Aldershot in Hampshire is a sleepy little suburban town that has a peculiar tradition of producing terrific bands, and “post-pop” four-piece Our Last Infantry are no exception. Caught somewhere in the middle of the bombast of Biffy Clyro, the keen ear for melody of Tellison and the grandiosity of Arcade Fire, the quartet are sure to be winning ears over with new record ‘The New Art History,’ which is released today on the much-vaunted label Deep Elm, who have released a wide variety of artists, from The Appleseed Cast and Moving Mountains, to post-hardcore like Planes Mistaken For Stars, to Brits like Fightstar and DARTZ!, alongside the ’Emo Diaries’ compilations.
We caught up with Matt Phelps and Michael Parkin for a quick chat about the new material, small town frustration, the future and obscure war-based Playstation games.
AH: Can you tell us who you are and what you do in Our Lost Infantry?
Mike: Michael: I am Michael Parkin. I play drums and sing backing vocals. I also do the majority of our artwork for CD covers, Posters, T-shirts etc. The album booklet was a collaboration between myself and Thom. We both enjoy playing on photoshop a ridiculous amount.
Matt: My name’s Matt and I play keyboards and sing a bit sometimes.
AH: For those unfamiliar with the band, could you give me a brief potted history of Our Lost Infantry?
Matt: We started playing together a few years ago in a 6 piece indie folk band, with a load of acoustic instruments and quieter bits. As time drew on, the louder and more progressive elements of our music began to dominate. We’ve been playing this music for about a year, and the current line up (with Joe on bass) is even younger than that.
AH: So you guys recently signed to Deep Elm, congratulations! Obviously an iconic label of the 00’s, did you spend your formative years as glued to ‘The Emo Diaries’ series as I did?
Matt: I sort of had to work backwards really, as my first awareness of Deep Elm came when Thom introduced me to The Appleseed Cast a few years back. Now I’m becoming kind of obsessed with pretty much the entire label back catalogue.
Michael: I have always been a huge fan of Post-Rock, but have only become obsessive about it recently. Although I didn’t own any of the Emo Diaries Collection, I was massively in to bands on the Deep Elm roster. Bands like the Appleseed Cast are a major influence for me, and for the rest of the band. Deep Elm are a truly special label, and it is an absolute honour to be a part of it all.
AH: You guys are from Aldershot, which seems to be a hotbed of musical talent, producing Reuben, Hundred Reasons and Vex Red historically and latterly the likes of Hold Your Horse Is. What is it about Home Counties suburbia that produces such fantastic bands?
Matt: I’m not exactly sure. We all grew up surrounded by those bands and this sense of them doing well, and yet still staying loyal to their hometown. I’m inclined to say there’s nothing in particular that makes our area more likely to produce bands than anywhere else, but I do think they are more carefully nurtured. Barney at the West End Centre was there at the peak of the early 00’s scene, as Reuben’s manager, and now as the Centre director is so supportive of local bands. There have also been some great artists and photographers who have sprung up from the area, who’ve had their stuff exhibited in the Westy’s gallery, and I think it all just adds to this really positive atmosphere, which in turn encourages the next generation to contribute in some way.
Michael: The area around Aldershot and Farnham, although scenic, provides very little entertainment. I personally feel this helped to push me into finding my love for music, which ultimately led to where I am now. I know we are all huge Reuben and Hundred Reasons fans, and remember watching them play when we were younger. I always wanted to do what they did, so they are definitely a part of the reason that I got into playing drums. Having excellent bands like Hold Your Horse Is on our door step is a brilliant, we get on really well and it’s always fun when we gig together.
AH: Your new set, a 36 minute epic called ‘The New Art History’, is incredible. You’ve got bands like Brontide who brought out a one song album, The Mars Volta’s live sets are 2-hour jam sessions and Godspeed You! Black Emperor have been playing a 40 minute song on recent dates. Was it a conscious decision to go on a more progressive bent, or did it all just fall into place?
Matt: We found ourselves in a place where things were naturally going a bit quiet for us and I think we made a conscious decision to step back and re-evaluate who we were as a band, if that isn’t too much of a cliché. We’ve always tried to cram as many ideas as we can into the pop song format, so we kind of thought why not just remove the pop song limitation altogether and make this thing as long as we feel it needs to be?
Michael: It was a conscious decision for us to write the 36 minute track. We all sat down and had a discussion about what it was that we wanted to achieve. After this we started writing in sections and it all sort of slotted together and grew from there. We wanted people to listen and go on a journey, much like that you would go on if watching a film or reading a book.
AH: The new material represents a huge step forward in terms of songwriting from your old material. What inspired such a radical change in direction?
Michael: We all got to a point where we felt the songs we were writing weren’t what we wanted to write, but more what we thought would be commercially viable. Although we are proud of our old material it felt like time for a change, time to grow/progress as a band, to ultimately play the music we all loved.
AH: What does the future hold for Our Lost Infantry? Will you be gigging with ‘Streetlights…’ for a while or are you writing/recording more?
Matt: We’re definitely going to be gigging stuff from the album for the next few months, although new material is never far from our minds. Thom’s already brought a few little ideas to rehearsal that we’ve been jamming around. I guess we’re going to see how things go with the first record and then maybe think about new recordings once we get into 2013.
Michael: The plan is to play the set in its entirety for quite a while now. We have begun writing for the new album, so at some point I’m sure we will be sneaking new material in, but for now the idea is to play live as much as possible and let people experience it for themselves.
AH: Finally, with a name like ‘Our Lost Infantry’ and coming from a town like Aldershot with a strong military tradition, what’s your favourite war? Mine’s the Cold War.
Matt: Star Wars, obviously.
Michael: I don’t really know. I used to have a PS1 game called Pigs Of War. Basically you commanded good pigs to kill bad pigs. I’m not sure what war that was, but it was definitely my favourite.
AH: Any final words to close the interview?
Matt: Star Wars, obviously.
Michael: We hope you like the album. Many hours/days/weeks have been spent sitting in a tiny room to create ‘The New Art History,’ and we are hugely excited to bring it to your ears. We are currently planning a tour in February time, so keep your eyes peeled if you want to see us live. We promise a loud and sweaty affair!
’The New Art History’ by Our Lost Infantry is out now on Deep Elm Records.
Our Lost Infantry links: Official Website|Facebook|Twitter
Words by Ollie Connors (@olliexcore)
