An Interview with Athlete (1/2) By Steve Rudd

(1/2), (2/2).

Athlete first burst onto the scene with their Vehicles and Animals album, a stunning debut which they followed-up with Tourist. They recently released their third album, Beyond The Neighbourhood, and in promotion of such an album the Deptford boys have been hard at work touring the length and breadth of the UK for the aural pleasure of their fans.

They even stopped by Hull University to play a show, after which Steve Rudd was lucky enough to catch up with Joel Potts and company for an exclusive interview with the band...

First of all, hello ... How are you all? Very well thanks. I am loving touring right now - there's something special about a lot of people getting together in the same place to sing the same songs, and as they're our songs it's an addictive buzz for me. You recently released your third album Beyond The Neighbourhood. How long did the songs that feature on there take to write, and do you all have different personal favourites?

We wrote and recorded the record pretty much over a 9 month period. We put our own studio together and did it DIY style. Collective favourite tune is probably our next single The Outsiders. It wouldn't score 'big hit' if you ran it through the big hit computer programme predictor that is rumoured to exist, but writing a great tune isn't a science and we think this song has that certain something you can't put your finger on.... Playing live I am really liking Second Hand Stores right now.

What did it feel like when your song Wires was justly named 'Best Contemporary Song' at the Ivor Novello Awards back in 2006? Brilliant. Proper recognition from people who matter. It's a cracking song that actually means something. Even this week I took a ride in a taxi with a driver who thought he was taking some punters to an Athlete gig - he was telling us about Athlete's song Wires and what it meant to him because of some difficulties his son had had.

Not a lot of tunes ever make this connection which explains why Wires was the most played song in the country for a full month. The Ivor Novello was a good two fingers to the various award shows that ignored it that year... How do you approach your song writing and do the songs tend to write themselves? Some come quickly and fully formed, others take hard graft and several re-workings. Some 'arrive' with lyrics; others start as a piece of music. We all have to see a spark of something. We're 4 opinionated people trying to make a democracy work.

Continued .... Next Page (2/2)

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