Raygun on that video

Hot Press caught up with Brixton-based indy-pop newcomers Raygun and asked them about their recent star turn (ahem) on Youtube.

A bit of background: The band were recently interviewed on Channel 4’s 4Play, introducing themselves and explaining what they’re about. The video that resulted led to a tidal wave of slagging in the British music press and on the internet.

In the video, which has gone viral on Youtube, lead singer Ray Gun (a.k.a. Tobias Radcliffe) made a number of grand claims for his band's sound: “A cross between the glam of the ‘70s and the sort of soul bands that came through the late ‘70s, the early ‘80s as well…If you stuck Iggy Pop, James Brown and David Bowie and Shirley Bassey in a lift, then you’d probably have our band.” Eh?

Toby told us he's delighted with the publicity and, all in all, unrepentant.

“We don’t take ourselves seriously,” says the singer. “It’s no good preaching about the ins and outs of what compressors you use or what microphones you use. Nobody cares about that. They just want to dance to the music cos it’s good, don’t they? They’re not really interested in what we’ve got to say. It’s not like we’ve got some big political thing to say or, you know, save the whales or whatever,” he says.

There'll be a full interview with Raygun in a forthcoming issue of Hot Press