On a cold fire escape at The Social, Adam Pickering, from Computerman, nattered to me about, amongst other things, his band, their current tour supporting The Fallout Trust and his love / hate relationship with the NME.
This synth / indie set up are Adam Pickering (Vocals/Bass), Mark Sykes (Vocals/Guitar), Robert Christ (Keyboard/Guitar), Paul Hurford (Keyboard/Guitar) and Reyes Griffiths (Drums).
Adam: ?I?m not sure why I was nominated to talk to you as my voice is going at the moment. Sorry about that?.
Not to worry, man. So, how did you come up with such a name as Computerman?
Adam: ?We were originally called ?Carolgees?. The lawyers said it was a bad idea as Bob would be annoyed. We were a student band who thought we were funny. So we decided to change it. Rob used to have a badge that his dad made for him as a child, which read ?Mr Christ, Computerman?. Simple as that!?
Where did the band meet?
Adam: ?We all met in Leicester, at university. Three of us are from Leicester originally. Three of us also did the same course, Media Technology and Sound Engineering. The only reason I was doing it was to get a band together. My housemate had just started playing guitar so he joined and we stole a member of another group as well. There band split up shortly afterwards.?
What is Computerman?s sound?
Adam: ?I?d like to think that we have picked up where Ultravox and OMD finished. We would like to right the wrongs they did and to become what they both should have been. That?s the dream, anyway. OMD should have been the best band in the world, but there was a lot of bollocks in there.?
Tell me about your new single ?No More Broken Hearts?, released by Must Destroy Records.
Adam: ?We have a strange writing thing going on at the moment. Occasionally one of us will write a song and it will make sense. Usually Mark and I will write a bit each. But our stuff usually has a new, new romantic outlook. I usually hijack songs and try to chuck in another angle. As a result ?No More Broken Hearts? has ended up becoming an anti – anti war song. We?re not pro-war, we?re more of an anti pacifist band. If you?re not going to stand up for something what are you sitting about for? It?s a very scary world out there. It?s madness!?
How much recording has the band done so far?
Adam: ?Up to the point of our single we had recorded eight or nine tracks. The best eight of them have gone to be properly mixed. We have to go to London to redo bits of them soon. The tracks were produced by David Gray?s producer, Iestyn Polson. It?s cool to be working with him.?
What?s it like touring with The Fallout Trust?
Adam: ?It?s great. We are on a twelve-date tour with them. This is the first time we?ve tried the touring thing. We have no illusions of grandeur. We?re just a local band who?ve made one step up.?
What do you generally think about the Nottingham music scene?
Adam: ?Nottingham?s a hard town crowd to crack, man. Leicester is a lot happier to accept new bands. The bizarre thing I find is that there are a lot of pop bands in a city, which only used to be receptive to cool, trendy bands. They?re are a lot of really good poppy sounding bands in Nottingham. Nutronstars are fucking amazing.?
What?s your favourite band at the moment?
Adam: ?The Kooks are good. They are a lot better than the likes of Artic Monkeys. People go on about them like they just created the album of this generation. It wasn?t even the best album that came out that week.?
Are you living the Rock and Roll dream on tour?
Adam: ?No, god no! We?re tasting it though. Occasionally people pay attention to us. The tour isn?t an all expenses paid sort of thing. We even have to pay for our own van. The Fallout Trust occasionally moan about their van but the record company are paying for theirs. It?s hard work, but at the same time it?s great!?
Do you have any pre-gig rituals before you go on stage?
Adam: ?Paul and I will argue. I?ll drink two to three pints. Something will go wrong and we will all panic. That?s about it!?
Worst gig?
Adam: ?The worst was a gig we did was in Sheffield. We drank an entire crate of Stella before going on stage. Everything that could brake did. Even my girlfriend said it was the worst show she?d ever seen. The hotel we played at was a weird place. Our room was two floors above where we were playing. At one point Paul?s guitar broke and he had to run to the hotel room to get his spare. We jammed in the chord of E for about 10 minutes.?
Best gig?
Adam: ?The best was probably when we supported ?We are Scientists? at Stealth. There were a lot of people there. We played faultlessly. Often sets can turn out well when you don?t expect it. When we played Birmingham, as part of the current tour, we were arguing on stage. About thirty people came up to us afterwards and said it looked like we weren?t enjoying it, but certain tracks were the best they?d ever seen a live band perform.?
What do you think about the NME?
Adam: ?I?m a regular reader, but it doesn?t do my blood pressure any good. It was a lot better written before it transferred to a smaller format. Don?t get me wrong, I?d kill to be on the front cover, but I?ve read better Student Union magazines.?
What?s your favourite quote?
Adam: ?At the moment it would be something Maurice Moss, from The I.T Crowd said: ?The needle?s freaking out?, probably.?
What?s your favourite cheese?
Adam: ?I?m a Double Gloucester man. Other members of the band would be more adventurous, except Rob, who is lactose intolerant. I need to learn more about my band?s cheese preferences.?
What?s the worst question you?ve ever been asked?
Adam: ?How would you describe your band?s sound??
Anything else to add?
Adam: ?We?re not quite firing on all cylinders at the moment. We are gradually finding what we are all about. We know what our sound is but we haven?t quite come to terms with it yet.?
That was great Adam, cheers for that!
Adam: ?I enjoyed that. Christ, man, I need a drink.?
www.computermanmusic.com
