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Feature by Jack Foley
FOLLOWING the release of acclaimed debut single, Midnight,
Indielondon's Jack Foley got to hang out with Un-Cut while they
were in London recently. Here's what they had to say...
Q. The lyrics in your songs are intensely personal. Are
there ever times, when performing them, that you feel a little
too exposed?
Jenna: Yeah, when the person that I'm singing about's in
the audience usually. It's a little bit scary - thankfully,
that's only happened once. But no, not really though. Especially
when it's quite emotional, I kind of just shut my eyes and get
on with it. More often it's the people in the audience that
look like their going to cry or something.
Q. What has the reception to your music been like in Manchester
and how does that compare with your fanbase in London?
Daren: Manchester's a funny place because people know us.
They know we're actually rubbish [laughs], they're quite close
to it. They see us and talk to us every day. It doesn't mean
as much to them as to people who come into it fresh and who
know us just for our music. But they're definitely supportive.
2D: For me, personally, there's been most support when
it's got to a friend of a friend of a friend who see us on TV,
or hear us on the radio, or see us on a poster and they're ringing
someone to ring me - we've got our own little team.
Darren: That's it. It's a different kind of support;
it's more like 'oh - he's a mate'. Here it's like we really
like the music - over there it's like, 'you're an idiot but..'
2D: Within the drum 'n' bass scene everyone who's heard
the stuff, and a lot of people haven't heard the stuff apart
from Midnight, but the people who have, have been really supportive.
Q. Which of your musical influences do you find yourself
drawing upon most heavily when writing new material? Who pens
most of the lyrics? And what does the creative process involve?
Jenna: I write all the lyrics.. only because their ones
are too smutty. When I'm writing, I tend not to listen to music
because I'm really forgetful and I'll write a song and be like,
'It's a bad melody', and then put it on a CD and it'll be the
biggest tune!
For song writing, my influences definitely come from people
like Prince and Cole Porter and Nina Simone - the topics they
wrote about and the way they delivered them, there's so much
different style - not conforming.
The creative process starts with Darren and 2D messing around
in the studio with a loop, or they'll come up with an idea or
style they want to do, and then fling it to me and then I fling
it back to them with a verse on, and then they'll fling it back
to me with some more bits on…
Darren: A lot of flinging! I don't thing we're totally
influenced by one thing or one sound - it's everything a, mix
of styles
D2: You can hear it on the album - we flick from doing
a little drum 'n' bass thing, to a soul thing, to a ragga thing.
Everything - all the influences we grew up to.
Darren: And it's not just musical. We might write a song
because of the way we're feeling one day, or because of a film
we've just seen, or even a photo you look at. It goes beyond.
Q. You've been dubbed as being the UK's answer to The Fugees?
Jenna: I think it's just because it's two guys and a girl.
2D: And you've done a film.
Darren: You can call me Wyclef from now on as well! [laughs]
Jenna: It was film for the BBC2 called 'Strumpet'
Darren: Sister Act 3 [laughs]
2D: Back in the habit again [laughs]
Jenna: It was directed by Danny Boyle, from 'Trainspotting'
and 'The Beach', and it was really good actually, fabulous.
Darren: It's a compliment, really, if people are saying
we're like them - their album was massive.
2D: We feel like we're like nobody, we're unique - we
just do our own thing.
Jenna: Everyone always wants to put a label on you, and
that's what's happening right now. Everyone's throwing stuff
at us and seeing what sticks… and it's just slipping right
off!
Q. Question to Jenna: It reads in the promotional material
that Darren and 2D spent the best part of six months taking
the piss out of you. How did you find that and did you play
any practical jokes back? Or have you since?
Jenna: See, I am quite a funny person, but compared to these
two, I'm just pale in comparison, so in the six months I learned
how to deal with their sense of humour. I haven't really played
any practical jokes on them. I get drunk a lot and make them
put me to bed, and I throw up in their person, that's what I
do to get them back. And make them watch me be sick.
Darren: The balance has shifted now, so I think we're
owed a few more practical jokes really.
Jenna: When we come down to London, no one really gets
it when we first meet them; the way they lie and tell massive
stories - that's what's so funny, watching other people adjust
to their sense of humour. People believe everything 2D and Darren
sell them.
2D: Basically, we just lie, yeah. It's not a sense of
humour… Yeah - we're not actually Un-Cut.. [laughs] Their
actually still in Manchester!
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Q. The paths you took before meeting up appear fairly different,
and in some cases difficult, what advice would you give to other
people starting out in the industry? And were there times when
you felt like you might not make it?
2D: I think advice, I'd say just keep doing what you're doing.
Producers, just get some tunes out, get some demos tapes, go to
your local record shops, coz they usually have contacts, go to
your local DJ, if there's a big DJ playing in your town, give
him a CD.
Jenna: I think there's a massive emphasis on fame at the
moment and I think a lot of people want to be a singer to be famous
and I think the main thing is you've got to love music, you've
got to love to sing.
I've been in and out of contracts and doing stuff since I was
14 and I've had so many knock backs, but there was never a time
when I though 'I cant do this'. It's a hard slog. It doesn't seem
like it when we're drinking Champagne in TOTP's Star Bar- but
if you're really consistent, and you're really determined, and
believe in yourself, then eventually it'll pay off because that's
exactly what happened to us, it's exactly what happed to me.
Darren: We've all been on the breadline, just totally skint,
no money at all. You've got to stick to your guns.
2D: I used to give myself an ultimatum, 'if I'm not doing
it in 12 months' - but then I'd lie to myself and say, 'well,
you're nearer now than you were at 12 months, so you can't give
up'.
Q. Further question to Jenna... You have such an amazing voice,
at what point in your life did you begin to realise its potential
and decide to pursue a career in the music industry?
Jenna: Thank you very much first of all. I still don't think
I can sing; I enjoy opening my mouth…
Darren: Erm?
Jenna: You didn't let me finish. I enjoy … singing.
Probably, when the first person said 'that was really good', that
was probably when I thought I could do this. I always wanted to
be a singer, though. I used to dress up as Diana Ross and sing
Chain Reaction. When we signed the contract, that's when I thought,
'wow'!
Darren: It sounds cliché, but we'll have written
a backing track and Jenna'll say 'I've got this idea - I don't
really know about it', and she'll sing and we'll be like, 'this
is amazing', and she'll say, 'you think so?'
2D: Yeah. When we interviewed her for the.. err .. open
position. [laughs] No. When we all got together, someone was already
in our studio, so we couldn't hear her sing there, so we went
to this room and put this little drum 'n' bass record on and she
just sang in the room and me and Darren just looked at each other
and were like 'this is it, we've made it!
For us, it was always the insecurity that we couldn't get a backing
track good enough for her voice.
Darren: Yeah, in retrospect though we're actually pretty
good!
Q. Do you feel lucky to have met the way you did and gelled
so quickly?
Darren: As soon as we leave here we're in separate cars!
2D: A lot of people are thrown together - but we were always
friends first.
Q. Do you feel like you have arrived and how does it feel to
have such a big buzz surrounding you?
Darren: It's kind of weird, I don't feel like we've done anything
- and I'm not trying to play it down. Being in Manchester as well,
being away from the whole London thing, the media frenzy; all
you ever see is a magazine, and you read it, and put it down and
forget about it, I've only seen it on MTV once and that was kind
of cool.
I suppose you're always looking forward, so you never concentrate
on what's happened. And what people say, you just let it roll
off your back; otherwise you just worry too much about what people
are thinking and not enough about getting on and actually getting
down and making the music.
Jenna: I feel almost like a tourist - that's why I'm always
nicking things from places we go, souvenirs.
Darren: I definitely feel like it's a case of 'you actually
want us to do it?' But we don't have a clue what we're doing'
and it's almost like everyone thinks 'ah.. Un-Cut, bless em' Give
em' a chance, let em' do something. We won't actually put it out
on the TV. The three of us will have a moment when we're doing
a TV thing, and when no one's watching, we're like 'Oh my God,
what are we doing?'
2D: You know these reality TV shows. Well, can you imagine
if someone took it one further, saying there's this new band with
a really great album. But no one's actually heard the album, just
a couple of tracks and everyone thinks it's this massive album
and it isn't; it's just us being secretly filmed, promoting this
so-called massive album that doesn't exist.
Jenna: Like a music-based Truman Show...
Q. What are your future plans? Touring? Europe? America? Are
there any plans to take on the US music scene?
Jenna: I definitely think we're going to do Europe; we've
had a lot of interest for Europe international. I think we'd definitely
like to take it to the US. We'd like to take it anywhere, anywhere
who wants to listen to it; that's where we'll be going in the
near future.
Darren: America's like a landmark and if you can break
America.. you're rich. [laughs]. It's all about the money. [laughs].
The more people hear it the better - I've said before, I genuinely
think it's a good album and if people hate it and no one buys
it, I'm still proud of the fact we've made this album.
Jenna: [Interrupts]. I'd be gutted, cos that just means
I've got better taste than anyone else in the world!
2D: I forgot to tell you.. my numbers came up.
Darren: What, for the Lottery?
2D: Yeah, So I'm cool! [laughs]
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