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Vagabond

August 2009 | Pop

"You Don't Know The Half Of It" is the new album from Vagabond, the latest band to come out of the hit-factory that is Xenomania (responsible for crafting songs by multi-million selling artists such as Cher, Girls Aloud and The Saturdays). But Vagabond do not sing sugar-coated pop songs - they work towards a soul-tinged sound and funk vibe, straight out of the 1970s and heavily influenced by the Motown sound.

To get to know more about the band, we spoke to Sam (bass), Luke (guitars), Alex (vocals) and Steve (guitars) to get the lowdown...

The interview

So, traditional first question, how did you form the band?

Alex: It started out with I started working for Xenomania. I was working with Brian Higgins writing material for and working there on and off for a couple of years. Luke and Steve were down to do some sessions.
Steve: Yeah we came down to get involved in working there as writers and just to learn more about the recording process. We did some engineering as well. We were being open minded and wanted to work in a studio professionally We worked with Alex on his early material, building it up as you do... from there it was like, we were doing this all the time, getting on well with Alex. Why not form a band? So the three of us started gigging.
Luke: We started playing as a three-piece in small clubs. It worked well, so we got a bassist and drummer in to make a proper band of it and fill the sound out a bit. We found Karl, our drummer - we knew instantly that he was a fantastic drummer. We had a different bass player and he did our first tour. He quit soon after that and we found Sam, who was in the band supporting us on that tour.

I guess when you mention Xenomania to anyone, people first think of Girls Aloud. But you're a completely different band to them...

Luke: We are kind of a new direction for Xenomania. I think anyone will learn a lot from working with Brian. He is capable of most things. Obviously, he found a lot of success with Cher and Girls Aloud pop artists like that.
Sam: He's worked with Franz Ferdinand, New Order - there are bands that are interested in working in that style. Even more so, now that they have got a few kind of bands that are working. Girls Aloud is the first thing you think of with Xenomania, but if you dig deeper, you find it is not just pop.
Steve: He still is having success with Girls Aloud. I could imagine if you have had so much success with something like that, you would be interested in a new direction, a new path. It shows that he can work in a different way.

Your debut album, "You Don't Know The Half Of It", is out now. Can you take us through it?

Sam: It's pretty diverse isn't it?
Alex: Yeah, which is how we came to the album title. It was Steve who suggested it - it is a lyric from one of the songs.
Sam: It just sums up the album. If you listen to the first track, it's quite soul-pop, but you can't make an assumption on the whole album just from the first track. The next one is more of a 70s style funk track. There are a lot of different sounds on there.
Luke: There is a strong soul vibe through the album.
Sam: There is Lots of pop stuff on there as well. Each song has its own merits, its own style. I think it makes it more fun to listen to, cos you don't know what is coming next.

Alex, you're the main songwriter. A lot of the songs on the album seem quite personal...

Alex: Yeah, but you should always watch out for making it too personal. You need to make sure with lyrics that people can find some sort of connection...
Steve: To make it their own I suppose?
Alex: Yeah, everyone should be able to make it their own.

What are your influences - which bands do you look up to?

Alex: the Motown sound, definitely - the musicians who played on those records were some of the best ever. Just timeless pop songs.
Steve: We can find a lot of similarities in the way we formed, not just in the actual sound, but in the way the music was put together, the way the quality was looked at, and not really sneered at. There is a strong connection there, more of a relationship with Motown than, say, Factory Records. We can relate to it more.
Alex: I do find a lot of inspiration in soul music.
Luke: We all do. Much in the same way the Stones and the Yardbirds were indebted to American soul in the 60s - they were these white English guys listening to American soul music.

How do you think you fit into the current trends in music today?

Steve: We've been travelling up and down the country for the past couple of days with Radio 1 on almost constantly - you can listen for 6 hours straight and discover that is just the same old stuff. A lot of synth based music, electronic music
Alex: We use synths and stuff...
Luke: Yeah, but there is a general trend of synth based music which we aren't a part of. We're trying something with a bit more soul.