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It turns out Clor’s secret to keeping grounded when you’re in a group receiving pretty much flawless reviews is to take the piss relentlessly out of your fellow band members. When Max Taylor enters the room front man Barry Dobbin introduces him as sporting his “trademark look”. You could be forgiven for thinking he’s referring to the fairly original woolly red cardigan and polo shirt combo he’s sporting, but no such style is being commented on - instead it's merely his forgetfulness when it comes to doing up his flies. Blushing endearingly, he looks like a six former out of place in a staff room. When asked how old he is, a chorus of “seventeen” comes from the band. But no he demands to be taken seriously by claiming that actually he’s “nineteen and a half.”
Other members of the band aren’t left out of this affectionate banter - Bob Earland’s top is pulled down so we can inspect his fresh love bite, and at guitarist Luke Smith’s answer of “elastic bands” to what band’s have influenced them, looks of pure disgust are directed at him. But it’s all friendly fun and the close relationships they clearly have with each other is duly reflected on stage. They come across like a group of mates who just want to have fun playing music because it's what they really love, and by a happy coincidence they turn out to be pretty phenomenal at it.
For those not in the know, Clor have been playing together for two years, Barry, Rob and Luke, having “poached” drummer Harry Bennett and Max from playing with Roots Manuva. Coming from a variety of backgrounds such as working in a hospital as a medical secretary and a trainee art teacher, Luke’s job composing music for Gameboy is pretty damn legendary. After claiming he hated the job, he manages to speak at length about the technical side of it and it how educational it was for enough time for Gigwise's eyes to glaze over slightly. This probably has more to do the extent of my knowledge of Gameboys reaching only as far as the fact they once made one in pink, than his conversational skills.
On the back of one of the most well-received albums of the year, Clor are understandably being tipped as ‘the next big thing’. However, whether it’s modesty, honesty or an edge of naivety, the band seem dubious of this reaction from the media. “I honestly don’t think we’ll make it big like that” Barry says, “I think we’ll just simmer on nicely like this for a while.” Despite having a healthy following, the band seem put off by the idea of being in the headlines every week. Barry comments: “It would worry me if we became over celebrated, record companies love it if you’re always in the tabloids and stuff.” Mean as it may seem, they're just far too normal and nice to ever be that kind of band.
As a band, Clor are incredibly unpretentious, and the excitement in the way they talk about their love of playing venues like the windmill in Brixton, and their belief in the philosophy of sharing money fairly between everyone involved at gigs, leads to the feeling that the allures of corporate success are not going to tempt or mould this group. Just to prove the niceness, when speaking about roadies, they claim they feel awful about having people to lug their stuff around for them when there's five of them capable of doing the job, so usually they do it themselves. However, tonight they're hiding to do this interview with us, because “if we don’t watch then we don’t feel so guilty”.
Luke comments that when they’re playing larger venues they sometimes feel like they’re getting in the way when people are trying to set up and “they’re playing the guitar loudly or something and someone’s trying to do something serious.” At this, Barry attempts a stab at being rock & roll saying “when is there ever a time when you shouldn’t be playing the guitar loudly?” This said, the idea of Clor doing something to deliberately piss someone off (other than each other) just doesn’t seem likely.
As Gigwise speaks to Clor, the band are in the midst of touring alongside The Kooks, The Departure and Viva Voce on the MTV 2 Bandwagon Tour. Having been asked how it’s all going they claim tonight's gig has been by far their favourite so far and that “Liverpool audiences are always the best.” Whether they say that in every city they visit is a matter for debate!
Barry leaves us with the recommendation to buy an album by Sparks because “it’ll change your life”. Clor might not change anyone’s life just yet, but from the audience reaction to their performances, they’re definitely creating a passionate following that’s addicted to their jaunty, angular electro-guitar pop music.
We leave clor discussing Mariah Carey’s demands at concerts such as asking for a box of kittens to play with. Considering they haven’t even requested a bottle opener tonight, preferring to invent more original ways to open their bottles of wine, I think we can safely guess that the kittens aren’t going to be added to their list anytime soon. Grounded, bloody nice blokes and with brilliant tunes, fingers crossed Clor are a band for life.
