Interviews

Seafood

Bill Cummings 01/04/2004

On the eve of the release of their third album "As the Cry Flows." We caught up with Seafood's front man David Line and put some emailed questions to him!

GodIsInTheTV: What's your Name and Role in the band? David: "I am the singing limp-lunged guitarist songwriter".
GodIsInTheTV: What influences you to write music?
David: "Sadness, illness, depression and love...y'know just the usual. Oh, and films".

GodIsInTheTV: Do you feel "Good Reason" is a good prelude to the new album's sound, and themes?
David: "Erm...not sure - the recorded version is not our best, but since we have started playing it live it really has sprung to life and we are all really enjoying it, but to answer your question I think that our album sounds very different for us, more melancholy and acoustic, and "Good Reason" is more the sound of past Seafood...but with some moogs".

GodIsInTheTV: I noticed a quote from David that said you "used to hide our songs behind the noise. Now we're hiding the noise behind the song". Can you give an example of this?
David: "Old Seafood was a melodious affair but always hidden behind long drawn-out pieces of instrumental fuzz and distortion and new Seafood still loves this but had a go at trying to let the melody shine and tried to stick to the point a bit more. Old: 'Toggle' New: 'Heat Walks Against Me'"

GodIsInTheTV: I've noticed a shift on your new record to a more atmospheric and warm fuller instrumental style; was there a conscious effort to do that?
David: "Yes and no...it just kind of happened...I just prefer writing sad acoustic songs and for the first time instead of them just being me on my own we added lots of other instruments to those songs and played them as a band...mature Seafood...if there is such a thing".

GodIsInTheTV: Was Ed Harcourt's added instrumentation a factor in this shift?
David: "Ed is a great friend of Kevin H and our producer Ian so once we had some songs recorded we got him down to play with us...what he played really added a different sound for us, but one that has always been there as piano has featured on all our releases in some way. I want to write some songs on the piano for the next album and may recruit Ed to help me. I think I have convinced him that we should write a song together...should be good".

GodIsInTheTV: How was it writing and recording with Kevin P on guitar for this album, did it change the way you worked at all?
David: "It definetly changed the dynamic as Kev is a strong voice with a massive musical background, completely the opposite from Charles. Kev is also a frustrated rock boy so I think he struggled with some of the acoustic ideas at first as he thought that he had joined a rock band..but we have all learned from the making of this album and this album is Seafood's most directional one. We had a good idea of what songs we had and how we were going to do them and for this particular outing the slow acoustic ones were just stronger than the heavy ideas..."

GodsInInTheTV: Is there a thematic link between the songs on this album?
David: "Sadness, illness, depression, love and morphine".

GodIsInTheTV: When composing a song what comes first, the words or the musical backdrop, or is it a mixture of both?
David: "A bit of both really, mostly the melody comes first then I try to arrange words around that, whereas Caroline usually has lots of words already written and can pick and choose...different strokes for different folks".

GodIsInTheTV: How do you decide upon an album's tracklisting?
David: "We wrestle...like bears".

GodIsInTheTV: You once described the Seafood sound as "schizophrenic" - for example on the last album you had the ferocity of Western Battle mixed with the beauty of slower moments like "In This Light Will You Fight Me" and "Desert Stretched Before The Sun" - do you feel as a band you still have this schizophrenic edge to your music?
David: "Definately...just listen to it. One minute you have 'Good Reason', then the next you have 'Orangerise'. Rock, then country - we are a confused bunch of people".

GodIsInTheTV: What happened to the song "Between The Noise"? Is it going to be a B-side or have you ditched it completely?
David: "For the moment it has been ditched. We did actually record it for the album but it was not working out very well...lots of ideas but no song".

GodIsInTheTV: An old question, but with the recent crackdown on downloading in the UK how do you feel about people downloading Seafood songs or albums off the net? I noticed you released "Summer Falls" as an early mp3 a few months back.
David: "It's good and it's bad. Good, because people all over the world have the opportunity to hear your stuff, but bad because people can download it for free and for small bands like us it makes it very difficult to make money selling records...it's like having someone steal a little bit of your wages each month for doing absolutely nothing whilst you have been slogging your guts out earning it".

GodIsInTheTV: Apart from your UK tour do you have any festivals lined up this year?
David: "Nada...nada nada. Fuck em - who needs 'em...um we do!"

GodIsInTheTV: Lastly a silly question from one of our members, what colour pants are you wearing? Are they your favourite pair?
David: "Pink pants from H&M...I love them but my wife begs to differ".

GodIsInTheTV: Many thanks.