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Added: 05/06/2009
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Soho Dolls
Article added: 05/06/2009
Convinced or Confused? Picture the scene: The Fat Fox; an intimate music venue in the heart of Southsea. It’s packed to the rafters with the type of young, beautiful people who inhabit hot, sweaty places like this, managing to look effortlessly cool regardless. Looking around, I ask myself, "what the hell am I doing here?"
It's been 25 years since I last squeezed into my skin-tight drainpipes, pulled on my Chelsea boots and spiked my hair into a gravity-defying style. Most of the in-crowd around me weren’t born when I was getting battered and bruised watching The Cure, Lords of the New Church, Bauhaus et al. Yet I still feel strangely comfortable and remarkably (given my middle-aged costume) unobtrusive.
So, the reason I find myself in this strangely wonderful, seedy place is that I am to interview one of the most talented, fascinating and, quite frankly gorgeous, bands of the day – the Soho Dolls. I've never done anything like this before, so I’ve been doing my homework. If I'm honest, I’m still feeling out of my depth. There’s a very real possibility that the band will quickly uncover me as the imposter that I am and refuse to give me the interview I desire.
There are two reasons for my fears:
1) The simple, compelling fact that journalists from the ‘recognised’ music press do everything they can to inform the reader by making them feel ill informed. By rendering them impotent, insignificant, and un-cool by incessant name dropping and making references to artists unknown to any but a select few of their own clique.
2) Moreover, in my day ‘Soho Dolls’ would have been something ordered through the classifieds at the back of a sleazy magazine and delivered in a plain brown wrapper to be inflated in privacy later…so how does someone of my generation relate to these people?
After hours of waiting with endless drinks and for the inevitable sound problems to be fixed, it was time for the Soho Dolls themselves to perform! Although stuck on a cramped stage, and faced with (yet another) sound problem-related delay, they eventually got to launch into their set. The band has an incredibly close relationship with their fans, which is evident throughout the show; the place is positively heaving. All the material is performed with oodles of style and sex appeal – matched by top class musicianship. More than this though, the dark and seedy yet sensual content of their art is delivered with a biting wit and humour that was totally unexpected…I haven’t met them yet but already I’m convinced rather than confused...just hoping I can convince them that I am credible as an interviewer rather than leave them confused as to why I bothered to turn up.
So; half-midnight and it’s time to meet the band. I sit down with vocalist Maya and guitarist Toni and ask the stock questions about how they met and early influences. It transpires that an old girlfriend of Toni’s was a huge fan of the Soho Dolls and dragged him along to see them play at the Rhythm Factory, Toni liked what he saw (except, coming from a rock ‘n’ roll background, admits that he didn’t like the drums being on a mini disc) and the rest is history.
I asked the band about upcoming dates, following on from a really hectic schedule at the end of 2007 promoting the album (the acclaimed ‘Ribbed Music for the Numb Generation’) and a few dates coming up in the US.
Maya – the dates in America have just been postponed as we are playing the CMJ Festival in New York in October so it makes sense to play the other dates whilst we are there; but we’re in Germany in May and are going to Japan in June so this will be our last UK show for a while.
Toni – Yeah, we’ve promoted the album enough now, we’ve started writing the next one and have about 20 ideas for songs but none are finished yet. They probably won’t be finished until the final studio stage as we tend to constantly tweak them until we’re all happy. Maya is the main songwriter, the driving force though.
Maya – but all of [the band] do their own thing, I might come up with the original idea. Toni and Steve (keyboards) have come up with new ideas too now which is nice because the first album was mainly me, so we are more collaborative now then ever.
I ask them both about the stuff coming out of the music press at the moment and about them being regularly pigeonholed as ‘Electro-Pop’ or ‘Electro-Punk’
Maya – Well, we do have various interests and influences obviously and I don’t mind if what they say is positive about the band, but it is a bit annoying when they say it’s just electro because we are more than that.
Toni – We don’t usually just stand around either, we normally go pretty wild on stage but tonight there was no room, I had a double bass on one side of me, a wall on the other and the crowd a foot in front of me!
On mentioning the crowd, I ask them about the intimate relationship they appear to have with their fans.
Maya – It’s probably a bit of an internet thing, Toni and I were talking about this the other day, I think sometimes we’ve been a bit too intimate with them, sometimes we’ve ended up with people sleeping all over the place – in our flats and I’d like to sort of turn it down a bit instead of keep adopting people!
Toni – Yeah, we really need to put a little distance in there, that’s all we’re saying, but we’re just not very good at doing it!
Maya – But we really appreciate anyone who ‘gets It’, who likes the music, understands it, digs it. Because you’re really up against it with the typical press like the NME, who need to see that it’s really good music and the message is sometimes secondary. For most people, they might not even listen to the lyrics, although WE are very proud of our lyrics we still want them to just put the record on when they get home.
Steve comes in at this point and whilst Maya, Toni and Steve are together talking about people who ‘get’ them, I ask about the comment Maya has made regarding audiences and the Soho Dolls efforts to either ‘convince them…or confuse them’.
Maya (laughing) – it’s a lyric in one of our songs (‘Right and Right Again’) and it’s something my Dad used to say to me when I was going to interviews at good schools or trying to get work experience. It meant to basically sell myself well and if I couldn’t, to make sure I left having made a BIG mess! I think it’s a good moral philosophy, like 50 Cent says, “get rich, or die trying!” or better still….if your ship is sinking, take everyone down with you!
I point out the multi-layered nature of their art, the style, the look, the music, the lyrics and the design of their publicity and CD artwork. Do many people really get ALL of it?
Maya – between us [the band] we’ve got this world we inhabit and we all know, without discussing it, what this world of the Soho Dolls is. Music is the most important part of it, the tunes and melodies, after that it’s lyrics and after that is the artwork and knowledge of what nice is. It’s like working with the graphic designer to do the album art which took ages – but in a good way. He really got us and the world we wanted to portray.
This recognition illustrates the particular and unique Soho Dolls world, Toni explains more – We all like the same things…when we’re in the studio, we always agree about things, without even talking. The whole album went like that…like we’re all on the same frequency.
Maya – we all like such a wide range of music. When bands start, there’s sometimes a shyness to say, ‘well I like this track or that song’ we’re not like that.
Steve interjects – Maya likes Britney Spears! (which is rich coming from Steve who has Gary Numan ‘Cars’ as a ring tone…it went off whilst I was there!).
Maya comes back – I only like ‘Toxic’!
Toni – Yeah, ‘Toxic’ is a really great track…but all her other songs suck!
Maya – Soho Dolls’ world is one that is constantly evolving, people don’t have to understand it but it’s like seeing the world from a more narrow perspective, because as a band, we focus on different things.
The first album was about pleasure and pain, humour, madness, wanting to be part of a gang like Clockwork Orange. You look at everything in popular culture and not so popular culture and as Soho Dolls we have our own unique filter… everything goes in but only certain things come out.
Referring to the next album, Maya says – As for the future, we’re writing the future at the moment, it’s now more about betrayal, revenge, personal upheaval, some depression, spirits coming back. It’s about settling scores.
I ask the band about the use of their song ‘Stripper’ in the trailer for the new ITV imported series, ‘Gossip Girl’
Steve – Yeah, it’s sort of surreal. I heard it on the TV at home the other night and I was kind of shy really...I received messages from people I haven’t seen or spoken to in five or six years saying they’d heard one of my band’s songs on TV.
Maya – I had the girlfriend of an old friend of mine – who I hardly even know – texting me saying we should get together soon! (Everyone finds this amusing). The interview comes to an end a little after 1AM with the band having to get back to their London base after a pretty long day. We part company on very friendly terms with Maya even offering to answer more questions by email - details are
exchanged.
I’m utterly convinced by the band and what they do. I am convinced that the Soho Dolls are great at what they do, and that they inhabit the unique world they describe. This is no victory of style over substance, there are no flaws that make them just a gimmick or in any sense contrived. The Soho Dolls are more than just convincing, they’re a genuine and unique mixture; intoxicating and subversive whilst intimate and grounded. Maya’s desire to be in a gang is clearly echoed by their extended family of fans who are not only convinced by the band but ARE the gang. I for one now feel a part of it too.
Den Barry
www.sohodolls.net
NeB Thoughts
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