Time Is Of The Essence - 35 Seconds

35 Seconds are extremely pleased with themselves. Two weeks ago the Birmingham band were as obscure out of their home territory as the psychedelic guitar riffs that are patent within their music. Now though, just fourteen days later, things have changed. A demo thrust into the right hands, a smouldering – not to mention commanding – live performance or two and they’ve suddenly become a bunch of ‘Indie Idles’. And the best thing? There wasn’t even an Ant or a Dec to be seen.

“That was a fun day,” recalls 35 Seconds’ charismatic front man Andrew Hickman, as he reflects on the bands triumph at the recent Gigwise Camden Crawl ‘Indie Idle’ competition. “We got to the event and it was this tiny little bar with a shitty P.A and I kept banging my head on an IKEA lamp that dangled right down into the middle of the stage. It was a kind of Pop Idol set-up where a panel (which included journalist Mark Beaumont and XFM’s John Kennedy, plus several record label big shots) would publicly judge you as soon as you finished playing. They absolutely slaughtered the first two bands and I made the decision that I was not going to be humiliated like that so walked out of the building as soon as I sang the last note. From outside I could still hear the P.A though and we were totally showered with praise.”

OK, so Gigwise might have stumped for some dodgy Swedish flat pack accessories in order to provide a fitting ambience for proceedings, but that’s only because, for a change, this was a talent contest where the output came before the outfit. And output is something 35 Seconds have in an eclectic abundance. Whilst in Myspace terminology they’re stated as a ‘Birmingham’ band, 35 Seconds origins can be traced from Glasgow’s dark side (“(Guitarist) Andy ‘Bears’ McBurny’s mom moved him from inner city Glasgow because he was getting up to lots of typical Glaswegian mischief, like burgling people and using class A drugs,” explains Hickman) to Cradley Heath - the district of the Black Country where the rest of the band eventually fused together.

It was through a decaying advert that Hickman had placed in the music press that he met the relocated McBurny and the band’s other guitarist Danny Rowe, who’d both “taught each other guitar for something to do.” However, as the singer explains, recruiting the remaining two members of the band was a more fraught, and, up until recently, unpredictable task. “Dan (Guest) was an amazing local drummer courted by all the rock bands, but he was messing about with ex members of all-girl bands. He came to see us play and said we were the worst live act he’d ever seen, then he got to hear our recording and thought there was something in it and we started playing together,” he continues. “We’ve had various guises and line-ups but keep coming back to this four. We’ve had a string of inappropriate bass players. The last one used to watch Mr Bean the Movie in the studio so we sacked him. Kev (Abbot) recently auditioned for us and fits in well.”

With a background that’s more puzzling than Sudoku, it’s not surprising that the band's musical output is just as diverse. Citing musical influences that range from “jangly pop” to “twisted avant-garde techno” to local “late eighties unfashionable indie bands,” 35 Seconds' actual output is a ferocious conglomeration of all that, and then some. That ‘and then some’ is important as well because this band want to make you hear something that “you haven’t heard before.” It’s a determination that makes ‘Dinosaurs’ ripple with a hypnotic, Springsteen like euphoria and ‘Grudge Match’ so frenetically fierce. Hickman also name checks Billy Bragg and Morrissey as his biggest lyrical inspirations, but notes that the band don’t make a conscious effort to sound like the past…ahem, as some bands apparently do. “We’re sickened by fashion because all it really means is copying what everyone else is doing. I’m astounded that nine out of ten new acts are fishing ideas from a very small pool of “acceptable” influences.”