Foam Is Where The Heart Is

Homer s three-pronged album launch extravaganza saw him wind up at the newly opened Milk in Belfast s unfortunately named Tomb Street. Free absinthe was dished out on arrival, but the atmosphere was more Cold Flow than Rimbaud, with lots of old Art College faces relaxing with the usual ligging suspects. Despite consecutive nights in London and Dublin, the host himself was in top form; obviously chuffed to see so many familiar faces. In fact, it wouldn t be stretching the point to say that the whole occasion had the air of a school reunion. The class in question being the Sugar Sweet/Choice crew of the early nineties, meeting up to celebrate their top pupil s progress.

The much anticipated live shows, where we ve been promised Bobby Gillespie, Jon Spencer, Martina Toppley Bird, snake charmers, and voodoo, are probably six months or so away. By then we ll all know the tunes. Just now there s a buzz around Bow Down To The Exit Sign that makes it all seem very fresh and exciting. Long may it continue.
Geoff Topley and Al Brown are drinking coffee and feeling edgy. In seven hours and counting their band Foam will be onstage at the Duke Of York and they don t exactly look thrilled by the prospect.
Once you start to play it s enjoyable, says Geoff. But the day and day before is a nightmare and we re both terrified.
In fairness, their trepidation isn t entirely down to big-girl-blousiness; over the years live gigs haven t exactly been a happy hunting ground for the duo. This will be their first show since they had lots of their equipment pinched from the side of an unwatched stage, while the sight of amps, keyboards and drum machines packing up mid-song has almost become an endearing tradition at Foam performances. But Geoff hasn t allowed it to put him off.
I actually like the whole rock and roll idea of doing something wrong. We re always playing bum notes. One of our shows was recorded for the radio and it s never been broadcast, probably because it s littered with mistakes. But then I ve always loved Royal Trux and Pavement and their whole idea of gigs is that you should never worry about them falling apart or breaking down. It s all part of the fun. It s magic.
Foam do the against-the-odds resilience thing very well.
Hailing from Portadown, Al and Geoff met at primary school and formed their first band Blue Banana( Don t ask. ) when they were at secondary. Quickly realising a name change wasn t just advisable, but necessary, they plumped for the barely superior Funksmith ( We were fifteen! ), and eventually went on to record a series of demos that tickled the fancy of perennial indie champ Steve Lamacq.
Their ambitions suitably lifted, the duo became increasingly frustrated trying to convey their ideas in the confines of a hired studio and, following the example of Babybird s Stephen Jones, they got their hands on some equipment, read a few pages of the instruction manuals, and decided to do it all themselves.
Hence, two years ago, another new name. Foam.
Since then, they ve been devoted. Virtually every six months, and completely off their own backs (and out of their own pockets), Al and Geoff have recorded, pressed-up, designed and released a 14 or 15 track CD. They claim that, in their various incarnations, they have released over 150 songs. Now, while this may have a romantically lo-fi glow, it s a state of affairs that Geoff hopes won t continue on for much longer.
It s a question of bludgeoning people over the heads with the music until they give in. Ideally, the Holy Grail is a record deal, so we don t have to worry about getting records in the shops they do it for us. At the minute we do all our own distribution, which is a hassle.
Musically, Foam have improved with every release, with the recent 11-track Platinum Bombs, and the more restrained The Navarone EP proving that, creatively, they re on a definite upward curve. Showcasing a love of everyone from Spiritualized, to Underworld (check out the Sky Sports-sampling Joe-Max ), while all the time nodding in the subtle direction of Lou Barlow, Foam have never sounded better.
Another important aspect of their development has been the good-natured creative rivalry they ve established with some of the acts that have emerged in the local scene over the past few years.
We saw Olympic Lifts a few weeks ago and thought one of their songs sounded amazing, Al admits. It inspired us, made us want to go away and write something better. Now that s kinda rare. But it s improving. A few years ago there was no one that we liked, now there s Olympic Lifts, Desert Hearts.
Tracer, Geoff continues. Tracer are great. They sent me a CD of their new songs and I love it to bits. We ve done a remix for the b-side of their new single. When I listen to Phil Kieran s music I start singing over it, so who knows, a bit further down the line maybe something will happen. When you hear good acts coming through it s very encouraging.
At the moment though, it s still scary gigs, scarier notions of productivity, oh, and flexi time. Both have very necessary day jobs Al works in a lab in a local hospital, Geoff lugs boxes which can lead to some odd scenarios.
I was sitting on night shift during my break with three or four other guys, Geoff says, and one of our songs came on the radio. I started screaming at them Listen, I m on Radio One, what do you think about that? They were like, I don t believe you . So, I showed them the digital read-out on the radio and they went So you are. Then I d to go back out to my machine and stand there for another hour. Fuck s sake.
Foam class working heroes. What more could you hope for?
The Navarone EP is available now on www.peoplesound.com. Email the band at [email protected]