The Go! Team Interview! by Chaz Bartok. Yeah!
Ian Parton is the leader and mastermind behind The Go! Team, who put out one of the finest records of last year. Our own Chaz Bartok managed to get an interview with the man himself...
Chaz Bartok for USOUNDS: You got a lot of critical praise and attention this year. How do you keep from getting huge heads and, you know, stepping on the little people and ordering underlings around and such?
Ian Parton of The Go Team!: There are no egos in the band - the idea of anything to do with being fussed over makes me sick. if anyone ever offers me a limo i'm not going in it.
USOUNDS: If it was a custom-made Trans-Am limo with built in bongs, I bet you would. But anyway, you did have one of the best albums of the year, it sounded quite epic. How many people are involved in the actual recording?
Ian Parton: Well lots of it was played by me and I pulled in people to play bits and pieces. it was pretty chaotic and drawn out. It was recorded in a basement, everything was slammed to tape with the levels in the red. We deliberately fucked up the sound to make it too dirty for daytime radio.
USOUNDS: I've heard your live show is a real treat, what's the scene like?
Ian Parton: It's a bit noisier than on record, we have two girl drummers (Silke and Chi) and loads of instrument swapping - banjos, recorders, harmonica, melodica - me and Sam thrash away over the top and our dynamite rapper Ninja really goes for it.
USOUNDS: Right, you have both guys and girls in the band. How did you get all those peeps together?
Ian Parton: It was mainly friends and friends of friends - the other two fellas in the band live near me in brighton, the ladies live in London. i don't think any of us wanted to be in a band with the conventional 4 blokes with guitars line up.
USOUNDS: Yeah, that's boring as hell, and besides its been done to death. Personally I'm bored with staring at armadillos on stage... Who in the band likes to party when on the road?
Ian Parton: The ladies aren't big drinkers so us fellas normally gorge the rider.
USOUNDS: I'll just pretend I know what that means. What about groupies? Qaulity or quantity, what really matters?
Ian Parton: We're not a groupie kinda band for some reason. we've had a few weirdos trying to get backstage though and steal our booze.
USOUNDS: Bastards. What is the crowd at a typical Go! Team show like?
Ian Parton: School kids have started turning up and there have been a few middleagers getting down so there's a bit of a span - our audience is a bit indie at the mo and i wish our crowd would be more diverse.
Go! Team Go! (Sassy Ninja)
USOUNDS: Let's try some pyschological repartee, shall we...
Ian Parton: ...
USOUNDS: Why do children like to dance?
Ian Parton: Don't know but its always quite comical.
USOUNDS: What are your favorite/least favorite words?
Ian Parton: I quite like the word foibles, i don't like the word impeachment.
USOUNDS: Tell me, Is the theme of sublimated sexuality in your music a conscious decision?
Ian Parton: Don't know what you mean by that - we're not fucking kindergarten teachers. Maybe we should move into x-rated G-funk for the next album...
USOUNDS: I don't know either, someone just wrote that down for me because they think I'm an idiot. Seriously though, the G-Funk is not a bad idea, actually. What kind of hiphop are you into?
Ian Parton: Mainly old stuff-- mantronix, eric b, treacherous 3, public enemy - most new hip hop has totally lost it. The production is too slick, it exists in this fantasy world, and lots are one idea songs where they take a sample and loop it for 3 minutes. Course theres good stuff aswell but the rawness of the early stuff gets me.
USOUNDS: How about Curtis Mayfield? I detect a hint of Curtis in your band.
Ian Parton: Yeah he rules-- he was a gentleman but kicked ass.
USOUNDS: Favorite tunes of his?
Ian Parton: "Makings of You" + "Wild and Free"
USOUNDS: Wild and Free is the way to be, man. Thanks for doing the interview!
Ian Parton: Cheers.
Posted by usounds at April 06, 2005 08:45 PM
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