The Humour
By Charlotte OxnardRock, Paper, Indie: Charlotte Oxnard talks to Wakefield rock band The Humour.
I met up with rock band The Humour, four teenage boys from Wakefield with so much talent (and opinion) in a time where music culture is being dominated by indie bands, sounds and looks. However, throughout this interview the whole feeling of this band is that they are rock and will never be drawn into wearing girls skinny jeans (yes really) and a trilby, just because NME says it's cool.
The band are emerging when the north's and in particular Leeds' music scene is finally getting recognised. When asked what they're making of it, James is quick to answer, "it's bullshit. There are a load of bands coming out that are all sounding really similar, it's just like 'do your own thing you know?'" Danny adds, "we were listening to a band from Wales and they started singing like [puts on Sheffield accent] 'I bet that you look good on't dance floor'"
Jay declares "But, on a positive note it's good that the music scene used to all be based around London but now it's cool to be up North and working class. There's like a shift of powers". Even if that does mean emphasising a Yorkshire accent and pretending to have grown up on a drug filled council estate...
The band has had to struggle amongst the hub of indie bands, as Jay explains, "At Escobar [a well known live gig and club night venue for the 'alternative scene'] in Wakefield we used to always play there, but that made us fall out with a lot of the metal bands in Wakefield and Leeds who are like 'stay true to your rock roots' and don't play indie venues. But we want to take all our opportunities and get out of Wakefield, achieve our goals. We have aspirations higher than anybody I know".
"There was this one guy who was getting so mad at me, the style of our music and the way I were singing 'cos he was an indie guy. He was getting so wound up - I loved it!" James says cheerfully. "At least I were doing something right."
"With all these indie bands, they will eventually die out, but we appeal to everyone, our fans are such a mix of people," Matt declares confidently, "we have emo fans, rock enthusiasts and even some indie kids."
Their performance on stage is a set of rock fuelled songs sung out with passion and played with pure enthusiasm. Are the songs based on personal experiences or just made up so they can have another MySpace song? "They are based on absolutely anything. Mainly sex actually, cos that's fun to write about. But there are some songs that are about things that I have suffered in the past." James is referring to 'Cryptic', based on his father's death and his mother's support whilst being in the band. The lyrics read "...wonder what the future holds for me, will I be the man you want me to be...". 'Momentary Moment' is generally the crowd rocker of the gig and the song the boys look forward to play most, whilst 'Flinch' is their new song which they are most proud of. "We have matured in our writing since we first started, our style hasn't changed but we've just gotten better." With all their songs, the energy of the young boys is forced into each guitar riff, lyric line and drum beat it is hard to acknowledge this band isn't signed.
However, The Humour are very optimistic that everything will go well for them, with record deals and management in the pipeline, and screaming fans waiting for their performance it seems the band can only go forward. "If it did all go wrong for us though, I would probably just go to Uni - I want to be a doctor," answers James wisely, "I'm quite academic you know but all the other lads would go back to college too, we're still young so have plenty of opportunities."
Do you feel that in the future you could get sucked in too much of the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle? "The sex!" They shout in unison. "Mattie especially," James adds. "But as for the drugs, we wouldn't let it affect us, not hardcore drugs 'cos we don't want to end up like Pete Doherty..." James sits quietly, "not the drugs, I'm like really, really anti-drugs so no. But definitely the sex."
As the interview draws to an end, I ask, "one phrase to sum up the band?" "Proper good band. No, no actually cos then we sound like the fucking bellends" (referring to the Arctic Monkeys.) James explains sensibly, "from our hearts, everything does come from there with the band; we don't try to copy anyone else at all. We are like nobody else, we are completely individual."
Danny argues, "No that sounds gay. One word to sum us up? Fun. Yeah fun is a good word." You can't get more individual than that.
