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The Tacticians
Article written by
Mary B - Apr 30, 2007
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The Tacticians are two musically talented brothers who are a couple of cynical, postmodern bastards (their words) with bulging biceps to boot. By day they wander the streets of their hometown, London, selling the sounds of the sixties, with their present outlook stamped on it, and by night they dress up as Batman and Robin (ok, that last bit is made up but they would look good in tights) Signed to Setanta Records, and with a forthcoming album winging its way to us, I thought that it was time to question the dynamic duo.
SoundsXP: It’s a weird name, The Tacticians. Who came up with that as it’s a word associated with the political and strategical arenas and yet your sound doesn’t conjure up such notions – well not in an obvious fashion.
Joe: It’s more to do with that we are tactical people - if you want tactics you need a tactician. We also like the musical reference in it – tact is a musical term.
Ollie: However little did we know that most people wouldn’t know how to spell it. I mean some people seem to associate Tacticians with tits and come up with stuff like Tactitions.
SoundsXP: So your band is made up of the two dashing brothers, Joe Jr and Ollie, with the odd sparkling musician thrown in. What’s it like to be brothers in a band? Sibling rivalry or family fortunes (not the game show)
Joe: The brother situation makes things a lot easier. We don’t always agree on things but as we know one another so well and share the same musical taste most things are agreed upon fairly quickly.
Ollie: When you’re in a band the worst thing really is that everyone is trying to have an opinion on things and you end up arguing most of the time. If we don’t agree we have a big shouting match and then things sort themselves out. Siblings tend to have a wider ratio for tolerance and forgiveness.
Joe: Saying that though - have you seen the size of Ollie’s biceps? They’re the size of my frickin’ thigh. I run faster though.
SoundsXP: Tell us about your signing to Setanta Records and the recording of the debut album. Exciting times for you, eh?
Ollie: Setanta approached us last October after they saw us playing The Fly on New Oxford Street. They had been eyeing us for a while and liked the two singles we had done before. They said they would like to sign us and we thought hey, that’s a nice gesture.
Joe: The album was recorded in several sessions. We did the first session between Xmas and New Year. The other sessions took place in January and February. We cut everything live and once we had the right take we would try out a few things, add some backing vocals, maybe another guitar, some percussions - whatever was needed. Then we had to try to mix the fucker.
Ollie: Recording is always a bit of painful thing because your songs, who are your babies, are released into the real physical world. That means you have to knock them into a final, eternal shape and let go. A nightmare for compulsive nutters like us.
Joe: It turned out great though. We are very happy.
SoundsXP: Ollie and Joe, who would be Batman and who would be Robin and why? You must have taken on such roles growing up. I personally think that Ollie would pack out a pair of green pants and tights with style.
Ollie: Don’t do Batman and Robin – I’m afraid. Look at them – guys in spandex. Makes me think David Lee Roth. Wrong!!
Joe: But if you insist, Ollie would be Batman and I would be Robin. Batman seems older and Robin’s more attractive.
Ollie: Shut up you ugly little shit.
SoundsXP: Live, you’re pretty impressive and you’re funny. Is the humour injected into the set on purpose or is that just natural banter? Do you enjoy playing live? You look very relaxed up there. What do you get out of it as individuals?
Joe: We love playing live. It’s what you started it all for in the first place. Performance is all natural. No surgery needed. The thing is - people enjoy watching a band that enjoys themselves on stage and tries to interact a bit with the audience. And if it’s working that’s the best thing.
Ollie: Yeah but you can’t force it. The vibe’s gotta be there or we leave it. We played a gig at The Old Blue Last a few weeks ago. Babyshambles were scheduled to come on after us for one of their secret shows. Therefore the room was full of Doherty disciples. I wanted to crack a joke and said that Babyshambles weren’t coming tonight because Pete got busted. The result was lots of pale scenesters turning even paler.. When I said it was a joke they didn’t think it was funny.
Joe: The real funny thing was though that they really didn’t turn up in the end. Pete had allegedly stolen a car in the afternoon and guess what - he got busted!
SoundsXP: My favourite song of yours is 'Hardcore Porn'. It’s quite sad isn’t it? Is that autobiographical? What song made you sit up and say ‘I think we’ve cracked it’.
Ollie: Hardcore Porn is autobiographical. I used to go out with a girl who became a porn actress. Honest truth. Lovely girl and we’re still in touch. It is a sad song though. It was big first love but it fell apart because …because first big loves tend to fall apart.
Joe: A lot of people judge other people for what they do to stay alive. I think that’s really wrong. Sometimes your dreams just move on. Hardcore Porn is about not judging people for doing things that might have gone astray from their original dreams or big ideas.
Ollie: Kate never mentioned that becoming a porn actress was her plan and I’m sure it wasn’t back then. But that’s cool. She needed the money and she’s happy now . She knows more about life and people than most of us will ever even imagine. In the end it’s a hard and tough business that serves people's fantasies that most of them wouldn’t admit. I’ve got tons more respect for her than for all those so called property developers out there.
SoundsXP: A lot of your influences are embedded in the 60s and I think that your music reflects this. Are you putting a modern twist on sounds of yore?
Joe: Not deliberately. What is modern in music terms anyway? We love a lot of old music and when you play, things you love come out automatically.
Ollie: Bands have always been recycling, reinventing or reinterpreting. That’s how music and all culture evolve. We try to play our interpretation of music we like. We’re not trying to do a silly pastiche thing. In the end we are and we write about London in 2007. I suppose that’s modern.
SoundsXP: ‘London’s alright' paints quite an optimistic picture of the town that we live in but what are your real thoughts on the sprawling metropolis?
Ollie: I don’t agree. “London’s alright” is very cynical and paints a pretty grim and hopeless picture of life in London. It’s based on me getting mugged and beaten up on Bow Road*
Joe: We wrote it in a real skint slacker phase we went through where we absolutely hated this place but we couldn’t leave. We felt really trapped.
Ollie: There is also always this hope when you live here that your ship will be coming in and you hit the big time.
Joe: Lots of Londoners feel that way. And they all keep a smiley face through their depression.
Ollie: That’s why we made it a happy singalong tune. We’re couple of cynical post modern bastards really.
SoundsXP: What bands are you enjoying at the moment and why?
Ollie: We’ve been listening to the new Bright Eyes Album as well as Costello Music by The Fratellis which is a bit of a guilty pleasure but it reminds me of good chart oriented Glam Rock a la SLADE. Wicked!! Wincing The Night Away by The Shins is lovely and very sophisticated.
Joe: Out of the many bands we play with on the London circuit we like what Havana Guns, Daddy Longlegs and The Standards are doing.
SoundsXP: What do you want to be able to say by the end of 2007?
Ollie: Hopefully: “..hey babe I bought a bottle of “Cristal” this year instead of the usual Tesco Value Cava.” That would round it up nicely.
Joe: I don’t do alcohol. I’ll have a glass of Schloer and say fuck me is it 2008 already. Only 6 months to go and it’s another major football tournament.
SoundsXP: Is Elvis dead or is he running a hotdog stand in Tottenham Court Road?
Ollie: We love Elvis Presley and as much as we want the King to be still here with us we’ve got to admit he’s dead. I’m not too sure if they don’t sell his flesh in the hotdogs on Tottenham Court Road though.
Joe: I’ve had one once and it felt like being on acid. “.. caught in a trap….”
SoundsXP: ‘Girls grow up faster than boys’ – thank you for saying that. Do you really believe that or are you trying to get some brownie points from feminists?
Joe: No brownie points intended but we take the credit anyway. It’s the truth. Men never really grow up. Women are more sensible. Men are terrible really.
Ollie: I once went to this big record fair which was held in a massive convention centre. Even though the fair officially started at 9am you had to be there early to get the bargains. So I was standing in the middle of a massive queue of about 400 people waiting for the doors to open. At the same time there was a toy fair (model trains, tin soldiers etc) happening in the same building. So they were queuing as well. Again roughly 400 people. 800 people on a cold rainy March morning eager to spend money on their nerdy obsessions. The funny thing was there was not a single female!!! All blokes. Most of them older than 40. That’s where the original idea is from.
SoundsXP: What was the last book that you read? What was the last film that you saw? What was the last album that you played?
Ollie: The curious incident of the dog in the night time. The Namesake. Sam Cooke “The man who invented Soul 4 CD Boxset”
Joe: Chronicles, Sideways, Kings of Leon – Because of the times (It’s really shit!)
SoundsXP: You’ve got the glockenspiel in your work but I’m still trying to bring the triangle back. Can you throw a few triangle taps into the mix for me?
Joe: No way! The glockenspiel is our homage to “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen. Triangle would be a bit too close to P Diddy.
SoundsXP: Finally, what are your hopes and dreams? Do I figure in them *cough* I’ll take that as a no then…
Ollie: Do more interviews and enjoy ourselves doing what we’re doing.
Joe: We obviously hope the album will do well and we will be playing bigger gigs soon, maybe some good support slots etc. Other than that - not having to get up every morning in order to do corporate hardcore porn would be nice.
*It's amazing how a happy tune can make a mugging and beating seem optimistic. The Tacticians are playing various dates in London throughout May. Why not fill your life with optimism by going along to see them? They may even wear tights...
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