"It started about a year ago. I was living in a council flat on my own and I just had this overwhelming desire to make music. But I didn't really want to deal with other people so I started using what was to hand, which was very basic drum machine, basic keyboard, guitar and started just making music. Eventually I bought a four track and that turned out to be one of the best things that I've done. I enjoyed so much making my own recordings. So about a year ago I started recording my songs onto CDRs and getting them into local record shops before I did a live gig. Getting up and doing a gig was a difficult thing for me, just the logistics of how I was going to do it".

What do you think people were responding to with your CDs?

"People commented on the way they sounded mostly. It's such a basic sound, it's a four track in a flat and you intuitively decide how it should sound on a CD. There is something about the simplicity of it that demands that the song itself should be good enough. If you are recording on a four track you can't record a crap song, because it will really sound like a crap song. So I think it has forced me to make sure that the song itself is really good. Last year I had no interest in drum machines but now I love that synthetic cold sound. And I love the economy and the precision, these are the things I have learned to do well by working with a four track and drum machines".

Was it a subconscious thing in terms what you may have been listening to anyway?

"Maybe. But I am very drawn to a sort of coldness and efficiency actually. A huge benchmark or grounding force in my mind is Joy Division actually, and early New Order. I am aware that the current fad in the NME and other parts of the music industry is a very diluted version of post-punk, but when you actually look at the original stuff you realise the fad is simply that, it is nothing like the original. When I listen to Joy Division it feels like almost a religious experience, but the actual sounds that they are making... I love that article that Paul Morley wrote, in it he said that Joy Division don't belong to rock music, and I feel like I don't belong to rock music, I don't want to. The word rock means nothing to me. Working with a four track allowed me stay outside of those rock conventions, although unfortunately when I play live I feel closer to those conventions. But for want of a thousand pound electronic drum kit there is not much I can do at the moment. It means I'm never really satisfied with my sound".

Do you ever question why you are making music?

"Yeah, all the time. I suffer incredible anxiety about what the fuck I'm doing, and I'm twenty eight and I've never had a proper job in the real world. Yeah I'm questioning myself all the time. Why music though? I feel like I have a really strong drive to create textures that actually mean something. I'm reasonably confident that I can do that reasonably well. I think it's a worthwhile thing to do. It's too hard to look up to people I admire, like Joy division and Will Oldham,
but at the same time I think thank Christ that they have done such amazing music, it's something to strive for yourself whether I can achieve anything like that or not. I'm interested in things that are other, ethereal in a way. Things that transcend what is going on, extreme things like Joy Division, extreme poetry or extreme film making. Things that make you almost feel that you can't live your everyday reality".

Do you feel you are working in the best medium to express the strong emotions you are obviously feeling, or do you think you could move on to somewhere else to express them better?

"Well, I did a fine art degree and have had a number of poems published so I do feel like I explore across the board of various mediums. But there is something about music that is so immediate and kind of intoxicating. Visual art and poetry take a lot longer".

Do you feel like you need that immediacy on a personal level or is it more to do with your art?

"I feel like I have chosen music because I simply feel so excited about it, in terms of maybe seeing an old video of a favourite band or something. I don't find anything more exciting than that really. It's a big thing to aspire to but I can't help it. I think that art and poetry have as lasting an effect as music, so I suppose it is a personal thing. I feel like I can't survive without music".

Do you feel that can hinder you in what you create, that need for immediacy?

"I'm not sure that it hinders me. I know that I do get obssessed with one band or another for a certain time, get preoccupied with the textures and recording techniques. I find it endlessly rewarding listening to bands".

Your vocals are quite individualistic. How hard is it to do that? Are you conscious of who your heroes are all the time when performing?

"Gigs for me are very intense. Before and after them I usually think, why the hell am I doing this. Surely it should be more enjoyable, or at least I think I should be able to enjoy something. I do get suspicious when I see bands who appear to be enjoying themselves too much. Not so much now, as I'm working with a drummer, but when it was just me and a drum machine i felt intensely isolated. I wish I was less self conscious on stage".

But if you lost that self consciousness maybe you would lose...

"The tension? Ah, maybe. So you think that it's a good thing to be like that".

Yeah I think it's essential in terms of creativity.

"Thats comforting in an anxious kind of way".

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