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The Loungs
Article written by
Mary B - Apr 25, 2007
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Saint Helens - home to six hirsute, musical genius types. With their debut album, We are the Champ, being released on 21/05/07 and a string of gigs to coincide with this wondrous time, I thought that i'd track down The Loungs and try my luck with them. Welcome, in alphabetical order: Dan (guitar) Gaz (Drums) Jamie (guitar/vox) Martin (Keys/vox) Neil (Bass/vox) and Pablo (Guitar/vox) If you like bloated floaters, beard acceptance and fingerless, leather drumming gloves read on...
SoundsXP: The Loungs. Is there a vowel missing? Where did the name come from? Was it spontaneous or well thought out?
The Loungs: There are two schools of thought. One is that The Loungs (pronounced 'The Lungs' but spelt like 'Young' geddit?) stands for 'Lads On Uppers Neck Gin Slings' and the other is that Loung is medical term and concerns a small valve used in open heart surgery up until it being outlawed in 1963 for being rubbish. The Loungs are neither medical nor have they been outlawed for being rubbish. Yet.
SoundsXP: Your music is fun and vibrant. It's quite a challenging sound. Describe it to me like I have never heard it before.
DTL: Wickey-wah. Wickey-wickey Wild Wild West?
PTL: Don't ask me. I haven't even heard the album.
GTL: Big Hot Fun.
The Loungs combined: Hopefully our sound is pop, ditties if you will, with a twist. Our plan is that the songs should be fun to play and fun to listen to. Not everybody wants to go and see a band bare their soul for 90 minutes, every time they go to a gig, although Lord knows that can be fun too. We've been known to bare stuff but very rarely our souls. We're saving that for the 6th album.
SoundsXP: Talk me through the 'I'm gonna take your girl' video. It's my favourite. What's with the giant floating orange? and was it fun to film?
DTL: It's about a guy getting beat up by a cool parper. Then shit effects.
NTL: On filming the video I momentarily contemplated a career in acting. On seeing the video I decided against it.
MTL: The plan was to score a blow for the common man (or in this case JTL) against ruffians.
The Loungs combined: The original idea behind the video was boy meets girl, boy gets battered by girl's boyfriend, boy travels into the wilderness to meet a Buddha style figure who trains boy in the noble art of scrapping, boy goes back, wreaks his revenge and comes away with girl on his arm. Like Hollywood you know? The reality was that our budget did not stretch to a Buddha style figure and the nearest thing we had to hand was an orange. And then the girl turned out to be PTL.
SoundsXP: How important is facial hair in the world of music? Some of you are sporting fine examples.
The Loungs: The beard as an entity is not important to the world of music at all however our beards definitely are. All six members of The Loungs sport differing styles and lengths of facial hair which can be lined up and used as a form of flow chart which charts our rise and fall in the heady world of music. Some see it as tardiness but another way of looking at it is that we are so busy making music
and planning world domination that we have not the time to shave. Johnny Borell's face is as smooth as a baby's bum. He's not putting the hours in.
SoundsXP: Tell me about your new album 'We are the Champ' (is that a Queen reference with the 'ions' left of the end?) Talk me through the process of making that album to it's release on the 21st May. What kind of journey has it been?
DTL: It's the most wicked-mega-tastic album since Toploader.
JTL: I enjoyed recording the album as I got time off work to do it.
GTL: It's short enough so that if you don't like it you don't have to wait too long for it to end.
PTL: Album? What album?
The Loungs combined: 'We Are The Champ' as with many debut albums is the story of the band so far. The title is more of a Crazy Frog reference than a Queen reference but there's no denying that we are a Queen for a new generation of mobile phone swinging, ipod carrying 13 year old ASBO kids. The only difference being that we have 6 Freddie Mercurys instead of 1.
We recorded the album last summer in sunny St.Helens and finished it sometime just before Christmas 2006. It was probably the most fun we have had as a band so far and hopefully some of those vibes have made it onto the album itself. We're proud of it and we hope people like it. We're sure some will.
SoundsXP: Show me your record collection. What have you got in there and why? Is there such a thing as a 'guilty pleasure' where music is concerned?
DTL: Purchase records for their covers. There's bound to be at least one good song on any album you buy from a car-boot / charity shop. Some personal favourites include: Hunting's Over For Tonight by Country Ham, Meadowlark by The Harlem Globetrotters and Roger Whittaker whistling away like a songbird. Guilty pleasures are for people who think Richard and Judy are still on in the morning and watch it ironically. ie: idiots. If a tune's good it doesn't matter who made it.
NTL: My favourite album is Michael Jackson's Thriller. That's not a guilty
pleasure. It's a fact.
JTL: There's not much all 6 of us agree on.
GTL: That's probably a good thing.
MTL: I don't agree with anything that PTL likes because it's all rubbish apart from Super Furry Animals and they don't count because I made him like them.
SoundsXP: There are 6 of you in the band. Attach one of these titles to each name:
PTL: Troublemaker
PTL: Philosopher
PTL: Joker
PTL: Slapper
PTL: Slacker
PTL: Do gooder
SoundsXP: What skills do you possess apart from your musical gifts?
DTL: Fashion designing skills and I have a deep knowledge of trivia related to The Simpsons. I also like to make ice-cubes.
PTL: I have a far wider knowledge of The Simpsons than DTL does.
JTL: I have the ability to fall asleep anywhere.
NTL: I am trained in both Martial Arts and Magic.
GTL: Not only do I play the drums but my tambourine skills are also excellent.
MTL: I'm good at drawing Spiderman.
SoundsXP: What is more important - financial stability or creative satisfaction and why?
The Loungs: Financial stability would be lovely but isn't worth worrying about. The main thing is that we want to make good music and make it on a regular basis. We want to get better and create a body of work that people who like us will be excited about and people who discover us further on down the line can go back and dig up. If any of us were in this to be rich or famous we'd have buggered off a long time ago. As it is we're having the time of our lives on a pittance.
SoundsXP: What is your idea of the perfect date? Yes, i'm available to you all.
DTL: 3rd May 1845
NTL: Natalie Imbruglia
MTL: What the hell. I'm free!
SoundsXP: You've got a lot of gigs coming up including album launch shows in May. Describe the live experience to me. Any gigs that stand out for good or bad reasons?
The Loungs: We've had a couple of hairy experiences but would never mention them by name for fear of being tracked down by locals and attacked in the street. If you fancy a little dance rather than standing back, arms crossed, chin-stroking like a geography teacher then come on down and we'll see what we can do. If you are expecting anything 'cool' then you should probably stay away. We seem to go down well when we play and we enjoy it very much. Hopefully we can live in a world were good music and a bit of colour can go hand in hand.
SoundsXP: What is the most important invention of our time and why?
DTL: Tim Berners Lee's World Wide Web. Gambling addiction has never been so easy to hide from loved ones.
NTL: Ditto.
MTL: Water is ace.
JTL: Strongbow.
GTL: Fingerless, leather drumming gloves.
PTL: Me.
SoundsXP: Who or what is a constant source of inspiration for you all?
The Loungs: David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Super Furry Animals, Flaming Lips, John Cale, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Scott Walker, Nirvana, Beck, The Specials, Weezer...we could go on. Another source of inspiration is having a little drinky between the six of us.
SoundsXP: What legacy do The Loungs want to leave the music world?
DTL: 6 bloated floaters in the Hudson river.
NTL: Nice lads make good music.
JTL: That parents may find it acceptable for their children to grow beards.
WTL: Legacy? We'll be worrying about the second album before we worry about a legacy.
SoundsXP: What is next for The lovely Loungs?
The Loungs: Internal strife, weight loss, fatherhood and all encompassing love.
SoundsXP: I'm buying a round of drinks. What are we all having?
The Loungs: Strongbow. Strongbow. Strongbow. Strongbow. Strongbow. Water.
....and i'll have a Guinness. Whatever your choice of tipple, check out the website for gig dates coming to a venue near you. Come on geography teachers. You know that you want to...
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