Good Shoes: It’s Only Gonna Get Worse
‘No Hope No Future’ is an album by a band that’s been in the music business long enough to know how to play the system.
‘No Hope No Future’ is an album by a band that’s been in the music business long enough to know how to play the system. Starting way back in 2006 South London’s own indie pop band Good Shoes are no longer love struck by their fickle music mistress; instead they’ve got a sturdy grasp on the reigns and are more in control than ever. ‘The music industry can make you pretty jaded’ says drummer Tom Jones, but that doesn’t mean they’ve given up. Quite the contrary. Starting young the quartet learnt a lot fast and now with much sage knowledge in tow, members Tom, Rhys, Steve and Will are pushing harder than before. Their lyrics may be darker and heavier than their 2007 debut ‘Think Before You Speak’ but wry teenage angst is certainly not the culprit. ‘There were a lot of politics involved during the creation of this album plus I’d just broken up with my ex-girlfriend’ explained Rhys, the band’s vocalist, guitarist and lyricist. Rolling drums, passionate chords and soulfully smart melodies welcome you to ‘No Hope No Future’, an album which promises much more than its title lets on. Brothers Rhys and Tom gave us a little insight into a guitar-driven band that grew from an idea conceived in South London.
Where did the idea for the 'Under Control' video come from? Did you have this video in mind while writing the song?
Rhys: The music video was thought about after the song. The video directors got given the song and they were just searching through YouTube for clips they thought would be cool and they saw these body builders and made this viral of it. The viral thing was better than the video but we couldn’t afford to buy the stuff from Skye so we had to make our own. We got real body builders. There’s clips of Tom being lifted up by one of them.
Tom: It was all done in one day in a little studio.
Did you hear Perez Hilton praised your 'Under Control' video, saying he was ‘enthralled' by it?
Rhys: He likes the video but he doesn’t like the song. To be honest with you I don’t know if Perez Hilton liking anything we do, is a good thing. Although we did get lots of views after he mentioned it.
'No Hope, No Future' is much darker and harder than your debut 'Think Before You Speak. Why do you think that is? Have you matured?
Rhys: All the lyrics are about a break-up but I don’t know why the music is, it’s completely different to the lyrics.
Tom: I guess it has the feelings from what we were going through at the time.
Rhys: It took so long to sort stuff out on this album that I guess we were sort of pissed off in a way. And I think music in general is getting a bit heavier.
Tom: Having the music industry unravel in front of you can make you pretty angry. It’s only gonna get worse.
Nice. Something to look forward to, then?
Tom: You can become jaded and cynical very easily in this industry.
Talking about being jaded and cynical, do you still believe you guys should only do three albums in total?
Rhys: Yeah for sure. Well when I said that I really thought we should only do two albums.
Well you made it to the second, will there be a third?
Rhys: We’re writing the third one at the moment and it sounds pretty cool so I think we should do a third album.
And after the third will you cut it loose?
Rhys: Yeah maybe.
Tom: We’ll see what else we are doing at the time.
What else would you be doing? Are you going to move into the movie industry?
Tom: Maybe.
Rhys: What, you mean acting?
Well yeah..
Rhys: Sorry I didn’t hear a bit of what you said. No I can’t act. Steve can though. Steve’s really good at acting. He could definitely be an actor. But there are just so many bands who release a lot of albums and they just get shitter and shitter. Then again I think Pavement and some others have made loads of albums and they’re still going strong.
Tom: Continuing the band all depends on if we feel what we’re doing is good enough.
If it’s relevant?
Tom: Yeah.
So you’ve been around since 2004..
Rhys: 2004? Really?
Well that’s what the internet said.
Rhys: No, I’m sure you’re probably right but it just seems like such a long time ago. I think we’ve been going for four years. The years make it seem longer than it actually is.
You’re about to head on tour, tell us a bit about your mini festival starting on 18 Jan at the Stags Head. Did you create that yourself?
Rhys: Yes we did. We all wrote down some bands we were interested in. I wrote down a lot of bands that I’d heard people talk about or that friends of mine really liked and we got lots of our friends to DJ..
To celebrate the release of the album?
Rhys: Yeah exactly. We really like that pub and we’ve had a lot of meetings there and the people that run the pub are really nice. It’s tiny so I think the festival is going to be really good.
On tour do you travel in a bus or a van?
Rhys: We travel in a van.
Oh a van. Is it marked or unmarked?
Tom: It’s unmarked.
Rhys: It’s what most bands tour in; it has 9 seats and then a section at the back for our gear.
So do you sleep sitting up?
Tom: (Laughs) No we stay in hotels.
Do you guys have to psych yourself up for the trips?
Tom: We’re on the road for a month in Europe but we did it in the UK and I thought it was fine. The drives will be longer in Europe so we’ll see how we go.
Do you do stuff along the way to break it up? Perhaps go to theme parks?
Rhys: On the UK tour we went swimming and played tennis and went out in the evening and got drunk basically.
Tom: I think we’ll check a couple of days before what people do in certain locations.
Rhys: We know that on the 8 Feb Arctic Monkeys and Mystery Jets are playing in Munich as well. Our tours are crossing over at that time so we’ll definitely be hanging out with the guys from Mystery Jets that time.
Tom: There’s some good shopping in Berlin as well.
Yeah true as long as you know where to go.
Tom: Oh, we know where to go.
Rhys: I’ll See my ex-girlfriend she lives in Berlin now.
Oh that’s going to give a good vibe to the rest of the band.
Rhys: Oh no we get along really well.
Do you guys have a favourite location to tour in?
Rhys: I really like Nottingham in England.
Tom: Yeah, Nottingham is always a good laugh.
Why the attachment to Nottingham?
Rhys: We’ve played there the most we’ve ever played outside of London and there’s always a massive party going on.
You’ve toured with lots of different bands from Maximo Park, We Are Scientists and Kaiser Chiefs. Do you have a favourite?
Rhys: The Rakes were really good around Europe.
Tom: We toured with a few bands in November including Wild Palms and Le Shark. They were all awesome. As long as we can get on with them that’s all that matters.
Rhys: Kaiser Chiefs were the biggest band we ever toured with and I became friends with Simon but it wasn’t like we were all going out together. Whereas with the Rakes we did. I guess it becomes a bit different when you’re playing arenas and stuff.
You recorded the last album in Malmo. Where did you record your latest release?
Rhys: In Morden and just off Shacklewell Lane in Dalston and it was mixed in Queen’s Park in London.
Rhys: I’d really like to record the next one in Berlin.
Just so you can also be on holiday at the same time?
Rhys: Well I think it’s good to be in a really nice environment and somewhere that you’re not used to. When we were in Malmo it was really nice; we all had bikes and we’d cycle to the recording every day.
Pretending you're Swedish? Did you learn any Swedish while you were there?
Rhys: Tack.
Tom: A couple of words nothing spectacular. I don’t even remember the words I learnt.
Do you guys have much input with the music videos? Rhys I know you do the artwork.
Rhys: On the first album I directed a video although my ex-girlfriend was a leading force in it, and this album we all chose the body building idea for ‘Under Control’.
Tom: We have a rough idea about things and then we talk to someone who can help us expand on that idea.
Rhys: We get to pick the ideas but we don’t really have time. It’s hard coming up with ideas and directing takes up a lot of time also.
Where did the idea for the album cover come from?
Rhys: I just really like swimming. Over the recording of the album I swam every day. In fact I think I might go swimming after this!
The album 'No Hope No Future' is out 25th January. 'Hope and Future Festival' at the Stags Head is on now, check here for tickets.
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