For fans of British Pop, the names Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey are household names even if the names of bands keep changing. Fletcher’s unmistakable voice is at the center of Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research, and Tender Trap. Even if you aren’t a fan, a quick listen to any of those bands will give you the feeling you must have heard this somewhere before, probably on college radio.
The pandemic has not slowed them down either. In fact, they are gearing up for releases from not one but two bands – Swansea Sound and The Catenary Wires. They are also starting their own label called Skep Wax Records, raising two kids – they’re married, and helping to take care of Rob’s mom.
Swansea Sound also features Hue Williams on vocals. He was a member of The Pooh Sticks with Amelia. They released the 7” “Angry Girl” and “Corporate Indie Band” last October and “Sold My Soul on eBay” at the end of December. Both bands have new singles and albums being released over the next several months as Pursey answered questions from Glide recently via e-mail.
The subject matter of the first two Swansea Sound singles is the music business. I think every musician can relate to “I Sold My Soul on Ebay” and “Corporate Indie Band.” True, but also humorous. Are they based on personal experience?
When we first got into music in that great post-punk era, we were all very politicized. We knew that indie music could exist outside a corporate mainstream. Since then the corporate mainstream has gotten even more dominant and hegemonic, especially Corporate Piracy, i.e. streaming, we feel even more motivated to create music outside of it. You don’t make a lot of money but you do have a real and precious sense of contact with other people.
Is starting your own label, Skep Wax Records, part of that?
We talked about starting a label for a long time, but with the pandemic, we’ve actually had the time to work it out. It’s quite a lot of hassle to do properly, but we are getting the hang of it. We felt that we had reached a point where we were able to write the songs, record them, make videos, and take the photos so running a label is obviously the next step.
I really like handwriting envelopes and sending T-shirts to people, which helps. We still believe in non-corporate indie music. And I think that’s got less to do with the instrumentation and the musical style and more with how you make contact with people and how you sell music. And you are not answerable to an executive whose prime motivation is to enrich his or her shareholders.
Are there any challenges with making music in the UK but releasing it in the US?
In the US, both of our upcoming records will be co-released by our partners, Shelflife Records for Catenary Wires and HHBTM (Happy Happy Birthday to Me) for Swansea Sound. It’s very expensive to send records across the Atlantic. We wanted to have American partners who we trust, and who know the US market. Shelflife and HHBTM are great indie labels. Another good thing about running a label – you can choose the partners you want!
It is interesting that despite your frustration with the music industry, you remain positive and adapt to what is available to keep creating music.
Bandcamp is a great invention because it means anyone can get to buy one of our songs for £1. And it liberates you to be more creative with the way you release physical product. Vinyl has become something of a luxury item, but it can still be very exciting to produce.
Didn’t you actually sell one of your singles, but not your soul, on eBay?
We auctioned one lathe-cut 7 copy of “I Sold My Soul on eBay” on eBay. Someone bought it for £400. I’m not sure if this was a tasteful thing to do, but it felt OK because there are an infinite number of digital singles available on Bandcamp for £1. The person who won the auction happily owns a unique piece of plastic.
It sounds like a creative way to market a song and for people with the means to support a band. They have a unique piece of history – a collectible. It all sounds very adult. Speaking of being an adult, you and Amelia have been at this since the mid-1980s, but was there a time when both of you were focused on careers outside of music?
Even when we were very busy with serious jobs and little kids to look after we managed to do some music. Maybe Amelia and I continued doing it together because it’s how we met in the first place. I was the original bassist in her band Talulah Gosh. I like it even more now than I used to. I am a much more active songwriter than I was back then. In the old days, I just liked playing the bass and drinking too much.
Amelia has a high-profile career in economics, correct?
Yes, Amelia is high-profile in the world of Anti-Trust economics. She was the Chief Economist at the Office of Fair Trading over here [in the UK], and recently worked on the Furman Review, with American economist Jason Furman, which was all about controlling the behavior of digital monopolies. All very grown up.
What about you? What type of work have you done outside of music?
I ran a TV Production company called Touchpaper TV that made scripted drama for British television, which was fairly grown-up too, but right now I am more into screenwriting and doing music. Amelia is more of an adult than me, to be honest.
Not the typical rock and roll biography. With The Catenary Wires it sounds like you are able to write from those experiences in a way that is authentic but not sentimental. Your videos seem to capture that as well. Is that deliberate?
With the Catenary Wires, we write about adult themes and don’t try to avoid the truth of what life is like for people who can’t pretend to be teenagers anymore. On our next album, the song called “Liminal” is about looking after Amelia’s mother who died recently after suffering from Parkinson’s disease for many years. She lived with us all that time and looking after her was a big part of our lives. I think a lot of people of our generation are facing similar challenges with ailing parents, but there aren’t many songs about it.
We also write about divorce. We haven’t experienced it personally (and I hope we don’t, because that would be the end of the Catenary Wires!), but we know a lot of people who have. We have found that pop is a very flexible medium, and it’s just as good a vehicle for darker, more adult themes as it is for giddy love stories.
A key thing for us is that we always invent the tunes first. If the tune is good, themes start to suggest themselves and the words follow.
Meanwhile, in the videos, which are no-budget affairs, we don’t try to look anything other than what we look like. Amelia still looks young without even trying, which is obviously annoying because it makes me look even older!
How have you been able to stay active despite the pandemic?
Hue Williams (the Swansea Sound singer) is in Wales, but we are in Kent (England). We are two hundred miles apart and recorded all the Swansea Sound stuff without having seen each other.
One of the most enjoyable things we’ve done during the lockdown is to contribute cover versions to our friend’s virtual ‘pub’. Every couple of months you get to see other Kentish musicians taking turns to play a cover version. It’s really good fun. It’s like keeping the scene warm so it’s still there when the lockdown is over. Here’s a link to our latest contribution.
