Occasionally, musicians send details of what they do to the Spill, asking to be featured. One recent request came from Matt of Tiny Birds, who said: “We just wanted to tell you about our new song, The Photographs That You Took (streaming at www.tinybirds.co.uk).
“It’s about morning-after type regret, but never has the sound of regret been so damn jaunty. We recorded it in a live session in June, and hope you like it.”
Well, I gave it a listen and I like it, so I asked Matt to tell us a bit about Tiny Birds, and this is what he said:
Q: When was the band formed, how many and who are the members?
A: The band started in September 2009, rising from the ashes of a loose indie folk collective that played glockenspiels, mini-accordions and ukuleles under a backpackers bar in south London. Only Matt and Dave remain from that time, with Mark, Tom and Tim posting and answering a variety of online adverts to create the current five piece that’s been going since about March 2010.
Q: What instruments do you all play?
A: Dave sings and plays the ukulele, guitar, percussion and thundermaker. Matt also sings and plays ukulele and guitar. Tom drums and sings, Mark plays banjo and Tim is on bass.
Q: Are you London-based, or elsewhere?
A: We’re all London-based, with each of us living in a variety of far-flung parts of the city.
Q: How many albums have you produced?
A: We released Hymns for the Careless earlier this year, a new single called The Photographs That You Took in July 2010 as well.
Q: What or who are your main influences?
A: One sound guy who had worked with Arcade Fire did say that he thought we sounded like them, and we’re likened to Belle and Sebastian a lot; obviously they’re both very flattering. One blogger also said our music conjured images of Buster Keaton, which is a massive compliment, and a German blogger described us as “Pogueseskem Folk” which apparently means we sound a bit like The Pogues. Cross all of those and that’s a good summary of our influences.
Q: Where can people download / listen to your music?
A: Our album and single can be downloaded for free at www.tinybirds.co.uk.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: We’re promoting The Photographs That You Took to blogs and magazines, while also spending lots of time working on new songs. The one we’re currently working on has the longer-haired members of the band banging their heads in excitement, and I’m certainly having a lot of fun playing it, though my hair’s quite short.
Q: Where can people see you?
A:
23 August (tomorrow!) at Zigfrid von Underbelly, 11 Hoxton Square, London N1
22 September at Camden Monarch
29 September at New Cross Inn
(October dates available from the band)
Q: Anything else you would like us to know?
A: We’re confident that we’re the only band who can claim to have written three songs about Greek myths, as well as a song called Jeff Goldblum.
Give them a listen, and see what you think!
I like the song a lot! I hear a bit of Billy Bragg there, too. I’m going to look for more. I want to find the songs about Greek myths.
(And nice interview, Ali)
Steen – try http://www.myspace.com/tinybirdsongs/music. The one I listened to was “Ariadne”.
It is indeed a jaunty little number!
I liked this hugely. Shame I am not in London to go and see them. I strangely needed a pint of Guiness to go with the song. Going to visit the website.
Thanks Ali. Great interview.
if you go to their bandcamp page – you can download the ‘hymns for the careless’ album for free.. (then buy a hard copy cd for a fiver (if you like it and don’t want to lose it when your computer crashes!)
LINK HERE
love the interview ..
what I want to know is: Tiny Birds? named after the Yo La Tengo song, or just after little featured things?
I dunno, I will ask and see if they’ll tell me!
Hi there, it’s Matt here!
Our name comes from an an article about how tiny birds have more complex songs than bigger birds. While our songs are hardly complex, we liked the idea and thought it was a good name for a band (plus we like the Yo La Tengo song).
You can read the article at http://www.topnews.in/tiny-birds-have-more-complex-songs-big-birds-2239425
Thanks for all the lovely comments all, really nice to read. Look out for more free music over at http://www.tinybirds.co.uk.
thanks Matt – a very good reason to call yourselves Tiny Birds – sounds simple and non egotistical, but dig deeper and the truth comes (complexly) chirping out – just as it should – hee hee!
thanks for the info.
Plus, the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs, as we Be Good Tanyas fans well know.
Good song Matt!
And of course ‘Little Birds Have Fast Hearts’, according to the great Peter Broetzmann…
Nice interview, Ali. Band name is growing on me now it’s been explained, still might get lost in the flock of bird band names. Hope not, it’s good stuff.
Thanks, Shoey!