Finance can be a problem for many bands of today and four day Hombre taught me a thing or two about money and the way it makes the music world spin. After disputes with three different record labels, the band decided to launch their own label with financial aid from their dedicated fanbase. Once the dreams of Limos and vintage guitars had passed, four day Hombre found themselves self-employed; working in vans with laptops until they reached their gig destinations.After 7 years of showcasing, label bashing and touring, four day Hombre have finally completed their first album. "Experiments in Living" was recorded at Black Box studios in France with Dave Odlum [The Frames] and is set to be an epic of many proportions, if their latest single "The First Word is the Hardest" is anything to go by.
After a brief tea and a cigarette with vocalist Simon Wainright and keyboardist Ed Waring, I find that there's much more to life than money, showcasing and being compared to Coldplay.
Where do you hang out?
Ed: When we have the time, Mojo, Reliance, etc.
Simon: We used to go to the Underground, Phono and Cockpit.
[They seem shocked and dismayed when I tell them that Bar Phono is now closed]
Which Leeds bands are you into?
Simon: Someone asked me this the other day and I couldn't really answer it.
Because you don't like any of them?
Simon: No, because we hardly spend any time here ... I like The Scaramanga Six. We played at that award ceremony in Leeds [Independent Leeds Music Awards] and That Fucking Tank played there. I thought they were wicked.
Ed: 10,000 things
Simon: Yeah! I love them.
So you played the City Varieties a while ago, was that a connection to the style of music you make?
Simon: A lot of the stuff we do is quite epic and large and it suited the surroundings and it's such a beautiful place and an amazing venue.
Did you prefer it to Leeds Uni?
Simon: I actually would have preferred it to have been a stand up gig. The reason why we chose the venue was more for the size and feel of it.
What are you listening to at the moment?
Simon: I'm listening to the Martha Wainright album still. I really like it.
Are you a fan of her brother?
Simon: Yeah, I've got practically everything he's done, but I kind of find it tiring. It's so over produced and sparkly, you get halfway into the album and you think, "I need a break".
Do you ever worry that your stuff would be over produced?
Simon: Yeah, I would do, but I know the way that Dave works is very real. If he wants the drum kit to sound like it's in the corner of the room, he'll put it in the corner of the room! He's got that kind of ethos. If it wasn't for that we'd have a danger of being over-produced.
How long did the album take?
Simon: From start to finish about 7 weeks.
How many songs did you go into the studio with?
Simon: We went in with 16, recorded 15 and there's 10 on the album.
Ed: It's deliberately a short album.
Are you scared of being over produced?
Simon: I think with this album maybe it's gone too far, I would have preferred it to sound much raw-er.
Ed: There are a lot of bands we get lumped in with. A lot of people make the Coldplay comparison. I dislike the sound of their record.
Simon: We had a desire to make it sound like 5 people in a room. We going to do it live with the vocals on top, but it's very time consuming. There's a big difference between well-produced and over-produced. The last two Radiohead albums are massively produced in that there's a lot of time gone into them, but they're not over-produced. I think they sound energetic and raw and live almost. I think Rufus Wainright should definitely be accused of over-production because it's proper kitchen sink.
What is your approach to writing?
Simon: Generally we write as a band, we bring ideas in and flash them around.
Ed: Because Si is the singer a lot of ideas start with him. He'll come in with three chords and we'll take it from there.
Simon: Sometimes we gander around, but it's always as a group.
And what about lyrically?
Simon: I generally try to write lyrics last. I never ever write lyrics and then put it to the music. It ends up sounding like poetry put to music which is a BAD THING.
What sort of subjects do you touch on?
Simon: It's always just stories about our lives. I don't find it easy to write lyrics about narrative situations that I'm not evolved in.
Do you enjoy touring?
Simon: Yeah, very much.
Prefer it to recording?
Simon: They're different things. But I do love playing live.
[Simon goes outside to answer a call, it must have been private...]
Do you prefer being on your own label?
Ed: After we did the Radio 1 thing we got a lot of attention and we did 12 different showcases around Leeds for record labels, publishing firms and so on. We tried to do the whole major label thing, but it appeared that wasn't really the path forward. We spent 2 years showcasing around London and had three different labels which fell apart for various reasons.
What message would you send to small bands?
Ed: In all seriousness I just wouldn't do it! [showcasing] I would just stay in Leeds and concentrate on being a cool band. I'd just try and become the best bands I could possible be, making cool sounding artifacts. I'd try getting a network of like-minded people, start doing tours and try to get a fan base. I would just ignore the industry because no-one hands out the magic cheques anymore. It's all about being the best band that you can and if you are a really good band the opportunities will present themselves.
What advise would you give to solo artists?
Simon: It's the same as any other. Just keep playing, record your stuff, get it on the web, it's all about getting your music to the right audience. You can easily build an audience up just by getting your stuff out there. If it's good enough people will hear it.
Ed: If you're producing music that is good in some way, there just has to be a market and there will be people who will buy your music and come to your gigs. There are a lot of people in the world and if you can find 20,000 of them to buy your records, that's an income!
How important is networking in terms of developing an artists?
Simon: If you wanna do it this way it's very important. It's all about the people you know. But then most of them are friends. Like the guys who made the videos, they used to live next door to us.
Would you ever make music for films?
Ed: Yeah, definitely. We played with a band from LA and their drummer said that he didn't know a single band in LA who are making money from selling records but knew a lot of bands who made money from making music for films.
Do you think you would do well internationally?
Simon: I think we'd do quite well in America, given the opportunity. It's easy to tour in Europe than Britain, Britain's quite a cynical market.
As you travel around England do you notice a different musical ethos in each city?
Ed: Yeah, definitely.
How would you describe it in Leeds?
Simon: [Ponders for a while] I'm not sure I find it hard to define the Leeds scene...
What sort of feedback did you receive from the showcases you did?
Ed: Stuff like, "You don't look right", "You don't sound right" "You don't look like a band".
Simon: But we've been together in a van for so long that we do look like a band!
Are you bothered about your stage presence?
Simon: Sort of. We used to, and I think that's where we fucked up to be honest. We spent so much time saying: "we have to be this we have be that". For at least a couple of years we were so obsessed with getting that elusive big deal. We got comfortable with just being who we are.
It's more about having a good time, and getting the audience in. Doing a gig is like hosting a party, you have to make sure people are enjoying themselves. Whether it's by purging their emotional difficulties through the music of whether its just literally having a good time to the music. You've got to make the crowd feel like they're on stage with you.
Are you worried that people may box you in as 'Coldplay-Keane-Snow-Patrol' Band?
Simon: Well they're bound to, without a doubt and it's just lazy. I mean, just because it's got a piano in it!
Ed: It was interesting playing the Independent Leeds Music Awards because a lot of people there hadn't seen us for 3-4 years and they had this mental vision that we were "the Coldplay band" because of the layered piano ballads... I mean, not all of us wanna be in a fucking Metallica band!
What's been the biggest moment of the last 7 years for four day Hombre?
Ed: Getting to the studio... the City Varieties gig... and finishing the album, definitely.
four day Hombre will play an acoustic set at HMV Leeds at 5pm on March 13th to coincide with the release of their first album 'Experiments in Living'.
