CityLife

Interview: The Dutch Uncles

The Dutch Uncles

IT was Ian Brown who once famously commented on how, while Manchester musicians loved to work hard – they also loved to give the impression that they didn’t.

You can kind of see where Brown was coming from. After all, there’s just something rather more alluringly rock’n’roll about a group of Manc rock stars who exude devil-may-care

insouciance, compared to say, a group who prefer to knuckle down with serious, straight-laced dedication to their art.

This may have been the case in the past, but such slacker stereotypes could certainly not be applied to some of the best new Manchester bands of the last 12 months.

Whether it’s the slick, studied minimalism of hot tips Hurts or the cerebral art-rock noodlings of CityLife faves Everything Everything, the 2010 class of Manc music stars are all united by their outward sense of intellectualism, archness and studiousness. Refreshingly, this new batch of musicians all prefer to be recognised for their clever-clogs conviction and hard graft.

A perfect time then, to welcome the arrival of Dutch Uncles: a band aiming to scoop top grades in this year’s rock academia class and who, quite possibly, are Manchester music 2010’s finest advert for thoughtful muso excellence.

In a year when Manchester’s bloke-rock constituency looks set to grow ever larger, thanks to The Courteeners’ forthcoming second album, you simply couldn’t get a band more poles apart than Dutch Uncles – a band whose art-rock stylings would give the average lad-rocker severe brain-ache.

“We do have quite a progressive, intellectual approach to songwriting,” declares Dutch Uncles bassist and songwriter Robin Richards, over beers in an Oxford Road bar.

“Each member of the band is given sheet music, and we learn each musical part almost like classical musicians. It’s very meticulous – but we aim to be perfectionists.”

“You can definitely sense the tide turning,” adds Duncan Wallis, the band’s eccentrically-attired singer.

Learning capacity

“A few years ago, Manchester music had this really brash, blokey reputation.

“It was all about bands like The Courteeners and Twisted Wheel. But in the last 12 months, things have really changed – you’ve got amazing bands like Hurts and Everything Everything who are writing challenging, progressive music.

“It feels like audiences are more receptive to interesting, intelligent bands now.

“People are willing to learn and try out fresh sounds. Which is perfect for a band like us.” 

A learning capacity has been a constant thread in Dutch Uncles’ short, albeit eventful career.

CityLife first encountered the Marple five-piece – comprising singer Duncan, bassist Robin Richards, guitarist Pete Broadhead, second guitarist Dan Spedding and drummer Andy Proudfoot – around three years ago, when they were ploughing their trade as teenage indie-pop band The Headlines.

Despite bagging huge plaudits, a management deal and even a record contract (in Germany, where they released an album), the five teenagers appeared uncomfortable and visibly out of their depth.

Now, all aged 21, the band look back on that experience as a perfect example of trying to run before they could even walk.

“It was a bit of a false start,” reflects an uncomfortable Duncan. “Musically, we definitely weren’t ready.

“We were still teenagers learning our trade and trying to find our own voice.

“We were put in situations we simply weren’t prepared for. We were sent to Germany and we had to do a whole tour there – which was a nightmare for me, because I’ve got a fear of flying!

“But I think we’ve learnt from those early days and really grown in the past year.”

'Perfection'

They most certainly have. From a name-change to a gentle over hauling of their musical sound (“we stopped listening to indie stuff like The Killers and discovered Steve Reich and Talking Heads”, says Duncan), Dutch Uncles have repositioned themselves on the Manc gig circuit at a time when, thankfully, thick-witted lad-rock seems to be displaced by more innovative, questing musical ideologies.

In the past six months, the art-rock five-piece have played a high profile industry showcase at In The City, supported Maximo Park on tour, and appeared on the excellent first release from local label Love & Disaster, alongside like-minded sonic adventurers Everything Everythng, Delphic and Airship.

But even among such illustrious company, Dutch Uncles are serious rivals in the cerebral-rock stakes. Their finest songs, such as Face-In and Doppelganger, deftly blur the lines between pop immediacy and prog ambition: packed with complex structures and ever-shifting time signatures, the overall effect like Brian Eno producing The Futureheads playing the songs of Talking Heads.

If all that sounds incredibly prolonged and indulgent, then worry not – Dutch Uncles are not about testing your patience.

“We’re all about finding the perfect balance of prog-rock and pop,” outlines drummer Andy Proudfoot.

“It’d be easy to write indulgent prog-rock epics which go on for hours. But we prefer to condense that experimentation into three-minute pop songs, which audiences can digest when they come to see us.”

“We are really perfectionist though,” adds Robin. “We work really meticulously to make sure not a second is wasted in our songs.

“We practise really hard. If we play a gig, and even one musical note is played wrongly, we all know it, and we’ll be really disappointed. We won’t settle for anything but perfection!”

Undercutting all this bold intellectualism is a cheeky comic irreverence: from Duncan’s eccentric stage attire (“I’ve been getting a lot of stick on websites and blogs because of my choice of shirts!”), to the band’s ingenious promotional videos. In particular, the one for recent single Face-In, in which the band recreated a whole wedding scene, complete with Duncan having to, once again, sport some unusual sartorial choices.

“I was made to wear a wedding dress!” laughs Duncan. “And I didn’t get much say in the matter.

“The rest of the band decided this video concept, and because I’m the lead singer, I was the one who had to wear the dress and walk down the aisle. I’ve tried not to watch the video, but a few people have told me I look pretty good in a wedding dress! That’s not a bad compliment.”

Dutch Uncles play Friends Of Manchester Festival on January 30, 2010 (on-stage 7.30pm) at Jabez Clegg. The Love & Disaster EP1 release is out now. For more information go to myspace.com/dutchuncles.