Interview Itch
The Leeds noiseniks have a new record out, it's time to learn a bit more about these true Loiners
Interview: Itch
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Itch have a point about Leeds: “You are never more than three feet away from a musician at any given time these days,” says singer Mike Milner, “the place is inundated.” Despite this, it’s not very easy to find a band made up solely by Loiners, but Itch really are Leeds born and bred.
The band is made up of thorough bred Yorkshiremen who met at Farnley Park High School and formed “because we weren’t much good at anything else, and it kept us out of trouble”. Made up of Lee Strong (drums), John Darke (bass) Steven Banks (guitar) and the aforementioned Milner (guitar and vocals) they play mathy rock-pop that jangles your ears and taps your toes all at once - far from that stereotypical angular Leeds lad sound that people have come to tire of. And their influences are equally as different.
“We all love bands like Spy Versus Spy, The Appleseed Cast, Sweep The Leg Johnny and American Football,” says Milner. “They turned us away from the tripe we were subjected to as kids. Bands like these changed our entire outlook on how songs should be written.”
Their latest album comes fresh off the press via Tip Toe recordings. “Dom at Tiptoe Records was really keen to help us out when we first sent out some early demos of the album to different labels,” says Milner. “We felt working with a Leeds label made sense since that’s where we are based.”
The album, An Illusion Of Grandeur From a One Trick Pony flows in and out of experimental stop start melodies and took a whopping two days to record all 11 tracks. “We then spent seven or eight months mixing and mastering with Andy Brothwell the producer,” explains Milner. Brothwell had previously worked with bands including Vessels and Milner says that Itch “owe him big time”.
With the launch of the new album, the band have been feeling generous and have put their entire back catalogue up to download for free from their website. Perfect for the new listener to sink their ears into.
Find out more at www.thebanditch.com
Posted on Wednesday 9th December 2009
CA
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