There are some bands who take their music seriously, tune their instruments constantly, sing about world poverty and really make you think about society and the way you live. Then there's fun, having a great time along with a 'who cares?' attitude and ultimate entertainment. And then finally there's We Are Scientists who started their show at V by riding tricycles onto the stage. "There was a guy who said we were the worst show of the festival," informs Chris, bassist in the band. "I think maybe he was offended by our failure to take music seriously. The Radiohead set certainly took music a lot more seriously than we did."
But, novelty gimmicks aside for We Are Scientists music a pretty serious issue. Over the past year they've built up an enthusiastic fan base and almost a cult following for their music videos. Their hits, 'Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt' along with 'It's a Hit' have been indie anthems, but 'The Great Escape' continues to be the all conquering favourite among fans. They also seem to be the friendliest band, known in the past for their relations with the Arctic Monkeys, Mystery Jets and Art Brut, making great pairings with British bands: "We've been lucky to meet some great bands. I mean we were big fans of Art Brut when the album came out then we were on tour with the Kaiser Chiefs and when we heard Eddy was coming out for a few days we thought 'oh shit Eddy Argos he undoubtedly hates our music! But after the third night he was singing Great Escape and the relationship took a downward spiral from there."
So much so that the band recorded a version of Art Brut's ‘Bang Bang Rock'n'Roll’ while they were both touring the states together. In a way, with both bands blatant sense of humour a collaboration was surely inevitable? "They were planning to do a split 7" with Jet but then that tour fell through, so when this tour came about they were like 'hey we should do a split' and they'd already been performing a version live of A Great Escape and its pretty incredible I've got to say." says Chris, as if embarrassed now by the original.
Both groups performed their respective covers on the American tours with Art Brut's ‘Great Escape’ taking on a full guitar solo from Freebird accompanied by the band singing the guitar parts. Whereas We Are Scientists Bang Bang Rock'n'Roll is changed into a gritty American sleeze, with both bands transforming each others songs.
Yet it appears We Are Scientists can't stop touring as they are currently enjoying their eighth trip to the UK in two years. Although incredibly this is the first headline tour since the album’s release, the band have performed two long tours in the US, a small stint in Australia, and extensive UK tours but it doesn't seem to affect their performance. Tonight the band play at Sheffield's Octagon holding 1,400 and it’s full to its seams. Entering to Mariah Carrey's ‘Against All Odds’, the band cut in with their version and suddenly it becomes cool to like cheese. Especially for the encore in which the whole band return docked in suits to sing Boyz II Men's ‘End of the Road’ complete with synchronised finger clicks, "We've got some exciting theatrics in this show and we were pleased how they went off. I think the audience's attention was sort of tried by our finale but I think we've come to terms to the fact that it’s more likely to leave people wondering what's wrong with us than leaving them ecstatic."
And the same has to be said the new album of rarities and B sides, named Crap Attack… "We were all pretty excited about it when we heard the title. It's a nice self deprecating way of launching an album, which lets be honest, is a middling offer! There's a couple of things on there that's different to anything else we've done that we all really like, I mean we don't think of these songs as one off stupid things, jokes I mean we really like that stuff but we just kind of think the We Are Scientists sound is something we should adhere to. Maybe we'll do a semi annual 'Crap Attack' release- Crap Attack 2!"
But in reality ‘Crap Attack’ is the ultimate fan package including a live set from Shepherd's Bush Empire and a video for every song on the album, including an alternate version of 'It's a Hit' video which simply shows the band frozen for the full four minutes. "Did we stand there for the full amount of time? Yeah, it was one shot. But its only four minutes its not that long, there's actually three such videos in the Love and Squalor series, I think the Scene is Dead video and Worth of the Wait video but they're in different locations and with slightly different gimmicks."
And after all their hits We Are Scientists still bring attention through their humour. From the bizarre Arctic Monkeys acceptance speech at this year's Brit Awards, their exceptional music videos and the band's website where they give advice to anyone writing in, complete with the tagline 'You ask, We lie.' But are they worried about this? "It doesn't bother us I mean we're certainly aware we incorporate humour into our image more than most bands do but its never been a forced thing. We didn't set out to make that a personality or an identity for people to latch onto, its just part of who we are. I don't think we could take our band any more seriously than we do-and we all like making stupid shit."
So there you have it, We Are Scientists are a serious band and it obvious to see why. Thousands of people wouldn't buy With Love and Squalor for a joke, they buy it for its catchy tunes, brilliant melodies, fast tempos and as for the tour- it might not be Radiohead but three skinny white Americans singing Boyz II Men? That's entertainment.
