Interview: Neon Heights

Cal: There is Tom Bailey on keyboard, myself Cal Gibson on guitar and keys, Emperor Mingus on Bass, Roscoe on Drums and Misterlong on Trombone and percussion. We work with a list of singers such as Rachel Harris and J Todd. Basically Tom and I do all the music in the studio with help from Simon White and then we draft in the others for live performances.

 

Tom: I’m going to be vague because it’s currently in progress and without a title. We’re still making new tracks, which can really change the overall feel of the album right at the last minute. Also we are trying to decide which pieces are finally going on and how that will shape the LP. It should be sorted and out in the shops by the summer time. What you can expect though are contributions from J.Todd, Carina Andersson and Rachel Harris, a fine mix of jazz, funk and dance. It’s looking nice.

Tom: For me it has to be working with big names in the industry. Oh, and them rating our music. Collaborating with Carina Andersson in A Beautiful Thing has been great.

Cal: At the age of four I was at home listening to something my parents had put on - you know, parents’ sort of music. I wanted to get right inside the speakers and hear the volume at its most so I climbed into the cones. I learnt that it’s all about volume at a young age.

Tom: We use Logic and have a very fancy bunch of Waves plugs set up on a Mac. That’ll please the geeks!

Tom: I’ve got a load of records stacked up at home - and shoes...
Cal: Books and records. I like to occasionally hunt through Oxfam for some really obscure record.

 

Cal: We’ve got a massive following in Moscow, they are a very enthusiastic audience so it has to be Club Kult.

Tom: The Big Chill, which we played in 2005, was fantastic.

Cal: It is an eclectic mix of music pretty indefinable. It used to be house and dance music but now has tones of jazz, funk, soul, pop and chilled beats… it’s evolving music.

Tom: We are still free to rewrite ourselves unlike some big bands. They seem to make their success form repeating themselves, which is only possible if you are fixed to a type of sound.

 

Tom: Not by money, that’s for sure!

Cal: By someone across the other side of the world sending an email saying that they love the music and it touches them deeply. That’s what really matters.

Tom: It has meant more people can listen to us online.

Cal: I think it is the same feeling all round, losing out on money but access to lots of music. I’m sure the big music corporations will find a way to get their money back somehow though.

 

Cal: Well we’ve got the album coming out, and a remix of Fatboy Slim’s Champion Sound to be released. We are thinking of planning a tour after the album is released to promote that. Then we have DJ gigs around the country. We aren’t really playing in Nottingham, as there aren’t many venues to play here so we generally go elsewhere.

Tom: This is true, although for venues there is the Rescue Rooms, that’s a good one.