Eleanore Everdell and Jason Friedman are The Hundred in the Hands, they live in Brooklyn and formed a band after discovering their love for similar music (French House, Disco, Post Punk to name a few). Their first song, “Dressed in Dresden”, was written and recorded in a couple of days and was soon picked up and released as a 45 by a record shop in the U.K. Now they are signed to Warp with a much anticipated debut set for release – the time was right for a Bowlegs’ Call Back.

Bowlegs: Which album has been a major influence in your life, and why?

Jason: Growing up we both listened to a lot of golden oldies radio and The Beatles, and then we each got into things like Robert Johnson and other more folk inspired stuff. Stone Roses, De La Soul, Happy Mondays, Dinosaur JR. The first Pavement LP, Nirvana obviously – these were all things that hit me pretty hard.

Eleanore: I got it bad for all those self-loathing druggy or emotional boys: Elliot Smith, Velvet Underground, The Cure. A more recent record that really affected us both was J Dilla ‘Donuts’.

Bowlegs: What was the last album you bought?

Jason: We try and buy a new record every week. I think just before we left NY we picked up the Wild Nothing LP.

Eleanore: Zola Jesus, Pantha Du Prince, those were relatively recent buys.

Bowlegs: Which bands have you been listening to this week?

Eleanore: Really enjoying this ‘Mos Dub’ mash up record. Mos Def and classic ska … so, so good for the summertime.

Bowlegs: Name an up and coming band Bowlegs should look out for?

Jason: Holy Ghost! We were following one another through NY studios last year and everything we heard of theirs was just killer.

Eleanore: A couple days ago I did hear a beautiful new track from our friend Sharon Van Etten. You should check that out too.

Bowlegs: What was the last gig you went to?

Jason: We saw a group called Light Asylum in NY. Really amazing vocals and dirty synths. Well worth checking out.

Bowlegs: What was the first gig you ever went to, and who did you go with?

Jason: Ha! The first show I ever, ever went to was a Crosby, Still and Nash reunion with my parents. But everyone around us started smoking pot which freaked me out, so I claimed a stomach-ache and made them leave. Hilarious. The first show I was ever totally excited for was a Guns N’ Roses show in L.A.

Eleanore: Hmmm … what was the first? It doesn’t matter. Some 12 year olds cannot be trusted.

Bowlegs: What was the last film you saw, and was it any good?

Jason: I watched the Ian Dury biopic on the plane. It was good enough for a rock bio pic. Well made with all the animated bits and the like. It was a bit of a dark mood though to be in on an aeroplane.

Eleanore: We watched ‘Get him to the Greek’ last week. It was quite good. Highly recommended. But then … you know, we don’t really have Russell Brand in America so it might be something that works better for us not being familiar?

Bowlegs: What is your favourite music documentary?

Jason: The coolest is probably ‘Don’t Look Back’. But then, all those (Albert) Maysles ones are good. ‘Gimme Shelter’ and The Beatles’ first U.S. Tour.

Eleanore: Informative wise, we just watched a really long Kraftwerk and Krautrock documentary and that was really good. And it’s not a documentary, but we also just watched that Led Zeppelin live at Albert Hall 1970. Amazing!

Bowlegs: Name three great books Bowlegs must read?

Both: ‘Lanark’ by Alasdair Grey, ‘Zazie In The Metro’ by Raymond Queneau and ‘Wittgenstein’s Mistress’ by David Markson.

Bowlegs: What do you see when you look in the mirror?

Jason: Oh, good grief.

Eleanore: Me, silly!

Bowlegs: Name a song that takes you back to a certain time in your life?

Eleanore: ‘Chantilly Lace’ by the Big Bopper. We had an oldies tape that my       family would listen to on road trips when I was a kid. Unlike a lot of the tunes on       the tape I rarely hear this song played on the radio, so when I do it immediately       takes me back to childhood. I know every word. What a campy masterpiece.

Bowlegs: What is your favourite album cover of all time?

Jason: Of all time? Yikes. Today I’m going to say it’s this cover to a Horace Andy record called ‘Dub Style’, but only because I was just looking at it and he looked super cool. Or, you know what, since I just saw the movie on the plane, how about the Ian Dury ‘New Boots and Panties’ LP. Actually, there’s something kind of similar in those two.

Bowlegs: What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?

Eleanore: The YouTube clip of the cat hiccupping and farting at the same time.

Bowlegs: Do you think music videos are important and do you like making them?

Jason: It seems like with YouTube and the like, they’re probably more important now than they have been since the golden age of MTV. Only now, every band can have their video seen not just the big MTV approved bands. We’re always looking at other bands’ videos and good video always makes a big impact on us. But, they’re weird to make for sure. But it’s fun too. We just made our second one and can’t wait to see it! I think really we’re more psyched by the production side of the video than on being in the video. If we were left in charge, we’d probably end up cutting all our scenes. Ha!

Eleanore: I think they can be very important if they are done well. We were just talking about that Battles video where they’re all in the mirrored room spinning through outer space. That was a stop you in your tracks video and the visual has such an amazing way of enhancing the music without being literal or anything. Simple. But, when making them, part of the struggle for me is trying to get inside someone else’s interpretation of your music and let them lead the way. It’s terrifying but then if it goes well, also completely exciting.

Bowlegs: Are albums still important or is it more about individual tracks?

Jason: We still think in terms of LPs. When we were recording last year, we knew which songs were going to be on the EP and which ones were going to be on the LP, and we even knew roughly what the sequence was going to be. Thinking that way totally affected how we approached the recording of each track. It’s important to us, and there’s still something to that special connection you end up having with a collection of songs, and pulling it out of the record sleeve and dropping the needle.

Eleanore: Nothing beats a good record. My sister always says, ‘reading a great book changes the way you think for ever after. It alters your mind permanently.’ I’m going to say that about a really good record. I don’t get that from singles.

Bowlegs: What do you have planned for the next six months?

Jason: We’ll be in Europe for the rest of the summer playing shows before heading back to NY to start a US tour in late September, and then I think coming back to Europe towards the end of the year.

Bowlegs: What is on your iPod?

Jason: My iPod just decided to erase everything. Everything. And it won’t let me reset it so at the moment, it’s just a doorstop. You just can’t trust those 1s and 0s.