The Beat Surrender

Manchester has produced many great bands over the years, but it’s also a city that can swamp a band with it’s expectations if they aren’t made of the right stuff. Little Volcanoes are Manchester based and seem to be coping with things well so far. They’ve built a good live following and have their album in the bag ready to be released.

On top of that they’ve just agreed to come and play a gig for The Beat Surrender at The Northern Monkey in Leeds on the 7th February (free entry come down and see them!). What better time to catch up with Phil Quinn from the group for a quick chat about their plans for this year than now?

2009 – A good year for Little Volcanoes or are you glad to see the back of it like so many other people?

I’d say a very tough year! We recorded the album under very trying circumstances. We worked with a producer who has all this amazing equipment and vision, but he didn’t have a lot of spare time as he was busy with other projects, so there wasn’t much fluidity to it. Also, I was going through a very painful separation with someone which coloured my whole outlook of…well everything. The words to the songs took on a whole new meaning. Saying that, we did a wonderful job in the end. It’s just that we had to focus much more. It’s probably why it’s turned out so well.

You have your debut album coming out soon, what can you tell us about it, the recording process and how you went about writing it?

Firstly we’ve been made an offer from a label that we all feel will really suit us. We’re going to go with them (MMR) and release as many EPs as it takes, first to build up a suitable buzz and then release the album. In terms of the writing I’d usually go in with a song and the band would work with it, or our guitarist and the band would jam stuff out in rehearsals whilst I would be looking for where the words and melody fit in. If you’re a writer things just come out. The most important thing to us is that we all had a vision as to what the songs would sound like. Then recording an album is a lot less painful. Eventually I’d love to write and record in the studio but for now we’ve had to be quite structured, write, arrange and then record.

What lyrical themes do you cover throughout it?

Funny this question should be asked now as I was thinking about this the other day. I’ve realised that everything I’ve written for this album has come from a need to understand myself better. Songs like ‘Kill the Performance’, ‘Trisha’, ‘Everybody does it’ and ‘My P45’ all delve far back, sometimes into childhood to grasp why I do the things that I do. A song like ‘Kill the Performance’ is all about finding yourself. That sounds pretty basic stuff when you read it, but it’s harder said then done.

I think I’ve achieved this though, and the right song can help you understand the world better. That’s why some people love our music! A lot of my words are inspired by the trauma and excitement of moving to Manchester from a small place. I think a lot of people can relate to this sentiment too.

Being from Manchester do you feel there is an extra pressure on any bands shoulders from the city as people look to try and find the ‘next big thing’?

Everyone’s pretty relaxed in Manchester – maybe a bit too relaxed. Ha-ha! The only people that do my head in are the people who hang around scenes to make themselves feel bigger. It happens in music a lot. Anyway, I don’t feel any extra pressure other than what we put on ourselves.

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