Sky's the limit for Preston's new kings of arrogance

If name-dropping were an art then Preston’s Sushi Pills’ would be the new Michelangelo. With more big name contacts in their pocket than you would care to shake a Fender Stratocaster at, this dirty and experimental blues-rock outfit seem to be closer to the big-time than any other band around at the moment.

The main problem facing the Sushi Pills is that they are not doing it the easy way, lucky enough to bump into the Libertines last year they have continued to pick up major contacts, including a certain Poptones chief by the name of Alan McGee, along the way.

Promising future

Listen Up caught up with cousins Ged and Joe Gleave, drummer and singer respectively, to chat about the bands’ promising future, famous support slots, and friends in high places. Ged explains:

“Yeah, we met [The Libertines] at a gig in Leicester and ended up staying the night in some mansion with the band. We’ve just kept in contact with them because Carl Barat (Libertines singer and guitarist) is in Preston a fair bit.”

“We got a call recently saying that they want us to support them at a secret gig. We don’t know the dates and nothing’s confirmed but it’s good for people to be interested.”

Death disco

The immediate future of the band seemingly holds a great deal of promise, with a possible gig at McGee’s London club night The Death Disco. Ged continues:

“I spoke to Alan McGee on the phone while we were in London and his reaction was ‘Oh, you’re the Northern band.’ So we’re obviously getting recognised, and it’s not all to do with who we know, without trying to sound arrogant, we’re the best band in this city, our music speaks for itself.”

Fights in hotels

Ged Gleave is a loveable rogue, extremely open, laid-back, talkative and clearly one of the main driving forces behind the band. He knows that word of mouth is a great promotional tool, and he’s determined to use it to the best of his ability. The interview continues with stories of rock and roll forays in canals, fights in hotels and the usual drink and drugs shenanigans, before returning to the musical side of the bands’ history:

“We sound great live, but our lead guitarist (Joe Hollick) lives in London and is on an art course at Goldsmith’s College, so we don’t expect him to quit just on the off chance the band makes it.

“When we’re with him we have to make the most of it and play some gigs. People slag us off saying that we’re sh*t live, but we’re not, we improvise for some of our performances, but we like to take it in different directions. At the 12 Bar on Wednesday we had hardly played for six weeks, that was about 40 per cent of what we are, watch us when we get to 80 or 90 per cent, .”

Modest

Brother Joe, on the other hand, is by far the more modest of the two, seemingly more interested in talking about the band’s sound and current status, yet still smiling in agreement when his brother describes the band as ‘the proverbial diamond in a lump of coal.’

The band has only one song recorded, called Electronic break, which is played exclusively for Listen Up. It sounds a far cry from the band’s 12 Bar live set which cried more Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple than the lively, guitar based drum and bass coming from the huge speakers of the Base bar on Friargate.

Ready to record

“We’re trying to go a bit less blues and more upbeat with our sound.” Explains Joe “There’s four or five new songs that are ready to record, but it’s hard because once you get in the studio and try to rehearse, we start playing something different and before we know it we have got a new song.

“I don’t really know where the voice in that song came from, it’s a sound I’ve never made before. It just comes from right down inside, possibly a result of always trying to get myself heard above the band.”

The Sushi Pills are next playing live at The Mill in Preston, supporting the Jetsons, and by the looks of it, they could go anywhere from there.

Written by Dan Jeoffroy

Photography: Dan Jeoffroy