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In Conversation

02 December 2008 02:29 BST

Mystery Jets: We still want to totally surprise people

While their prog-indie sound might have been the reason for their initial breakthrough, it's hard to ignore the fact that having one of the band's dads onstage and armed with a bass guitar didn't harm Mystery Jets in terms of publicity.

Their hosting of the White Cross Revival parties - from which Jamie T, Larrikin Love and the Noisettes launched their careers - further created the image of Blaine Harrison and cohorts as a ramshackle, retro band, seemingly spun from the imagination of Syd Barrett.

But things have changed on their second album Twenty One and with Blaine's father Henry having quit touring, mash-up legend Erol Alkan enlisted on production duties and the dulcet tones of Laura Marling acquired for their very poppy single Young Love, it's as if Mystery Jets mean business now.

inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley talks to Blaine, lead singer of the Eel Pie Island four-piece, about evolving as a band, 80s influences and the perfect pop song.

Twenty One's definitely a poppier album than the first - was that a deliberate move?

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's because of the music we listened to while we were making it which was, in my case, a lot of 80s stuff. I always get told off by the band for dropping two cheesy names.

One of those being Duran Duran, right?

Yeah, I like Duran Duran, but also Cyndi Lauper and Phil Collins. (laughs). In the past, a lot of the lyrics were written by Henry, my dad, which he still did on this record, but we felt a lot more able to express our own ideas on this album. And as we're all 21 or 22, it's probably why a lot of them are songs about girls!

How involved is Henry with the band still?

He still plays in recordings with us, he still writes with us, that hasn't changed, it's just that he doesn't tour with us.

Was touring with a parent prohibitive?

Me and my dad never really had that kind of relationship where I would have needed to rebel or go off the rails. He's a very liberal guy, he's always been a musician and artist, so he's never created any need to rebel. It only really came to a point in the last year or so where we've all grown up and we've got ideas in our own heads that we want to express now.

So was it a mutual decision for Henry to stop touring?

It was. He's sad that he doesn't get to tour as much but he's very understanding that this band can't stay the same for the sake of trying to hold an image. He always said that he knew there would come a point when we'd make the break and actually, it was relatively painless, because that connection is still there creatively.

In terms of creativity, how important was getting Erol Alkan on board for the second album?

Massively. I think one day we'll be able to make a record on our own, but having a producer is a necessity and Erol brought it all together. After a year-and-a-half of really intense touring for the first album, we all felt we wanted to be off in our own little worlds, but Erol's got incredible people skills and was the person who would be calling everyone making sure everyone was on board. He really did see it right through to the end.

Would you work with him again?

We're going to, we're recording a couple of new songs next week and he's on board for that. The thing about him is, he doesn't want to make a big thing of being a producer, what he really wants to do is make his own music.

Is the second album closer to what you're trying to do as a band?

In terms of experimenting with sounds and arrangements, I'm still very proud of the first album, especially as a lot of the songs were written when we were 15 or 16. I think with the second, we wanted to get rid of some of the blemishes and instead of overloading songs with ideas, to just let the some come through itself. I'm not saying we're only going to write pop music from now on but the lessons we've learnt, we'll take with us. I still want to make an album that totally surprises people.

But Two Doors Down and Young Love are both noticeably more mainstream than songs from the first album?

I think that's true, but I think it comes with the territory. Once you're thinking about hooks, and intros and outros, and bridges, you do start to thinking about writing a perfect pop song.



How did getting Laura Marling on board for Young Love happen?

We decided we wanted a female voice on the song and tried a couple of people, no big names or anything, but they didn't have a strong enough voice. It wasn't as strategic as thinking 'Laura's very different', it was just a case of 'let's send it to her and see if she likes it'. And she said she'd love to do it. Since then, Kate Nash has sung it live, Florence and the Machine has done it, so it's cool that we have a song in our set that we can use as a collaborative thing.

Will that be something you'll be doing at Glastonbury?

Laura's playing the slot before us at Glastonbury, so hopefully it'll be her!

As you're playing Glastonbury, what's your weigh on the whole 'should Jay-Z be there' controversy?

I'm not really a fan, to be honest. I don't know much about Jay-Z, I didn't grow up with hip-hop, so he's not someone I hold particularly close to my heart. I do think Glastonbury has always been about getting random people, like Kylie or the wobbly board dude… Rolf Harris! It's got a massively diverse mix of people, so it's probably the right place for him to play. I think somewhere like Reading or Leeds he'd probably get bottled!

What other festivals have you got planned for the summer?

Quite a few - Reading and Leeds, Wakestock, Field Day, Underage, Boardmasters in Cornwall, we're doing Fuji Rock in Japan and we just did Rock Ness.

And one final question - who's going to win Euro 2008?

Um, I don't care much for football, so I'll have to make a really uninformed guess!

Not France, having grown up there?

I'd like to say France but I'd probably say… someone from South America. Which is a ridiculous thing to say because they're not even in Europe! I'm going to say it anyway.

Lewis Bazley