Introducing: The Hysterical Injury

After a stint in fellow South West band Venus Bogardus, bassist Annie Gardiner formed The Hysterical Injury with drummer Lee Stone back in 2007.

Keen not to be associated with stereotypical boy-girl duets, Gardiner and Stone’s project channels the electric no-wave rock of our American cousins, with an underground aesthetic. They take influences are diverse, ranging from Sonic Youth to Lightning Bolt to Edith Piaf . Always trying to avoid cliché, The Hysterical Injury are unique to Britain’s contemporary scene.

Their mesmerizing live performances have already gained the band fans in DJs Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson, and Bethan Elfyn, and last year they graced the stage at London’s Ladyfest Ten alongside MEN, Nicky Click and Severin. In 2011 they hope to release their full length debut Electricute, a follow up to 2009’s self-released Our Lives Are a Futuristic Nightmare EP.

The Line of Best Fit spoke to Annie about recording their album at London’s Butcher Row Studios, getting funding from The Joe Strummer Foundation, and what we can expect from the band in the not too distant future.

Last time I spoke to you, you were recording your debut, which you hoped to finish by May. How’s it coming on?

Yeah, the recording’s finished. The mixing’s in the process, but we’ve stopped temporarily and put a label sampler out of the album. It sounds good, we’re pleased with it!

Which labels have you sent it to so far?

We’ve been looking at , judging by the bands that are on the labels. 4AD, Rough Trade, labels like that.

Have you targeted bigger labels deliberately?

No not particularly, we’re just sending it to labels that will probably like us, or that we’d have any kind of chance with. We’re not going to send some kind of urban label!

Adam West by Hysterical Injury

What would you do if you were to get released abroad? Would you prefer to stay on a UK label?

I’m not sure how that works. If the ideal happened for me, and we were to be released on Ecstatic Peace – Thurston Moore’s label – that would be amazing! We’re going to send stuff to him, but… that’s the ideal.

How does the sampler relate to the overall product? Have you got a final track list?

There are eight tracks on the sampler, but we’ve recorded thirteen. Some we may hold back for presents for people, because thirteen songs is a bit long for an album these days. We’ve mixed it up with some of the original EP tracks, and some live tracks, just so can get an idea of us live as well.

Are all of the tracks on the album new?

All of the songs on the album are new, although a couple are re-recorded. There’s ‘Visions of Trees’, that’s one we like to play live. Also ‘Maths’, ‘Snow’, ‘Porcelain’. There’s a lot of new stuff.

Snow by Hysterical Injury

Have you got an official title for the album yet?

Yeah, Electricute! Our friend Simon designed our t-shirts, and he misspelt ‘electrocute’, and we stuck with it!

Has anyone else helped you with the recording process?

We’ve been in London in a studio called Butcher Row Studios, with a really good engineer called Leaf Troup. He’s been amazing; like some kind of Godfather! He’s been coaching us through the tortured process of recording! It’s been spread out over a long time, because we’ve just been doing it over the weekends. Life gets in the way.

Why did you choose a London studio to record the album, if you’re both based in the South West?

Our friends opened a studio there, and they offered us the first session for free. Also we thought it would be really nice to get out of our comfort zone, get out of the West Country and just get into our little self indulgent world to record the album. Going out as The Hysterical Injury and writing songs as The Hysterical Injury was actually something that we never so it was really good to do that. It was really creative!

You’ve just come back from a tour – do you still have a tour planned for May?

No, been postponed. We’re working on getting quite a lot of dates for May, starting on the 30 April at The Green Park Tavern in Bath.

We just did a small stint of gigs, which ended up being a tour by accident. We had a really great time. London was amazing, and Bristol for F.A.G., who move . This gig was in St Werburghs’ Community Centre. They can’t put it on Facebook because the word ‘fag’ isn’t allowed, but it’s a great community and club for queer and transgender people. Anyone can go. It’s a really good, friendly space. It’s always amazing to play there, because they’re so brilliant to play for, they properly get into it!

Do you find time management is difficult, as a band beginning their career?

Yeah it’s difficult, and I think it is for everybody without a booking agent to put a tour together. It’s so oversubscribed. As there’s just two of us, we have asked a friend – Wes – to help manage us, and he’s really helpful. I think with a four piece band, when all of you are at it it’s much easier.

How do you fund the band?

We gig a lot, and any money we get, we save. Then at the end of last year, the Joe Strummer Foundation gave us a nice big bursary! I emailed and said, you might be interested in our band, and a few months later they said, yes! We are. We’d like to offer you all this money! They’ve got us on their page; the whole thing is just brilliant. I mean Christ, Joe Strummer, what a man. I’ve got so much respect for him. I’ve been thinking of doing a gig for them, once the album is out, it would be a really great thank you.

The Hysterical Injury play the Green Park Tavern in Bath on 30 April.