Felix playing at The Maze in 2006. Photo: Craig Wood

At the end of last year, Felix released their debut album, Death To Everyone But Us - an alluring combination of jazz, chamber-pop, sparse guitars, and wry, dark, romantic lyrics. They are about to embark on a short UK tour in support of the album.  But before all that, Lucinda Chua and Chris Summerlin had a word with us at LeftLion...

Hello, how the devil are you?
Lucinda: At the moment I am on my fifth day of having flu.
Chris: I'm worried I have caught Lucinda's flu. Other than that, not bad. Thank you for asking.

What have you been up to today?
L: Today I have been watching Wartime Kitchen and Garden on my new favourite TV channel Yesterday, which is running a season on 1940s Britain.
C: Today we've been rehearsing with our drummer Elvis for the first time in an age. I guess Lucinda answered these questions some other time unless she managed to watch TV on the sly while we were playing.

For those reading who may not have hear of you, who are Felix?
L: Felix are a band, originally formed in Nottingham, who now include three members – me, Chris Summerlin and Elvis Beetham.

How did Felix come about?
L: It started out originally as a solo recording project I did as part of an elective at university called “capturing the sonic.” We were indulged in all sorts of lo-fi recording techniques and encouraged to do things like tape splicing, contact-mic building and recording our dinner cooking in a microwave with a dictaphone, so we could then time stretch it in Cubase into some sort of 20 minute epic.
I wrote some songs based around piano, cello and singing so I could then record them on an old Tascam tape 4track and Felix was born. (Subsequently, my tutors were not impressed and I just scraped a pass with the lowest mark possible.)
C: For me, it came about in late 2004 when my old band band lost it's singer and I had the slightly desperate idea of asking random people to join. Lucinda was the first and only person I asked. She said no and gave me a CD of her music instead. I'm pleased she did.

Felix singer Lucinda Chua multi-tasking

How does the songwriting work in the band?
L: I tend to write the basic song structure and then Chris adds guitar to it, which really brings it to life.
C: Lucinda writes the songs and then we work out an arrangement and individual parts, I suggest layering tons of noisy guitars on it, Lucinda points out what a stupid idea that is, we practise it a few times, consult the magic coconut and we're done. We try and keep the understanding to a bare minimum.

Your album came out the end of last year. Could you tell us how is was put together and recorded? The album seems to be layered and textured with various instruments and sounds.
L: We recorded the album over a period of about two years I think. We didn’t exactly have a budget and had to rely on the kindness of friends (Gareth Hardwick, Ian Scanlon) who devoted their time and patience to us as we slowly laid each piece down track by track in the comfort of their living rooms.
C: We had it in mind to record for a long while but it seemed like a very daunting task. The songs can work in a number of ways and with almost infinite possibilities so it was scary to actually commit something to tape and to permanence. Our friend Gareth Hardwick (who runs the Low Point label) asked us to do a split 7” with Chris Herbert and so we recorded a song in an evening and this unfussy approach convinced us to start to record an album. It was a massive logistical effort (made much easier by Ian and Gareth's help) but it meant we were less precious about the way the songs felt and before we knew it we'd finished. We didn't have a label in mind at all but Joel at the label Kranky in Chicago was very supportive of our efforts through the recording and when we finished he said he would be happy to put it out.

Were the songs written specifically for the album?
L: The album is really a collection of songs dating back over the last six years. I think I’d always hoped to put a record out at some point but never really sat down and started writing with an album in mind.

Are there any moments or songs on the album that you are particularly proud of? Ode To The Marlboro Man is a particular fave of mine.
L: I find it hard to listen to the album properly without anticipating the next bit or singing the words but I am particularly proud of the way the songs flow together and bleed into each other.
C: Bernard Street is probably the first Felix song I had an input into and I really love that song even after playing it so many times.

Without trying to sound too negative, is there anything on the album that you wish you could go back and change?
L: There are some things I would have changed but the album is more a portrait of what we were at that point in time. The songs have shifted through so many different versions and arrangements it really was the case of just forcing myself to commit them to record. I am happy with the album and amazed that we managed to put it together on pretty much no budget and that we were fortunate enough that Kranky took a shine to it and decided to release it.
C: Not really, it is what is is. I kind of wish we'd been able to record everything together just because it wouldn't have taken so long and caused so many problems for Ian and Gareth who recorded it but the finished product is beyond what I thought we'd ever get done. It feels like a real achievement just to finish it to be truthful.

Chris and Lucinda from Felix

Are there any plans for Felix to release anything else in the future?
L: We are currently working on new material for a second album, which we will also be releasing on Kranky.

You go on a short tour soon, including a date in Nottingham. What can we expect from the live show?
L: I have no idea what to expect myself!
C: Ask me next week...

How will you set about playing the sings live? Will it be stripped back or will you be bringing in a few string players and extra guitarists?
L: We are trying not to get too ahead of ourselves and whilst it would be great to bring a full string section with us it would be a complete logistical nightmare. I am on the look out for a cellist at the moment who would like to join us for shows in the future maybe.
C: It's certainly a lot more stripped down like this and more intimate at times but we can definitely rock out with Elvis on drums. It's just that we don't. Unless we do a Nirvana cover or something.

Both as Felix and as a punter, what has been your most memorable gig experiences in Nottingham?
L: I most enjoyed our gig with Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy, which was one of my favourite shows we did as a three-piece. I also have very fond memories of a solo gig I played at All Saints Church for the wonderful (and now sadly retired) art collective Via Vaudeville, for their pagan May Day festival in 2006. As a punter, I have always enjoyed watching Lords play and the lads of Bilge Pump.
C: When I think of Felix gigs in Nottingham it's always supporting some diva with a road crew who make our lives hard - naming no names. Or Lucinda writing something offensive on my set-list to make me laugh onstage. I think I must have seen over a thousand bands in Nottingham. So many of them were amazing that I couldn't begin to list them. However, I think the best gig I have ever seen in my life happened at Dubble Bubble in Nottingham in the late 1990s – Bob Tilton supporting Unwound. No exaggeration at all, that gig changed my life. For better of for worse.

If you had a chance to put on your own festival, where would you hold it and who would you have on?
L: I would hold it in my living room and would have Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney’s Superwolf Band.
C: With all the reformations of late making modern popular music a bit like a Butlins Revival Weekender, I would like to see Nirvana reform - Karaoke style. Krist and Dave back up any band member or crowd member who wants to step up and sing and play any Nirvana song. Imagine it. I think that'd be a very effective myth debunking for all concerned.

What was your first ever gig?
L: I played Mary Had a Little Lamb (right hand only) to an audience of about 100 people when I was four years old in a church called St Luke’s somewhere in West London. Sickening, no? The first gig I went to see was probably a classical music concert somewhere. I only listened to classical music until I was about 11 or 12 - I was such a little boffin.
C: The Cure at Finsbury Park in 1993. My first gig I played was in an indie covers band in the bandstand in Wisbech Park. It was awesome.

And your first record?
L: My first record was an album by Eternal on cassette tape that Father Christmas put in my stocking. I had never heard of them before but I guess he thought it would make me cool.
C: I really don't remember. I think the first album I bought myself with my own money was The Power by Snap

What was the last book you read?
L: Slowness by Milan Kundera, it was very short. Now I am reading Charlie Brooker’s The Hell of it All.
C:'The Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin

What do you like to do on a night out in Nottingham?
L: The last time I went out in Nottingham was New Years Eve 2008 when I went to the Chameleon. It was like being at the best house party ever crossed with the sickening shame of feeling a bit like I was in Skins but that little bit too old...
C: I'm a simple man, so it's the pub. Maybe a gig if I'm feeling lively. A house party perhaps if you want to invite me.

If you could have a super power, what would it be?
L: I would have Bernard’s Watch.
C: X Ray Vision of course!

Are final words for the LeftLion readers?
L: Come and see us at the Social on Monday 25 January.
C: Get off the internet!

Felix play at The Bodega Social Club on Monday 25 January. 'You Are The One I Pick' is out now on Kranky records.

Felix on MySpace

 

Felix Interview