INTERVIEW: ZOOT WOMAN

Zoots you sir

Interview: Zoot Woman. ZOOT WOMAN brought 80s synth-pop back in vogue long before La Roux came about. With their debut album Living In A Magazine (2001) and Zoot Woman (2003) bringing over-styled hair and sharp suits back into fashion they then took six years before making a third album. Stuart Price, Johny and Adam Blake and Jasmin O’Meara are back with Things Are What They Used To Be – an album with great reviews from NME. Adam Blake talks to BBM’s Dan Jeffery about the new album, the drawbacks of free music, and why the renaissance of tight jeans is not all the fault of Zoot Woman…

BBM puts the question straight to Adam Blake when we speak on the phone. Did they need to wait for the 80s to come back into fashion again before releasing another album of electronic music? “Not really”, he says. “Stuart was doing things with other bands and we were doing our live gigs.”
Although officially a four piece Price hasn’t toured with Zoot Woman for five or six years and limits himself to writing and working in the studio; Jasmine O’Meara takes his place on the road.
Alright. But there must be a lot of pressure to release an album after six years, right?
“There’s so much pressure,” he laughs, “and the longer we took the worse it got, too. It’s like putting out a debut album.”
So it must help that you’re releasing the new album, Things Are What They Used To Be when electronic music is riding high with bands like La Roux doing well?
“Well, yeah” muses Blake. “It’s a great time for electronic music and she [La Roux] is everywhere at the moment. When we started we struggled to get played on the radio. Interview: Zoot Woman.
“We maybe tried to do an 80s thing before people were really ready for it.”
People are more than ready for it now. Often disregarded as the decade that taste forgot, BBM can’t walk out the office without being confronted by skin-tight stonewash denim and giant hair. That’s all your fault, isn’t it we ask.
“Ummmmmm. Yeah”, says Blake uncertainly. “I think the skin tight jeans thing have gone too tight. We’re a fan of the fitted look, but there are always people who opt to go one tighter. We’re not responsible for the one tighter. And we like over- styled haircuts but it’s not big hair. We have a more mod approach.”
Fair enough.
The long break between albums included lots of touring and an experiment with downloads. Two singles on the new album were offered as downloads starting with ‘We Won’t Break’ in 2007.
The band said at the time that they were interested in the download format because it meant instant feedback from fans. BBM wonders if the long gap between the downloads and album were due to underwhelming fan-feedback.
“That’s a good point. We definitely take what people say on board,” says Blake diplomatically. “It gives [us] a real awareness by knowing what the fans think but we use it constructively because we can’t tailor a song to what some people say.”
So why the long gap?
“That was just how long it took to put things together. We tried the downloads as an experiment because that’s what everyone was doing. But we didn’t know where it was going.”
It seems Zoot Woman weren’t that happy with the experience?
“Well, a download just oversaturates the market for a little while, but ultimately we just thought that if you offer something for free people won’t appreciate it, so we stopped doing them.”
They’re hoping fans will appreciate Things Are What They Used To Be, which contains some excellent electronic-rock tunes, including the stand-out tracks Just A Friend Of Mine, Lonely By Your Side, We Won’t Break and Live In My Head, but what about the title track? Interview: Zoot Woman.
What things aren’t what they used to be but Blake wishes were?
“Well, loads of things, but none musically – music is still the same and periods of time are still remembered for the music.”
Culture-wise he seems not so sure and wonders whether it’s a good thing that artists have embraced Twitter and Facebook.
“People tie their personalities to their music a lot more now, especially because of the blogging culture.”
You don’t like that?
“Well, it detracts from the music; the moment you blog what you’re doing the mystery is gone.”
Finally, we ask Blake if Zoot Woman are going to tour Australia with the new album?
“We’re trying to arrange a New Year period tour, so just after Christmas.
“I’ve heard that’s the time to do it in Australia. It’s the holy grail of touring apparently because of the weather and the travel. I can’t wait.”
BBM nods its head enthusiastically in agreement, which is silly really because we’re talking by phone. Interview: Zoot Woman.

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