Almost phoenix-like, Isa & The Filthy Tongues rose from the ashes of Goodbye Mr McKenzie and Angelfish (their former singer Shirley Manson is now best known as the vocalist with Garbage) With their gritty, trashed up rock and punk sound they immediately secured a strong following on the live circuit and, as a result, their singles and debut album have been popular releases. Last single “New Town Killers” seemed to catapult them further into the awareness of the nation. Along the way they picked up “admirers” such as Janice Long, Steve Lamacq and NME magazine. New single “Big Star” is set to enhance their existence further. I recently spent 3 hours talking to the band at their secret Edinburgh rehearsal room.
You’re constantly described as a “dark, moody, underground indie band” Is that a tag you’re happy to wear or is there a bit more depth and innovation to your songwriting that maybe a lot of people seem to miss the true architecture of?
Fin - Well the first LP was pretty dark and moody, which we personally like. More than that though it had anger and a kind of warped sex about it. People may change their feelings about what we do on the next LP as it is more thoughtful, more melodic and has a bit more of a feeling of the tragic to it. Stacey’s mum died just as the last LP was released so it was a hard time. And maybe it’s a bit more of a hopeful collection of songs, through necessity. The song-writing is definitely stronger.
On last single “New Town Killers” Richard Jobson was assigned vocal duties. Is that because he sang with The Skids and you knew the man had a voice on him? Or, was it because, as director of the movie the song appears in, the decision was purely his because he was le’ boss?
Martin - All of those reasons I think. Richard wanted us to come up with a tune and he said he wanted to write the lyrics so he was the boss there! Then we though he should sing it. Me & Derek were big Skids fans as kids so we nagged him to sing on it, which he refused (I think he was having a modest day then). So then we persuaded him to do a bit of yelling and shouting in it which he was happy about. It’s during the guitar solo he yells a bit then at the end of the LP version he does a bit more ranting. It’s brilliant for us to have him on there. His rants are classic. One great thing that came out of this was that Richard composed a few more ‘rants’ for us, one of which has it’s own space on our new LP. A track called ‘Bus Shelter’, a ditty about waiting for a bus in the rain surrounded by social misfits. It’s a scream.
Do you think it’s netted itself a more pronounced location in the public’s awareness than any of your previous releases may have? Certainly it seems to have introduced Isa and the Filthy Tongues to a wider network?
Fin - I think it's hard to say. Obviously exposure by the likes of BBC 6 music and Radio 2 plays
and NME will have introduced us to a wider audience than previously which can only be good as far as we're concerned. As for public awareness, that to me suggests mainstream success of a sustained nature which is not something we've ever really experienced, or in fact particularly sought. And of course we're in a very fickle business - you're only as good as your current or next release. On that front though we're pretty happy with what we've got lined up and are in rude health, filthy health in fact.
Would it be true to say your success now has led to a renewed interest in Goodbye Mr McKenzie from people possibly unaware the band existed at the time?
Martin - I would say not very much. More that it’s awakened some of the Mackenzies fans to Isa
We don’t get many new Isa fans demanding that we play old Mackenzies material. This is good for us, we want to move forward.
In this current musical climate would Goodbye MrMcKenzie find things suited them better now than back then?
Derek - Its very difficult to say. I think as a band all you can do is work hard, write your songs and play live, everything else that happens around that is very hard to control. I think bands have more options now and can get their stuff out easier than when we started but then you have the problem that there's so much great stuff out there - getting attention isn't easy. We're much happier with how things are at the moment as to how things were then. Getting a record deal of some kind then was practically the only way you could progress as a band...now that's not the case and that sits much easier with us.
The new Isa and the Filthy Tongues single “Big Star”is released June 29th. Can you tell us a wee bit about that?
Stacey - I wrote it on a long bus journey in my head. I came to rehearsal and sang the melody to Martin. He put chords to it and there it was!! It’s for all the girls out there who are having a hard time. You’ve got to think big and hold on to your dreams!
Martin - It’s going to be released as a download single on 6th July. We’re giving away some free tracks with it. Anyone who buys it can send us the receipt and we’ll send them 2 or 3 free songs (we haven’t decided which ones yet) Then it’s going to be included on a re-issued first LP ‘Addiction’. Some unreleased material is going on that along with the whole first LP.
I’ve heard there are plans to release another album this year at some point?
Derek - We've got a few things on the go at the moment but there will be a new album DARK PASSENGER out in September this year.
You possibly have one of the best band names on the planet. What inspired its creation?
Martin - When Stacey finally joined the band didn’t want the band to be named Stacey Chavis & the Filthy Tongues. Though we did think about calling the group that for a whileStacey was so new to singing that she didn’t want to have her real name on there in case things didn't work out. So we started searching for a name in books and movies and on the net. She’d been in a Wiccan spiritual group in the US (trying to 'sort her head out' ) and I’d been reading up on the history of Scottish witches so I thought I’d look up some of their names on the net. The only records up there were of witches who’d been tried and or executed. I made a text file of those and sent it round the rest of the band. Derek Kelly noticed something strange. A very large amount of the witches had the name Isobel or Isabel. He said ‘I wouldn’t like to have been called Isabel in those days!!’ The Filthy Tongues part of the name came from a lyric in a Mackenzies song called 'Good deeds are like filthy rags' which is a quote from the bible..It's in the book of Isaiah (commonly shortened to ISA weirdly enough).
Also in the Koran Jesus is called 'Isa' pronounced eesah. Jesus is highly regarded in the Koran. So our name could be taken as Jesus and the Filthy Tongues....It's all coming together!!!!
Of all the brilliant bands coming out of Scotland right now are there any that invigorate you personally?
Martin - I enjoy Glasvegas somewhat. I haven’t bought there LP though. I love the way he sings ’Geraldine’. If anyone round the planet wants to know how to say ‘Geraldine’ in Weedgie language then that’s it exactly.
The Fratellis are Fun. The View are fun too but none of those bands totally fit my needs. I prefer the last generation Scots bands, Mogwai or Arab Strap for instance. I like a band called Saint Deluxe who are kind of along that line.
You’re playing The Wickerman Festival this year – in my opinion Scotland’s greatest festival. Looking forward to that?
Stacey - We’ll take your word for it. We’ve never been so we’re hopeful it’ll be a good experience. We’re in the Scoter tent around 5pm on July 24th.. See you there?
Definitely! Looking forward to seeing you play live and hopefully we can catch up after your slot and chat a bit more. Thank you for allowing me to waste your valuable time this afternoon I appreciate it very much. Good luck with the new album and everything you do in the future. Thank you again.
Thanks to Tony at Manila PR
Photographer for the day: Emma
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