Interview: Spectres

“I remember waking up with a really bad hangover and being in a new band”, admits Spectres vocalist/guitarist Joe Hatt.
For a band birthed after a booze-sodden evening, Bristol-based fuzzsters Spectres have conjured a sizzling distorted guitar sound packing enough bite to obliterate any cobwebs lingering after a heavy night on the sauce.
With early comparisons to US indie-rock behemoths Sonic Youth and sumptuous dream-pop pioneers My Bloody Valentine, the four-piece are a best-kept secret of ground-breaking proportions, a group whose clinical brand of soul-smothering noise penetrates the senses like a wild nailgun.
Jarvis Cocker may have famously sang “do you remember the first time?”, but do you remember the first time you slapped Sonic Youth’s ‘Dirty’ into your beloved Walkman and shook with awe as Thurston Moore’s gloopy guitar hooks became etched onto your psyche? Or do you remember drowning in the spectral soundscape that omitted from MBV’s emotionally-drowning classic ‘Loveless’? What about the super-dirty bassline on Jesus and Mary Chain’s Sidewalking? Shamefully, these heady days of noise pop emerged more than 20 years ago; even more tragic is how this wondrous genre has barely touched the UK’s radar over the past decade.
Thankfully, all this is about to change – step forward Spectres.
Luminous Plectrum took time out with vocalist/guitarist Joe Hatt and axe-man Adrian Dutt for their first ever interview.

Spectres are undoubtedly emerging talents. After forming 18 months ago, the band, consisting of Joe and Adrian, drummer Darren Frost and bassist Ben Curtis, made the ingenious move from hometown Barnstaple, Devon, and set up home in Bristol, one of the UK’s finest and most exciting cities.
Most of their ground work for success was put in after Darren was ruled out injured for six months with a broken leg.
“We all came form mediumly-successful bands, but were never satisfied with the musical style”, said Adrian.
“After much chitter-chatter and broken promises we did some jamming and realised we were what we’d been searching for. Personally for me, I’ve just been collecting my favourite musicians in order to create the noisiest band ever. You’d be surprised how easy it is to convince drunk boys that ‘being in a band with me’ will make their dreams come true.”
Joe agrees. “Yeah, I remember waking up with a really bad hangover and being in a new band.
“I enjoyed being in my old band, but it was never really that serious – well, it was for me actually, but it was more of a social thing by the end of it. I think it was always inevitable that we were going to do something together!”.

Since the move, things have been on the up. They’ve just dropped stunning debut EP 'Family', produced by Rory Attwell from Male Bonding. The EP was recorded over a period of two days in “deepest darkest Dalston”, says Adrian.
He said: “'Family' was written over the period of a few months.
“The songs constantly evolved, we fell out and in of love with some, but around February we knew we have five songs that were ready to be unleashed.
“Our sound has constantly evolved too. We knew we wanted walls of noise, but still enough melody for it to be enjoyable.
“The bass has to be a constant driving force, so we can build the guitars around it.

We’ve already touched upon the clear influence Sonic Youth have on their material, but it turns out Joe bought his first ever Sonic Youth CD from his band mate.
He said: “I bought my first ever Sonic Youth CD from Adrian about six years ago after I’d run out of Pink Floyd albums to buy.
“I do listen to a lot of Sonic Youth, and I am definitely influenced by them in quite a few ways’ musically, artistically, and in terms of how a band should be run.
“In terms of other bands, I think me and Darren going to the Nightmare Before Christmas ATP a couple of years ago and seeing A Place To Bury Strangers blow our hangovers out of our ears was a landmark moment.”
Adrian added: “For me, Sonic Youth had existed in my periphery for years, but I had never properly indulged. I think had we all been into Sonic Youth in a big way, Spectres would sound different.
“My influences are angular, spazzy bands like ‘The Plot to Blow Up The Eiffel Tower’, ‘Settlefish’ and bands with a loud/quiet dynamic, not epic post rock, but visceral in your face changes.”

The dizzying 'Family' EP was dropped on Soundcloud three months ago and the reaction has been positive. But Adrian admits taking that first step from safely sharing the material with friends and family to the wider audience was a scary one.
He said: “We never really got our old songs out beyond our friends, so this step into the big wide world is scary, but rewarding.
“Audiences are generally either really into us, or holding their ears. We did have a bad run of being billed alongside folk bands, which really didn’t work!
“My favourite song on the EP is probably Elephant Skin – it happened so naturally, a jam which turned into this driving Velvet Underground-style tribal call to arms. It’s better live than on record, as Joe’s glasses usually fall off.”

Getting Male Bonding’s Rory Attwell on board to produce their fuzz-infused spectrum of glorious art pop is somewhat of a coup, and the band have nothing but kind words to say about him and his methods in capturing the rawness of their live performances and slathering it into the record.
“Rory is like a wizard, in a knitted jumper and nice patterned shirts”, said Adrian. “He had some great ideas during the recorded process, and he captured the live sound perfectly.
“He is literally a genius, and he knows where the good sandwich shops are, AND he lives football – shame he supports a naff team.”
Joe said: “Yep, he knew what to do with us straight away. That’s why we managed to get five songs recorded and mastered in two days, and exactly how we wanted them to sound, which had been almost impossible up until then.
“I think Rory pretty much nailed how I’d want us to sound through stereo speakers.”

How do Spectres view their career so far? “The move to Bristol was a big turning point,” admits Adrian. “I’d been wanting to leave for ages, and said that come January this year, I was moving whatever, which would have been a shame to leave the band behind, but we have sorted ourselves out, got up here and are definitely making the most of it.”
Joe said: “I think we’ve achieved what we wanted to, in terms of forming a band and making the music we love.
“We are lucky enough to be able to now take that music and play it to strangers, and those strangers in turn say nice things to us and sometimes even buy things from us which helps us to buy new leads and stuff.
“Personal achievements for me are my cycling proficiency badge and the 50-metre backstroke – both acquired in the last few months. Also, I finally grew up.”

In our opinion, 'Family' EP is the start of a fruitful future for Spectres, but where do they see themselves in the next year or so? Adrian hopes to see Darren Frost performing every gig in his pants.
He said: “We want to expose as many people as we can to our music, and hopefully tour more, play more festivals, and record an album. All that in the next 12 months please.”
Joe added: “It would be nice to have people eagerly awaiting a new EP or even an album, and for it not have to take about 326 emails to different venues to get a tour of seven dates. “I'd like for Bristol to get more coverage as well; coverage away from the usual scenes it is labelled with like drum ‘n’ bass etc as there are some really exciting bands here.
“It would also be nice to have the tremelo arm on my Jazzmaster fixed, and for Sheffield Wednesday to be in the Championship, with Gary Megson on a missing persons list.”

Some could call it Male Bonding, but a strong connection between this blog and Spectres has clearly formed, one that humbles mountains and shines as bright as a twinkling clear night sky. Adrian and Joe clearly agree.
Adrian adds: “Come and watch us live – it’s well good, and we have a plethora of good ghost stories if you need a scare. I once saw a Victorian boy who died in a well. I followed him all the way into the undergrowth in the woods, and there was this hidden well.
“Scary. I don’t follow boys in woods often though.”
Joe concludes: “Thank you for inviting us to our first ever interview. We are now bonded forever and you can come to our funeral.”

Readers can pre-order the 'Family' EP from Howling Owl Records or Rough Trade. Check out Elephant Skin and Surrogate Mother below.

We heart new music here at Luminous Plectrum. If you are in a band and would like to be featured on the blog, get in touch by e-mailing luminous_plectrum@hotmail.co.uk, or follow us on Twitter at @luminousplectrm

Elephant Skin by Spectres

Surrogate Mother by Spectres