K&A with Futuristic Retro Champions

Two K&A's in the space of two days! Yes, I really am spoiling you this week. Today's victims are a band I've featured quite a lot over the last couple of months.... the wonderfully poptastic Futuristic Retro Champions. They are preparing their third release of the year with debut single "Settle Down / May The Forth" set to hit the shelves on the 5^th of August. The single comes complete with artwork designed by Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed, which you can get a sneeky, exclusive peek at below!

Take it away folks...

Kowalskiy: Who are Futuristic Retro Champions?
Futuristic Retro Champions: Sita Pieracinni (vocals and melodica, occassional tambourine), Carla Easton (keys and vocals, very occasional saxophone!), Cecilia Stamp (bass and vocals) and Harry Week (guitar, vocals and synths).

Kowalskiy: How did you all get together, and what's the story behind the name?
Carla: I (Carla) and Ceal shared a flat together in halls at art school in Edinburgh, Sita stayed a few floors down. A few years later Sita and I made a short film with our friend Luke. We made a song for the soundtrack called 'Lullaby'. Harry recorded it for us in his bedroom and played some guitar on it. Our tutor Paul Carter said it made him smile so they decided to make some more songs. In 2008 Luke was replaced by Ceal on bass and the rest is history. I decided at 16 that I would be in a band one day and the band would be called Futuristic Retro Champions. The others agreed with her.

Kowalskiy: How would you describe 'your sound'?
Carla: We are a pop band. We try to incorporate the harmonies of sixties girl groups with the melodies of Kylie Minogue and the attitude of the Vaselines with the sass of Manda Rin. The sound of FRC is the sound of a delicious guilty pleasure.

Kowalskiy: Who/what/where would you say has influenced your music?
Carla: Where will I start?! We all have very varied tastes. Things we agree on include Kylie, The Supremes, The Ronettes, The Vaselines, St Etienne, Blondie, Madonna, Groove Armada, Kelis, Passion Pit. And I'll use this opportunity to say that Harry loves Catatonia! We've written quite a lot of songs about our friends, nights out, travel, life, love, rejection…
Kowalskiy: You're releasing new single "Settle Down / May The Forth" on the 5th August. What are the songs about?
Carla: I wanted to try and write something a bit slower that still sounded like us. Settle Down (have a listen below) is about a couple of my friends who have depression and was my way at trying to understand how they are feeling. May the Forth is about my friend 19yr old Fraser Bone who took me out dancing for my 25th birthday on May 2nd (hence the song title as it was written 2 days after) with my good friend John. His enthusiasm, whilst ridiculous, made us feel like teenagers again. Unfortunately the hangover didn't.

Settle Down - Futuristic Retro Champions

Kowalskiy: The single will be your third release so far this year. Is there a backlog of material you're getting around to releasing or are you churning out new songs like some sort of three-woman-one-man pop-machine?
Carla: Our EP's have been a mix of new and old songs, while these two songs are brand new and we already have some new songs on the go. We may put all our old recordings up for download at the end of the year as there is quite a lot now. But it keeps it fun and interesting for us to keep writing and trying out new things.

Kowalskiy: What else can expect from FRC this year?
Carla: More of the same but with added sparkle.

Kowalskiy: What would be your ideal gig? (Era, venue, support, roadies....)
Carla: I like the fact we get to choose roadies! I would definitely have Mutya Buena as my personal bodyguard. Era doesn't really matter. John Waters would be part of my entourage along with Leigh Bowery. Support would be Bananarama (when Siobhan was still in the band), Billy Idol circa 83, Secession and Kylie Minogue on decks.

Kowalskiy: Lastly, is there any weird/wonderful fact about the band, or a bandmember, that we maybe don't know?
Carla: Sita's sister was Kelly Marie in River City, Ceal's dad had his own TV series on Channel 5, Harry was in a choir with Ben Adams from A1 at school, and Carla has no celebrity connections whatsoever but had a pet tortoise called Fang when she was 4.

That's where I know the name Pieracinni from!! Anyhoo, the single is out next week on CD, cunningly packaged as a 7", with that Joy Division-esque artwork above. You can download a copy on their bandcamp page, or if you fancy, you can pick up one of the vinylesque CDs at the launch party on the 5^th August at Mono in Glasgow, where they will be joined by Hidden Masters, Drums of Macumba, Martin Creed and his band and the legendary Eugene Kelly of Vaselines fame.

Upcoming Gigs
30^th July - Pin Up Nights Festival @ The Flying Duck, Glasgow
5^th Aug - Mono, Glasgow