Mohair

Still fresh from touring, Mohair talks about music and their experiences on the road, the video diaries of which are available for download from the PSP Store.

No strangers to touring, Mohair have covered a lot of miles since they formed. A travelling crucible, these early gigs helped fine tune their music, the eventual product being the album Small Talk.

On the strength of this album Mohair were signed by Q Prime's management duo, Peter Mensch and Cliff Burnstein, to their new Grunion label. Hitting the road again, this time in the United States, Mohair hasn't looked back since autumn 2006.

Pete Baker, Mohair's drummer, answers a few questions...

How would you describe Mohair to someone who hasn't heard your music?

We are a rock band that writes pop songs with the aim of getting you off in a dance-happy (with dark under/overtones) kind of way. We feature guitars that we put through an amp to make them sound louder... quite revolutionary actually.

You've just finished touring in the US with Razorlight, what was it like?

Perfectly mental! We drove 9,000 miles in four weeks right around the whole of the US and Canada. Within the space of two days driving from Minneapolis to San Francisco we managed to go through three different seasons, from two foot of snow to sunny palm trees.

The gigs themselves were great. The venues over there are tiny compared to the arenas they play over here. It was natural for us because they are the size we normally play but totally sold out; it made it a very fair battle! The nice thing was after that tour they invited us to play the arena dates with them over here; it was good to see the other side of it also.

Did you experience anything weird and wonderful or downright bizarre?

I think it's quite hard to travel that much and not find something wonderful or bizarre. Middle America is all quite wonderfully bizarre. We stopped at a few service stations on our way where even the women had mullets!

What moments will you treasure?

With Razorlight, the first and last arena gigs. The first because it was our first properly huge audience, we have done big ones before but nothing on that scale. The last because it was the biggest attendance of the tour and all our folks were in the crowd. It was nice to be able to pay them back with a smile.

Away from that I had the honour of being invited onto the stage in front of 20,000 people to play trumpet with Rolf Harris... a great day!

So, how did Mohair get together?

I have known Tom since we were at junior school together. In fact we have a picture of us playing the cornet in wind band aged about seven or eight. The only trouble with the photo is he is playing first cornet because he was in the year above and I was a lowly second cornet. He knows I was always better than him and I think that still affects our relationship today.

We then went to separate, bigger boy schools. I met Tim (bass guitar) and joined a band with him. Tom went on to perform at a local amateur dramatic show, where he met Alex (keys) whilst I think they were both clad in tights. Somehow we found our way into the same cover bands, etc, got bored of playing Mustang Sally, so the four of us started writing songs together.

Who are your main influences?

Individually they are all quite diverse. I suppose the bands that meet in the middle are The Beatles, Stones, Doors and Crosby, Stills and Nash.

I'm personally a big jazz fan and enjoy the likes of Oscar Peterson, Clark Terry, etc. My favourite band is Radiohead. I would happily cover a puddle with my jacket for Thom Yorke to walk over. Even if it is seen as an outdated gesture that mainly goes on between a man and a woman!

You've been on the road again in June; do you have any gigs or festivals lined up for this summer?

We have already done a few in Europe but really we are concentrating on finishing writing the next album. We have been constantly touring for years so we are taking a bit of a break from it for a few months.

Lastly, it is a great name but why did you choose to call yourself after a 1980s occasional wear fad?

We toyed with the idea of being called Reebok Pumps but our lawyers informed us that we might be contravening copyright laws... the capitalist swine!

Mohair's tour diaries are available for download from the PSP Store. More about Mohair can be found on MySpace or at their website, mohairmusic.com.