Satanic. Macabre. Deathly. Dark.  Select a word, any word in fact depicting the shadowy underbelly of life as we know it and it’s probable that word will have been used to describe Loverman.  Not that it’s necessarily correct, seeing as it’s inevitable that any band who worship at the altar of darkly evocative sounds get tarred with the same goth-rock brush that befell bands before them.  If you don’t know who I’m talking about think The Cure, Bauhaus, even The Birthday Party.

Now I don’t know whether Loverman themselves deify the dark lord behind closed doors, who knows what goes on in east London these days, but the subject of Satan is definitely a reference point explored within the lyrics of this talented four-piece.  However that in itself is by no means what shapes a Loverman song, as the influences and the menacing quality of such a substantial sound takes things off into multiple tangents.  It’s intricate to the point of beautiful, yet aggressively brazen and visceral in a live environment which draws on the darkness perfectly.

The sublimely chilling and intrinsically textured depth of soundscaping in last years ‘Human Nurture’ ep gave people a better idea of what Loverman are pursuing musically.  Recorded in LA with seminal producers Atticus Rose [Nine Inch Nails] and Joe Barresi [Queens of The Stone Age, The Melvins] it became a mini-album of layered noise, and an experience that led the band to an education of sorts.  Now with support and funding from one of the majors, Loverman are in the studio working towards a debut full length record; which is both a frightening prospect as much as an exciting one.  And while they are truly at home in the live environment galvanising the morbid imagery that surrounds them and playing with brutal ferocity, there is definitely a tender undertone to proceedings adding an element of romanticism that makes everything seem quite poetic.

Loverman spoke with 4or The Record at the end of 2009 to elaborate on their career thus far.  So before the Daily Mail starts blaming Loverman’s musical take on sex and death for everything that is wrong in society today, we suggest reading on this insightful introduction. 

4or The Record: Loverman has been around for just over a year now and in that time you have released singles and a recent EP.  Do you think it’s been a quick progression to get where you are now?

Gabriel: Yeah I guess so, but we did a lot of groundwork before in our former bands and have all known each other in various forms for a while.  Plus individually we’ve been writing since we were like 14, so in a way it’s been a long time to get to this stage but in another way it’s been quick.

4TR: You went to America to record with Atticus Ross and Joe Barresi for the ‘Human Nurture’ EP. Would you say that experience defined your sound in any way or perhaps progressed it?

Jon Jackson: It has definitely evolved from the beginning, especially after we went to America to record with those 2 producers who are amazing with sounds and really know what they are doing.  They helped us learn about what we were trying to create and also about equipment and arranging songs.  But our music is always evolving.

Gabriel: I think maybe we started off with the same ideals we have now but we have subsequently learnt how to make it sound bigger. They had produced for bands we love like NIN and Queens of The Stoneage, so it was a real treat to just meet those guys let alone work with them, with all this incredible equipment that had been used on other renowned tracks and albums.

4TR: How did they hear about Loverman and ultimately get involved?

Gabriel: Att and Joe had worked together before with Janes Addiction and we sent Att some of our original demos on the internet and he ended up producing our first single from across the ocean via email. [Laughing] actually that’s a pretty good name for a lovesick song; I always like Nylon magazine just for getting its name from New York to London airports, but Att was in LA so it should be Lalon which doesn’t sound very good or actually Lonlax.  That sounds like a character from Lord of the Rings or something [adopts deep voice] “Lonlax”, [laughing] yeah so we asked him to work with us pretty much.  We had a list of dream producers and didn’t actually hear back from any other others so we took the dregs…[laughs] only joking no we didn’t.

4TR: Young & Lost Club have pretty much supported Loverman from the start.  How did they approach you to work with them?

Gabriel: Well we knew them from before because they had put our old bands on a lot in London, so when Jon and me said we were starting this new project before we even knew what it was going to be like we told them about it.  We then went up to Winchester where we had spent a lot of time as kids and recorded some demos and sent the songs to Young and Lost.  They liked them and wanted to put out the first 2 songs we ever recorded as Loverman as a single.

4TR: You have started working on your debut full-length record and I have heard that Mercury is interested in putting it out.

Gabriel: Well yes that’s true, I guess the music industry is such a strange thing at the moment but Young and Lost are connected with Mercury so its nice that they are giving us a bit of money to write an album, and now we are in the studio working on it.

4TR: And how is the writing going?

Gabriel: Pretty good yeah.  [Laughing] I spent the first couple of week’s interior decorating the studio and brought in the ‘cock of rock’.  I went to France where all the provincial towns have these car boot sales on Sundays, but they’re not like English car boot sales they are incredible. There’s all these decaying châteaux’s in the middle of nowhere and they empty the contents every Sunday and you can buy amazing taxidermy and framed pictures.  I bought a stuffed cockerel for 10 Euros which is the ‘Cock of Rock’; he’s there on top of the piano at the moment observing the creative process.

Adam: He writes most of the songs actually.

Gabriel: He does yeah. He’s got this maniacal stare, its very inspiring [laughs] and then I put up a few pictures, but these guys were like Gabriel no ones going to see this room let’s write some songs so I was forced against my will to work.  They were doing a great job while I was busying myself decorating, sort of like nesting when you are expecting a child, I was preparing the space.

4TR: Do you write collaboratively, music and lyrics?

Gabriel: Yeah well I tend to write the lyrics, it’s all fiction.  I like stories.

4TR: What about the image you have created for the band through the music.  A lot of people have thrown the Goth tag at you, do you agree with that?

Adam: I don’t know about Goth because Goth to me is like black lipstick, white faces and long coats, which is not what we are about.

Gabriel: It means someone like The Cure to me.

Chris: But there is darkness to our music which is where the goth description comes from.

Adam: I guess maybe with the imagery that it creates to a degree.

Gabriel: It’s maybe gothic; I like gothic literature but I don’t like a lot of Goth music.  I mean even The Cure is not dark, its bittersweet maybe.  But yeah we are quite dark and menacing musically.

4TR: So are you approaching your music from any direct band influences?

Gabriel: Yeah, we definitely honour our influences but I don’t think any of our major influences are actually gothic.  Maybe they are dark but like Nirvana aren’t a Goth band or the Melvin’s aren’t a Goth band.  We all listen to such different music so I think that brings in lots of different aspects in terms of genre.

4TR: Let’s talk about your artwork.  You use very strong imagery capable of provoking a reaction, which is possibly another reason Loverman is perceived to be dark.  What are you trying to portray through it?

Gabriel: We have been responsible for the artwork because when I think of my favourite record covers in the past they were of really clear bold images, in terms of saying what it is.  So we’ve always tried to find images that encapsulate the concept of the songs, in a bold striking manner.

4TR: Are you trying to be provocative?

Gabriel: No I think it’s just what we think is beautiful, I don’t think its provocative, they are just beautiful pictures of beautiful girls.

4TR: When I was reading up on you I visited your MySpace and saw that the artwork for your recent EP ‘Human Nurture’ had been removed because they weren’t deemed suitable for the readership.

Gabriel: Yeah the new one was; I don’t know why they did that because there is lots of lewd shit on MySpace you know when you look around you see all these girls with their tits out.  If you see a naked girl that’s one thing but if you see a girl with a teeny little bikini on or electrical tape over her nipples in crosses, that is in a way more provocative and sexy than say in the case of someone naked.  Anyway the fact of the matter is there’s no one naked on our record cover but they took it down, I don’t know why I think it’s a beautiful image by a very talented artist Samantha Sweeting 

4TR: The Loverman live aspect is renowned for being more of a show and an experience.  Would you agree?

Gabriel: Yeah well that’s the aim anyway.

Chris: Live shows are more important to us; it’s a big part of the band.

Gabriel: I concur, its not theatre but it’s definitely an experience; we enjoy ourselves, well sometimes we don’t sometimes we have horrible times.

4TR: Does the music translate well to the live environment or do you have to make changes?

Jon: Well the energy is definitely the same, but there are a few elements that we can’t replicate perfectly.

Gabriel: I guess when you listen to a record it’s the same every time, but then if you are there experiencing it live then its going to change. You can see a band live and they can play the best show ever, but sometimes it just comes down to the atmosphere in the room.

4TR: A lot has been made of the 80’s music renaissance particularly in 2009 with many people channeling similar sounds born out of a synth.  What Loverman is doing is completely removed from that, so where do you think you fit in and are we due a change of what might be deemed a popular sound for now?

Gabriel: There are a lot of great bands who play loud music like us, for example a great band called Eraserheads, who are really cool they have always been doing what they do now.  Plus there’s other bands like that are coming to the forefront and reaching the point where it’s coming to fruition.  It seems that every year it’s a new decade that we are stealing or pillaging from. We have had the 50’s, 60’s 70’s and are in the middle of the 80’s now, so maybe next it will be the 90’s about to come back. I don’t know, not that we are all pastiche artists or anything [laughing]

4TR: Gabriel your vocals have led to direct comparisons of Nick Cave.  What do you think about that?

Gabriel: Actually that’s probably our fault seeing as we are called Loverman and Nick Cave did a song called ‘Loverman’. 

4TR: Is that why you are called Loverman?

Gabriel: No.  I thought only the most egomaniacal dick head full of himself arsehole would call himself Loverman, but you know also the most nerdy insecure guy who lives in the arse-end of nowhere in Texas and calls himself Loverman on his MySpace page as he sits in his bedroom and speaks about himself in the 3rd person.  [Laughing] I kind of liked the idea of this dweeb calling himself Loverman because it’s such a creepy thing to call yourself, its really horrible, I mean I wouldn’t trust anyone who called himself Loverman.

4TR: So then what about the Nick Cave comparisons – are you flattered by them?

Gabriel:  There are loads of singers who sing in baritone I guess [laughs] so it’s kind of lazy journalism.  The funny thing is that I like Nick Cave and there’s a few of his records I can listen to again and again, but I think he has also produced a lot of work that has been terrible.  Many people seem to forget that he’s an artist who throughout his career has stolen, pillaged and in the most endearing way honoured his influences – I mean his first album was half covers, he is in a way a pastiche artist; but its good music so I think if people want to think that we’re just on a Nick Cave trip then maybe we are carrying on a tradition since the blues by just honouring our influences.

4TR: ‘Human Nurture’ came out towards the end of last year, and you are in the studio writing for an LP, so what’s next?

Gabriel: Well now we are playing more London shows and trying out our new material to see how it goes and how it’s received.

4TR: Continually finding your feet in the live environment so to speak?

Gabriel: Oh yeah hopefully every artist is still finding their feet, you know as long as you keep producing you don’t want to get too comfortable, and do a Rolling Stones and play your back catalogue for 20 years [laughs].  But you know you are always working on new stuff, its always exciting that you are baring your soul and open to making mistakes at every point, so you shouldn’t be stable or comfortable - to be comfortable is not a good thing for a musician, because you are not moving forward anymore.

‘Human Nurture’ is out now on Young & Lost Club.

Words: Francesca Strange

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