Summer 2010 Kicks Off in Style on Campus

**Warwick Summer Party 2010. **

As I wandered onto the site that morning, I was filled with a sense of dread. To be honest, given Warwick SU’s reputation, I was expecting little more than an empty field with a gloomy looking horse in the corner, and a few packing crates for a stage. Ok, so maybe that’s a little harsh but, to be blunt, expectations were low.
As it turned out, however, Warwick’s Summer Party genuinely impressed. It was enough to cause my eyebrows to raise and my bottom lip to protrude a little at least. There was a nicely sized stage, some well placed bars, and even the odd inflatable. Kudos, Warwick. Even the lineup wasn’t bad. With football, DJs, bands, food, drinks and even a halfpipe, there was something for everyone.

**Ou Est Le Swimming Pool**

The fastest growing electro-pop outfit on the music scene, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool broke through in 2009 with ‘Dance The Way You Feel’. We interviewed Charlie Haddon (vocals) and Joe Hutchinson (keys).

_Have you guys had a good day so far? How do you think your set went out there?_

Joe: It went very well! It was very nice, it’s a lovely day… I heard it rained this morning… But the weather’s been fantastic.

Charlie: We actually arrived about two minutes before we were supposed to be onstage, so it was very rushed, but we managed to do it! Good fun.

_So you live life on the edge… that’s the moral here?_

Joe: Charlie does. Tell them all about it.

Charlie: It’s really close to the edge. Hanging off, most times. Dangerously close. I actually walked through the rain this morning to try and meet these guys on the motorway. It went quite badly. We ended up completely missing each other. I almost got run over by a tractor. Just crazy. On the edge.

Joe: Look at that dedication though. We were running late, so Charlie tried to meet us by Junction 18 on the M1. How nice is that? And we made it, 2 minutes to spare!

_If you weren’t called Ou Est La Swimming Pool, what else were you going to call yourselves?_

Charlie: Well, we kind of had the name before we had the band. The band came afterwards, and we didn’t really know what we were doing. Our first song was called ‘The Eurovision Song’. we decided we’d try and win Eurovision. It was great. Our second song was a cover of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’, and then we got a bit serious and made some good music. Not that that’s not a great song! Rihanna, I love you!

_Do you still think you could go to Eurovision one day?_

Charlie: God, no. Christmas number 2 is our next aim.

Joe: We’re never going to beat the X-Factor entry, so let’s keep it realistic.

_What are your plans for the rest of the summer?_

Joe: Our next single is ‘Jackson’s Last Stand’ coming out on the 12th of July. We’ve got a great gig coming up in Victoria Park which has sold out. 25,000 people: our biggest gig by a long way!

Charlie: Lots of gigs! We’re doing Oxygen. Ireland, Sweden and Norway. We’re going to Belgium, Germany, Austria. Doing a tour in Australia.

_Who is Ou Est Le Swimming Pool’s band to watch for the next year?_

Joe: ‘Ou Est Le Swimming Pool’?

Charlie: Yup… pretty much us.

Ou Est Le Swimming Pool were great to talk to; fun, lively, and best of all, genuine. Their set was lively; those who knew them were excited to hear them, and those who didn’t know them were converted. The energy was plentiful, despite a slightly passive pre-drinking-time crowd. Overall, they were impressive, showing us exactly why they were becoming one of the most popular electro acts around.

Sadly, since the Warwick Summer Party, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool have fallen victim to tragedy. Following a performance at the festival Pukkelpop in Belgium, lead singer Charlie Haddon passed away after an incident backstage. A gig at London’s Koko is to be held in Charlie’s memory. Read more at http://www.myspace.com/ouestleswimmingpool.

**Funeral For A Friend**

Kings of the emo scene since their breakthrough in 2003, FFAF have been named as the number one reason for mass sales of black hair dye. We chat to Matt Davies (vocals) and Ryan Richards (drums).

_How’s your day been so far?_

Matt: It’s been very pleasant! The weather’s been kinda nice. Yeah! So far, so good.

_What’s the atmosphere like back stage?_

Matt: It’s quite chilled and relaxed. There’s a big kind of Buffet thing going on.

Ryan: They’re all at the bouncy castle I think.
What’s the plan for the rest of the summer?

Matt: Not very much… there’s Sonisphere on August the first, and we’ve got two shows in London and Cardiff, where we’re playing Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation in its entirety as a kind of send off to our shadowy guitar player Darren Smith, he’s leaving us.

_Over the years you’ve had a lot of different band members coming and going, has that changed the dynamic of the band?_

Matt: It’s just got better and better really.

Ryan: Alcohol consumption has gone up.

Matt: Amount of long hair has gone up. Amount of bare nakedness and naked torsos has gone up. Tattoos have gone up.

_Your music has had an enormous impact on many people’s lives over the years. Is that something you’re conscious of when you’re writing?_

Matt: I think if you consider that when you’re writing music then I probably wouldn’t be able to write anything, because it’s hard to write with other people in mind. I love that people have taken something that means a lot to them from our stuff, and that it’s helped them through a tough time. I don’t deliberately write stuff for that kind of purpose, but we write about real things and real issues, the things we’ve gone through as people, and if people can take stuff that helps them through their life from our music then that’s great… that’s a very big honour.

_Has it been hard to keep your inspiration genuine? Is there less opportunity to experience these kinds of things as a famous band?_

Ryan: We’re still having those experiences really, albeit being a little bit older whilst having them.

Matt: And unfortunately, as it is, there’s still a lot of bad shit going on in the world, so that still fuels our fires I guess. It still keeps things vibrant and relative and as angry as it’s ever been.

_Do you find it frustrating that now, with bands getting famous on a first album, there’s no longer a chance for bands to build themselves up? Is it infuriating that the music industry produces such short-term acts?_

Ryan: It’s just the way things are at the moment. People’s attention spans are very short, and there’s so many new bands coming out all the time with things like Myspace, and things are just regurgitated and recycled so quickly that it is difficult for a band to sustain a fan-base over a wide period of time, which is a shame. But it’s just the way it is at the moment.

_The Welsh music scene’s pretty big at the moment with Stereophonics, Lostprophets, Bullet For My Valentine… are you all friends back home?_

Matt: Yes we are! It works; we’re all good mates.

_Does that friendly competition spur you on? Do you ever seek to out each other?_

Matt: Not really. I think friendly competition’s always healthy. I think you always want to kind of throw down, and to play the best you can and to push each other to higher and better things, and that’s always what it’s going to be, I think that’s what friendships are for and it’s a very positive thing.

The band’s set later in the day was fantastic. The biggest crowd so far gathered to bounce up and down for FFAF. Watching the band on stage was like watching a band do what it was meant to do; there was no awkwardness; no question that belting out music like this was their true calling in life. The university’s power grid, however, had other ideas, and served up a tasty power-cut half way through the set. Matt Davies simply scribbled a message on a spare scrap of paper: ‘This is fucked up’. The sign brought band and fans together, and before long they returned to deliver the end of an amazing set.

**Bombay Bicycle Club**

North London indie-boys Bombay Bicycle Club swapped university for musical fame and fortune, and their fans have never regretted it. We talked to Jack Steadman (vocals) and Ed Nash (bass and keys).

_How was the journey up? Ou Est Le Swimming Pool had to meet one of their members on the motorway; any trouble like that?_

Jack: We’re very punctual actually.

Ed: We’re a very polite, punctual and good natured band.

_Are you going to play acoustic, or more of your first album today?_

Ed: We’re going to play electric. I think we’d get booed off if we played acoustic. Everyone’s… what do they say at uni? On the lash.

_With the new album you went for quite a different style. Are you hoping to be a band with a diverse range of sounds, or are you just trying to find the right one?_

Ed: It was already part of our sound, it was something we always did, we just kept it apart from our electric stuff and our live shows, and it just seems like a continuation of that really. It’s the same thing we were doing before, it’s just people are noticing it now.

_How does Warwick uni rank in terms of your festival appearances so far?_

Ed: These are always fun to do.

_You guys are the same age as a lot of the people here today. Do you ever regret not getting into the university life?_

Jack: We’d be first years now I think.

Ed: I’d say it’s definitely worth sticking to what we’re doing now. I think that, coming from London, it’s a good thing to go to university, cos you get out of this bubble you’re in. It’s very much this North London bubble that we exist in from school, and to go out and meet people from all over the country is something which I think I could have done with.

_If the band could choose a band mascot, what would it be and why?_

Ed: That’s a nice question. It’d be a special breed of dog called a horn-dog… It exists… We just have to get one.

The band’s set that evening left a lot to be desired. They produced a strong aural performance, with fantastic musicianship all round; it was pretty much indie-heaven to hear. Watching the set, on the other hand, was a different matter entirely. Jack Steadman’s attitude changed little from interview to stage, as we moved from apathetic-and-sulky to apathetic-and-sulky-avec-bass-guitar. He even spent a few songs leaning casually on the drum riser, looking like he wouldn’t mind being somewhere else entirely.

The problem lay with Bombay Bicycle Club’s complete disregard for their audience. They seemed not to realise their fans were gathered there at all, creating a sort of impenetrable wall between the band and their fans. The one grace the boys did show their audience was to stand facing them, which seemed at times more like a convenience than much else.

Bombay Bicycle Club could have been great; they could have been the most memorable band of the day, but they let themselves down. To top it all off came other power-cut. The boys looked stroppy and marched from the stage, with Jack Steadman eventually presenting the eager fans with a scrawled message: ‘No power’. Apparently, no matter how badly you think you’re failing your degree, you can still put two and two together faster than Mr. Steadman. The lads came across as brooding prima donnas, with their noses angled upwards just a few albums too early.

The Courteeners put an amazing finish to the day. Despite the guitar that wouldn’t tune, and the mic that nearly wasn’t, the Manchester four-piece played out the perfect set to round the party to a close. Great atmosphere, great sound, great songs, great communication with the fans all made for an immense, shimmering end to the day. Hits like ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ were shouted back towards the stage at almost as many decibels as the speakers could send the sound crashing into the crowd.

Overall, I am glad to report, Warwick’s Summer Party 2010 was a success. The music was altogether brilliant, the smiles were many, and the alcohol consumption plentiful. There genuinely was something for everyone, and despite the SU’s ents department’s unsteady reputation, the summer party turned out to be a fantastic mix of musical styles, inflatable fun and contented gig-goers. Kudos, Warwick. Kudos.