Nine Black Alps are a UK band made up of Sam Forrest, James Galley, Martin Cohen and David Jones. Their latest album, Everything Is, was released in the United States last year and they will be playing Coachella this weekend. I got a chance to speak to the bands singer and guitarist Sam Forrest.
Buy Everything Is
Daniel Robert Epstein: How has the US tour been going so far?
Sam Forrest: It's going okay. We're sound checking at the Bowery Ballroom at the moment. I don't think we've cracked the States just yet, but we're nearly there. We'll be bigger than Coldplay by Christmas.
DRE: This is your first time touring here, right?
SF: It's our first proper tour. Were staying here for three months and trying to put on as much weight as possible by eating American diner food every single day. We'll be obese, we'll start saying process the way Americans and stuff like that.
DRE: Besides the diner food, how do you like touring America?
SF: The beer here is kind of weak and you don't have any decent red wine anywhere. But the people are very friendly and they like our English accents. All we have to do is open our mouths and people are like, "Oh, you're so cute!" That's kind of novel for us. We seem like The Beatles to everyone.
DRE: When you say people think you're cute, is that the girls you're talking about?
SF: Mostly, yeah. There are a few strange men who attend our shows. I'm not saying it's deviant behavior at all, but it's kind of unusual to be approached by a man.
DRE: Are the groupies much different?
SF: I'd definitely know a groupie if I saw one. I just think everyone's friendly and nice. If anyone has any weird, sexual kind of aggressiveness, I just don't see it. I'm too trusting. I'm too nice. People can drag me into their weird subcultures. Ill be fine. I just look for the human spirit in everybody.
DRE: I read that Everything Is, is not exactly like the album you released in the UK, is that true?
SF: It's actually the same apart from it having it's got a parental advisory sticker on it because I say fuck in one song. But that makes it like N.W.A. or something, which is pretty cool. It's the first time we've been credible in our lives. I don't know how long it's going to last.
DRE: What made you say fuck in that song?
SF: Because I made it rhyme with love. It's the flipside.
DRE: So over in the UK do they not have as many restrictions, at least with saying fuck?
SF: No, in the UK it's like we're European, we're not a neo-fascist, Christian fundamentalist state like America is. Even though I support neo-fascist fundamentalism in all its forms, but in England you can say things like fuck. You can show nipples in England and cocks and asses though America is sleazier. You've got these Girls Gone Wild adverts between every single TV program. I think these countries are fairly backwards anyways.
DRE: You guys keep late hours, so you must see a lot of Girls Gone Wild commercials.
SF: Oh yeah. We are pathetic TV-watching people. We come to embrace your culture and all we get are sluts.
DRE: There's nothing wrong with a good slut once in a while.
SF: Is that a fact?
DRE: Don't you think?
SF: Once in a while, but then when you're down with one you find you dont know where you anymore.
DRE: That's when you grab your clothes and you ask for the hotel manager.
SF: You've got so much more experience than I do.
DRE: What was the inspiration for Everything Is?
SF: Just jealousy of people with cash and chicks and haircuts. It's a fairly immature album, we should have grown out of this by now. It's embarrassing to be singing on stage about how unhappy you are.
DRE: Do all the members of the band feel the same way?
SF: I don't know. We've never had a vote on how we feel, so I couldn't actually give you a democratic view of that. I'm just saying that I'm deeply ashamed.
DRE: You guys don't have therapy sessions together like Metallica does?
SF: No but I love that films. That gives us something to look forward to. We just kick back, roll a few joints and chill with some honeys. No, actually we don't even smoke anymore because we all hate each other.
DRE: With some honeys. Is that your N.W.A. side coming out again?
SF: Yeah, exactly. We need to be more badass. We started spitting on stage recently and that seems to go down fairly well with American audiences. You can see Americans hate that.
DRE: How did these recording sessions with Beck and Elliot Smith come together?
SF: We got Beck's producer, Rob Schnapf, who created some of the most seminal alternative rock music of the nineties. Seeing as we are a seminal rock of the 90s rip-off band, we thought we could use an old producer from the 90s. It was good fun. We didn't care, we just went looking for more fun for each song. Make it fun.
DRE: How does the band get along?
SF: Usually someone will hate another person at some point. If I'm having a bad day, everyone hates me, then that's why I'm in a bad mood. We all get along very well, as long as we don't owe each other money. It's okay now.
DRE: The first single in the US is Cosmopolitan. What was the inspiration for that one specifically?
SF: It was how shit the magazine Cosmopolitan is. Its full of crap people giving their crap opinions about lifestyle products and what to wear this summer and how to get ahead in your job. Stupid stuff like, I've got this handbag and I've got this great sex life and I'm going upwardly mobile because I don't let things get me down. It's an anti-ambition song.
DRE: Nine Black Alps released an EP of B-sides in the UK, any chance of that coming out here?
SF: I have no control, I'm just a puppet in the machine. So, if the powers that be want to do that, they can do that. I'm sure they've got better things to do like something with Gwen Stefani.
DRE: How did the band get together?
SF: We met at a bar in Manchester. It was kind of this strange, little, indie discotheque where all the freaks in Manchester meet to compare haircuts and childhoods and stuff like that. We all were in a similar circle of people, slacking off the world, being bitter and twisted. For some reason, we decided one evening we were going to try and do something, which is not like us. That ended up being the band. Its cool and nave.
DRE: Are you guys excited about Coachella?
SF: Yeah. We just don't want to get sunburned. Last time we played in New York at Coney Island and we got badly sunburned. This time we're going to stay in the shade and hang in the VIP area. I don't even know who is playing. I'm sure there's some rock star player that we could try and obtain some cool points off. I'm just going to try to stay indoors.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy Everything Is
Daniel Robert Epstein: How has the US tour been going so far?
Sam Forrest: It's going okay. We're sound checking at the Bowery Ballroom at the moment. I don't think we've cracked the States just yet, but we're nearly there. We'll be bigger than Coldplay by Christmas.
DRE: This is your first time touring here, right?
SF: It's our first proper tour. Were staying here for three months and trying to put on as much weight as possible by eating American diner food every single day. We'll be obese, we'll start saying process the way Americans and stuff like that.
DRE: Besides the diner food, how do you like touring America?
SF: The beer here is kind of weak and you don't have any decent red wine anywhere. But the people are very friendly and they like our English accents. All we have to do is open our mouths and people are like, "Oh, you're so cute!" That's kind of novel for us. We seem like The Beatles to everyone.
DRE: When you say people think you're cute, is that the girls you're talking about?
SF: Mostly, yeah. There are a few strange men who attend our shows. I'm not saying it's deviant behavior at all, but it's kind of unusual to be approached by a man.
DRE: Are the groupies much different?
SF: I'd definitely know a groupie if I saw one. I just think everyone's friendly and nice. If anyone has any weird, sexual kind of aggressiveness, I just don't see it. I'm too trusting. I'm too nice. People can drag me into their weird subcultures. Ill be fine. I just look for the human spirit in everybody.
DRE: I read that Everything Is, is not exactly like the album you released in the UK, is that true?
SF: It's actually the same apart from it having it's got a parental advisory sticker on it because I say fuck in one song. But that makes it like N.W.A. or something, which is pretty cool. It's the first time we've been credible in our lives. I don't know how long it's going to last.
DRE: What made you say fuck in that song?
SF: Because I made it rhyme with love. It's the flipside.
DRE: So over in the UK do they not have as many restrictions, at least with saying fuck?
SF: No, in the UK it's like we're European, we're not a neo-fascist, Christian fundamentalist state like America is. Even though I support neo-fascist fundamentalism in all its forms, but in England you can say things like fuck. You can show nipples in England and cocks and asses though America is sleazier. You've got these Girls Gone Wild adverts between every single TV program. I think these countries are fairly backwards anyways.
DRE: You guys keep late hours, so you must see a lot of Girls Gone Wild commercials.
SF: Oh yeah. We are pathetic TV-watching people. We come to embrace your culture and all we get are sluts.
DRE: There's nothing wrong with a good slut once in a while.
SF: Is that a fact?
DRE: Don't you think?
SF: Once in a while, but then when you're down with one you find you dont know where you anymore.
DRE: That's when you grab your clothes and you ask for the hotel manager.
SF: You've got so much more experience than I do.
DRE: What was the inspiration for Everything Is?
SF: Just jealousy of people with cash and chicks and haircuts. It's a fairly immature album, we should have grown out of this by now. It's embarrassing to be singing on stage about how unhappy you are.
DRE: Do all the members of the band feel the same way?
SF: I don't know. We've never had a vote on how we feel, so I couldn't actually give you a democratic view of that. I'm just saying that I'm deeply ashamed.
DRE: You guys don't have therapy sessions together like Metallica does?
SF: No but I love that films. That gives us something to look forward to. We just kick back, roll a few joints and chill with some honeys. No, actually we don't even smoke anymore because we all hate each other.
DRE: With some honeys. Is that your N.W.A. side coming out again?
SF: Yeah, exactly. We need to be more badass. We started spitting on stage recently and that seems to go down fairly well with American audiences. You can see Americans hate that.
DRE: How did these recording sessions with Beck and Elliot Smith come together?
SF: We got Beck's producer, Rob Schnapf, who created some of the most seminal alternative rock music of the nineties. Seeing as we are a seminal rock of the 90s rip-off band, we thought we could use an old producer from the 90s. It was good fun. We didn't care, we just went looking for more fun for each song. Make it fun.
DRE: How does the band get along?
SF: Usually someone will hate another person at some point. If I'm having a bad day, everyone hates me, then that's why I'm in a bad mood. We all get along very well, as long as we don't owe each other money. It's okay now.
DRE: The first single in the US is Cosmopolitan. What was the inspiration for that one specifically?
SF: It was how shit the magazine Cosmopolitan is. Its full of crap people giving their crap opinions about lifestyle products and what to wear this summer and how to get ahead in your job. Stupid stuff like, I've got this handbag and I've got this great sex life and I'm going upwardly mobile because I don't let things get me down. It's an anti-ambition song.
DRE: Nine Black Alps released an EP of B-sides in the UK, any chance of that coming out here?
SF: I have no control, I'm just a puppet in the machine. So, if the powers that be want to do that, they can do that. I'm sure they've got better things to do like something with Gwen Stefani.
DRE: How did the band get together?
SF: We met at a bar in Manchester. It was kind of this strange, little, indie discotheque where all the freaks in Manchester meet to compare haircuts and childhoods and stuff like that. We all were in a similar circle of people, slacking off the world, being bitter and twisted. For some reason, we decided one evening we were going to try and do something, which is not like us. That ended up being the band. Its cool and nave.
DRE: Are you guys excited about Coachella?
SF: Yeah. We just don't want to get sunburned. Last time we played in New York at Coney Island and we got badly sunburned. This time we're going to stay in the shade and hang in the VIP area. I don't even know who is playing. I'm sure there's some rock star player that we could try and obtain some cool points off. I'm just going to try to stay indoors.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
courtneyriot:
Nine Black Alps are a UK band made up of Sam Forrest, James Galley, Martin Cohen and David Jones. Their latest album, Everything Is, was released in the United States last year and they will be playing Coachella this weekend. I got a chance to speak to the bands...