Beak> recently released Beak>>>>. Here’s a nice little Q & A with Billy. Tour dates are above if you skipped passed and give a listen to ‘Hungry Are We’ after your read. Enjoy.
Hi Billy, welcome back to the DeClunk universe.
Please describe your surroundings so that we can all get a little snug.
In the Kitchen with the cat & a cup of tea. Ears are ringing from too much home DIY. I should’ve asked an adult.
The last time we did a little Q & A this was called Clunk. We had a very unfriendly email threatening legal action etc. So now this is DeClunk. Please tell us what you have been up to between Beak>>> and Beak>>>>. That’s about 6 years!
Lots of Beak> shows. UK, Europe, North & South America. Then Covid & the true grimness of Brexit set in. I moved house, about 30 minutes outside of Bristol & I now work 3 days a week in a record shop called Friendly Records in Bristol.
Why did Beak>>>> come out as a surprise release? It was a lovely surprise.
Because if you’re a Beak> fan, we thought it would be nice to wake up one morning and go, ‘FUCK!!! THERE’S A NEW BEAK> ALBUM!!! And in a few days and can go and buy a physical copy in my local record shop!!!’.
It’s all very boring how records get drip fed on to people nowadays. You get a lead track, followed by 3 other songs over the course of 3 months. By the time the album comes out you don’t care anymore and all you’ve got left to hear is album tracks, or as some people like to call them…. ‘DEEP CUTS’. Erghhhhhhh!!!!!
How come it was such a long time between the two albums? Did you have those classic ‘musical differences? Was there a big fall out? Prison sentence?
Between >>> and >>>> we did release other things you know!! We did the ‘Life Goes On EP’, the ‘Oh Know’ standalone single and we did the soundtrack to a Sci-Fi Comic by Ben Wheatley & Joe Currie called, ‘Kozmik Muzik’. And we played loads of shows. And Covid. So get off our case!
How did you go about writing this album? Do you lock yourselves into a room until you come up with something or does one of you turn up with an idea and it blossoms from there?
We went to a farmhouse in North Wales for a week and started there. We didn’t have anything before we went there, but by the end of the week we had about 12 ideas. Two of them became, ‘Strawberry Line’ & ‘Secrets’, the rest were rubbish.
After that we continued as we always do at Invada Studios in Bristol. It’ll usually start with me with a bassline, I’m manic & quite proactive on that front.
It’s nice to see Alfie on the cover, why has he got some sort of x-ray eyes and what’s going on? It looks like a missing episode of Star Trek.
Alfie has been with us since the very beginning. The song, ‘Eggdog’ got it’s name because Alfie took a huge shit underneath the sound desk in the studio whilst we were recording the version you hear on our 2nd album. I’m sure you’ve heard of the term, ‘Dog Egg’? So we just reversed that, hence ‘Eggdog’. If you look closely he’s shooting down laser beams of love… that’s a love heart at our feet.
On the back the 3 of us are fighting, that’s what happens to humans when they don’t have a loving pet dog to look after them. Also, on the cover Alfie is sitting on an area of Bristol called Clifton, which is where all the posh/rich people live, so that’s good too.
Did Beak> go out on the Razz to celebrate Beak>>>>? Any decent hangovers? Who suffers most?
Not at all. We were too busy shitting ourselves that people might hate it.
Will Beak> ever make it to The Brickyard in Carlisle? Snapped Ankles were here last month!
All I know about Carlisle is you have one of them posh service stations like we have near us in Gloucester, I can’t remember what they’re called? But they’re nice. Why aren’t all services like that?
Can you see yourselves playing gigs at 80 years old? You know, like the rolling stones, McCartney, Dylan and so on. What do you think would be on your rider?
Geoff… no chance. Will… probably not. Me… if I’m alive and the arthritis stays away then definitely yes. I’ll drive the van too.
Any music you suggest we give a listen to? Since the last time we have got into Tropical Fuck Storm, Tanya Tagaq, Fontaines DC, Pill Fangs and Anna B. Savage amongst many others.
I only recognise Fontaines DC from that list.
I’ve just got rid of a load of records because I don’t listen to them & I was skint. Truth be told I can survive on a handful of albums that I truly, TRULY love. The rest I’ll sell because you only have a certain amount of time to listen to music, what with everything else a Dad of 2 has to do etc etc… Have you heard of Crosby Stills & Nash?! That first album is still fucking wicked.
Thanks Billy, for spending the time with DeClunk. Have fun on the tour, hope to see you out there, Leeds or Newcastle.
I’ll see you in Leeds, we’re not playing Newcastle. I’ll be at the merch stand after the gig, come buy a T-Shirt xxx
DeClunk 