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Artist Interviews
Q&A: Magistrates
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 29 July 2009
Magistrate’s pop sound has been taking them places of late, gaining them a record deal with XL and support slots with the likes of La Roux, Friendly Fires and Blur. Their debut single, ‘Heartbreak’, was released in May, and their debut album is set to follow later this year. The band play the Wonky Pop stage at this year’s Big Chill festival on Friday 7 Aug, followed by a tour with The Temper Trap in September. We caught up with the band to find out more.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
We’ve all played music in many forms from a young age, it’s always been part of our make-up as people. So when each of our paths crossed, we put all our heads and hearts into one big melting pot, and what came out of it was Magistrates.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Our debut album is a reflection of many different things – us, the universe, sex, loss, lust, pain and elation.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
There’s no set formula really. It can come about in an array of ways. But predominantly it comes from a core idea; chord progression, hook, drumbeat or riff – which is then mingled with other stuff until it’s painted into a cohesive form. But we like to keep our minds open for spontaneous happenings too, like if we’re in the studio and something just clicks without too much thought. Even accidents seem to make perfect sense when they are blended into something else…
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
From David Bowie to Chopin, Prince to Captain Beefheart, Oscar Wilde to Georges Bataille, and all of the in between.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Would you like an orange with that?
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
To have a massively successful debut album that is owned by as many people as there are eyeballs in the world, and to be able push the boundaries of pop music forward continuously. To keep progressing and maturing as a band, and to create something that stands the test of time and makes a big ‘M’ shaped imprint in the surface of the Earth.
MORE>> www.magistratesband.com and www.myspace.com/magistratesband
