Interview with Little Man Tate

It has just been 4 days ago, but I already mis this amazing band! My voice is still a mess and I can’t stop smiling when I think about them and that’s pretty much all the time... It may be obvious that they’ve made a huge impression on me and I’m sure that you’ll love them too cause... This is britpop like it should be! Sheffield's finest. Little Man Tate rocked Amsterdam and Utrecht and I had the privilege to meet them. Don’t you get jealous girls, you can still listen to their music on their myspace or buy their cd’s. This band makes the most pleasant britpop you’ve ever heard, but there is more about this band, something indescribable. Is it Jon’s on stage charisma? Ben, the sweetest musician I’ve ever met? Or simply the fact that they are the funniest band on the planet? Get a peek into the crazy world of Little Man Tate and find out that they have more to offer than just charm, charisma and good looks...

How are you Jon?

I’m very well thank you very much, how are you?

I’m great thanks. So a new cd, brand new tour, how do you prepare for such a tour like this?

We’ve had a bit of a shopping expedition. We’ve had some rehearsals and picked out the songs that we wanted to play. We just practiced every now and then so we can get into a routine of exactly knowing what is happening. But every gig is different. We get better as the tour goes along basically. We’ve already had our first gig on the way but what is going on tonight should be really good.

How was the gig yesterday?

Great, yeah Belgium, it was really busy as well. We didn’t have any expectations when we went on this tour. When it is busy great, if not that than that’s no problem either.

So what can people expect from a Little Man Tate gig?

Well, hopefully we will be one of those bands that you see and you would like to see again. I mean too many times people go to see concerts and stand at the bar like they don’t really care about the band. We just want to get a bit more. I would like to see a cheer in the eye.

Most rock stars like Amsterdam for the sex drugs and rock ‘n roll, what do you think is the nicest thing about Amsterdam?

Well those three things! I’m not sure if my mom might read this.... Are you going to write this interview in Dutch?

No in English...

So I’m not saying sex or drugs now, cause my mom reads it. What more is nice about Amsterdam? I can say what is not nice about Amsterdam. The pedal boats! We went on a pedal boat and it didn’t work, we fell out. Well, is was a bit of a nightmare. But I think it is a great city, it is great!

Have you been to the red light district?

Never! Ever! Ever! Yeah we’ve been there, we’ve been to the Wallen. We window shopped there. You know just like girls do when they go shopping and love some pair of shoes, which they can’t afford.

You’ve performed here before on the London Calling festival, how did you experience that?

Yeah that was really good, the crowd gave us a really good vibe and a warm welcome. It seemed that when we played people were really interested. London Calling is great, it’s really good, I love the festival and I love the bands.

There are a lot of Britpop bands on the London Calling festival, but still you managed to stand out, what is your secret?

How we managed to stand out? Did we? Thank you! Probably it is just charm, charisma, good looks....I think that the thing with our band is that we have been on the other side of the stage so many times. We have watched bands and that made us know what we wanted to see on stage. When I see a band I would like to see that they want to be there and are happy to be there, I think that is a good thing.There is a voice for everyone if they would like to be there, but we try to be excited. If you stop turning yourself on then you should better stop doing it. Musically....
If you don’t enjoy playing yourself, you shouldn’t play in a band.

What is the relationship like between all those Britpop bands, is there like a lot of competition going on?

Well, not for us. A lot of bands though feel like it is a competition, but we just concentrate on our music and we play it for ourselves and for the people that want to hear our music and not for the other bands. It is too easy to get yourself upset with other bands. There is a lot of jealousy out there, but it is not too bad.

Are you very cultured people?

Are we very cultured? We are a bit more cultured than I think a lot of people think we are! It all depends on what you mean by cultured. I think that a lot of people think that all we do is bing the bells and making love to beautiful woman. But there is a lot more to it than that. We are definitely you know... SHIT! We’re not cultured at all! But in Belgium we went to that little boy (manneke pis). He pissed out a fire. I don’t get why he is so muscled, he is like six years old, it is impossible! On the other hand we knew about other venues and we like to go to places. But most people are not going to be too bothered by a museum or a capital. So no we’re not cultured at all...Shocking!

You’ve released the album: “Nothing worth having comes easy”. What are the main differences between “About what you know”and “Nothing worth having comes easy”?

With the first album we just wrote the songs and played them live. On that moment we never know that we would make an album out of it. With the second album we went to the studio, wrote the album and then played it live. Does that make sense? Completely the opposite way around. So many times you’ve got this songs on the album and you’re like shit how are we going to play that live? I think it is quite interesting doing it the other way around. I think that is a bit more mature. And maybe there are a bit more messages and deeper meaningful lyrics on the second album. With “About what you know” we just took the surface on life, but also we’ve had loads of stories on the first one about growing up and things like that. On the second one we couldn’t do it exactly the same. So we tried to change it, we tried to be little bit more mature and thoughtful. See, I’m f*cking cultured!

What things inspire you to write the lyrics?

It is about real life I think. About things that we’ve experienced and saw. But all the way trough the album we can say that it was worth it. It is quite cool.

If you could be a woman for one day, what would you do?

Stay in all day! Get as many pair of nice shoes and lingerie as I can. I would start the video camera and make my own solo masturbation. Would I find man attractive as I do woman? Would I be attracted to woman? Would I be a lesbian though? So yeah, I want to make love to another woman.

Wouldn’t you make love to a man?

No, I think I would still make love to a woman. But I don’t know what to do if it is a woman. I don’t know, if I like man like I like woman now as a man, then I’d go out and get lots of drinks in bars. But I wouldn’t give myself up, I would play hard to get. That’s like the weirdest question I’ve ever been asked!

If you were president of the United States, what would you do?

If I were president of the United States I would make a phone call to skin records and tell them that I would like to have Little Man Tate over here to do a massive tour. Then I would make a call to mayor radio stations and say: I love this band called Little Man Tate, I want you to play them! I would get free food, free drinks. Do you think they really need me when they’ve got him? I mean he’s good looking! Anyway, it is impossible, I would be kicked to the ground. If I were president of the United States it probably wouldn’t last much more than a day...

So I’ve heard that you would like to become the biggest band of the world, apart from the money, why would you like to achieve that?

We want the critical acclaim, we want what we should have had all along. I still do believe that we are one of the best bands in Britain in the last five/ten years. You know, we’ve sold out gigs, we’ve sold out tours, we’ve released records, but we’ve never really had the critical acclaim. We want to be respected and we want people to talk about us. Forgetting about the money, forgetting about everything else we just want to be recognized as a music force! But with the money I would also be very happy.

How far would you go to achieve that? Matthew, the lead singer of the Pigeon Detectives kissed two guys on stage. Would you do such crazy things just to get attention?

Who would kiss Matthew?! I wouldn’t kiss him, he’s not really my type...I probably wouldn’t kiss just to get attention, but maybe that gets you on radio, maybe that is not about the music anymore. It probably gets you magazines and radio airplays.

Are there any huge festivals planned this year?

Not yet, we’ve got this tour and we’ll have a gig in Sheffield in March, but that is as far as we’ve planned the gigs. Normally the festivals come in around March. We also have the third album to record as well, so we like to do a festival, but we don’t know how may time there is going to be needed to be recording and writing.
I bet she kissed Matthew!

NO! I really didn’t!

Yeah, because when I said those things about him she was like NAAAH... I feel awful now! No, he is a very good looking guy... If I would have that hair I would have it long, definitely! When I was about ten I wanted my hair permanent so much! But my mom is a hair cutter and she wouldn’t do it...

Do you have any tattoos?

Yeah I have six, this one means that something is going to change my world, it is from a Beatles lyric. But the minute I had it done I thought: Well that is bullshit! Cause lots of things changed my world! When I got my very first guitar, I took a picture of it and took it to the tattoo shop and I asked if she could do that.

What is your favorite guitar?

I like playing my Fender, but I like Telecasters as well. But my favorite guitar is my acoustic guitar with which I write the songs. Sometimes I do that when I’m in my room and then I get out at night, have a few drinks and write a song. My favorite guitar is my Taylor, nobody else can touch it, cause it is very expensive. I’ve got plugins too and amplifiers... How did we get from the tattoos to the guitars?

What is the weirdest thing a fan ever gave to you?

Toe socks, when we were in Japan.They were kind of weird! They were like foot gloves.

If this wasn’t your career what would you be?

Probably a politician. Or actually I would say a footballer. But if I wasn’t a footballer, what would I be? Than I would probably work for the government. Then I would get a big cheque!

Are there any more juicy details you would like to share with the Taters?

What happened so far? They’ve lost the key to the room in Belgium. We’ve played there with the Soulwasters, they are great, you should check them out! They could possibly be the nicest people in the world as well.

Jon: Do you have any questions guys?

Dan: What is your favorite food?

Everything! I love food. I would be quite happy if my life could be filled with food, beer and woman. Do you need anything more than that? Is there anything more than that? Why would you need woman if you’ve got all that? No actually you don’t need anything more than food and beer.