Pink Rock Candy-Entertainment

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Rob Diament from Temposhark, an awesome band I wrote about a few weeks ago. Being my first actual interview, I think ever, I was obviously really nervous, but Rob was totally sweet, charming, and let’s face it, he knows his shit. We chatted not only about Temposhark’s upcoming album The Invisible Line, but about the internet’s effect on music, music’s effect on fashion (and vice versa), and— well, you’ll have to read the interview to find out what else, but I promise it’s worth it!

Chelsea Rae: Let’s start with the basics. Why did you and Luke [Busby] decide to start Temposhark?
Rob Diament: I had already started making music on my on, and I was writing songs with a producer called Youth (Martin Glover from Killing Joy), in London. I started out writing on the piano when I was about 13, and then I met him when I was 18 or 19. He took me under his wing and kind of taught me how to work in the studio.

At the same time I was hanging out a lot in Brighton with Luke. I used to go to school with him, but we didn’t really know each other very well in school. I went to a party in Brighton, and really got on well with him. I loved the music he’d been making, so we— actually it was my idea, I kind of forced him into it— I brought him a song and said, “look, would you produce it?” and he tried to produce it, but it didn’t really work out. Then, we just tried to write a song over one of his tracks.

It was a really creative time…Luke lived with Tasha from Bat for Lashes, which is a cool band that is coming up right now, and they were all creating and writing songs and some of them were fashion designers and some of them were performance artists. They did a lot of live shows with visuals, and would spend weeks making these films. Then, you’d go to the gig, and you couldn’t even see the screens because it was so badly set up. But, we had a lot of fun! We even put on a musical, not like a musical in the sense of it being a musical, but it was kind of a joke. It was kind of tongue and cheek, mocking every body. So, yeah, that’s how it started…

Finish the interview after the jump.

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“Line up, line up / you make the rest of us look like sitting ducks / line up, line up / They don’t take a lick they don’t give a fuck.” That one line was enough to distract me from watching Agyness Deyn and Lily Donaldson jumping back and forth while shooting the Burberry campaign. I searched the net using numerous combinations of lyrics from the song, all the while listening to it over and over again, but I couldn’t find anything. I was majorly bummed. My bad luck didn’t last long though.

About two weeks ago Gabriella, a PRC reader, left a comment informing me the band was called Blondelle. I was way excited to find out, but I was also extremely busy and hadn’t had a chance to check out the band until now. Anyway, I headed to their myspace and lo and behold, the first song on the music player, which is called “Pest Control”, is the song in the Burberry video. I played the song about 100 more times and then decided to download their 2006 EP, Started When You Were Young. It was the latest album on the US iTunes, but you can purchase their 2007 LP, Die Pretty, on the UK iTunes if you’d like. I gave the EP a listen and can assure you all the songs were just as fresh as “Pest Control,” especially “Robolove.”

Right now, the guys of Blondelle (Sam, Will, Mike, and Rory) are recording their next kick ass album. I’m assuming “Pest Control” will be on that one, at least I hope. They’re also probably breaking tons of hearts with their steamy British swagger and overall good looks.

If you’re in London, you can go check them out (and swoon) at some of their upcoming shows. Everyone else can fawn over their poppy, The Kinks-esque sound or read about them in any of the numerous magazines they’ve been in, including Rolling Stone and i-D magazine.

For more information about Blondelle, visit their website at blondelle.co.uk or their myspace at myspace.com/blondelleband.

A couple of days ago I was asked to pick songs that would go well with runway videos. I decided to go with stuff that was not only walkable but, unique and pleasing to, well, me! One of my picks was “The Beautiful People” by Marylin Mason, sure there’s nothing pretty about Mason, but the song is ironic and it has an awesome beat. Later in the day, I was still thinking about good songs, when this song from a band called Temposhark came on my ipod.

The song was called “Joy”and its off of their upcoming full length album The Invisible Line (out March 25th), and it almost describes my love hate relationship with fashion to a tee:

In this black whole… So impressive, so beautiful/ As fast as a bullet, my heart is full/Its so impressive, so beautiful/ As fast as a bullet, my mouth is full/enjoy, joy, joy, joy

Though the song is obviously not about fashion, I’d say it is about obsession, and fashion happens to be one of mine. The guys of Temposhark also happen to be quite the fashionable bunch. Robert Diament (the lead singer) was feature in UK Vogue, score, and Rob along with writing partner Luke Busby traipsed across the pond to attend NY fashion week last September, double score!

Aside from being drawn to the obvious fashion sensibility that seems to come so natural to boys from the UK, I can’t help but fall into a trance due to the Depeche Mode-esque sound and repetitive lyrics especially in “Not That Big” an heart wrenching break up song starting from the first verse when Rob “puts his jeans back on” and the chanting chorus of “you’re not big in my life”.

In all honesty I’m not a big fan of electronica. But The Invisible Line has “hit me like a hurricane” and been in steady circulation on my ipod since I first received the album.

For more info on Temposhark visit www.temposhark.com or www.myspace.com/temposhark.

Favorite Songs:

• Battleships
• Knock Me Out
• Joy

Listen to “Crime” off Temposhark’s upcoming album The Invisible Line.