THE MEKANO SET

How do you aim to promote your work: as a Gigging Band, Recording Artists, Recording of Live Experience, or Studio Project?

Milk: We spend most of our time [ok, I spend all of my time] doing studio-centric stuff - BUT ultimately we make music so we can do it live. We'd be GUTTED if we couldn't do it live.

Is your main aim to be seen as a live act [real-time performance] or is it... look, can you play all that stuff live? would you actually want to?

Live. Live live live. We could play for hours, and we have done. We use sequencing software for the beats - but usually set up in a way so that it can be random, unpredictable, lots of options, variety. We have a lot of elements that aren't 'sequenced' - location recordings, drones, drum fills etc. are on minidisks set to 'random', we use delays and live sampling to throw extra elements back at us. And the live elements are really pretty loose. So you've got a real contrast there.

It can be really chaotic, more chaotic than most rock or dance acts, certainly more punk than any 'pop punk' band you can think of. It's not the same thing as someone singing along to a backing CD.... that would be easier, but a lot less fun.

Alternative career?

We're going to put all our money into having a crappy little book shop somewhere and spend all day making cups of tea, having naps, sighing, reminiscing, having flash-backs etc.

Alternative identity?

Yes we have those too.

Are you night-time or daytime?

We're Nap Time. Breakfast is good, evening is good, the rest is a blur. Milk is pretty much nocturnal.

Global warming a good thing?

An inevitable thing. Not good for us though eh?

What star signs/favourite colour/fave food/fave place/ are u?

Milk: I'm a Chissel. Fave food = gluten free pizza / pasta / coissants / beer / red wine. I like cheese but I'm probably allergic. I like Brighton, Camden, Liverpool. My favourite colour is transparent red.

Beth: [goes to the window, admires the view].

Dog or cat?

Milk: dogs are dumb but have more character. Cats are snooty but stylish.

Beth: goldfish.

Tarot or i-ching?

Milk: Tarot of Marseille is pretty interesting - there's a really ancient school of thought that tucked its ideas into The Marsaille Tarot a few hundred years ago. Wicked stuff.

Beth: Harry Potter.

Fish or fowl?

Milk: Fowl. Fish are too cool to eat.

Eminem or Public Enemy?

Milk: Public Enemy - when rap was angry and political rather than just about conforming to a stereotype of 'I've had a tough life but now I'm a multi-millionaire, look at all the neat stuff I can afford now. It's a petty they're both so 'frightened of the queers'... and the ladies...

Mick or Prod?

Milk: Prodigy have done some fantastic stuff. They ended up becoming what I reckon a contemporary band should be all about. Who'd have thought it? Mich Jagger has not one original bone in his body. He's a disgrace.

Beth [now in another room]: You've lost me...

PJ Harvey or Alex Harvey?

Milk: PJ Harvey. Is Alex Harvey the one who likes the sound of glass breaking?

Alice Cooper or Jilly Cooper?

Milk: tricky one... Alice?

Beth: Mini?

Tom waits or Tom Jones?

Milk / Beth: definitely Tom Waits. Fucking genious.

Perfect Night Out?

Milk: cheesey indi disco. Or a night in with a load of wheat free lager / pizza / a 'young fiend of mine'... Beth will be out checking out the competition.

Worst ever travel experience?

Milk: having to sleep rough outside a train station, puking up Sunny Delight [the only thing left in the vending machines], struggling not to be sick on the train... Beth and Patrick are very well travelled actually.

Best ever musical experience?

Milk: first Odeama gig. Seeing The Cocteau Twins live. Or The Chameleons live - that was amazing, a totally underrated band there. Discovering Jon Hassell.

Bush or the other one?

They're all equally idiotic. Power hungry people are flawed people. They need help not control.

Plectrum or fingers?

Milk: mostly plectrum, accept for keyboards or voices. Nigel uses his nails, and some lead fishing weights he found in a cupboard.

Siblings? eldest youngest?

Milk: me brother - he's younger but more hairy.

Beth: a brother, no relation, to Milk's I mean...

What makes you angry?

Milk: the willfull ignorance of modern life. People who say 'I hate' at the beginning of every other centence. Arrogance. Aggression. Nu metal. Bands that say they're punk but have no punk in their sound or attitude at all. Cybergoth [dance music made by people who don't know how to dance, or make dance music].

What makes you happy?

Milk: knowing I don't have to get up and go to work in the morning. Knowing I have food in the fridge. Making music. Playing live.

ambitions/future?

Milk: play live as often as possible. Be heard.

perfect technology????

Milk: harmonium, vox 12 string, some sort of clockwork / steam-powered laptop sequencer with an operating system that has to be brasso'd, a desk top that gathers dust, software that rusts... A guitar with a built in delay, a guitar that you can strum but is all sustain and no attack.