Correspondents interview

The Correspondents are Mr Bruce and Mr Chuckles, collaborators in resuscitating a sound from bygone times and mixing it up to make some very contemporary tracks. Jeff Hemmings gets to the bottom line of their bass line


The unlikely duo of Mr Bruce and Mr Chuckles have been enticing all those who witness them to ‘get your brogues on’ – their revamped vintage sounds riding the wave of the fun and fantasy filled electro swing scene, while their records are being released on the local label, Freshly Squeezed. Jeff Hemmings put some questions to the pair ahead of their Concorde 2 gig this week.

Can I clarify – Chucks does the music, programming, etc, and Mr Bruce provides the vocals?
Chucks: We try to, at least!

How did you to get together musically and what are your formative loves, music-wise?
Chucks: We did a bit of bedroom DJ/MC jamming back in our teens. Those were the days. But it wasn’t really until after uni that we both came back to London and started making a few tracks, informally playing at a few mates parties. It all went from there – there wasn’t really any ‘lets make a band!’ moment.

Mr Bruce: Well I grew up on a healthy diet of drum ’n’ bass and my music taste broadened while working as a host at a club night up in Edinburgh that played a little bit of everything. Chucks used to send tracks up north and when I returned to London we played about until we had a small selection of tracks to play live.

Where did the name The Correspondents come from?
Mr B: Originally it was because I used to wear two-tone brogues that are known as Correspondents but now I see it representing the way Chucks and I work. We are constantly passing tracks back and forth… corresponding… tenuous!

What do you make of the electro swing scene?
Chucks: It’s slightly distant to what we do now to be honest. We’re probably more just electro/hip-hop/jazz/alt/pop at the moment [laughs]. We’ve still got a lot of love for it as it was coming up at the same time as we were, and our sets were definitely much more swing orientated then. The problem for us now is that we’ve just heard the electro swing repertoire of tracks too many times before and after gigs, so we’ve been slightly over exposed. There definitely needs to be more people doing it, and doing it differently.

Mr B: Yeah, we’ve become a band that rather annoyingly calls itself multi-genre.

“Sources have been everything from charity shops to iTunes to DVDs”

Where do you source samples?
Chucks: I try to stay away from them now to be honest, because they’re such an expensive arse to get the rights too! But sources have been everything from charity shops to iTunes to DVDs. Especially with genres that are more obtuse to get into, the best way was to start with compilations and run away with the artists that stand out to you.

Mr Bruce, how and where did you get your fashion sense for The Correspondents. Is your clothes and make-up bill high?
Mr B: Originally it was the dapper gents of bygone eras like Fred Astaire, but dancing in suits can be restrictive so I then turned to spandex and I guess Bowie is an influence, and the black and white aesthetic of Klaus Nomi. Carley Hague and Isobel Webster design and make the full outfits and they are very talented and price wise very reasonable!

Is there a desire to go back in time and sample the delights of the ‘20s/’30s speakeasy scene?
Chucks: Why not, although only if I could come back! The whole revival scene isn’t really my kind of escapism.

Mr B: I don’t see the point in reminiscing. You’ve got to make it relevant to today otherwise you are just imitating.

Would it work if you wore jeans and a T-shirt?
Mr B: Without sounding pretentious I need to get dressed up for a gig otherwise I don’t feel like I can be as excited and flamboyant as I want to be! And the amount that I move on stage it makes sense to wear a tight fitting outfit – you wouldn’t see an athlete in jeans and a T-shirt – it isn’t practical.

You seem to have hit the spot on the live stage – the implicit hedonism within the music, the dressing up etc resonates perfectly with the festival vibe. Any particular highlights?
Mr B: Well Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party and Bestival are always big gigs with big crowds for us and we stay for the weekend rather than doing an in/out job. To be honest I never went to a festival before I started performing at them!

When you first performed did people get it?
Chucks: Hopefully not! [laughs] But then the energy comes across, and hopefully that kinda rubs off.

Mr B: Sort of. At the start you do all kinds of gigs
that come your way – we still do – and we could be thrashing it out at a cocktail party which can be mildly inappropriate.

Still wearing that lycra… Does it feel liberating?

Mr B: It’s better than wearing jeans, not as good as pyjamas.

Tell us about your plans for 2012…
Chucks: To release an album! Bigger and better gigs, more facets to the live show, buy my annual new pair of trainers, hunker down for the apocalypse. Probably.

Mr B: Yes. Boom. Lots to be done.

The Correspondents, Concorde 2, Saturday 19 November, 11pm, £10 + booking fee.
To book contact 01273 673311 or online www.concorde2.co.uk



Leave a Comment






Related Articles