Oldie Lookin' Chain - The Hours
There are signs that the entire world of popular music is about to be turned on its head, and this is why. A new group called the Hours have released a brilliant song called 'Back When You Were Good', which is all about someone who's annoying and past their prime.
But the interesting thing is that Ant and Martin - the boys in the band - are both far too old to be newbie pop stars, as they have spent years being producers and backroom johnnies and suchlike.
This is a state of affairs which cannot be allowed to stand, so ChartBlog rang Hours singer Ant Genn for a proper explanation...
Oh, and to accompany this interview, we have some footage of some clever Hours-related projections clever artist Damien Hurst did for the band, cleverly. Enjoy!
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ChartBlog: Hello. It's 6:03...you were supposed to ring at 6:00. Call yourself THE HOURS, MAN?
Ant: [sheepishly] Er, y'know what? I was just having a little snooze there on the sofa. I do apologise. And I would've been on time, but I didn't have the number, so I had to phone up Rough Trade [Hours' record label] and get it. I'm a stickler for punctuality, actually.
ChartBlog: Your new single 'Back When You Were Good', is really nasty, but also quite compassionate about the person you're slagging off, like you're being an honest friend, right?
Ant: No, absolutely. There's always a bit of compassion in there. And the fact that they were good at all once, means that they could be good again, surely?
ChartBlog: Do you think people have a peak moment in their lives when everything comes together and they're empirically 'good' then?
Ant: No. I think that life happens in cycles, dunnit? It depends what exactly we're talking about. Take, for instance, someone like Johnny Cash, who for a lot of years was out in the wilderness, both on a personal level and in his career. And then at the end of his life he became a more together person and also made a lot of interesting music with Rick Rubin. So, y'know...
ChartBlog: True, but there's always a kid in your school who seems to be perfect. Clever, good-looking, cool, sexy, all that. And then you all leave school, and you meet them a couple of years later and somehow it's all gone. Or was that just me?
Ant: Oh definitely. I think you're absolutely right. I think life is a game of chance, in a lot of ways. It's about how you react to situations that defines who you are and the choices that you make. We're all defined by the choices that we make. And I think when those choices arrive, sometimes we're not aware, particularly when you're young. I think you're not aware of how important sometimes those choices are. Y'know, John Lennon walks down the street and he meets Paul McCartney, but he could just have easily have met...
ChartBlog: Gerry Marsden?
Ant: [laughs] Yeah. I know what you mean, you meet people from school and you think "God, you used to be such a dude!". Interestingly enough, there was a kid at my school who introduced me to the Beatles, a kid called Craig. He was a bit of a dude, and into the Beatles and a really intelligent guy and I remember that he worked at Sainsbury's, stacking shelves. Not that there's anything wrong with working at Sainsbury's, but one night, a few years ago, me and a mate of mine went on Friends Reunited, and he still worked at Sainsbury's.
ChartBlog: And as you say, that's not about Sainsbury's or stacking shelves, it's about the expectations you have for people based on your high opinion of them.
Ant: Yeah, and he was definitely a bit of a dude. The fact that he knew about the Beatles when he was 12, and passed that on to me, when I was probably listening to...mind you, when I was 12 I was probably listening to the Clash more...
ChartBlog: How different would the Hours sound if you were both 20?
Ant: I just don't think the hours would exist if we were 20, y'know? I had nothing to say when I was 20. I was involved in music, or was into music, but I was too busy living life to be writing about it. I didn't have any time to think about that. I'm an all-or-nothing kinda guy, and I was too busy trying to experience everything all at once to have the time to try and chase some kind of young teenage dream about something. I mean, I'm into music, I do this because I love music, not because we wanted to be in a band. We did it because we're involved in music and we just got to a point in our lives where we wanted to tell our own story. I was sick of telling everyone else's story, to be honest. And it just so happened that I came to a point in my life where I felt that I finally had something lyrically and musically to say.
ChartBlog: Writers always tell would-be writers to write about what they know, but surely it's better to find interesting things out and THEN write about them?
Ant: Yeah, you've got to go out and live, man, y'know? I'd say that to anybody, go out and live life and have a laugh. Music is an incredibly powerful medium, but it's a lot more powerful when you can sense a weight in someone's voice.
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So there we have it. Old is the new young, experience is the new potential, and the Hours are the new McFly. Don't sneer, kiddiwinks, you'll get older too, ONE DAY...
Comments
Great interview!
Though 'back when you were good' is pretty damn good it does get blown away by their 'Ali in the jungle'. Hopefuly this will be a future release as the band know it''s a killer tune.
Also, if you get a chance to see them play do so! They are very good live and their years of experience shows in how tight and together they are live.