TANGLED UP IN BLUE

The Bluetones will pull a trick at the Temple Bar Music Centre tonight that is, performance-wise, potentially suicidal.

Midway through the set, they will deliver on their capacity audience s shouted hopes, performing hits from the first and most popular of their three albums. Directly after this, they will announce a fifteen-minute intermission.
The fickle, who have now heard the group s big tunes circa the Britpop era, will head for the hills, the clubs or Dublin s well-stocked bars. Only the faithful will return, to a set brimming with good tunes and masterful playing, and to a band who are raising a palpable two fingers to flyweight fans. The Bluetones want to be heard, but on their own terms, it seems.
The Hounslow band were flung into the limelight in 1996, when Blur were huge and Oasis were (debatably) even more massive. On the strength of singles such as Slight Return and Bluetonic , their debut album hurtled to the number one slot on the British charts. For some time, the four twenty-somethings were adored.
But the Britpop bubble burst fast. The band s second album, the harder and more muscular-sounding Return to the Last Chance Saloon, was ignored by those in search of something completely new. Unfortunately, the old school Britpoppers who did buy it were alienated by that same sound. Without even trying, The Bluetones had become outsiders.
Lead singer, the dark-haired, gaunt-faced Mark Morriss, walks agitatedly around the room, trying on t-shirts. He is the most eloquent of the band members present, and the most forceful. When he speaks the others fall silent.
I think we found ourselves in the spotlight for a while and we never expected it, he explains intensely. [On the second album], people wanted Slight Return again and we weren t prepared to do that. You just can t make records for somebody else. We weren t the same band that had made the first album. You ve got to play what s in your heart and just hope that people like it.
The band s third record, Science and Nature, was released in May of last year. Influenced by The Band and, Adam laughs, even more so by new recruit and ex-Dodgy member Richard Payne, the record is a diverse blend of masterful guitar, aching melodies and intriguing lyrics. The group believe that it is their best release to date. How has it been received?
Q magazine gave us one of the best reviews of the year but when it comes round to dishing out the flowers in the end of year polls, they forget about us! Mark exclaims. At the moment we re outside of the equation, we re outside of fashion.
We re waiting to drift back into fashion, Adam says wryly. We still manage to smuggle our way into the charts but we definitely feel now like we re infiltrating something when we go and do Top of the Pops. It s all A1 and Westlife, Daphne and Celeste. We feel like gatecrashers at somebody else s party.
Do they believe there is a growing homogenisation of popular culture?
Yeah, I think there is, Mark replies. Style over substance. Marketing powers are just controlling popular culture now. Nothing natural is being allowed to grow and develop. Stars are being thrust on us rather than being discovered.
The band have recently returned from Japan, a country which boasts their strongest fanbase outside Britain. After they finish playing support to The Beautiful South on several dates, they plan on signing with an independent label in America and touring there in the New Year.
Mark believes the coming experience will be a test of the group s mettle. If we had been going to do a tour of America four years ago, I don t think we d be here today, he offers. I think sometimes that s what breaks bands; too much is thrust upon them and too much done too quickly.
Director of Marketing at Warner Music, Tony McGuinness, has commented that Autophilia , the second single from Science and Nature, which deals with the love of cars, is crying out for use in an ad . With lyrics such as I love your bodywork and your flashy pop-up lights/The way you hug the corners, however fast and tight , he has a point. Any plans to bow to corporate advertising in the near future, guys?
We ve never done anything sponsored, Mark protests. If we were in a position where we had no money and we needed the money to keep going, then I might consider it, because that wouldn t be greedy. But just to do it for greed he trails off, looking appalled.
From his easy-chair in the middle of the dressing room, Richard bursts out laughing. What about Acton Grill? he shouts. That was greedy! Mark tried to get us to wear Acton Grill t-shirts on Top of the Pops!
Mark starts to giggle. This is like a cafi up on my road. They told me if I wore one of their t-shirts on Top of the Pops, they d give me a free breakfast for life.
That was greed, Richard roars sarcastically. Mixed grill a speciality! Adam cuts in, affecting a mournful tone. They closed down because we wouldn t wear their t-shirts on Top of the Pops.
True, Mark? It s like a bereavement in the family, he sobs dramatically. I don t want to talk about it, it s very sad!