Formed after a drunken idea the four-piece specialise in satirical, super-short political songs that take swipes at Blair, Bush, and the rest of the crew. Eamon says: "We just get together, discuss a few styles and the new Elle magazine and basically drink beer"
"It started when I was playing some acoustic tunes in Palmers Bar on Queen Square and Tom, Alex and Marc were all there. We all got drunk and said: Let's do it, let's do a band! We've all known each other for the best part of five years and we've all played together before we were signed"
"This music is different. We do pretty short songs, whereas lately BSP's are 16-minute epics. If the single goes to the Top Ten it'll be in the Guinness Book Of Records as the shortest single of all time". Where Brakes go from here depends, it seems, on time.
They will support British Sea Power at Concorde 2, Madeira Drive, Brighton on October 26 (a rather energy-challenging order for member of both bands Eamon), but with mothership outfits BSP, ESP and The Tenderfoot all due to release new albums in the near future, it seems unlikely there will be one coming from the splinter group too. Update: Give Blood is out now.
But plans are already afoot for a huge Brighton band party gig at the Freebutt this Christmas - to include all members of the three bands and fellow dudes Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and 'lesbo underground' rockers Electrelane.
Future splinters and re-groupings seem more than likely with this extended musical family who Eamon says will, rather than simply take it in turns, play "one giant jam".
They kicked off with You'll Always Have A Place To Stay and Hi How Are You? but highlight was Pick Up The Phone. It was so popular they played it twice. Country-tinged shanty NY Pie ended the set.
Meet the Brakes, Brighton’s first supergroup involving BSP, The Tenderfoot and ESP With their debut release Pick Up The Phone/I Can’t Stand To Stand Beside You out this week (September 20 2004), Xfm caught up with Eamon (by day BSP’s tin hat wearing keyboard player, by night singer and guitarist for the Brakes) to discuss all things Brighton.
“We were just in this bar in Brighton, me, Tom and Alex and Marc (Beatty of The Tenderfoot), and we thought what’s the best way to capitalise on all of our fame and rake in some money? So we thought let’s form a Brighton uber-band. We purely business partners, we’re not really even friends…”
Of course, the band clearly are friends, and as all three bands feature in Brighton’s thriving music scene it was only a matter of time before their social jams were released to the general public. The first of these is the odd coupling of the 28-second long Pick Up the Phone and the more typical ...Stand Beside You.
“Somebody said the other day that 'Phone isn’t a proper song. It’s about our frustration that there’s no communication between our leaders. No-one’s really listening to each other. The video’s great as well – it cost £80 to make and I think it’s probably the best video ever made”
Wed 22 Sep, 2004 @ Fibbers with The Brakes + Four Day Hombre Quite how tin-helmeted British Sea Power piano-man/percussionist Eamon (speciality: leaping from keyboards in to audience and disappearing in to the darkness whilst assaulting a snare drum) and The White brothers, Tom and Alex (The Electric Soft Parade, basically) got together is a mystery to us. Plastic owls, herons, falcons and leafy trimmings accompany BSP on stage whilst they stumble between dark prog and tongue-in-cheek chaotic rock. Based around brothers Tom and Alex White, ESP’s artful, thoughtful and powerful take on guitar/keyboard rock has been one of the best things to emerge in the last few years. If you like music, that is. Put the two together and what have you got? Er … best come and see.