Sublime indie-pop fronted by the magnetic Rebekah Raa and tailor made for the tennies
As band after contemporary band appears content to wallow in a fuzzy quagmire of overblown distortion, burying song structure and melody in favour of witless noise, Stricken City are remarkably refreshing; a burst of light cutting through the mist with welcome clarity.
Put simply, they create hummable, intelligent, female-fronted indie-pop which owes as much to the jangle of The Sundays as it does to the tougher-tinged Britpop of Echobelly. However, the band also harbour a secret weapon – their startlingly attractive frontwoman, Rebekah Raa, who exudes equal parts bohemian naivety and knowing mischievousness to create a beguiling stage presence.
With their debut effort, the mini-LP 'Songs About People We Know', released last year, the band are looking forward to a big 2010. We caught up with them to talk about where they come from, where they're going, and how they're going to get there…
How did you end up in a band together? Give us a brief potted history of Stricken City.
Rebekah [Raa – vocals]: Me and Ian met in Northampton when we were about 15 and we've known each other ever since and played in bands. Michael [Hyland – bass] joined two years ago?
Ian [Pettifer – guitar]: One year ago.
R: Right. Kit [Godfrey – drums] joined two years ago and now we're one big happy family. We've had two different bassists and drummers but we've been Stricken City for years.
What are your influences?
R: We really like the Talking Heads, and we used to really like punk and post-punk bands like The Slits, but now we want to make more noise. The Slits had a lot of space in their songs, quite minimalist – we used to be a bit more like that but now we are kind of moving away from it.
I: Recently stuff like Dirty Projectors and High Places – a lot of American stuff.
What are your plans for 2010?
I: Well we are recording an album now which we are doing ourselves 'cause we aren't signed. We've got a label in America but nothing over here. Everything's going quite nicely in America – we're doing our album and then we're gonna take some time out from that to do an American tour in March.
When can we expect the record to drop?
R: Probably 2013 at the rate we're going (laughter).
I: Hopefully around July.
R: Before festival season 'cause we wanna play some of the new material.
Did you play the festivals last year?
K: No we didn't but we toured a lot. We did a tour with Maximo Park and one with the Noisettes.
Rebekah, do you have any particular influences in terms of your stage persona?
R: No! (Laughter) I was just talking to Michael about this – I wish I wasn't such a bumbling idiot on stage. Before I go on I look in the mirror and I think "I'm gonna dance like this, I'm gonna look cool, I'm just gonna be still and not do anything stupid". But when I get there I'm just an idiot! I fall over stuff, spill my drink… it's all natural though – I can't be cool. I do like Patti Smith though; I think she's a really cool one. I wish I could be like her, she just stands there and delivers it and everyone watches her.
Any bands you would like to recommend for 2010?
I: Smith-Westerns – another American band. Their record is really good.
R: Real Estate also. And we all love the Dirty Projectors record – the girl and boy's voices marry together so nicely and there's such a lovely sound and unusual harmonies and timings. And catchy songs.
Click here for more live music in London.
Keep checking Spoonfed for the band's tour dates.
The band's debut mini-album, 'Songs About People I Know', can be purchased via their website.
Thanks to Sailor Jerry rum. Spiced rum and cool tattoos are always a winner in our books.
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