Singer Matt Lamkin chats to Spoonfed about the hotly tipped Californians' progress
Life in the current global-political climate can be tough when you’re a Muslim. That’s certainly what this San Diegan quartet quickly found out when trying to book shows and perform under their original moniker, The Muslims. Seven shades of “ignorant and racist” abuse later, notwithstanding a couple of cheerfully received singles, the band re-invented themselves as the Soft Pack. The Guardian whined, the NME acquiesced, and then everyone forgot about them for a while.
Meanwhile the band set about the matter at hand – namely crafting some galloping garage-punk tunes iced with dryly delivered word-plays, culminating in last month’s debut LP ‘The Soft Pack’. Hot on the heels of headlining XFM’s Next Big Thing show at the Borderline, I catch up with singer Matt Lamkin to cover everything from racism to Rodney Dangerfield.
Let's get the name change out of the way - what kind of abuse where you getting when still called The Muslims? Was there any incident in particular which forced you to change?
The name brought a lot of bad stuff out of people. Some people thought it was a joke and would start saying things like Jihad this and terrorist that. There was also a slew of nasty emails from people who had made assumptions about us and the meaning of the name. We were not trying to make fun or be edgy or offend anyone, so when people thought we were, we changed the name to The Soft Pack.
What exactly does the new name mean? I've read a few dubious things about it… here's your chance to set the record straight.
The Soft Pack describes us as a group of well mannered young gents. It is also a fake flaccid penis that can be worn in the trousers of someone who doesn't have a penis that wants to convince people otherwise.
Your new record is pretty super-awesome. Do you have any favourite tracks?
I prefer 'More Or Less' and 'Pull Out' from the new record.
Songs such as ‘C’mon’ and ‘Tides of Time’ seem to have a military theme – is this correct? Is this something that was preoccupying you during the writing of the record?
'C'mon' is partly about San Diego which has military bases in and around it. There is not much more to it than that. 'Tides Of Time' is about two young civilians who have gone missing in a river.
Who are your major influences?
Our major influences are The Modern Lovers, The Fall, The Replacements, R.E.M., The Feelies and Rodney Dangerfield.
Any bands you are really into at the moment and are tipping for success this year?
I think Haunted Graffiti is a good band that should have a good record this year. Gray Goods is a great band out of Brooklyn that is currently recording. Dunes is a band from LA that is putting out an EP with the label Mexican Summer. It should be a banger.
I read that you did 10 gigs in one day in LA. How did this go? Any mishaps? Would you do it again?
The ten show day was great. Everyone was in good spirits. Many people came out to the shows and helped us pull the whole thing off. The only mishap was when the cops came and broke up one of the house parties we played. I don't think we'll do it again – hopefully we'll have a new idea by the time the next album comes out.
Thanks to Keong Yeo at Familyltd
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