Good morning all, my mate brought in a copy of this morning's Metro paper (a free paper in London) and there was this interview in it, so thought you all might to read it. A few inaccuracies in it I think, but it's interesting anyway. Ben x The 60 second Interview: Richard Colburn. Belle & Sebastian are the Scottish band that scarcely anyone has a bad word for. They haven’t courted fame, they’re not known for pursuing a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle (indeed, they barely have ever seem to venture out of Glasgow) and they hardly ever give interviews, Here drummer Richard Colburn, 30, reveals a few secrets. * The band is often described as ‘fey’. is this fair ? Are you drippy ? Yes and no. It’s not fair because that’s not the way it is at all. But, given the way we’re put across, then it probably is fair. I mean, if you don't want a tag them change your image. If anybody met me they’d have a shock. * How would you confound expectations ? I’d take them out drinking. I’ve recently been to Ireland and it wasn’t a twee weekend. I used to drink a lot of Guinness. I had a pretty cool concoction at one point - Guinness with Baileys chasers and pints of cider. I missed my flight back because we went to the boozer until ten o’clock in the morning. * How did B&S come to make their first album ? Most bands get together with as vision of being pop stars. It wasn’t like that for us. We were doing a music business course at college. The course had a label. Every year they signed a band to do a single - not for the benefit of the band, but for the benefit of the course - so people could see what it was like to sign and promote a band. We were picked. The budget was bigger than expected, so we did an album. Only about 1,000 records went out and we didn’t expect any comeback. It wasn’t my life’s dream - it just happened. * Did Blue Peter really refuse to let you on ? We talked a lot about doing Blue Peter. It would be quite different - a change of pace from doing Jools Holland stuff. You’d be dodging dogs, cats and tortoises and probably singing next to some majorettes. I think we might have put a request in and they probably did turn it down. We even had the thought of doing the Eurovision Song Contest. * Your worst ever job ? I was a postman when I was about 16. I was on a casual contract. they’d phone up at 4am and if you’d been out the night before it was awful. You’d hear the phone ringing and think: ‘Oh no, it’s them’. The worst bite I ever saw in my life was from a cat. They have the sharpest teeth. I was a snooker player for a while as well. * So you were nearly Steve Davis ? I’ve still got some old bow ties and dinner jackets I use to wear at tournaments. I would never wear them again. I won a few tournaments but nothing major because I never stuck at it. If you’re going to put 110 percent in it there’s probably not much point. * Ever played a gig that hasn’t worked ? Jesus Christ, aye. The first Belle and Sebastian gig we played was when we were at college. The audience didn’t know if it was the soundcheck or the gig and neither did we. Another bad one was when we played in France and they out us straight after a band called Loch Ness. they thought there was a Scottish connection. This band played three hours of heavy metal and pink covers. We knew we played the quietist music in the world and not very well so we were terrified. But Loch Ness did three encores then everybody left. * What would other band members say was your most annoying habit ? Not being able to say no. If someone asks me to do a gig, whatever, I’ll always go: ‘Aye, right, magic, that’ll do’. It gets me and the rest of the band into bother. Neil, our manager, has to go round undoing the things I’ve agreed to. * Your most embarrassing item of clothing ? A horrible pair of brown Y-fronts. I shared a flat with seven or eight other people and there was a drying room I left them in once. Someone went in and the rest of us heard a loud shriek. We all came running and he walked out holding these tattered faded things. I’ve thrown them away now. * Do you still feel young ? When I reached 27 I realised I wasn’t young anymore. I don’t mind. It’s when I’ve been on a bender - or maybe at a festival playing with other bands - and you come back feeling terrible. My girlfriend Louise is a bit younger than me and she’s had a couple of knock-backs from nightclubs and pubs because they think she’s under 18. That’s never going to happen to me. * Anything that makes you switch the radio off ? Quite a lot of trance that seems OK but it’s on the radio all the time and there’s only so much you can take. I’ve been listening to funk and a bit of hip hop. I also like the new Badly Drawn Boy album and James Taylor stuff. * Who’d you most like to play with ? I’d love to play in Beck’s band. It’s phenomenal. Richard Colburn DJs at the Social W1 (020 7636 4992) on August 26. Interview by Victoria Moore. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named +-+ +-+ Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+