20 Questions with… Nelson

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Ok, so Nelson might be one of the worse names around for a band, but these guys are giving it a shot. Their edgy debut, Revolving Doors, came out this week and it’s brooding Joy Division / Interpol sound has impressed my ears at least. We caught up with the Parisians for our equally compelling questions…

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Democratic , Totalitarist, Communist
Faster But Slower

2. What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
For the band, this answer can vary from “voyages voyages” by Desireless to the Very best of Elvis Presley

3. What’s the best cure for a hangover?
Jack Daniels, or a half pint of beer around 3pm

4. What’s on your rider?
Jack Daniels, and a half pint of beer

5. How do you get ready for a live show?
Drinking Jack Daniels

6. What’s your favourite song to play live?
The ones we will be playing for the second album. What’s yours?

7. What’s your guilty pleasure?
Hmm, I can’t find anyone in the band who will answer this question honestly. Some have said chocolate ice cream dipped in haney and peanut butter, some have said being attached to a lamp post and whipped for a few hours. Naked.

8. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
Am I the only one who needed to check on wikipedia what a stoat was?
So, for those who want to know, The Ermine (Mustela erminea) is a small mammal of the Mustelidae family. It is also known as the stoat and the short-tailed weasel.
And it will kick a goats ass, anyday.

9. Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
I have fallen in love with a band who have redefined the sense of the word hardcore for me, the Fuck Buttons. Suicide meets Animal Collective. They are an electro duo who have clearly understood that a live band is a band who plays instruments on stage, not just press play. Their songs all seem to follow the same construction: a beat, with a pop kind of melody on top of it, and various distorted keyboards, for about 3-4 minutes. Then a huge amount of white noise comes in, drowning out all the rest, until one of them starts shouting in a toy microphone. Then they gently fade out. End. Hardcore, man, fucking hardcore.

10. Who would play you in a film based upon your life?
Well, it’s all a question of budget you know. Jane Birkin, if she was available.

11. Dead or alive, what 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival?
Suicide (back in the days)
Animal Collective
Alamo Race track
Happy mondays (give me an E)
The who (we love gin and tonic)

12. If push comes to shove, what is your all-time favourite album?
Harvest by Neil Young?
Melody Nelson, Serge Gainsbourg?
Can we talk about that next year, when the new TV on the Radio comes out?

13. What’s your most memorable on the road story?
The most memorable story is always hard to choose, having spent more than one year on the road but I can describe our last trip to Berlin.
Early in the year, going to play with I Am Kloot, we drove all the way from Paris. After 6 hours we drove through a big snowstorm on the highway and we were forced to push the skidding van under the snow while a huge truck started slipping off the road towards us. We survived to tell the story, and now we keep chains in the van, even in summer. Just in case.

14. If your life flashed before your eyes, what would be the highlights?
Creating this band (- Awww, Ed).

15. What’s the best piece of advice someone has ever given you and did you take notice?
Read a book.

16. If you had to leave a body part to science, what would it be?
My toes.

17. What’s the best book you’ve read and film you’ve seen in the last 6 months?
There will be blood by Paul Thomas Anderson (Film)
Any Chuck Palahniuk (Book)

18. What three things could you not live without?
A book, a bottle of Jack Daniels , and a screwdriver.

19. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
We want to live in Berlin, and we are all boys.

20. And finally, we’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
Booka Shade feat M.A.N.D.Y – Body language

Nelson on Myspace