How did tattie toes get together?

Shane. "Howie and I got together just to jam originally. And howie had known Nerea previous to that, and we both agreed that it would be a great idea to get her involved. Rafe came in later. We had both played in a band called Johnson, and Nerea and I played in a German band before that called Crackity".

Howie. "For the first year Nerea, shane and I jammed. We didn't write songs, just got a chemistry together. We were all quite different musically, which was good because I think that has meant we have learnt new things and adapted our individual playing. Nerea and I were from completely different backgrounds, and I listen back to rehearsal recordings and Shane's drumming isn't at all like my bass playing. But this makes the band rich and eclectic".

So a year of just jamming was essential to the progression?

Nerea. "Well it's the way that works best for us".

Shane. "And because we are all quite mature as musicians we are happy to compromise for each other, to not hang on to our own musical bits..."

Rafe. "We are not Like, I want my bit in there... if it doesn't work each of us is fine".

Do you think you all got together at the right point in time, that it couldn't have happened at other periods of your lives?

Howie. "I think for me it has been the right time. I wasn't so flexible a few years ago, but now I enjoy learning off other people more and more. I used to ultra compose, but this band isn't like that".

Nerea. "We started off with the idea that we would be an improvising band, and I'm not sure how that changed".

Shane."We recorded everything in rehearsals and it seemed a natural progression to start to piece the bits we liked together".

Nerea. "I think the pressure of a gig helped us decide that we wanted to play what we knew and was working."

Howie. "We have improvised at gigs recently and I'm sure we will do more in the future. No idea how long the group will last but I do like the idea of evolution. I feel really hungry to learn about all sorts of different music, maybe incorporate them some way, and use different instruments. I'd much rather listen to what I don't know than what I do know these days.

Rafe. "Recently Nerea has been singing a couple of tradtional Basque songs and we have been improvising around those. It would be great to bring in different combinations like that into the set".

Shane. "We have also been talking about bringing in samples, loop machines and the like, as oppose to bringing in other musicians. There is a lot more to do with this current line up".

Rafe. "I hear lots of African music and want to do these African type looped riffs on the violin that go on for about two weeks, but Howie says they sound to bluesy. But anything goes basically, if it works we will use it".

Howie. "We all feel the same way about pushing ourselves. Of going beyond what we already know. Like I would love to play an Eastern European folk festival. We are fortunate that we are a type of band that could fit into a lot of different nights or festivals. We could do an indie night as well as lots of others. Most of the gigs we have done so far have tended to be a mix of different bands. The last Glasgow one was with an improvising band, a string quartet and an indie band.

What types of responses have you been getting at gigs?

Howie. "Overall very good. Although the nights we play tend to be a mix of different bands, there is a DIY punk ethos that underpins them all. This generally makes for open minded audiences".

Nerea. "Woman tell me they feel empowered, which I think is very good and positive".

Howie. "That is one of the reasons why I wanted to work with Nerea, the way she sings and performs is empowering. She shows such feminity and is so gutsy as well. Its a rare thing in music. It shouldn't be but it is".

Nerea, any clues to what you are singing about?

Nerea. "There are many different themes in the present set of songs. One of them is about a mother who's son is taken to prison one night. There is a shanty about love... well, about someone's love who doesn't come back. But this is the first band in which I write all of the words. I have been singing since i was very young, but it is only now that I have started to feel like a writer. I don't particularly write about myself, it is observations of what I sea around me".

Howie. "As far as influences are concerned...its so easy to say this, and I don't want it to be a cliche... but it isn't other bands it is a way of living. And this is part time, we all have other things we do... especially in this climate where everything is moving towards being commodified. That's not a big angry political statement, it's just a fact of lets hang out, lets express ourselves... and because of that the people who tend to gravitate towards us are good and interesting people.

There is a real humanity to what you do. Does that come from the bond you have struck up as a band?

Shane. "I think we are pretty much honest folk. We are not trying to kid anyone on".

Howie. "And we are all of a certain age and not deluded. I love being in a band but it is only a band, and I think if you say that openly it can become a little bit more special. It's like, you are not an amazing person for being in a band. I like it when people have said that they love what we do but we are so unassuming about it. Well, that is probably why they like it in a way".

Rafe. "I think when you are playing it's hard not to get egotistical about it, but it is something you should always fight. As soon as you do start thinking that it's likely that you are going to sound shite, it's a downward thing..."

Howie. "You can see it in certain musicians faces, they elevate themselves. It comes across like, yeah we are part of a scene and aren't we dead good. But it doesn't reach out beyond a scene. I want people outside the scene to see us. I did a vocal workshop with this amazing guy Phil Minton, and he told us about doing workshops in Japan with people who were homeless. It's that sort of humility that makes that personal elevation, that propounding of grand ideas about yourself appear pointless".

Could you see Tattie Toes going beyond rock gigs and doing different projects?

Shane. "We are all quite loosely connected with the theatre and so we work with kids on various projects. That really interests us, to do music for theatre and make the music quite theatrical even".

Howie. "I think without losing it we will put on more of a show eventually. We have spoken about costumes and other little things".

It is theatrical anyway. I was speaking to someone and they said they enjoyed watching each one of you seperately doing you individual thing. Is that humility, you are not posing or anything?

Shane. "Are you referring to Howie's shorts"?

Rafe. "We do attempt to put on a show. We are all aware that you have to perform to a certain extent".

Shane. "I think sometimes performance comes out of how comfortable you are with your instrument. Folk tend to respond to that. But I never feel like I'm performing when I'm drumming".

Nerea. "Me neither".

Rafe. "But you ( to Shane) are very visual as a drummer. At times in rehearsals I have lost time because I have been mesmerized with watching the way your hands move".
(Shane works as a puppeteer)

Nerea. "But he is not consciously performing".

Howie. "Even so you do want to connect to the audience. Even when an audience is gunning for you at least you can respond back, and that is performing in a way. The more an audience gives you the more you want to give back".

Shane. "At the gig we did last night we could hear people talking during the quiet moments of the set and that rattled us a bit. That is something we shouldn't allow to happen. We need to keep ourselves together, keep performing, at the quiter more heart felt moments".

Howie. "I think to keep it together you have to be less precious and feel like you have nothing to prove. I've learnt to play gigs without feeling that it has to be amazing for the audience. To go out and try to enjoy yourself is as important as anything, and I think that makes us accessible. And if there is a mistake it's no big deal".

Rafe. "With mistakes the important thing is how you recover from them".

Howie. "I saw a band recently and one of the members was wincing at his mistakes. And all you end up doing is concentrating on the wincing member and not the music".

Nerea, do you ever explain to the others what the songs are about so they can interpret them in specific ways?

Nerea. "I don't really talk about them, no. Maybe because I'm only recently starting to get them finished. I have been changing them a lot. Possibly I should explain what they are about before we perform them".

Howie. "Before? Do you mean to the audience she should explain them"?

No, I was talking about to the band.

Nerea. "Oh. Yes maybe even to the audience if the song is in Basque. Some people may want to know".

But does it surprise you what the band put to your lyrics?

Nerea. "Actually sometimes the ideas come while the band is jamming, the music evokes a thought that turns into a story".

Howie. "At the beginning her voice was simply another important musical instrument. But now that the stories have come along Nerea has a great mix of that with her vocal dynamics and screeches".

Tattie Toes has no Myspace page or a website. Are you eventually going to use these things to promote the band?

Rafe. "We do intend to get a website up and running. I work in web design but I hate having anything to do with computers when I'm outside of my job. So that's maybe why we haven't set anything up yet.

Howie. "I'm quite ambivalent about Myspace. I don't think you should be on a high moral podium about it too much though. It's easy to create and easy to access so maybe we should be using it".

Is Myspace just some clever marketing ploy?

Rafe. "It's probably not very clever. But I think what you could do is use it, because more people will obviously go there and find Tattie Toes, and then drive them to your website. Most bands on Myspace put music on their page, so possibly it would be good to not put any tracks on the page but indicate that you could get free downloads on the website. So you use the website to say more about the band, and you can be more creative with the design of a website than you can with a Myspace page. I think it's a better way to get a feel for a band".
Howie. "Yeah, some sort of independence in the present climate is important. But as a band we do want to reach as many people as possible. My favourite band is De Kift, and at their gigs you see such a wide age range of people. From eight to eighty, up dancing, its amazing. Thats what I want for Tattie Toes.

Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.