t u n i c

Tunic have been delighting and puzzling audiences in Belfast for quite a while now. Although their studio work has encompassed a debut album 'Ride My Foot' in 1995, a string of fine singles ('Tick Tock', 'If D Was S' and 'Also Ran' in particular) and three sessions for John Peel, including a unique collaboration with former Eggs songwriter Andrew Beaujon, the live side of the band has really been pushed in the last few months or so. An unlikely line-up of support slots with Baby Bird, Ocean Colour Scene and the Divine Comedy (the latter for a Radio 1 In Concert) has strengthened their live appeal, and I certainly believe they're the best band playing around Belfast at the moment. There's something very special in their huge catalogue of songs and endearing instrument swapping tactics that no-one else can really challenge. With the release of a 19-track compilation CD of old stuff 'Without Love, Where Would You Be Now?', and talk of a series of 'Tunic Tea Parties' upstairs at the Garage in Highbury, I figured the band would have lots to talk about. I called round to their house to find Mark (guitar, bass, vocals, keys and occasional drums), Jonathan (drums, vocals and occasional guitar), Brian (guitar, bass and vocals) and Michelle (keyboards, bass and angel wings) in residence. Tanya had gone out so her opinions are sadly not here!

First of all, explain how did you all get together, especially since you had the problem of three of you being in Belfast and two in Edinburgh?
Jonathan: "Mark saw Cooper (one of Jonathan's old outfits) and reckoned that it was so good he had to get hold of us."
Mark: "For the record it was the best gig by a Northern Ireland band that I had seen."
J: "So anyway, he saw that and spent the whole of the next day trying to find out who we were. He found out and got in touch with us and we said 'Well, we're a band you know!'"
M: "I didn't want to join you're band, what I said was 'here's a tape of some songs I recorded at home' as I heard that they were also involved with NEPTunes, which at the time was a tape label."
J: "It was fairly well timed because Brian had just left a band, and Mark had left a band in Scotland so there was a base for those two to join forces, and I said I'd give them a hand if they needed a drummer, so that was that."

So Mark, if you lived in Edinburgh at the time, what were you doing at a Cooper gig in the Centre?
M: "I was over for a few days and a friend of mine wondered if wanted to go and see them, because he had a copy of the first Pinner album ('Football Manager II') and he said that a couple of Pinner were in Cooper. It sounded alright and I wasn't doing anything else, so I went along and that was that! We then drafted in a keyboard player, Emily, played a couple of gigs including the unsigned showcase at In The City in Manchester, and the first time that we were ever in a studio was to record a Peel session! Shortly after that Emily left, Michelle joined, and a new Tunic was born!"
J: "And when Mark and Tanya both moved from Edinburgh to Belfast a few months back another new Tunic was started, and we began working more, doing more gigs."
M: "Obviously we have been working for the last couple of years, but now we're rehearsing every single day."

The other week you played a really long set at the Duke of York. How many songs are in the Tunic repertoire now?
J: "We've released about 45 so far, and for the next album we've got 30 ready."
M: "And we've got another 20 we've yet to practice so by the end of the summer we'll have 50 to be recorded for an album release."

So what's the next album going to be?
J: "Seminal!"
M: "It should really be a double and we'll have singles with seven exclusive B-sides each!"
J: "Yes, we all write songs now, so if we want a double album - about 20 songs or so - that's only four songs each. Nowadays you get loads of double albums that shouldn't be, there's too much filler, but ours will need to be edited! I imagine there will be a few singles before the album, most likely EPs."
M: "Concept EPs. We have a concept 'Crime' EP in the pipeline, we've got three criminal-related songs."
J: "Yeah mine's about a misunderstood character who does a lot of bad things but he's only doing it for a laugh."
M: "We have another one about an East End gangster boss and another one about a guy who's just a murdering freak."
Michelle: "I haven't written one because I don't believe in violence, I just write about pretty colours and girls dancing."
J: "It doesn't have to be violent crime, it could be white collar crime."
M: "EPs are the future and I hope and pray we spearhead the 12" EP revival!"
J: "Revival stroke commercial suicide."

Anyway back to the next album. Have you any idea who will be releasing it, is there any concrete deal?
By the time we get things recorded it could be completely different, but at the moment we're not sure. If someone comes along with money for an album then we'll probably do it, but we're quite happy to do it ourselves

Is it good or bad for Tunic and Neptunes to be based in Belfast at the moment?
J: "I suppose the Tunic bit isn't great but the Neptunes bit doesn't matter, except that we pay more for shipping."
M: "The only thing that's bad about being in Belfast is the money, everything else is far better than being in London."
J: "It's quite hard to know what you're audience is like here, because we've supported a lot of diverse bands, but more people have been coming to the shows. We haven't got a figure on it."
Michelle: "114."
J: "That's right. We packed out Katy Daly's, but then it's not very big."
M: "Whenever we play gigs here we do try to make it interesting. We've had backdrops, fairy lights, Michelle's had angel wings, rather than just being another boring band to look at."

Tell us about the recent 'French' Peel session in collaboration with Neptunes artist and former Eggs mainman Andrew Beaujon.
M: "That was our concept Peel session, we called it 'Three Cheers For Our Continental Cousins'. It was good, no-one does concept Peel sessions anymore."
Michelle: "They were cover versions of old French tunes, we got sent the structures in the post and we had to learn it all in advance."

What will be the next release on Neptunes?
M: "Next is a single by a Edinburgh band called Speedracer, and after that it'll be an Andrew Beaujon album which will be called 'Underpant Sam'
J: "And the potential launch of the Neptunes singles club."

What do you say to people who don't get what Tunic are all about?
J: "It's understandable I think, there's a lot to take on. It's most salient as a local problem."
f I said, if we were playing our own gig in Belfast and we needed a coule of support bands we wouldn't get them. Backwater are a band working in a similar way, but apart from Desert Heart there are no bands that would make us go 'yeah, they'd be great to play a gig with'. That isn't an indictment of the music scene though, you can't really lump us in with other NI bands anyway, cos they're all rock bands and we're not."

instrument swapping always been a part of Tunic?
Myself and Brian swapped after every single song in the early days. In fact we arranged the set so we couldn't actually play two songs in a row without swapping!"
Some people reckon that when we 'make it' we won't swap anymore, but that's not true."
There's no way that that can happen, cos now that Jonathan is doing his songs I'll usually be playing drums on those, although it doesn't always follow that the person who writes it sings it. We intend to keep swapping, and within the next year Tanya will definitely be playing drums - no doubt about it."
As long as it remains a positive way of keeping the band fresh we'll continue with it. We don't do it on purpose, it's not a gimmick."

What keeps you going?
J: "The last six months we haven't needed anything, it's just been non stop, more and more songs being written. It's never thought about, we just do it."

What inspires you then? (which kind of turned into 'what was the last record you bought?')
J: "We all like different music, but we don't particularly use it as an influence on the music we write."
M: "I've bought one album this year - the Spiritualized one - thinking it would come as six 3" CDs but it didn't - it's still good though."
Michelle: "I've got two additions to my album collection this year - the Quickspace compilation and the new Gorky's one."
B: "Baby Ford, oh, and a Tony Bennet one where he does a cover of 'Eleanor Rigby' where he speaks the words. It's ridiculous, but the rest of it is great!"
J: "Simply Red's Greatest Hits, but that for my Dad's birthday. The last one I got was Sparklehorse, or the Salt compilation with 'Pacific Drive' on it."

Finally a question stolen from a postal interview they were doing earlier that day for Crispy Foetus zine. What music would you like played at your funeral?
Michelle: "I'm never going to die."
J: "Queen, 'Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy'"
M: "Queen, 'Who Wants to Live Forever'"
B: "Axel F (theme from Fletch)"(!)

Tunic can be contacted at 87 Ulsterville Gardens, Belfast, BT9 7BB.
They've also given us the following requests, if anyone wants to send these feel free:- Mark wants a stand-up ashtray for the living room. Michelle wants an air mask so she doesn't have to breathe his smoke and a Peavey 3000 amp for her keyboard (I think there's more chance of the former to be honest!). And finally Jonathan would like a Rapmaster 2000, which is like a megaphone with a beatbox on it (it says here).

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