The Lovely Eggs Interview: SXSW 2010

The Lovely Eggs released their debut album, 'If You Were Fruit,' in 2009, which ranked in the top 40 records of the year by Artrocker magazine and was nominated for XFM's Debut Album of the Year. This indie-pop duo is based in Lancaster, England, but played more than 70 gigs in both the UK and US last year, and is planning on returning to the US to play at SXSW in 2010. Spinner interviewed the band's two members, married couple Holly Ross and David Blackwell.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Holly Ross: It sounds a bit like a really ripe, juicy watermelon, full of red wine that's been steeping in its own juices for several years, so it's kind of on the turn but it's fruity and bright. It's hard to describe ... quite noisy, I suppose. Every time we do a gig, it's always got to be a party and we try to involve people, so, hopefully, that comes across when we do recordings, as well.

How did your band form?

HR: It was a bit of a joke, really. We got challenged by somebody to write a song. They didn't believe we could write a song. I used to be in an all-girl band [Angelica], but when I was in Paris I wasn't doing any music at all, so they didn't believe I could do music. And David came to stay with me and we wrote one in front of them just to show we could do it. So that was our first song and we thought, "Oh, yeah, we quite like this.".

How did you come up with your band name?

HR: When we were writing the first song, we had an abandoned nest on my bathroom windowsill, and this pigeon flew down and it laid two eggs in the nest and the eggs hatched. We were writing more and more songs, and the eggs were growing and stuff, while we were just getting together and writing new songs.

How did you meet?

HR: I used to be in an all-girl band since I was 14 and I used to come and practice in David's recording studio in Lancaster, where we lived. We were always in separate bands and we liked going out drinking together, and we liked the same music, but you never think you are going to be in a band with someone you share that much in common with.

What are your musical influences?

HR: We're influenced by books [by] Richard Brautigan and going to art galleries. God, that sounds so pompous; we just appreciate art. The main musical influences on the band are probably Huggy Bear, Bikini Kill, Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, Moldy Peaches, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, mixed with the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Some people have said we are like the Beach Boys when Brian Wilson went mad. Or Maureen Tucker without the Velvet Underground.

David Blackwell: We didn't have a drummer, initially, but we like live drums, and rock 'n' roll bands don't have laptops. So I got the short straw and had to learn how to play drums.

HR: He hates it!

DB: No, I like it; I just couldn't do it for ages.

HR: He still can't do it! We were doing a gig on a boat and the heating went off and we had to drink just to warm up, and he looked at me and said, "I can't remember how to play drums anymore."

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

HR: One for me that David hates, but I love it, is Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game.' It's a classic song! We both love things that we know are s---; we really love 'Popcorn,' by Hot Butter. But we don't feel guilty about it.

Beatles or Stones?

HR: Beatles!

What's your favorite place you've played?

HR: Of recent times, I really loved playing at this house show in Portland[, Ore.,] last year as part of our American tour. We had the most amazing time and met loads of really fun people.

DB: For me it was one of our really early shows were we got to play on this moving steam train. It was really surreal. It was kinda hard to stand up as well. We've played a lot of interesting places, like a school and a beach, a scrap yard which is very bizarre, and thrift stores. We really like playing where normal bands won't play.

What do you think of the US?

HR: We love it; we would move in a jot. There are certain cities we love, like San Francisco and New York, Seattle, Los Angeles ... We drove the length of Route 66, and that was our favorite, with all the small towns you see ... And Oregon is so bloody beautiful! We have a tiny bit of songs about America. A lot of bands we like and authors are from America, so that's got something to do with it.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

HR: One thing that I did last year was try to win a female arm-wrestling competition, in Chicago. The band was playing before it and I saw you could win a hundred dollars. There was no one there at the time, and I thought there might be one girl to play. But all these really big women came and David was going, "Once they break your arm you won't be able to go on tour!" I didn't win the hundred dollars.

What's your biggest vice?

HR: Probably eating too much cheese and drinking too much red wine. And maybe writing songs when we're drunk, and then getting drunk the next night and sending it in to our record label. That's what happened with our song 'Digital Accordion.' We should stop doing that.

What's in your festival survival kit?

HR: Strongbow [hard cider], pain killers, tissues,and some beers. I guess that's all we need, and maybe a cheese and pickle sandwich.


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