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Artist Interviews
Q&A: Fixers
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 6 September 2011
Freshly selected as BBC Introducing’s Oxford Band Of The Year, psych-rock quintet Fixers first got together a couple of years ago, coming to prominence as part of local live collective Blessing Force, which also counts Chad Valley and Trophy Wife amongst its one-time affiliates.
The band reconciled Beach Boys-style group harmonies with kaleidoscopic drifts of retro electronica on their debut EP, ‘Here Comes 2001 So Let’s All Head For The Sun’, which came out earlier this year. Now signed to Vertigo, the band’s latest single, ‘Swimmhaus Johannesburg’, is out now.
Aside from a slot supporting Crystal Fighters at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 14 Sep, Fixers’ next live appearance will be at the SWN Festival, which takes place in Cardiff on 20 Oct. With all that yet to come, frontman Jack Goldstein spent a few spare moments in the sparkling company of our Same Six Questions.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
When I was a kid I used to do shows during lunch break at primary school, I’d stand on the step leading to the swimming pool changing rooms and I’d have a stab at a few songs. I couldn’t play my guitar but it naively sounded amazing in my head, the fact that no one watched me is testament to how much I must have sucked. Shortly after that I got bought a 4-track cassette recorder. I didn’t have a clue how to operate it and spent about two years just putting music tapes in it and using the EQ to make them phase weirdly.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
The process was so primal. We were recording for a month, and it didn’t feel natural to constrain ourselves to any preconceived notions. So the inspiration is quite literally the time we took to record, the environment we recorded in and the manner in which we drip fed ourselves parts of our regular lives whilst recording. It seems strange to me that many artists take this for granted, there is so much conceptualism in it. To put it within context, I don’t like the idea of going back and doing the same process again with a bunch of newer songs.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Our tracks don’t really have meanings, they are more about the relationship of words. We align lots of words which we think correlate well together. How our audience react to them is fascinating, if people conjure their own meanings then who’s to argue with them?
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Brian Wilson, Arthur Russell, Mark Leckey, Van Dyke Parks and Kate Bush.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
You might not like it, I hope you do though. Don’t worry if you don’t, we won’t be offended.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
I just don’t want to repeat too much. We have had some great experiences, which we’ve learned lots from, but I’d always like to try new ways of approaching things as opposed to simply revisiting the ways you nurture and become attuned to.
MORE>> fixerstheband.com
