Drenge: 'Tom Watson media reaction was ridiculous'
We talk to the Loveless stars about 'media stupidity' around MP naming them in resignation letter
- Bo Ningen
by Andrew Trendell | Photos by Press/Richard Gray
Tags: Drenge
Rising noise-rock stars Drenge have spoken out about the 'ridiculous' reaction of the media to Tom Watson MP mentioning them in his resignation letter.
The Labour party's former general election co-ordinator wrote an open letter to Ed Miliband, where he namechecked the Derbyshire duo.
"John Humphrys asked me why you were not at Glastonbury this weekend," he wrote. "I said Labour leaders can't be seen standing in muddy fields listening to bands. And then I thought how terribly sad that this is true. So: be that great Labour leader that you can be, but try to have a real life too. And if you want to see an awesome band, I recommend Drenge."
Speaking to Gigwise backstage at this weekend's Latitude festival, brothers Rory and Eoin Loveless said that they were left frustrated by the type of attention it lead to them receiving.
Singer and guitarist Eoin told us: "Now there are politics journalists who suddenly feel like they're music journalists, and start interpreting your songs into what they mean for the wider world and what Tom Watson means by liking your band.
"The worst thing is that we're just a rock n' roll band. Rock n' roll has been around since the Rolling Stones, so all MPs are probably fans of that to some extent, so it's not like we're anything new musically - there's just nothing to talk about. We just play rock songs and what else is there to say? We're not overtly political, for good or bad. It doesn't come into our music, so why should we go into music?"
Drenge performed a brilliant set at the weekend's Latitude festival
Eoin added that the over-sensationalisation of their reluctance to talk about the Tom Watson stunt made the scenario even more ridiculous: "There's absolutely nothing to say about it. Even when we eventually talked about it, it became a headline - and the headline was 'no comment'. How does that work? How does a no comment become a headline? That says it all really, there's nothing to be sensational about."
Rory then joked: "But in our new stuff, we are writing a concept album on the history of the Labour Party. It's called 'Red-y to Rock' or 'Red-y Milliband'."
Below: The best acts we saw at Latitude festival 2013
