Black Tambourine never released an album and were only together for two years (89-90), yet their voice still resounds through many of today’s bands. Cited by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and The Vivian Girls as a major influence (to name a few) their wave of guitars stood alone amongst the rise of grunge. Being heavily influenced by Jesus and The Mary Chain and the UK’s Shoegaze scene their importance in American Music should not be understated, and with the release of their definite compilation (out March 29th) they will reach out to those that missed them the first time around.

Bowlegs: How does it feel to be back in the music press, exciting times? Still get a buzz from seeing the band discussed and talked about?

Mike: We never really got any press the first time around, so this is pretty new for me. It’s definitely a buzz, very exciting to know that people are interested in the handful of records we made twenty years ago.

Archie: It’s definitely exciting, and very flattering.  When the band was extant, I was very proud and excited to be a part of it, and I was always a bit frustrated that so few people knew about us.  So our new, unlikely buzz feels really nice. 

Bowlegs: Obviously the band’ catalogue and life span was extremely short, do you feel regret or an opportunity missed?

Mike: Not really. I’m really proud of the recordings we made, and it needs to be remembered that when we made them there weren’t many people into that kind of music, especially in America. I don’t think there was an opportunity to be missed! 
 
Pam: We never planned to be a touring band and we made some recordings I’m really happy with two decades later, so no regrets here, either. It wasn’t like Black Tambourine were very busy recording and playing out all the time and then we suddenly weren’t and packed it in. We were each working or travelling or running a label or playing in other bands, etc. so it didn’t feel like we were missing out at the time.

Archie: The only thing I regret was not recording a second batch of songs back then.   

Bowlegs: Influences always cited for you guys are Jesus and The Mary Chain and  the wave of UK Shoegazers –who else played a part in inspiring you? Why do you feel you are seen as such a lasting influence?

Mike: Oh man, there were so many influences for us. Some off the top of my head include Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes, Shop Assistants and C86 in general, 14 Iced Bears, The Wedding Present, pre-Creation MBV, early Creation label bands, the Postcard label, etc etc. I really have no idea why we’re considered influential, I suppose it might have to do with the fact that there weren’t a lot of US bands playing that kind of music then, so there’s kind of an aura of “otherness” or something that’s intriguing to people. 
 
Pam: What Mike said, and I’d add to that list Beat Happening, the Orchids, the Shangri-Las, the Dixie Cups, Chin-Chin, there are so many others. Some bands’ attitudes to musicianship rather than their sound were the real influence – there was inspiration to be found from people that didn’t let newness to instruments or imperfect singing stop them from making a racket and committing it to vinyl.

Archie:  What Mike & Pam said, plus a whole lot of Galaxie 500 and the Flying Nun label bands, particularly the Chills and the Bats.  

Brian: I think there was also quite a bit of noisier stuff that we were listening to (at least Mike and I) like Big Black, Sonic Youth, The Swans amongst others. All those bands were pretty inspiring to the noisier end of the BT spectrum.

Bowlegs: A female lead over the waves of guitar, creating noisy pop, Black Tambourine was something new at the time, now it seems commonplace –do you hear your influence in any of today’ bands (Vivian Girls, Pure at Heart …)?

Mike: Definitely, yeah, though I do think in a lot of cases it’s just those bands sharing some of the same influences that we did. 

Archie: Honestly, it wasn’t very new at the time.  We considered ourselves a second or third wave, using the same basic formula as the Shop Assistants, the Primitives, the Flatmates, Talulah Gosh, Lush, etc. before us. 
 
Bowlegs: What was the reason behind the split? Was it band politics or a group  decision to call it a day?

Mike: It’s hard to recall all the specifics, but Archie, Brian and I were all in other bands that were more of a priority at the time, so Black Tambourine was always a little more of a side project kind of thing. In a bit over two years we played 5 shows and released 1 single, so there wasn’t a whole lot of momentum there. There really wasn’t much of an audience for what we were doing at the time, so I guess it sort of fizzled out.

Archie: It definitely had nothing to do with band politics.  To a pretty unusual degree, the four of us had a completely united vision of what the group should sound like and how we should present ourselves.  

Bowlegs: Pam, we understand you now live in the UK –do you still talk to the other guys in the band? Are you still involved in music? If so, what stuff have  you been putting out recently?

Pam: I’m still in touch with the guys but I don’t like flying so I don’t get over to the US for nearly as many reunion barbecues as I’d like to. So it was a real treat to get to hang out with Mike and his fab family last summer when they came to London! I do wish we all lived closer to each other, in a righteous world our kids will all be in a band together one day. I’m still involved music, but it’s distinctly lacking in the feedback squall of yesteryear! I’ve been playing for several years in a band with my friend Joe called the Pines, it’s a guitars and vocals affair, we write torch-folk-pop-country-ish numbers and play out very occasionally. We’ve released a bunch of records on small labels over the years and in 2007 Matinee Recordings released a compilation of some of them. I had a daughter in 2005 and another in 2006 so that has put the kibosh on recording as much as I used to, we record at home on a 16-track portastudio and it’s surprisingly hard to mix when four wee hands are howling along and playing with the faders. The Pines just played at the London Popfest but it may be another two years before we play out again, who knows? In the meantime, I’ve been singing in the Gregory Webster Trio, we’ve been playing out a bit and are in the middle of recording a bunch of songs. I’ve also just done some long-distance guest singing on a few songs for the next Bart + Friends record, the rest of which is being recorded in Australia.  

Bowlegs: Stay up to date with the live scene in London, or is a night in more  preferable?

Pam: I don’t get out all that much to see bands these days – I look after the girls during by day so I do freelance work at home most nights after they’ve hit the hay. I had the pleasure of seeing Rose Melberg play multiple times last month when she was over, I catch as many Clientele shows as I can and I’m going to see the Magnetic Fields on Monday night. I’ve also been able to catch a few great afternoon acoustic gigs at the Hangover Lounge on Sundays in Islington – like Birdie! And Would-Be-Goods! So I can’t really complain, but I wouldn’t say I have anything approaching the edge of a giner on the pulse of what’s going on in the London live scene. 

Bowlegs: The new recordings (covers and originals) on the compilation –how were they  decided upon? Did you get a say in what they were?

Mike: The new recordings are two originals and two covers, all songs that we used to play back in the day. Once we decided we wanted to add some new tracks to the reissue it was fairly easy to settle on the ones we chose, which we thought would be easy to relearn, quick to record (since we only had a day to do it) and helped round out the picture of what the band was about. The singles we released in the 90s tended towards our dreamier material, so I think we all wanted to present some of our more rocking tunes.

Bowlegs: What are you listening to at the moment?

Mike: Other than upcoming Slumberland releases, the new Clientele album is still killing me. Soundway has been on a real tear with their Nigerian and Ghanian reissues, and I’m always struggling to keep up with the latest dubstep/grime/funky/wonky/etc. 
 
Pam: I’m with Mike on the killer qualities of the Clientele album, that gets a lot of play at our house. This week I’m also getting a hefty daily dose of the Mamas and the Papas, Love, Laura Cantrell, Stereolab, Emmylou and Rose Melberg.

Archie:  The Clientele for sure, Cass McCombs, Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Broadcast with the Focus Group, the Pastels/Tenniscoats collaboration.   

Brian: Teenage Fanclub, The Bats, early Neil Young, Beach Boys. You can look for yourself right here… http://www.last.fm/user/bruboo 

Bowlegs: If Slumberland said they wanted you to go on a world tour for three months would you be up for it?

Mike: I’d miss my family way too much. 
 
Pam: I would be well up for it, as long as the family could come along as our roadies and we could travel by civilised train and other non-airborne methods. 

Archie: Definitely not.  It would be impossible for me to leave my family and job for any amount of time, and frankly, I think any mystique the band might have accrued over the years would be instantly lost when people saw the middle-aged, paunchy version of a band they never saw (even in pictures) the first time around. 

Bowlegs: Do you still occasionally play the odd Black Tambourine track on a Saturday morning?

Mike: I don’t think I really listen to any records I play on. 

Pam: Since we did the new recordings, I do get a Saturday request for Heartbeat and Tears of Joy now and again from the sofa-jumping five-and-under set.

Archie:  Lately, yes.  ”Black Car” and “Throw Aggi Off the Bridge” still sound pretty great to me.

Brian: Not much except recently with the new release. 

Bowlegs: Any new projects in the pipeline?

Mike: I’ve got a single coming out in May from my last band, Manatee, who I played with 2006-2008. 
Pam: The new Gregory Webster Trio record will be finished soon and in May I’ll be singing a couple of songs at the Hangover Lounge Felt fanzine release party with Ignacio from Hacia Dos Veranos.

Archie: I’ve been accumulating a bunch of solo recordings, and hope to release a few someday soon under the name Bye!

Brian: A couple of years ago I threatened our friend Ron who runs Peapod Records of doing a Verlaines cover because he wanted to put out a Verlaines covers comp. So far I’ve only picked the song.

Bowlegs: What album was the inspiration in you joining/starting a band?

Mike: If I had to pick one it would definitely be Psychocandy.

Pam: I can’t pick one. It might have been a cocktail of Psychocandy + Beat Happening + with a splash of Postcard Records.

Archie: Beat Happening: Jamboree.  I remember going with Mike and some other friends to see them play, and we were so excited that we went back to Mike’s apartment afterwards and played guitars until a neighbor started banging on the door; it was probably 2am.

Brian: I don’t know if there was a specific record that inspired starting a band, but I do remember listening to the first Smiths record and really really wishing I could play guitar like Johnny Marr. Still decades away from that.