) is more about groups of people. Now it’s about my own mind (and) Adam’s (This Ain’t Vegas singer) too.
MM: Apart from lyrics, what are the main differences between Black Lung Captain and Don Benito?
RA: I think Don Benito is more of an epic rock album. It’s closer to Queen than Fugazi (laughs). We wanted to work a bit more on melody and singing. We wanted to make the songs quite long and make the structures a bit more interesting.
MM: Why is there a backwards recording of ‘We Lost It’ (Won The Race) from Black Lung Captain on the new album?
RA: A friend of ours had a tape that had the original demo version and she put it on and it was playing backwards. Something had happened to the tape and fucked it up. We were all pissed at this party and we put it on and thought: “That sounds amazing!”
MM: Have you had any reviews where they didn’t realise that it was a backwards version and thought it was a departure from your normal stuff?
RA: People thought we were getting all Warp Records. We thought the melody was really distinct; quite interesting and eerie. We like vinyl and wanted it to be a break before the next half (of the album).
MM: Have you had much label interest?
RA: The Black Lung Captain got quite a lot of major label stuff.
MM: I heard a rumour that you told one label to piss off.
RA: Yeah. We more or less said that. At the time we weren’t really bothered about it. To this day we’re still just battling out what we feel we want to do with our band.
I’m doing a degree. Adam is doing a degree. We’re happy doing it as a hobby at the minute. We’re getting quite a lot of recognition through that and I think that’s the main thing. We play to people who give a shit about us and people who enjoy (us) live.
We went down to Exeter last week we had people singing our album (over) 300 miles away. That’s (from) our own perseverance. It’s not through big money. It’s nice to get that kind of response. At the minute we’re trying to find a middle ground; to play to a lot of people without being committed in a contract.
Tonight is great. You’re playing to a potentially bigger audience and tapping into a crowd that doesn’t really exist for bands in a smaller scene. It’s hard. You either play The Carling Academy or the Camden Barfly or you play in a tiny pub. Or, you play a gig like this (tonight) where there are more people. It’s hard to get people in if it’s not been through the NME or whatever. We’re trying to find a niche where there are more people without committing.
MM: Do think that A & R men have come up to Sunderland expecting to find another band that sounds like the Futureheads and then been disappointed when you didn’t?
RA: A lot of reviews people have said that This Ain’t Vegas are peers of The Futureheads and Maximo Park and they say it as if we’re following in their footsteps. But we’ve been around longer than Maximo Park and we’ve been on a par with The Futureheads. We played their early gigs.
It frustrates us when people assume that we’re trying to be the next big thing because we’re not. We’ve just doing what we’ve always done. And (The Futureheads and Maximo Park) are doing their thing. It’s amazing to see our friends up there representing what they want to do and it makes us happy. We’ve had a few people emailing us but what does it all mean in the end?
MM: What would you do if you received an offer from a label with a fair amount of backing but also a reputable history?
RA: That’s a different ball game. If (it was) someone like 4AD or say Warp, it would really tempt us.
MM: What’s next for This Ain’t Vegas?
RA: At the moment we’re saving for a van so we can do more gigs at weeks on our own accord. We’re thinking about touring Spain in Easter.
That’s why we named the album after a town in Spain. It became a double meaning like this mafia boss. In this town we imagined that Don Benito was the boss of the town. It was a big joke on the tour that he was looking over us. He was our mentor. It sounds a bit stupid.
Hopefully (we’ll) get a new album in a year’s time. We don’t want to leave it too long.
MM: I presume you’re writing new stuff as we speak.
RA: Yeah. We have a couple of songs on the go in the vein of what we’ve been doing now but (they’re) a bit less angry. We’re all calming down a bit.
This Ain’t Vegas is:
Adam Rose: Vocals
Richard Amundsen: Guitar and vocals
Michael Matthews: Bass
Jordan Hill: Drums
words: Dave Himelfield
pictures: (c) This Ain't Vegas Website
(c) (p) December 2005 - mbm licenced to musicdash