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The Departure.
The Departure plan to be in it for the long haul, and if the start they've had is anything to go by, they just might be around for as long as they believe they will. "We're not going to be a band that's going to be around for five minutes and then is gone again," claims guitarist Lee Irons. "We're going to be around for at least five years."
Touring Australia in August (well, if Sydney and Melbourne counts as 'Australia'), the band has just released their debut album 'Dirty Words', and completed a series of tours supporting the likes of Hot Hot Heat and The Tears (the reunion project of original Suede songwriters Bernard Butler and Brett Anderson). "That was great, because we're big fans of Suede anyway," says Irons. Even more recently, The Departure supported Duran Duran on a string of German dates.
Interestingly enough, Duran Duran is one of the few eighties bands that The Departure are often compared to, although Irons is keen to make the band's influences a bit more clear. "Less Duran Duran, more sort of Depeche Mode, if you know what I mean," he explains. "We're really into a lot of eighties, new-wave, almost goth sort of music, I guess. But we're also in a lot of Brit-pop, punk, hardcore, jazz, and funk, and what have you. There was - and there still is - a lot of bands in the UK that have got that eighties sort of sound coming out. I hope it stops soon, to be honest. People want to pigeonhole us - which is fine, but I think it's just lazy journalism, to be quite frank. People think 'oh yeah, another band from the UK, they like new-wave music, oh they must sound like Duran Duran.' And no, we don't. I don't know exactly what we sound like, but we're more interested in bands like Echo & The Bunnymen, or Depeche Mode, or The Cure. Duran Duran are a bit too camp and flamboyant for me."
With catchy tracks like the sleaze-pop of All Mapped Out,
the melodies of 'Dirty Words' look set to stick in the minds
those who have buying up on bands like The Killers and Franz
Ferdinand of late. "I've been doing this for like a year and
a half and I can't get it out of my head. It's annoying!" exclaims
Irons about the melodies. "Having to play the same songs every
night, you know? You end up singing along, and you don't even
realise you're singing along when you're playing." He's not
the only one: the band recently played Glastonbury to acclaim.
"That was great, man. We just released our record, and there
was loads of people singing and dancing and stuff. So it's very
reassuring to know that we have got a growing fan base. It's
a really great feeling. I mean, considering we haven't had a
load of press from the NME, or other people. We've had a lot
of bad press, really. I mean people have been quite rude and
snidey about us actually."
Formed at the beginning of last year, the Northampton five-piece has quickly locked in a long term record deal with Parlophone, is now being managed by Sanctuary on little more than a gentlemen's agreement ("We can leave anytime we're not happy," says Irons), and has had their debut album produced by legendary Steve Osborne, then mixed by the even more legendary Alan Moulder. All of this good fortune is probably the cause of resentment from the music press, says Irons. "In regards to the NME, they like bands that are from New York, or London, cool places, that are part of some cool scene, and we're not. We live like an hour and a half from London, and there are no other bands really around here that are really doing anything. I think because of that, and the fact that we found a label straight away, and what have you, we're not seen as a cool band. It's just bollocks, to be quite honest with you. I mean, there are other bands that I know of on smaller labels that don't work as hard as we do. They don't tour as much as we do. But they are seen as cool bands, just because they're from London, or somewhere cool. It just shows the power of the media, and really it's quite ridiculous. We don't get pissed off about it; we just laugh about it, really."
Eddie Chan
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'Dirty Words' is out now through EMI.
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