Interview

Babble and Beat - You guys recently released the fantastic single 'Sting in the Tale / Swimming Upstream'. Congrats on all of the great reviews you've gotten on it!

Who did the artwork for the cover? We've noticed that your MySpace bulletins often showcase some interesting and slightly crazy artwork as well!

Jim - Ali our (soon to be) legendary cover artist designed the single cover - unfortunately she's too busy to do our bulletins as well so that's mainly left up to me and Saul. Not sure if you can call what we make "art" though...

Saul - Many say that I base most of my pieces on Persian architecture - they are wrong.

Jonah - I never get to see our bulletins - I always wanted the artwork to be Brian Wilson's face on the bodies of different species of reptile.

Mart - Your reptile obsession is beginning to scare me slightly. Still, what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom...

Babble & Beat - Hey now! This isn't OK Magazine! Haha.

We read that your music was featured on Radio 1 before you had even one official release. That must have been pretty exciting!

What has been another highlight or two since you formed The Svengalis in 2006?

Saul - Going to a place near Norwich and also going to Norwich.

Jim - 6 police riot vans controlling the crowd at our single launch was quite entertaining.

Jonah - When we played a gig in Sheffield, this girl offered us some chocolate cream egg-flavoured vodka, which was pretty exciting. We said no.

Mart - Doing the Radio 1 session for Steve Lamacq was brilliant. So was the single launch and our gigs with The Enemy and Jack Penate... really everything's been fantastic.

Babble & Beat - Have you encountered any "svengalis" in the music biz yet? If so, please explain.

Saul - Yeah. His name was Terry and lived up my road. Nice chap. We would always cross paths on the way to work every morning. Then one day he was gone and I never saw him again.

Jonah - Only Mart. Sometimes he doesn't let us leave the house until we've practiced our instruments.

Babble & Beat - If each of you won 300 pounds what are the first few things you'd spend it on?

Mart - A huge supply of E strings and an indestructible jack lead.

Jonah - A new keyboard. I think I'd be pretty short on money by then so three 10p Chomp / Freddo bars.

Babble & Beat - I'd be up for a Violet Crumble or a Cadbury's Crunchie myself.

Jim - A 200 year old Bonsai tree which I'd call Geoff. It would be just like having a real friend, except Geoff wouldn't hit or spit at me and make me sleep in the bath like Jonah does.

Saul - You can get a nice table in India for about 180 pounds. It's made with the same white granite as the Taj Mahal and has gemstones cut into it from India (orange), South Africa (green I think), Belgium (black) and other places. Postage and packaging is free but if you decide to take it home from India you get a 15% discount.

Babble & Beat - For a fairly newly-signed band are you pretty happy with your own record label, Villains & Rogues?

Jim - I can safely say it's the best record label I've ever been a part of... most importantly it has a cool name, a cool logo and a brilliant roster of band.

Babble & Beat - "Band" meaning one.

Mart - It's just brilliant to say we have our own label and that we've somehow managed to do it all ourselves!

Saul - I have no emotions towards it.

Babble & Beat - Say you had to do a cover song. What song, and by what artist, would you choose?

Saul - Jonah's going to say something like the Beach Boys because it's cheesy and he thinks that makes him cool.

Jim - 'Call on Me' by Eric Prydz. He's a legend among men.

Babble & Beat - Ok, Jim. I just checked out this Eric Prydz guy by watching his video for 'Call on Me'. It's an annoying song (as all hell) BUT perhaps it's the suggestive video you like. I blushed. A couple times.

Jonah - 'Believe', Cher (but they always laugh when I suggest it).

Babble & Beat - Do you have any music videos yet? Are you planning on doing one for 'Sting in the Tale'?

Jim - None yet, although we're always open to offers to star in anyone else's.

Saul - I'm in the Cajun Dance Party one - I'm in the picture that Vicky kisses.

Babble & Beat - Cajun Dance Party's 'The Next Untouchable' video.

Mart - I've done a few other band videos - I also do a mean line in being an extra in Nathan Barley.

Babble & Beat - Will you be working on your main website this year? It's currently a bit under construction so to speak. Or, would you prefer to focus on your MySpace?

Mart - At the moment MySpace is just easier for everyone... us and people who want to hear us.

Jim - Perhaps if we get someone in to do it for us... although it's always easier to get hold of us through MySpace as usually one of us is online... and updating MySpace is a lot less hassle than doing a website.

Babble & Beat - What's the plan for the rest of 2007? Any upcoming tours or studio time?

Jim - Another single, some travelling around the rest of the country and possibly beyond.

Jonah - Single of the first Jonah-written song in the Autumn - it's also our best!

Mart - Yeah, we'd like to get a lot more studio time in, we've got loads of stuff we haven't been able to record yet!

Juicy Tidbits Section

This is where we ask personal questions for the fans. Yeah, they're often stupid questions. We like reading the answers though!

Babble & Beat - I despise ___________ music.

Mart - Not writing any.

Jim - Orange.

Babble & Beat - I'm not sure what that means but I hate the color orange!

Jonah - Anything that isn't Svengali.

Babble & Beat - Have you ever experienced déjà vu? Tell us about it.

Saul - Once I thought I remembered having the same experience as some time before. My friend Theo bought me a book that talks about déjà vu and why it happens. It's a study of the brain but I haven't read it yet. It's a bit annoying because it's in hardback so you can't read it on the train or some place like that.

Jim - Orange.

Babble & Beat - Laughs.

Please inform us of a secret skill of yours.

Jim - I spin fire about when drunk... which is a good idea until your hair goes up in flames. Remember kids: If you play with fire, your mates will think you're cool.

Saul - I can read Hebrew when drunk which is a good idea until your hair goes up in flames.

Babble & Beat - N i c e.

Jonah - I can now distinguish 3 different Indian breads - blindfolded: chapatti, parotta and nan.

Mart - I can set fire to people's hair when they're drunk and they're never any the wiser.

Babble & Beat - Did you hear Mart, Jim?

In Closing

Thanks guys; you're a lot of fun! Have a great rest of 2007!

Links:
MySpace - music clips!
Official website