Objects are a trio originally hailing from Southampton (Currently residing in East London’s ‘Murder Mile’) consisting of three lovely, dandy-dressing, mannerly young men by the names of Steve The Model – Lead singer and guitar, Leon Genre – Bass synth and vocals and Benjamin Xavier Lovegrove – synth and vocals. They drifted together through a vale of massages and public lavatories three years ago…they’re ‘easy not sleazy’ so, easy that they found themselves signed to UK indie label 1234 Records after a chance meeting on a train with a friend of the label’s owner after an hours chat.

OK, first put aside those preconceptions of all urchy synth bands sounding like ramshackle desperados clanking away in red light districts and the only way you’re going to really enjoy the music is to be on drugs. Objects can write a tune. They can write a melody, in fact they can write beautiful ballads. Ballads that make you feel you’ve woken up the morning after in 1976 hearing an undiscovered Bowie track sung by Damon Albarn’s softly crackling Coffee and Tea voice…oh, and you’re in New York - in some hotel that you’re pretty sure Leonard Cohen has sung about…why? Because that’s where all the tortured poetic geniuses hung their weary heads at one point and the lyrics that are being sung here are no less then reminiscent of that. But, wait a second! It’s 2005 and you’ve been in bed all day and the morning after is turning into anticipation of tonight’s heaty ‘sexually transmitted disco’ (clearly the only STD you’ll want to get). Objects ahoy! They do both, and exceptionally well. Come on, you want to know them…in that ‘easy’ way, of course…

(Cord Magazine's questions are in blue. Artist responses are in grey.)


How did you all meet?

Leon: Ahhh, we all met in Southampton. I saw Steve doing a band/solo electro thing with a drum machine and a key board, so I went to meet him and say ‘I like your music’ and he goes ‘Oh, do you want to join the band?’ and said ‘Well yeah, but there’s one problem I can’t play an instrument’ and he was like ‘well, we need a bassist’ and he said he’d teach me. So, a quick way of teaching I thought I’d go and get a keyboard, cause it’s easy to play a keyboard guitar. So, I taught myself in six weeks and we joined. Ben and Steve were already together.

Benjamin: I met both these guys by queering them up somewhat. When I first met Steve I gave him a stomach massage and then he ran off a bit scared. And with Leon I was in the toilet and I was…

L: Staring at my penis. (Laughter) And I said ‘Benjamin, why are you staring at my penis?’ I didn’t even know his name actually, so it was more like ‘Why are you staring at my penis?’ and he went ‘I don’t know’ and then friends forever! Stick with that. Cross out the ‘forever’ bit - that’s a bit gay! (Laughter).

That’s OK, you can go into the kinky details.

L: Kinky details? Ah, me and Ben had a sort-of orgy once about a year ago with a Swedish model and some other girl and, ah, Steve went out and did some crack on the corner. (Nervous laughter) That’s our kinky story…moving onto the next question! (More laughter).

Steve: I just don’t get involved in the kinky stuff.

L: Yes you do! How many girls you had this week? (Laughter).

S: Definitely cross that out.

B: Yeah, but he does it in an easy way not a sleazy way. Easy - not sleazy.

That’s OK.

(Laughter)

So, then you came together…and what was your main sort-of ethos at the point? Just start a band?

B: It’s just a natural progression. We’d been playing together and we used to live together and we were trying to do something – not what we could at the moment – a different sound…and then we just sort of thought we’d take a more disco direction.

S: And we really wanted to wind people up and annoy them as much as possible. Weather they loved you or hated you, doesn’t matter cause you knew they’d have an opinion. It’s always the same.

L: It’s very easy to make people hate you in Southampton, it’s a funny place.

B: If you don’t sound like Oasis or like you only know four chords they won’t like you at all. And they don’t like people in suits, they like people in sports wear. Sports wear and trekking wear, shall we go for a trek? (Laughter). Southampton – and there’s no hills.

So the Dandy image didn’t go off too well.

B: Not well indeed.

L: Then we went to London and they loved it!

Naturally!

L: Naturally.

B: Although, I don’t think it’s a contrived thing, or like we’ve got a theme for the band.

S: I’ve had this since 1998 this t shirt.

B: We think that Steve was born in a suit actually.

L: Basically, it just happened. When you’re a man one day you wake up and think “I’m a man and I want to dress like a man rather than a boy”. Good shoes tight jeans. No! Not even jeans! (Laughs) Tight trousers!

What were you influences (sorry boring question)?

(All together unenthused) No that’s fine.

S: Musical influences? Well I grew up on Britpop. Um, obviously and then started listening to loads of electro stuff. But I didn’t like the sound, like it didn’t actually have any songs in electro…one idea repeated, repeated, so I thought if you put pop music with it it’d be pretty cool and yeah, that was it.

L: Yeah, and it is. What about bands?

S: Um bands? I hate name checking bands.

L: Just say Lou Reed over and over again.

S: Yeah, I’ve got a thing about Lou Reed. He’s great. Lovely lyrics the way he delivers it.

B: But definitely not Captain Beefheart.

L: No, but we do like early Nineties stuff like Snap (sings) I’ve got the power!

S: Ace of Bass?

L: No, they were rubbish.

What characteristics do you think each member brings to your band?

B: That’s a tricky one isn’t it. Stevie is the sort-of nervous, genius songwriter.

S: Yeah, I’m the tortured soul, tortured artist…

L: Steve writes all the songs, then he comes to us and we fuck them him up basically and make him nasty… and for some reason works.

S: Benjamin makes them disco and Leon makes them sleazy.

L: With my keyboard guitar.

B: The end product is actually sexually transmitted disco. STD.

L: We’ve had our differences in the past but for some reason now-a-days we’ve basically all just grown up and we know what makes each other tick.

S: We’ve grown together. Sort-of like a tree.

L: Like a flower, with all the vines entwined together. We can’t break apart now, we’ve stuck together. Like that last scene out of Labyrinth. (Laughter).

So what is the main important aspect of a band – having a look or the music?

B: I think it’s the music. I know it’s a cliché. People always think we’re a looks band. That’s sort of why we had to run away from Southampton. People hated us because we made an effort with our look and there was too much emphasis on that. People weren’t listening to our music and we kind-of thought we just weren’t happy with that. I mean there’s a million good looking bands out there – I’m not saying we’re good looking people – we make an effort…

L: Oh yeah! (Laughter).

B: I slipped there!

L: To be completely honest if we didn’t look the way we did we probably wouldn’t have got signed, because we are a product at the end of the day.

S: Yeah, you’ve got to look good if you want to get far. Well, anyway in the music business, unless you’re Michelle from Pop Idol 2.

L: Or Turin Brakes.

S: I’ve never heard any of their songs.

L: You know those jingy, jing indie bands.

So how do feel about bands ‘Selling out’?

L: Oh, basically we don’t care.

B: We want to sell out!

L: Basically we just want as many people as possible to hear our music at the end of the day.

B: I think it’s pointless and really anal for all these bands that won’t write a pop song because they won’t do it for their ‘fans’ because their fans expect other music. And I think that’s just shooting your self in the foot.

If you’re going to go to Canada what should the audience bring you as good deeds?

L: As gifts?

Good deeds.

L: We want to have fun on stage; we want to make people dance.

S: The best thing thy can do is dance and clap.

L: And get on stage with us. That’s happened to us before.

B: It was the most fun thing.

S: Yeah, we love it when people run on stage. Brilliant.

L: Get a bit evolved. Disco out basically! Disco out! (Laughter)

B: Some times you’ll see little crowds and its like they’ve got a little clip board and a list of songs going “yes that was good, yes that was good” and that really irritates us very much. I like it when people just have so much fun they don’t even care what song is from the next. Just get into it.

L: We’ve very much grown as a band too. Our first song was Country Lad and it went “You’re a c*nt, you’re a c*nt, you’re a country lad”. Which he (Steve) still thinks is a good song!

S: It is a good song! But we’ve just grown up.

L: If we’d signed a year ago to a major we’d have been…our music wasn’t good enough. Looking back it was good – at the time we thought it was brilliant, but we’re definitely a much better band and now. We’re just waiting to hit the big time! (Laughs)

Objects second single ‘Fi Fi Brown’ is out on the 8th of August 2005 and will be available to order through HMV.

The single will also be available to download from iTunes.

Elsewhere

By Amy Hanson
Photos : objects.org.uk
Published : July 2005.