Scouting For Girls joke around with FemaleFirst

27-10-2008 12:20

Scouting For Girls are one of the most successful bands of 2008, so naturally, I had to have a chat with them to find out all about life as a superstar, their current tour of the UK and if they plan to quit while they are ahead.

Hey guys, what have you been getting up to recently; anything fun?

Yesterday we had a guy come and pour wax into our ears to make moulds for our headphone things that go in our ears when we’re on stage and so we look like we’re listening to our walkman. So that’s not really very exciting.

How are you enjoying life on the road?

It’s awesome, it’s more fun than you could ever imagine.

Where are you looking forward to playing?

I think we’re excited for everywhere; we are really looking forward to going back to some of the places that we’ve already been to like Newcastle, Liverpool and Glasgow which are always great fun. This will be out tenth gig in Glasgow and every time we’ve been we ended up playing to more and more people - the firs time we went we played to 50 people, and then the second time it was like 100 people and then 300 then 500 then 1,000 and this time we have two nights at the Glasgow Academy so we will play to about 5,000 people. It’s really amazing to be a part of that.

How did it feel when you were signed to Epic Records in February 2007?

Shock and Awe. We never expected to get a record deal, we’d been playing for so long in different bands that we were happy to do our own thing, put out our own records and organise our own nights so I think we were just very taken aback.

It happened really quickly; we signed on Valentines Day which was a Tuesday. We gave up our jobs on the Friday and by Monday we were in the recording studio so it was a real rollercoaster ride. We were all working part-time and all we wanted to do was to make music for a living and so when we got the chance to do that we took the opportunity and ran with it!

Your first EP ‘It’s Not About You’ was the highest charting limited EP in chart history - when you were writing it did you ever think it would do as well as it did?

We never thought any of the things we did would have done as well as they have done - it was a real shock. We used to just be impressed if a few people turned up at our gigs and we played to 200 people in our local pub and it was a really big thing for us.

We really enjoy and appreciate everything that has happened to us and we don’t know how long it’s going to last so we just try to ensure that we enjoy every moment which we make sure that we do!

So is it true that you came up with the name ‘Scouting For Girls’ thanks to the Scouting For Boys handbook?

It’s sort of like a play on words with the boys handbook - it’s sort of cheeky and fun. The album is all about growing up and discovering your first girlfriend and your first love and then losing your first girlfriend! Scouting For Girls is sort of a metaphor for growing up and discovering girls and things.

Sometimes I wonder if we should have chosen a slightly different name - it’s just taken me like five minutes to explain it to you… imagine what it’s going to be like when we’re in somewhere like Japan! If I started a different band I might make up a word and it would be a lot easier but I think it’s done us proud because it’s fun and cheeky and that’s what the band (and ourselves) is all about.

So were you actually Boy Scouts then?

Me and Pete were but we were in the Cubs when we were six.

Aww; I was Brownie!

Were you? We did a gig for the Brownies the other day. It was a big gig for 45, 000 Brownies!

I didn’t make it into the Girl Guides though, I wasn’t that dedicated - unlike you guys! Your debut album did incredibly well - can we expect a new one any time soon?

No we’re going to quit whilst we’re ahead! Ha-ha.

My mum always told me to do that you know… she says if you don’t that’s how you become a gambling addict!

Yeah, that’s why we’re going to do it; we spoke to your mum the other day and she told us that! Ha-ha. No, just kidding, we’re going to start recording again at the start of next year. We have this tour coming up which is huge and then we have a month off over Christmas. During the tour we’re going to do some demos and then go into the studio in Spring/Summer next year.

Ooh, I can’t wait, summer songs! Talking of summer, how did you enjoy doing the festival circuit this year?

We loved it, festivals are wicked and they’re great because you can hang out with loads of other great bands.

Who did you enjoy hanging out with and watching perform the most?

We loved the guys from The Feeling as they’re awesome. We also met Newton Faulkner, he was lovely. He came over and was like; “Hello; I’ve come to introduce myself, I’m Newton Faulkner.” and I was like WOW!

Did you touch his hair?

No, I thought that was a bit forward! I think that to do this job you have to be quite outgoing and fun and friendly so you don’t meet that many idiots. I think everyone really appreciates being able to do this and you get that feeling of being so happy…especially at festivals when everyone is really drunk!

Wow, I think it’s my calling then, I’m all those things! What has been the highlight of your career so far then?

I don’t think you can really call it a ‘career.’ A career is something like joining the police or being a civil servant ha-ha! But you get a highlight every so often where you feel dead happy. Maybe when it’s all over and we’re all old and wrinkly we can appreciate it loads. To be able to do what you love for a living is the best feeling in the world.

We worked for ten years doing part-time jobs in order to go to do this and I think that every day I wake up and don’t think “I don’t want to get up and go to work.” but think “Yeah, lets get up and start writing songs and record stuff or play this town or that.” to do that as your life is such a blessing and I am really proud that we spent so long trying to get there and now we’ve achieved it.

What do you think you’d be doing if you hadn’t got signed?

We would probably still be working part-time then going round to each others houses and recording things and just doing musical stuff!

Who do you look up to within the industry?

Greg - he’s taller than us! Any band that have managed to get away with doing it for years and bringing out great album and putting on great live shows. That’s what we want to achieve. Every live show we’ve done and every tour has been bigger and better than the previous and it’s taken a long time to do that (as well as a lot of money!) because we want to make sure that every show is better than the last.

We could just blag it, but we don’t want to, we want to be sure that everything works and is great. We get people who come back again and again because our shows are like a party.

I will have to come to one!

I can’t believe you haven’t been to one yet!

What’s coming up in the near future for you guys?

Lunch!

I better let you feed your appetite then! But every band we interview, we ask them to come up with a question for the next band and Disturbed want to know where the best place to scout for girls is?

One of our gigs! Especially the one in Manchester which you come to!

Thanks! I’ll make sure I clamour my way to the front and wave at you. So finally can you come up with a question for the lovely Anastasia?

Where do you get all your glasses from?

Ah, very appripriate! Well thanks guys; and enjoy your dinner!

Laters!

FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison