Rogues : Interview

Pop is cool again. Apparently. But then if like me the mere inkling of the word is enough to send electric sparks shuddering up and down your torso, pop in fact was never a dirty word.  Our isles are positively groaning under the weight of this popular music ambush; in fact nowadays you can’t swing an I-pod without knocking out five backing track wielding pop stars and honestly there have been times I have tried.  But in amongst the reality-star wannabes, the manufactured record label fodder and the laptop fraternity, there is some genuine homegrown talent that steps away from the chart-topping success of the conventional and gives us a whole lot more to ruminate over.

Rogues are one such talent.  A five-piece failing from Harrow, they have in their short career so far managed to carve out their own pop niche, bringing together atmospheric new wave synths, intense riffs and addictive harmonies, which circle the at times ethereal vocal harmonies, stimulating the pop sensibility and animating the fantastical lyrics.  Debut single ‘Not So Pretty’ released in conjunction with taste innovators 50 Bones provided the platform to secure Rogues enviable slots associated with BBC Introducing stages at festivals including Glasto, The Isle of White and V.  This in turn instigated support from across the airwaves with radio royalty such as Zane Lowe, Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens asserting their personal appreciation of the band who had a single deal in the bag after their first ever live show.

Now back off the festival circuit and fresh from the studio (actually a shed in their case), Rogues are returning this month with their new EP, Widows; a thirteen minute blast of utterly convincing, superior pop infused music that succeeds in demonstrating their colourful ideas flawlessly.  A four-track creation that bridges the gap between the danceworthy and the serious, with a sincerity and unpredictability that will culminate in your finger hovering over the repeat button.  Supercharged and immediate, the effect is simple, clever and 100% unmanufactured, and for a bunch of lads from the area that spawned Kate Nash, Simon Le Bon and er Pam St Clement, their future looks assuredly dazzling.

4or The Record spoke to Rogues vocalist and songwriter Pearse MacIntyre in the lead up to the anticipated launch of what we reckon is one of the most promising EP’s of this year.

Rogues are Pearse MacIntyre (guitar/vocals), John MacIntyre (bass/backing vocals), Tom MacIntyre (drums) and Sam James (guitar/vocals) and Patrick Fraser Stansbie (synths/backing vocals). 



4or The Record: Rogues is quite a family affair, but you have actually only been playing together for a little over a year.  Give us the background story on how the band started.

Pearse: Basically Sam and I were in different bands before this one, which dissolved for whatever reason and so after that we just put ourselves into a room and decided to start a new band together.  We started writing songs for about 6 months and then brought in my little brother Frog who plays bass and my other brother Tom who plays drums; so we kind of had a band by default.  Pat was someone I used to see as a drinking partner in Harrow and I kept asking him if he wanted to be in the band and he kept saying yes but we didn’t really do anything about it until August of last year when we did finally get together as Rogues.  After that we played our first gig in September and that was it really, things have been ridiculously busy since then!

4TR: From your first show in September you were picked up by independent label 50 Bones who released you debut single in March this year. Were you surprised at how quickly that happened?

Pearse: Yeah definitely, we had a lot of interest quickly after our first show and a few labels got in touch with us to see about putting out a single, but in the end we went with 50 Bones mainly because we really liked the artists on their roster; they had put out singles with The Virgins and Little Boots and we were really big fans of them at the time and so we put out the first single with 50 Bones and it did really well.

4TR: The single ‘Not So Pretty’ was picked up across the radio airwaves and the press seemed to lavish praise upon you.  Was that kind of attention unexpected?

Pearse: Yeah it was, I mean we got a lot more than we ever expected really.  Steve Lamacq was a big champion of it and he played it on Radio 1 a lot and then Jon Kennedy played us, and then BBC 6 music, Q Radio, NME Radio and people like that, plus the NME put us in their top 10 tracks of the week.  It was great to have such positive feedback and get such a reception to the song after such a short amount of time.

4TR: So as a direct result of that you were offered incredible platforms for your music such as BBC Introducing slots at Glastonbury and other high profile festivals?

Pearse: Yeah absolutely, we played Glastonbury after that, The Great Escape and V Festival amongst others.  We had a really, really busy festival season, I was happy to see the end of it to be honest [laughing].

4TR: Has your sound changed at all from the point in which you started taking writing music as Rogues seriously?

Pearse: Well up until recently not really, but actually I think it is definitely starting to sound different now from when we first started.  We are more of a guitar-orientated band now so when we write you know that the next song is going to be guitar driven.  It’s a bit weird but actually sound a lot different now to what our ep sounds like which is being released this month, so you could say we have recently gone through a bit of an evolution.

4TR: Other than being more guitar driven, what else about the writing has changed?

Pearse: Well we still want to write big pop songs but the methods are different, plus we are using different instruments now and are also writing some really slow songs, which we have never really done before.  We are not exactly chilled out but every song isn’t quite as intense as it used to be, because we are trying to branch into things that aren’t necessarily danceable or club worthy.

4TR: Why after writing and recording 'Widows' the new EP which is packed full of new-wave synths, huge pop melodies and distinctive vocals that has got critics raving about Rogues, did you start to change things?

Pearse: I don’t know really, I mean it wasn’t a conscious decision but it just started happening because we had spent a whole year trying to write our first single and then our second single and I think we ended up with a lot of singles so we don’t have to worry about the next one, so in the meantime we are experimenting more with our music to see what else we can do.  Does that make sense?

4TR: So with the evolving of the sound being quite a recent thing, I am assuming no one has yet heard the newer material.  Any plans to incorporate it into your live show yet?

Pearse: Actually we are going to debut our new material at the ep launch, so it will be the first time we have included any of it into our set which will give the whole thing a newer vibe.  I mean its ironic that it is quite different to the songs on the ep which we are launching that night, but I think it will be good for us to show where we are going with our music potentially.  Ultimately though the new tracks are still very representative of our pop sound.

4TR: So really it’s a case of Rogues mixing things up but still within the literal meaning of pop.

Pearse: Basically yeah, if you wanted to be really literal in describing our music we are essentially a pop guitar band, but there’s an infusion of other things in there and like you said we are trying to mix it up to see what else we are capable of.

4TR: How does the band approach song writing?

Pearse: Well Sam and me have written all the songs thus far; Frog writes a lot but hasn’t put any words to it yet but has reams and reams of music, but we write all the words at the moment.  We kind of sit in a room with guitars and the computer and pass ideas around really. Its definitely collaborative, so its open to anyone to come in with an idea and share it or you know sometimes I will sit there on my own and figure something out, like a melody or chorus.

4TR: Lyrically speaking the songs are full of colourful imagery, fantasy and suggestions of otherworldly ideas – I am assuming these are not coming from an autobiographical place?

Pearse: No I think it’s mixture of storytelling, some semi-autobiographical things and then other ideas that come from all over the place.  Its definitely not social commentary, we’re not one of those bands and I think we have always intended to purposefully not be. We kind of try to be escapist and include something not of the every day kind of world within the writing. [Laughing] that’s the intention anyway; I’m not sure to what degree we do that.  We read a lot and are sort of jokingly fixated on the idea of this mystical band or place where the songs can exist.

4TR: Widows is being released on Friends vs. Records - is that potentially a long-term relationship, or are you looking for a proper deal?

Pearse: Well I think it’s a similar thing to 50 Bones so it’s a one off deal for the EP, but I guess everything is dependant on how well it does you know.  Put it this way we are still looking for a permanent record deal at the moment.

4TR: In that case are you thinking about the future with the ideal being to record an album?

Pearse: We are definitely thinking about it but we have to arrive at a point where we can properly make a cohesive record; something that can exist as an entity of its own and that is not just a miss-mash of different stuff filling it up.  We are talking about putting out another single in March next year and then doing an album, so we’re always thinking about it and to be honest we have got enough songs for it already, its just a matter of which songs and which songs will come in the future that will be right for an album.

4TR: A lot of emerging bands either out of necessity or consciously, focus on the DIY process of making music.  Is that the case for you in terms of production and other aspects of your creative process?

Pearse: Well yeah on the EP it was except for the main song ‘Merrygoround’, which we did in the studio with a couple of producers.  Like all the other songs were recorded in my shed at home so yeah its definitely DIY, but for us its not intentional it’s more out of necessity, because we haven’t got enough money.  ‘Merrygoround’ for example cost a lot to record so it has to be DIY for the time being. You know we would love to be on a label and have money to do whatever but at the same time its kind of fun being DIY in a way because you can just sit there late at night making a flyer or doing art work and really get your teeth into the whole project, which ultimately adds a nice extra feeling of accomplishment to what we are doing. 

4TR: I wanted to mention the artwork for Widows.  I think that definitely takes on the semi-mystical idea you were talking about where the music and band can exist.  Was that the intended effect?

Pearse: Yeah it’s definitely in league with it.  But I don’t know if its maybe a result of what we have been listening to, like we listen to David Bowie a lot and more recently bands like Klaxons and MGMT and stuff like that.  I think we veer more towards that sense of fantastical, and so we wanted to make the cover strong and interesting you know like the album covers that used to exist which were works of art; you know like the vinyl’s that you find with strange covers.  We wanted to do something similar and I think it looks effective. 

4TR: Widows is out on the 23rd November.  What’s next?

Pearse: We have a tour coming up and then are going to get ready for the next release I think.  I suppose its about focusing on just trying to make our way to where we want to be, [laughs] like all the other masses of bands out there…

Words: Francesca Strange

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