blog.myspace.com/yorkindiesoc July 2006 From The Indie Soc 'Zine This Nations Saving Grace Electric Light: December 2005 saw the welcome return of unsung indie heroes The Electric Soft Parade as they toured the UK in support of their new mini-album The Human Body. In an exclusive interview, ESPs Tom White talks to Dan Smith about the perils of major labels, under-rated second albums and the White Brothers recent critical acclaim with their involvement with Brakes. Amidst the rejuvenated, post-Strokes indie scene of 2002, Brighton-based brothers Alex and Tom White found themselves enjoying widespread critical success with their band The Electric Soft Parade. ESPs debut album Holes in the Wall was rightfully regarded as one of the best albums of the year and the group enjoyed a number of Top 30 hits and high-profile festival performances. However, with the collapse of their record company, ESP were forced to take sanctuary on a largely disinterested major label and as a result their 2003 effort The American Adventure met with a muted public response. After a couple of years away from the mainstream, the Whites are back in the public eye with a new mini-album and are also deservedly enjoying success with their Rough Trade side-project Brakes. I caught up with Tom White, multi-instrumentalist and ESPs core songwriter after the bands recent sold out Fibbers performance. Now recording for the independently run Truck Records, Tom is understandably glad to be back on the road with Electric Soft Parade: Tom: "Although it's kind of a drag when you go back to small venues [like Fibbers] for the third or fourth time, I guess in a lot of peoples eyes we're starting again so it never feels anything other than completely natural. And on this tour, for the first time in about four years, we've had kids coming to the shows and hearing us for the first time, which is a real bonus!" However, following some time away from the limelight Toms view is understandably realistic. When I ask if it was a conscious decision made by the band to support their second album with 7 inch only singles, his frustration with the music industry becomes more obvious: Tom: "All of that stuff was the label itself making decisions. It was all quite wrong, considering we were up for building on what we'd achieved with the first record. They just seemed to want to forget about us as quickly as possible. To be fair though, it was always going to go either way and listening to that record in hindsight, it still sounds a million miles away from the usual toss majors spew out" Although ESPs recent state of limbo has caused frustration, the last two years have also allowed the Whites to take stock of their position within the music industry, as Tom himself admits: Tom: "At the time we split from our old label (about two years ago) we simply had to ride things out, so to speak. That's not to say we did fuck all in the intervening time! Brakes kind of happened as well and that was perfect timing for us as we really weren't in the headspace to go dashing into another ESP record. But now I guess we are!" For Tom and his brother Alex, 2005 was mainly notable for their work with members of British Sea Power and The Tenderfoot as they formed an unlikely Brighton-based indie super-group. The debut album from Brakes (Give Blood) was released to tremendous critical acclaim early last year and has subsequently gone on to reach number one in Rough Trades end of year best album poll. But has Tom been surprised by the success of what may well have started out as little more than a side-project? Tom: "Well, I think we all kind of knew there'd be a fair amount of interest in the record before we'd even made it but it really has been a pleasant surprise to have produced the record in January [2005] and still have people talking about it now. And there will (hopefully) be another Brakes LP in 2006" As our interview draws to a close, I just have one more question for Tom: with the critical acclaim that has accompanied ESPs recent return to form can we hope to hear more from The Electric Soft Parade this year? Tom: "It's never felt like a success when I listen back to our records - there always seems to be something missing - but with the new EP I think we've accomplished something far greater, musically, than ever before. To answer your question though, I can't stop writing songs so I guess there'll always be a new album or something or other on its way" Following a long absence, things are beginning to look up once again for Brightons often overlooked indie heroes. Lets hope that this time ESP can find the public they deserve.