Tubelord

What does a pop song for a rock kid sound like? Who the hell is Mavis and what strange truth is she telling? What happens when a moose makes out with a bear? And after 60 years, how can rock’n’roll carry on reinventing itself?

Some of these questions and more were answered with the release of Tubelord’s critically acclaimed debut album ‘Our First American Friends’ last year. In 2010 they move their plan forward with the release of ‘Stacey’s Left Arm’. A naggingly addictive love song with more parts than a jet engine, it’s built for the dancefloor and to that end, comes backed with a clutch of remixes from Bass Clef, Scrubber Fox and Lemy Ashton.

Based around the songwriting axis of Jo Prendergast (vocals/guitar) and David Catmur (drums), the breakneck outfit formed in the winter of 2006, through a mixture of boredom and bromance. Since then, their fizzing combination of breackneck pop, anvil-heavy riffs and super-infectious choruslike refrains have invited comparisons in the press with Biffy Clyro, At The Drive-In, but the truth is they mine a virgin sound.

They claim to be variously influenced by MeWithoutYou, Death Cab For Cutie, Madonna, Oceansize, NWA, Phil Collins and NASA, and inspired by Mario Kart, Dinosaurs, graphic novels, art projects, really cool sneakers and really good coffee.

Joaims that he wanted "just wanted to make distorted, ugly sounds, and Dave and Sean got fooled into thinking that they were songs." But what Joe himself did not realise was that he harboured something of a pop midas touch: everything he touched would turn to anthem, with dynamic melodies that lodge themselves in a person's cranium, refusing to leave.

Jo’s desperate romanticism combined with the ferocity of the rhythm section created something unique from the start. They instantly became heroes of the DIY Kingston rock scene. And three years on the road have seen them collect power-ups like so many Nintendo game sprites.

2008 saw the release of two singles with the Big Scary Monsters label, ‘Feed Me A Box Of Words’ and ‘I Am Azerrad’. Both sold out instantly, the latter attracting the attention of acclaimed US rockademic Michael Azerrad, after whom the song was named, and causing a subsequent storm across the US blogosphere. Azerrad acolytes mistakenly took the track’s apparent threat to kill the writer literally. It didn’t matter, because the band were gaining acclaim back home with press acclaim in NME and The Fly, and XFM DJ Marsha Shandur declaring; "The thing that makes me know this band's amazing is the fact that, in spite of them somehow changing direction four times in one song, I keep coming back and back to their songs."

Meanwhile their live show was burning round the UK, playing shows with bands as diverse Danananananakroyd, Johnny Foreigner, Oceansize, Metronomy, Future Of The Left and Fucked Up.

At the start of 2009, Tubelord recorded their album in London with rising producer Tristan Ivemy (The Holloways, The Mescalitas). The result was summation of everything that’s happened to them so far, a thrilling opening gambit that’s the sound of three young men opening their eyes to the possibilities ahead. “The reason the album is called ‘Our First American Friends’,” says Jo, “is related to our overwhelming naivety whilst on tour over Easter last year. It was the first time we were on a ‘proper’ tour, having a rider and being in awe of having a real life roadie and making friends with other bands in the process. One of the bands were from LA, thus becoming our first American friends. We thought that was cute.”

Lead track ‘Your Bed Is Kind Of Frightening’ sums up the rush, thrill and terror of young love in its title alone. But as the languid refrain of “Sleep, it’s over…” careers into a colossal riff worthy of Foo Fighters, it’s an explosive shot of the starting pistol that signals the start of the journey, without it ever making it clear which way it’s going to go. ‘Stacey’s Left Arm’ turns romantic awkwardness into a sleek pop odyssey, ‘Night Of The Pencils’ introduces another shadowy female protagonist Mavis, and the lovelorn ‘Cows To The Left’ showcases the band’s tender underbelly.

That’s before you factor in the vague concept on which the album hinges. The artwork, created by Jo in association with the Kraffics design collective tells a unique love story between a moose and a bear. It’s fantastical, but also fantastically real in summing up the album’s emotional core: “it’s a heartbreaking tale of a moose who whilst out on a casual jog falls in love with a bear yet never gets the beautiful ursidae, who is oblivious to the poor moose’s affections, resulting in loss, confusion and resignation of chasing an impossible zeal.”

It’s proof enough that Tubelord are not a band that look like they’re ever going to do things conventionally. As ferocious as their live shows have become, they remain unique celebrations of brain working in tandem with brawn: if they’re not the only band ever to have incorporated a book club into their merch stand, they’re certainly the heaviest.