WEIRDO + CO reveal frustrated new cut "Count Me Out"

Beginning as the solo project of singer/songwriter Josh Christopher, formerly of IYES, WEIRDO + CO (fka WEIRDO) is now a three-piece band with a strong collection of tracks already out. "Count me Out" adds to those, but already sounds more evolved. With the help of friends, René Corbett and Pierre Leck, the collective's latest track is a commentary on British society that is laced with autobiographical moments from Christopher as he expresses some of the difficulties he faced moving to Berlin.

While Christopher explicitly says he doesn't like his music being pigeonholed into genres, 'indie pop' would probably be an apt description of "Count Me Out" specifically, and while all their previous singles loosely fit within that tag, the project creates diverse tracks drawing from various different influences.

For people yet to press play on a WEIRDO + CO track, how would you describe your music?

Well, it’s a tricky one to nail down. I don’t like being 'genre-d'. It’s the worst possible way of suffocating an art form. I take sounds I like, show the ideas to the guys in the band, and we begin to discuss how the song should sound. Then we produce it and it happens. We’re trying to change from Josh, the bedroom musician aka WEIRDO, to bedroom boy + new band members so we can attempt to take over the live scene.

WEIRDO recently became WEIRDO + CO - can you tell us a little bit more about that change?

It was organic and natural. I started off with some songs and ideas, and began to release music. I was alone. I moved to Berlin and met these complete dudes and formed an alliance; a team. Pierre and René are like two super laid back dudes and super musicians - so it was great to team up and say: 'lets be rock 'n' roll and take this on tour. let’s write some shit together, record some shit together, and make a movement in the live scene.' I think it’s much nicer to share these musical endeavours with friends too… that’s just the way it should be. Going alone is sometimes a bit daunting…

What were your initial goals when you started the project?

I just wanted to commentate on how I felt about things in the world. WEIRDO was simply one contemporary person's view on things, and a genre-less identity. Just make music, produce it however you want, and then release it. When I met the guys, they had the same views as me, so it was completely easy to just form a supergroup musically, opposed to getting in session musicians.

How have these changed and evolved over the years you've been working on the music?

Working with Melis in IYES was amazing, and really opened some doors for us. But we decided to keep IYES as a songwriting project and to move onward and upwards in our careers. We took six months producing a new debut EP for Melis and it sounds sensational. She’s the next thing to watch… mark my words. The goals these days are less of 'we want the respect from the music industry' and more so now 'we want to truly give everything to our fans'. We all know the industry is truly fucked right now… it’s about us as artists and the fans as our lovers. The industry shouldn’t matter anymore. Art is important.

Today you're releasing new single "Count Me Out". What's the track about?

I moved to Berlin as I realized I just could not handle British peoples' mentalities - yes, that’s a generalisation. But in general, there’s a certain arrogance in their political views, the way our government is covering the truths, the whole Brexit thing, the drama on television at primetime every day. Who the fuck wants to truly watch a soap or reality TV show? It just corrupts the way people think and their ideologies. The way they dress, the way they have a narcissistic ironic character they’re building from emojis and newly found biceps. I just don’t get it. In the UK I feel it’s completely adverse to what is happening around other parts of Europe. "Count Me Out" just reiterates my feelings about my home and counting myself out of that shit I could see coming a long way off… I suppose it’s a way of intelligently escaping the norms.

Where does "Count Me Out" fit in with the rest of the music you've released thus far?

This is definitely the best way to describe and show to people what they’re in for live. The songs are sporadic like my personality - but the guys have helped them become more 'live' and this song, I feel, is a perfect example of what’s to come when you come to a festival or show we’re playing.

What's your favourite thing about Berlin?

As a creative space, you can afford a studio and space for cheap. It’s a great thing. My girlfriend lives here so I’m staying with her, and coming back to the UK a lot to live with family. It’s just great to be able to travel cheaply, and have a playground in two different countries. I wouldn’t be able to afford a nice studio place in London for example.

Next month you're hosting a secret invite only party at your studio - what can lucky guests expect?

We’re gonna be putting on a few things during the year, including gigs but we’re hosting out debut live show as a small gathering/party in a space in central Berlin. You can expect free booze, chats, industry mayhem, and whatever else comes as a result of mixing those three things together. We thought it would be super cool to ask people to RSVP to the show by emailing us (WEIRDOBAND@YAHOO.COM) with their weirdest experience. We’ll publish a few of them and probably tell them some personal secrets at our party, too…

After the party, and presumably the afterparty, what's on the WEIRDO + CO horizon?

We’re going to just focus on releasing feel good vibey music, on a regular basis, whilst playing shows across the UK and Europe live. We really want to just be respected as a bunch of guys, with good songs and a fun live set, and just meet lots of people. We want to make some friends along the way… especially the weird ones. Our favourites.