INTERVIEW: Cleft Palettes

According to their Myspace, Cleft Palettes are "two geeks and a dweeb who use grime handclaps and MIDI samples to make awesome songs sound really fucking shit." I'd like to contest that fact but whatever, they've answered some questions for us which is a whole lot more interesting than me raving about them.

So, first of all, how did you guys meet and what made you want to form a music collective?
I wouldn't describe us as a music collective. That sounds like we should be playing gigs at the Royal Festival Hall. Dan and I met when he fingerbanged my sister (truth, not jerky interview answer).

Lucy was his next victim. From then on, we clicked and the faff began.

I guess your name could be seen as being a bit distasteful by some. Have you had any negative reactions to it so far?
No, just praise. A fan once received a dirty look from a mother when wearing one of our t-shirts.

I've seen you being compared to bands like Hadouken! Are you fans of their work? Do you think that's an accurate comparison?
Not really. Many moons ago, we drove down to Southend for their first gig. They smacked it. At the time it was really aggressive and refreshing, but they're a good example of the perils of hype ... and major record labels.

You're relatively unknown at the moment. What goals do you have as a band? Do you want to be mega famous or are you happy staying more underground?
Underground is the new overground. We're mega famous in our regular lives anyway - we do the band thing for a bit of anonymity.

You've done a few remixes, most notably The Teenagers' Homecoming. Do you prefer writing your own stuff or doing remixes?

We would never remix anything we didn't heart, so its a good foundation to build upon. Kind of like playing Grand Theft Auto and starting with all the weapons unlocked. Writing our own music is like the kill screen from Donkey Kong.

I guess it would be really easy to brand you as "new rave", but how would you describe your music?
We love the way new rave is becoming an insult. Like when the French say 'your father pissed up your mother'. You're new rave.

We came 16th in the UK Black Metal MySpace charts by accident a couple of months ago... so I guess we're more metal than rave and that makes all kinds of sense when you look at Lucy's t-shirt collection...

What sorts of things influence your sound? Do you take inspiration from things other than music?
We are heavily influenced by drugs, arguments and accidents.

You played your first gig recently. How did that go? How did you prepare for it?
We shat it, but it went super well. People seemed to like it and nobody threw stuff or threw up. We managed to gain and lose a manager that night too.

Do you have any tricks or surprises for your live shows or do you just let the music speak for itself?

Like gimmicks? I guess Pat being ginger and Lucy and Dan being heavily involved with each other are pretty gimmicktastic. But for the time being we're mostly trying to concentrate on the noises and putting our fingers on the right buttons. Pat wanted to keep porno running on his laptop whilst we're up there, but Dan's mum didn't sign the release documents.

If you could go on tour with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
GWAR.

So, what's next for you guys? Are you going to be booking more shows soon? Any plans for a record?
All the gigs we seem to get booked for are getting cancelled because of noise complaints. We'll be unleashing our album 'Doofus Bible' in the fall

Rhian Daly