91Èȱ¬

Model Morning are about to head out onto the road to success. They have been hiding in their rehearsal studio for the past year, while they crafted their sound.

The band are about to release their debut mini-album, 'Your Worst Enemy'. If this wasn’t enough they've already set up a gig to perform for Alan McGee.

Model Morning are Pete Morley (vocals), Chris Moore (guitar), Rob McCleary (guitar), Rich Davidson (bass) and Jez Minton (drums).

How did you come up with the name Model Morning?

Chris: We wanted to call the band model, something.Ìý

Rob: It's supposed to be a reflection upon the fact that most music is manufactured on a sort of production line nowadays. Instead of band names they could be called Model, something.Ìý

Pete: Chris and I have been in bands together before. We’ve had a lot of rubbish in our lives recently. Morning seemed to represent a new beginning for us.

What is Model Morning’s sound?

Pete: We are 'accessible shoegaze'. We make a lot of references, guitar wise, to bands like The Cure, Slowdive, Marion. But I think we’ve put a more accessible edge on to it. Chris is more influenced by the huge guitar wall of noise stuff. I’m more influenced by 70’s rock groups like Bowie and Led Zeppelin.

Chris: We try and make songs that we are all passionate about and we all love.

Rob: It sounds like nothing you’ve heard before.

Pete: It sounds like everything you’ve heard before.

Your debut mini album, ‘Your Worst Enemy’, comes out in June. Tell me about that!

Pete: We were very certain about the way we wanted each song to sound. The production had to be just right before we allowed them to be released. ‘Your Worst Enemy’ is a mini album, not an EP, as it contains six songs.

Chris: It's being released in Japan, America.

Pete: Britain.

Rob: We’re working on getting it released in Spain as well.

What’s your favourite track from ‘Your Worst Enemy’?

Chris: ‘Without you, I’m lost’.

Rich: That’s mine as well.

Pete: ‘The worst of the three’.

Chris: There is a hidden message in that song for somebody.

Pete: It’s a bit bitter.

You played your first live gig together at Cabaret, on March 17th. How did it go?

Chris: great!

Chris: We’ve been planning everything for so long that we almost perfected our sound without playing live. We’ve been writing and practicing these songs for so long that we know them inside out.

Rob: We’ve been practicing in a basement for the past year constantly working on stuff.

Pete: We’ve been part of the Nottingham music scene for years. When you’ve got to a certain level there’s no where else to go. We thought we’d stay in the basement and write 25 great songs and then choose what we wanted to do live. Rather than touting ourselves around Nottingham we decided to appear when we were perfect. We hibernated and now we’re really going for it.

Are you looking forward to playing at Alan McGee’s ‘Death Disco’ night at Notting Hill Arts Club on April 19th?

Pete: Yes.

Rob: Without Alan McGee we may not be here now. He signed all the bands which we love.

Rich: I think we would, but we would sound very different.

Pete: Playing at the night is a great platform. Apparently he is already playing our stuff at his gig nights.

Rob: We have the power of the Internet to thank. All he did was to listen to a couple of our tracks on our Myspace site and he booked us.

Rob: We have a label, but they have never met us. They don’t have a clue what we look like. They’re only interested in our music, which is really important to us.

Who are your favourite local bands at the moment?

Rob: We don’t get out much.

Chris: There are lots, but there’s one which hasn’t really started yet called Spotlight Kid, by Chris Davies from Six by Seven. He gave me a copy the other day and it’s bloody brilliant.

Pete: The 7:21s. They’re like a heavy metal Bloc Party.

Rob: Amusements Parks on Fire.

What are your favourite hang outs?

Pete: We go to The Social a lot.

Chris: Golden Fleece.

Rob: We spend more time in the studio than we do out of it at the moment.

Pete: Work hard now, play hard later.

Would you ever change your sound if you were offered a million pounds?

Pete: No!

Rob: I don’t think we would know how to!

Pete: I think we would be able to change our sound. It wouldn’t be that hard. The sound of any band is what happens when those particular musicians come together. The only thing musicians have to hang on to is their integrity. You’ve gotta keep that and artistic control over your songs. If we signed to a label and they asked us to…

Rob: Careful now, this may happen.

Pete: If they asked us to use our music on a Nescafe advert we would be going against our artistic integrity.

Chris: Going back to the point I don’t think we would need to change as what we write is pop music.

Pete: It’s popular, not pop music. We write and create stuff we enjoy not pop sh**e. If I was going to do that I may as well join a covers band and earn £100 a night. I’ve done it before in a disco band.

Chris: What songs were you playing?

Pete: I will survive!

Pete: Let’s not mention that again!

Would you ever be as shallow as to straighten your hair?

Rob: I straighten mine every day.

Pete: The answer to this question is……. [Pete pulls out a pair of hair strengtheners from his bag]… Yes!

Chris: Oh god! Those two [Pete and Rob] and us [Chris and Rich] beg to differ on this. We don’t! This issue divides the band.

If there were to be a movie made about Model Morning whom would you choose to play you?

Chris: Mark Owen.

Rob: Chris Rock.

Pete: George Clooney.