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Brakes.
 Ever since he saw Michael J Fox in the guitar scene from 'Back To The Future', Eamon Hamilton has dreamed of making a living from music. At the age of 13, Hamilton began to realise this dream in his first band, Jockrash. "Me and my mates weren't big into sports, we were more into music and smoking ciggies, so Jockrash seemed like quite an apt title. We could've made it big," he laments, tongue in cheek.
Now Hamilton, who's also a member of British Sea Power, is part of Brakes: a pseudo-super group comprising brothers Tom and Alex White of The Electric Soft Parade, with Marc Beatty of The Tenderfoot on bass. "I joined British Sea Power about three years ago in the summer of 2002. It was pretty crazy: Brakes started as well at that time. I'd decided to move to London and I was at the train station when I got a call from British Sea Power saying they needed a keyboard player to go on tour the next day. So I thought, 'Well, I'm not moving to London then.' So I grabbed all my bags and moved to my friend's sofa for about a year."
Brakes are now signed to Rough Trade Records, a label recognised for its dealings with diabolic sweethearts The Libertines and Babyshambles. "Yeah, Brakes are the second most troublesome band on the label," Hamilton jokes. "But seriously, Rough Trade are just incredible, aren't they? I just keep picking up records and going, 'This is brilliant,' like Camper Van Beethoven and stuff. When you pick up good records in charity shops, nine times out of ten they're Rough Trade. They're also really supportive: Brakes didn't really sign anything, we just shook hands with Geoff Travis and he said, "50/50. No funny business,' and we were like, 'Wicked! Alright, that's a good deal!' We tried to keep everything as cheap as possible with Rough Trade; our album didn't cost that much to make and we get our friends to do our videos on 'mate's rates.'"
Touring has seen Hamilton in various cities in unique situations, but none more memorable than Berlin. "We got recommended this bar called Dr Pong and I thought, 'What is it, a smelly bar?' We turned up at 2am and there's a big table tennis table and a squat bar with 20 people standing around with bats. Each person takes a shot and if you miss you are out of the game. It gets whittled down to 2 people and I got in the top 5," Hamilton says excitedly. "I just thought it was a fantastic idea. Continual ping-pong with hard liquor. Only in Berlin!"
Hamilton has also played at various festivals of late, from local fetes where the village vicar sells ice cream, to the coveted Coachella Festival in California with British Sea Power. "The Truck Festival is quite nice, like a big village fair. It's a bit strange in America, though. There seems to be regulated fun because you can only drink in one designated square. It was great to see New Order, obviously, and The Futureheads were amazing."
Brakes' debut album 'Give Blood' prompts the immediate question as to where the album title originated. "It was a lot of things really. We used to play really hard and all four of us would end up with blood all over our hands." (I comment how 'rock' that is and he confesses, "It was just bad technique, really.") "It sort of came from that but it was also a bit of a challenge. I'd never given blood before, but it's one of those things you should do and so to call the album 'Give Blood' we sort of had to. We were thinking of calling the next album 'Give Bone Marrow' but that's, like, a week in hospital, so there wasn't a lot of interest in that. "Hamilton laughs. "But [donating blood] is brilliant, we did it just before going on tour a few months ago. Because your body replenishes the blood that's lost within a couple of hours or something, it feels really good like you've got new blood - well, because you do - and you're helping people."
I mention the added perquisite of free beer and sandwiches after said event, but it seems the British equivalent is not as satisfying. "You get a free beer?" Hamilton asks incredulously. "Superb! We just got tea and biscuits. Man, I wish I could give blood in Australia to get a beer." It seems Australia has just been added to an upcoming Brakes world tour - and all for a good cause.
Cassie Hilditch
 | 'Give Blood' is out now through Shock. |
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