Paparazzi Whores

Singing with the Enemy?

 

Interview By

Chris Rockson

 

 

 

SoundCheck : Hey! For the benefit of the readers that aren't familiar with Paparazzi Whore,
can you just tell us a little bit about yourselves?

Chris: PW is an electro pop outfit from Hull. We have achieved amazing press from the industry, ranging from DIVA to The Sunday Star to Q Sheet etc etc.... We have a very distinctive look and sound as a band. The sound has been compared to The Jam and The Stranglers as our sound is dominated by upfront dirty sleazy bass.


SoundCheck : You appeared on the hit TV show 'Singing with the Enemy'. How did you get that gig?

Micci: Well you know that saying "there is no such thing as bad press?" Well this is an example of this being true. A local journalist decided to get the knives out on us saying that there is nudity and too much sex (!) on stage. Which gig was that, we thought, not unless it's something that is going on that none of us are noticing he he!!!! So anyway she slagged us off saying that we are overtly sexual and she hated it. Endemol were doing a search for bands for this show and lo and behold they came across this review! People should think about putting stuff in print 'cos if you react good or bad, you will always cause people to check us out. It's free publicity. As Andy Warhol said "Don't read your press, weigh it".

SoundCheck : Who plays in the band?

Micci: There is myself, Micci, who is the lead vocalist, Chris on bass, Shaun on guitar, Olly on Keyboards and Garth on Drums.

Chris: Micci also produces, engineers, programs and arranges all the tracks and also if that wasn't enough, Micci writes all the lyrics to the songs. I love Micci's lyrics they are a razor blade covered in candy!

Micci: Aw thanks. I'll pay yer later! ;-)

 

SoundCheck : Your sound is very fresh and is dominated largely by the Bass and keyboards. Where do you draw influence from?

Micci: We are strongly influenced by bands that have always stood up for what they believe and will never compromise. Bands such as The Stranglers & The Jam who had very clear messages in their songs about life and their observations. We are bass driven cos the bass comes first before everything else, thus dictating the chord progression. I then write the lyrics from this, then we bring this to the table and jam it out at our rehearsals, so that Olly, Shaun & Garth can work out ideas. The keyboard work is prominent more so than the guitar, as the guitar is there to give an extra edge to the bass, because we like to inject a dance pop feel. The drums are to pin it all down with beats that make your feet move. All together it's a power house of a sound.

Chris: I love the electro sound of early Duran Duran, it still sounds so fresh and relevant today. You are never going to hear a 20 minute guitar solo in our tracks.

Shaun: I take influence for my guitar playing from The Jam, U2, The Stranglers & NIN. Anything I can use to build on what Chris is playing, but not dominate it in any way (as if it would be possible haha)

Micci: Yeah Chris does dominate the tracks, but we all agree that this gives us a unique and exciting sound to our songs. We write pop songs with very anthemic choruses.

SoundCheck : When writing songs, is it a collective approach or is there a specific songwriter?

Micci: I guess you could class me as being the main songwriter as I'm the one that turns Chris's bass riffs into a structure with my lyrics and vocal melody. We often just jam at rehearsals and Chris will come up with a great catchy bass riff which then inspires everyone to improvise over it. When everyone is happy with what they have come up with, i get them to record their parts and I arrange and then mix the song.

 

SoundCheck : Do you have any plans to release more tracks?

Micci: Of course. Our single is just a taster of what is to come for our new album that we are working on now.

Chris: The album will be called "Made in the UK" which will be available later on in the year. I think the sound of the band has really come a long way since our first album called "I'd rather be infamous than famous". We have learnt a lot through constantly gigging and all the new songs have all the elements to have people leaping up in the air on first listen.

SoundCheck : What about your tour plans? Do you plan on playing outside of the UK?

Micci: We will always be up for playing gigs, no tour put together as yet as we are working hard promoting our single. Yep we definitely would love to play outside the UK, so if there are any promoters/agents/tour managers that would like to put us on in other countries and of course in the UK, then please get in touch.

Chris: Most of our downloads on iTunes etc., are from the USA and Japan. I think that we would go down really well in these countries. Alan Raw of BBC Raw Talent has supported the band from day one. He is to us what John Peel was to the The Undertones. Alan has recently just shot our video for "Fake", which is just about to be edited. Alan has always said that we have all the potential to be a world class stadium band. No pressure there then lol! We are very flattered by this.

SoundCheck : I would imagine your gigs are pretty wild, with the dance-theme. Do you have a favourite venue and if so, why?

Shaun: I really liked playing The Hope and Anchor. Such a large history for such a small venue. Great atmosphere too.

Micci: But you missed the best "bits" of that show! lol (He didn't notice the 3 naked ladies that got up on stage!!!!)

Shaun: I was off in 'guitar land'! I can't help being so focused.

Micci: Focused? !!!!

Shaun: I think that's why I'm so dizzy when I come offstage, I just save it all up for when I'm playing.

Micci: He had these breasts jumping up and down next to him cos it's a small stage and he missed it?! Would anyone else? Chris didn't miss a second he he!!!! No one was expecting it, I guess sometimes we have this effect, which we don't mind at all. I often ask girls to come up and dance with me for the song "I'll be your boyfriend". It's up to them what they feel like doing.

Chris: Yep you can say that again. I jumped off stage and joined the audience to enjoy the view. It was great playing my bass with all the audience jumping around me and all i could think of was "Wow what a hard life lol!"

SoundCheck : You recently played the O2 Wireless Festival. How did you go down?

Micci: We went down like a huge big bean bag!!!! lol! This guy was so excited that he grabbed one of the bean bags at the side and started to swing it around everyone's heads, to everyone's amazement. From that moment time just went into slow motion for me and I said to myself "that is going to fly out of his hand and hit me". With that thought, he let go of it, unintentionally, and it flew towards me! It was all in slow motion as I jumped out of the way and it landed behind me.

Shaun: It was really funny seeing that guy carted away

Micci: Yeah we all thought it was funny. The gig by the way went really well, we really enjoyed it and people from the audience kept coming up and telling us that they loved it too. Would love to do it again... but without the bean bag lol!

 

 

 

 

 

SoundCheck : Where can the readers learn more about you guys, and buy your music?

 

Shaun: www.space.com/paparazziwhore

Micci: What about the single?

Shaun: Oh yeah of course.... We also have a blistering new single set for release on 28th April. It is called Fake and is about ...(haha)... this girl who pretended she was about one thing, then pretended she was into god and is now currently pretending she is another thing

Micci: haha!!!! Yep it's called "Fake" and it's a download single. It has amazing artwork to go with it, plus a fantastic video which will be uploaded to My Space and all other top video websites.

Shaun: oh yeah, it has this really cool video to go with it involving bondage tape, sexy dancers and some freaky dancing.

Micci: Android dancing. I'm performing with dolls, (not the band lol) these fantastic dancers that were choreographed by our friend Maria Lee, who is also one of the dolls. Then this is intercut with the band performing. It looks amazing.

Chris: Not one to sound like a perv but there were a few technical hitches with the bondage tape lol. Every take one of the girls popped out of the tape, it was a living hell lol!!!!

Micci: The single is available from iTunes, Napster infact everywhere that is official so that it will enter the download charts. Also our debut album called "I'd rather be infamous than famous!" is still available from all download websites - iTunes etc.

SoundCheck : Finally, thanks for doing the interview, I look forward to seeing you at any of
your Manchester gigs. Do you have a word for our readers?

Shaun: Come and see us perform, we have a blast and so does the audience. It's fun and the sound is intense but in a very good way, it makes you feel like you've been taken on a journey and leaves you breathless.

Chris: If you are cute and pretty, come up on stage and take your clothes off - only kidding!!!! ;-D

Micci: Yeah come and see us play, if you are pretty you don't have to go that far lol, just come and have a good time!!!!

 

 

 

SoundCheck Magazine would like to thank Paparazzi Whore for their time out during the filming of their new video...

 

Cheers,

Chris